Hello Chicago!
I find myself back in Chicago for the first time in 5 years. I really do miss how clean this city is. New York is like a garbage dump compared to Chicago. I’m staying at the most absolute fabulous hotel – the room is THREE TIMES the size of my whole apartment. I really do [...]
A Life, Seemingly, On Speed
Location | New York, NY Life has become exceedingly hectic since I was last constantly posting on this blog. I now blog for a company that’s set to become a major player in the advertising industry. Plus I manage all the lovely and fun social media. So things have been really good… for now. Next [...]
A Philadelphia Story
Location | New York, NY Every time I think of Philadelphia, I always get the theme song to Fresh Prince of Bel-Air stuck in my head – anyone else? Then I have to sing the whole song in my head before I can continue. This entry is going to take FOREVER. Well, I went to [...]
Magnolia Plantation
Location | Charleston, SC Today we decided to go to the oldest plantation in the Charleston area – Magnolia Plantation. We took a tour by tram that basically took us through A LOT of swamp, but what used to be rice fields. We also walked around their garden path – it’s the oldest garden in [...]
Breakfast, Coffee and the California Academy of Sciences
Location | New York City Well, back to New York on an awful red-eye flight. (Don’t fly red-eyes, it’s so not worth it). On my last day in San Francisco (Monday) I woke up at Anna & Eric’s place and put everything away for them. Then I headed out to have breakfast with my friend [...]
Old Friends, Reunited.
Location | SoMa, San Francisco The morning began in a slight frenzy. I found my friend, whom I call Panda, in his room practicing guitar. I got ready and we went to have brunch with our two friends, Angel and Andrew. They met us at a restaurant called “Bill’s Cafe” in San Jose. After polishing [...]
Prison. Bread. Middle Eastern Food.
Location | South Bay, San Francisco We went to Alcatraz, despite many of us being hungover (not I apparently). Ngoc’s sister and I actually woke up early and walked down to the Ferry Building (which is NOT a short walk) and got coffee and the absolute most wonderful yogurt and granola combination that I’ve ever [...]
San Francisco, Fisherman’s Wharf, Australians and Hookah.
Location | Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco The morning didn’t begin any more different than the morning before. We woke up and took the trolley to the Ferry Building where I met up with my friend, Albert. I had the best cup of latte that I’ve ever consumed at Blue Bottle. Just thinking about the wonderful [...]
Welcome to San Francisco
Location | Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco, CA It began on the BART. Finding my way to one of the last trains to the city, I made it to Powell Street. There I found the streetcar. I held $5 in my hand, but they did not ask for anything. I got off at the last stop [...]
Philadelphia (For Amy’s Birthday!)
Location | New York City Headed to Philly for a beautiful Sunday to see the lovely Amy because her birthday was last week and I didn’t get a chance to see her!. Took the Chinatown Bus with Jiye who was heading back home. Here’s the big problem: I took one whole picture while there. Ok, [...]
The “Horrifying” Side of Philadelphia
Location | New York, NY This past Sunday, I went to Philadelphia to meet up with my cousin, Jessie. Billy, Jessie’s brother, drove us there. We left around 9 and arrived around 11. We met up with Jessie and her research assistant Yi-zhen. The first stop was South Street. We headed to Ishkabibble’s Eatery to [...]
Last Days of Taiwan
Location | Taichung, Taiwan Wow, this trip went by incredibly fast. I’m going to miss Taiwan a lot. Now that I’m older, I have more money, I can appreciate Taiwan a lot more than I used to. Even though my best time in Taiwan was still the summer of 2005 (I miss you TTT-ers!), this [...]
Final Day in Sydney
Location | Parammata, Australia Today was the last day before returning to Taiwan. The morning started out by heading to the Sydney Opera House. We went on a short tour to see the inside of the largest performance hall. Then we headed over to a park to take some sweeping views of the Opera House [...]
Blue Mountain
Location | Parramatta, Australia Woke up at 5am to head out to catch a flight to Sydney. Arrived and met our new tour guide, Michael and also got onto a very smelly and old bus. We drove through Sydney and got to a Chinese buffet (which was absolutely terrible). I left it early and walked [...]
Being a Lush in Australia
Location | Gold Coast, Australia We started the day at the Mt. Nathan Winery. Yes, I did go wine tasting. Yes, I did turn bright red. Yes, I am a lush. The winery was incredibly small, I wonder where they grow the majority of their grapes, because from what I saw, they could probably make [...]
Koala Huggin’
Location | Gold Coast, Australia The day started out with a boat tour of the Gold Coast harbour. We went on this long yacht with another tour group. On the top deck, the skipper was driving the yacht and I decided to make conversation with him. We talked about Australia in general, life, adventure traveling. [...]
Arrival in Brisbane, Australia
Location | Gold Coast, Australia Last night I left Taichung to go to the airport then hopped on a plane to Brisbane. After a 9-10 hour flight, we arrived and met up with our tour guide, Danny. We headed off in our mini-bus. It was me and 20 other people. This trip is supposed to [...]
A Day Sandwiched With Massages
Location | Taipei – Tony’s House Day 2 in Taipei started with a 1-2 hour full body massage that Tony was banned from (ladies only). Phoebe and I went to this place in Zhongsan near the Shinkong Mitsukoshi there. The massage was the full shebang. It was pretty great for NT$999 (about $30US). After the [...]
Fast Elevators, (Bad) Donuts, New Friends
Location | Taipei – Tony’s House Woke up a little late, had some breakfast and then Zhiyan came to take me to Taipei. Got onto the High Speed Rail (which is awesome by the way) and it took only an hour to get to Taipei. I went to Yuansan to wait for Tony. We went [...]
I Got A Tattoo…
Location | Taichung I did something completely out of character today. I got a tattoo. Four of them in fact. It’s not where you’d expect. So, I got eyeliner tattooed on my eyes. Top and bottom. Only cost me $200. Ok, it really cost my aunt $200 (my poor Aunt is going to spend a [...]
Lukang and Back
Location | Taichung, Taiwan So, I’m a little bit sick. I thought it was allergies, but nope, it’s a cold. Sore throat, runny nose, cough. Awesome. Today I went to Lukang, a town in the outskirts of Taichung. There’s a big Matsu Temple there. We went for Matsu worship at the various little shrines. Matsu [...]
I’m in Food Heaven
Location | 4th Floor of Grandma’s Building – Taichung, Taiwan So… I’ve been overeating. A lot. Partially because all the food is so damn good here and also because I’m completely deprived of good Taiwanese food in the states. The morning started out at 8am. I woke up, did some work (yes, I did check [...]
Before I Pass Out… Day 1 Taichung
Location | 4th Floor of Grandma’s Building, Taichung, Taiwan I’m about to pass out. Since Thursday at 8am until now Saturday (in Taiwan PM, in the US AM) at 9pm… I have slept a total of… 4 hours on an airplane. I should be out of my mind by now. I think the only thing [...]
Welcome (Back) to Taichung
Location | Grandma’s House in Taichung So far so good. People are impressed that I still speak understandable Chinese. They’re also fairly impressed that I can understand their Taiwanese (diabolical I know, I’m taking over the world one language at a time). Already ate 4 pieces of turn-up cake, 4 soup dumplings, cold soy milk [...]