Plain-Jane's Travels

Tour of New Braunfels

2012-02-11T06:36:00.000-08:00

Karl, from VMO

I crashed out of the road race at the Tour of New Braunfels with a few bruises and scrapes. My ego hurt more than anything else. I stuck around afterwards and got a few pictures of the team.

From VMO

Copperas Cove

2012-01-30T11:27:00.000-08:00

I haven't been traveling much, so I've been able to spend weekends at cycling races. Still working on the action shots.

Velossimo Training Camp

2012-01-16T06:24:00.000-08:00

From VMO

During the Velossimo team training camp in Fredericksburg, I got in an early morning ride and then spent some time in the P12 follow car. Pretty interesting experience - I learned a lot about cycling while practicing photography. I saw first hand that "It never gets easier, you just go faster."

Rhonda's Gargoyle

2011-12-24T18:41:00.000-08:00

In a fit of rebelliousness, I decided to stay put in Austin over Christmas weekend. I'm glad I did - I was able to take some great shots of Rhonda getting inked.

East Austin

2011-12-24T18:02:00.000-08:00

I'm back in Austin for a length of time, and I finally went around taking pictures of the graffiti and murals painted on the walls of the East Side. I like the character it gives to this part of town.

Narita Temple

2011-12-04T19:19:00.000-08:00

Start of fire ceremony

I didn't pay attention to some of the itinerary changes to my flights, so I ended up with a 7 hour layover in Narita. When I called American Airlines to change it, the agent couldn't change the flights due to capacity. She did recommend a tour of the Narita Temple to pass the time. I sent a few emails to Narita Rainbow Tours and arranged the tour. (If you have a 4-5 hour layover, you can still do the tour.)

The Narita temple is one of the most popular Buddhist temples in Japan, and many Japanese continue to visit the temple today.

Main entrance. Rightmost one is for snakes. Recently constructed, built of a rare wood.

Water dragons protecting temple from lightning

Hot Dog plaque was donated by a Tokyo business a century ago

Previous main temple. Was moved 40 years ago as it did not meet fire code (replaced with concrete temple with ventilation)

Shinto shrine within temple complex. Named after landowner who donated the land.

Do's Wedding in Seoul

2011-12-04T18:43:00.000-08:00

With a 10 hour layover in Austin, I went from Dublin to Korea (DUB-LHR-DFW-AUS-DFW-NRT-ICN). I had a bit of time at London Heathrow, so my coworkers came to the airport for breakfast and pod riding.

The crazy flights weren't intentional. When my high school/college friend Do called and asked me to attend his wedding in Seoul, the only possible answer was, "Of course." In the end, it was a small high school and college reunion with folks I haven't seen in a while.

I never adjusted to the Korean time zone, so my trip consisted of going out, crashing during the day, attending the wedding and going out some more. We made it out sightseeing for just one day.

Dusty. I've been to a lot of club nights, but this is the first one sponsored by an automaker.

That's a Lambo to the right of the photobomber.

Regan clubbing the night we landed in Seoul.

Regan waiting for waffles and ice cream.

Avram on the way back from the wedding.
We took the subway as its much faster than a cab.

The crew at JJ's/Grand Hyatt after the wedding. Sharon, Regan, Sarah, Do, Sarah's brother, Dusty.

Avram in a cool neighborhood by the castle.

Same cool neighborhood.

Dusty and Avram in the castle.

Halloween Weekend in Dublin

2011-12-04T17:56:00.000-08:00

Dublin tourist center

Samuel Beckett bridge over the River Liffey

Vegas, Roman and I flew to Dublin for Halloween, and I spent most of the time hanging out with my friend Vjera. The locals were all immigrants to Dublin, and it was a good time. Vegas and I ran the full marathon in costume (cowgirls). Every few hundred meters, I heard, "Well done" or "Go cowgirl."

After a summer of traveling and bailing on long runs, I still managed a 16-minute marathon PR at 4:22:58. Now, I'm convinced that I respond to intense workouts better than volume and that races should be done in costume when possible.

Hat swap at club in city center

Grounded

2011-12-03T15:35:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, it's good to be grounded. I've taken the copy of my passport out of my wallet, and I've put my luggage away. I have no plans on TripIt. It's been a brutal year of traveling, and I think I'm done for a while.

Address Is Approximate

2011-11-27T18:48:00.001-08:00

This just puts a smile on my face. I'm amazed by what folks are creating nowadays.

Address Is Approximate from The Theory on Vimeo.

Quick Austin List

2011-10-03T12:04:00.000-07:00

Headed to Austin? Here are some of my favorite places to eat and to take out of town guests.

BBQ

1. Franklin's BBQ. Best BBQ in Austin (or US). Get there early - as in 1.5 - 2 hours early or they sell out.

2. Rudy's. My favorites are the moist brisket, chicken, creamed corn and turkey. Fast, especially when you can't be bothered to wait for Franklin's.

3. Uncle Billy's BBQ on Barton Springs Rd. We like the moist brisket and the chicken with the habanero sauce (really hot; you have to ask for it). Our favorite buttermilk pie. Also a microbrewery.

4. Smitty's in Lockhart. It's about a 40 minute drive from Austin, but was considered some of the best BBQ in Texas. We like the brisket and ribs a lot. If you decide to go here, make sure you check out the hours on the website. It got demoted from #1 when Franklin came into the picture. It's better to spend time waiting for Franklin BBQ than driving down to Lockhart. Kreuz Market is right down the street. Smitty's and Kreuz's have the same origin, but split apart due to a family feud.

5. Salt Lick in Driftwood. BYOB (since Driftwood is a dry county -- doesn't sell alcohol in the county). It's a drive out there -- so if you're going to drive, I think Smitty's is better. Plus, you can pick some up in the airport as you're heading out. It's a pretty cool atmosphere on a warm Texas night.

Sit down food (places I won't go in gym clothes):

- Barley Swine - restaurant by the Odd Duck folks. Great food as well as independently brewed beer.

- Haddington's - good tavern food.

- Peche - good cocktails and pretty good menu.

- Parkside - good if you're on 6th street and hungry. Great happy hour specials. Great desserts.

- Uchi - Japanese/sushi.

- Uchiko - Japanese. Uchi's sibling. Best desserts in town.

- Fonda San Miguel - good interior Mexican. RSVP recommended if you want to do the brunch on Sunday.

- Hudson's on the Bend - game food (venison, elk, duck, etc) in a fine dining environment. This is out by the lake, so you can go to Soleil or Uncle Billy's on the lake instead.

- South Congress Cafe - people like the breakfast there. I haven't made it over there for breakfast yet.

Quick and easy / casual:

- East Side Kings - cart behind the Liberty, Shangri La and Grackle. Tasty Asian fusion.

- Torchy's - local favorite (check out infogrpahic at the bottom)

- Curra's on Oltorf - Mexican/Tex Mex. Corn tortillas are made fresh here. A favorite spot of the locals.

- Freebird's Burritos - great thing to grab as you're headed to the airport.

- Amy's Ice Cream

- Magnolia or Kerbey Lane for breakfast food (they're both open 24 hours). It's an ongoing debate on which ones folks prefer (Magnolia is meatier, and Kerbey is fresher). If you end up going to Kerbey, get the Kerbey queso - best queso in town.

- Joe's Bakery - amazing bacon and egg breakfast tacos. They flour coat the bacon, so it's never the same afterwards. Closes at 3pm.

- Lick Ice Cream - frou frou ice cream, but really good. Right by Barley Swine, so if you're in the neighborhood, might as well.

Things to do in Austin:

Outdoors:

- Check out the botanical gardens at Zilker Park. Or swim in Barton Springs - it's cool 65 degrees, which is fantastic when it's 100 degrees outside.

