World In My Eyes

Record shops in Berlin 

• Space Hall: Zossenerstraße 33, 19061 Berlin; Open Mon-Wed 11am-8pm Thur-Fri 11am-10pm Sat 11am-8pm; Get there by U7 Gneisenaustrasse, Bus 140
• Comeback Records: Hasenheide 9, 10967, Neukölln; Open Mo.-Fr. 12:00 - 18:00, Sa. 12:00 - 16:00; Get there by U8, U7 & M41 Hermanplatz
• Musik Department: Kastanianallee 41, 10119 Berlin; Open Mon-Fri 11am-8pm Sat 11am-6pm; Get there by M8 Ahrensfelde, U8 Rosenthaler Platz
• Galactic Supermarket: Petersburgerstraße 89, 10247 Berlin; Open Mon-Sat noon-8pm; Get there by U5 & M10 Frankfurter Tor
• Fashion Killers: Wrangelstr.48, 10997, Kreuzberg; Open Mo.-Fr. 11:00 - 20:00, Sa. 11:00 - 18:00; Get there by U1. Schlesisches Tor
• Holy’s Hit Records: Solmsstraße 33, 10961, Kreuzberg; Open Mo - Sa: 13:00 - 19:00; Get there by U7 & U6 Mehringdamm
• Melting Point: Kastanienallee 55, 10119, Mitte; Open Mo-Sa: 12:00-20:00; Get there by U8 Rosenthaler Platz, M1 Zionskirchplatz
• Power Park Recordstore: Boxhagenerstrasse.19, 10245, Friedrichshain; Open Mo. - Sa. 12:00 - 20:00; Get there by U5 Frankfurter Tor
• O-Ton Recordstore: Krossener Str.18, 10245, Friedrichshain; Mo.-Su. 12:00 - 20:00; Get there by U1 Warschauer Str. & S-Bahn Warschauer Str
• Hard Wax (for Electronica): Paul-Linke-Ufer 44A, 10999 Berlin; Open Mon-Sat noon-8pm; Get there by U1 & U8 Kottbuser Tor
• Rotation Boutique (for Eclectronica): Weinbergsweg 3, 10119, Mitte; Open Mo-Th 12 - 20; Fr 14 -22; Sa 14 – 20; Get there by U8 & M1 Rosenthaler Platz
• Jazz Dreams: Hermann-Hesse-Straße 25, 13156, Pankow, Mo – Fr: 14:00 – 19:00, Sa: 12.00 – 18.00; Get there by Tram M1 & M50, Bus 107; 250
• Oye: Oderbergerstraße 4, 10435 Berlin; Open Mon-Fri 1pm-8pm Sat noon-7pm; Get there by U2 Eberswalderstr. & M1 Eberswalderstr
• Soul Trade: Sandestraße 29, 12047 Berlin; Open: Mon-Fri 1pm-8pm Sat 1pm-6pm; Get there by U8 Schönleinstr
• Heisse Scheiben: Ohlauer Str. 44, 10999, Kreuzberg; Open Mo.-Fr. 12:00 - 19:00; Get there by U1 Görlitzer Bahnhof, U8 Schönleinstr
• Wowsville Records: Ohlauer Str.33, 10999, Kreuzberg; Open Mo-Sat 14:00 - 20:00; Get there by U1 Görlitzer Bahnhoh, U8 Schönleinstrasse, M29 Ohlauerstrasse

• Wailing Wall and Jewish Quarter (Western Wall)
• Haram Al-Sharif (Temple Mount)
• Church of the Holy Sepulchre
• Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Sun to Wed: 09:00-17:00 Thur 09:00-20:00 Free
• Dominus Flevit Church
• St. James Cathedral, St. Mark’s Chapel and Armenian Quarter
• Citadel (Tower of David)
• Via Dolorosa (Way of Sorrow)
• Church of All Nations (Basilica of the Agony)
• Mount of Olives
• Mount Zion
• Church of the Visitation
• Church of Saint Anne
• Church of Saint Mary Magdalena (Russian Orthodox)
• Shrine of the Book (Dead Sea Scrolls)

• Bahai World Center, Shrine of the Báb and Terraces
• Cable Car to Stella Maris Carmelite Monastery
• Hof Hacarmel Beach
• Ursula Malbin Sculpture Park
• Arab market at Wadi Nisnas
• German Colony
• Hof Dor (beach north of Haifa) 

Tipping practices:
Germany: Service and VAT are included in bills. But round up or 5-10% tip may be used as rule of thumb. Credit cards may not always be accepted.
Israel: 10-15% - 10% is usually the minimum, with 12% an average tip (tip in cash).
Nepal: Hotel 10%; Restaurants 5-10% (some service fee may already be in bills, be aware); tour guide US$10 per day; taxi round up or small changes
Japan: tipping is not common, but some service charge may be added to the bills.


