Bavarian Mountain, Germany

My German friend who hosted me in his place in Miesbach, Germany, Christian Beil, brought me to a mountain, I forgot its name, but it's not far from his place, also in Bavaria. My legs were so rusted, I have not climbed a mountain for several years before that, I nearly gave up on our way up but I was ashamed to tell Christian that I wanted to go back.

Some of the steep portion of our climb. Fallen trees, most likely due to old age. A mountain house or cottage, upper right.

The house or cottage not far from the summit. Or perhaps it's a backpackers' hotel during summer. Lower right, the other side of the mountain, opposite Munich side.

Ahhh, the summit! I thanked Christian profusely for pushing me then because he already noticed that I was having a hard time walking further. Behind me is a lake and further behind that is Munich city.

More views below the mountain.

On our way back to Miesbach.

I think it was the last mountain that I have climbed since then. Up to now, I haven't climbed a mountain yet, whereas in 1993-95, I used to climb a mountain once every two months on average, I think.

Austria Highway

My photos in my computer could be gathering "rust" now, have to publish them as I may not be able to visit these places again....

After my seminar in Gummersbach, Germany in late October 2008, I visited again my German friend, Christian Beil, and his family (wife Astrid, a Filipina, and their two young sons) in Miesbach, Bavaria, southern Germany, 1st week of November 2008. Christian picked me up at the Munich central train station then brought me to his place, about an hour by car.

It was a nice trip. From Miesbach, me and my co-participants to the seminar were brought to Cologne. Some took the plane out, I took the train. Cologne to Mannheim. It was the regular train that was fast. Then I transferred train for the Mannheim-Munich, this time, the ICE train, and it was running very fast! Should be at 200 to 300 kph on a straight path.

Miesbach is not far from Austrian border. Christian brought me to Austria twice during my 4 days stay in their house. First in Salzburg, famous for the background scene in the movie "Sound of Music", then in a glacier. Below are my photos of the highways between Germany and Austria.

I was fascinated by their fantastic road infrastructure, well in almost all parts of Europe I guess, and other developed countries. Huge trucks and many cars would be whizzing by 24 hours a day on those highways crisscrossing many European countries. Here, the scenes are more mountainous, should be on our way to the glacier.

The white tops of the mountain are not snow, not yet.  These were rocky mountains, no vegetation.

Lots of mountains to see on our way to the glacier.

I am really lucky to have friends like Christian who went out of their way to host and tour me. Heck, he filed for leave in his work, he's a lawyer, just to show me around.

Pan Pacific Hotel Singapore

In mid-October 2009, I was one of the panel speakers in a big international conference, the Pacific Rim Policy Exchange mainly organized by the Americans for Tax Reforms (ATR, US), Property Rights Alliance (PRA, US), International Policy Network (IPN, UK) and about two more free market think tanks.Venue was the Pan Pacific Hotel Singapore. The organizers paid for my plane fare and hotel, no honorarium but no problem because the hotel was really fantastic.

Below are photos from the hotel website. I think I was able to go to the rooftop restaurant, the protruding round shape at the top of the hotel, just for a sight seeing :-)

Succeeding photos are from my camera phone. Sorry, low resolution. Inside that huge structure is a hollow or open space, one can see almost all aisles of the hotel. The glass elevator also allows the passengers to have a look at all the floors and aisles, nice. Bottom right is a lobby restaurant.

These are the views from my room, the giant wheel I think can be seen from the other side, not from my room.

Finally, my room, really nice. Since my hotel was already paid for, including transport to and from the airport, and Cebu Pacific fares were cheap, I brought my wife and daughter, Elle Marie, then 3 years old. She enjoyed the pool but I never had the chance to take a dip. Whenever I go to a conference and I'm a speaker, I just work-work-work, or join all the activities outlined by the organizers.

There is also a Pan Pacific Hotel here in Manila but I haven't been there yet. That's the irony :-)

Taiwan 2: Evergreen Laurel Taipei Hotel

As I posted in Taiwan Skyways last November 20, 2011, it was my first time to visit Taiwan. I went there as one of the panel speakers of the Conference of Generic Drugs Asia (CGDA) 2011 sponsored by the Pharmaceutical Society of Taiwan and the Federation of Asian Pharmaceutical Associations (FAPA).

They put us in Evergreen Laurel Taipei Hotel, http://evergreen-taipei.hotel.com.tw/eng/. The staff are very friendly and courteous, they also speak good English. These photos are from the hotel website.

These photos below I took myself. The main lobby, then elevator. The lobby is not very big but spacious enough to assemble a group. And I like the mirrors in the elevators.

This is the main restaurant in the 2nd floor for the buffet breakfast. Nice food. Lower photo is the wine/beverage section.

Finally, my room. I liked it, especially the complimentary internet, fast connection. As usual, I didn't have time to watch tv, I read and write as much as I can, then sleep :-)

Overall, I like my stay in this hotel. Thanks to FAPA and the PST which sponsored my trip (plane fare + hotel).

