discopalace blog

Cairo, Egypt

2012-01-20T11:00:00.000-06:00

Cairo is Egypt's capital and largest city. With a metropolitan area population of over 15 million, Cairo is around the 15th largest city in the world, the largest in Africa and in the Arab world.

Egypt's geography is very interesting. It resides in Africa, but it is also the link to Asia and the Middle East, via the Isthmus of Suez. Major waterways, such as the Suez Canal and the Nile Delta go through Egypt. Yet most of the land in Egypt is desert - a vast sea of yellow dunes and dust. Almost the entire population of Egypt lives within 5% of its land, the land through which the Nile flows. The Nile's delta region begins near Cairo. You can see the river's influence in Cairo, as high rise buildings, parks, and boats line up along the its banks.

Life in Cairo

Cairo is a busy, crowded city. People are everywhere. Cars are everywhere. The hustle and bustle of city life happens 24 hours a day, seven days a week in Cairo. You can probably find a traffic jam somewhere in the city at any time of the day. We experienced a few ourselves.

In many cities, you can find a few areas in town with beautiful architecture or decoration. In some cities like Paris or Rome, this may be the case anywhere in town. But you won't see any of this beauty in Cairo, even downtown. We're in the developing world, baby. It seems that everyone is just too busy making a living; no time or extra money to beautify the city.

It's no surprise that housing is dense in Cairo. Not as dense as Tokyo, but everything is packed tightly together - from rows of low-rise buildings next to each other, to large high-rise apartments reaching to the sky. The buildings are modest; no fancy materials or decorations - just enough to live in. I noticed that there were tons of buildings under construction. I'm not sure why there is so much, but I guess this a good sign of Egypt's developing economy.

One of the knocks against Cairo is how dirty it is. When you are surrounded by desert, you are bound to get a lost of dust in the air. If you add dust to the emissions of millions of cars on the road (most of which are old and don't have catalytic converters), the air gets a bit ugly. Every morning was a hazy, smoggy morning when I was there.

Unfortunately, the trouble doesn't end with air pollution. Land pollution is just as bad. Poor housing conditions combined with lack of enough sanitation services result in a big mess. Trash can be found everywhere. The canals around town are especially filthy. Oh yeah, don't drink the water. While most of the water is over-chlorinated (i.e., at least it's clean), seeing all the trash everywhere doesn't give you a good feeling. So everyone drinks bottled water. But bottled water results in a lot of plastic bottles contributing to the trash problem.... such a vicious circle...

Despite the poor environment and weak economy, the Egyptian people seem to hold their heads high and look forward with pride. Cairo is a commercial and cultural powerhouse in the region. Let's just say that there's a lot of room for civic improvements :)

At the Bazaar

To get a good feel for the Middle East, you have to visit a bazaar like the ancient Khan el-Khalili Bazaar in Cairo. The bazaars exude a special vibe that is distinctly Middle Eastern. It's neat seeing all the shops packed together, shopkeepers hawking their wares, and customers shopping for goodies. American-style malls are ginormous, impersonal, and corporate-driven. People leave you alone because they don't care if you buy anything. At a bazaar, it's each shopkeeper's livelihood at stake, and they really want your business.

Egyptian commercial culture seems very tied to its bazaars - in particular, bargaining. Bargaining appears to be in the blood of every Egyptian (or perhaps most Middle Eastern people). As one of our tour guides said, "even if he were my brother, I would bargain with him." You have to bargain everywhere in Egypt - at bazaars, at local shops, at tourist attractions, and for taxis. I even had to bargain when buying bottled water. Apparently, it's fair game to attempt to charge you as much as possible for anything. And when you look like a dumb tourist, the prices get more outrageous. One guy tried to sell me a large bottle of water for 10 Egyptian pounds ($1.60 USD). I walked away and found another guy down the street selling it for 5 pounds. I went to yet another place, bargained, and ended up getting the water for 2 pounds (33 cents). At the tourist shops, you need to counter at around 25% of the asking price to get a reasonable deal. Even though I'm Asian, skill and patience with bargaining seem to have left my blood.

Cairo Citadel

Perched on a hill in the middle of Cairo is the Citadel. Built in the 12th Century CE by the great Saladin, the Citadel overlooks the city and protects it from invaders. It features intact city walls and a large complex of buildings, including mosques and museums. You can get a great view of the city from the Citadel. On a clear day (are there any???), I'm told that you can see all the way to the Pyramids at Giza.

Mosques

Although Egypt is a secular country, around 90% of its people are Islamic. The remaining 10% are Coptic Christians, which are closely related to Greek Orthodox. It's an interesting experience being in an Islamic country. You can't escape Islam, especially with the Call to Prayer sounding through loudspeakers, five times a day (including at 5am!).

Cairo features some fantastic Islamic mosques. The one shown above and below is Muhammad Ali Mosque, located within the Cairo Citadel. No, it's not the American boxer. The mosque was built between 1830 and 1848. It's the most recognizable part of the Citadel and is easily seen from far away in the city.

Another mosque located within the Citadel is the Al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque, shown below. It was built in the 14th Century. The architecture of Muhammad Ali Mosque is considered of "foreign" design - it's of Ottoman/Turkish style (the Ottomans ruled Egypt for a while). On the other hand, Al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque is of truly Arabic design.

Downtown Cairo

Downtown Cairo is located near the Nile. One of its major landmarks is the Egyptian Museum. It boasts a vast collection of artifacts from ancient Egypt. Although the museum could use a lot more funding and improvement of its displays, the content is impressive.

The highlight of the museum is the contents of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb. Tutankhamun was no special ruler. We just know about him because his tomb was the only one that was fully intact when it was discovered (apparently grave robbers missed it). The jewelry, weapons, famous mask, etc. are very cool to see.

Next to the Egyptian Museum is the headquarters of the National Democratic Party of Egypt. Normally, such a building would not be a landmark. But as you can see in the photos, the building burned down. The National Democratic Party had become the single power in Egypt - the party of which ousted leader Hosni Mubarak was the head. On January 25, 2011, the Egyptian revolution began. Protests turned into violence, and as a result, this building was set on fire. There was even a damage to the artifacts in the Egyptian Museum - a shame. Later, Mubarak stepped down, party leaders stepped down, and now the party is defunct.

Speaking of the Egyptian revolution, Tahrir Square (aka Liberation Square) is just down the street. I had never heard of it, until I saw TV footage of the protests and violence from the revolution. At the time, I didn't think I would be setting foot there, less than a year since the revolution began. Even a few weeks before my trip, additional violence flared at the square. Nonetheless, we felt compelled to check it out for ourselves. Viva la revolucion!! :)

Even though Egypt's main attraction is its history, I found a lot of value in experiencing its current events. The Egyptian revolution isn't just limited to Egypt; it was the catalyst for the "Arab Spring" that has erupted in the region - Libya, Tunisia, Syria. Maybe one day, the Middle East will be a more democratic, orderly, and peaceful place. It would be cool to say that I visited there, at the beginning of the new era.

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The Pyramids of Egypt

2012-01-18T12:31:00.000-06:00

When you think of Egypt, you almost always think of the Pyramids as well. It's hard to believe the Egyptians built them almost 5000 years ago - way before the existence of the Babylonians, Chinese, Greeks, Persians, and other mighty civilizations. Out of the original seven ancient wonders of the world, the Pyramids are the only ones still standing.

Exactly how many pyramids did the ancient Egyptians build? I knew of the Great Pyramid, and I knew that they built more than one. More than that, I did not know hehehe. Here's a great article by National Geographic that explains the pyramids in detail. Sounds like the Egyptians built eight big ones. Most of them are located on the west bank of the Nile, just southwest of Cairo. I was fortunate enough to visit six of them. I'll write about the pyramids in the order in which they were built.

My G Adventures tour itinerary only included visiting the pyramids at Giza. I visited Saqqara and Dahshur (and Memphis) on my own, before the tour started. I think it was worth it to have seen all these pyramids.

The Step Pyramid at Saqqara

Before pyramids, the ancient Egyptians built mastabas to bury dead Pharaohs. Mastabas are single-story, flat-roofed tombs. I bet they'd looked like dull warehouse buildings like Costco or Home Depot. Around 2600 BCE, however, the Pharoah Djoser somehow got the idea of adding more levels to the tomb. He and his architect buddy Imhotep (ya know, the typical technical genius behind the great leader) worked it out and built the Step Pyramid.

The Step Pyramid is located in Saqqara. It's part of a large temple complex, with a bunch of other tombs. The Step Pyramid is currently being renovated, so I could not enter. However, I was able to enter one of the smaller tombs in the temple complex. These tombs are dark and dreary - only a dead person would want to be inside...

The Bent Pyramid at Dahshur

A few Pharoahs later, it was determined that a step-shaped monument wasn't good enough for a Pharaoh entering the Afterlife. Pharaoh Snefru thus commissioned the building of the first smooth-sided pyramid. What a genius idea!

It seems that building a pyramid for the first time in history was a bit of a challenge. Apparently, the angle of the pyramid was too steep. Perhaps it would have gotten too high to build, or it would have become too unstable, who knows. They reduced the angle halfway through the construction. Whatever the problem was, it was a big Homer Simpson "D'oh!!!!" moment. I would call it an ancient equivalent to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. So instead of calling this pyramid "The Marvelous Pyramid of Snefru," we refer to it as the "Bent Pyramid."

The Red Pyramid at Dahshur

Luckily for Snefru, he was still alive, and the gods weren't too angry at his engineering blunder. As the saying goes, "if you don't succeed, try and try again." Snefru commissioned the building of another pyramid (monument #3 for him), just over the next sand dune in Dahshur. This pyramid, known as the Red Pyramid, is the first true pyramid ever built.

Both pyramids at Dahshur are nice to visit because there aren't nearly as many tourists as Giza. You can easily walk right on in. For the Red Pyramid, you climb steps about halfway up the pyramid. Then you descend down a very low ramp to the base of the pyramid. It's actually a little tiring. The tomb is a dark, tiny little room, about the size of a small bedroom, with an A-shaped ceiling. Unfortunately, my pics of the tomb were too blurry. It kinda looks like the tomb in the Step Pyramid, but more narrow.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza

The main pyramid attractions are at Giza. The pyramids shown in the photo above are the Great Pyramid, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Menkaure.

I'm told that Giza is usually packed with tourists. Usually people recommend going very early in the morning, to avoid the crowds. Luckily for us, many tourists were afraid of the protests in Cairo or something. We visited Giza in the afternoon and hardly faced any crowds.

The Pharaoh Khufu, son of Snefru, decided to outclass his father. The commissioned the building of the Great Pyramid. It is the largest pyramid in the world. Unfortunately you can't go inside anymore. But standing in front of this colossal monument is an experience in itself. It was actually hard to get a good photo of the pyramid, because you have to step back so far to fit it all in the frame.

The Pyramid of Khafre

Khafre succeeded his father Khufu as Pharaoh. This pharaoh, however, chose not to outdo his father. He built this pyramid next to the Great Pyramid. Although Khafre's pyramid is shorter, it was built on higher elevation. Thus it actually looks taller than the Great Pyramid. How's that for sneakiness? Khafre probably laughed about it all the way to his grave (pun intended)....

One neat thing about the Pyramid of Khafre is that part of its smooth outer casing - at the top - is still intact. The casing at the bottom has worn away. The entire casing of the Great Pyramid has worn away too.

The Sphinx

Khafre didn't only build a pyramid; he expanded the pyramid complex at Giza. He built courtyards, temples, statues, etc. Most of it has worn away, unfortunately. But one highlight that still stands is the Sphinx. A sphinx is a mythical creature that has the body of a lion and the head of a human. The carving is quite impressive! It's kinda like a 5000-year-old version of Mt. Rushmore... Tourist tip: the Sphinx is great for taking silly photos :)

Conclusion

Pyramids are pretty darn amazing. I can't believe they built these things almost 5000 years ago. What's also amazing is that other civilizations have built great pyramids as well - almost independently of each other. Here's a pic of the pyramids at Teotihuacan, near Mexico City. You can also find pyramids built by the Mayans, Incans, Chinese.... there are pyramids even in Bosnia and Russia! I am convinced that aliens came and designed all of these pyramids around the world....

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Egypt & Jordan: Trip Overview

2012-01-17T12:00:00.000-06:00

Happy new year! I just returned from a fabulous three-week tour of Egypt and Jordan. It was a great feeling to walk around and experience the "Cradle of Civilization" in person. Thousands of years ago, powerful empires ruled and built great monuments here. The great religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam arose from this area. I got to get a taste of modern history too, as the world of Middle Eastern politics and the "Arab Spring" unfolds every day.

This trip was a bit different for me because I booked a tour. I usually travel the "do it yourself" way, but a tour of these places made the most sense. The tour operator was G Adventures, a Canadian adventure tour company. I didn't travel with any friends this time, either. Everyone on my 14-person tour group was a stranger to me. Luckily, they all turned out to be great, interesting people. Now they are my new friends! :)

We covered a lot of ground in Egypt and Jordan. We rode buses, overnight trains, 4x4 trucks, sailboats, ferries - also donkeys and camels! You can click on the map above for a link to the tour itinerary.

The trip was a good combination of culture/history, local experience, and hiking outdoors. It's hard to say what my favorite spot was. Each destination was very unique and interesting.

As you probably know, I will have a ton of photos and thoughts to share. I plan to write blog articles on the following topics:

The Pyramids of Egypt
Cairo, Egypt
Aswan (Egypt)
Luxor (Egypt)
Mt. Sinai and the Red Sea (Egypt)
The Rum Valley and the Bedouin People (Jordan)
Petra (Jordan)
Biblical Jordan

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"There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" (The Smiths) - One-man band cover

2011-12-16T10:51:00.002-06:00

Here's my cover of my favorite song by the Smiths, "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out." It's a "one-man band" cover, with me on vocals, guitar, bass, synths, and synth drums.

This was my first attempt at a music video with cinematography. I thought it would be cool to create a video that captures the haunting mood of this song. The footage is from a cold and rainy downtown Chicago. Thanks to Jay Alston for the nighttime camera work!

Link to video page on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih7vBvhlBvc

This video was a lot of fun to work on. I hope you enjoy it!!

"Steppin' Out" - On iPad, GarageBand, & USB synthesizer (Joe Jackson cover)

2011-12-05T19:38:00.001-06:00

I just bought an Alesis Q49 USB Synthesizer over the weekend. It hooks up very easily to my iPad with GarageBand. Here is the new rig in action, doing some 80's synth pop: a cover of Joe Jackson's tune "Steppin' Out."

(Here's the direct link to the video on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw_lrS6-Rz0)

I have enjoyed playing music on the iPad a lot so far. However (as you may have seen from earlier blog posts), playing on the iPad's touch screen can be difficult. You can easily mess up! So I finally decided to try it with a real keyboard hooked up to it. I have an old Alesis QS 6.2 keyboard, but I gotta admit - that thing is big and heavy. I was too lazy to get it out again. Instead, I bought this cool Alesis Q49. It's a USB synth that plugs right into the iPad (or a computer). It's a compact 49 keys - and it only weighs 5 pounds! My entire iPad + keyboard rig weighs under 10 pounds - ultra portable! Even better, I bought it on Amazon for only $80. It came in on Friday, and my video was done by Monday! :)

Playing the Alesis is pretty enjoyable. I do admit - since I have a real piano, I was wondering how the feel of plastic, non-weighted keys would be. But the Alesis wasn't bad at all. The keys are full-sized, and the spring weights felt just fine. 49 keys is just enough to play songs with both hands. Many other USB synths are tiny - 25 or 37 keys - which is fine for one hand electronic riffs, but not good for solo playing. The one drawback with 49 keys is that the keyboard is kinda long. It doesn't fit in a backpack like the iPad does. But it should fit well in a duffel bag or gym bag.

The Alesis Q49 is a MIDI controller, not a "real" synthesizer. What does that mean? It doesn't generate its own sounds. You need to plug it in to some kind of computer that has music software. In this case, I plug it into my iPad with GarageBand. You can plug it into your Mac or PC too. There are a few simple controls on the keyboard. There are dials for pitch and modulation control, up/down octave keys, and a volume control. That's all you really need. In the back, you can plug the keyboard into a machine using USB or MIDI outputs. I used the included USB cable, attached it to the Apple's iPad Camera Connection Kit (~$30 adapter), then straight into the iPad. You can also hook up a sustain pedal if you like. You can optionally buy a 9V power adapter to plug into it. This is probably useful if you are playing a long gig. But if you are just messing around a for a bit, your iPad actually seems to do a fine job at supplying power to the keyboard.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this test drive of my iPad with the USB keyboard! Stay tuned for more music to come!

Bryce Canyon National Park

2011-11-15T17:00:00.000-06:00

Bryce Canyon is a beautiful and unique national park. It is known for its large amphitheaters full of rock formations called hoodoos. It's not a huge park like Yellowstone, but everywhere you go, you are able to see some breathtaking views.

Bryce Canyon actually isn't a canyon. A canyon is supposed to be a deep gorge between two cliffs. You'll often see a river flowing through it. The river is a major factor for the erosion and carving of the canyon. Bryce Canyon is different - no gorge, no river. It's located at the border of a highland plateau and lowlands. Erosion over the centuries has carved out large amphitheaters, or bowls, at the edge of the plateau. The hoodoos are remnants of the plateau that are still trying to resist the erosion. Over time, the hoodoos will fall apart.

The park is pretty easy to get around. There is one road (~20 miles) that takes you north/south, along the edge of the plateau. There are many viewpoints to stop at. There are many hiking trails that start at the viewpoints too. One challenge with hiking, however, is elevation. Most of the trails involve going down into the amphitheaters and returning up to the plateau. You could have a good time at Bryce Canyon just driving up to the viewpoints and skipping the hikes. But being able to do some hikes makes the experience even better.

Sunrise in Bryce Canyon

By far, the best time to see anything at Bryce Canyon is in the early morning. Since the plateau goes north/south, the rock amphitheaters are all located east of the plateau. The morning sun rises behind the park, and it shines with brilliance directly on the rock. I am no morning person, but I made it up to catch a sunrise at Bryce Canyon. It was amazing.

There's actually a viewpoint at Bryce Canyon called Sunrise Point - what a convenient name! We headed there and caught the sunrise. What I learned, however, was that if you hiked a little bit on the Queen's Garden Trail, you could get a better view of Bryce Amphitheater. There are several rock amphitheaters at the park; Bryce Amphitheater is the most well-known. In the photo above right, I climbed up a rock column along this trail. It was a great place to enjoy the morning sunlight (make sure you bring a coffee).

Navajo Loop Trail and Thor's Hammer

If you could only do one hike in Bryce Canyon, it should be the Navajo Loop Trail. It's a short trail of only 1.3 miles, but the 500 foot elevation change and switchback trails can make it a challenge if you aren't in good shape. It's a circular trail, starting at Sunset Point, which is near the center of the park. The trail takes you past three of the most well-known rock formations at the park: the Silent City (above right), Wall Street (below right), and Thor's Hammer (below center). The Silent City is a formation of tightly-packed hoodoos. Wall Street is a fin - long and narrow.

Yellowstone has Old Faithful. Arches has Delicate Arch. The equivalent superstar feature for Bryce Canyon is Thor's Hammer. It's a super cool hoodoo. The base of Thor's Hammer is rock column that stands alone, in the middle of a small valley. The "hammer" is a rock that is perfectly balanced on top of the column. I love it!

