Munich

This was my second trip to Munich, the first was filled with excitement but only to be drenched ironically by days like Thanksgiving and such. Nothing was opened, not the restaurants, not the shops, not the supermarkets, not the cafes, full of nots. This time it would be a pay-back but I took it slow and nice, a day filled with slow walks around town and a date with the famous crispy pork knuckle.

I wasn't planning on joining the rest on their trip to the castles since I had been there before, so I decided a trip to Stratford, a place where the culture lives on, their sense of belonging passed on to the future generations. I will let these pictures tell you my story...

The last picture tells all...

9 days in Los Angeles

It may be a late update of my trip to Los Angeles over the Christmas, but it is better to be late than never, right? I was in Los Angeles, Torrance, for almost six full days, and life without a car in Torrance can be quite boring since the public transport is.. err.. let's put it simply as messy and unsafe to travel on. My initial plan was to travel to Las Vegas by plane and it didn't matter to me if I had a companion. But as we know, initial plans always changes, this colleague of mine was keen in going to Las Vegas so we planned to rent a car, drive down to Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. Unfortunately, she fell sick on the day itself and there goes our trip. Instead of staying coop up in the room or hitting the malls every day, I was determined to spend at least a couple of days sightseeing. After searching on the internet, I decided on an area known as Palos Verdes, mainly consisting of coastal cities. The coast of Palos Verdes Peninsular is known for being photographed for the films of Pirates of the Caribbean.

My journey to the coast was not a smooth-sailing one, I was supposed to be alighted at Palos Verdes Lighthouse but it seems that the cab driver drove me to somewhere else which I have no idea where since I made the mistake of not bringing any map with me. So in short, I was lost. With no map and no guide, I had to resort to asking the people around the place. Okay, this guy sitting at Starbucks seems nice, and lucky me, he was. I told him where I was heading and he told me that there was no way I could walk to my destination, I sighed at the thought of taking a cab again and to add on to that, I have not seen any cabs passing by since I arrived. As I pondered on what I should do next, the guy told me that he would give me a lift to where I wanted to go. I was surprised and of course happy but wary of his intentions as well, he seems to have read my thoughts and told me that I could hold on to his driving pass, I laughed and accepted his goodwill. Hopped onto his car and we chatted as he drove me to my destination, he thought I was a Japanese... me... a Japanese? I see no resemblance of any Japanese features in me. Anyway, he was telling me that his car was in the garage... blah blah... I think he was trying to pick me up but in a subtle way, I was glad that my destination was in sight, and before dropping me off, he gave me his number telling me to call him when I decided to head back so he could give me a lift back to the hotel. Hmmm... dubious.

I was welcomed to the beach by a vast green field, and no words can describe how much I love being in such a big patch of green land. That is why I love going to parks, parks with clean green grass that I can roll around, fall asleep, have a picnic or read a book on, Hyde park in London is one of the park I miss the most! I can't wait to return in summer, back to the park where everyone else would be relaxing and chatting on the same patch of green. Palos Verdes beach has trails which you can hike, trails that lead to the top where you can oversee the beautiful scenery of the whole area or to the tide pool known as Abalone Cove where you can see beautiful starfishes and other marine lives.

 

 

 

The view at the top was amazing but a little chilly since it was very windy. With the wind in your face, it is as if the wind was trying to whisper some secrets to you, secrets of sea... After the hike, I visited the Wayfarers Chapel, its beauty was beyond words. I can see why many couples chose to hold their wedding here. The chapel was mainly made of glass with its structure supported by wooden beams, its beauty is greatly magnified as the rays of sunlight shine through the chapel, but when dusk comes, it welcomes the the colors of sunset with romance. Having a wedding there would seem impossible for me but if one day, I am able to renew my vows in the chapel, I would be satisfied.

 

Loving people who loves you back, laughing with people who make you smile, holding hands with people who carry you through thick and thin... for me, that is what life is all about.

Parades of Colors

Spending Thanksgiving in New York was one of happiest moment in my life, Macy's has a yearly tradition of parading down the streets of New York consisting of many colorful big balloons, bands, cheerleaders, celebrities and many many more. Each time a big balloon comes passing by, I find myself straining my neck to catch a glimpse of the surprise before the others and every single time, it puts a smile on my face, I would excitedly tell my friends what was coming next, I was a child again. And you would know why after looking at the pictures below:

Can't help snapping a shot of the pretty little lady in red, reminds me of the simple joy of traveling and of being a child. New York, New York...

The World of Travels

Almost every single time I take a cab ride, the taxi driver would ask me:

"So you have travelled throughout the world!"

I would smile to myself and reply:

"The world is so big, and I have only travelled to many cities, there are so many places yet to be discovered."

I was speaking to a friend yesterday and realized that all the places he mentioned were the places I wanted to backpack to. And I wondered, why haven't we discover that when we were younger, befriending him since I was 20, it seems that there were so many things I didn't know about this friend of mine, his family, his histories, his childhood, his aspirations, his dreams, his plans, his goals, his likes, his dislikes, his hobbies, his students, his love, his secrets and so much more. I wonder if time will deny me a second chance of knowing him once again, to understand him a little more. Even though I have knew him for at least 7 years, at times, I still feel nervous and sometimes jittery whenever I spoke to him. Conversations never ceases whenever I am with him, maybe I was too talkative or maybe I was the one hogging the conversation all the time... *turns red* At times when we had to stop our conversations due to the start of dinner, movie or musical, for that moment, I wished that we were in a park, lying under the clear blue sky, conversing about anything and everything. And when he mentioned he was never really keen in visiting the big cities, it occurred to me that I said the same thing when I was first trained to travel on the ultra-long range flight which travels only to the States and was disappointed since I love the rustic feel of the small villages which usually houses only in Europe. But whatever no matter how much we think alike, there was one big major difference, he told me that it was great being single and not being tied down, free to do as one wishes. Although I very much enjoy my freedom and independence, but I beg to differ, being with someone does not mean you have to lose all your freedom, but of course, mutual understanding from both parties are required and I believe there will be someone out there who is just the way I am.

