Green Auckland, Blue Chamonix and Grey London

"Kiwis are so spoiled!!" This is my conclusion after having been to nine cities in the past six months.

Starting from Auckland > Hong Kong > Taipei > Melbourne > Shanghai > Sydney > Gold Coast > Chamonix > London.

Auckland - The photo is taken during a trip to Akaroa, a small but relaxing and beautiful town in the South Island of NZ. The weather was mild and the tap water tasted so sweet! (Read on, you will know why I say that.)

Hong Kong - A town with lots of beautiful modern buildings. Shopping is the greatest (Mas said that he will not shop anywhere else but HK)! With most of my family being there, HK will always be on my travel list, even though the air pollution really puts me off!

Taipei - The food was great and cheap, a city with a strong Japanese influence. The Taipei 101 is a beautiful building, but unfortunately, seeing all the buildings in Hong Kong, it doesn't really impress me much.

Melbourne - Other than the hot hot hot summer, Melbourne is a very fun and beautiful city! It is almost as green as Auckland. Food was "O" for awesome! Especially, the Lebanese and Malaysian food that I had this time... was just too good!

Shanghai - The first impression of this city where my ancestors came from is - a mix of modernism and traditional! It has everything, from expensive fancy diners to food stands by the train stations; from tall modern buildings to old Chinese style houses only an hours drive away. It is a city I want to visit again, being there only once is just not enough.

Sydney - I have lost track of how many times I have been to Sydney. It is a city where my favorite cousins live, that's why this city is always on my travel list as well! The one thing I really love Sydney for is the seafood market, especially the oysters (not the very big Tasmanian ones though, I think the one I love are the rock oysters)!!! You only need one and it refuses to leave your taste buds alone!!!!

Gold Coast - After five days on the beach and three theme parks, I am good with theme parks for a long while. It was a great holiday destination with my young cousins, the activities are no brainer, the transportation to all the major theme parks are great, food was good and not too pricey. Except the buffet offered by the Four Winds Revolving Restaurant, it is not very good value for money. There is no surprises with the food, but for AU$55 per head, I can have a much better dinner somewhere else. Oh, the revolving bit, it is a nice idea, until I realised that the restaurant is right by the pacific ocean, so imagine what can you see most of the time at night ... complete darkness.

Chamonix Mont Blanc - The ski fields are amazing!! The clear blue sky is outstanding, the trails were wide and the snow was so fluffy, it makes it so easy to snowboard on! If you find yourself continously falling on your bum on slushy snow, remember, it is not your fault! Oh, almost forgot, I found a bakery in the Chamonix town centre, the pizza was the BEST!! It is the basic cheese, tomato and herbs pizza, it was so moist, the thickness of the base was perfect! Just writing about it now makes me hungry!!!

London - Have been here for almost three weeks now, all the things that people told me about, the grey weather, the confusing traffic, the shocking bank system are all true. No surprises there. What is surprising is the tap water, it tastes funny, not sweet at all, needs to be filtered before consumption, what's up with that?! However, it is a city with beautiful old buildings, they have such strong character, I love looking at them. Also, the convenience to travel around Europe is a paramount advantage.

That is it for my first blog post, come back for more later! Sweet?!