Category Archives: rcl

Lets just start with the difference Dubai has witnessed in the past

The top picture is Dubai in 1990 and the bottom picture is Dubai in 2007. In 17 years, Dubai has become a major geographic landmark on the Persian Gulf. One of the wealthiest cities in the world, Dubai is quickly becoming a key city in global economics. Filled with some of the most amazing infrastructures in the world, including  Burj Khalifa the tallest building on earth, it’s important to realize just how far and how fast Dubai has come.

Though many would say that Dubai was built on the wealth of the Emirates and their oil, I would venture that Dubai was built more on dreams. In particular, the dream of one man, Sheikh Muhammad. Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates, and constitutional monarch of Dubai, Sheikh Muhammad now over seas the rise of Dubai. Started as a infrastructure boom beginning in the 1990’s, Dubai practically rose overnight from the sand in to a 1,600 square mile of buildings, sky scrapers, golf courses, ski  and infrastructure. Even man made islands and indoor ski slopes aren’t counted out of the loop, it’s no wonder the main economy of Dubai is based on its tourism sector. With real estate, trade, and financial services as its most valuable assets, Dubai’s economy is growing strong, especially after a huge financial decline in 2007. But this is a travel guide, so lets visit one of the most EXPENSIVE countries in the world.

Imagine a place where water is actually worth more than oil, now imagine that same place using an ungodly amount of water to power unnecessary luxuries, welcome to Dubai. From living unimaginable luxury to experiencing low class culture, Dubai’s extreme range of inhabitants allows visitors to witness and experience cultures out of the normality. But what this city is known for is luxury.  Starting with Burj Al Arab, widely known as one of the best hotel in the world. I’m fairly sure you have seen this hotel before, a famed piece of infrastructure the Burj Al Arab looks remarkably like a sail. But the “World’s only seven star hotel” comes with  a price tag suited for that nomination, with rooms starting at $1,000 dollars per night to $28,000 dollars per night.

Do you get a sense of where we’re going with this ridiculous city? The luxury doesn’t end there however. There’s also Ski Dubai – a SKI SLOPE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FREAKING DESERT.

Remember what I said about water being expensive here? Think about how much ice would cost. The thought of the carbon foot print that ski slope leaves could give any environment freak an aneurism.  And we could hardly forget the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the entire world. I mean, these people just don’t know when to stop. At a height of 2,717 ft the Burj Khalifa took five years to build and is the shinning jewel of Dubai.

As for shopping, Dubai is home to the largest mall in the world, the “Dubai Mall.”

If you are the son of an oil family from a nearby emirates, own a fortune five hundred company, or have the midas touch than Dubai is the perfect place for you.

I wanted to talk more about the food scene in Dubai, but unfortunately I couldn’t find many information other than the fact that the wealth of the city allows for cuisine from all over the world. Fancy cuisine too, with a Gordan Ramsey restaurant and five star world famous establishments. The simple act of googling Dubai food made my wallet lighter.

Gordon Ramsy’s restaurant in Dubai

It’s important to note that there is also an entire subculture of Dubai not built upon the wealth of it’s more fortunate inhabitants. With much of the population built upon the backs of Indian laborers and extremely poor workers from the middle east, a subculture of Dubai exists outside of the boulevards and paved streets. This is what I meant when I said that you can experience both sides of the extreme here. Like wise to their wealthier counter-part, the less rich and decadent side of Dubai is also an important part of the city’s identity. With their own cultures, traditions and food, these people contribute to the rich character of such an amazing city.

The next time you’re in the middle east and have a couple million dollars burning through your pockets, than perhaps think about visiting Dubai. Oh..and also don’t forget to take me with you

I was born in China, but I’ve also lived in Japan for a number of years. This was due to the fact that my parents got their PhD degree’s in Sanco, Japan.
And so at the tender age of three, young Jiaxi Wei was plucked from the familiar grasp of MOTHER CHINA and was suddenly dropped in to the foreign and strange lap of Japan.

But to be fair, I loved Japan. Like, A lot. Of all the countries that I’ve ever been to (which really isn’t that many), Japan is definitely the most beautiful. Regardless if you’re in the city or country side, in my experience no country is as clean and as good looking as Japan. People are genuinely nice here, like Canadian nice. It’s less of a factor that everyone is always happy go lucky and more because the Japanese culture puts incredible emphasis on being polite. If you ever ride the subway system in Tokyo, when a pregnant woman walks in to a Tokyo subway, there would suddenly be at least 10 empty seats on the car.
When I was 7, I had the opportunity to live in Tokyo with my pops. My experience in Tokyo was short-lived but wonderful, stuck in a cramped one bedroom studio with three people. But in all regards, Tokyo truly is an amazing city.

