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Review of Yar Pyae Hotel, Inle Lake, Myanmar

Posted on 20 July 2015 by Tak

The Yar Pyae Hotel is located on Nandawun St, just south of Yone Gyi St (the main street) in Nyaungshwe, Myanmar. This town is the most popular for seeing Inle Lake.

Room: #202
Beds: Good, pillows too thick
Internet: Internet was constantly down. When working it functioned well.
Friendliness: Good
Room Condition: Excellent
Water Pressure: Excellent
Water Temperature: Excellent
Location: Good, some walking required (as are most in town)
Electrical Outlet Locations/Number: Poor, only one by bed
Ambience: Quiet Read More →

Review: Arora Inn, Maafushi, Maldives

Posted on 20 July 2015 by Tak

The Arora Inn is located in Maafushi, an inhabited island in the Maldives. Because the island is so small, you don’t really need much of an address.
Beds: Fair
Internet: Very Good
Friendliness: Fair
Room Condition: Fair
Breakfast: Very Poor
Location: Good (Island is so small location doesn’t matter)
Electrical Outlet Locations/Number: Poor
Ambience: Quiet Read More →

Review: Hotel Xoai, Can Tho, Vietnam

Posted on 20 July 2015 by Tak

The Hotel Xoai is located at 93 Mau Than in Can Tho, Vietnam.
Room Type: Small Budget Single

Beds: Good (thin sheet)
Internet: Good
Friendliness: Good
Room Condition: Excellent
Water Pressure: Good
Water Temperature: Poor (never warm)
Location: Fair, Not Touristy Area
Electrical Outlet Locations/Number: Good
Ambience: Quiet Read More →

Review: Songhai / Song Hai Hotel, Saigon, Vietnam

Posted on 20 July 2015 by Tak

The Song Hai Hotel is located at 185/4 Pham Ngu Lao in Ho Chi Minh’s D1 District.

Beds: Poor
Internet: Poor
Friendliness: Good
Room Condition: Fair
Water Pressure: Good
Water Temperature: Good
Location: Good if you want to be in Backpacker Area
Electrical Outlet Locations/Number: Poor
Ambience: Semi-Loud Read More →

The ANA Business Lounge in Naha, Okinawa

Posted on 30 June 2015 by Tak

Just a couple photos from the ANA Business Lounge in Naha, Okinawa.

The ANA business lounge in Naha is a small lounge but, nicely, is not filled to the gills with people as is the case at some other lounges. When it was opened, the estimates were that it would serve 150 people a day. It has 41 chairs. So, for most of the time, you are going to have a quiet atmosphere. The seats are comfortable, there is ample power connections and there is WiFi. I believe it is the WiFi where you have to log-in through a portal which are annoying, but it worked fine. Read More →

Beware of Peach Airlines of Japan

Posted on 30 March 2015 by Tak

You have booked a ticket on Peach Aviation (or Peach Airlines as we will call it) a month ago, to get you from Taipei, Taiwan to Okinawa, Japan.

You wake up, check your emails and make your way to the Taipei airport, which is approximately an hour outside of the city. Upon entering the airport you look at the departures board and notice that next to “Peach Airlines” is marked “Flight Cancelled”.

You head over to the ticket desk only to find a mob of people huddled around a gentleman who is pointing to a printed sign slapped to a post. It reads that the airline, due to scheduling issues, has canceled the only flight of the day to Okinawa. Read More →

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Red Oxx Gator Compact Carry-on Bag Review

Posted on 3 March 2015 by Tak

If I have my dates right, then I have had my Red Oxx Gator since 2007. It has been with me for a 10,000 mile (16,000 km) drive around the USA; up, down and across the eastern and southern coasts of Australia; all around Europe on numerous trips; on two long expeditions to Antarctica; several trips to Asia; on countless local trains and short-hop airplanes as a weekend bag; and used countless times as my primary on-location photography bag. Read More →

Review: IslandWay Etos, Guraidhoo, Maldives

Posted on 20 December 2014 by Tak

This is a review of the IslandWay Etos Guesthouse on Guraidhoo in the Maldives.

Shower: Excellent Heat, Excellent Pressure
Internet: Poor to Fair
Location: N/A – the island is very small so location is N/A
Beaches: Poor
Condition of Room: Excellent
Power Outlet Availability: Limited
Bed: Excellent Read More →

Authentic Southern US BBQ in Saigon?

Posted on 27 October 2014 by Tak

Quan Ut Ut / Quán Ụt Ụt, Saigon, Vietnam

So you are sitting in an alleyway, eating a fine meal of rice & vegetables (which you somehow ordered in broken Vietnamese) and thought, “they have a lot of pork in Vietnam, it would probably be great to experiment with American-style BBQ here.” Read More →

Review: Asiana A380 in Economy (Y). LAX to ICN

Posted on 13 October 2014 by Tak

There are many reviews for the Asiana A380 (OZ A380-800 or A388) out there, but they all seem to deal with business class and first class. Thus, I will do a review of coach or economy class (coach/economy class is abbreviated as Y Class). Read More →

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Thoughts on a United Travel Day

Posted on 12 October 2014 by Tak

When the TSA agent asked the 55 year old South African tourist, “Are you over 75?”…

United has its branding down real well. Rather than describe the first class snack plate as “shriveled black olives, dehydrated lemon wedge, red pepper mush, cous cous, uninspired feta cheese and a glass of lukewarm iced tea” they struck marketing lightning with the more simple and just as accurate “black olives, red peppers, cous cous and feta cheese”.

Fare Classes, Fare Codes and the Failure of United

Posted on 12 October 2014 by Tak

You will be interested in this post if you want to learn more about frequent flyer miles (including some of the technical part) or already know about them.

Generally all commercial air tickets have fare class associated with them. The definition of what letter equals what class/rules/etc. can vary by airline, but for instance, a Y class ticket might be an unrestricted coach class ticket (meaning you sit in coach but the ticket can be refunded and such). “A” class for most airlines denotes one of the first-class fares while J class is typically one of the business class fares. Read More →

Nalgene PC Clear Jar

Posted on 3 October 2014 by Tak

Let’s kick this off with something so inane but important – a small jar (or what I call a bottle about 100 times in the review) to hold liquids, gels and other such nefarious things while traveling. Today we review the Nalgene PC Clear Jar – which is a small airport-security approved (as in small enough) container that you can carry-on. Read More →

Las Vegas Trip Report: Hakkasan, Drais, Etc.

Posted on 30 September 2014 by Tak

Poor mobile phone camera shot from the Cosmopolitan gives the idea

Overall Grades

JFK Terminal 2: C+
Delta: B+
Hertz: A-
Cosmopolitan: B+
Wicked Spoon: D
VIP for Free LV: B-
Swake: D
Hakkasan: B-
Drais Nightclub: A
Earl of Sandwich: B-
Virgin America: A-

Traffic to JFK

Lovely as always – as in broken cars, potholes, gridlock and sunny skies.

JFK Terminal 2

Locating this mini-DL terminal from the AirTrain is a little strange given the lack of skywalks, etc. TSA worked efficiently but security was 100% rape scanners w/ courtesy radiation blast. There were a couple restaurants. Did a quick check using beer as barometer. The kiosk selling 12oz. bottles Read More →