Just to be clear, you can actually see Thor's Hammer and the Silent City from Sunset Point, without hiking the trail. But the trail takes you down and up close, which makes the experience more amazing. These photos of Thor's Hammer we taken from near the bottom of the trail.

Although it's called Sunset Point, you really shouldn't go there to see sunsets. Since the highland plateau is on the west side of the park, the evening sun gets blocked. The rock amphitheaters end up in the shade several hours before sunset. On the other hand, Sunset Point and the Navajo Loop Trail would actually be great to see at sunrise! If I could wake up early once more to see a sunrise, I would go here.

Bryce Point and Inspiration Point

Throughout most of Bryce Canyon, the edge of the plateau (and the main road) goes north/south. The only exception is at Bryce Point (photo above), whether the plateau sticks out two miles to the east - kinda like a peninsula. This gives you a great viewpoint of the Bryce Amphiteater, from the east side and looking west. I'm told that Bryce Point is also another great place to see the sun rise. There are some great hiking trails that originate from here (Peekaboo Loop, Under-the-Rim).

Inspiration Point (above right) is located near the main road, on the way to Bryce Point. You have a great close-up view of the Silent City. You can also wave hello to folks at Bryce Point.

The Rest of Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon's main road goes for about 20 miles. There are a bunch of other viewpoints, amphitheaters, and trails along this road. Here are some highlights.

The photo above left is of the Natural Bridge rock formation. Technically, it's an arch, not a bridge. But who's counting? :)

The photo above right is of Agua Canyon. I didn't get many good photos with evening light, but this one is pretty decent.

The photo above is from Rainbow Point, which is at the end of the main road. Rainbow Point is the area of highest elevation at Bryce Canyon. It also marks the highest "stair" of the Grand Staircase of the Escalante National Monument (I will explain this in an upcoming blog entry).

Conclusion

I loved Bryce Canyon. It's a unique park with breathtaking views. I was pretty happy with my two days at Bryce Canyon. If you were short on time, you could easily cover the main attractions in a day. If you like to hike, you could easily spend a few more days here.

Upcoming articles: Zion National Park, Grand Staircase National Monument

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Southern Utah - Bryce Canyon & Zion National Parks - Trip Overview

2011-10-29T16:49:00.000-05:00

Most people don't hear too much in the news about Utah. Aside from Mormons and the Utah Jazz, what else is in Utah? I would say it's nature. Northern Utah has some great mountains and ski resorts. Southern Utah is very different. It's full of canyons, mesas, arches, spires, buttes, and other crazy geological formations. Because of these features, southern Utah is the home to five U.S. national parks: Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, and Zion. On my latest trip, I visited Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks.

This trip was just a small family trip. I usually travel somewhere with them every two years or so. Aside from some good quality time with their son, my parents enjoy seeing the world as well. The travel bug must run in our genes!

The Southwest is a vast area - big states and lots of road between locations. I think most people fly into either Salt Lake City, Denver, Phoenix, or Las Vegas in order to visit the parks. We flew to Las Vegas and rented a car. Zion is only about 2.5 hours away from Vegas.

Depending on how much time you have, how much hiking/trekking you want to do, and how much you are willing to drive, there are lots of itineraries to choose from. Perhaps the most grand itinerary is the "loop" of southern Utah - visiting all five Utah national parks, and also swinging south to Arizona to see Lake Powell and the Grand Canyon. This sort of trip would probably take you two weeks, but it would be amazing! I've already been to Arches, Canyonlands, Lake Powell, and the Grand Canyon (check out my blog articles on my trip to Arches & Canyonlands). Therefore, it made more sense for me spend my time at Bryce Canyon and Zion.

Here was my itinerary:

Day 0: Fly to Vegas, rent car, eat, sleep
Day 1: Drive to Bryce Canyon (~4 hrs). Visit Bryce Canyon. Lodging at Bryce.
Day 2: Full day at Bryce Canyon
Day 3: Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument (1.5h east of Bryce). Return to Bryce in evening.
Day 4: Pack up from hotel at Bryce. Drive west towards Cedar City. Visit Cedar Breaks National Monument. Check in to hotel at Cedar City. Visit Kolob Canyon portion of Zion park.
Day 5-6: Full days at Zion
Day 7: Check out from hotel in Cedar City. Drive back to Vegas. Chill out in Vegas - and enjoy some good non-park food!
Day 8: Fly home

The plan worked out really well. The durations were perfect. The most difficult part was finding lodging near Bryce Canyon. We had originally planned on staying in Cedar City (a decently sized town) for the entire trip, but we later realized that Cedar City was only good for Zion (1 hour away). Bryce Canyon would have been quite far away - a painful commute back and forth. So we decided to stay near Bryce instead. There are only tiny tourist towns near Bryce Canyon, and hotels usually need some advance booking. Luckily, we found a place to stay at the last minute.

My next articles will discuss my experiences in the parks.

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Florence, Italy

2011-09-19T19:42:00.000-05:00

Wow, summer breezed by really fast! I've been traveling and shooting photos, but I haven't been keeping up with the travel blog. Now that it's cold and rainy, it's time to go back to the blog. Let me bring us back to Italy and recount our experience in Florence.

Florence (Firenze) is the capital city of the Tuscany (Toscana) region of Italy. Florence is probably among Italy's three most visited cities (along with Rome and Venice). It is an old city - dating back to Roman times, and full of Medieval and Renaissance-era buildings. Central Florence is full of tourists, yet it feels cozy, vibrant, and charming.

Travel & Accommodations

We rented this beautiful loft apartment in central Florence for four nights. The price and location were perfect. We were just blocks from the river, the food, and the major tourist attractions.

Florence is a great city, well worth the visit by itself. But if you have the time, you must also check out the other towns in Tuscany. The countryside is beautiful, and the towns are interesting and unique. Tuscany is also home of Italy's wine country - so you definitely need to sit down and enjoy food and wine. We ended up dividing our four days: 1-2 days (part of the group split up) in Florence, and the remaining days visiting other towns. In this article, I'll only write about Florence. The next article will feature the other towns we visited.

Il Duomo

Towering above Florence, the cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore - aka Il Duomo - is perhaps Florence's most well-known building. It's the fourth-largest church in Europe. Like most major cathedrals in Italy, it comes in three parts: a cathedral, a campanile (clock tower), and a baptistry.

I didn't have time to go inside the cathedral. You have to pay an admission fee, plus you have to climb a whole bunch of steps to get to the top of the dome. Luckily some of my friends did spend the time to visit. The photos to the right and below were taken by Lily. The view of Florence from the top of the dome is amazing!

Uffizi Gallery

Florence is perhaps most well-known for its Renaissance art and architecture. In fact, Florence is regarded as the home of the Renaissance. The Uffizi Gallery is one of the most famous and significant art museums in the world.

Getting tickets for the gallery was a bit interesting. By now, we had learned that Italy isn't very good at communicating instructions clearly. When we arrived, we saw a very long line for tickets - probably over an hour wait. I noticed this the last time I was in Florence too. But we also noticed another door for tickets, so we walked in. We found that for just another 5 Euro or so, you could buy tickets for later in the day (1pm, 2pm, etc.) - and you didn't have to wait in line!! Thanks for telling us, Italy....

Unfortunately, you aren't allowed to take photos of the art, so you'll just have to visit it yourself. Another major museum in Florence is the Galleria dell'Accademia, which houses the famous sculpture David. I didn't have time to stop in.

Il Palazzo

It seems that every city in Italy needs a Palazzo, and Florence's Palazzo Vecchio ("old palace") does not disappoint. It's located in the heart of Florence, at the Piazza della Signoria. The Palazzo is a cool-looking brick building of Romanesque architecture. It has a replica of the statue David at its entrance (which was enough for me - didn't need to see the real one haha).

The Piazza della Signoria seems to be where all the action is in Florence. Not to mention, it's where all the tourists congregate as well. It makes sense though - the Uffizi Gallery is next door, and the Ponte Vecchio is just two blocks away. Oh yeah, the Uffizi Gallery has a cool cafeteria that gives you a great view of the Palazzo (no, Kristine doesn't come with the view):

Basilica di Santa Croce

Italy has no shortage of churches! The Basilica di Santa Croce doesn't look that fancy from the outside, but there's neat stuff within. First of all, it's actually the world's largest Franciscan church. But its claim to fame is that it is the burial site of some of the most famous Italians in history: Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Dante, and Rossini.

If you aren't into admiring dead dudes, you can enjoy another great feature: the beautiful frescoes on its walls:

Ponte Vecchio

My favorite attraction in Florence is the Ponte Vecchio ("old bridge"). Florence is situated on the Arno River. The heart of the city sits on one bank, and life spreads across to the other bank. The Arno brings peace and charm to Florence. There are a number of bridges that span the Arno, but the Ponte Vecchio stands apart, probably due to all the shops that were built on top of it.

The Ponte Vecchio is located right next to the Uffizi Gallery and Il Palazzo, which means that you can find hordes of tourists on the bridge during the day. It was nice to check it out and see the shops, but I actually didn't enjoy walking on the bridge that much. It was way too crowded and way too touristy.

If you walk a little further down the banks of the Arno, however, the tourists disappear very quickly. Now you just hear the flow of the river and feel the warmth of the Tuscan Sun. I could see myself walking along the banks of the river and gazing at the bridge every morning and every evening. Maybe I'm just a sucker for rivers and bridges??

A Sunset in Florence

After walking around and breathing art, architecture, and history, you should definitely top if off with viewing a romantic sunset. There's a great spot for it, at the Piazzale Michelangelo. The piazzale is just a large parking lot near a church, but every evening, you'll see tourists flocking to it. It's about a 20 minute walk from the Ponte Vecchio (on the "other" side of the river), with includes going up a hill. From this perch, you can see the bridges, the Palazzo, the Duomo, and of course, the sunset. It is breathtaking.

"Island in the Sun" (Weezer) - Latin cha-cha one-man full band cover

2011-09-07T09:46:00.000-05:00

This is my one-man full band cover, featuring vocals, guitar, bass, iPad, GarageBand, and goofy outfits :) Thanks to my buddy Matt for letting me use his cool Yamaha bass indefinitely. It was my first time really playing the bass - lots of fun! The rhythm and horns were synthesized thru iPad & GarageBand technology. Maybe one day I can have my own horn section...

I was never much of a Weezer fan, but I heard "Island in the Sun" a little while ago and fell in love with it. It's very happy yet dreamy. But when I think of some tropical island, I don't think of an alternative band playing on the beach. I think of dudes with colorful shirts and outrageous accents performing. So I figured it would be good to play it Latin style. This was my first Latin style musical arrangement. I also added a few photos from my travels to islands in the sun, for some imagery :)

A cha-cha, originally a Cuban style, seemed to fit well (even though it's a rather old-school genre). In American pop/rock music, all the emphasis is on the beat (1-2-3-4). But in cha-cha (as in other Latin music), not all instruments play on the beat. First you break up a measure into 8 sub-beats (1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and). Then, you have each instrument play notes only on certain sub-beats, and you spread it across all 8. The result of this "syncopation" is that each instrument has its own mini-spotlight in each measure. For example, in the chorus, the melody played by the horns ends right as the "cha cha cha" of the congas begins. And at the final beat of the "cha cha cha," the chorus begins again. A great foil!

Cha-cha is fun to dance to as well (even though I'm not very good at it hehe). The syncopation is cool. When you dance cha-cha, your first step is actually on the 2nd sub-beat ("1-and"). The signature "cha cha cha" shuffle step happens on "4-and-1" - so the last step of the dance is the first beat of the measure. This counterbalance between music and dance is really dynamic.

Sorry if I got too technical. Enjoy! :)

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Ana's Chicago Photo Shoot

2011-09-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

Ana visited Chicago from Mexico this last August. It was her first time in the Windy City. She asked me to take a few photos of her around town. Ana was very excited to have nice photos as a souvenir from Chicago. I said ok, but more than that - we made it full a photo shoot!

We spent two afternoons (between rain storms!) shooting in various locations. I think the photos turned out great! Ana was a most lovely model - muy bonita :) Here are a few of the highlights. You can also view these photos as a slideshow from my Flickr site. Those of you who are my friends (or hers) on Facebook can get to the full album (~30 pics) through our profile pages.

And here's one with Ana and friend Cristina:

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Hall & Oates piano cover: "I can't go for that" - by Nguyen-Anh Le

2011-07-28T18:00:00.011-05:00

Here's a piano cover of the Hall & Oates hit song "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do):

Direct link to video on Youtube

I've been taking this super fun "Hall & Oates ensemble" at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, taught by Cathy Norden. We've played a bunch of hits such as "Rich Girl," "Sara Smile," "Kiss on My List," and "You Make My Dreams Come True." We haven't gotten around to "I Can't Go For That" yet. Maybe because the song is almost all bass and keyboards, while our class has 7 guitars, a ukelele, and little ole' me. So I learned the song on my own and recorded a solo performance.

I decided to go with a new age piano style for this cover. The soulful Hall and Oates chords actually sound pretty good when done this way. But I couldn't reproduce the funky bass line while playing the melody, so I simplified the bass. I threw in a little pentatonic blues-ish ad-lib solo towards the end too.

"Kids" music video (MGMT cover) - GarageBand on iPad 2 - by Nguyen-Anh Le

2011-06-29T17:46:00.003-05:00

For my next Internet music video - here's a cover of the fun and catchy song "Kids" by MGMT! I recorded and arranged it all on the iPad, using the GarageBand app. I had just downloaded the app for $4.99 a few days ago. Rather than just toying with it, I figured I should just do a full production with it. Et voila, here it is!

Link to the recording on YouTube

GarageBand for iPad - The Good

My first impression of the iPad was that it was just a shiny new toy. Yeah, you can do fun stuff with it, but would the novelty go away? Then I saw a few music apps come out and realized there could be some promise. But even those apps are semi-toys too; it's hard to play something really well since they are limited instruments and the keys are so small. But GarageBand for iPad really put it over the top. You can do some serious music with this app!

GarageBand is perfect for the iPad. Why? Because you can record tracks directly on the iPad. If you've ever used GaragePad for Mac or any other desktop music studio software, you have two choices for recording: playing real instruments and feeding the sound to the computer, or tediously clicking your mouse to record each note. On the iPad, the iPad is both the studio and the instrument. I recorded half this song just sitting on the couch, with the TV on.

GarageBand's synth sounds are great. I own two "real" synths. I don't use my 88-key Korg workstation anymore because it's so big and clunky. I do use my 61-key Alesis, but it's still a pain to drag it out. The synth sounds on GarageBand have good enough quality and variety to play for real. This is quite an improvement even against the other synth apps available for the iPad. GarageBand also provides guitar, bass, and drum apps. They sound decent enough. Not close to the real thing, of course. But they'll work fine if you want to quickly lay down tracks for a song.

GarageBand for iPad - The Bad

There are some limitations to GarageBand for iPad. Since the iPad is an "all-in-one" device, there's currently no easy way to hook external inputs up to the iPad. This means you are stuck with the tiny built-in microphone on the iPad. My voice is bad enough as it is - and using this mic just makes it sound worse! Most vocalists and live recording artists use fancy condenser microphones - so iPad isn't ready for them just yet. There's hope though - companies like Apogee Electronics are making input products for the iPad.

Another shortcoming of Garageband for iPad is limited effects and processing capabilities. There are several knobs you can turn for each instrument. On analog synths, you can edit basic things like attack/decay, cutoff, resonance. The sound recorder lets you select from a few typical presets (large room, small room, chipmunk, etc). You can do some processing of most tracks like editing reverb, echo, compressor. But that's about it. You can't add typical effects like graphic equalizers, chorus, distortion, or even auto-tune (haha). And you can't fine tune your song with various envelopes.

These limitations are far from being showstoppers. If you want to do more with your song, you can export it into GarageBand for Mac. I did this with "Kids" so I can add a few more effects and do some fine tuning. This was only the second time I've used GarageBand at all (iPad or Mac), but you can see that the Mac version is a more powerful editing platform. But for most home users, you can won't need to do all this fancy stuff. Considering it just costs you $4.99, and you don't need any other instruments or gear, GarageBand for iPad is super easy for you to make some music.

Other Musings and Conclusion

Oh yeah, this was also my first time making a music video with fancy editing. I tried out Sony Vegas - neat tool! Doing this was lots of fun too. I am still quite the video newbie though. The biggest challenge was getting all the video clips to sync. A few clips got out of sync towards the end of the song - don't know how to fix them.

At any rate, I hope you enjoy the song. Recording it was lots of fun, as well as a great learning experience! I'd love to hear any experiences you've had with music on the iPad.

Rome, Part Due

2011-06-25T13:45:00.002-05:00

Let's go back to Rome. There's so much to see and do in Rome, and you can't easily cover it all in a single article. In my previous Rome article, I covered the major landmarks in central Rome, located on the east bank of the Tiber River. Now we'll talk about the west bank. The Vatican is located here.

Tiber River & Castel Sant'Angelo

From our apartment near the Piazza Navona, it was an easy 10-minute walk west to the Tiber River. Legend has it that Rome was founded on the banks of this river. Walking along the tree-lined riverfront is very pleasant. It provides a peaceful respite from all the tourist-filled landmarks and piazzas. Rome has built some beautiful bridges than span the Tiber. The one pictured below (as well as in the photo at the top of this article) is the Ponte Sant'Angelo.

As you cross the Ponte Sant'Angelo, you come to the immense Castel Sant'Angelo. This castle was actually originally built as the tomb for the Roman Emperor Hadrian and his family. It was upgraded to a castle in the 14th Century by the Popes. They even built a tunnel from St. Peter's Basilica to the castle, so people could seek refuge there (kinda like in the book/movie "Angels and Demons" haha).

The Vatican

The Vatican is the main attraction on the west bank of the Tiber. Vatican City is a city-state - a sovereign nation independent of Italy. It's a tiny country. Its lands are fully contained within the city walls, and under 1000 people officially live there. The Holy See, the "government" of the Roman Catholic Church, operates from the Vatican (but it is technically independent from the Vatican City state). The Vatican is a theocracy. The Pope is its monarch, a head-of-state just like the American President or the British Prime Minister. The only other people in the world who also have this dual role of religious leader and head of state are the leaders of Islamic states such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, or Pakistan; as well as the Dalai Lama of Tibet.

Although the Vatican is the seat of a 2000 year old religion and is filled with a wealth of relics and history, Vatican City is ironically a young nation. It was founded only in 1929. 48 of the U.S. States (except Alaska and Hawaii) are older than Vatican City. For many centuries, the Papal States was a much larger nation, occupying much of central Italy, from which the Holy See ruled. Since the fall of the Roman Empire, the Italian peninsula was divided into several nations, including the Papal States (and this division was in flux all the time). In the 1800's, Italy went through a reunification phase. I don't know much about this history, but here's what I have read. The various nations of the Italian peninsula (Venice, Piedmont, Lombardy, Sicily, Naples, etc.) fought outside conquerors (like the Spanish and the Austrians), as well as each other. After a few wars, the emerging consolidated Kingdom of Italy (led by the Piedmonts) eventually declared war on the Papal States, who opposed the unification. In 1870, the Kingdom of Italy besieged Rome for a bit, then it annexed Rome. This ended the Papal States' millennium-long era of being a sovereign nation. In spite of this huge loss, the Pope and his leadership remained defiant and retreated behind the walls of the Vatican. The Italian government did not want to attack the Vatican itself and did not care to interfere with the operations of the Catholic Church. This stalemate, known in Italian history as the Roman Question, lasted for almost 60 years. It finally ended with a compromise in 1929 - the Lateran Treaty. This treaty established the Vatican City as a sovereign nation for the Popes, and made Roman Catholicism the official religion of Italy.

