Epinions Recent Reviews for Jiahong

Another Mediterranean hilltop town, with a great modern art museum

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:26:01 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - Because Barbara's visit to Saint-Paul-de-Vence did not include the Foundation Maeght just below and outside the medieval town, this seemed to me like a French destination to which I could add something for the...

Don't day-trip in an Avis rental car (at least from Burbank)

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:51:12 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - As with American airports and airlines, I don't think that there are car rental "services": the "average" is very low. Once upon a time, Avis claimed to "try harder," but that time is past. As Mrkstvns updated the old Avis advertising slogan : "...

There are worse airports to spend time in

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:27:05 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - The first few times I flew through Houston's George H. W. Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), en route to South America, I thought that the name was "intercontinental" rather than "international" to highlight the many flights to South America. Now I...

Below even the low standard set by US airlines these days

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:39:45 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - My advice for flying within the United States of America is to try to get elite status. I am not satisfied by any US air carrier. If I didn't have elite status on United, I wouldn't have much good...

Good experiences in fliyng around Perú on LAN

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 17:59:59 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - The first time I went to Perú (1985) internal flights were on what was generally called "Aero peor" (the worst airline), Aero Perú. particularly vivid in my memory is its canceling our Cuzco-Lima flight and not announcing it. (All the...

On time, no frills carrier to/from/inside Croatia

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 17:37:06 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - I fly more than 100,000 miles on United every year. I have only flown on Croatian Air once, but don't think that our experience on it was untypical. My impression of this Star Alliance partner is that its staff are eager to please customers, but somewhat...

Palace Museum, Taipei: The collections of China's emperors that survived fires, WWII, and postwar transport to Taiwan

Tue, 1 Jul 2008 01:09:05 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - Its claim that "the National Palace Museum in Taipei is home to one of the foremost collections of Chinese art and objects in the world" seems unduly modest. Who had a better collection of Chinese art than the emperors (Sung to Q'ing dynasty)? When the...

A moldy oldie of studying "Chinese" on Taiwan

Tue, 1 Jul 2008 01:00:45 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - Margery Wolf accompanied her husband anthropologist Arthur Wolf on fieldwork during the mid-1960s in Peihotien, which is in northwestern Taiwan (south of Taipei). She published a somewhat fictionalized account of one Taiwanese peasant extended family...

A sort of French "Blazing Saddles"

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:47:18 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - Most of us have heard of "spaghetti westerns" such as "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" -- shot in Spain directed by Italians with mostly Italian casts along with a few Americans like Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef. But what do you call a western made...

Alienated multiethnic youth in a French cauldron

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:19:11 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - Mathieu Kassovitz achieved international success as an actor in "Amelie" and also played Robert in Steven Spielberg's "Munich." Kassovitz's major impact as a director (so far) was a gritty, documentary-looking melodrama called "La Haine" (hatred) that he...

TRAGIcomedy of immigration -- of continuing relevance

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:29:29 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - I can't say that I've seen many Swiss movies. Jean-Luc Godard is Swiss and faded back to Geneva, I think, after he stopped making movies that more than a handful of fellow Maoists wanted to see -- if there were even any European Maoists who wanted to see...

How could this Managua-airport hotel get "Best Western" certification?

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:33:13 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - Nicaragua is attempting to promote ecotourism in particular and tourism in general. The country with its huge lakes, smoking volcanoes and considerable biodiversity is inviting. There are two very major obstacles: lack of infrastructure and a general...

Bestriding the world like a pair of bright yellow arches

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:07:15 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - McDonald's comes in 25th out of 29 burger "chain restaurants" on Epinions display (ahead only of Hardee's among those I've ever heard of). I'd agree that the top-rated one -- In'n'out Burgers -- serves juicier hamburgers and that there is never any doubt...

The leader in healthier "fast food"

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:28:07 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - I think my "brand loyalty" in general is limited. There is something reassuring about knowing what you'll be getting somewhere far from home. Plus you can't be certain of standardization. At least I've had noticed some novelties in McDonald's in Austria...

#2 and no longer trying harder

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:29:14 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - What is a "quizno"? The word looks Spanish, but is not in either of the Spanish-English dictionaries in our house. On my most recent visit to a Quizno's, I asked the cashier. I figured that those working the sandwich-making lines would be too stunned by...

Musée de la Lavande/Lavender Museum, Luberon: Overpriced and underinteresting (except in July-August, maybe)

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 18:31:46 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - There are so many places of interest in Provence in general, in the Luberon in particular. The Lavender Museum (Musée de la Lavande" -- which is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, officially in Lagarde d'Apt, 7 kilometers southwest of...

How Go-Ahead terminally alienated me on a third tour

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:20:49 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - Go-Ahead Tours grew out of EF Education, supposedly the world’s largest private educational travel company (larger than Elderhostel?). EF provides knowledgeable guides for bare-essential student travelers, Go-Ahead more upscale accommodations for adults...

NEVER check baggage to or through the aptly abbreviated MIA

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 18:37:11 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - It is unfair to sneer that the Miami International Airport (very, very appropriately abbreviated "MIA") is "like a third-world airport." It is unfair to third-world airports, not to the Miami one, 'cause in my experience, third-world airports operate...

Frustrating even in comparison to other American airlines

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 14:45:15 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - Flying has become so unpleasant in recent years that there are only two criteria involved in my so-called choices of carriers. The fewer stops (and especially of changes of aircraft) the better, because being able to make connections is unpredictable...

Fairly reasonable Waikiki hotel 10 minutes walk from the beach

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 13:27:04 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - The rooms in the Ohana Maile Sky Court Hotel on Kuhio Avenue just east of the statue of King David Kalakaua, including the bathroom, are 20’ x 16’. The bathroom feels a bit cramped, but there is room to pass behind someone seated at the desk...

Good for me doesn't mean it will be good for you

Fri, 3 Aug 2007 20:34:48 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - Airline ratings have something of a U-distribution. Carriers that have been often reviewed on epinions seem to have a number of bitter complaints from those making one round-trip on an airline and a number of positive ones from pleased passengers on one...

San Juan Island National Historical Park: A scenic spot where a war nearly broke out in 1859

Sun, 3 Jun 2007 20:11:33 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - It's difficult for me to imagine the San Juan National Historical Park as a destination. There is more to see than at, say S
t.
Croix National Historical Park in Maine, but much less than at, say Gettysburg National...

The very model of what a motel should be

Thu, 17 May 2007 14:05:08 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - I've never understood why "continental breakfast" means a pastry (or pastries) plus coffee and juice--which was a guest might get in an American motel (or just coffee--and "American breakfast" means one with hot food. So far this month, I've stayed in...

Good location but somewhat disappointing "historic" Charleston grand hotel

Mon, 7 May 2007 20:04:59 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - The Francis Marion Hotel (named for the brigadier general in the Continental Army called the “Swamp Fox” of the Revolutionary War) is a twelve-story edifice built at the cost of $1.5 million in 1924, when it was the highest hotel (or building of...

A room with a pool on San Juan Island in the Salish Sea (Washington state)

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:19:55 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Jiahong - The Friday Harbor Inn & Spa was a comfortable place to stay on San Juan Island, a part of the state of Washington that is NORTHeast of Victoria, British Columbia. We were repeatedly told that San Juan Island has 247 sunny days a year, though I can state...