Feb 072010
 

January was our long holiday between semesters, so I was off on the planes again. My family decided to meet in Hawaii this year for our first all-family vacation in years. It was a fantastic week spent together!
After I left them, I headed to Malaysia for about a week with a stop in Kuala Lumpur and most of my time spent in Kuching, Sarawak on the Malaysian part of the Borneo island.
It was, perhaps, the most relaxing vacation Iโ€™ve had in quite some time with little domestic travel in the countries I was in. So, I came back feeling very refreshed and relaxed – ready to start the new term!

You can check out the details from my trips on Blogger!!!

More trips to come,

-T

 Posted by at 21:05
Feb 052010
 
From KL, I took a short flight to Kuching, Sarawak located on the Borneo island, but still a part of Malaysia. The remainder of my trip was spent with a friend in this area. Kuching means “Cat city” in Malay, so there were a lot of cat statues around the city. I don’t have too much to say about my impressions or daily activities. Most of the time was spent exploring on the back of a scooter and seeing the sights. The weather was fairly unpredictable as it was the wet season there and not many tourists or activities were seen around town. So, here are some photos and more can be found (eventually) on my main website. Enjoy!

 
One of the many cat statues
A poor mangy kitten on the street, but so cute!
Museum or something…
Chinese temple
Night view of the boardwalk
Top Spot food court…poor fish….
Food court – was really good seafood, actually!
One day kayaking in the highlands
 
A Malaysian night
While I’m definitely glad I made a visit here, I’m not sure that I would go again…, but you never know! It was a good holiday and I’m already thinking about the next adventure!
Until next time…
-T
Feb 042010
 

Feeling refreshed after a good long sleep, I awoke ready to explore outside of the city for a little bit by visiting the Batu Caves. It’s a mere half hour bus ride from the city centre to the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur to climb 272 steps to the caves that hold a Hindu shrine. I don’t really know much about the history, but Phyllisse recommended that I see it and I figured it was a good chance for me to get out and explore on my own a bit.

Entrance to the Batu Caves
Shrine inside caves
Monkey attraction

While finding the right bus was a bit of a challenge, I did eventually find it and made it out to the cave. It was an interesting experience and while I think the monkeys are perhaps the main attraction to the area, I’m told that the attraction is really the shrine and the Thaipusum festival draws quite the crowd (which I thankfully missed by a week as I’d hate to visit anywhere with thousands of other people…).

After seeing the caves, I ventured back into the city centre and enjoyed Chinatown a bit more.

Petaling Street (Chinatown)

In the evening, I met up with Phyllise for dinner and she showed me around Bukit Bintang area, which is part of the Golden Triangle section of the city. This area is known as the main shopping and entertainment area where you might find more of the pubs and tourists.

Chinese New Year decorations inside mall
Food stalls

While I really enjoyed getting to see the city of KL through the eyes of a couple of local ladies, I was happy to be escaping the city for my next destination in hopes of seeing a bit more of a quieter and natural-side of the country.

More to come…

-T

PS More pictures to be found on main website.

Jan 272010
 

It only took me about 24 hours to get to Malaysia from Hawaii, but I made it! I’ve wanted to see Kuala Lumpur for a while now, though I can’t remember what caused me to have an interest in the city initially. With vacation still left to use up, hitting this Southeast Asian country seemed like a good idea. ๐Ÿ˜€

Upon arrival, I caught the KLIA train in to KL Sentral station to drop off my bags as I had decided to take advantage of Couchsurfing and couldn’t meet my host until later in the evening. However, through Couchsurfing, I met Nicole who had contacted me about staying at my place when she visits Abu Dhabi. So, she kindly agreed to meet with me and spent most of the day driving me around the city showing me the sites.

Thean Hou Temple
Merdeka
The National Mosque
The famous Petronas Towers
It was great to get oriented to the city of Kuala Lumpur via car as I was kept from having to traipse around on the trains in my very tired state.
I finally was able to meet my host, Phyllisse, in the evening, but was so exhausted that we went to her place where I got a short nap and got up for quick Chinese food dinner near her place, then went back and crashed out! More pictures and update for the following day to come!
Until then,
-T
Jan 182010
 
~ Hawaii – Oahu ~
In Japan, I used to attend a Hope Chapel chain of churches. The Hope Chapel group started in Kaneohe, Hawaii on Oahu. So, over the years I’ve made a few friends and though I’ve lost touch with a few, with the wonders of Facebook, I’ve reconnected with some. One of my friends from way back when, invited me to stop in Oahu since I was going to be in the area. ๐Ÿ˜€ Though time was short, I was able to visit for a day.
Some of the photos here:
Sam greeted me in Hawaiian style with a lei (too bad I can’t take it with me…)

A visit to Oahu wouldn’t be complete without seeing Pearl Harbor. It was a small area, but worth a visit.
Pearl Harbor – USS Bowfin Sub
Pearl Harbor – Memorial
Pearl Harbor – Flag waving on USS Arizona Memorial

After our stop at Pearl Harbor, we drove through the city a bit and headed up for a view. We discussed doing a short hike on Diamond head to get a view coming the other direction, but after an early start to my day, my energy was running low. So, the drive to this point was good enough. ๐Ÿ˜€
View of Honolulu from Tantalus Point (Diamond Head on left)
Waikiki Beach

Oahu definitely has more of the Hawaiian feel for me. We drove around the city of Honolulu a bit during the day so I was able to see the neighborhoods (saw Obama’s haunts) and enjoy some of the flora that I was expecting to see. In the afternoon, I took a rest, but hit the sands of Waikiki for a swim and sunbathe before resting up for dinner. Though time was too short, I had a great visit and shout out a THANK YOU to Sam, my tour guide for the day. ๐Ÿ˜€
I definitely hope to visit again. Hawaii is a great vacation destination!
More travels to come…
-T
Jan 182010
 

~ Hawaii – Kailua Kona ~

It was family vacation time for the past week in Kailua Kona on the Big Island! We haven’t all been together like this in years – perhaps longer than my memory serves. So, it was so great to hang out with my brother and catch up with my parents. Since I don’t live closeby, these moments are more precious whenever they are had.