The focal point of the Vatican is St. Peter's Square. A large boulevard leads from the Tiber River to this square. St. Peter's Basilica is located at the top of the square. The Pope conducts large public masses in the square.

As I had mentioned earlier, we were in Rome on the weekend of Pope John Paul II's Beatification ceremony. This ceremony marks step 3 of 4 in becoming a Saint of the Catholic Church - a BIG deal. As a result, hordes of believers (especially from Poland, where that Pope came from) came to the Vatican for the ceremony. Officials set up large screens, speakers, and crowd control measures everywhere. We escaped from town on the main day of the ceremony (Saturday). But even on Sunday, the Vatican was crowded, because they allowed visitors to view the Pope's casket in St. Peter's Basilica.

St. Peter's Basilica is an immense church of Renaissance architecture. It's probably the largest all churches in the Christian kingdom, and it's one of the holiest. Aside from being a huge space for performing religious services, St. Peter's is also well-known for its crypt. Many Popes are buried there. The crypt's most famous "resident" is St. Peter himself, the apostle of Jesus who became the first Pope. Unfortunately, there was such a huge line to get in to the basilica, so we did not make it in :( The photos above were from my previous trip to Italy.

Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel

The Vatican Museum is a ginormous museum that houses the collection of artwork gathered by the Catholic Church over the millenia. It is one of Rome's top tourist attractions. It is so popular that you usually have to wait an hour or two to get in. I highly recommend buying a tour, which allows you to get in a special tour group entrance. When we went, however, everyone was going to St. Peter's Square to see the Pope festivities, so there was hardly any line for the museum.

The museum as a great variety of art work. There's a lot of Roman art, especially sculpture. There's a lot of Renaissance and Early Modern Italian art - though mostly portraits of stuffy old people or religious scenes. What is really impressive is all the art painted directly painted on the ceilings and walls. Since my last trip, they have also added an entire wing of modern art too. I think we spent 4 or 5 hours at this museum. You can probably spend even more time there!

Museums are often cool not just for their artwork, but also for their architecture. My favorite architectural highlight from the Vatican Museum is its spiral staircase entrance.

At the end of the museum, you are led to its masterpiece, the Sistine Chapel. We've all probably heard of the wonders of this place. It's ironic though - when you first walk in, you just notice how small and dark it is. And it's crowded - hundreds of tourists are always stuffed in here. But when you look up and see every inch of wall covered by Michelangelo's handiwork, wow, it's pretty amazing. For some silly reason, they don't let you take any pictures in here. I'm not sure how this photo got here :)

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A quick excursion to Italy's Amalfi Coast

2011-06-17T14:40:00.003-05:00

My blogging rate has slowed to a crawl. Sorry! Back to Italy...

Italy's big cities of Rome, Venice, and Florence are excellent destinations for tourists. But the smaller towns are also amazing, in their own way. We tried to balance big and small on our trip.

From our base in Rome, we took a day trip south to the Amalfi Coast. That area is quite a bit different than most places in Italy. It's full of small coastal towns built on hills. We are also motivated to flee from Rome that day, since millions of believers converged on the Vatican to see Pope John Paul II's Beatification ceremony.

The Amalfi Coast is a peninsula that sticks out to the Mediterranean Sea. It's southeast of Naples, which is south of Rome. There are a bunch of towns on the coast. We visited Positano, Amalfi, and Ravello. You may also have heard of Sorrento. Other sights in the general area include Mt. Vesuvius, Pompeii, and Capri.

Usually travelers spend at least a few days in the Amalfi Coast. It's the best way to appreciate the beautiful and chill atmosphere. But we didn't have the time, so it ended up just being a day trip. That meant waking up at the crack of dawn and taking a 1.5h high-speed train to Naples. Btw, the Pope followers were already flocking to the Vatican at 5am!!

Naples

I passed through Naples on my last trip (photos above are from that trip). There is some charm to this city. Great coastline, nice view of Mt. Vesuvius... This time around, however, Naples was just darn ugly. The city streets where pretty ghetto everywhere. There was construction all along the major boulevard, making it a pain to get around. And they have had this seemingly perpetual trash worker strike problem, so everyone was just dumping trash in large piles at street corners.

We had a bad transit experience in Naples as well. We walked from the train station to the docks, expecting to hop on a ferry to the Amalfi Coast. Turns out that there was no ferry service to the Amalfi Coast that day (May 1). It wasn't posted anywhere, not even on their website, and no one cared to be helpful. Things got a little stressful amongst our crew, I think. But luckily, we found a Hertz car rental place nearby and rented a van. Returning the van was messy too. All the construction and traffic made it really difficult to drive in the city. We barely returned the car on time and made it out on the last train back to Rome - with just a couple minutes to spare!

Once we got out of Naples, it was all good. Driving down to the coast was a most enjoyable experience. In fact, I am glad we drove, because we could see so much and just stop anywhere. The drive involved a lot of mountain passes, windy roads, and amazing views of towns and valleys. The photo above is of the infamous Mt. Vesuvius (left, in the distance), the volcano that entombed the town of Pompeii in 79 CE.

Positano

The first town we visited in the Amalfi Coast was Positano. Wow. It is one of the most picturesque towns I have ever seen. Positano is built on a hill that drops right into the sea. There are only a couple roads in town. The roads wind back and forth, up and down the hill. From afar, it looks like the buildings are built on top of each other.

Positano was once a small fishing village. It started getting some notoriety in the 1950's, starting with John Steinbeck. Now it's totally a resort town. You may have seen it in movies like "The Talented Mr. Ripley" or "Under the Tuscan Sun." At the base of the hill, the city center leads out to a relaxing rocky beach. There are all sorts of cozy restaurants, with great views of the town and the sea. The winding streets take you by dozens of shops, eager to lighten the wallets of tourists.

Here's a funky 180+ degree panaroma I took of Positano. Click on it for a full screen view (you can do this with any of the photos on this blog).

Amalfi

Amalfi is the main town in the Amalfi Coast region. In the middle ages, Amalfi was the capital of the Duchy of Amalfi, which was an independent state. Although parts of the town are built on a hill like Positano, the city center is bigger and flatter. The piazza (below) is a great place to relax, drink some coffee, eat gelato, and shop.

Like most cities in Italy, there is a big church in the city center. It looks magnificent with the afternoon sunlight shining on it.

Ravello

Ravello was the last town we visited in the Amalfi Coast. Unlike the other two towns, Ravello is situated inland, high up in the hills. You have a really nice view of the hills and valleys from Ravello. Unfortunately, we needed to get back to Naples to catch the train, so we didn't have much time to spend in town. Apparently we completely missed the seaside view from Ravello. I didn't too my research well enough - oops. But check out these photos from others on the Internet. Holy amazing!

This photo of Ravello is courtesy of TripAdvisor

Summary

The Amalfi Coast is a beautiful, relaxing region of Italy. I am very glad we went out of our way to see it. I'm not sure I would travel back to Italy to see Rome, Florence, or Venice again. But I could certainly see myself spending a few days wandering the hill towns of the Amalfi Coast. The area really deserves several days of your attention (or weeks, if you're retired haha). I'd love to see the Cinque Terre again too. Life may be short, but it should hopefully be long enough for a return visit!

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Rome: Ancient capital of the world

2011-06-01T10:00:00.018-05:00

Wow, it has almost been a month since I visited Italy. Time to get the blog articles going!

Rome was the first destination on our trip. What a city! So much history, so much culture. It's amazing to be able to visit and to take it all in. This was my second time to Rome; the experience was just as awesome as the first.

About 2000 years ago, Rome was the largest city on the earth, with 450,000 people. It was the capital of perhaps the mightiest and most influential civilization in history (for more info, click here). The Roman Empire spanned three continents, from northern Africa to Asia Minor to the British Isles. The Romans left us with a great legacy, including language (Italian/Spanish/French/Portuguese) and engineering (paved roads, the arch, cement, water systems, stadiums, the dome). Several of today's great cities were founded by the Romans: London, Paris, Istanbul, Barcelona, Budapest, and Cologne.

Ancient Rome

Perhaps the best symbol of the old Roman Empire is the Colosseum, aka the Flavian Amphitheater. It looks just like any other stadium from afar, but when you walk amongst the ruins, it comes alive. You can imagine being there in a toga and sandals, hearing the roar of the crowd, watching gladiators fight each other to the death. Now if only Russell Crowe were doing guided tours...

As a photography dude, I especially enjoyed the opportunity to shoot the landmarks of Rome at night. They are just beautiful lit up. There's something rather Romantic about Rome :)

Travel tip: The line for tickets into the Colosseum can be very long. Best option is to buy a combination ticket at the Palatine Hill, which never has a line. Our luck with tickets was hit-or-miss this trip; the Palatine Hill was closed the day we went. We went with option 2, which was to buy the ticket-with-guided-tour at the Colosseum, which had a different and much shorter line. Click here for more detail on options.

The Roman Forum is located right next to the Colosseum. Unfortunately, the Forum is a ruin site - just a bunch of columns and broken stone. It's hard to tell what the actual buildings looked like. But wandering through the ruins is a neat experience. It definitely puts some deep thoughts in your mind regarding how old the place was. You can get a good view of the Forum ruins from the Palatine Hill (see photo below-right, from my first trip). If you are interested, there is this neat project called Rome Reborn. It has some pretty cool 3D models of what ancient Rome could have looked like.

The other major ancient-era building in Rome is the Pantheon. It was originally built to pay homage to all the Roman gods. It was later turned into a Catholic church. It's an impressive structure, with large stone columns in front. Inside, you can see its huge concrete dome with a open oculus in the center. Pretty amazing stuff for an intact, 2000-year-old building. I "prepared" myself for Rome by watching the movie "Angels and Demons" - the Pantheon is one of the first landmarks shown.

Early-Modern Era Rome

Although Rome is probably most well-known for its role in ancient history, central Rome is comprised mostly of buildings built in the last 400 years. One of the biggest landmarks is the Trevi Fountain. It's a beautiful large fountain of Baroque design. It's named "Trevi" because it was once the intersection of three ancient Roman roads, or "tre vie." At this intersection, a simple fountain (not the one you see now) provided pure drinking water to travelers. The water was channeled by the aqueduct Aqua Virgo, from the hills outside of the city all the way to the fountain. This landmark is a testament to ancient Roman engineering.

The super fancy fountain you see now was built in the 1700's, by Salvi and then Pannini. The Trevi Fountain landmark area today is just a small piazza, but it's always mobbed with tourists. I don't think it's very enjoyable hanging out here (btw, watch out for pickpockets here). But a couple movies like "La Dolce Vita" and "Roman Holiday" have romanticized it for tourists. Not to mention some replicas of it at Disney World and Las Vegas. Everyone feels compelled to toss a coin over their shoulder, which means you'll return to Rome one day. Above, you can see that Chris and Kristine didn't coordinate their coin toss very well. I didn't throw a coin last time, but I came back anyways!

In my opinion, the best Roman landmark to chill at is the Spanish Steps (Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti). At the base of the steps is a nice Piazza di Spagna that leads to streets with fancy shops. At the top of the 138-staircase (the widest in Europe) is a church, the Trinità dei Monti. It's a beautiful and relaxing place, which I love with some late afternoon sunlight and gelato in my hands. There's no fancy history here; the steps were built in the 1700's.

Right next to the Colosseum and Forum, it's hard to miss the immense Vittorio Emanuele II Monument. It is a newer building - built in the early 1900's to honor the unification of Italy in 1896. I think it's a monstrosity. It's so big, it dominates the skyline of the Forum area. They even blew up part of the Capitoline Hill and some medieval structures to build this thing. I wish they could just have put a statue of the Vittorio dude in a piazza somewhere instead.

Rome, like the other great cities of Europe, is full of piazzas or town squares. The photo above and left shows the Piazza Navona. This piazza was also in "Angels and Demons" - though the fountains are way too shallow for Tom Hanks to jump in, haha. The photo above and right is the huge Piazza del Popolo. Rome has a lot of obelisks too, stolen from the Egyptians.

Accomodations in Rome

Rome is a large, modern city. Only the Centro Storico, the historic center, is the tourist area. Last time, I stayed way outside the Centro (not even shown on the map above). It was a bit inconvient and expensive to hire a cab to take us to the city (btw, you don't want to drive in Rome!). This time, Kristine rented an awesome apartment for the seven of us.

The location was perfect, halfway between the Colosseum/Forum area and the Tiber River/Vatican. It was just a couple blocks from the Piazza Navona - just a 15min walk east to most of the landmarks, or a 15min walk west to the Vatican. Travel tip: If you stay too close to the Colosseum/Forum, there isn't much to do in the evening. The Termini (train station) area is a little ghetto and lacks charm. But if you stay somewhere between the Piazza Navona (our apt) and the Spanish Steps, you'll be next to medieval streets and alleys, piazzas, and great food/drink/nightlife. The only drawbacks were the 4 flights of stairs to get to the apartment and the neighbors in the courtyard who threw a party all Saturday night (which I slept through haha).

To be continued...

Hmm, this blog post is getting long. I will have to leave off other Rome landmarks like the Vatican for another post.

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Italia, here we come! Trip preview

2011-04-28T11:55:00.004-05:00

Well, it's about that time - time to travel the world again! This trip's destination is Italy. I'm leaving later today. There's a nice-sized crew of us going - seven people, converging from Chicago, Detroit, and DC! Although I already went there in 2006, you can usually count on Italy for great culture, food, and weather.

This trip will be another wild-and-crazy trek through Europe (see my Oktoberfest Euro-Trek articles). Last time in Italy, I did a tour. This time, we will be our own tour guides. We will go roughly from south to north, visiting the following places:

Rome (3 days): Our entry point. Once the center of the world. All roads lead to Rome!
Amalfi Coast (1 day): Beautiful coastal resort area just south of Naples
Florence/Tuscany region (4 days): Home of the Italian Renaissance, with lovely hill towns and wine throughout the area
Venice (1 day): One of the most romantic places in the world, with its distinct canals
Milan (1 day): Big city. Flying back to the State from there.

Determining what time of year to visit Italy is always tough. Americans usually like to travel in the summer. But I think Italy is a little less crowded and not as hot in the spring or fall. We figured that going in April, just after Easter (not during Easter!), would be good. But there's a wrinkle - they decided to throw a Beatification ceremony for the last Pope John Paul II while we're visiting the Vatican. Beatification is step 3 of 4 in becoming canonized as a Saint in the Catholic Church. Pope John Paul's ceremony will be the fastest ever done - sometimes it takes a couple hundred years before you get your props. I appreciate the Vatican's desire to include us, but really, I would much prefer to see the empty seats in front of St. Peter's Basilica (see photo above) than a horde of 1 million+ believers in the Square. Never fear though - I watched the movie Angels and Demons last weekend, to prepare for the experience.

Europe is full of royalty events this upcoming weekend. In the UK, we have the Royal Wedding. In the Vatican, we have Pope John Paul II's Beatification. I honestly don't care for either event, especially since I was not allowed to vote for either position. But hey, when in Rome....

You may be wondering why I lumped the Pope in with monarchy. Not only is he the leader of the Catholic Church, he is also the king of a country. Yeah, the Vatican is a tiny country today. But it was once a larger nation called the Papal States, with its own military and everything.

When you think of Italy, it's hard not to think of all the history in that area. U.S. history pales in comparison. But what is ironic is that Italy the nation is actually 100 years younger than the United States. What?? Yes indeed. Since the downfall of Rome (about 1500 years ago), the Italy region became a bunch of different feuding city-states (Florence, Siena, Rome, Venice, etc.). Later they consolidated into nations: Tuscany, Genoa, Venice, Papal States (see map above). Italy didn't become a single nation until 1896. The Vittorio Emanuele II Monument in Rome (photo above) symbolizes this reunification. You can definitely see the regional differences as you travel around Italy.

But enough of history and politics. We're on vacation, and it's time to relax. Our first spot for peace and relaxation will be a day trip to the Amalfi Coast. It's a little south of Naples, which is south of Rome. I haven't been the Amalfi Coast yet, but it's supposed to be beautiful coastal region with pretty towns, cliffs, and coastline. The photo above is from Lerici, near Cinque Terre, which is a completely different region in Italy, but should be somewhat similar in scenery. The bus and ferry rides to the coast are supposed to be amazing. We'll also stroll through some of the towns there: Amalfi, Positano (seen in the movie The Talented Mr. Ripley), and Sorrento (you know the song "Return to Sorrento"?).

Our next stop, Tuscany, is perhaps one of the most beautiful and interesting regions to live in the world. It's full of rolling hills, vineyards, medieval towns, and sun. Not to mention, the region is anchored by Florence, the capital of Italian Renaissance art and culture. We are renting a cute apartment in Florence plus a rental car, which will allow us to meander about.

We plan to visit a few places in Tuscany. Siena is a must - an medieval town with a beautiful city square (above). We'll also visit Lucca, which I haven't been to. We'll probably stop by Pisa for a quick "Kodak Moment" too.

Did I mention food and wine?? Yes!!! We'll visit a winery in the Chianti region for some Tuscan goodness. Oh yeah, last time I was there, I wasn't much of a foodie yet. This time, look for some food photos! :) I may have to dump all my clothes and just bring wine back in the suitcase...

I haven't been to Venice yet. I'm very excited to see it. But I've stayed at the Venetian in Las Vegas many times. I can't imagine the real Venice to be much different, no? :) Unfortunately, we will only have a day to spend in Venice, so our experience will be short. I've watched the movie The Italian Job a few times though, so I think I know what to do...

Our final stop and return flight is in Milan. Milan is a big city, Italy's business capital. I don't think it's well-known for landmarks or anything. But I hope to meet a supermodel there and marry her. Maybe buy some clothes I can't afford. The highlight will be catching a football match featuring Inter-Milan, the 5-year reigning Italian League champions. I have never seen a football match in Italy before - should be super exciting! Though I hope not to get trampled by hooligans...

Stay tuned on my blog and on Facebook for more photos and commentary! :)

All is good in the world again: I finally got an iPad 2!

2011-04-23T16:28:00.001-05:00

When the iPad 2 was released in March, I wasn't that excited. Yes, it's a newer, better product, but was it worth shelling out another $600? No way.

But a few weeks later, everything changed. My parents came down to visit. I let my mom use my iPad to check a few things on the Internet. I didn't think much of it, since she had used various laptops, netbooks, etc. before. But with this device, she had fallen in love. She immediately became an Angry Birds addict. She was on the iPad all day during that visit. After that, I decided to part ways with my iPad. It became a retirement gift for my mom.

My good deed for my mom created a void in my life. What to do? No little tablet thingy to play with on the couch, in bed, at the coffee shop, etc. Time to do some shopping. I had looked at some of the other tablets on the market. The Android-based Motorola Xoom looked like a strong candidate. Gearheads could probably argue for hours on which tablet is better in terms of hardware/OS/features. But iPad blows away the competition when it comes to apps. I could care less about the specs; I just want to be able to do cool things with my tablet. Hence, I decided to go with an iPad 2.

