Snowboarding at Crystal Mountain Ski Resort, WA

This was my fourth time snowboarding and I still had a lot to learn. The trip was organized by a group of snow-loving co-workers. We started out early in the morning, driving to Crystal Mountain Ski resort near Mount Rainier, which is about 2 hours from Seattle. It was a sunny Saturday at the mountain, packed with skiers and snowboarders from all ages. The surrounding was overly snow white mixed with green pine trees. Far away, the white slopes were filled with tiny skiers and snowboarders; it looked like salt and pepper.



It was still at freezing temperature on the mountain but after a couple of runs and with the sunlight it felt warm, in fact it was too warm that I had to take one layer of my clothes out because I sweated too much. I still had difficulty turning and riding on my toes which were more challenging than riding on my hills. Because I only knew how to ride on one side of the board and didn't know how to switch sides, I used only one part of my leg muscles which wore me out easily and really burned my thighs when going down the slopes. I had to take a lot of breaks. I asked my friends who are snowboarding veterans about how long it took them to learn how to snowboard. They said it took them about 10 rides before they can snowboard comfortably. So I felt not too bad for my fourth ride. I hope to get better next time and look forward to the day I can master snowboarding skill.

Cambodia 7/23/2010 - 9/12/2010

It's been a while since I've updated this blog. I guess school, job hunting, facebook...,for the past 6 months, have kept me away from blogging. Perhaps I should get back to blog more like I used to.



Anyway, after Singapore, my final destination is Cambodia where I spend the most time and have the most fun with my folks. This time I get to do more road trips and have the opportunity to visit a few more other provinces that I've never been to before such as Kratie, Steung Treng, Mondol Kiri, Rattanakiri and Pailin. The road infrastructure has been improved for the past 2 years since my last visit, making it possible to travel to more places inside the country. It's good to see the country progressing although, as a result, Phnom Penh gets more crowded and will need to be expanded.

However, despite the changes, I always feel I'm at home whenever I come back. I realize I never leave Cambodia and Cambodia never leaves me. I enjoy the simpler and slower-pace of life, the friendly people, the convenience of cheap eats at every corner, and, most importantly, I enjoy being surrounded by friends and family. Time does fly when you have fun. 6 weeks don't seem to be enough. Before I know it, I have to catch the flight back to Seattle.

More pictures are here.

Singapore, 7/21/10 - 7/23/10

Flight from London to Singapore took about 15 hours with a stopover at Bombay airport. It is a vibrant cosmopolitan city with a diverse population made up mainly of Indians, Chineses and Malays.



The tiny island is a well-developed economic-booming country. High-rise buildings blend with colonial ones. Public transportation, especially the subway, is very efficient to get around Singapore. The city is full of entertainments, shopping centers and plenty of cheap eats on the streets.

England, 7/03/2010 – 7/19/2010

From Budapest, I return to the land of Her Majesty. There are so many places to see in England as well as there are so many histories behind them. Shakespeare, Sherlock Holmes, Charles Darwin...they all used to live here. Highlights of the trip are downtown London, Oxford, Stonehenge, Greenwich Mean Time, Richmond Park and Tate Modern.



London underground provides an efficient means for transportation and is always crowded. I enjoy riding the tube and the local pubs. I also like the tradition that represent England's unique identity such as the uniforms of the police and palace guards, and those fancy taxies and buses.



Living in England is not cheap however. Fortunately, I get free accommodation from my relatives during my 2-week stay :)



Next, I'm off to Singapore...

Czech Republic, 6/30/2010 – 7/01/2010

I've heard a lot of good things about Czech Republic. Since it's not that far from Hungary, I take the train to Prague and return back to Budapest by bus the next morning, which takes about 8 hour each way. Prague is indeed a vibrant city, and touristic too. The foods are cheap, however. The city has good public transportation. Especially, the subway is very efficient to get around the city.





The architecture, from bridges to cathedrals, is very gothic which I find very intriguing. And Czech beers do taste good, standing for their reputation.

