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From the World Heritage Inscription:

Macau, a lucrative port of strategic importance in the development of international trade, was under Portuguese administration from the mid-16th century until 1999, when it came under Chinese sovereignty. With its historic street, residential, religious and public Portuguese and Chinese buildings, the historic centre of Macau provides a unique testimony to the meeting of aesthetic, cultural, architectural and technological influences from East and West. The site also contains a fortress and a lighthouse, the oldest in China. It bears witness to one of the earliest and longest-lasting encounters between China and the West, based on the vibrancy of international trade.

If you are ever in Hong Kong, take a day to go and visit Macau. It is to Portugal what Hong Kong was the the British. It is less than an hour away by high speed ferry, and there are boats leaving all the time. Modern Macau is the Asian Las Vegas, with many of the large Vegas hotels also now in Macau: MGM Grand, Sands, Wynn and the Venetian.

The center of Macau is the old city set up by the Portugese. The featured attraction is the facade of St. Paul’s Church which burned down in the 19th Century. There are also other historic buildings in the area, all within walking distance.

I visited Macau on Christmas day 2007 and got to taste Chinese treats such as pork floss and Portuguese items like egg custard.

From the World Heritage inscription:

When the Choson emperor Chongjo moved his father’s tomb to Suwon at the end of the 18th century, he surrounded it with strong defensive works, laid out according to the precepts of an influential military architect of the period, who brought together the latest developments in the field from both East and West. The massive walls, extending for nearly 6 km, still survive; they are pierced by four gates and equipped with bastions, artillery towers and other features.

This photo will take some explanation…

Suwon is about an hour ride by commuter train from Seoul. When I arrived in Suwon I walked to the castle, getting lost on the way in the cold weather. When I got to the castle I just walked up the first stairs I found along the wall of the castle.

When I got to the top I saw a bunch of guys standing around in traditional dress. I figured that because it was an historical site, they must be doing some re-enactment for school kids or something.

When I get to the top of the hill, I find a ton of people, cameras, lights and big cranes. They were shooting a movie! Me, some dopy white guy with a camera, comes over the top of the hill where no one was stations, because they didn’t think anyone would be walking around the part of the grounds. Had I been there a minute or two sooner, I would have walked right into the middle of their shot.

I stuck around for about an hour watching everyone do their thing. I had never been on a movie set before, so I found that much more interesting than the historical relics around me. The director looked like a Korean hippie. I have photos of him and the lead actor, but I have no idea who they are.

Being the only white guy on the set, and having a camera, I was asked if I was from Hollywood. I said no, and was told I had to stop taking photos. I should have lied and just said I worked with Tom Cruise or Steven Spielberg or something.

To this day I have no idea what the name of the movie was. If anyone can help me figure it out, I’d love to track down the movie and watch it. The shooting of the movie took place in Early/mid December of 2007. I have images of the director and lead actor if that can help.

Other than higher than normal amounts of turbulence, my flight from Bangkok was pretty uneventful. I few on Etihad Airlines, the official airlines of the UAE. I had never heard of it before until I booked the flight. It was good flight. The flight attendants had a very unique uniform which is probably the most elegant I’ve ever seen on flight attendants. It was a light white scarf which had half of it tucked under their 60’s pillbox like hat.

I flew into Abu Dhabi not Dubai, so I had to take a bus between the cities. The road between Abu Dhabi was the best road I’ve been on since my trip started. 10 lanes, good condition, and new construction everywhere along the road. New construction is a theme which will pop up again.

Here are my first impressions of Dubai and the UAE:

• The city it reminds me most of is Las Vegas. A brand new city in the desert. Not as glitzy as Vegas, however. More like a cross between Vegas and an office park on the edge of town.
• Everything here is under construction. The city has a very unfinished feel to it. Even buildings not under construction will have sand where there you think there ought to be landscaping.
• The buildings here are not just buildings. Every high rise building seems to have some flair to it that would make it the architectural high point in a smaller city.
• Outside of immigration and customs officials at the airport, every person I’ve had contact with has been either Indian or Filipino. I walked down the street and I would have thought I was in India. Saw a game a sandlot cricket, which I don’t think is really a popular Arab sport.
• There is a giant firewall that filters all the internet traffic in the UAE. Flickr is blocked from Dubai. I tried to use Hotspot Shield as a VPN to stream video from Hulu.com, and it was blocked.
• I get two contradictory impressions of Dubai: 1) This is a giant construction bubble which will all collapse because so much money is being spent on useless projects. 2) Dubai is wisely investing in non-oil related industries and positioning itself for a day when they will not have to rely on oil, and making itself the leading economic center of the Middle East. I think both of them may be true.
• I have read that 25% of all the construction cranes in the world are in Dubai. I don’t know if that’s true, but there are a lot of them. Throw in Abu Dhabi, and I might believe it. Looking out the window where I’m writing this I counted 25 cranes. Construction has to be the biggest industry in the UAE.

I’m sure I’ll have more to say in the upcoming days as I explore the area more. So put it mildly, there is probably no place quite like Dubai on Earth.

From the World Heritage inscription:

Jongmyo is the oldest and most authentic of the Confucian royal shrines to have been preserved. Dedicated to the forefathers of the Choson dynasty (1392–1910), the shrine has existed in its present form since the 16th century and houses tablets bearing the teachings of members of the former royal family. Ritual ceremonies linking music, song and dance still take place there, perpetuating a tradition that goes back to the 14th century.

The Jongmyo Shrine grounds is literally across the street from the Changdeok Palace compound. Like the Changdeok Palace, it suffers from a lack of fixtures and artifacts. Unlike the Changdeok Palace, you can enter the grounds with a ticket and stroll around the facilities to your heart’s content.

I’ve put all the entries into Random.org and pulled out the five winners of the SE Asia contest. I’ll probably end up sending the items from Dubai rather than Bangkok, but they will be sent out in a few days. The winners are:

• Donald Raleigh, Minnesota
• Jon Tanner, Illinois
• Sherry Young, Texas
• Himawan Sutanto, Indonesia
• Jeremy Huggins, Illinois

I’m going to be running another contest while I’m in the Middle East with similar rules and prizes. If you are subscribed to my RSS feed, you don’t have to do anything.

If you want to participate in the new contest, just sign up to my RSS feed or get updates via email. When I start the new contest, I’ll announce it on the site.

From the World Heritage inscription:

In the early 15th century, the Emperor T’aejong ordered the construction of a new palace at an auspicious site. A Bureau of Palace Construction was set up to create the complex, consisting of a number of official and residential buildings set in a garden that was cleverly adapted to the uneven topography of the 58-ha site. The result is an exceptional example of Far Eastern palace architecture and design, blending harmoniously with the surrounding landscape.

The Changdeok Palace sits in central Seoul and is an intact, impressive former seat of the Korean monarchy. Unfortunately, the palace seems rather sterile because all of the artifacts and furnishings have been removed. It is a collection of mostly empty buildings. Unlike most World Heritage sites, you can’t just buy a ticket and stroll about the grounds. You have to be with a tour guide, and tours leave about every hour/half hour in different languages. Tours last about an hour.