Getting an iPad 2 was a pain in the neck, however. It's been over a month since they released it, but supply is still very low. You usually have to get in line at an Apple store around 8am or earlier, to hope to get one. No thanks, I'm not waking up for that. And although they advertise it at Target, Walmart, and Best Buy, these stores hardly carry any. You could order online, but it'll take you 3-5 weeks to get one. Maybe I should have done that anyways. But just last Wednesday, I called up the Apple store on Michigan Ave. in Chicago a little before noon, hoping to find out about a shipment the next morning. Surprisingly enough, the dude on the line told me they had a few iPad 2's currently in stock. I hopped on the bus and arrived there 15 minutes later. No line, no hassle - and I suddenly had my hands on a 32GB black wifi iPad 2! Praise the gods!

To celebrate this momentus achievement, here is my Flava Flav hip hop pose, with an iPad clock around my neck. This goes out to Dan S., who originally came up with the idea :)

If you are curious, here are some of my favorite apps:

Angry Birds: Forget World of Warcraft or Call of Duty. This simple little app would be my vote for the game of the Decade!
TD Ameritrade's iStockManager: Powerful, fast, responsive app for stock trading. It puts a lot of info at your fingertips for trading, and it's easy to use.
Netflix: Netflix streaming movies + iPad app were a match made in heaven
Air Video: Allows you to stream videos from another computer. This gets you around the 16/32/64GB limit of your iPad. I have many gigs of TV shows and movies on my main PC's hard drive. I installed Air Video Server on that PC (works on Mac too). Then I run Air Video on the iPad to stream movies over wireless from the PC.
Dropbox: Sync files between your iPad and other machines. Apple tries to force you to use iTunes for everything, even though it sucks at managing anything besides music. Ideally, iOS should have its own file manager like Windows Explorer or Apple Finder. But no.....
Keynote: Great way to display Powerpoint presentations, even thru a video projector. Now I take my iPad to present at customer meetings, rather than my laptop :)
Piano Accordio: The main app that sold me on the iPad originally. It may be the most playable music instrument app on the market today.
Pro Keys: Piano/keyboard app. There are lots of these, but this one is pretty solid. I used this app the other day in my "New Wave Ensemble" class, in which we played some David Bowie, The Cars, and The Replacements.

Happy Lunar New Year! Welcome to the Year of the Cat - or is it the Rabbit? Life's mysteries revealed within...

2011-02-03T17:45:00.008-06:00

Happy Lunar New Year to everyone! May you and your family be blessed with happiness, health, luck, success, and the chance to read my blog many times this year :)

I thought I'd spend a little time researching the glorious Inter-Web to learn more about this great tradition. Even as an Asian growing up with this stuff, there are things you just observe but don't really understand the meanings or origins of. To observe the holiday properly, I should really be taking the next two weeks off work. But nooo, I'm not taking any time off. So just an hour or two of research isn't so bad :)

Don't you mean Happy Chinese New Year?

Don't let Chinese oppressors fool you - there is more to Asia than China. Just because there are 1.3 billion of them and 100 of the rest of us doesn't mean that you should only listen to them! If you are a cultured Gringo, you may have asked yourself "hmm, to which of my Asian friends should I wish a happy new year?" Obviously Chinese ones, since it's often called Chinese New Year. The Vietnamese too, since I am blogging about it. The Vietnamese new year is called Têt. Even Koreans as well. Here's how to say Happy New Year in several languages:

Vietnamese: Chúc mừng năm mới
Chinese Mandarin: Gōng xǐ fā cái (恭禧發財)
Chinese Cantonese: Gong hey fat choy (恭禧發財, written the same as Mandarin)
Korean: Sae-hae-bok ma-ni pa-dŭ-se-yo! (새해복 많이 받으세요)

What about the other Asian countries, like Japan? I wondered this myself.

Apparently Japan used to follow the Chinese Zodiac and observe Lunar New Year. But the Meiji Restoration in the late 1800's put the Japanese on the Gregorian (western) calendar, and the new year on January 1.
Southeast Asian countries like Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand used to observe Chinese New Year, but heavy South Asian/Hindu influence and climate differences apparently moved the new year to the fifth lunar month - April.
The Philippines is pretty much "Latin Asia" - Jan 1 new year and Catholic.
In Malaysia, they celebrate Jan 1, Chinese New Year, and even Islamic New Year.

What the heck is a Lunar New Year anyways?

While the answer on the surface (duh, it's the new year of the lunar calendar) may be simple, it's really a little more complex... Let's step back a little. The sun and the moon have been used for telling time since the early days of civilization. The concept of the year is pretty obvious. It's very useful for figuring out seasons, weather, and planning agriculture. Each time the earth is at a certain spot in its orbit around the sun makes perfect sense for a new year.

The hard part about the year is that it's a really long time. Every day looks like the previous day, until you realize a big difference several months later, like when summer has turned into autumn and the leaves start to fall. Hence a more useful and shorter-term measure of time is the moon's position around the earth - the month. The moon takes about 30 days to travel around the earth. It's pretty easy to tell where in the month you are too - new moon, waxing crescent moon, full moon, waning gibbous moon, etc. That's why every civilization has the concept of the month.

The Moon makes roughly twelve revolutions around the Earth in a year. I bet this behavior of nature is why you see a base 12 system (aka duodecimal) used in many units of time: 12 months in a year, 12 hours of day and night. Many Asian countries used the twelve lunar cycles as the main basis for determining the length of a year.

Problem is that it's not exactly twelve cycles - it's really 12 cycles + a few days. So every once in a while, you have to add an extra "leap" month in there to make up for it. Since this system adjusts months to fit the earth's position around the sun, it's technically called a lunisolar calendar. Thought I'd insert that random trivia fact :) The lunar new year usually occurs at the beginning of the second lunar cycle (new moon) after the winter solstice.

Strange, eh? Are these crazy Asians making life too complex? Well there's another well-known holiday that is determined in a similar way. Easter, as recognized by Western (non-Orthodox) Christian churches, occurs on the first Sunday following the full moon that occurs after the spring equinox.

The Chinese Zodiac

Lunar New Year is strongly associated with the Chinese zodiac. The Chinese zodiac is like the western zodiac in some ways: there's a cycle, and there are twelve phases to the cycle. The western zodiac, which came from the Greeks, is based on the Sun's position across the sky. The twelve signs of the western zodiac are supposed to be the twelve constellations through which the sun passes (though the signs have been abstracted for astrological purposes, so don't believe any nonsense about the earth wobbling and a 13th sign). The constellations refer to characters or events in Greek mythology.

The Chinese zodiac, however, is not based on any constellations. Asian philosophy/religion/astrology is very closely tied to nature. The Chinese zodiac's twelve signs are based on everyday animals and the characteristics associated with them. There's a good Wikipedia page that describes the characteristics in detail. Another difference is that the Chinese zodiac cycle is in years rather than months, so the entire year of 2010 is Tiger, and 2011 is Rabbit/Cat. Here's some awesome artwork by DarkuAngel that shows the cycle:

There is more complexity to the Chinese zodiac as well. There's a macro cycle involving the 5 elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). Not all people of the same sign are the same. A 1975 Cat/Rabbit is a Wood Cat/Rabbit, while a 1963 Cat/Rabbit is of Water. This makes the astrological cycle 12 x 5 = 60 years. There are other considerations for which month and even which hour you were born. The end result is several thousand possible astrological personality traits. No wonder Asians actually pay astrologers for significant readings!

2011: Year of the Cat? Or Rabbit?

I have wrestled with this mystery since my birth. Those of you born in 1975 like me, or 1951, 1963, 1987, 1999 may have experienced similar inner turmoil as children. Now that it's 2011, you can all join me in the controversy. In Vietnam, 2011 marks the fourth and luckiest year of the lunar cycle: the year of the Cat. Everywhere else, it's the year of the Rabbit. It may be true that cats and rabbits both have whiskers and pointy ears, are good jumpers, and breed a lot. But cats and rabbits are pretty different animals, really... Regardless, let's talk about the lastrological traits of whatever-this-small-furry-mammal-is:

Luckiest of the signs (followed by the rat). Talented and affectionate, yet shy. You are peace seeker.
Gracious, good friend, kind, sensitive, soft-spoken, amiable, elegant, reserved, cautious, artistic, thorough, tender, self-assured, astute, compassionate, flexible. Can be moody, detached, superficial, self-indulgent, opportunistic, stubborn.
The best life partners would include the Sheep or Pig but not Rooster.

Let's also add a description of a cat/rabbit's astrological trine, which is kind of a harmonious grouping of a few signs. There are four groupings of three signs.

The fourth trine consists of the Rabbit, Sheep, and Pig. The quest for these three signs is the aesthetic and beautiful in life. Their calm nature gives them great leadership abilities. They are artistic, refined, intuitive, and well-mannered. These souls love the preliminaries in love, and are fine artists in their lovemaking. The Rabbit, Sheep and Pig have been bestowed with calmer natures than the other 9 signs. These three are compassionately aware, yet detached and resigned to their condition. They seek beauty and a sensitive lover. They are caring, unique, self-sacrificing, obliging, sensible, creative, empathic, tactful, and prudent. They can also be naive, pedantic, insecure, cunning, indecisive, and pessimistic.

I'm honestly a bit of a skeptic, but I gotta admit that many of these traits are true of myself (well, the good traits hehe). Ladies, remember: I'm seeking beauty and a sensitive lover, and I could go for some artistic lovemaking! Haha :) Come to think of it, I even had a great relationship with a Pig before, and a not-so-great one with a Rooster.... But I digress....

Ok, now why do we have Cats in Vietnam and Rabbits everywhere else? The Chinese zodiac dates back a very long time - beyond 2500 BCE. This is almost 2000 years before the Greeks (who came up with the western zodiac). There are many legends and stories. Culture has evolved over time too. Unfortunately, there really is no accurate record of what happened.

The zodiac origin story that I enjoy the most is of the Great Race. Click this link for the story. It's a wonderful read - it's a great myth tale, and it clearly depicts the personalities of the animals. It's even great for telling your children - check out the book on Amazon :)

While some have argued that somehow "rabbit" got turned into "cat" due to some translation error into Vietnamese, I'm not so sure. The legends all feature the cat prominently in the story, as one of the 13 (or 12) animals. Either the cat got screwed out of the race, or somehow it finished the race. How do you mess up the translation of part of the story (rabbit to cat) but maintain the cat's role in the story? Highly unlikely, I say! Furthermore, Vietnam was occupied by China for over 1000 years. There had to have been a tremendous amount of culture swapping - too much for a simple translation problem to get in the way.

Bottom line: no one really knows what's up with the Cat in the Vietnamese zodiac. I think the folks selling Trix cereal would rather see the lucky rabbit as the winner. However, Al Stewart would probably make a lot more money with royalties if 2011 were truly the year of the Cat. As for me, all I have to say is "meow."

Japan 2010 - Trip Overview

2011-01-17T00:00:00.001-06:00

I just spent 11 marvelous days in Japan for vacation. It's a beautiful country, with lots of history, culture, and innovation. Japan and China are probably the two most influential nations in Asia. I'm glad to have the fortune of visiting both places.

This trip was very memorable and rewarding. Lots of things to write about (and I'm not done yet). Here are some topics:

Tokyo, modern metropolis
Fashion in Japan
Kyoto, the cultural capital of Japan
Food in Japan, yum!
Entertainment and Nightlife in Japan
Japan side trips: Nikko, Nara, and Osaka

Note: the articles appear in reverse order when you view my blog site in full.

Three of us went on this trip. Mo, my faithful traveling sidekick (ha), was finally able to go this time. Last year, he and I tried to go to Japan, but some red tape with U.S. immigration prevented him from leaving. Instead, he was stuck in Mexico for a few weeks. We refer to this period as Mo's Exile. Ingrid was also able to join us as well. It was her first time traveling with us (poor girl, stuck with two dudes). Nonetheless, good times were enjoyed by all! :)

Japan is an island nation. Although several thousand islands make up Japan, almost all its landmass comes from four islands. Most of the good stuff is on the biggest island in the middle, Honshu. Our travels were solely within Honshu.

Japan is located just east of Korea and Russia. Since it's east of all its neighbors, it is known as the Land of the Rising Sun. I knew it was close to Korea, but I didn't realize how far north it goes. The big northern island, Hokkaido, seems like just a small hop from Siberia. Japan is pretty far away from China too. Now I know why Japan is so much more similar to Korea in language and culture than it is to China.

We spent the entire trip in two main areas of Japan - Tokyo and Kyoto. We flew into Tokyo Narita Airport (1hr train to Tokyo). Tokyo is Japan's capital and is the largest city on the planet. We spent six days there, including a day trip to nearby Nikko. The remaining four days were spent in the Kyoto area, which is a 3hr bullet train ride from Tokyo. Kyoto is Japan's center of traditional and religious culture, very different from Japan. We also did a day trip to nearby Nara and Osaka while based in Kyoto.

You can get everywhere in Japan via train. However, train tickets are expensive. Our solution was to buy a Japan Rail Pass, which gives you unlimited train rides over a certain number of days. Just one round trip between Tokyo and Kyoto almost makes up for the price of the rail pass. In addition to that, we got "free" rides to Nikko, Nara, and Osaka, not to mention some local rides in Tokyo and Osaka.

In Tokyo, we stayed the the most excellent Conrad Tokyo Hotel. Gotta love traveling with consultants with lots of hotel points and elite status.

In Kyoto, however, there weren't many western Hotel chains to choose from. We ended up staying at a hostel! Talk about a change of scenery...

Related links:

Food in Japan, yum!

2010-12-23T10:00:00.004-06:00

Japan is a land rich in culture. One cultural aspect that the Japanese are particularly proud of is their food. You are probably familiar with many Japanese foods already: ramen, sushi, tempura, teppenyaki, Kobe beef… It was a delight to taste the foods of Japan firsthand. And of course, I had to devote an entire blog article on food :)

Japan is a dense country. People are everywhere. Likewise, food is everywhere - to serve the people. The major districts of Tokyo (Shinjuku, Shibuya, etc.) and Osaka are packed with restaurants. Train stations, hubs of foot traffic, feature a variety of restaurants and shops for people on-the-go.

For us tourists, there was no problem finding food. We tried hard to find the best places, as recommended by our handy dandy Lonely Planet books. They were all excellent picks. But after walking around all day, we often got tired and hungry, so we often stopped at whatever was nearby. Either way, the food was good.

Noodles

You can’t come to Asia without having a bowl of noodles. Japan is full of noodle shops. Ramen noodles are one of the most common styles of noodles, especially in Tokyo. Ramen is a wheat-based noodle, yellowish and wavy-looking. You can usually choose from several soup bases (miso, soy, etc.), as well as various toppings (pork, pork belly, etc.). Do you remember eating cheap instant pre-packaged ramen in college? I did – and lots of it! I probably consumed a lifetime’s worth of MSG from instant ramen. Ramen in Japan is much, much better. It’s fresh, it’s healthy (enough), and it’s tasty. I could probably have eaten Ramen every day in Japan without getting sick of it….

Udon noodles are another popular type of noodle dish. Udon is a super thick wheat noodle. The soup base is usually a much lighter, clearer soup. It often comes with something tempura-fried as an accessory, such as shrimp. We noticed Udon to be much more common in Kyoto. There are several other types of noodles in Japan: soba (buckwheat), somen.... Here's an udon dish:

The way you eat noodles is a bit different in Japan. First of all, you use chopsticks with your main hand, and the large soup spoon to catch noodles and soup in your other hand. Most Asians do this with noodle soup. In Japan, people usually place their heads close to the bowl and slurp the noodles. Making a slurping sound ("ssssssp") is encouraged. I'm not sure this woman (photo to right) enjoyed having Mo place his camera right next to her as she ate, but she was a good example.

We observed some differences in people's dining habits in Japan too. Japanese big cities are very fast-paced, and Japanese business culture can be pretty crazy. There are a lot of fast food counters, for people on-the-go. With respect to restaurant food, the Japanese don't appear to do take-out. Instead, there is a lot of fast dining in. Many shops just have bar counters for solo diners to eat quickly.

Japan is so into fast and efficient dining that some places even have vending machines to take your orders. You place your order and pay through the machine outside. Then go in, sit at the counter, and give your order ticket to the shop owner. This approach cuts down on the labor costs for extra waiters, as well as space requirements. For us, it was a bit difficult to understand the vending machines. They were mostly in Japanese! But at least they had pictures next to the buttons.

Speaking of vending machines - you can buy beer or shochu from vending machines in Japan! How sweet is that!!

Sushi

You can't talk about Japanese food without talking about sushi. All I can say is that the sushi was great anywhere we went. Most of the time, the sushi didn't cost an arm and a leg; it was reasonably priced. While sushi is sushi anywhere, we did learn one thing from asking the locals: they don't do fancy rolls in Japan. It's straight up sushi, nigiri, or sashimi. All these fancy dynamite rolls, caterpillar rolls, godzilla rolls, etc. appear to have been concoctions made by Gaijin (non-Japanese). At any rate, I think at least Ingrid was in heaven, since sushi is her favorite food, at least of the non-tortilla-based foods :)

We didn't want to eat just any sushi when we were in Japan. We had to try the best. So we decided to visit Tsukiji, the Tokyo Fish Market. It is the largest fish market in the world, and probably the world epicenter of sushi production. The first part of this adventure was checking out the tuna auctions super early in the morning. A limited number of tourists are allowed to watch the auction each day. In fact, the market was never intended to be a tourist attraction, and the workers don't really like all these clumsy, snap-happy tourists wandering about. We got our butts up early, arriving at the fish market at around 4:30am. We got lost a few times, but finally got to the auction tour office. We were the last ones allowed inside!

The auction was fascinating. While I've been to fish markets to buy fish, I've never seen the production side of it before. The fish market is a huge complex (maybe a full square kilometer?) - full of warehouses and stalls. Various utility vehicles like forklifts and scooters fly around at a frantic pace; it's actually rather dangerous if you aren't careful. These fish come off boats or planes, then they're forklifted to warehouses like the one above. Buyers poke and prod the fish, to determine which ones they like and how much they are worth. Wholesale auctions take place for each fish. Sushi-grade tuna goes for quite the premium. The most expensive tuna species, bluefin tuna (which is actually the unfortunate victim of overfishing and is at the center of an international controversy), can sell for over $100,000 USD!

Once the auction tour was done, we were ready to try out some fish market sushi. There are two super popular sushi joints at the market. We went to one of them, Daiwa Sushi, which was recommended in our Lonely Planet book. It was a bit strange to do this at 7am - even for Japanese - but hey, it's supposed to be the best!

Daiwa is a very intimate place. There's a sushi counter and maybe 8 seats. With so few seats, you have to wait a while to get in. We waited maybe 30 minutes - even at 7am. Many wait for an hour or two. Once you are seated, you just place your order verbally to the sushi chef. You can order individual nigiri items a-la-carte as I did, or you can get the chef's choice of X items. He gives you your sushi as he makes it.

OMG. It was sooooo fresh, soooo good! The best was toro - fatty tuna belly. It just melted in my mouth. I could have had 10 of them, but at 800 yen a piece ($10), it would have been very expensive! I was able to try many kinds (which were cheaper than the toro), such as: hamachi (yellowtail tuna), ebi (raw shrimp), aji (mackerel), tako (octopus), anago (freshwater eel). I even overcame my ill will towards uni (sea urchin). Many Americans don't like the "fishier" ones like aji or uni, but at the fish market, everything tasted like perfection.

Markets

You know you're in Asia when you are at a market. You see great stuff everywhere: small alleys full of shoppers, shop stalls with eager vendors, and tasty food of all shapes and sizes. We spent our remaining time at the Tokyo Fish Market going shopping at the various stalls. We had more opportunities at the markets in Kyoto and Osaka.