Hungary, 6/26-7/03/2010

After Paris, I hop over to Budapest with Swiss Air. The landscape is different from Western Europe but beautiful in its own way. Budapest is a uniquely charming city. Divided by the Danube river, Buda sits on the hill while Pest occupies on the flat land. Many classical buildings, such as the parliament and the palace, stand tall and proud boasting their significance and power they once had.

View of the palace on Buda side


The parliament on Pest side


Local commuters start going to work as early as 5 in the morning with trams and buses. Hungary has just joined the EU and the country is looking for opportunities to boost its economy. The scars of World War II and communism are still evident on some of the building walls but the people are moving on.

VOLT concert

France, 6/19/2010 – 6/25/2010

My journey continues eastward. The 7-hour flight across the Atlantic from Newark to London isn’t that bad. Then, after spending a night at a relative's house, I take the EuroStar from London to Paris across the Chunnel. I am a bit disappointed for spending $130 one-way to take the train but at least I can say I've taken the train across the Chunnel from London to Paris. The journey takes about 2 hours and a half but I can't really feel we're moving that fast.



Lunch break


Paris is a beautiful city but very crowded with tourists, especially in the summer. The architectures are magnificent. The French seem to be carefree, ignoring tourists, and enjoy their good food and wine. Highlights of the trip are Château de Versailles, The Louvre, Eiffel Tower, La Défense, Notre Dame, Champs-Élysées...And watching the World Cup at the Eiffel Tower with the crazy crowd is something to remember.

NYC, 6/14/2010 – 6/18/2010

My around-the-world trip starts in New York city. I’ve been to NYC before but the longest time I spent there was 2 days. These 4-day stays give me a different perspective of the Big Apple. The crowded city is moving at much faster pace than Seattle’s. Everyone seems to rush, especially at the subway stations -- no time to stop and smell the roses. I sort of felt dizzy when navigating through the crowd at the Grand Central station for the first time. And the watchful-stern-looking armed guards also make me a little nervous, though their job is to make NYC safe.



However, as I get used to the city vibe, I begin to like the fast-moving city. There are many places to go and things to do. Foods are cheap and available with almost every ethnic flavor. People are diverse. The subway system, though not very clean, is very efficient to get around the big city. Taking a stroll across the Brooklyn Bridge is a must for first-time visitors. And when you need to unwind or get away from the city crowd, Central Park is a good place be. It is also the time of the World Cup so I occasionally enjoy drinking beers and watching the games with my buddy at the bars.

My father's Book Review

My father's book received review from The Cambodia Daily newspaper

Star trails

Cape Lookout campground, Oregon

Oregon Coast Road Trip and Car Camping

As I survived another quarter at school, I wanted a getaway during school break to reward myself. So I decided to go on a road trip and car camping along the oregon coast. It was indeed a refreshing experience. The weather was sunny most of the time which revealed the true coastal beauties from the north to the south of Oregon.

5-star hotel is overrated :)


The weather was still around 40-60F in March but I got my camping gears ready to keep me warm though there were times when it rained and the wind blew my tent so hard I thought it would be torn apart :). There were many campgrounds along the coast. It was a different experience getting out of civilization for a bit and sleeping under trees or open sky. The smell of fresh air, the singing birds in the morning and the sound of crickets at night were sort of soundtracks :). I expected the inconveniences and discomforts but they didn't seem to bother much when you have appreciation for nature. In fact, comparing to previous road trips, I enjoyed camping more than hotels. Now I suppose I understand why many others like to go camping.

View from Ecola State Park


It seems like there were a lot of things to see on each turn and curve of the coast. Some of the highlights were huge rock formations, lighthouses, surging waves against the rocks and sea lions. It also happened to be grey whale migration season (from south to north) which I was able to spot a few white spouts of grey whales from the coast on clear days. Even though it was hard to see them without binoculars, it was still exciting to know they're there by watching their spouts. It was also thrilling to hike up a steep cliff at Cape Lookout and sand dune in Florence.

The watch that survived the Khmer Rouge

My dad's Rolex, mentioned in Chapter 2, 5 and 17, is still working great after 40 years. A piece of machine and history.

My Father's book, 2nd edition

“The Life of a Physician Under The Khmer Rouge Regime” tells the odyssey of a Cambodian doctor in Cambodia's northwestern province, Battambang, during the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979) which wiped out nearly 2 million Cambodians.