- Run on Town Lake / Lady Bird Lake (it's about a mile up Congress from where you're staying, and you can do a 5 mile loop if you go west from the bridge). You can also rent a bike from Bicycle Sport Shop on the corner of Barton Springs and Lamar and ride around the lake if you don't feel like running. This trail also goes by Zilker Park. (BSS rents all sorts of bikes - road, mountain, cruiser and even electric now.)

- Short hike to the top of Mount Bonnell. Great views. Featured at the end of "Slackers"

- See the bats at sunset on the S. Congress bridge. Note that they don't come out every night, so it can be hit or miss.

- Segway tour. Good way to see downtown Austin - there's a coupon on the website and you can negotiate a good rate if you have enough people.

Indoors / Less Active:

- Get coffee and dessert at Mozart's .

- Watch a movie at the Alamo Drafthouse (South Lamar is more for adults and you can go to Highball afterwards. Lake Creek seems kid friendly). You can eat (and drink a beer) while watching a movie.

- There's usually a bunch of music shows. Austin Chronicle guide to shows or Austinist.

- Get drinks at sunset at the Oasis . The food is horrible, but the view is amazing (perhaps a bit less so with the drought). Soleil or Uncle Billy's next door has better food.

- Check out the Blanton Museum or the LBJ Library on the UT campus.

- Walk down 6th street on Friday/Saturday night after 11 PM, but get drinks of 4th street/warehouse district. 6th street is generally for the college students (but it's neat to see the street blocked off). 4th street is the professional crowd. Nowadays, we usually only go to the Draught House

- Drinks at the San Jose Hotel on Congress. The Michelada is a good drink here.

- Texas History Museum. Cool if you're a Texas or history buff; also good for watching movies in the real IMAX format.

Catalina Channel

2011-09-03T17:11:00.000-07:00

From Katy Catalina 2011

Sometimes in life, you're fortunate enough to meet an incredible group of people who believe that all goals, no matter how difficult, are achievable. This past Friday, my friend Katy Dooley met her goal of swimming across the 21-mile Catalina Channel in 9 hours, 49 minutes and 4 seconds.

Here are some photos of Katy and crew on her adventure:

Katy, before her swim.

Vegas, MVP crew member, who stayed up the entire night coordinating Katy's feed and kayakers.

Mel, grease coater and tweeter.

Alisa, a last minute addition. We were so happy the captain let her on the boat.

David. Veteran channel crosser who came with his daughter on the boat. He knew just how and when to motivate Katy to get her in under 10 hours.

Neil. Official observer who devised a great feeding system.

Thomas, kayaker extraordinaire.

Katy with Kevin, another kayaker

Katy's swim started off in rough waters for the first five hours, but the seas calmed down as the light came out. She was swam consistently throughout and picked up her pace towards the end. As she was coming out, the surge picked her up and pushed her onto the rocks nearly 90 feet away. She's a bit battered and scraped, but she finished!

China - photo album

2011-08-16T04:29:00.000-07:00

The complete photos of the China trip are here. I really should go back and reprocess some of the pictures using a bigger monitor. That never happens - I'm not a fan of post-processing so I try to do it during the trip.

Drum / Bell Towers and Olympic Parks

2011-08-10T19:37:00.000-07:00

From China 2011

Temple of Heaven

2011-08-09T17:23:00.000-07:00

From China 2011

Some of the parks around town charge a minimal fee (10-15 RMB, $1.50-2.50 USD) for entry, and we think it's for folks to have a less crowded space to hang out and play cards/dominos/Chinese chess. Everywhere we go, there are huge crowds, so the parks offer some respite.

From China 2011

And then you have the tourists...

From China 2011

Zoo Day

2011-08-08T03:30:00.000-07:00

From China 2011

If you want to see pandas, the Beijing Zoo has about 5 pandas. They're absolutely adorable, and the country is stepping up the efforts to save the pandas in the wild. I would skip the rest - somewhat sad to see the other animals.

From China 2011

Jingshan Park

2011-08-07T17:43:00.001-07:00

From China 2011

Forbidden City

2011-08-06T20:32:00.000-07:00

Built in 15 years by 1 million laborers, the Forbidden City has over 900 buildings and covers 7.8 million square feet. It's impressive. You walk through gates and you think that's it - we've reached the end. That's never quite the case; there are always more massive halls, buildings, or gardens.

From China 2011

Mutianyu Great Wall

2011-08-06T19:39:00.000-07:00

Weather.com for Beijing isn't that great. I didn't know this when we first got to Beijing. So, I saw the weather forecast and decided that we had to go to the Great Wall the day after we got here. There was a little bit of research and some debate as to which section of the Great Wall we wanted to see (while minimizing car time). We decided on the Mutianyu Great Wall; the option to take a toboggan down made it a no-brainer. 40 seconds in, you'll see the worker try to slow Pete down as we've taken off on a downhill section:

The Great Wall is impressive - built stone by stone centuries ago, high in the mountains, as far as the eye can see. I'm usually not afraid of heights, but I had a bit of vertigo walking up the steep uneven steps. It was one foot in front of the other, hoping I wouldn't misplace a foot and tumble down the steps.

From China 2011

Shanghai

2011-08-06T19:16:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Shanghai was about eating. Every day, I had a list of places to eat, and we'd usually overstuff ourselves at lunch so we couldn't be bothered to eat a big dinner. We met up with Joel, Elisa & her daughter Megan for the first few days, and it's always nice to see friends in a foreign land. Thanks to Joel's Shanghai guide, we got to see some great stuff:

Walking to the local bao cart for breakfast each morning. On our last morning there, the cart was missing, and we even saw others asking for it. The baos we found on the food stall street nearby wasn't as good.
Walking through People's Park on Sunday afternoon and seeing parents with homemade ads to marry off their kids. We were able to recognize heights and photos of houses and cars.
Riding the maglev at 431 kph (269 mph).
Eating massive meals at Din Tai Fung, Crystal Jade and Jade Garden.
Going to the local favorite soup dumpling restaurant (Jia Jia Tang Bao) and then walking across the street to pick up fried soup dumplings (Yang's Fried Dumplings). JJTB is not as pretty nor consistent as Din Tai Fung (1 or 2 leaks out of 12), but tasty and good value. They run out of the pork filling early, but we liked the crab and pork dumplings. Yang's had stupidly good fried soup dumplings - crispy, gooey, chuy and soupy all in the same dumpling. The soup stayed hot even after our 10 minute walk back to the hotel.
Going to the Chinese circus. Mindblowing even if you've seen a Cirque du Soleil.
Showing Pete the Muji store. It's like a Container Store with Japanese sensibilities.
Taking pictures on the glass floor of the Oriental Pearl Tower. It is somewhat unnerving, pretty impressed that Christine managed to get air for this photo:

From China 2011

China - Organization

2011-07-27T06:20:00.000-07:00

In an organization fit last night, I mapped out all the places I wanted to eat at and see while in China. The red markers are for eating, and the blue ones are for sights. Shanghai looks to have amazing food and nothing to see (there are some duplicate restaurants), and Beijing is all sightseeing. The sad thing is that there is a Great Firewall in China, and my maps may not show up while I'm there.

Shanghai:

View Shanghai Map in a larger map

Beijing:

View Beijing Map in a larger map

Porto Alegre, Brasil

2011-01-15T02:57:00.000-08:00

From Brazil 2011

Brazil is an amazing and interesting country. The people are friendly and beautiful, and they're so willing to take time out of their day to help you out, share their food and just make you feel welcome. I had amazing time here this week. (It really helps that I didn't have food poisoning this time around. Good start to the year!)