Japan is an island nation, with little land for its 130 million person population (1/3 the U.S. population). This lack of land is probably why seafood is such a big part of Japanese cuisine. The Japanese have figured out ways to prepare and eat pretty much anything from the sea. Whether it's fish, shellfish, sea vegetables, or just some crazy squirming thing in the sea, you can probably find it at a Japanese market.

Street Food

Maybe I watch too many Anthony Bourdain shows, but I love eating street food when I'm traveling. There's nothing fancy or gourmet about it. It's real stuff, served to real people. No tablecloths or table manners. Just pure food goodness. Japan fares well in terms of street food. Baked, deep fried, stir fried - it's all there. Japan especially has a lot of fried seafood on a skewer. I really enjoyed these juicy baby octopi. Ingrid and Mo got quite a kick out of the squid. Another popular item is takoyaki, a dumpling of octopus and veggies mixed with batter (not pictured).

Tea

Japan loves its tea. It appears to be served with every meal. There are various types of tea, like oolong and green. Teas are produced in different ways, giving you tea leaves or powders to put in your hot water.

There is a lot of history and tradition around tea in Japan. Although tea first came from the Chinese, it became well incorporated into Japanese society over the centuries. We attempted to learn more about it by attending a tea ceremony. There's a ritual around the preparation and consumption of macha, a powdered green tea. To net it out for you, there's a picture on your tea bowl. Bring the bowl up with the picture facing you. Breathe. Contemplate. Rotate the picture around to drink. Key thing - don't drink from the picture side! Rotate it back when you're done.

Bizarre Foods?

Any time Mo and I go somewhere, an excursion to eat something bizarre is not unheard of. Many North Americans used to eating chicken or beef all the time would easily find it strange that the Japanese enjoy so much seafood. The Japanese, however, will tell you that their cuisine isn't full of strange food like the Chinese (I actually had this exact conversation). It's true - the Chinese are masters of strange stuff (have you seen our fried scorpion video?). So our choice for a bizarre food was the spiny blowfish. A fish, you might say? What's the big deal? It's not any fish. It's poisonous!

Needless to say, you shouldn't try spiny blowfish at any ole' place. That's why we selected this restaurant in Osaka with a big blowfish sign on the front. It must be good, no? :) Well, Lonely Planet also recommended it. You need a specially licensed blowfish chef that knows how to remove the poisonous parts BUT also keep enough bad stuff in there to give you a little zing in your mouth.

We went with a blowfish hot pot sort of dish. There are some very expensive blowfish deals, which we skipped. Heat up a stew, throw the fish in, and voila, you have some cooked blowfish in front of you. Tasting it was actually underwhelming. It just tasted like any other white fish. And it was quite bony (hence the name). But hey, we can now say we tried some official Japanese style blowfish and lived to tell the tale.

Conclusion

Japan is full of delectable delights for your palette. I could probably have written pages and pages more about the food, but hopefully you get a good feel for the food. For a culture that prides itself on dining, it's amazing that the Japanese are so skinny (even tall and skinny compared to other Asians). Maybe it's the high seafood diet? Smaller proportions? Or maybe their lifestyle involving lots of walking and little couch time? Or is it the genes? Whatever it is, Japan has its cuisine figured out, and it was a pleasure to experience it firsthand.

Related articles:

Kyoto, the cultural capital of Japan

2010-12-02T15:24:00.003-06:00

Now that Thanksgiving is behind me, I am ready to continue my blog thread on Japan. Today's article is on Kyoto. Kyoto is located in central Honshu (the big island in Japan), a three hour bullet train ride from Tokyo. We spent four days in the Kyoto area.

Kyoto is the perfect foil to Tokyo. Maybe that's why they share the same letters in their names? :) While Tokyo is a ginormous, bustling metropolis of 30 million people, Kyoto is a cozy, slower-paced city of 1.5 million. While Tokyo is modern, high-tech, and innovative, Kyoto is traditional and conventional. Tokyo may be Japan's political/economic capital, leading the charge into the future. Kyoto is Japan's cultural capital and the link to its past.

The first thing we noticed in Kyoto, after taking the train from Tokyo, was the absence of skyscrapers. Tokyo is immensely dense and built up. Although Kyoto may still be dense compared to most American cities, it is dramatically less dense than Tokyo. Almost everything in Kyoto is low-rise. The Kamo River runs through the middle of the city. Quiet paths lined with sleepy willow trees follow the river. Kyoto is the perfect place for taking a romantic stroll in the evening. To add to the atmosphere, you may see a Geisha or two walking around.

Kyoto is kind of divided in two halves, separated by the Kamo River. Western Kyoto is the modern city half. Most of the businesses are located there. Lots of shopping and restaurants are on this side, near the river. The first photo below is of an alley full of restaurants. Eastern Kyoto is mostly residential, with temples and shrines scattered everywhere. The second photo below is of a street in eastern Kyoto, located in a tourist area near some temples.

Temples and Shrines

To appreciate Japanese culture, religion, and history, you have to visit the temples and shrines in Kyoto. The remainder of this article will discuss many the sites we visited. Kyoto has over a thousand temples and shrines. While most of these are small, some are just magnificent. In fact, there are 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Kyoto. That's an amazing number. If you aren't interested in temples and shrines, you might just want to breeze through the rest of this article. We. however, found the experience very interesting and rewarding.

Kiyomizu-dera (Pure Water Temple)

A huge and immensely popular Buddhist temple complex that sits atop a hill overlooking Kyoto.

The temple is most well-known for its large terrace. In addition, the Otowa Waterfall is located here. Its "pure" waters (hence the name) are collected, and visitors may drink it for good luck.

Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion)

This magnificent pavilion was built in the late 1300's, as a retirement place for a Shogun. The shogun wanted to cover it all with gold. He didn't get too far. What you see was re-built in the 1900's, after the original building burned down a few times. It is covered in pretty thick gold leaf.

Fushimi Inari Shrine

This Shinto shrine is dedicated to Inari, the godof rice, sake, and prosperity. Located in the suburb of Fushimi (a bit south and east of town), this shrine it was built in the 8th century. It is well-known for the thousands of torii - small Shinto gates - lined up next to each other. For a very expensive fee, you can get your own torii and inscription!

Ryoan-ji (Peaceful Dragon Temple)

A Zen Buddhist temple. Its most well-known feature is its Zen rock garden. The photo below doesn't really do it justice. It's better just to go there and contemplate.

Heian Shrine

Built fairly recently - in 1895, in honor of Kyoto being Japan's capital many centuries ago. It has by far the largest Shinto torii in the city.

Tenryu-ji Temple and Arashiyama

Of the five great Zen temples in Kyoto, Tenryu-ji may be the greatest. Located in the suburban Arashiyama district, this temple lies next to a mountain. Apparently, this temple provides a remarkable view all year round, with each season showing off its own beauty. We were fortunate enough to visit during fall color season. Nearby are some beautiful Japanese gardens and paths, not to mention a bamboo forest (the one used in the movie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon).

Philosopher's Path

A beautiful, tree-lined path along a canal in eastern Kyoto. There are a number of temples and shrines along the way. In spring, cherry blossoms light up the path with white and pink. The path gets its name from a Japanese philosopher who used to walk the path daily to contemplate.

Daitokuji

This temple complex is a major site for the Rinzai, a Buddhist sect. The complex is very large. Consisting of 24 temples, it's more like a village!

Chion-in Temple

Head temple for yet another Buddhist sect - the Jodo (Pure Land) sect.

Yasaka Shrine (Gion Shrine)

A Shinto shrine located in Kyoto's popular Gion district (where our hotel was). A big festival occurs here every year.

Ryozen Kannon Temple

A WWII war memorial shrine, featuring a ginormous Buddha statue.

In conclusion, Kyoto is a charming, rich place. You definitely get a glimpse of old Japan by spending time there. Not to mention, it's a great break from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo :)

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Fashion in Japan

2010-11-17T10:00:00.005-06:00

Japan's society is a fascinating blend of old and new. On one hand, Japan is rich in history and tradition. This Japan is polite, conservative, and full of rules to follow. On the other hand, modern Japan is full of creativity and innovation. This Japan is flamboyant and risk-taking, and it seems to crave the next new thing all the time. This blend of old and new is quite apparent when you look at people on the street - where they go, how they conduct themselves, and most obviously, what they wear. This article discusses my observations on what people wore as we wandered around the streets of Japan.

Let's start with the old Japan. Westerners are probably most familiar with these themes about Japanese culture. The most ancient of Japanese fashions is the kimono. It dates all the way back to the first centuries of Japan. There are lots of different types of kimonos, with various cuts, tucks, and folds, signifying different things. I have no idea what the differences are. We saw a fair amount of kimonos in Kyoto. Geishas (and apprentice geishas) walk around town fully dressed in their garb (unfortunately, I couldn't get a clean shot of a geisha, argh). Some Japanese women also dress up in kimonos to visit various temples in Kyoto.

You don't see people wearing kimonos on the street much at all in Tokyo. They seem reserved for formal occasions (weddings) or if you're running a store near a tourist attraction. Luckily, we stumbled upon a few couples dressed up for photo shoots.

Our trip coincided with Culture Day, a Japanese holiday. We went to the Asukasa district of Tokyo to observe the Culture Day parade. It gave us the opportunity to check out even more traditional outfits. We even got to see robes, weapons, and armor used by samurai and other badass warriors in the past.

One thing I loved was seeing little kids dressed in kimonos for various cultural ceremonies at temples. They were super cute.

Speaking of kids, another well-known aspect of Japan is schoolkid uniforms. You definitely see the traditional side of Japan in these. Follow the rules. Be respectful of elders. We made some new friends with some schoolkids. They even asked for our authographs!

The uniforms don't end once you're out of school. They are replaced by the business suit as you join the ranks of the Japanese corporation. Business in Japan is notorious for its values of conformity, hierarchy, and "saving face." Do what the boss does, don't speak out of turn, etc. This is drastically different from what we learn in the west: speak up, take initiative, and "think outside the box" (you know it's bad when thinking outside the box is a typical question asked by HR people hehe). Business fashion in Japan is consequently quite drab - black or dark blue suit, white shirt, tie. B-o-r-i-n-g! However, it's kinda neat to watch the sea of corporate workers pass by you in the subway during rush hour. It makes you feel like you're in the movie The Matrix...

Let's talk about the new Japan now. If all you knew was traditional Japan, it probably wouldn't make any sense that Japan is into all this pop culture like anime/manga, video games (Nintendo, Sega, etc.), J Pop (Japanese pop), and the game show. Perhaps the traditional side masks the modern undercurrent of creativity, style, and entertainment. Visiting Japan gave me a chance to appreciate this side of Japanese culture firsthand. Let me just say that modern Japanese culture is strong, and you see it everywhere.

Fashion is one area in which Japan excels. You definitely notice how well-dressed people are when you walk around Japan. We felt a bit underdressed at times, haha. We observed many fashion trends on the street, especially women's. The first one is that short skirts or shorts appear to be the norm. I guess you need to show off some leg. We rarely saw women in pants or jeans. If you need to stay warm, put on some leggings.

Thick leg warmers or boots are en vogue too.

Fur and/or animal prints are hot too. Pick you favorite animal: polar bear, cheetah, leopard, or just some crazy print - it's all good. You can wear it as any article of clothing: shirt, coat, purse, scarf, leg warmers, etc. And apparently there's no limit to how many fur/animal print articles you can wear at once!

Ingrid was quite fascinated by all the fashion. She had to try some on herself. Our favorite article was the fur "tail," which you can hook on to your waist. The one in the photo below runs for 4000 yen, which is about $50 USD!

As you probably know, I'm not the most fashion-conscious of people. I wouldn't have thought about it too much. But when you run into so many fashionistas on the street, the fashion trends can really catch your attention. Btw, if you really enjoy this stuff, there are websites like http://www.japanesestreets.com/ that show off more street fashion. Now - let's play a game. In the next photo, which one does not look like the others? :)

In addition to seeing the trendy, we saw a bit of crazy fashion too. I don't think these people work at Japanese corporations. I have no explanation for the next photo:

The Harajuku area of Tokyo is well-known for Harajuku girls (and boys), who often dress up like anime/manga/movie characters on Sundays. You may know it from the Gwen Stefani songs. Apparently, "cute" is a huge theme in anime, especially maid costumes. Many fashion trends try to resemble anime, and there are even several magazines dedicated to this style...

I'm not sure if it was just due to Halloween, but we got to see a little Goth in Harajuku as well:

So there you have it - old and new Japan. Neat stuff, no? As for me, I'm going to grow out my hair to look like a Japanese anime character....

Tokyo, modern metropolis

2010-11-13T14:25:00.005-06:00

Tokyo is the largest city on the planet. It is the city of cities. There are over 35 million people in Tokyo Metropolis. This is almost twice the number (20 million) of the next most populous metropolitan areas (Seoul, Mexico City, New York City, Mumbai). As a resident of Chicago, I feel like I live in a big city. But when I came to Tokyo, Chicago seemed tiny to me.

In my opinion, Asian cities look a bit different than European cities. European cities often have had some urban planning done, so the streets flow well and landmarks are easily accessible. Asian cities don't seem to have this. Tokyo is no exception. Tokyo is a sprawling concrete jungle. You see tall buildings everywhere you look. The streets are hard to navigate. There's no "downtown" to look for. There really aren't any iconic landmarks for Tokyo either (Arc de Triomphe, Tower Bridge, Coliseum, etc.) . Don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to insult Tokyo; I'm just trying to explain that the city is different.

Instead of looking at landmarks, you need to go where the locals go to see Tokyo's beauty. The photo above is of the Shibuya district. No, there was no festival going on. It's just an average weekend afternoon, with thousands of Japanese people flocking to the shops and restaurants. There is no shortage of places to shop and eat in Tokyo - big or small, cheap or fancy, it's all around you.

Perhaps the most well-known feature of Tokyo is its neon lights. They are everywhere. We Americans are proud of the lights in Times Square. Brits like their Picadilly Circus. In Tokyo, there's a Times Square equivalent in almost every district. Every street with shops seems to be lit up by bright neon lights. Here are some photos from the Ginza (also the top photo in this article), Shinjuku, and Roppongi districts.

The neon lights are even more interesting in the red light areas :)

Tokyo seems to pride itself on the beauty and ingenuity of its modern buildings. The following two skyscrapers are really nice, and you can go up to their observation decks to admire the view. The first is the Metropolitan Government Building, the tallest building in Tokyo, in Shinjuku. The second is the Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills.

There are a number of buildings in Tokyo that are well-known for their architectural beauty. Here are photos of the Tokyo International Forum, located next to Tokyo Station, and the Prada Building in Aoyoma.

Here's a lovely sunset from the top of the Mori Tower.

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Ich bin ein Berliner

2010-10-29T08:00:00.002-05:00

Berlin is Germany's capital and largest city. It's large, it's modern, it's sophisticated, it's multicultural. This was my first visit to Berlin. My impression was that Berlin is Germany's version of London or New York City.

When I think of Berlin, I can't help but think about its role in 20th century history. Most recently, the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, signifying the end of the Cold War between the USSR and the USA. Before that, Berlin was the capital of Germany during World Wars I and II. It was significantly damaged during WWII bombing raids. After all these events, what has Berlin become? I had no idea. Visiting Berlin was a great lesson in history, as well as a refreshing look at how humanity can grow and mend itself after many years of strife.

I grew up during the Cold War. Being born in Vietnam, I witnessed the damage caused by the war between Communism and Capitalism. When my family came to the U.S., we still felt the Cold War - Olympics competitions and boycotts, the space race, the threat of nuclear war, pop culture of the Cold War (remember War Games or Rocky IV?).

I also remember the end of the Cold War - signified by the demolition of the Berlin Wall. Remember Ronny Reagan saying "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall?" Remember that Scorpions song "Winds of Change?" The first time I visited Germany was in 1992, just three years after Wall fell. The people I spoke to (from the West) were a bit upset that their money was being sucked in to rebuild the East. But what happened since? I stopped paying attention. Visiting Berlin allowed me to find out. What you see in the photos above is what's left of the wall: nothing! It has been almost completely razed. In its place are bricks in the ground of a special color.

Although you can't see the wall anymore, you can see some relics of the Cold War. One of the most notable is the Checkpoint Charlie (CPC) memorial. Back in the day, CPC was one of the few places available for passage between East Berlin and West Berlin. It was manned by US and Germany military personnel. The memorial is an outdoor museum that presents various facts and stories related to the Cold War.

During the Cold War, both East and West were desperate to show that their way of life was superior. What happened to Berlin during this time was very interesting (I didn't appreciate it as a child). When Berlin was divided into East and West, Berlin still sat in the middle of Communist East Germany. So West Berlin, which was democratic/capitalistic, was really an island that was not connected by land to West Germany. The Allies ended up spending a lot of money and effort to airlift supplies to West Berlin, just to make it look nice to show off. Their efforts were best seen on the Kurfurstendamm, a beautiful boulevard boasting fancy shops. It's like the Champs-Elysses or Fifth Avenue (NYC) of West Berlin. Our hotel was nearby. Below is a photo of the Breitscheidplatz, the central plaza next to the Kurfurstendamm.

During WWII, the Allies performed many bombing raids on Berlin. As a result, much of the city was destroyed. The Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche (Memorial Church), located at the center of the Breitscheidplatz, was destroyed as well. Today it has been rebuilt, and it serves as a memorial to the bombings.

The Reichstag is the name for Germany's parliament. In the late 1800's, this beautiful building shown below was built for the Reichstag. In the 1900's, however, a fire badly damaged the building. It was left unused for decades. German Reunification prompted the restoration of this building. Isn't it grand?

You have to wait in a long line to take the tour of the Reichstag Building. We waited 1.5 hours (which was a relatively short wait). Once inside and through some very tight security, you briefly pass through the interior in which the parliament meets. Almost all your time is spent in a modern dome structure that is situated above the parliament. The dome has a neat spiral path that allows you to walk up to the top. They give you an audio tour as you look at the 360 degree view of Berlin.

The Brandenburg Gate is Berlin's most well-known landmark (see photo below and also the first photo in this article). It is a beautiful classical structure, located just a few blocks from the Reichstag building. The Brandenburg Gate was one of the few landmarks that was not bombed in WWII. During the Cold War, the Berlin Wall stood right in front of the gate. A bunch of ugly Soviet-style buildings were built next to the gate. After Reunification, Germany demolished the ugly buildings and created an open plaza here.

The plaza features a strange assortment of buildings. The US Embassy is located here, for one. Also, there's a building featuring an interior modern art/architecture thingy by Frank Gehry (below). It was our second sighting of Frank Gehry work on this trip (the other was the Dancing House in Prague). Finally, you can find the infamous hotel (below below) in which Michael Jackson held his baby out the window for the world to see and cringe at.

This modern structure below is the Holocaust Memorial. It is also located next to the Brandenburg Gate. There are no stories or photos talking about the Holocaust at this memorial. You just walk through the rows of monoliths and contemplate.

During the Cold War, all the good stuff in Berlin was in the western side of the city. After reunification, the "center" of the city moved east. Reconstruction opened up lots of museums, landmarks, and shopping in the former East Berlin.

One such area is Museum Island. The Spree river runs through the east side of the city. Museum Island can be found along the river. There are five excellent museums on the island, plus the super nice looking Berliner Dom, a Protestant cathedral. Museum Island is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The most well-known of the museums is the Pergammon Museum. It contains reconstructed ruins of ancient structures such as the Pergammon Altar and Babylon's Ishtar Gate. It was really neat to see how grand these cities were. I didn't even know that anything from Babylon survived at all.

