Guide to UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Nowadays, Macao is mostly known for being the gambling capital of the world in terms of money spent every year. What a lot of people, including myself, didn’t know, is that the city was (until 1999) owned by the Portuguese, and much like Hong Kong was controlled directly by a foreign power (non-Chinese) for hundreds of years. Macao was actually the first foothold a foreign power laid in China and I was interested on checking it out. Read more
[Quick Note: This is my 100th Post YAY!]
It is a strange feeling, but Indonesia is the only place I have been where I don’t even feel like I’ve actually experienced the country. Read more
After finishing college, my friend Nate, his friend Tomac, and I drove for 18 non-stop hours from Los Angeles to Yellowstone, a place that we had hoped to visit for years. As advertised, the park was gorgeous, with its serene lake taking center stage.
We came in pretty late, so we didn’t do much the first day except pitch our tent, make our fire, cook some dinner, and go to sleep. I did manage to overhear someone at the office talk about the sunrise over Yellowstone. “It’s amazing! Too bad it is so early.” Early? I could do that, considering how early we were sleeping. I grabbed a map of the campground and took it to our tent.
I woke up early in the morning determined to see this sunrise, but my friends didn’t share my 5:00 am enthusiasm. As the sunrise was at 5:30, I had awoken a bit late and it was decision time. I had no time to go around the entire camp as I would miss it for sure. Looking at the map though, I thought I could devise a short-cut. Read more
Officially: Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes
Taken: July, 2011
Place: Jeju Island, South Korea
“Yeah yeah yeah, just take us here,” we continued to tell the cab driver, pointing at a wrinkled map (yeah, we still used physical maps). My friend and I felt a little impatient as we knew we had to start this hike early in the morning to get to the top. The volcano that sits in the middle of Jeju Island, Mt. Halla (or “Hallasan”), stands at 1950 meters. It is no behemoth, but nothing to scoff at. The cab driver continued in his vain attempt to dissuade us from taking our chosen trail, but we thought he just wanted to drop us off farther to charge more.
We began our climb at around 9 am and continued for about 4 hours. The trails were awfully empty for such a popular mountain in Korea. Something seemed off. As we edged towards the top, we realized why. This trail Read more
Officially: Everglades National Park
Taken: June 23, 2013
Place: Florida, USA
As I sat in a large dorm room in Mexico next to my temporary roommates, I caught the ear of a French guy who seemed irate as soon as he heard my American accent. Thus far, he had assumed I was a local of Yucatan since I spoke Spanish.
“American?” he asked, with a scoff.
As he cooled it a bit, we began to talk about travel when he brought up that he had never been to the US, nor had any desire to. This was fine, I thought, as I have always known we aren’t exactly held on a pedestal in France, and anti-American sentiment is sometimes valid. I too have gone on rants calling LA overrated, and to be fair, I don’t exactly dream about France either. The following however, took me completely by surprise! Read more