Some interesting things about Brazil:

The largest population of Japanese people outside Japan.
Lots of folks from Germany and Italy too. Many came here after the second world war.
Incredibly complex tax structure in terms of calculation, exceptions, and flux. With 5,000 taxing authorities, it's estimated that a tax rule changes every 1.5 hours. (It's intriguing for me since I like the complexity and I enjoy thinking about how the government is driving behavior through incentives and taxes.)
Very generous retirement benefits when you work for the government, and generous benefits for workers. My favorite is the 30 day vacation policy - you're paid an additional 33% of salary when you're on vacation, you're allowed to "sell" 10 days back to Dell, and the remaining 20 days are sold back to Dell at double the rate. Managers have an incentive to make sure their employees take vacation. Oh, and you get an extra month's pay in December. (The high tax and costs of living really eats into the perks. The same car as mine costs almost twice as much in Brazil.)
Folks at Dell are interested in practicing their English. Several folks mentioned something about this. While they learn English in school, many have private tutors. I was surprised when my colleague described her trip to Miami and New York as very fun and "a good chance to practice my English."

Out with the Old and In with the New

2011-01-08T15:24:00.000-08:00

Perhaps I'm naive, but I thought there wouldn't be as much travel for me this year as last year. I still don't think I'd do over 100K miles in 6 months. However, it's the second weekend of January, and here I am on another trip.

Well, on my last flight from Taiwan, the TSA brutalized my luggage enough that I had to purchase a new carry-on. Ten years ago, I bought my Dakota Metro after spending 15 minutes at the Bag 'n' Baggage store at the mall. This time, I spent hours researching the best brands and models, agonized over 2 vs 4 wheels and hard case vs cloth. Some requirements:

Big enough for a week-long trip with work and workout clothes.
International carry-on (20" length).
Durability. It sucks to drag along a broken suitcase when you're thousands of miles from home. For some reason, emotions get amplified the further you are from home.
Ability to sit atop the luggage. I like to sit on it when I'm waiting around - either in a line somewhere or just before I board the plane. I try not to be gate lice, but there are times when I arrive a few minutes beforehand.

As long as the hard-cased 4-wheelers have been out, I wasn't sold on the durability. So, I went with a Briggs and Riley Transcend 20" Wide Body. Since B&R have a true lifetime warranty, I figured they'd have to build bags to last and learn from their mistakes. I was concerned about going from a 22" to 20", but I'm short and my inseam makes it easy to fit pants folded in half. Also, I can use the extra space on the wide body to store my travel food (Jane snacks during the week and the random packaged food when I return).

Strange that I have an entire post dedicated to my luggage, but it's important when it's your traveling companion for weeks (or months) on the road.

More Travel Tips

2010-12-06T14:25:00.001-08:00

I'm jetlagged and waiting for breakfast, so some more travel tips that I've picked up.

If your hotel room requires a key in a slot to turn on the lights - any card (or a piece of cardboard) will work. You should be able to use old key cards. I believe in turning off the lights, but sometimes I want to keep the lights/computer on if I'm headed to the gym for a bit.
Colgate Wisp "toothbrushes." They don't require rinsing or spitting, and you can give yourself a quick brush in your plane seat. (I think it'd also be awesome in T2 of an Iron-distance triathlon.)
Global Entry. If you do a lot of international travel and you live in the US, it may be worth your while to apply for the Global Entry pass. You basically get to breeze through the Global Entry quick-entry (and get your family to the front of their respective lines) at immigration.
TripIt. Website, iphone, blackberry and android apps. Forward your itinerary and TripIt parses the information. Great to organize multiple friends traveling or even for your own travels. Just use the free version. (iPhone and Blackberry get AMEX integration)
For packing and security tips, just watch Up in the Air.

Trail Run and Dumplings

2010-12-06T08:25:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, I wish I had packed differently. Yesterday, I really wanted trail running shoes, a water bottle with some nutrition in it and my camera.

Regan and I went on a Taiwan hash run through some tea and beetle-nut plantations in the mountains outside Taipei. It was hilly, humid and muddy, so the run lasted twice as long as we expected. All I wanted was water and nutrition. Every time we went up an extended uphill, we were rewarded with gorgeous views of lush mountains with just a touch of fog. Those were the camera moments. After tons of steep downhills, sliding down dirt, using bamboo to stop the momentum (once even dangling off a tree trunk with both legs in the air), I finally ate it on some mossy rock. I should have known better, but it's been a while since I've been on trail - especially with cushy road shoes. It was a big fall - massive bruise on my shin and some good scrapes.

From Asia 2010

Aside from the gorgeous views, the run had the side effect of ramping up my appetite. (I can't remember the last time I spent over an hour running/walking.) So, we went to Din Tai Fung to order their famous steamed dumplings. We got there early for dinner, so our wait for the table was only 25 minutes. (Taipei is one of the most densely populated urban areas, so there's always a wait for famous things). The wait was well worth it, and we spent the next hour stuffing ourselves full of dumplings, spicy wontons and noodles. Best dumplings ever.

From Asia 2010

Road Warrior & Mileage Run

2010-12-03T12:20:00.000-08:00

Somehow without expecting it, I've become a road warrior in the second half of this year. I've done trips here and there in the first half, but the bulk of the miles started with the 'round the world trip late June. I didn't realize how much I was gone until I saw the chart from TripIt last night.

On the other hand, I saw that I was soo close to Executive Platinum (EXP), I decided to to a mileage run by flying from Austin to Nashville, and then from Nashville to Dallas to Tokyo to Taiwan. I had to do the Austin to Nashville leg to get enough mileage on American. The benefits make absolutely no sense to someone who doesn't travel much, but I've spent more time on airplanes than on my bike this past year and it does matter.

Just on this trip alone, some of the nicer things the airline folks have done for me:

On the BNA-DFW flight, the attendant gave me a liter bottle of water because the flight between DFW-NRT was so long. I'm nicely hydrated now.
On the DFW-NRT flight, the gate agent moved me to another window seat since the lady next to the original seat had a baby. As it turns out, no one was next to me on the flight, so I had two seats to myself!
If I book enough in advance, I usually get premium seating closer to the front. It's quieter, you feel less turbulence, and you get off the plane faster and beat the rush to immigration.

I chose Taiwan since my college-roommate is an expat here, Taiwan doesn't require a visa for US citizens, and I've been meaning to visit.

Montpelier, France

2010-11-30T17:45:00.000-08:00

From Plain-Jane's Travels

Montpelier made a Francophile out of me. The quality of life here is just amazing - the city is lovely (stone buildings from centuries ago, tree-lined walkable roads), the weather was gorgeous and the food was sumptious. The more I travel, the more I believe that we accept crap for food in the States. We're willing to eat mass-produced junk because it's cheap and easy - and it affects our bodies accordingly. (Not that I have a place to lecture - I eat plenty of fast food because real food takes effort. And, after years of eating Gu, Infinit and other endurance nutrition, some of my tastebuds and "protests to yuk" have died.)

From Plain-Jane's Travels

Pete's Photos

2010-11-30T17:44:00.001-08:00

Pete's pictures from the trip are here.

Photos

2010-11-24T04:40:00.001-08:00

My favorite photos from the trip can be found here.

Eat. Eat More. Sleep.

2010-11-24T04:24:00.000-08:00

From Asia 2010

Our time in Tokyo felt action-packed, and we spent a lot of it eating. Everytime we saw (or smelt something tasty), we made sure to stop for a bite. This trip was a short sampling of Tokyo, but it was fun nonetheless.