Oops.. straying from my traveling. Oh yes, I knew of the places I want to go though not in specifics:

England, Scotland and Wales... after I caught the movie, Pride and Prejudice, the castles and vast piece of grasslands have always been part of my plans.

To travel to outskirts and small villages where bustling city streets cannot be found, where tourists have yet to discover the secrets and beauty of such places has always been the reason behind my love for travel.

Greece was once or still the place where I would love to honeymoon. After my first visit to Santorini, I recall myself thinking that I have stepped into a storybook, a place that exist only in fairy tales, the urge to return to discover the rest of the small islands along Greece has never cease. After watching the show, My Greek Kitchen, my interest in Cyprus grew and I longed to visit the the island itself.

But before all the long travel, I should really get to know Asia first, recalling my earlier post, I was deciding whether to visit Japan again, island-hopped Korea or travel the whole of Taiwan? Well, I made a resolution for next year that whenever I have 4 or more days of break, I shall backpack to one of the nearer Asian countries and definitely to Vietnam and hopefully one day, to Bhutan!

Stuffy rooms and sleepless nights

It's almost 12 midnight in Manchester, I can still hear the sounds of laughter and chit-chatting from the bar downstairs, as expected on a friday night. I am struggling to fall asleep, been doing that 4 hours ago and still doing the same thing, tossing around, flipping the quilt away and around me every 5 minutes. The room was simply too stuffy, the air-conditioning was switched to heater-mode, like the rest of the european countries which do have the cold season yearly, there were no windows to open to allow fresh air to enter. I have been facing the same problem too many a times these few months, it wasn't that bad in some other hotels which had windows. Imagine your room, with an air-conditioning but in heater-mode, no matter what temperature you key in, the only thing that comes out of it is hot air. If you switch it off, there is no air circulating the room at all, a room with no windows...

Well, I was left with the last option... to call the reception which I usually dislike doing so, for many reasons. So I called... boy... I am glad I did, I was thrilled to find out that the guy at the reception could switch the air-conditioning back to its normal mode without having to come up to my room at all.

The night was not that bad after all... all I had to do was ask.

Ask and it shall be given... =)

The Big Apple That Never Sleeps

An apple that never sleep? Well, I am referring to the city of New York, a place where the lights are always bright, where the streets are always filled with people, where the roads are always covered with endless cars and where the clubs never seem to close. I love being in New York, and being there simply lift up my spirit once again.

It has been ages since I had so much time to spare in New York and I was glad that I did make use of my time there to shop, eat and visit all the places that I have always wanted to. The weather in New York was quite enjoyable but chilly and sometimes, there was a tiny amount of raining.

My very first destination was the Central Park and it was a glorious day to out in the park and I managed to find the ice-skating ring which reside in the middle of the park, and it was a fun sight to see all the kids and parents skating around with their colorful outfits. The park was surrounded by trees of many colors - green, red, yellow... etc. It was a wonderful sight to behold.

An american breakfast that I never miss whenever I am in the States.

Can you spot the squirrel? They run about the park freely, coming so close to the humans, to the point that we could almost touch them.

Loving the nature.

Ice-skating ring visited by families and shown in countless movies. Wanted to head down myself too, but my group didn't seem keen. *sigh*

Moment of laughter, candid shot.

Colors of the park.

The zoo in New York wasn't big but it did bring back many happy memories, and brought me much joy to be around the animals. Too bad, the polar bears and snow leopard were asleep when we were there, so I didn't managed to get a good shot of any of them. I was surprised to see the snow monkeys, and there was a tinge of sadness seeing them in the zoo since I have visited the wild ones when I was a Nagano early this year. I was sad to see the animals caged up, especially the polar bears and sea lions. Deep down, I knew that it wasn't fair for the humans to do this to the animals who belong to the wild but without the zoos, our children will never learn or be able to see certain animals and in the future, protect these animals from harm. I choose to believe that bringing human the knowledge and truth about the animals would help us in protecting them from extinction in the future. But I cannot deny that humans have harm the animals in more than one way... So please be kind to the nature and to the animals.

We were really excited like little children and showing off our tickets.

Black and white ruffed lemurs, really agile animals which you can observe when it swings freely from one tree to the next.

Birds of all kinds were allowed to roam freely in an enclosed area, and we were allow to walk freely among them, even the peacocks were striding next to us, showing off its beautiful fan of feathers.

Another picture of a squirrel, this time I managed to catch it on photo when it was munching on its nut.

Gentoo Penguins in a man-made home.

The cute Red Panda among its food (which are the tree leaves).

Next, I visited the museum of New York, the one where Night at The Museum was filmed, one day was barely enough to cover the whole place. There was so much to read and to see, it would take you days if you were to read every small details of every article or item. There were histories of different races, galleries of tribal groups, statues of marine and land animals, real meteorites and so much more. It is indeed a place where both adults and children could learn facts and enjoy absorbing the immense knowledge through the surroundings.

There are so much to do in New York and I can't wait to return to this city that never sleeps, hopefully, the next time with a companion. =)