The last time I visited Asia was in May 2014 and I went to Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. This time I chose to travel to the Philippines in South East Asia and Japan in North Asia. I like traveling in Asia because it’s relatively easy to get from place to place, in South East Asia it’s summer all year, and your money goes a lot further.
For instance, in the Philippines most meals cost about $2-5 and are delicious. Now, of course, I can afford to splurge and I did have some high-end meals, as there are quite a few Michelin Star restaurants in Asia, but something is satisfying about knowing you are getting a great meal at a cheap price.
The Flight
Of course, I booked a business class ticket on Cathay Pacific Airlines. Cathay Pacific offers one of the world’s best business class seats and although the price tag is quite high at $14,000 round trip U.S., once you have the luxury of taking a long haul flight in business class to Asia, it’s very difficult to go back to the economy, especially if you are 6’0 tall like me.
When you fly in business class you get a seat that converts into a flatbed, your own 24″ LCD monitor with an entertainment system, and several gourmet meals that rival some 5-star restaurants I have been to. Is it worth $14,000? Probably not based on the amount of time and effort that it would take the average person to earn this amount of money at a regular job, but the fact is trading allows you to experience some things in life that most people never will, so I say go for it.
Boston to Hong Kong
I flew from Boston to Hong Kong and then from Hong Kong to Manila. One of the perks of business class is access to a business class lounge in Hong Kong which allows you to access a personal bathroom to take shower. After a 16 hour flight, there’s nothing better than hopping in a rain shower and eating a good meal.
The Wing Lounge – HKG Airport
Why I Like Asia
The other advantage to Asia is that lodging is much cheaper than in the U.S. and Europe. I chose to use Airbnb this time around rather than staying in hotels, but regardless, in most parts of the Philippines (excluding Manila), $100 per night buys you a 4-5 star hotel. If you don’t mind a budget hotel or a hostel you can even stay for as little as $7-10 a night, but that’s not for me! Fortunately, trading gives me the option to enjoy high-end accommodations at a reasonable rate.
The other thing I like about the Philippines is that basically everyone speaks English. Due to U.S. soldiers being stationed in the Philippines years ago, the country adopted English as their second language. This makes things a lot easier since you can communicate with people there. Not only this but Filipino’s are pretty big on American culture. In other Asian countries, I have visited most people understand at least a little English, but that’s not always the case.
Some people think the food in the Philippines is bad. I completely disagree. While there are some less appealing dishes, much of the food is incredibly delicious. It’s not as good as the food in Thailand (which is my favorite food on earth), but none the less it’s still delicious. It really just depends if you are open-minded to try new things. If not, they also have all of the U.S. chain restaurants, although I have no interest in eating that kind of food when I travel to the opposite side of the world! I prefer to eat the local food because it’s super fresh and unprocessed, unlike all the junk we have here in the US. I ate seafood every day I was in the Philippines and it was so damn good!
Calamansi and Buko (Coconut) Smoothies
The Philippines
The Philippines is a country made up of more than 7000 islands. Many of these are undeveloped or even completely unknown, so there is basically a lifetime of places to visit in the Philippines. This actually was my second time visiting the Philippines, but I definitely will be back again.