My food memories:

Ramen with pork belly. We saw this later, but we put money into a machine that printed a ticket of what we wanted. We then handed the ticket to the hostess. Of course it was tasty, it's pork belly.
Omakase sushi. Best sushi ever. Found out that one of my favorite's, bonito, is only seasonally available, and November is the best time for it. Bonito, otoro, chu-toro, unago (salt water eel), yellow tail snapper, flounder, live clam, fresh shrimp (cooked medium rare), tomago, sea urchin. Felt like we ate all the stuff we saw diving the previous week :)
Fresh purple potato waffle. Really good despite not sounding so.
Some more sushi at the Tsujiki fish market. Tiny restaurant with 3 sushi chefs serving 10 people. Would have been the best sushi ever if not for the previous day. Reinforced my belief that you should just look for lines if you don't have a firm recommendation on where to go. Also, it's also pretty convenient if you're by yourself - I skipped ahead in line since there was a spot for just one person.
Build your own udon bowl. Once again, we looked for a crowded restaurant and got a pleasant surprise. Pick your tempura and then choose which soup/size you want for the udon.
Food from convenience stores. You can get meals that are heated up in the microwave. Not the best nutritionally, but pretty good considering it's from a 7-11 equivalent.

From Asia 2010

Other memories:

Flaming Lips/Mew concert. Musically, I like Mew, but Flaming Lips put on a good show. Lots of balloons and confetti. Even better seeing folks in suits jamming out to the music.
On the walk between the hotel and Shinjuku station, an eyeglass store had set out a station to clean eyeglasses. Great way to get folks to read/listen to your ads.
Free tissue packets - hand out something useful so people take your advertisements.
Rule abiding/demure folks. Bikes didn't seem as locked up and everyone was careful to stand on the left of escalators and walk on the right. When you put it in this context, the Flaming Lips show is more interesting culturally.
Timely trains and lots of good signs/maps in the stations and around tourist attractions.
Incredibly stylish folks.

From Asia 2010

It Depends...

2010-11-14T13:49:00.000-08:00

From Asia 2010

It depends on what you make of the situation. The dive team at Wakatobi asked us to submit six of our favorite shots from the week for a presentation. Two of the six were from night dives using the S90.

My two thoughts about this:

I'm too frazzled by night dives to use anything other than a point and shoot. I also like to use a flash light in one hand and the camera in another. The SLR (even without the housing) is just too big to do this.
We only have one strobe for each camera, and both are on the left. Sometimes, I want to light the subject from the right. If I want the strobe far out enough, I have to go upside down. I'm not good enough a diver to balance the SLR and take the picture upside down.

From Asia 2010

Sometimes, It's Luck

2010-11-13T05:38:00.001-08:00

From Asia 2010

Sometimes, It's the Gear

2010-11-13T00:16:00.000-08:00

From Asia 2010

I'm a big believer in it's the user and not the gear. This is particularly true in cycling and triathlon, and often in photography. Above water, we often don't use the limits of the simple gear that we have. Unless I'm using a special lens, I couldn't tell the difference between the S90 and the SLR in daily shots. Underwater, there is a huge difference between the two. The speed and sharpness of the SLR+100mm lens makes the difference between in and out of focus.

To keep thing's interesting, I borrowed Ed's fish eye lens to mount atop the S90 housing. The mount wasn't made for this particular housing, so you'll see some vignetting. I like the effect, so I kept it where possible.

From Asia 2010

Ed, Pete's brother.

From Asia 2010

Pufferfish at a cleaning station. The cleaner fish are swimming through the mouth/gills of the puffer to remove parasites and other junk.

New Species?

2010-11-12T23:04:00.000-08:00

From Asia 2010

When P was reviewing my photos and saw this tiny "thing," he jokingly mentioned that I might have discovered a new species. I'm gullible and an optimist. So, I spent a good bit of time reviewing the Fish ID book hoping the creature wasn't in the book. Alas, it's a blackspotted triplefin.

Not much of an artistic photo, but the creature was about 2-3 cm and blended in with the background. I had to look off the eyepiece a few times to make sure I was aiming the camera at the right place.

Day 3 of Diving

2010-11-12T03:44:00.000-08:00

From Asia 2010

I got the SLR again today and tried P's advice. It's amazing how one photo can make my day.

I spent a lot of the first two dives of the day frustrated with my buoyancy and too afraid to take shots. Lots of negative thoughts ran through my head during the dives:

I have too much or too little weight
There's too much coral in the way so I can't get into position
I'm cold
There's too much current
I'm never going to take good shots like P.

When I had these, I'd look away from the camera eyepiece and at the reef itself. The fish highways (a school of fish all swimming in the same direction) or the sheer number of fish reminded me that I'm pretty lucky to dive here. I finally calmed down during the last dive on the house reef, and I got my best shots there. The house reef (reef where the resort is located) is the best I've seen.

From Asia 2010

Day 2 of Diving

2010-11-11T05:59:00.000-08:00

From Asia 2010

We traded cameras today, so I had the Canon S90 while P has the SLR. His pictures are amazing - he's really good with lighting and developing. I'll upload both sets of photos and share them when we have more bandwidth (the resort only has access via satellite, and I didn't want to hog the bandwidth uploading massive pictures).

Speaking of the resort - the service and logistics are amazing. For approximately 50 guests, there is a staff of 140+. We have constant electricity thanks to two generators and fresh water through a desalinization system. There are folks to feed us, clean after us, fill our tanks, do maintenance and generally take care of us during and after dives. Everything has worked so seamlessly that we didn't realize what went into running such a remote operation until we took a tour of the resort.

From Asia 2010

As far as the diving goes, I'm still blown away by the healthy coral (massive corals on each dive), abundance of fish (thanks to conservation efforts of the resort and the local population) and the clear water.

From Asia 2010

Hot Spots

2010-11-10T04:53:00.000-08:00

From Asia 2010

Wow - the lushness of underwater life here at Wakatobi is amazing. Great biodiversity, tons of fish, and vibrant coral. It was absolutely worth the long journey here.

We got a new 100mm macro lens for the SLR, and today was my first day using it. At first, it felt unfair since I could get more detail further away from the subject. I no longer scare the fish since I don't have to be as close. It's a mixed blessing in that I can't shoot anything bigger than a fist, and with SLRs, you're committed to the lens when you jump in the water.

That being said, it's not the gear - it's the user. I've forgotten how to use a strobe, so all my pictures have hot spots.

From Asia 2010

Getting to Wakatobi

2010-11-09T04:59:00.000-08:00

From Asia 2010

I didn't realize how remote Wakatobi was until today. (Geography is not my strong suit.) It was two hours in a turbo prob, a stop to refuel (too much luggage from all the divers), and then another two hours. When we landed, we got into minivans and drove through the neighboring island to a ferry that took us to Wakatobi. When we drove through the island, we heard tons of kids eagerly wave "ah-lo" to us. It reminded me of the kids in Vietnam.

We spent the rest of the day setting up gear (mainly the cameras) and relaxing. It's amazing how quickly I decompress out here.

In Transit

2010-11-08T06:16:00.000-08:00

The flight from Dallas to Japan was long. So long, I started writing a morbid entry about experiments simulating jet lag on rats that didn't end well for the rats. On the other hand, I was really glad to have P's company. It's nice to be able to share your thoughts as they occur. The cross-pond flights get pretty lonely, and I just sleep/work through them.

I'm still digesting my thoughts of what I've seen in Japan. Aside from the tasty food (even from the convenience store in the hotel), I'm most impressed that everything works - everything in the airport to our inexpensive transit hotel. Nothing was broken. At home, there are usually little things that break or are in need of repair. Perhaps we'll see more broken things when we return to Tokyo on the way back.

Back to the long transit. We're going to the wakatobi Dive Resort, on a remote part of Indonesia. Our journey consists of a flight to Narita (with an overnight), then Bali (with another overnight) and finally a turbo-prop to Sulawesi. I call out the turbo-prop since I hate small planes with a vengeance. I may fly a lot on jet planes, but small planes just make me nervous. I've been dreading the 4 hours on the turbo-prop more than the long haul to Japan.