The Neues Museum was destroyed in WWII. It was rebuilt and re-opened in 2009. There is an Egyptian sculpture inside, with the famous head bust of Nefertiti (which they would not let us photograph, argh). The museum also has a Greek (or was it Roman) exhibit as well. The coolest thing about the museum to me, however, was the building itself. The architect used the original 19th century materials, but not the original design. It was cool to see brick, stone, and marble used in strange places, even next to each other.

Potsdamer Platz was once an important city square in Berlin. WWII completely destroyed this area, however. It was left in ruin during the Cold War years. Since Reunification, Potsdamer Platz has been completely rebuilt. It is now filled with modern skyscrapers. One of the neat buildings in the platz is the Sony Center, with a tent-like roof and dining/entertainment activities.

Berlin is a cosmopolitan city. You can find food from all sorts of countries. But if you want to eat something authentic to Berlin, try some currywurst. Like many German foods, it is a sausage. The "curry sauce" is really a mix of curry and ketchup. Talk about fusion! Currywurst is not fine dining; it's fast food. You can get it from street stalls, or you can go to one of these currywurst chains, which are supposed to be the best.

Another authentic German experience was drinking some Kolsch beer. Although Kolsch came from Cologne, not Berlin, we were able to get some good stuff anyways. Unlike may German beers, which are served at room temperature, Kolsch is supposed to be served cold. It's served in long but thin 0.2L glasses (rather than 0.5L or pint-sized glasses or the large 1L mas steins).

Mo's brother and his family live in Berlin. They had us over for dinner one evening. Here's a photo of "Tio Mo" and his very cute niece.

You can find all kinds of entertainment and nightlife in Berlin. We didn't have enough time to experience much of it, but it seemed pretty cool. In particular, there were some nice streets lined with restaurants and outdoor seating. More unique were the venues found in alleys and abandoned buildings.

To wrap it up, Berlin is a very modern, very metropolitan city. It has grown, however, in the shadow of its recent history - WWII and the Cold War. German Reunification has brought forth a renaissance of redevelopment and growth. I look forward to seeing Berlin in another few years, to see how much more it has evolved.

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All articles from my Oktoberfest Euro trek

Prague, the Golden City

2010-10-24T10:00:00.036-05:00

Prague is the capital city of the Czech Republic. Also known as the "golden city" and the "mother of cities," Prague has been a major city in the region for over a millennium. It was once the capital of the Holy Roman Empire and of Bohemia.

Of all the great cities of the world that I've seen, there are few that compare to Prague in terms of beauty. Prague's got it all: magnificent buildings large and small, cobblestone streets full of shops and restaurants, a great river adorned with pretty bridges, and a great castle overlooking the city.

Let's start at the heart of the city: Old Town Square (Staromestske Namesti). It's a large, beautiful town square, first established in the 10th century. It ranks up there with the other great town squares of Europe. The photo above is a cool panaroma of the square, stitched from multiple shots. Click on it to enlarge. Several of Prague's most significant landmarks surround the square.

The first great building by the square is the Old Town Hall (Staromestske Radnice). The hall features a Gothic and Renaissance tower, plus a fancy astronomical clock. This landmark is one of Prague's top tourist attractions. You can buy tickets to go up the tower for a great view of the city (we didn't). The clock is a technological marvel, considering its creation during Medieval times. It performs a glockenspiel-like show every hour.

Another great building at the square is the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn. This Gothic-styled church was built in the 14th century.

Prague is a great city for visitors to walk about. It's a large city though; you'll get a nice workout walking everywhere. In fact, I ripped a large hole through the toes of a sock after walking all day. The streets are pleasant, safe, and tourist friendly. You see shops everywhere, and you can eat food from all over the world.

Another nickname for Prague is "city of a hundred spires." You can indeed stumble upon many a spire or tower as you're exploring the city.

The Vltava (Moldau) River runs through the center of Prague. To span the river, a bunch of bridges have been built over the centuries. The most famous of the bridges is the Charles Bridge (Karluv Most). First built in the 14th century, this bridge connects the Old Town with the Prague Castle area.
It is a very picturesque Gothic bridge, adorned with Baroque-styled statues standing tall.

The Charles Bridge is a very popular tourist destination. The bridge is flooded by tourists, lovers, sellers, beggars, artists, and musicians every day.

Sitting atop a hill on the western side of the Charles Bridge, Prague Castle (Prazsky Hrad) overlooks the city. The castle has been around since at least the 9th century. This castle was the defensive structure around which the city of Prague grew. Prague Castle is the largest castle complex in the world. Emperors, kings, and presidents have resided within.

You can get a great view of the city from Prague Castle. Below is a panorama of the cityscape. Click to enlarge it. Imagine being a king and seeing this view every day...

Prague Castle is definitely a worthy visit for tourists. You can purchase a ticket, which allows you to see the churches, palaces, and museums within the castle complex.

The most obvious attraction within the castle complex is St. Vitus Cathedral. It is by far the tallest structure in the city; you can see it from anywhere. This Roman Catholic cathedral is the most prominent church in the Czech Republic. The archbishop is based there. Kings and emperors are buried there.

St. Vitus Cathedral is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture. Flying buttresses and spires are found everywhere in this building. Inside, you'll find beautiful stained glass windows and crypts. The cathedral's construction first began in the 14th century, but construction stopped after about 50 years. The cathedral was left unfinished for hundreds of years. Finally, work in the 19th and 20th centuries completed the cathedral - 600 years later.

Another landmark within the castle complex is St. George's Basilica. It is older than St. Vitus Cathedral. Built in the 10th century, St. George features a Romanesque architecture. Ludmilla of Bohemia was canonized and buried there - hence it is a basilica.

Ok, back to the city. Prague has a really nice and refined area called the Jewish Quarter. In addition to lots of nice shops and restaurants, the Jewish Quarter is home to a number of Jewish landmarks. You can buy a ticket that lets you see six of them. After having gone through Prague Castle earlier that day, however, we were sick of museums, so we did not check out the Jewish buildings. Here's a photo of the exterior of the Spanish Synagogue though. Its interior is supposed to be amazing....

Speaking of buildings.... Several friends who went to Prague in the 90's mentioned that the city appeared rather run down at the time. Makes sense, since it was right after the Cold War. I don't have that experience to compare with. However, I did notice how clean and elegant many of the buildings in the central city appeared. Looks like they put a lot of money into restoring the city's beauty. It seems that tourism has flourished in Prague over the last twenty years.

More on buildings... As you have seen, Prague boasts some great Old World scenery. But there's a little bit of new stuff here too. One landmark in particular stands out - Frank Gehry's Dancing House (Tancici dum), also known as the Fred & Ginger House. Frank Gehry is a famed architect who has designed crazy "Deconstructionist" buildings all over the world. He designed the Priztker Pavilion and BP Bridge in Millenium Park in Chicago. The Dancing House sits at the corner of a street in Prague, facing the river.

Finally, let's talk about a most intellectual of topics: beer. Since our trip was about Oktoberfest, we had to continue the beer theme in Prague. Actually, it was not difficult to find beer. The Czech Republic apparently has the world's highest consumption of beer per capita, beating out worthy nations like Ireland and Germany.

You can get some great brews here, and for very little money. The ubiquitous pilsner style of beer comes from the city of Pilsen in the Czech Republic. Perhaps the most well known Czech beer is Pilsner Urquell. But did you also know that the American beer Budweiser was first brewed in the Czech Republic and is known as Budvar? Budvar tastes a ton better too...

Well, that wraps up a highly enjoyable stay in Prague. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to capture its beauty as much as I would have liked; not to mention, the weather didn't cooperate. But I got a great taste of its beauty and intend to come back one day to see more.

Next stop on our trip: Berlin!

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There's more to Munich than Oktoberfest

2010-10-22T17:00:00.001-05:00

We needed a distraction from the huge crowds and many liters of beer of Oktoberfest. So we did some wandering around in Munich. This gave us an opportunity to appreciate crowds and beer in other areas of the city :)

Marienplatz (St. Mary's Square) is the town square at the heart of Munich. It's been around since the Middle Ages - a place in which wondrous public events like knightly tournaments and executions were held. Although we didn't notice any tournaments or executions, there was still a lot of people in the platz.

The main attraction in Marienplatz is the Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall). It's a beautiful Gothic building. A large crowd appears in the middle of the day to check of the Glockenspiel, silly ceramic statues that parade around in a circle in the tower of the Rathaus for a few minutes.

Leading in and out of Marienplatz is a pedestrian-only street, lined with shops and restaurants. It was really nice being able to have a leisurely walk through the city center.

As we walked around, we admired many beautiful public buildings. I have no idea what the buildings were, but they looked cool.

There's something wrong with you if you visit Munich without checking out a brauhaus or two. Needless to say, we had to stop in :) Here are photos of brauhauses by Augustiner and Paulaner breweries. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to visit the most famous of them all, the Hofbrauhaus. But hey, I've been to the Hofbrauhaus in Vegas many times - that should count, right? :)

Guess what we did inside the brauhauses? :)

By now, you must be thinking that all we did in Munich was go inside some brew place and drink beer. This was not the case. In fact, we spent a relaxing afternoon outdoors in the English Gardens. It's a large park in Munich, complete with running trails and ponds. Then we drank beer here :)

I'm not really sure why it's called the English Gardens. There seemed to be a bit of Asian influence at this park. Case in point - this large pagoda in the middle of the park. Lots of people liked to have a picnic on the benches by the pagoda, listening to the oompa loompa band playing in the balcony.

We enjoyed a lovely meal here as well. I was introduced to an excellent dish called schweinshaxe. Otherwise known as roasted ham hock, or pork knuckle. It's like a turkey leg, but it's pork! Had to wash it down with a mas of beer too :)

Alex, who owns his own bar in Mexico, found some work even in Munich :)

And that wraps up our stay in Munich. Next stop - Prague!

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Eins, zwei, drei - Oktoberfest in Munich!

2010-10-18T08:53:00.001-05:00

I was pretty excited to travel to Munich for Oktoberfest. How many crazy big parties are there in the world? Carnivale in Rio, the running of the bulls in Pamplona - what else? Oktoberfest is right up there - one of those things you need to do before you die.

I've been to Oktoberfest in other cities. Chicago has a couple festivals. I've even been to Oktoberfest in Stuttgart, Germany. These experiences should have prepared me for Munich, right? Not at all. Munich's Oktoberfest dwarfs everything else. Imagine seeing a local cover band playing a U2 song and then seeing U2 for real in a large stadium. It's a huge difference. Oktoberfest in Munich was impressive! Not to mention - 2010 is the 200th anniversary of the festival.

Oktoberfest is located in a very large field called Wiesn, fairly close to the central train station in Munich. We went on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, we arrived at 7am. Yes - in the morning! The above photo is of a lovely sunrise over the Augustiner beer tent in Wiesn. We were told to go early, hence the 7am start. But even at this time, there was a packed crowd waiting to get in to the popular Hacker-Pschorr tent. I would show you a photo of the crowd, but it was packed in so tightly that I couldn't even lift my arms to reach my camera for a photo! After waiting almost two hours in line, I still couldn't get into the tent! We had to go to another tent.

As a veteran of Chicago festivals, I'm used to big crowds. The Taste of Chicago boasts something like a million visitors. Can you believe Oktoberfest is bigger? Five million visitors come to Oktoberfest every year. Wow. In fact, it's the world's largest fair. I can believe it. It's a huge carnival atmosphere. There are rides, ferris wheels, and games for everyone to enjoy. You are drowned in a sea of people from dawn to dusk.

Even though you're in the largest fair in the world, the fair is not even the main attraction to Oktoberfest. Oktoberfest is about the beer, and you celebrate beer inside beer tents and beer gardens. Wiesn features a bunch of large tents and beer gardens, hosted by the major Bavarian breweries such as Hofbrau, Hacker-Pschorr, Augustiner, and Paulaner.

The experience inside the beer tents is crazy. We spent most of our time inside some tent or other. Each tent is huge - the size of a football field. Actually, the "tent" is not really a tent - it's a solid, wood-and-steel structure, even with platforms for a 2nd story on the ends. It's packed with people. You have to be aggressive to find a seat at a table - and you have to be at a table in order to be served beer. Here are some photos from the Pschorr and the Hacker-Pschorr tents.

Alex, Mo, and I were joined by Mo's brother, Salim, in Munich. Not only was he a cool guy, he speaks German! It was nice to have a Mexican-with-Middle-Eastern-name-who-lives-in-Germany friend and tour guide hehehe. Can you believe the resemblance between Salim and Mo? :)

At Oktoberfest, everyone gets the same beer. It comes in one size - one liter. This size beer stein is called a mas. "Ein mas, bitte!" Yummy. German beer is so tasty. And German beer quality is awesome - you never get a hangover! Hmm, how many mas did I have???

A key to a successful day of drinking is to eat well. And eat well we did! You may be familiar with the large German pretzel and wiesswurst. Very tasty! What was new to me, however, is an even more traditional item. It's a roast chicken called Hendl. So good!! Yum yum yum....

Oompa-loompa bands kept us entertained at the beer tents. We in the USA are used to small bands of 2-4 members. In Bavaria, they have full bands of over 10 members! It was fun singing along on top of the table, while occasionally chanting "ein prosit" or "eins, zwei, drei, g'suffa."

Just outside the beer tents were the biergartens. It was nice to hang outside, especially when it was warm and sunny. The biergartens were usually less crowded than the tents. Here are some photos of us at the Hofbrau biergarten, with some of Alex's friends (German peeps he knows from Mexico).

When you're drinking beer all day in a tent, you're bound to make some new friends. It was a very friendly place! There were obviously many Germans around. But we met other Europeans - Dutch, Belgian, etc. Also met some Americans and even more Mexicans!

The final thought I'll leave you with is about all the cool clothing people wore to Oktoberfest. You've probably heard of lederhosen before - the leather breeches than German men wear, typically with some kind of checkered shirt. German women wear these dresses called dirndl - very pretty! These costumes are quite expensive - I hear they run you $200 or more! I had to train my camera to the ladies in dirndl to appreciate some... cultural awareness....

Whew! Oktoberfest was quite the experience! I will definitely remember the time here. Maybe I'll brag about it to my grandchildren one day...

A quick stroll through Zurich, Switzerland

2010-10-14T22:22:00.001-05:00

Our Oktoberfest Euro trek started in Zurich Switzerland. Alex, Mo, and I originally had a flight connecting through JFK New York and landing in Zurich at 7am. However, bad weather in NY caused our flight to be canceled. We were re-routed through London and finally arrived in Zurich around noon. We had a train scheduled to depart for Munich at 3pm, so it left little time to spend in Zurich. Nonetheless, we were still able to do a quick stroll through Zurich.

Zurich is a pretty city. Although it's the largest city in Switzerland, it is so quiet and orderly that it feels like a small town. The city is immaculately clean and well-groomed (kinda like in Paris). The architecture is very German. Kinda makes sense - everyone here speaks a Swiss dialect of German.

Zurich is situated just north of Lake Zurich. A small river cuts through the town and leads to the lake. The prettiest sights in town are next to the water.

Small cobblestone-lined streets wind through the city, inviting you to wander about aimlessly. Small stores and restaurants are everywhere. It's fun to walk around here - you never know what's around the corner.

One thing you'll notice immediately in Zurich is all the trams and buses on the streets. Zurich has the highest density of public transportation in the world. It consistently ranks near the top cities of the world in quality of life too.

After our short visit in Zurich, it was quickly time to get to the train station. Next stop: Munich and Oktoberfest!!

Trip preview: Oktoberfest in Munich - 1 day to go!

2010-09-29T10:51:00.001-05:00

You heard it right - it's time for Oktoberfest! Not at the local bar, not at a local German festival. Tomorrow, we're going to the heart of it all - Munich, Germany! It's the last weekend of the 200th anniversary of this fine festival. Alex, Mo, and I will slip on our liederhosen, blend in with the German-speaking locals, and consume some large steins of amber-colored beverages.

If you look in the distant left of the photo above, you'll see a large, white tent. That's an Oktoberfest tent, when I was in Stuttgart in 2002. Unfortunately we could not stay long - it was a work night, so I think we only popped in for one drink and then left. Munich on a weekend will be much more crowded and lively.

I've never been to Munich, much less Oktoberfest in Munich. But I'm very excited! We have been told that you need to get into a beer tent by maybe 8am to get a spot. Is that scary or what? That's worse than St. Patty's Day! I hear people can get pretty pushy for spots at the tables too. I am not sure how long I will last in the tent. Might have to take a German siesta at some point...

Oktoberfest may be an old tradition in Bavaria, but it has gotten hip too. Case in point - there's an Oktoberfest iPhone app! It's a great way to guide drunken tourists to tents of more beer. But even better - I hear the app can help you remember how many beers you have consumed, and then it can post it to your Facebook or Twitter accounts!

Although Oktoberfest in Munich is the main purpose of the trip, we will actually be visiting several cities in Europe. We were a bit slow to book travel (oh yeah, so prices for flights got expensive. The best deal we could find had us flying into Zurich and out of Madrid. Which meant that we were in for quite a bit of transit during this trip. The plan: Zurich, Munich, Prague, and Berlin by train. Finally fly to Madrid, enjoy some tapas for a couple of days, then fly home. Fun, eh?

I should mention that these plans are hardly set in stone. In fact, we still don't have train tickets or hotels beyond Munich. Maybe we'll go to Austria instead, and see if the hills are truly alive with the sound of music? Or to Poland, to check out... umm... WWII concentration camps? Or to Italy, to eat some yummy pasta and drink fine wine... Well hopefully our plan will work as it is. We'll see...

The photo above is from Zurich, also from 2002 (when I couldn't take any good photos apparently). Spent a day there. Really pretty and peaceful. It seemed like a smaller version of Paris, but probably not as fun. For this trip, we'll only be in Zurich for a few hours.

I haven't been to Prague and don't have any photos of it, but here's a sight that we'll get used to - the train station. This "haupbonhof" is from Stuttgart. We will have taken two long train rides (plus probably a bunch of metro rides) by the time we get to Prague. I'm very excited to see Prague too, even if it's just for two days. It'll be my first visit to the former "eastern Bloc" region.

I haven't been to Berlin either, so I have no photos to share yet. But when I think of Berlin, I think of the Berlin Wall. And when you think of the wall (and the wall falling), you just have to whistle that tune to "Wind of Change", no? :) I hope this songs stays in your head for the rest of the day :)

Take me, to the magic of the moment
of that glory night
where the children of tomorrow dream away
in the wind of change

Actually, the real reason we're going to Berlin is that Mo's brother lives there. Yes, these crazy Mexicans are everywhere! :) Maybe they'll be able to point us to a good taqueria that makes a special "schitznel taco" or "chips con sauerkraut".

Finally, we'll hop on a plane from Berlin and fly to Madrid. I spent half a day there before - this last April, in fact. It's a beautiful city. This time, we'll have almost two days to hang out there. And I'll be with Spanish speakers! Woohoo! And after a long weekend of drinking beer in Munich, Madrid will be a great way to recover - by drinking sangria instead!

After a long 11 days in Europe, I will probably be looking forward to relaxing back home in the States. But life is not so gracious. Looks like October and November will be quite the road trip for me. The following week, I'll need to hop back on a plane and visit Texas and/or South Carolina. Also Connecticut, New Jersey, California in the following weeks. Not to mention, my next vacation starts at the end of October - in Japan!! So peeps - stay tuned for hopefully lots of travel photos on this blog :)

In a strange twist of events, I've become a Mac, not a PC!