Capital City, Manilla
My first stop in the Philippines was Manila. Although Manila gets a pretty bad rap due to pollution, horrible traffic, and crime, the truth is Makati, the business district in Manila is clean, safe, and offers a good amount of things to do at least for a short stay. I stayed there for 3 days which I think was the perfect amount of time. When you go outside of Makati, Manila isn’t really a nice place but Makati has many restaurants, shopping malls, and other attractions. I also visited Bonifacio Global City (BGC) which is a newer part of Manila that is currently being developed and is clean and ultra-modern. This is where many clubs and bars are located along with tons of high-end restaurants and shopping
BGC Bonifacio Global City (BGC)
Trikes – Common Transportation in the Philipines
Cebu City
My next stop was Cebu, an island in the Southern Philippines which is about a 1-hour plane flight from Manila. The cost of a ticket is only $40 which makes it so easy to see different islands. Cebu City is the second-largest city in the Philippines. It is quite cheap and is home to quite of few ex-pats that have relocated from the U.S. or other countries like the U.K. and Australia. I was told that a person can live comfortably on about $12,000 a year in Cebu. You can earn $12,000 in a single trade so this is interesting to know! When I say comfortably I mean you can live in a nice furnished apartment with a pool, gym, and tennis courts. You may even be able to get a personal chef and a maid! In Cebu, I had a problem with my Airbnb rental and ended up staying in the Crown Regency hotel in a Junior Suite for just $45 a night! In the U.S. you probably could rent out a roach-infested motel in the ghetto for one hour for $45…
Crown Regency hotel
IT Park – Cebu City
IT Park Under Construction November – 2016
Jeepneys – Buses in The Philippines
The advantage to Cebu City over Manila is that some amazing islands are a short boat ride away. Cebu is well known for its white-sand beaches which put our beaches in the U.S. to shame. I am not kidding when I tell you these are near perfect with warm water all year and sand that feels like powdered sugar. The average temperature while I was in Cebu was about 85 F (29 C), whereas it was a steamy 95 F (35 C) in Manila. November is the end of the rainy season and the beginning of the dry season. Fortunately, it barely rained while I was there other than a few passing showers at night.
Bohol
After visiting Cebu I took a 2-hour ferry to the island of Bohol. Bohol is a beautiful island which is located southeast of Cebu. The temperature was a little milder at about 80 F (26 C). Bohol has some incredible beaches and is a super relaxing place to visit for several days or a week. In my case, I stayed for 4 days, but I would love to go back and stay for a few weeks. There are many things to do in Bohol, but I chose to just relax and stay in the South Palms Resort, which had really nice beaches and an amazing seafood buffet every night. I also visited the famous Alona beach to sample the nightlife and local cuisine.
South Palms Resort
A View From My Villa
Photo of Me in Bohol at South Palms
Panglo Island
Japan
After leaving Bohol I flew back to Manila and the next morning, caught a business class flight on Delta Airlines to Tokyo. Delta wasn’t quite as nice as Cathay Pacific but it still was much better than flying economy in the US. The 4-hour flight flew by pretty quickly and I soon arrived in Tokyo.
Tokyo is a completely different world from the Philippines and especially the U.S. Japan is a developed country yet it is one of the few countries where not many people speak English. This was a bit daunting at first when I realized most people don’t even know a single word of English (or they didn’t want to speak it), but I soon realized it is still is easy to get around.
Americans are definitely spoiled ( and lucky) in that we are the only country that doesn’t have to learn a different language to communicate with people from the rest of the world. After the first day, I quickly decided it was essential to purchase a Japanese LTE sim card from Bic Camera in Shibuya and once I did this Google Maps and Google Translator helped me out a great deal.
Tokyo
Tokyo is a massive city. It’s similar to NYC however it’s incredibly clean, safe, and easier to get around due to a great public transportation system. The weather in Japan was colder which was a big change from the Philippines, but it was a bit warmer than where I live North East of the U.S., so I handled it okay. It was technically winter and was around 45 F (7 c).
I decided to stay in an area of Tokyo called Roppongi. I picked the Grand Hyatt hotel and although it was priced at about $700 a night, I feel it was worth the price. It probably was one of the nicest hotels I have ever stayed at besides at the Conrad Rangali Island in the Maldives.
Three people actually took me up to my room and helped me settle in. The service at this hotel was impeccable and the positive side of Japan is that tipping is never necessary and is actually considered rude! The automatic flushing toilette was definitely the highlight and I am thinking about importing one from Japan for my own bathroom!
Much like NYC, there are hundreds of neighborhoods in Tokyo. The difference is that rather than having an address as we do in the U.S., Japan uses blocks instead. This makes it hard to find places because many establishments are in multi-level buildings which are all stacked up on top of each other. The sign below was in English however most of the signs like this are not, so it’s not easy determining what floor a place is located on. Nonetheless, once I got the hang of navigating with Google maps, it wasn’t that hard to get around.