Speaking of long haul flights, I just had the best experience on one. Garuda Airlines has immigration on the flight from Tokyo to Bali. Instead of waiting in a long line once you arrive to get the passport stamp - immigration officers are on board to review your passport and papers while you're sitting around on the long flight. It's such a distinctive offering that it creates a preference for Garuda Airlines over other carriers to Indonesia. (Also, they gave us ice cream before landing!)

***

Arrived at the hotel in Bali. The rest of the group doesn't sleep on planes, so they crashed. I'm still jetlagged, so I'm wide awake. Went to the gym (which probably didn't help), ran a few miles (I really need to get back into running!), and now I'm trying to figure out what else I can do.

One strange thing that I noticed - the hallways here at the hotel (a swank Holiday Inn) smell just like the hallways of the EQ (Equatorial) in Penang. It's something combined with the ocean air and the 95% humidity - it's a smell you don't get in the Caribbean though.

Thoughts on Kuala Lumpur

2010-11-04T02:22:00.000-07:00

From Plain-Jane's Travels

Some quick thoughts before I head out again.

Malaysian culture is a mix of Malay, Chinese and Indian. There are distinct benefits to being ethnically Malay, such as well-paying positions in public services and preferences in college entrance. As defined by their constitution, you must be Muslim to be Malay - but the converse isn't necessarily true. You're marked as Malay on your driver license - the police can raid a bar, see that you're Muslim, and arrest you. You're also Muslim for life - you can't convert! (Very strange coming from the US with its freedom of religion.) To marry a Muslim in Malaysia, you must convert to Islam. Interestingly enough, folks go to Singapore to get married to circumvent this law.

KL is a city obsessed with shopping and eating. Malls lead to other malls to other malls - with tons of food options around. I finally tried geoduck and mantis prawn. Fresh-out-of-the-tank geoduck was gross/fishy as sashimi and alright in a hotpot. The mantis prawn, while also gross looking, was delicious - similar to crab in texture and taste. I even got over my disgust of the "mantis" part and ate the meat in both claws. It would have been a shame to let it go to waste.

The Vietnamese food there was bleah. It's 2 hours away from Vietnam, but it's is way better in Houston!

Montpelier, France

2010-10-28T15:42:00.000-07:00

I'm behind again, so my description won't do Montpelier justice. Amazing food, town weather, and people. Pain au chocolat with fresh orange juice every morning after my walk to work, really fresh fish and bright vegetables, and some pretty tasty desserts. (And I'm not a dessert person.) The three-hour dinners made it difficult to work a lot - but it's a difference in lifestyle.

I'm still thinking through the lifestyle difference, but I definitely have a lot more respect for it now.

Have Passport, Will Travel

2010-09-26T14:03:00.000-07:00

I've spent a bit of time on the road lately, and I'm glad to be home for some time. Here are some things I learned the last few months that may help you out with international travel

Unlocked GSM cell phone. In most places overseas, you can pick up a pre-paid SIM, and the convenience often outweighs the cost. My rule of thumb has been a two week minimum stay if it requires any effort. If you really like your GSM phone, you can unlock it so you don't have a learn a new phone interface. I was able to get my HTC Aria unlocked by the folks at freeyourhtc.com (Quality Product Source). I think you can find cheaper unlock codes on ebay.
Capital One credit card (or credit card that doesn't charge international fees). Make sure you pay it off monthly as the rates are horrible.
Spare passport photos. This one is a bit less important, but some places require passport photos for the simplest of things - like getting a SIM card in India. Far easier to get them done ahead of time.

Bon Voyage!

(removed HSBC account, which charges 3% on non-Premier accounts.)

Catching up...

2010-09-07T21:07:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted to this site, so I guess I should catch everyone up to date.

May, Gulf Coast Road Trip:

From Gulf Coast 2010

Back in May, P and I rented a car and drove out to Panama City Beach, Florida, so I could do the Gulf Coast Triathlon and do some diving. It was a long drive out there, and we made the 12-13 hour drive in one go. We meandered our way back to Austin stopping in Pensacola and New Orleans.

We dove the Oriskany, an aircraft carrier sunk off the coast of Pensacola. The visibility wasn't great that day, so we couldn't see the flight deck. However, I did swim through the flight control room and through the smokestacks. In the New Orleans, we stayed in the French Quarter and just walked around during the day. Food highlights of the trip:

PCB: J Michael's. Good fresh, local seafood.
Pensacola: Blue Dot Burger. Best burger I've ever had.
New Orleans: Couchon Butcher. Best Banh Mi I've ever had. I think the Head Cheese set it apart from other Banh Mi.
Baton Rouge: Coffee Call. Beignets and beignet fingers. Can't really go wrong here.

June, Round the World:

I'm a product manager for a global transactional tax system. If you make a purchase from the company and see taxes, the system I work on may have calculated the taxes. (I say *may* since we're still working on the global part.) Before this summer, I've been able to do my job with a lot of late night/early morning calls and a yearly trip. With the onset of our India launch, all sorts of issues come up and I'm summoned to Penang, Malaysia last minute. I'm also summoned to London for another workshop, so I decide to make it all in one go.

The Penang meetings go well, we figure what we need to do, and I head off to Hong Kong for the weekend. As a coincidence, Regan's (my college roommate) brother was vacationing in Hong Kong from DC that weekend, so it wasn't difficult to convince Regan (who's an expat in Taiwan) to also fly in. It was good to hang out with him and to eat some really good food. It's a given that food tastes amazing there. I also managed to do a morning run by Victoria Peak - nice to get back to nature and solitude, just minutes away from an urban jungle.

Before the London workshops, I took the train over to Brussels to watch Stage 2 of the Tour de France. (Cancellara was in yellow that morning.) Also stuffed myself on chocolate croissants in Brussels. The London meetings didn't have the same urgency as the Malaysia ones, but they're good for direction going forward. Got to run around Hyde Park a couple of times.

July, India:

Nineteen days in India. The launch happened, and straightaway, there were high priority issues left and right. It was a lot of work and stress. There were some down times, and the people who could, drank. Most of my memories involve working, calls in the middle of the night to work on an issue, and more work.

August, Brazil:

This globalization thing is happening faster than I thought it would, so on the heels of India (gratefully with three weeks at home), I head to Brazil to gather tax requirements. Awesome meetings - great brain dump of the taxes we charge and why. I've come to the conclusion that countries with federated states with taxing authority have the most challenging taxes.

Great country, good food. I got food poisoning on my first night, so I wasn't able to pig out at the churrascaria. It was a bummer to get sick in a hotel room away from home, but when the stomach cramps were bad enough to call a doctor, the hotel got some EMT folks to come and fix me up (with an IV) in no time. I also got to see my first Brazilian football game with the local team, Gremio. The hardcore fans do an "Avalanche" (above) when their team scores a goal.

September, France:

I head off this afternoon to Montpelier to support a big launch and to do some training. I'm scared of the scope of the launch, so we'll see if it's all work or if I get a breather and get to see some of the city/countryside.

Mexico

2010-03-07T21:35:00.000-08:00

From Mexico 2010

We spent the first few days of the trip diving in Cozumel and then went over to Playa del Carmen for the cenotes.

I made an unplanned, massive system change at work right before leaving town, so I spent the first few days of the trip supporting the change. The weather and water was also colder than last time, so the diving conditions weren't as pleasant in Cozumel. This lead to few dives in Cozumel, and a lot of time in the hotel room supporting the changes.

Mid-week, work calmed down, and we moved over to Playa del Carmen. We did two dives in the Dos Ojos cenote, and these were my favorite dives of the whole trip. Amazing clarity in the water - in the photos, you couldn't tell we were in the water without the dive gear or bubbles. The rock formations also made for an interesting dive - I see the allure of cave diving, but there were also some claustrophobic moments. We also dove in the halocline (where salt water and fresh water meet) - it made the water seem unusually blurry/fuzzy.