Money Exchange:

Source: ExchangeRates.org.uk

Source: ExchangeRates.org.uk

Source: ExchangeRates.org.uk

Source: ExchangeRates.org.uk

I have planned this RTW trip since early 2015. In short, I am going to travel to 4 different regions in the world. I pick 4 because it is for my 40th. I could have picked 40 I guess, if I am rich enough. Unfortunately I am not. :) There is always a "Someday". Anyway, I will fly in one direction and make one circle around the world. That is so my kind of trip, you have no idea. It will give me a sense of accomplishment, I can smell it already, even though I have not even started the trip yet. It will be in mid-November to December. The whole trip will take about a little more than 3 weeks. I wish I can go longer, but there are lot of constraints with vacation days from work, and money of course. It is all good though. I cannot be too greedy. All flights and accommodations are already booked, as well as some local tours and rail pass. To me, the planning itself is 1/3 of a trip. I like to have an rough idea where I am going and what I might be interested to see while I am there. That's the control freak side of me speaking.

I will start my trip in Berlin. I have been to Germany before, but have never been to Berlin. Growing up in the eighties, I heard a lot about how Berlin was divided in halves by East and West Germany, and the dramatic fall of the Berlin Wall towards the end of 80s made the city even more fascinating. It makes a good first stop, if I want to travel around the world in one circle, each lag should be in a manageable distance. From Boston crossing the Atlantic to Berlin takes about 10 hours or so, definitely doable. In Berlin, aside from the Wall, I particular want to see the Holocaust Memorial. That kind of links to my second stops.

After Berlin, I will travel to Israel. I would like to go to the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem as well, to make a contrast. The Wailing wall was another landmark I have wanted to see for a long time. I guess in my head, my first two stops are somewhat related, but yet they are extremely different. In Israel, aside from Jerusalem, I will also visit Tel Aviv, Haifa, Dead Sea area as well as a little side trip to Petra in Jordan. Paul will join me the first 4 days of this Israel lag in my trip.

After Israel, I will go solo again, and fly via Istanbul to Kathmandu, Napel. I had planned this before the destructive earthquakes occurred in Apr 2015. Many times I want to change my itinerary to go to India instead, but my heart still inclines to stick with Napel. Another destination I have wanted to visit for a long time. Only a short 5 days (extended from the original 4 days because Turkish Airlines changed their schedule) trip. Mt. Everett is what I wanted to see, I am not going to climb or anything like that, but the thoughts of getting near it gives me chills.

Via Hong Kong, though I am not getting out of the airport, I will fly to my last stop Hokkaido, Japan. I thought of going to Hokkaido last year already, and had done a lot of researching about Hokkaido. But at the end, I decided to go to Argentina instead. Not to waste my research and also, it is prefect last stop before I will cross the Pacific to return to Boston. For the Hokkaido lag, I will join with Bryan. We will get the rail pass and travel to some mountain area for a hot spring ryokan experience. I am also looking forward to trying out different type of ramen, and seeing the majestic Japanese cranes.

Starting a new travel blog again. This time is for my upcoming (sort-of) round-the-world trip for my 40th birthday! For many, me included, 40th is a definitive milestone. I remember when I was 20 years ago, I couldn't wait to be 40, and here I am, I have just crossed that line. Looking back, it has been an interesting 20 years, to say the least, there are many highs as well as many lows. Even if I could have lived my life again and make amends, I don't think I would have changed much, I mean, life to me is all about the experiences, through experiencing different people and different scenarios, you continue to learn about yourself and this ridiculous world we are living in, and all you can do is to try your best to cop with all these ups and downs along the way. The truth is, when you pull yourself out of your little ego and looking back at your life from up and above, these ups and downs are actually pretty insignificant, you are still more or less heading to the same direction. So, fear not, my child, go explore, try everything once! Ok... not everything, but a lot of things anyway. There is certainly an adventurous voice inside me keeps telling me to go to places I have never been, try something I have never done before. We'll see where that leads me this time.