Shibuya Crossing
Shibuya
Ice Cream Machine in Tokyo
Harijuku
Tokyo Metro
Roppongi
Roppongi is an area of Tokyo where many foreigners live. It is home to some of the large investment banks like Goldman Sacs and Barclays. Although I would have preferred to stay somewhere a little quieter I still enjoyed this location as it was close to the metro and therefore it was easy to get from place to place.
Eiffel Tower in Roppongi, Tokyo?
It’s also a big party place with many clubs and bars which stay open until 5 am each day. The one downside to Tokyo is that the metro shuts down at 12:00 pm. Of course, you can take taxi’s but they can be very expensive so the fact that the Grand Hyatt was only about a 10-minute walk from some great nightlife was nice!
Sushi
Tokyo is heaven on earth for a foodie. They have over 100,000 restaurants and some of the most incredible foods I have ever tasted. Of course, the number one food is sushi. It’s absolutely amazing everywhere you go, but if you don’t mind spending a little money you can taste some exotic fish that you won’t find anywhere else.
I stumbled upon this amazing sushi place in the photo below and I don’t even know its name. It was somewhere in Ebisu I believe. Nobody in the restaurant spoke any English, but luckily their was a guy eating their that had lived in Chicago and he was able to translate for me. He told me this place rivaled all the famous spots like Jiro in Roppongi at a fraction of the cost. I’m not sure if he is correct but it was damn good to me. I think I spent about $120.
Ramen
Ramen was my second favorite food in Tokyo. Unlike the nasty $1.00 ramen that most people are familiar with, the ramen in Japan and Asia, in general, is nothing like the U.S packaged ramen. There are many types of ramen from all different regions and each one has a unique flavor. In fact of the 100,000 restaurants, I mentioned, 30,000 are actually ramen restaurants so you can see how popular ramen really is in Japan.
Although the food in Japan can become quite pricey the Ramen is typically priced at $10.00 or less and makes for a quick, easy, and affordable meal at all hours of the day. One other interesting aspect of most fast food type restaurants is you don’t pay the server. You actually choose your item and pay for your meal through a machine. Then, you receive a ticket which you hand to the server. This makes it more efficient, cheaper, and faster. Many low to mid-range restaurants are like this in Tokyo.
This is how you order and pay for fast food. You actually choose your meal on the screen and then pay upfront and get a ticket. I’m wondering why we don’t have this in the U.S. yet.
Exotic Foods
One of the most expensive and interesting meals I had was at a place that serves exotic cuisine. I decided to try the Blowfish which is known as fugu and the horse meat prepared in three styles. Both were rather tasty, but the Fugu was really pretty incredible. It reminded me of Black Cod, a.k.a. butter fish.
Other Types of Japanese Foods
Besides sushi and ramen, the other common types of foods I ate were yakitori (meat on a stick), Shabu Shabu (Japanese hot pot), Tempura (panko-crusted fried meats and vegetables), Yakiniku (Japanese BBQ), and Takoyaki (a ball of meat or fish), and Macha (green tea) ice cream. There are many other types of Japanese food, but these are just a handful of the ones that I ate. I honestly can’t even begin to describe how much better they tasted in Japan than in the U.S.
Conclusion
All and all, this trip was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Many successful traders like to spend their money on items like expensive gadgets, or fancy cars. I could do this but I prefer spending my money on experiences…
Either way, when you become a successful trader the world really does open up to you. The average person may never consider going to a place like Japan because even an economy class ticket will run you about $1500, but a single profitable trade on even a relatively small account could result in a $1,500 profit in as little as a few minutes. Seriously…
Trading stocks really can change your life and open up many avenues that would otherwise be off-limits to the majority of people. I highly suggest you try out trading and see if it’s the right fit for you.
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