Ronald Reagan National Airport, Arlington, Virginia

I've been to Washington DC twice, in May 2004 then November 2009, both on events organized by the Atlas Economic Research Foundation and they gave me a travel scholarship. The airport is not big, the important thing is that it was named after one of America's greatest Presidents.

Above photos I got from web, below and succeeding photos I took last November 13, 2009. Upon entering the airport, there isn't much to see, just go to your airline to check in, then walk not far to your boarding gate.

Euro Cafe, this seems to be the most visible food shop in that part of the terminal near my boarding gate.

I was thankful to a friend way back in UP in the 80s, Dr. Butch Arroyo, who teaches at the Johns Hopkins University in DC. He hosted me for 2 nights each in 2004 and 2009 in his house in Alexandria, Virginia. These are my short side trips after my conferences in DC area.

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Minnesota

I have been to Minneapolis-St. Paul airport about 4x perhaps since this is another Delta Airlines hub in the US, and I often fly Delta when I go to the US. These photos below I took last November 17, 2009, then May 24, 2010, my last visit to the airport. My flight then was Houston-Atlanta-Minneapolis-Narita-Manila. But our Minneapolis-Narita flight was aborted while the plane was already somewhere near or in Alaska, we flew back. See my stories below, sometime November or December 2009.

The airport is huge, also glass-steel structure. I walked around the various terminals, there are many walkalators and many shops to see.

Some of the exhibits hanging on the ceiling, could be the Wright Brothers when they first flew, I don't remember these. The man bottom right is an airport police of Asian descent, he agreed to his photo taken.

More photos of the aisles and shops.

Various souvenir shops, coffee and food shops, bookstores, etc.

The main entrance perhaps, top photos. Below are the vans and trucks that bring exiting passengers to their respective hotels.

If my flight did not experience a technical problem, I would not have exited this airport and saw some areas of the state outside the airport.

Indianapolis International Airport, Indiana

I set foot in Indiana, USA for the first time last November 2009; arrived at Indianapolis International Airport November 13, departed November 17. I came from Washington, DC then to attend the Atlas Freedom talks, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall. My destination in Indiana is Terre Haute, about an hour by car from the airport, to visit a friend, Dr. Leonid Nemenzo and his wife Lyn and son Luis. Leonid is a physician and younger brother of a good friend, Dr. Fidel Nemenzo who is a Math Professor at UP.

The airport that time was new, opened only about a few months earlier, so Leonid nearly got lost going to the airport. Besides, they just moved in from Georgia that time, so he was not too familiar with Indiana.

Another glass-steel structure. It's located in a rather remote place away from Indianapolis city center. So it has a huge space for the terminals and the runways.

I noticed that there were not too many passengers then. Or maybe I just got used to many Asian airports that are always teeming with so many people and passengers.

I liked this long wall of mirrors, upper right photo. The spacious pick up area for arriving passengers, lower right.

It was getting cold that time in that state. I was very glad when I saw Leonid picking me up at the arrival area. I invented a joke then, I told Leonid, "Wala akong nakitang Indian na polis dito, puro Kano na polis lang", he laughed.

Incheon-Seoul Airport, S. Korea

I've been to S. Korea 3x (1996, 2001, 2006) but last April 24, 2009, I only landed at Incheon-Seoul International Airport to change plane. I was going to Los Angeles, California, to attend the Atlas Liberty Forum, and I took Korean Air. My flight then was Manila-Incheon-Narita-LA, I didn't know that my plane would make a stop over at Narita-Tokyo airport. On my flight back after more than a week, it was San Francisco-Incheon-Manila.

As usual among industrialized Asian economies, the airport is huge, typical glass-steel structure. Here's the plan and the view from the plane.

Lots of nice and huge welcoming photos greet the arriving international passengers. I like staring at those huge monitors for flight departures and arrivals. They are in major lobbies of the airport.

Glass and steel, allowing natural light to pass through, saving electricity. Modern and silent walkalators abound.

Korean Air's crew are very young and courteous ladies. I think the oldest crew I saw was late 20s or early 30s. One more reason why fly Asian airlines -- the crew are a lot younger and more friendly, food is nice, unlike many US airlines where the stewards/crew are generally old and they can be less friendly sometimes.

* I also wrote this last June 12, 2007,

Seoul, S. Korea, October 2006

It was my 3rd trip to Seoul. The first was in 1996, when I attended the "Technology and Policy" 2-weeks seminar organized by Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). I was working at the House of Representatives then. The 2nd was in 2001 I think, when I joined the University of the Philippines (UP) PDE study tour. This time, I attended the 2nd Asia-Pacific Taxpayers Union (APTU) meeting, hosted by the Korea Taxpayers Association (KTA).

One thing that struck me when I arrived in Seoul this time was the new airport -- it's so big, so modern. The runways are long, and the airport is far from the city, nearly 1 hour away by car.

Since this is my 3rd visit to the city, my impression of it remains more or less the same -- generally clean, crowded with many buildings, many many cars, and few public parks.

Traditional korean food never fails to amaze me. Lots of raw herbs and grass-like vegetables, spicy food, meat and seafoods, and of course, the always present kimchi! I like kimchi, even if my eyes sometimes would be teary because of its hot and spicy taste....