After the Catholic church ceremony in the afternoon, the stage was set for Mairin and Nikhil’s Hindu ceremony by the ocean. The mandap was adorned with colorful flowers and gorgeous silks that billowed gracefully in the wind. Traditional Indian music played softly in the background, evoking another time and place. From the moment Mairin walked down the…
In this last post of my Taiwan trip, we start in Taroko Gorge, a beautiful national park on the eastern side of Taiwan, and finish with my last few days in Taipei for Lunar New Year. With a hike through a waterfall tunnel and a soak in a natural hot spring at the base of the…
We were walking through Kaohsiung’s Central Park at night, the park mostly empty but for a few young couples strolling through and the constant hum of cars and motorbikes on the surrounding streets. Alice and I were talking about her last couple months since moving from the U.S. to Taiwan, and she brought up an…
And finally, my solo road trip reaches San Diego! After a lovely lunch with my friends Wayne & Angela, I headed back toward the ocean for a visit to La Jolla (pronounced La Hoya). I think I may have found a little slice of paradise. When I walked over to the prohibitive-looking cliffs, a friendly…
Elephant seals, black angus cattle, and beautiful horses. I had no idea my road trip would quickly turn into a menagerie of interesting animals. After checking in to my room in Cambria, I drove, windows down, back up highway 1 to pay another visit to the Pacific Ocean. As trite and car-commercial-like as it may be,…
How do I convey the magic of getting in a car and simply driving down the California coast– on a Tuesday morning, all by myself, no less? Nothing in particular prompted this trip, other than my love for travel and a well-timed week with no other obligations. But of course, I am no stranger to…
Friday night of Memorial Day weekend, I texted my good friend Dan because we still had no plans whatsoever, and we needed to do something! Dan is the perfect adventure buddy because he is not fazed by the randomness of our trips (example: Salton Sea). After all, spontaneous trips often turn out to be the…
To say this Memorial Day weekend has been incredible is certainly the understatement of my year. In the last two days, I watched a waterfall pour into the ocean, I was attacked by a turkey on a hiking trail, and I saw fireworks spew from the Golden Gate Bridge. I have so many stories to…
It was a very chilly day, which is actually typical of our San Francisco summers by the coast. The skies were overcast, and the water a serene pale blue-green. But against the wash of the ocean were bright exclamations of color: a red carpet; the bold blue bridesmaid’s dresses; a radiant bride; and a bubbling…
She knew from the beginning, even before he asked her to be his girlfriend, that she wanted to marry him. It was over videochat that he introduced her to his adorable nephews who were sitting on his lap. Jason had little Justin ask the first question– will you be my uncle choo–choo’s girlfriend? And Mega…
Sunsets are so obviously beautiful, every camera-wielding human being seems compelled to take a photo. Sunsets, flowers, cute babies… I guess I can’t stop myself either. This is a collection of sunset images from Pacific Grove when we went on a spontaneous weekend visit back in March. It was ridiculously cold and windy, but of…