Coral Garden

2009-11-04T04:49:00.000-08:00

My favorite dive so far has been the swim between Coral Garden to the Lakes. Lots of ledges and fish. The Lake we saw (one of the four) looks like a stadium with walls of coral surrounding it. Hopefully, we get to dive the Lakes today.

Pete's taken some great pictures with the big rig. He's figuring out how to use it (top photo is his.) It's my turn with it today - I'm just hoping for a shot or two in focus.

Crab inside a Conch Shell

Anemone

Diving in Grand Turks

2009-11-02T16:15:00.000-08:00

View from our balcony

Three Legged Hawksbill Turtle

The pictures from our trip can be found here.

I feel like a poser when we go diving with our "fancy" camera gear. Granted, the cameras inside are pretty old or entry level, but you can't really tell with the massive housing and strobes. I look like I know what I'm doing with all the gear, but I don't. I take a bunch of shots and hope for the best.

Grand Turk

2009-11-01T15:56:00.000-08:00

Ed & Pete at the Osprey Beach Hotel.

Providenciales

2009-11-01T13:26:00.000-08:00

We didn't spend much time in Provo, but I did get a chance to walk on the beach.

Turks & Caicos

2009-10-31T13:35:00.000-07:00

We're back! This time, we're on the road to Turks and Caicos. We'll spend tonight in Providenciales and then take a puddle jumper (*gulp*) to Grand Turk tomorrow. We're taking a bunch of photo equipment, so hopefully we'll get some good underwater pictures.

Hanoi

2008-11-18T02:10:00.001-08:00

We're seeing some sights while in Hanoi, but our focus is on food. Thanks to the Gastronomer, we're finding good restaurants. My favorite so far has been Cha Ca Thang Long where there's only one thing on the menu: Cha Ca. The marinated fish is added along with scallions and dill to a grill pan on the table. You eat it with bun (rice vermicelli), nuoc mam (fish sauce), fresh veggies and peanuts.

We also went to Wild Rice as a last meal with Spice Roads. The food and service are impeccable. Standouts in my mind are the Nem Tom Chuoi (shimp and banana fried eggrolls) and the braised eggplant. Any fried banana dish usually stands out in my mind, and the braised eggplant was perfectly sweet and succulant.

Xoi Xeo at Xoi Yen was another great suggestion from the Gastronomer. You have your choice of one of three xoi (sticky rice) and even more choices of meat to go on top. Perfect (and cheap) lunch if you're in the Old Quarter.

Ha Long Bay

2008-11-16T17:39:00.001-08:00

Ha Long Bay

Cave in limestone karst in Ha Long Bay

Fifteen days, 4 UNESCO World Heritage sites, ten hotels, 281 miles on the bike and 15,815 feet of climbing. We have a few more days in Hanoi for eating, sightseeing and shopping, but I feel like the trip is winding down. Looking back, each day of the trip added something new to our perspective of Vietnam. No day was "more of the same," so we've gotten a good first taste of the country's variations in personality and landscapes. On the other hand, the constant change in hotels was difficult for us. I think our next trip here will focus on the Mekong Delta (we haven't gone there yet), Dalat and Hoi An. (Note that the last two were places where we had fantastic chocolate croissants.) We didn't have that much time in Saigon, so we'll probably spend more time there too.

On another note, the cruise to Cat Ba Island and back through Ha Long Bay was excellent. The scenery was lovely, and the incredibly fresh seafood (shrimp, clams, squid and fish) along with fried taro were just amazing. On the way to a cave in a limestone karst, the boat stopped at a floating fish farm to buy the ingredients for lunch.

Fish farm where we stopped for lunch ingredients

Hai Phong to Cat Ba Island

2008-11-15T03:04:00.000-08:00

Today's ride was the last ride, and it was broken up into two parts: ride from Hai Phong to the boat, and after a 3 hour boat trip, ride from the port to the hotel in Cat Ba. Of course, the boat ride on a traditional boat offered stunning views and a delicious lunch with fresh shrimp, fish and squid. The ride through the middle of the island was challenging with long, winding climbs. These are definitely some of the most brutal climbs Pete and I have ever done.

After all the riding, I think that people with reasonable fitness can make the journey. There were days when I didn't want to get on the bike anymore, but I was always well rewarded when I did. Sometimes the bus couldn't follow us on the same road due to road conditions, and those were often the days when I was so glad to be on a bike.

National Park in Cuc Phuong

2008-11-14T03:31:00.001-08:00

Hue & Ninh Binh

2008-11-14T03:20:00.000-08:00

Fisherman in Ninh Binh

We took a tourist boat down the Perfume River (Suong Huong) to a really nice pagoda. Surprisingly, I liked the boat ride. While it was noisy, it gave us an nice slow view of the river banks and the weather was perfect. Afterwards, we headed out to the Citadel. That evening, we took an overnight train to Nam Dinh. I was grossed out by the dirty sheets and had a hard time sleeping. Even though we had a few hours to sleep in a hotel nearby, the night was a total disaster. I was ready to high-tail it to Hanoi.

We started the ride in Ninh Binh, and the pain of the previous night was forgotten. In the morning, we saw limestone karsts rising out of the land (and some water due to the recent floods). We stopped for lunch at a local restaurant where a woman and her children cooked for 18 in a single wok in a matter of half an hour. It was one of our favorite meals so far. In the afternoon, we rode next to (and possibly through) a small mountain range on our way to the National Park and the Endangered Primate Rescue Center in Cuc Phuong.

Flooded house & tombstones in Ninh Binh

Da Nang to Hue

2008-11-14T03:13:00.000-08:00

Kids riding water buffalo

Man working a plow

The sun came out for our ride from Da Nang to Hue, and it was one of my favorite rides of the trip. We rode up High Van Pass, which rises 500 m above sea level over 9 km and descends back to sea level over 11 km. The views going up and down the pass were just stunning. We continued down the coast to a lovely beach resort (Lan Co) for lunch.

We turned off the main highway and went through the country roads to see the ornate tombs of Central Vietnam. The citizens of Hue bury their dead in the countryside outside of town, and we often saw massive tombs with simple houses next to them. Over 40 km, we saw more tombs than people.

Another highlight was the gaggles of preschoolers walking home from school on their own. They didn't have anyone guiding them, but they seemed to know where to go. They're also the most enthusiatic and genuine when they're waving their hellos. Western cyclists are still a different enough sight that they'll run out of their houses to wave hello to us.

Pete also did an awesome job of riding today. He rode nearly 50 miles! It definitely took me more than a few weeks of riding to build up to a half century.

Hoi An

2008-11-14T03:10:00.000-08:00

Ships along the river in Hoi An

Things I recommend doing in Hoi An:

- Go to Cargo Club Restaurant at 8 AM and get the chocolate croissants. They come out of the oven at that time, and they're best right then. Later on in the evening, drop by for a really rich dessert.

- Go to Thung Bac for Cao Lao (found only in Hoi An). The Banh Xeo is also tasty.

- Get tailored clothing. While there are store fronts on every few steps, they all go back to 2-3 big tailor shops. Choose the one with the best stitching on their samples, the best cloth selection and the best prices.

Pete taking a picture of me in Champa Ruins in My Son

Photos in Vietnam

2008-11-08T03:23:00.000-08:00

Village kids out for a high-five

The countryside of central Vietnam is just gorgeous with lush greenery and mountains as the backdrop. We're just having problems capturing the beauty in our photos. The wide-angle on the SLR would probably help, but I'm not very comfortable riding with an SLR slung on my back.

The beaches are also quite nice. We're also quite bad about forgetting the camera on the bus.