The author is one of the Khmer Rouge survivors who lives to tell what he has witnessed during the three years and eight months under the ruthless Khmer Rouge regime and a number of events that occurred after the collapse of the Khmer Rouge.

Available now in Phnom Penh book stores.

Happy 2010!

Rainy, cloudy and windy new year, the Seattle way!

Sunset at Golden Gardens park

Back to Sydney, day 10, last day

My buddy told me, "You can't say you've been to Sydney if you haven't been to Bondi beach". So there we went. The weather was sunny and the sky was clear and blue as the ocean. The ocean and waves looked inviting so we decided to go for a swim. But alas, as soon as we put our feet in, they felt numb in the frigid water. It's not summer yet. After a few hesitations, we decided to swim. I had come along this far anyway, why the heck not.



We also walked along the beach that led to the other beaches near by. At midnight, we went to the pub near by my friend's place drinking Guinness and watching my soccer team Arsenal losing 2-4 to Man. City. I needed more Guinness!

Adelaide, day 9

Exhausted from the whole day road trip in Alice Springs, we checked in the hostel and just went to bed after arriving in Adelaide. The next morning we walked to downtown, central market and took a tram to Glenelg Beach. It was pretty windy that day. The beach was OK but the surrounding neighborhood was inviting. People seemed to be friendly and laid-back. There are many small shops and cafes along the streets. Many seagulls were flying and looking for food as they're used to being fed by beach goers.



We took the tram back to downtown in the afternoon and then flew back to Sydney. That summed up our 6 day trip. What I brought with me from this trip was a bottle of red sand from the outback.

Road trip From Uluru back to Alice Springs, day 8

Pretty much the same red landscape scenery, the same hot weather and the same kangaroos corps along the sides of the highway. I tried my first camel ride at a pit stop farm before reaching Alice Springs. That's when I learned from its care taker that camels have 3 stomachs.



We got to Alice Springs around 2pm and caught our flight to Adelaide at 5pm.

Road Trip to Uluru, day 7

Couldn't get up as early as we planned to because of staying up late last night. We checked out at 10am and would be on the road for 5 hours across the outback. The highway to Uluru National Park is sealed road. There were also many unsealed roads that also let you see more things and loop quicker. However, only 4x4 cars, which were very expensive to rent, were allowed to pass through.



The landscape is different. The land was red, dry and flat partly covered by bushes and small trees. The sky was cloudless as far as the eye can see. It's hot in the day and chilly at night. There were many dead kangaroos, at least 30 of them during our entire trip to Uluru, along the sides of the highway. Not sure if they died from thirst, starvation or got hit by the cars or could be combination of all. But nothing went to waste. The corps provided plenty of nutrition to the crows and eagles, a nice natural balance. Plus, there are too many kangaroos anyway, 60 millions Vs. 20 millions human population.



We got to Uluru around 4pm, checked in the hostel and had just enough time to catch the view and take pictures of Ayers Rock during sunset. Later in the evening, we had combo BBQ, Crocodile, Emu, Kangaroo and Beef; a couple of beers and accompanied by live music performance at the resort we stayed in. My first time trying crocodile and emu meat. Crocodile was delicious. Emu was also quite nice.

Alice Springs, day 6

We left Melbourne early morning and flew to Alice Springs. However because of our bargain ticket price, we couldn't fly directly to Alice Springs. We stopped over in Adelaide and caught another plane to Alice Springs a couple of hours later. Therefore we arrived in Alice Springs at 5pm, picked up our rental car from the airport and checked in Alice Lodge, a nice hostel for a bargain price. Alice Springs is a very small town in the middle of the outback in Northern Territory. Not much to do there. So we decided to buy marinaded chicken skewers and Kangaroo meat and BBQ'ed them at the hostel's backyard. It was the first time I tried Kangaroo meet. It was tender but tasted OK. To me it's not as good as beef.

The lodge is filled with backpackers, mostly young people. We met and chatted with a group of backpackers, Irish and Germans, and then together we went to a local pub nearby, came back and finished up our bottle of Jack Daniels.