Life. Travel. Food. - 17 Cities, 6 Countries, 6 Months - A Great Enlightening

Boats along Phong Phang, Phuket

The last six months have been extraordinary for me, at least they were different from the usual corporate work life and travel. The break gave me time to think, reflect and learn. I met people of different nationalities,  spent time to interact and exchange and learn their culture. I traveled to 17 cities in 6 countries during the six months. I had the opportunity to witness the splendor of many wonderful architectural and art pieces, fascinated by the rich culture and history as well as indulged in local cuisine, wine, beer, coffee and desserts from roadside stall to cafes and restaurants.

The trip started with pampering and relaxing massages in Phuket with lavish seafood and authentic South Thailand's Isan cuisine to the sophisticated metropolitan and busy night markets of Taipei. There was also the  beauty of Tamshui and traditional Long Shan Shi.

Westminster Abbey and The Big Ben, London

I went from the majestic Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace in London to the electrifying Anfield in Liverpool where the passionate Kop sang to the support of the Hillsborough victims to the arrogance of Old Trafford at cold Manchester to the rustic of South London. The visit to Anfield was one of the highlights of this trip.

My Canon camera broke down just two hours into the trip and all the photographs were taken using Iphone4S. There was certainly limitation using a phone camera but it had proven to be effective and reliable.

I witnessed the influence of the Roman empire walking the spectacular Colosseum and tasted the traditional rugged Romano quinto quarto cuisine at Testaccio. Then there was the splendour of St. Peter Basilica at the Vatican.

Coastal view of Salerno

Salerno, a city in Campania in South-western Italy and located off the gulf of Salerno, has splendid coastal shoreline. Salerno Cathedral, built around 1076 and 1085, was believed to house the relic of St. Matthew. Coming to Salerno was another highlights of the trip. I attended my first Italian wedding ceremony capped with a medieval style performance. It was an intercultural wedding between an Italian and a Peruvian.

Vicola Della Neve was one of my favourite restaurant for this trip and they served excellent Salernitana pizza and Polpi salad. Their local dessert, La Scazzetta, a sponge cake filled with cream and wild strawberries covered with strawberry icing, was a must-try. It has a strong flavour of rum or maraschino (a cherry liqueur). It was the nearest gateway to the world famous UNESCO World Heritage Site, Amalfi Coast (or Costiera Amalfitana in Italian) and Positano. It was this leg that I tried aperitivo like Cordino and digestivo like limocello and grappa. Salerno was renounced for their own type of parmesan cheese.


Florence or Firenze, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was the next stop. Florence is noted for its history, culture, Renaissance art and architecture and monuments including Michelangelo's masterpiece, David, at Galleria Dell' Accademia. The Gothic style Florence Cathedral, Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, together with Baptistery and Giotto's Companile, are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site covering the historic center of Florence. The city is also an important center of Italian fashion and is home to the brands including Salvatore Ferragamo, Gucci and Roberto Cavalli. I also had the opportunity to try the best of Tuscan cuisine, bistecca all fiorentina or Florence style T-bone steak, prosciutto Toscano (cured dry ham) with honeydew, Chianti in traditional fiasco and Vin Santo (traditional Italian dessert wine).


At Pisa, I visited La Piazza Del Doumo and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. The seven floor romanesque styled bell tower stand 57m tall and was opened in 1372. The tower leaned at around 3.99 degree.


Venice, another UNESCO World Heritage Site, was also known as City of Water, The Floating City and the City of Canal among others. I did a night river tour around the island. I went to see the process of the making of Murano glass and the tranquil but colorful Burano. There were also the brilliance of the chefs at Osteria Oliva Nera making fantastic Venetian cuisine using traditional ingredients like Zucchinni flower, parmesan, mozzarella and ricotta cheeses, fettucine, squid ink as well as the classic Venetian style calf's livers with polenta. The dinner ended with a glass of frangolino and tiramisu.

Snow-capped Mountain Taken from Plane from Venice to Charleroi

I flew from Venice to Charleroi, Belgium, by Ryanair. It was a pleasant flight and the service was better than my expectation. Charleroi is a city south of Brussels and is a municipality of Wallonia. It has a population of around 600,000. This place was my base for my week in Belgium. Like most European city, Charleroi has a vibrant Sunday market with tradition dating back to 1709 and many museums. French and Dutch were the main spoken languages in most of part of Belgium.


My main mode of transportation traveling within Belgium was their inter-cities trains which was effective and convenient. It is about 55km from Charleroi to Brussels and around 1 hours by train. I enjoyed Brussels. The city offered a good mix of historical and monumental places of interests and modern vibrancy in their restaurants and pubs. Grand Place gave a different visual experience during the day and at night. Then there were the Royal St. Hubert Galleries, Maneken Pis and Atomium Structure. I met the a number of Scottish partying near the Grand Place as there was a Belgium-Scotland FIFA World Cup qualifier the next day. It was great fun to mix around with die-hard soccer fans.

Bruges. Venice of the North. UNESCO World Heritage Site

Bruges was one of my favourite city in this trip. Bruges, another UNESCO World Heritage Site, and had a population of around 150,000. It was also known as "Venice of the North" being also a canal based city. This place, unlike Venice, was well maintained and not as crowded as Venice or Rome. The city was also home to some of the most famous artwork including the Madonna and Child sculpture by Michelangelo and historical architectural.


I took a ride to Namur. It was a wet and windy day with temperature below 10 degree C. Nevertheless, it offered amazing views looking into the city from the different sides of Citadelle or Castle of Namur. The fog made the view more mysterious and picturesque. The castle, built in the 1600s, at the confluence of two major rivers, Sombre and Meuse, was a fortified position command post.  It was classified as a Wallonia's Major Heritage Site. In addition, I also visited the Citadelle de Namur.


Food was certainly my agenda in any leg of my travel. In Belgium, I tasted excellent mussels, Belgian frites, waffles and wide varieties of chocolates.

One of the Gates of Namur Citidel

From Belgium, I took a drive to Kinderdijk. A village 15km east of Rotterdam. The village was located at the confluence of the Lek and Noord rivers and the windmills, built around 1740, for drainage purposes. The 19 windmills was the largest concentration of old windmills and had been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.

Madurodam, is a miniature city located in Scheveningen, The Hague (also known as Den-Haag). It was built in 1952 and featured the major landmarks, history and buildings from the different location of the Netherlands. Then took a drive to the city of Den-Haag for a view of the famous Peace Palace and the International Criminal Court. A separate trip was made to Roermond, Southeastern part of the Netherlands, to the designer outlets for some shopping before I went back to London to watch the Royal Guard Mounting at the Buckingham Palace, M&M World at Leicester Square and the amazing British Museum.

Windmill at Kinderdijk, Netherlands

It was an enjoyable and educational trip. I am planning to share my experiences and photographs of places, restaurants, food and activities that left an impression in the upcoming posts ...