Cycling through Vietnam

2008-11-07T03:41:00.001-08:00

So, I think cycling is one of the best ways to visit Vietnam. The experience is very different from cycling and sitting on the bus. There is quite a bit of interaction with the locals - a lot of the kids (and some adults) excited wave/shout "Hello" as we ride by, and they burst into giggles when we respond. In one town where we waited for others to catch up, we literally stopped the traffic. I guess people there get so few visitors, we were something to gawk at.

I can't say enough about the views - they're simply breathtaking.

Banh Xeo

2008-11-07T03:29:00.000-08:00

Banh Xeo

We finally had our local meal that beats anything we've had in the US. We had amazing Ban Xeo Hue, Nem Nuong Mia and Nem Chua Nuong at Quan 52 (Banh Xeo by Cho Dam). This place was recommended by both the hotel receptionist and the cabbie as the best Banh Xeo in Nha Trang. The kitchen was a cart with an extra table for the fryer, and the inside of the restaurant had haphazard tables and plastic chairs. The dough of the Ban Xeo was just crispy enough of the outside with the right combination of shrimp, squid, pork, boiled egg and bean sprouts on the inside. My lesson learned is that we need to eat at more simple stalls with a small menu than the formal restaurants. My favorite meals have all been in places with plastic chairs.

My rudimentary Vietnamese came in handy - I was able to figure out the short menu and order for us. The longer I'm here, the more I understand and the more I'm able to sound out words. I think I'm going to try to watch the news in Vietnamese when I get home so I can beef up my vocabulary.

Quan 52 from the inside

Nha Trang

2008-11-06T01:49:00.000-08:00

The weather in Nha Trang is a bit fickle. One moment it's dry; the next moment it's pouring.

Da Lat to Nha Trang

2008-11-05T21:57:00.001-08:00

GObama! It would have been amazing to mill about downtown Chicago to celebrate this historic win.

However, the ride from Da Lat to Nha Trang was epic. The plan was to ride about 15km out of Da Lat, do 41km in undulating hills in a national forest, descend 30km in the national forest and then ride another 20km towards Nha Trang.

The national forest had towering pine trees, amazing valleys with pockets of fog. Lots of long climbs, and gorgeous views. The sprinkling turned into a harsher, colder rain, and I was miserable. I climbed into the bus and thought I was done. So the bus decended 3500 ft over 20 km (smelt lots of brake) and stopped to let us descend. So, I climbed back onto the bike and rode another 20km. Holy cows - around each bend descending into the valley, there were more and more amazing views. At the end of the ride, I looked back and saw the 'moutain' that I climbed up and descended down. This ride was so amazing, I would like to return one day and do it during the dry season. (It ended up being 4000 ft of climbing over 48 miles.)

On a side note, during a wicked descent, Roman caught a patch of oil and took a nasty spill. He's ok to ride, just lots of road rash.

Corrected link to our photos here.

First few days in Vietnam

2008-11-04T14:43:00.000-08:00

I woke up super early this morning in hopes of getting any news results regarding the election. The states can't be called until the polls are officially closed and we head out on our bikes at 7:30 AM, so I won't find out until later today. Our tour is composed of folks from around the world (only 4 from the US), and most are very aware of our election. It's interesting that there are parties around the world for expats to watch the results.

The trip started with a warm-up ride to the Cu Chi Tunnels on Monday on very flat terrain. The kids along they way were really cute and enthusiastic with their "Hellos." The tunnels themselves are an amazing feat of engineering in a low tech situation. Pretty claustrophobic. They also show some crazy determination - around 60,000 people lived inside the tunnels during the war.

Tuesday was a good cycling day. we did 15 miles through the hills of Da Lat with a mile long hill that started with a steep grade. Pete did the whole hill without stopping for a rest! The climate and the hills were just gorgeous. The climate reminds me of the Bay Area.

Confirmed with the guide - most of the Vietnamese come home for Tet (Lunar New Year). About 300,000 Viet Kieu came back just for Tet last year.

En Route to Vietnam

2008-11-04T06:41:00.000-08:00

The flight from Hong Kong to Saigon has more tourists than Vietnamese. This was very different from our flight from Hong Kong to Manila where there were tons of Flips coming home. The Philippines has scores of overseas workers, and Vietnam has done a pretty good job of marketing itself as a tourist destination. Can't wait to get to Vietnam and try some of the tasty food!

I have to mention that the last 10 days of stuffing myself (and not working out a lick) has taken a toll. Good thing I'll have a bunch of time on my hands when I get back - I need to get back to training weight to make the rides/runs more bearable.

Manila

2008-11-02T00:24:00.000-07:00

Family dinner in Bongabon after visit to cemetary

We arrived in Manila on All Saints Day. On this day, the custom in the Philippines is to return to the provinces and visit the cemetary of your ancestors. So we took a 4 hour drive to the town of Bongabon, where Pete's grandparents are buried. The local cemetary had throngs of people milling about. People spending time with their ancestors and then walking about and seeing the tombs of other ancestors. It was also the only time of year that most of the families all gathered at once.

Pete's very gracious cousin, Omi, was our amazing host for our short time in Manila. She showed us what she could of Manila as we drove from and to the airport, and she explained a lot of the Filipino customs as we came across them.

Jane & Omi at Tito Vic's home in Bongabon

Leaving Dumaguete

2008-11-02T00:16:00.001-07:00

View of Apo Island at breakfast each morning

Our cottage at the Atlantis Dumaguete

Our last night in Dumaguete was a flurry of packing, organizing and an agonizing wait for our wetsuits to dry. We had to wait until the next morning to finish packing the scuba gear, and I'm pretty sure the wetsuits are going to be quite gross by the end of the trip. We couldn't just shove everything in a bag and handle it when we got home - we had to stay organized as we continued onto Manila and then Vietnam.

Some Quick Photos

2008-10-31T03:19:00.000-07:00

false cleaner wrasse

Wrapping up the dive trip and packing for the cycling trip in Vietnam. Lots to do... more thoughts later... Here our are favorite pics from the last 6 dives.

porcupine fish

Nudibranch on the attack!

Boxfish (aka Cowfish)

Pete at Ducomi Pier

Manda Dive

2008-10-29T16:13:00.000-07:00

Mating Nudibranch

The highlight dive of the day was the Mandarin Fish dive. They come out at dusk, and they're shy creatures. Too much light or movement, and they jump back into the shadows. They're pretty small, and we even saw a pair mating. (No picture as the elph wouldn't focus on time.)

I've made the highlight reel public here, so you can see photos that we're uploading every day. It's interesting to see the progression. What was a good photo the first day wouldn't make it to the highlight reel now.

Mandarin Fish

Pete doing backroll off boat

Dive, Eat, Sleep

2008-10-28T16:01:00.000-07:00

Our days are basically dive, eat and sleep. Repeat. Somewhere post-dives or pre-breakfast, we edit the pictures that we've taken during the dive. It's 4 boat dives a day (or 3 when we go to Apo Island), so we've done 11 dives in 3 days. I'm seeing so much stuff each dive that I'm pushing through the fatigue. I'm dealing with both the camera and the buoyancy control a bit better, so a couple of the pictures in the highlight reel are mine this time.

The folks at Altantis Dumaguete are super nice and helpful. The food is amazing - lunches and dinners are always 3 courses with a main course selection of a local dish, a couple of meat dishes and a vegetarian option. Most people (including Pete) are not hungry, but I wake up starving. Even though I try to move as little as possible on the dive, I'm pretty sure you burn a few extra calories diving/struggling to keep warm.

Apo Island

2008-10-27T16:22:00.001-07:00

Baby Clown Fish

Scratch what I said yesterday about the walls of coral: Apo Island, a 40 minute boat ride from Dumaguete, has amazing walls of healthy hard and soft coral. Great for wide angle shots - unfortunately, we didn't bring the wide angle on the boat trip. We go again in 2 days, so we'll be sure to bring it then.