2010-09-24T10:36:00.001-05:00

Warning: this will be a fairly geeky blog post. But hopefully it'll be entertaining too :)

Yes, it's true. I have joined the Dark Side. Or is it the Light Side? Several of you will laugh at the irony. Yes, I've built many PCs from piece parts over the years. Yes, I'm the guy that said that iPads are waste-of-money toys. Yes, I'm the one that said I would never get a Mac because they are too "user-friendly" and way overpriced. I even bought a PC Netbook on the day the iPad became available in stores. But lo and behold, strange things have happened since. First, I gave away my Netbook to my parents a couple months ago and bought an iPad to replace it. To top it off, today I received this brand new Macbook Pro as my official laptop for work - bye bye Thinkpad. No, Steve Jobs didn't bribe me. I think I just may have officially become a Mac!!

This was my arsenal of compu-weapons before. Very black. Very PC. I got good mileage out of them. As a technologist working for a technology company, you kinda need some techie gear, you-know-what-I'm-saying? I have a desktop PC, which is my most powerful computer and contains all my data and runs major applications. For work, I had a Lenovo Thinkpad W500, a top-of-the-line laptop. The laptop is my IBM "office" (I don't have a real office) - containing data and applications for work.

When you're traveling for leisure, carrying a 5 lb laptop with a 15" screen (with all your work data on it) is not very desirable. That's why I bought this cute ASUS Netbook. It's about the size of a hardcover book and only weighs 3 lbs. Works great for Internet surfing, e-mail, streaming video, etc. I took it to Turkey and wrote a few blog articles on-the-fly.

Over time, however, I realized that the Netbook was only useful to me when on the road. I do not travel all the time. I hardly ever used it at home, since the desktop or laptop was always available. I ended up giving the Netbook to my parents (who wanted a second laptop/netbook so they wouldn't fight each other for dibs at playing online Sudoku, hahaha).

Since I no longer had an ultra-portable compu-device, I started paying attention to the iPad. It wasn't serious for a while. Aside from email/internet, I thought, why else would I want an iPad? All the apps were just cute little games. No "real" use case for them. Nothing a desktop or laptop could not do. Didn't justify the fancy $600-1000 price tag. But one day I stumbled this video of an iPad accordion application and was amazed. Then I realized that the iPad isn't just a toy. You can actually do some really neat things on it, like playing/composing music! How cool! You can't play a piano or accordion live on a desktop or laptop. That was something very unique to the large touch screen on the iPad. If people wrote more apps like this, the uses could be boundless! A couple days later, I walked for the first time to the Apple Store on Michigan Ave in Chicago and walked out with my very own iPad!

I admit, the iPad may not be worth the price tag for most people. You pay a bit for the newness factor, the sex appeal, the cute toy aspects. But hey - now I have my own iPad accordion video! :)

I've had some kind of IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad since 1996, when I was first hired into IBM. They have always been solid, reliable machines. I've taken them all over the world. Even my old cat enjoyed hanging out with the Thinkpad.

At work, we folks in sales have to show off our enterprise software to customers all the time. Having powerful, reliable machines for sexy demos is very important. There has been a push to try out Macbooks as our platform for doing this. That's why I'm getting one.

Several people have asked "hey, don't you work for IBM? Isn't it an oxymoron for you to have a Mac?" You may be surprised by the answer: not at all. Yes, it's true that IBM invented the PC. But what many people don't know is that IBM doesn't make PCs anymore. That's sooooo 20th Century. In fact, no PCs, laptops, printers, or hard drives. We sold off those businesses years ago, because they didn't make enough profit. The Thinkpad is now made by Lenovo, a Chinese company. What we sell is enterprise hardware and software - stuff that most normal people don't see, like in the photo above. Apple is a consumer electronics and technology company. Unlike in the 80's, we two companies don't compete anymore. On the other hand, a real competitor these days is actually Microsoft, since they sell software to enterprises too. So using Mac OS may be better for us, since we wouldn't be paying our competitor Microsoft for Windows and Office licenses...

Looks like 2010 marks my new journey with Apple technology. The iPad has been fun so far. Hopefully the Mac will be productive too. Don't get me wrong - I'm not becoming a Mac bigot (and I wasn't a PC bigot before). I still wouldn't buy a Macbook with my own money, unless they got 50% cheaper. But hey, I will try it out for work since it's free to me :) Actually, this reminds me of the first computer I used - the Apple IIe in my 2nd grade classroom. Can you believe I learned to program on one of these things??

Related links:
- This article on my blog
- My blog

Utah 2010 Trip Intro: Salt Lake City to Moab

2010-07-20T18:54:00.003-05:00

A business trip brought me to Salt Lake City on a Friday in July. The meeting was set up with little notice; we only had a week to make plans. Luckily, I didn't have anything huge going on the following weekend, so I decided to make a mini-vacation out of it.

You know it's going to be a gorgeous weekend when you get to see the sunset above when your plane is landing. Aaaaaah.

Utah is an amazing place - there is so much beautiful scenery and nature nearby. It is loaded with national parks. You can't visit them all in a single weekend, so I had to choose. I had already been to Yellowstone & Grand Tetons (to the northeast - and these parks are actually in Wyoming, but close enough). I had not visited Zion & Bryce (to the south) or Arches & Canyonlands (to the southeast). Since Zion/Bryce are kind of close to Vegas, which I visit at least once a year, I figured it would be a good opportunity to check out Arches and Canyonlands.

Arches and Canyonlands National Parks are located in southeastern Utah, near the Colorado and Arizona borders. When my meeting was done, I headed down there in my rental car. The drive was about 300 miles one-way - about five hours (depending on traffic). I would have two full days (Sat & Sun) to go sightseeing. I began the return trip to Salt Lake City on Monday morning, flying home that evening.

The drive started out quite dull and full of Salt Lake City/Provo Friday evening traffic. It was very hot too! Temperatures reached around 100F or more every afternoon that weekend. But once I started traveling east on I-70/US-50, the drive became very scenic. There were all sorts of mountains, cliffs, rock formations, farms, poofy white clouds, and even scenic viewpoints to stop and check out.

Arches and Canyonlands National Parks are only about 30 miles apart. The land is part of the Colorado Plateau. This highland region that spans four states (CO, UT, AZ, NM) and features the mighty Colorado River running through it. Although Arches and Canyonlands are so close, their landscapes are very different. Arches National Park features all these crazy rock formations that stick out of the ground: arches, buttles, spires, etc. On the other hand, Canyonlands National Park features huge canyons dug into the earth by the Colorado and Green rivers.

Located just south of Arches National Park is a town called Moab. It's the perfect base of operations for travelers. I stayed at the Apache Motel there. It was nothing fancy, but all I needed were a bed, a shower, and some air conditioning :) Moab is a rather large tourist town. There are many hotels, restaurants, and stores. The downtown area is cute and clean, great for grabbing a bite to eat or buying a souvenir.

Moab is also pretty cool because it's right in the middle of all this beautiful scenery. You can see the mountains and rock formations in every direction.

After a long day of business, driving, and sightseeing along the way, I got to bed early to prepare for a couple days of communing with nature. My next article: a morning in Arches National Park.

Check out this article and others from my blog:
- This article
- All articles on Utah 2010 trip
- Blog home

A Morning in Arches National Park

2010-07-19T14:55:00.001-05:00

Arches National Park is a beautiful place, with a unique geology that features crazy rock formations everywhere. You can see over 2000 monoliths, rock fins, spires, balanced rocks, and natural arches in the park. Here's a cool interactive map of the park, from the official park website.

I made two trips to the park: one on Saturday morning, and the other on Sunday evening. I took siestas at the hotel in the early afternoons - noon sunlight isn't that cool for photography, and it was pretty darn hot in the afternoons! Morning sunlight is quite different from afternoon sunlight. Also, certain landmarks at the park are better oriented for either the morning or evening sunlight. For example, the famous Delicate Arch is shot best at sunset (which I did!). This article covers my morning experience at the park.

Sunrise at the Windows

I have resolved to get up for sunrise photos on many trips in the past. However, this trip was the first time in which I followed through on the idea. I woke up at 5am, got my gear ready, and arrived at the park by about 6am, just before the sun rose. There are several areas of the park. I went to the Windows area to catch these sunrise photos.

The following shots were taken at the South Window:

Facing the Windows is Turret Arch. Turret Arch is really neat in the morning because the sun shines right on the face of the arch.

Just a short hike away from the Windows is Double Arch. It's pretty neat because the two arches share a common foundation pillar. Double Arch was in some scenes of the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Devil's Garden Area

The Devil's Garden Area is located at the end of the 18-mile scenic drive through Arches National Park. Devil's Garden contains several trails that lead to a bunch of arches. The first part of the main trail is about a mile long and is an easy hike. The scenery on the trail is great, especially with all the large rocks protruding from the ground.

The easy part of the trail ends at Landscape Arch. Landscape Arch is the longest arch in the park and one of the longest natural rock arches in the world. The photo at the beginning of this article is also of Landscape Arch.

Beyond Landscape Arch, the Devil's Garden Primitive Loop begins. The loop itself is about 7 miles long, plus a few side trip hikes to see specific arches. It's a difficult hike. You have to hike up and down sandstone slabs, and sometimes along high rock ledges. The views are amazing though. Just make sure you bring plenty of water!

Partition Arch is one of the side trips off the Primitive Loop. You can see the arch from afar on the main trail (you can barely see it in the photo above). But the side trip takes you behind the arch, and you can walk under it. You can get a nice view of the Devil's Garden area from under the arch.

Navajo Arch is another landmark you can see on a side trip from the Primitive Loop. While the hike around its back side is rather dull, the front side is kind of neat because it looks like you're hiking in a cave or ravine.

In Conclusion

Arches National Park is a beautiful, unique place. It's totally worth it to get there early to enjoy the sunrise and the morning light. After an early start and over ten miles of hiking, I was hungry for a nice lunch and then a siesta. I ended my morning adventure at this point and headed back to Moab. Articles to come: Canyonlands National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park, and Evening in Arches....

Check out this article and others from my blog:
- This article
- Part 2 of my Arches experience
- All articles on Utah 2010 trip
- Slideshow of Utah 2010 trip photos on Flickr
- Blog home

Dead Horse Point State Park

2010-07-18T13:20:00.000-05:00

It was late Saturday afternoon in Moab. I had just woken up from a peaceful air-conditioned siesta in the hotel, while the sun was bearing down outside with 105F temperatures. Hopefully it had cooled down a tiny bit. Time to head out again and do an evening hike.

The original plan was to go back to Arches National Park. But as I went outside to the car, I noticed that the sky had gotten rather cloudy, just in a few hours. All that heat and humidity builds up weather systems so quickly! I figured that all the clouds would prevent good evening sunlight from shining on the arches. So it was time to head elsewhere. I decided to go west to Dead Horse Point.

Before arriving in Moab, I had never heard of Dead Horse Point State Park. And even if I had heard of the park, why would I go all the way to Utah to visit a state park?? There are all sorts of national parks around, duh! But I spoke to my buddy Rob, who had been here a week ago, and he recommended going there. Taking a look at some pics online, going there surely made sense. It looked spectacular! I guess when you're in the Great West, even a state park can blow away anything you see in the flat, corn-filled midwest.

Dead Horse Point State Park is about a 30 mile drive from Moab. It's right next to Canyonlands National Park. I actually don't understand why they didn't make it part of Canyonlands. The scenery/geology is pretty much the same.

The drive to Dead Horse / Canyonlands is very scenic. There are viewpoints for you to pull off and take photos or have a picnic. There are some great views of the La Sal Mountains to the east (first two photos below), as well as nearby rock formations like Merrimac and Monitor Buttes (third photo below).

Here's a more detailed map of the park, from the official park website. The park is pretty small and simple. There's only one road in the park. The road overlooks canyons on both sides. It ends at Dead Horse Point. Sounds like there are some great hikes, especially if you want to go down into the canyons. But if you are lazy like me and just want to snap photos, there are several great overlooks.

Looking to the east, you can see Pyramid Canyon and the Shafer Basin. The La Sal Mountains are in the distant background. Here are some shots, the first two from the Basin Overlook, and then the Pyramid Overlook.

The true gem of the park, as the name suggests, is Dead Horse Point. Dead Horse Point sticks out into the canyon. You get a beautiful panoramic view of the area, which includes the Colorado River curving in a "gooseneck" shape.

Finally, I leave you with a panorama photo of Dead Horse Point. Click on it to view it in full screen mode.

Check out this article and others from my blog:
- This article
- All articles on Utah 2010 trip
- Slideshow of Utah 2010 trip photos on Flickr
- Blog home

Canyonlands National Park, Utah

2010-07-17T14:03:00.000-05:00

Aside from Arches, Canyonlands National Park was the other major attraction to see on my Moab trip. Canyonlands is a very different land than Arches. In Arches, you look up or climb up to see most of the landmarks. The rock formations sticking up from the ground are is due to periods of geological turmoil and uplift, plus erosion. In Canyonlands, you look down to see the landmarks. The Colorado and Green rivers sculpted the land lower and lower into a deep and wide canyon, from years of gravity's exertion and erosion. Canyonlands as actually rather similar to the Grand Canyon.

Canyonlands is located just over 30 miles from Moab, right next to Dead Horse Point State Park. Here's a detailed, interactive map of Canyonlands, from the official park website. You can click on the map to enlarge. As you can see, Canyonlands is a fairly big park. The park is actually divided in three areas: Island in the Sky, the Maze, and the Needles. Separating the areas are the canyons carved by the Colorado and Green Rivers, which flow in a y-shaped path through the park. In fact, the canyons are so big that you can't cross between the areas; you need to leave the park and go around in order to get to a different area. Most people, like me, only visit the Island in the Sky area. If you have extra time, you can visit the Needles. The Maze is very remote, with few marked trails, and it requires something like a 4x4 plus a hiking permit. Canyonlands's multiple areas is similar to the Grand Canyon's - the North Rim and South Rim are entirely separate.

Green River Overlook

The Green River is one of the two rivers that is responsible for carving the terrain of Canyonlands National Park. It's actually a tributary of the Colorado River. One neat thing about Canyonlands is that you can see the rivers in the canyons pretty easily. In the Grand Canyon, you need to hike pretty far in order to see the Colorado River. Seeing the rivers up close makes it easier to understand how their forces could have sculpted these deep canyons over millions of years.

Mesa Arch

Canyonlands has its own famous Arch, Mesa Arch. There are only a few arches in Canyonlands, as opposed to the dozens of arches in Arches. Mesa Arch is pretty cool though, and there is a great view behind it.

There were plenty of visitors at the parks. Not nearly as many as Yellowstone, but enough. Especially neat was that many of the visitors were either French or German. Bonjour! Guten tag! It's fun to include other visitors in your travel photos :)

Viewpoints Galore

There are lots of places for hiking and viewing in the Island in the Sky area. Here are a few. The first photo is of Candlestick Tower. The second is of the cool dirt road you can take down the Shafer Canyon.

Grand View Point

The south end of the Island in the Sky area is Grand View Point. It's as close to the center of Canyonlands as you can get. As the name suggests, there is quite a grand view of the park here. Below you are more river gorges and canyons. In the distance, you can see the Needles and the Maze areas of the park.

Here's a closeup of the canyon. All those needle-like pillars are neat. You can see a lot more of them in the Needles area of the park.

Here's a panoramic view. Click on it (or on any photo) to view in full screen.

Sunset at Upheaval Dome

Upheaval Dome is located in the northwest corner of the park. It is an interesting geological landmark because there was some kind of event that flipped the layers of rock. You can see the white "salt dome" sticking out of the ground in the lower-right of the photo below. The salt layer is supposed to be covered by many other layers of rock. Scientists think it was either some crazy movement of the salt bed, or it an asteroid hit it. Or maybe aliens came here? :)

Most of my photos of Canyonlands were taken on Sunday, during the day. However, these pics from Upheaval Dome were taken on Saturday evening, after my visit to Dead Horse Point. To be honest, I didn't pick the best spots for a sunset. But oh well, you will have to look at my sunset pics anyways :)

Next article topic: Arches National Park, part 2

Check out this article and others from my blog:
- This article
- All articles on Utah 2010 trip
- Slideshow of Utah 2010 trip photos on Flickr
- Blog home

An Evening in Arches National Park (Arches Part 2)

2010-07-16T01:20:00.001-05:00

Arches National Park was so cool that I came back to see more the next day (Sunday). This time, the visit started in the early evening. My goal was to capture the warm evening sunlight against some of the rock formations I (intentionally) skipped the last time. In case you missed it, here's a link to my earlier visit to Arches National Park.

Courthouse Towers Area

The Courthouse Towers area is the first major area you see in the park. There are several attractions clustered here. Park Avenue is a kind of valley between two large sets of rock formations. The rocks are at least 100 feet high. In the first photo below, the Park Avenue Trail takes you along the valley for a mile. The crazy long but skinny rock structure (known as a "sandstone fin") on the right is the Organ. I think it is supposed to look like the pipes of a large pipe organ in a church.

The next two photos below are of rock structures found on the left side of the above Park Avenue photo. The first photo is of the first big formation along Park Avenue. I don't know what its name is though. The second photo is of the Three Gossips.

Courthouse Towers is a pretty imposing structure itself. Look how small the cars look compared to the Towers! The Park Avenue trail ends at Courthouse Towers. You can drive directly there too.

Balanced Rock

The next major section of the park is the Windows. I actually went here on Saturday morning, to catch the sunrise. One landmark I skipped, however, was Balanced Rock. It's supposed to shoot better with evening light. As the name suggests, it's a large round rock that is balanced on a column of rock. Don't breathe too hard - it might fall!

Delicate Arch

The highlight of Arches National Park is Delicate Arch. In a park full of arches, Delicate Arch stands above the rest. It's Utah's state symbol, in fact. And it might be the most well known arch in the world. Maybe the only exception is l'Arc de Triomphe in Paris, but that arch was built slightly differently haha...

In many parks, the most well-known attractions are super easy to get to. This is not true about Delicate Arch. Yes, there's a "viewpoint" for the arch that is right next to a parking lot. But the view is from 1.5 miles away. You need a good pair of binoculars to see anything from the viewpoint. Therefore, you have to go on a hike in order to see the arch for real.

The Delicate Arch Trail is a short, but surprisingly difficult hike. It's only 1.5 miles long, no big deal. But it's almost a 500 foot climb, and parts of the hike involve walking along rock ledges. Don't get me wrong - it's not super hard. But you need to be reasonably fit and have some decent balance to get there. Oh yeah, the hike is very exposed to the sun. So bring a hat, sunscreen, and lots of water. Also, going in the evening is much safer on the skin.

The hike starts out really easy. The first half mile of the trail is pretty flat and well worn. It's a breeze, and you feel like you'll get to Delicate Arch any second now....

Then you get to the second half mile - the hard part of the trail. Most of the climbing on the trail is done in this second half mile. You have to hike up a mountain of slickrock (see photo above) at a constant 15-30 degree angle. To digress a little, I don't know why it's called slickrock; the rock is actually rather sticky and provides good traction. Anyways, you'll probably get a bit winded though. I certainly did, but I made it fine enough. I suffered a bit, however, climbing down the slickrock. The descent at a constant 15-30 degrees caused a lot of stress on my bad knee; there are no switchbacks on this trail. My knee was a bit sore the next day.

