I can't stand people who only been to Hawaii or Disney World and all they have to show for are some boring pictures.  I promise that there will be no pictures of Hawaii on this website.  Traveling is not about comfort and amusement, it is about culture and exploration. 

I stayed at The Umaid Bhawan Palace where Prince Charles had stayed the month before I arrived. I went with my friend who imports furniture from India.  Although India is a very poor country, you never have to worry about someone robbing you or hurting you which is the polar opposite of New York City. 

History is really just perspective.  It is how certain people see things at a given point in time.  For example, in the U.S. we call the war in Vietnam the Vietnam War.  In Vietnam, they call the same war the American War. 

I went to Saigon and Hanoi to see all the important war sites.  In Hanoi, the prison dubbed the "Hanoi Hilton" was where they held John McCain for five years.  Prior to being a prison for Americans, it was used by the French to imprison Vietnamese political dissidents. 

Before you justify the next U.S. war with anyone, I suggest that you go to some war torn countries and see for yourself what kind of destruction wars can bring.  For many Americans who are pro war, none of them ever had to experience their homeland being bombed and know what is like to be a war refugee. 

The Vietnam War or the American War was really a misleading name for the war.  It should have been called the American-Soviet Proxy War fought in Vietnam. 

I was fortunate enough to be invited by my friend's furniture vendor to his home for a home cooked Indian meal.  I like the fact that they have three generations living together in a three story home.  It's more about communal living and appreciating each other versus individualism and doing whatever the hell you want.   

What I appreciate the most is that the grandparents are in their mid 80's and are still very energetic and vibrant.  They strictly adhere to the Jain diet.  In another words, no processed food and no meat, garlic or onions.  If people eat like that in America, the weight loss industry would not exist.  To me, that is true health.  I still don't get why Americans eat greasy burgers with super size fries and drink Diet Coke. 

As for the teenage girls, I was impressed with their manners.  Even though their father is one of the richest man in the entire city, they don't act all jaded.  More than that, their beauty is real.  None of this heavy make up, cosmetic surgery or fake boobs like they do it in West Los Angeles and the O.C.  And no low self esteem problems either. 

I have been going to China every year since 1998 both for my awards business and to explore the country.  Mandarin Chinese is actually my second language.  My first language is Taiwanese and my third language being English.  So I really have no problem traveling on my own in China. 

What pisses me off the most is many U.S. politicians trying to blame China for the last ten years or so for just about everything that is wrong with America.  Now that Soviet Union no longer exists and Japan is fading fast as an economic threat, China seems like the natural target along with the Islamic terrorists.  Why are these politician promoting hate just to get votes when most people in the world desire peace and cross cultural understanding?

The reason why I really advocate traveling is that you really have to see things at the ground level for yourself to understand that most people in the world just want the basic things such as putting food on the table, having some kind of shelter and material comfort.  We don't need to spend our precious time fighting over the differences in ideology that frankly most of us still don't know if it is the right answer. 

On this trip in October 2008, I took my designer Nik Meller with me.  We toured many glass factories in Shanghai area and in Beijing.  We were in China for about 10 days.  After 5 days, Nik, who was visiting China for the first time, said to me that everything he heard in the U.S. about China was all wrong.  He was glad that he got to see things for himself. 

In this photo, we had the best Beijing Duck at a traditionally decorated restaurant by our hotel not far from Tien An Man Square.  If you think Panda Express is Chinese Food, you are absolutely pathetic.  Panda Express is American Food.  The only thing you can find in Panda Express that is available in China is steamed rice.  That's it.  Everything else at Panda Express is purely invented in America. 

Since I am really funny, I tend to draw a lot of kids where ever I go.  Kids just love me.  Unfortunately, I don't love kids as much as they love me.  I just don't have the time to deal with them. At the Karnak Temple in Egypt I had an impromptu photo op with all these beautiful Egyptian kids.

It really pisses me off that people would even ask me why I am going to Egypt.  Let me ask you something.  Why do people go to Hawaii and Cancun?  I got nothing against those places, but you don't exactly go to those places to consume culture.  To me, going to these sun drenched beach resorts year after year is a total waste of money and time.  And if you have kids of your own, they will end up having no culture and walk around like a dumb ass.  Worst yet, they will grow up hating other people who are different from them.  And they will probably think anyone who wears a head scarf is a terrorist. 

The one myth I would like to dispel is that the best museum in the world is not the Louvre in Paris.  The Louvre actually has the third best collection in the world.  Which museum has the number one collection in the world?  The Egyptian Museum in Cairo.  Who is a close second?  The National Palace Museum in Taipei, Taiwan.  Before you even want to argue with me, please go visit all three first like I did.  The only thing that the French did better was marketing the Louvre.