I tried to use the strobe today - there's a bit more at play now that there's a strobe that you point and all sorts of configurations needed on strobe/camera to make sure the picture isn't over or under exposed. Pete and I are also having buoyancy control issues, which makes taking good shots really difficult. All of today's pictures are courtesy of Pete.

Dumaguete

2008-10-26T15:40:00.000-07:00

Clown Fish

The diving in the Philippines is amazing. It's not like diving in the Caribbean where you have walls and walls of vibrant coral. It's more about spotting the creatures you never get to see elsewhere. We're seeing (and diving) so much, we're having trouble keeping track after our dives.

We're having underwater camera troubles, so we're not going to have as many pictures as usual. The older elph's battery won't hold a charge, plus the flash isn't working. Since the strobe mounting bracket is configured for this elph and not the newer elph, the strobe was out of commission too. Good news is that we were able to find someone with a dive tool -- next time, we're bringing all our dive tools.

Diving itself isn't as easy for me:

There's no dock, so it's a bit of a challenge to get onto the boat.
It also took me some time to get used to a weight belt, rented BCD. Weight belt kept sliding down my hips which dragged my feet down.
I hate my 5 mm wetsuit - it's ripping the skin off my knuckles when I pull it on. It's the only wetsuit I brought, and I can't use the rental suits since I'm still cold in a 5 mm. Poor Pete, I was pretty miserable imagining pulling on the wetsuit another 20 times. I finally figured out that I should just keep the thing on all day.

They're feeding us 3 massive meals a day, but I'm still starving after dives and in the middle of the night. I miss my constant snacks throughout the day.

Cuttlefish

Turtle

Day in Hong Kong

2008-10-24T14:37:00.000-07:00

At the hole in the wall restaurants we had breakfast and dinner at, we shared our table with total strangers. The menus were in Chinese. For breakfast, we ordered what everyone else ordered (macaroni noodle soup with ham and eggs with toast), and for dinner, the place (behind me & to the right in the picture above) had a few English menus.

We finally did our walking tour through Central and went up Victoria Peak. The view from the peak was breathtaking, and we did our best to capture it in pictures. We're still learning to use our camera. We're quickly learning the control buttons, but we're still having issues with lighting.

We leave Hong Kong in a few hours, and I'll miss the order and cosmopolitan nature of the place. On to a week of diving in the Philippines!

Leg 2: LAX - HKG

2008-10-23T15:46:00.000-07:00

7,286 miles

14.5 hours

After a 6 hour layover in LAX, we headed out for a 14.5 hour trek in the back of a 747. (We lucked out and got one of the few doubles on the plane -- there was no one next to us, and Pete was able to stretch out in the window + some seat). Tons of movies/shows, but I tried to sleep most of the way. I discovered that there was a 7-up series for America, USSR and South Africa. Really interesting since the USSR one includes their lives during and after communism and since the South Africa one starts at the end of apartheid.

Unfortunately, the Garmin couldn't get signal, so there will be no true Google Earth video of the flights. We'll do our best to capture most of the Vietnam cycling trip on the Garmin.

We spent most of yesterday eating and recovering from the flight. Dim sum, noodle shops and bakeries. May try to get in a swim so I can eat even more when I'm here (while the gym is really nice, I can't stand the hamstermill).

Leg 1: AUS-LAX

2008-10-21T23:01:00.000-07:00

1,258 miles
2 hours, 46 minutes

Useful resources for travel:
- Seatguru: shows you the configuration of the plane by carrier and which seats are good, bad or awful.
- Flyertalk: gives you the scoop on different frequent flyer programs. I went to Asia for work a few times this year and managed to get Platinum status on American on my last trip. One platinum perk is the use of the Admiral's Club when you're flying internationally with the One World Alliance. This will be really useful given some of our long layovers on this trip.

Anticipation

2008-10-21T22:34:00.000-07:00

This crazy idea of quitting my job and taking time to do the things I've always wanted to do probably started when Matt & Amber told us of doing the same except they were literally traveling around the world for 9 months. At that time, it was more of an admiration for what they were going to do and not really a distinct possibility for me. Months flew by, and I was exhausted from working with folks in three regions across the world. Somewhere in there, one of my training buddies said she was going to take 3 weeks to tour around Vietnam. So, I slowly lost the will to work and gained this desire to see more of the world. Now here I am, starting the first leg of the journey towards 'the motherland.'

I don't know what to expect. A lot of the other Vietnamese kids have gone with their families to visit family. I am going without my family, like any other tourist, except I speak the language. Well, 'speak' is relative. I understand Vietnamese, and I have a decent vocabulary thanks to all the dubbed kung-fu soap operas I watched with my grandmother when I was growing up. I have a Northern accent made worse with an American accent, and I'm afraid that when I get to Saigon, no one will understand my Vietnamese.

Well, at least I finally get to resolve the question of whether or not I look Vietnamese.

Packed!

2008-10-21T06:58:00.000-07:00

And we're packed! The lists have been double-checked, and we've stuffed everything into 5 bags. That's a lot of bags for a month-long trek to Asia, but we've managed to pick our two hobbies that require the most gear: scuba diving and cycling. On one hand, I'm happy that we managed to keep ourselves to 5 bags. There was a lot of debate as to how much clothes to bring (we cut it down to the bare minimum) and what scuba gear to bring (in the end, we cut out the bulky and heavy BCDs). On the other hand, I'm not looking forward to lugging these bags through Asia. Most of the bulk is the scuba gear: regulators, 5 mm wetsuits (we get cold with repetitive dives), masks, fins, and underwater camera housings. There's also some of my cycling stuff I couldn't do without: bike seat, helmet, pedals, shoes and nutrition.

Jellyfish - California, July 2008

2008-10-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

Jellyfish are such alien creatures. These pictures are somewhat cheating -- they're from the jellyfish tanks in the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

We ordered the underwater housing for the Canon XSi today. Hopefully, we'll get some good pictures with the fish looking straight towards us (instead of their tails). In Belize, I had to focus on fish that were less jumpy: angelfish, butterfly fish and squirrel fish.

Looking Ahead

2008-09-25T04:53:00.001-07:00

I'm sure spending the last five of six weeks on the road hasn't helped with my outlook, but I'm going to be exhausted by the time this is all over with. That, or I'll achieve super road-warrior nirvana with the ability to hop on a plane and be ready to go at a moment's notice.

I'm already making trade-offs. Learning new things (skateboarding and DJ'ing) are falling lower and lower in priority, while traveling and riding my bike are staying at the top. There are quite a few things I want to do (diving in Bonaire or snowboard camp at Whistler) that I'm struggling to keep on the schedule. And the hard cut-off for the travel is early February (I need to start training for IM CDA).

GMT

2008-09-24T06:23:00.001-07:00

I'm sure this is a pretty common theme that you'll see in the next few months, but I'm stuck on GMT right now. I'm waking up early and falling asleep before we get the check for dinner. I don't fare well with jet-lag. Apparently, old mice don't either.

Everyday is a Saturday

2008-09-21T21:16:00.000-07:00

Wow. It's beginning to really hit me that I am quitting my job. It's really nice that I'm sleeping away a Sunday afternoon, and it doesn't matter -- there's nothing that I'm rushing to do tomorrow. Once I get some pesky tasks done (scheduling appointments, expense reports) and once I plan the trips, I won't have anything I need to do. It's scary and liberating. Thank goodness Pete (and for 3 weeks his brother Ed) are taking time off too.

I'll do my best to divide my blogs into travel and training, but I train enough so that it gets incorporated into travel. While my first stops in Chicago were Portillo's and Lou Malnati's for hot dogs and pizza, my first (and only activity so far) has been a 20 mile run down the lake shore.