The third half mile is much more palatable - a medium difficulty hike. You have to climb up and down a bunch of large rocks. You need to watch your step here and there. And you need to pay attention to the trail. I ended up making several wrong turns - oops.

"Is it really worth it to do all this hiking just to see this one arch??" That's what the lazy person in me wondered several times during the hike. But once you get to the Delicate Arch area, all those bad thoughts disappear. You stand in awe. The reward at the end of the rainbow defies the imagination.

The first thing I realized was that Delicate Arch didn't just stand in the middle of some random, dull area. Instead, it's the majestic focal point of a huge sandstone fin. It looks and feels like you reached the summit of a mountain. It's not just the arch that makes Delicate Arch so famous; it's really the arch as well as the surrounding area that are so scenic and unique.

Delicate Arch stands on the ledge of an amazing sandstone formation. On one side, the formation is a cliff the drops you hundreds of feet to your doom. On the other side, the sandstone forms this bowl that kind of looks like a bathroom sink.

Can you see all the tiny humans in the distance in the photos? Yes, they are still far away! You need to hike around to the left to circumvent the deadly cliff and huge bowl. Once you arrive, you can take a relax with the other tourists (once again, there were lots of French and Germans) and admire the scenery. Delicate Arch is best seen in the evening, because the evening sun shines radiantly against the rock. The sunlight is so warm and radiant. The La Sal Mountains provide an awesome backdrop too. I could probably sit there for hours to admire the beauty.

I did some planning in advance before this hike. I looked up when the sunset would be, and I timed my hike such that I would get to the arch in plenty time for the sunset. One thing I didn't account for, however, is the big rock formation standing between Delicate Arch and the sun. The sun rays that shined on the arch got blocked by the rock formation, much earlier than the actual time of sunset. You can see the shadow in the photo above. I thus had only about 15 minutes of shooting the Arch with the sun shining directly on it. I'm pretty happy with these photos, but I could have used more time to shoot more angles.

Here's a shot of the arch, taken after the direct sunlight waned. Note how big the arch is, compared to the random dude! Also this photo may illustrate how some people call this arch the "Cowboy's Chaps." The arch reminded me personally of the legs of action figure toys like He-Man :)

As I wrote earlier, being at Delicate Arch felt like being at the summit of a mountain. You get to see some great panoramic views of the area. I stood here (along with all those other hikers) to catch the sunset too.

After taking in the sunset, I headed back down the trail - a 1.5 mile hike of downhill suffering. But the high of the beautiful scenery kept me going and happy.

Nightcap at Balanced Rock

When you live in downtown Chicago, one thing you get used to is all the city lights. They never die. At Arches, there are hardly any lights. It's just you, the stars, and moon. I decided to hang out at the park for a while and just stare at the sky. The crickets provided a good soundtrack as well. Sometimes you kind of forget that all these things can be seen in the sky....

The above photo was one of the last photos taken on my camera. Just a few minutes later, the shutter died. I haven't been able to take a photo since :( It's at the shop now - $240 of repairs! Eww. But hey, what is the price for good art and good memories? At least it broke at the end of my trip and not at the beginning....

Trip Conclusion

The next morning, I packed up my gear and drove back to Salt Lake City. I flew home later that afternoon. The final toll for the weekend: 1800 miles flying, 1000 miles driving, and 15 miles hiking! Not to mention 600 photos taken and 4 gallons of water consumed. Phew! :)

The trip was well worth the effort. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Arches and Canyonlands were such beautiful parks. I am still in awe of the scenery at Delicate Arch. I was originally a little nervous about hiking by myself in the middle of the summer heat, but it wasn't bad at all, as long as you were a little careful with water. Now I need to return to Utah a few more times. I need to visit Zion, Bryce, Antelope Canyon, and Monument Valley national parks. Wanna join me? :)

Check out this article and others from my blog:
- This article
- All articles on Utah 2010 trip
- Slideshow of Utah 2010 trip photos on Flickr
- Blog home

Recipe: Thai peanut noodles with chicken

2010-07-12T15:10:00.000-05:00

Asian food is yummy! For busy/lazy single folks like myself, Asian food is great because it's fairly easy to make yet is pretty healthy (I think). Today I made some Thai peanut noodles with chicken for lunch. Here's how it was done.

The first thing to do is to figure out what ingredients to use. This dish, like most Asian dishes, is balanced and is very versatile - you can change the ingredients yet deliver the same dish. Here's what I went with today:
- Noodles: Udon (thick Japanese white flour noodles). People normally use egg noodles with this dish, but who cares, as long as it tastes good? :)
- Meat: Bone-in chicken thighs, chopped into 3-5 pieces with a cleaver. You can use all sorts of other meats: pork, beef, fish, shrimp, squid, even frog legs...
- Veggies: Cabbage and cucumbers (the only veggies left in the fridge). You can use all sorts of other veggies: broccoli, asparagus, carrots, peas, bamboo shoots, Chinese broccoli, bok choy...

Other cooking ingredients you'll need:
- Creamy peanut butter - yes, the normal stuff like Jif or Peter Pan!
- Chopped onions
- Garlic
- Soy sauce
- Sugar
- Water or chicken broth
- Oil, like sesame oil
- Optional hot stuff, like hot red peppers or red pepper flakes

Heat up a large, heavy saucepan to high and throw the oil, onions, and garlic on it. We're gonna do some sautee-ing. Make sure your saucepan is large enough for the meat AND the noodles later on. Once you see some sizzling, put the meat on. I usually put a little water in there too, to get some moisture going. You don't want a pan that is too dry, especially with chicken (or pork). Also with chicken, I put the lid on and let it go for a bit, to cook the meat thoroughly. For meats like beef, you won't have to cook it very long.

While the meat is cooking, boil some water in a pot. We'll cook the noodles there. Put some salt in the water if you're worried about the noodles sticking to the pot. When the noodles get a little soft, take them out and put them in a strainer. Don't let the noodles get too soft; it's better to err on the side of being a little too hard ("al dente" hehe).

Now we'll prepare the peanut sauce. It's pretty easy. Scoop out a few tablespoons of the peanut butter into a bowl. Then throw a few teaspoons of soy sauce in the bowl. Also put a little water (or chicken broth) in there. I don't want to specify quantities since people make different proportions. Not to mention, we always make errors, so it's best of adjust on-the-fly. The goal is to have enough sauce to cover all your noodles. Start stirring. We want the sauce to be much less thick than the peanut butter, but it still needs to be kind of heavy and sticky so it can stick to the noodles. To thin the sauce, use more water. To thicken the sauce, add more peanut butter. Put peppers in the sauce to your liking.

Once the meat is cooked and the noodles are ready, place the noodles and the sauce in the saucepan, on medium to low heat. Stir and stir. Once the peanut sauce is evenly spread, voila, we're done! You can do this all in about 20 or 30 minutes. Yum! :)

A stroll through Madrid

2010-06-08T01:00:00.003-05:00

Whew, it's been a while since I've written anything. Sorry! Let me continue my travel blogging with Madrid. My flight in April to Istanbul required a layover somewhere in western Europe. Layovers are usually annoying. But this time, I thought I'd make the best of it by scheduling a long 11-hr layover in Madrid and visiting the city between flights. I had never been to Spain before. It was totally the right call! :)

It takes a while to fly from the States to Europe. It was 8 hrs from Chicago to Madrid. My flight was a red-eye - arriving at 9am Madrid time. You could say the long flight stinks, but actually I kind of like it because you actually have time for a good night's sleep. My plan: board the plane, have some dinner, enjoy a glass of wine, and maybe pop a Nyquil, brush your teeth - then bam, you fall asleep. 5-6 hours later, they'll wake you up for breakfast, the plane lands, and it's a brand new exciting day in Spain!

An 11-hr layover seems like a long time, but it isn't. Luckily, Madrid is a compact, walkable city. Once I got off the plane, I walked through customs just with my backpack (big luggage was checked through), and hopped on the Metro train at the airport. 30 minutes later (2 Metro transfers), I arrived at the Plaza Puerta del Sol. Armed with my camera gear and my Lonely Planet pocket guide, I began to explore Madrid.

Sol is Madrid's city center. At the surface, it's just a plaza with a fountain, a statue, and several streets intersecting it, but it's much more. It's full of life and activity. Everyone seems to pass by Sol. You see tourists like me walking around snapping photos. You see business people grabbing some coffee or taking a smoke break. You see locals going shopping or eating food. Maybe it's Madrid's equivalent to London's Picadilly Circus?

Madrid is a beautiful city. Its landmarks, however, are not as well-known as the "big" European cities like Paris, London, or Rome. The two most famous landmarks are pretty close to Sol - the Plaza Mayor and the Palacio Real. The three locations form a triangle that is very walkable - probably only 2km total.

The walk was amazing. The city is so beautiful, orderly, and clean. Every building facade is adorable, every side street has charm, every store is alluring. Most of my time that day was spent walking down random side streets and just gazing around. I hardly used my Madrid guide and map; it was more fun just to follow my whims and see what Madrid had to offer.

The Plaza Mayor was pretty cool. It's a huge plaza only reachable on foot. It's a great place for the locals to gather and relax, sitting on a chair under an umbrella, with a coffee in hand. I don't think there's an equivalent in the States, but you'll see places like this all over Europe, especially in Italy (my fave is the Piazza del Campo in Siena).

I was in love with all the little stores in Madrid. Each one had so much charm. I ended up taking a bunch of photos of them :)

After more meandering, I finally got to the Palacio Real (aka Palacio de Oriente). It's a huge palace that serves as the "official" or ceremonial home of the Spanish King. It's kind of like the Versailles of Madrid hehe. The Royal Family is apparently not so ostentatious, so they actually live in a more modest place elsewhere.

Madrid is organized by various "barrios" (districts), each with its own personality. So far, I've shown you the Centro barrio. I also visited the barrio called La Latina, just south of Centro. La Latina is supposed to be a lively place with many cool little shops. La Calle de la Cava Baja is supposed to be a super fun spot to eat and drink, but not at noon haha (the Spanish don't eat lunch til much later). I spent the rest of the day wandering around La Latina.

There's one thing you MUST do when you go to Spain - eat Spanish food! Wow. So tasty! No wonder people take long lunches and have 3-4 hr dinners. Yum!

I had to try some tapas, of course. Lonely Planet directed me to the famous restaurant Casa Labra, just a block or two north of Sol. Apparently ordering tapas works a little differently in Spain. Sometimes you can order small plates like we're used to in the States. But other times, you order by the morsel. You'll see below that I ordered "dos de bacalao" - two morsels of cod, which was apparently all the rage. There was a line for the bacalao, which came right out of the fryer for you to grab. Sorry Brits, the bacalao was tastier than your fish and chips!

Madrid also has "Madrilenos", or local, food. I went to a random restaurant and randomly ordered something. You know, just kinda pointing at something on the menu :) What I got was some kind of casserole with egg and shrimp. Quite tasty! Even funnier - I was served by a Chinese woman speaking Spanish :)

Aaah, what a beautiful day it was to visit Madrid! I am so glad I turned an annoying layover into an exhilarating visit to a new country. I am a bit jealous of the lifestyle in Spain. People were relaxed, they knew how to enjoy themselves, and they didn't seem to get overburned by work or materialism, as we often do in the States. It just seemed to be the right balance. Now I'm looking forward to a visit to see the rest of Spain! Who's coming? :)

Links:
- This Madrid article on my blog
- My Madrid album on Flickr

Turkish food, me gustas tu

2010-04-28T18:11:00.008-05:00

Yum. Turkish food is quite the delight! On a sunny day or on a moonlight night. Your shapes and colors are a joy to see. Your tastes and textures sit well in me :)

Turkish food is full of great tastes. In the photo above, you can see a meze (small plate dish) of eggplant (they called this one babbaganoush even though it wasn't puree'd). Notable in just about every meal is tasty bread; according to Janine, Turkey is the world's leading consumer of bread per capita. Turkish folk love drinking apple tea as well. Edit: Janine added this insightful comment on apple tea:

... i must clarify that turkish people pretty much never drink apple tea. but they are forever offering it to foreigners because they think that's what THEY want, even though the foreigners are drinking it only because they think it's a turkish thing.

i liken this confusion to tourists in hawaii, who feel the need to pull out any flower-patterned shirt in their closet when they go there in an effort to 'fit in' with local dress styles, and meanwhile the locals who work in tourism only wear flower shirt uniforms at their job because the bosses think they conform to the tourists' expectation of what is worn in hawaii. then everyone is wearing flowery shirts and reflecting this weird fake 'authenticity' at each other, but it's not what either party (tourist or local) would be wearing ordinarily. it's odd, isn't it?

If you have eaten one Turkish dish before, chances are the dish was Doner Kebab. It's a hunk of chicken or lamb, cooked on a rotating fire spit. As Beavis and Butthead would say, "mm, yeah, fire, fire!" Shave the meat, then serve on a sandwich or on a plate. Sometimes we think the word kebab means skewer, but only shish kebab means served on a skewer. Doner kebab means rotating kebab. If you've ever had the Greek gyro or schawarma from the middle east, or even the Mexican tacos al pastor, these dishes came from the Turkish kebab.

Here's a typical sit-down meal for breakfast. Bread, cheeses, hard-boiled egg, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives. Very healthy, no? All fresh, no grease or even processed food! Turkish coffee is a unique drink. If you want coffee but not Turkish coffee, they serve you Nescafe for some strange reason. I don't get why the Turks love this powdered junk haha.

Istanbul is a food lover's city. You can get great stuff all over. Since there's so much water around, you can get a lot of great seafood in Istanbul. Just stop by any of the outdoor fish markets and grab some fish to take home. Or get some fresh seafood served at an outdoor restaurant or street vendor.

One special street food seafood dish is served right by the ferries at the Gelata Bridge. It's called Balik Ekmek. Simple and cheap - fresh mackerel plucked out from the sea, grilled right in front of you, and served in a loaf of bread. This dude from Public Radio named Balik Ekmek to be the best sandwich in the world!

I did enjoy the mackerel. But is it the best sandwich in the world? No. In fact, I found it to be not even the best sandwich in Istanbul! This honor goes to a sandwich you can get on the streets of Istanbul called Kokorec. Mmmmmm....

Imagine this: various lamb parts (don't ask what they are) are thrown together, wrapped by a coil of lamb intestine. A sausage involves sticking stuff into intestine; that is different. Kokorec involves wrapping the intestine around the stuffing. Well either way, it sounds rather gross haha. But it gets better. You stick the coil on a rotating fire spit (of course), and it ends up warm and crispy. Then you chop it up, mix in some veggies, lemon, and spicy stuff, and serve on a load of bread. Pure genius.

Do people eat this often? Don't know, maybe not. It sure sounded like a great idea at 2am one Saturday night, after some drinking. It toooootally hit the spot. A couple days later, we tried some Kokorec again - this time during the day and sober - and it was just as tasty. I think Woj even went for a 3rd or 4th time during his extended stay.... Below is a photo of Jeff and me posing with our inaugural Kokorec sandwiches, and Janine laughing at us for taking dumb tourist photos :)

You can get other tasty delights on the street as well. Here is Janine tasting mussels stuffed with rice, while Jeff is tasting fried mussels with garlic sauce? It was cool eating mussels the street food way. Eat as many as you like, then they count the number of shells and charge you later.

We even made a new friend - the street vendor dude who made our Kokorec and mussels :)

Istanbul is a major cosmopolitan city. It has its share of fine, hip dining as well. We visited a restaurant and bar called 360. It's super hip - in fact, I can only think of a couple restaurants in Chicago (like Japonais) that have as swank of an atmosphere. Furthermore, 360 is located on the top floor of building and has an outside deck that gives you a great 360 degree view of Istanbul.

One thing that's neat about Turkish food is the use of spices. Food seems to get more bland as you go west - especially the UK and the US. In Turkey, you could taste lots of great things due to heavy use of spices. The food isn't particularly spicy hot - just spicy flavorful. They have a cool Spice Market in town too, so you can load up on your spice cabinet...

Finally, you would enjoy yourself just by eating Turkish desserts. The most famous dessert is Turkish Delight. But there are other ones too. We visited a well-known dessert place called Saray and had a nice sampling of goodies :)

Related links:
- All Turkey trip articles on my blog: http://discopalace-blog.blogspot.com/search/label/trip-Turkey
- My full blog: http://discopalace.com/blog

Kapadokya (Cappadocia), in a Hot Air Balloon

2010-04-26T20:13:00.001-05:00

One of my most enjoyable experiences in Turkey was taking a hot air balloon ride over Kapadokya. I had never ridden a hot air balloon before. Wow, was it exhilarating! Up in the air, floating like a feather, enjoying the sunrise and the pretty scenery. Aaaaaaah....

Uh, I don't really have anything else to say. Aaaaaahhhhhhh.....

The villages of Kapadokya (Cappadocia)

2010-04-23T09:07:00.002-05:00

This is the vista from my hotel in Kapadokya. Imagine waking up to this view every morning - how marvelous! We are in a small town called Ortahisar. The big rock formation is the Ortahisar Castle. This castle was one of three castles that were cut out and used by the Romans. Later in this article, you'll see us climbing the castle :)

There are several towns in Kapadokya. It seems that the region is mainly fueled by tourism. It's probably the Yellowstone National Park of Turkey :) The largest two towns are Urgup and Gerome, both with populations over 15,000. The photo shown above is of Urgup. There are tons of hotels, restaurants, and tourist shops in these towns.

We stayed at the Hisar Evi Cave Hotel. It's a very pretty little place, with the great view of Ortahisar. The main building (top left) is only a few years old. The rooms (bottom right, more pics below), however, are actual caves that were dug out hundreds of years ago. It's pretty cool to say I stayed in a cave in Turkey!

We stayed at the hotel with several of the same people from our tour. The environment felt like a bed & breakfast. It was nice to dine and talk with the other guests. We met people from all over the world on the tour - USA, Canada, Europe, India, New Zealand, Japan.... The first photo below is of some lovely New York ladies we met on the tour - Lisa, Joan, and Marianne. The second is of the hotel manager and owner - very nice hosts.

Our awesome friend and travel agent Janine recommended staying at the Hisar Evi hotel in Ortahisar, rather than in a hotel in Goreme and Urgup. In Ortahisar, you get a cool castle to look at, and a neat hotel. I think it was a good call :) If you want to dine out, shop, or see some nightlife (if there is any), perhaps Goreme or Urgup would be better. I was pretty wiped out every night though. We had a free day our last day of the tour, which we spent in Urgup. We walked around and relaxed quite a bit.

Could you imagine yourself living in a small tourist town and waking up to beautiful scenery every day? It sounds tempting eh? I found a cave property for sale in Goreme. I may have to come back here once I win the lottery...

Kapadokya has a lot of local craftsmen and artisans. Since we were on a tour, we made some obligatory visits to see them and listen to their sales pitches. Jeff ended up getting a lovely onyx chess board. I ended up with just a bunch of photos; I've never been much of a souvenir type of guy :)

Ortahisar is a neat, pretty little town. Unlike Goreme and Urgup, it doesn't seem to have many tourists staying there. It kinda looks like a small town in Tuscany or southern France - brick and stone, small windy cobblestone streets - plus the Turkish caves... Unfortunately I didn't take many closeup pics of the towns or the people. What was I thinking?? Sorry Justine.

The neatest part about Ortahisar is the castle. It was just a 5-10 minute walk from the hotel. You get a great view of Kapadokya from atop the castle. The two other peeps below were also fellow tour trekkers, Anne and Fenton from Philly.

There's nothing like a pretty sunset to end the day :)