My parents rented a house off of Ali’i road just a bit outside of the main downtown area. We had a Jeep Rubicon as our wheels to get around. Throughout the week, we snorkeled, surfed, boogie-boarded, tanned, and explored the island a bit.

When I first arrived, I was a bit surprised at the scenery as I had imagined Hawaii to be lush with flora all over. However, due to the volcanic activity on the Big Island, there is more lava to be seen. It’s interesting and makes for different views of this tropical paradise. However, the beaches were still great, the water still warm and much fun still had.

I’ll post a few pics here, but more will come on my main blog site when I return home. Enjoy!

The lava scenery
Sunset on the first night
The parents enjoying the beach life!
Green sands beach – yes the sand is green!
South Point – southern most point in the US and so much water.
Sunset from the house – each night we waited for the green flash…., but the margaritas didn’t help. ๐Ÿ˜€
Cheers! for my family!!!
Next stop coming up…
-T
Jan 112010
 

A visit to Japan is never complete unless I have seen my BFF, godson and friend (same family). Since my godson, Ethan, just had a birthday last week turning the ripe ol’ age of 4, I wanted to be sure to celebrate and give him a present. Also, I’m not sure when I’m going to see all of them again (hopefully back home in the summer…).

Since Ethan had a free meal and dessert coming to him at Outback Steakhouse, we met there to catch up. Though a quiet meal, we still had fun.

The Suzuki family

The birthday boy spacing off….
A look of disappointment when waiting for his birthday ice cream…(they sang for someone else first…)
At last, it has arrived!!
“Not gonna let a single bite go…even if it makes me sick!!”
The whole gang – Happy Birthday, Ethan!
Jan 102010
 

Holidays are here again. It seems like I’m always on holiday, but one must always remind others that my last trip to Japan was indeed a business trip and not all business can be labeled as “holiday”… okay maybe it can!!! ๐Ÿ˜€

In any case, real holidays are here and I’m on the planes again to see what I can see.

First up – a stopover in Japan on my way to meet my family in Hawaii. Since I was a bit late in getting my tickets to Hawaii (sorry family…), I couldn’t get there until the 11th anyway. The flight route brought me to Japan anyway, so since my friend was getting married and having his wedding party on the 9th, I thought it was a great opportunity to squeeze it in!

Though I had hoped to stay in warmer climates for this trip, I figured I could endure the cold for a couple of days. So far, it’s been okay, but I’m definitely a warm-weather girl now.

Last night was the party – here’s a photo of the whole gang –

Ah, how I miss the crew. This is the end of everyone being in the same place as people have finished their contracts and are moving on to new ones down south or elsewhere. It’s a great bunch and I miss them all dearly. Still, I know we’ll keep in touch and I will always have a reason to come back for a visit!!!

More to come…

-T

Oct 102009
 

I should have posted this sooner, but all accounts of my summer travels from Spain to Oregon to Japan to Vietnam are on my blogger site. While I had visitors as well, I did not blogger it, but rather put it on my โ€œGoing Mentalโ€ section. Iโ€™m still debating how best to use both of these venues for sharing my travels and thoughts. For now, this is the best method for me.

Check out the daily adventures from my trips on Blogger!!!

More trips to come,

-T

 Posted by at 18:07
Aug 122009
 

The last of our trip was spent in Mui Ne. We went full out on the hotel for this part. It is a beach town and so we might as well stay at a nice place, right? Sailing Club Mui Ne was a lovely place to end our stay. Since the reviews said it was worth the extra dough to get the most expensive room, that’s what we did. I would say it was worth it.


Mui Ne is laid out rather differently than the other towns we visited. It’s just one long road of hotels on the beach side and restaurants on the other side. So, the first day we just explored a bit, used the pool and enjoyed our bungalow. The water was always pretty muddy and so we didn’t ever venture out in it sadly. But, we had a couple of walks on the beach and dinner on our last night on the sand.

On the second day, we rented a motorbike to get around to explore. It was my first time on a motorbike on the road as well (lots of firsts here!). It was great to feel the hot wind as we sped along the road. Plus, we got to see some of the regular life along the way.

We rode in to a neighboring town and then explored Mui Ne a little bit. In the afternoon, we relaxed back at the resort. I had a massage while Craig had some man-time. ;D

The next morning, we headed off to take a look at the sand dunes that are suppose to be the highlight in the area. We found the Red Dunes and had a walk up, but we never really did find the White Dunes. Still, it was great to ride around a bit. By afternoon, I was somehow quite tired and so I relaxed more by the pool to soak up the last of cool weather before heading back to the Dab.

All-in-all, I’d say Vietnam was a lovely country to visit. Of course, I had great company in Craig and Roman. The weather was great for us and we managed to get out of the big city, which is a must to fully enjoy what Vietnam has to offer.

Until the next update!

-T

PS Photos for the posts are coming and all other photos will be available on my main website, so check’em out!

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