The capital of Japan, Tokyo is home to about 13 million people. The design of the city is quite unique, with 23 different “Wards” of the city. Each ward, acts almost like a city-state, partially self governing. I lived in the outskirts of Tokyo, what you Penn-staters might relate as someone saying they live “out-side of Philly.”
The city itself is well situated near the coast and is the economic center of most of Japan. Most of the city is home to merchant class, and walking through the city center you can see why Tokyo is known as the +Alpha World City. But there’s more to Tokyo than finance and money, to me Tokyo is an incredibly fun city.

For 7 year old Josh, Tokyo was a magical place that Dad might take you every other weekend to buy expensive gifts and eat crazy cheap street food. There is always something to do, whether it would be touring the city center to go to a karaoke bar with the family, it’s a hard case to be bored in Tokyo. 

Shibuya Crossing

Starting with Shibuya, widely considered the Times Square of Tokyo directly in the financial district of downtown Tokyo. If your game plan includes shopping, Shibuya is the perfect place to start your Tokyo tour. Though it has to be said that Tokyo is one of the most expensive cites to live in, listed as the most expensive city in the world for expatriate employees.
As for me, I’m more interested in the local cuisine. You can obviously find first class dining in Tokyo from tastes all over the world. You can also find the best Japanese style seafood, caught and delivered at the world famous Tsukiji fish market. But for me, a city’s street food is what defines their culinary identity, and Tokyo does street food well. My favorite dish in the entire world is a simple Japanese street vendor food, Takoyaki. Small octopus filled pastry ball covered in fish flakes, Japanese mayonnaise and the works. Comparable only to Osaka, Tokyo food scene is vibrant and delicious. 

Takoyaki Balls

After a long day of shopping and eating your heart out, the last thing you should know about Tokyo is that, it’s a very strange city. Weird and quirky, often even a little bit too weird, Tokyo is almost incomparable to American cities. From “Maid-Cafes” where young college age Japanese girls tend to a cafe style restaurant dressed completely in a french-maid costume (it’s so popular in Japan that you can almost thing of maid-cafes as the Starbucks in Japan), to Capsule Hotels where you can literally rent a hole in the wall, Tokyo is truly weird and wonderful.

(Left – Maid cafe employee.
Right- Capsule Hotels)

A beautiful country, Japan does not disappoint its tourist. Clean, friendly and interesting, Tokyo is a perfect city to visit, just make sure you give yourself a budget when you do visit.

Next time we take a tour of my city, BaltimoreMaryland.

A little over a year ago I had the amazing experience of traveling to Honduras for a service trip.

During my freshman year of High school, I attended a Model United Nations conference. Each year at the conference there is a key note speaker, and for my freshman year that speaker was Shin Fujiyama.
Shin started an organization call Students Helping Honduras. I was very much interested in doing global service work, one for the service part and two for the chance to go somewhere new. So, three years later I found myself to be the president of my high school’s own Students Helping Honduras(SHH) club.

July of 2012, five high school students boarded a plane ride to Houston, preparing for their first adventure out of the country without their parents. I still remember being so entirely excited about leaving, mostly because I didn’t have ANYONE to watch over me. We were dogs without leashes, unbounded and excited.
The plane ride to San Pedro Sula was not really all that exciting, no bags were stolen and the tiny aircraft shook violently upon landing. But when we finally touched down, the humidity of the country greeted us with a punch to the face.

The five of us wandered around the tiny airport looking for anything that might be related to SHH. Eventually we came across a smiling honduran gentleman holding a sign with the SHH symbol on it, “are you the students from America?”
Once the formalities were exchanged, he took our bags and lead us on an old school American School bus.

3 hours bus drive finally led to the compound that SHH built. It wasn’t anything impressive, a chain linked fence, rows upon rows of cinderblock homes with aluminum roofs. There were a few kids kicking around a soccer ball in the middle of the compound. We eventually meet Shin Fujiyama, the president of SHH and he explained to us what we were there to do for the next few days.

I won’t get into all the fun we had and the hard work we put into building the school and orphanage. (I’ll you show you guys a picture of cementing though.) Instead I’ll explain what Honduras was like.

The compound was in a rundown state, there were barely any spaces between the homes and there was one water tower for the entire compound. The ground was packed earth and there smelled of sewage almost everywhere you went.
Yet…It was one of the happiest places I’ve ever been.

Shin explained how an earthquake a few years ago tore down an entire village close by and almost everyone here was a refugee at one point. They had many options to move but choose to stay at El Villa De Soliada because of the education that SHH could offer their children.
I realized the happiness of a place wasn’t based on the wealth of it’s residents or the amount of fancy infrastructure it had, it was based on the people. The town people almost never have hot water, a family of 5 live in a house the size of two dorm rooms and the idea of having home internet was astounding to them, but they were truly the happiest people I have ever met.

It’s experiences like these that makes me want to travel. To meet people who are happy and grateful, for how much or how little they have.

The next post will be a location all of you should soon be very familiar with.

If you have any questions about SHH, please feel free to ask! It was one of the greatest experiences
I think I will ever have