Made in Taiwan

My trip to Taiwan felt like a dream. One of those recurring dreams where you wake up trying to remember the contents. I immigrated to the US with my family when I was nine years old. Growing up, I was told by my parents, teachers and friends that I needed to assimilate. I did a pretty good job, but I lost some of my roots in the process. I hadn't been back to Taiwan in many years. Everything felt foreign and familiar at the same time. I can't quite put my finger on that feeling. At some point during my teen years, my family had an opportunity to move back to Taiwan. After some intense family discussions, we decided to stay. I never regretted that decision, but during this trip I kept wondering how life would've turned out had we moved. Maybe better than I initially thought.

Scenes from Oahu :: Part 1

I grew up in southern California, less than 15 minutes from the beach. Hawaii's beaches are different than the ones I am used to. The water is so clear and perfectly crisp when the sun is on your back. You can be waist deep in water and still see your toes clearly. While we stayed in Honolulu, we spent most of our time in the North Shore (where wild chickens roam like pigeons!).

We learned to surf, went snorkeling and diving, ate lots of good food, and spent plenty of time sampling Oahu's various beaches. Not a bad way to spend a week.

Sleeping in Seattle

Joel and I took a semi-spontaneous trip to Seattle. With summer upon us, overcast days and chilly weather was the perfect getaway. I even crocheted a scarf on the way there because I knew that this was the last chance I'll get to wear it until November.

The Pacific Northwest is so beautiful. It never disappoints.

We did lots of regular touristy things like visiting Pike Place and going up on the Space Needle, but mostly our trip was planned around food and coffee. It may sound silly to plan a vacation around food, but it's true. We made a list of restaurants and cafes we wanted to visit and planned our daily itineraries accordingly. I think you can learn a lot about a city and its culture through food, but the bottom line is... we love food.

One of the greatest things about our trip was that we walked or used public transportation to get everywhere we needed to go. It saved us some money and made the trip more fun because we got to see all the in-between places.




We had the best apple from these guys. Why don't apples taste that good all the time? We actually fought over it!



From the top of the Space Needle


Coffee is an art form in Seattle. I enjoyed every drop of it.

This guy always knows how to make me laugh. I'm grateful to walk through life with him and to laugh all along the way.

Have you slept in a wigwam lately?

A few weekends ago Joel and I went up to Holbrook, a small town along Route 66, and stayed in the historical Wigwam Motel. If you've seen Pixar's Cars, you'll recognize the similarities between the Wigwam Motel and the Cozy Cone. I'm a big fan of Pixar and pretty much love all of its movies, but I didn't appreciate just how great Cars is until I visited Holbrook. The creators of Cars did a great job capturing the spirit of small towns along Route 66.

The Wigwam Motel isn't your luxury resort, but it made for a fun experience. It's one of the things on our AZ Bucket List. I loved the vintage cars that were parked in front of each teepee. I could've sworn that some of the main characters in Cars were modeled after the ones at the Wigwam Motel.

Poor Joel felt like he was a giant living in a Hobbit house. I, on the other hand, felt right at home. The advantage of being vertically challenged is that I never have to duck for anything. Sure, I have to get all of my pants hemmed and I need help reaching things in tall places... but not having to duck, that's something, right?

So, have you slept in a wigwam lately? Or somewhere else interesting?

Check off the bucket list: Bisbee Getaway

Almost two years ago, when Joel and I thought that we'd have moved to California by now, we made a "Arizona Bucket List." Our goal was to explore Arizona and do all the things we'd regret not doing once we moved away. I'll be honest, most of the things on the list consisted of interesting restaurants in Phoenix we wanted to try out. We love food and plan our vacations around food anyway. Yelp has become one of the first websites we consult when planning a vacation. No matter where you are, you gotta eat, right? Might as well eat good stuff while traveling.

Now that we're settling in Phoenix, we decided to keep going with our bucket list. Of the non-food related items, a visit to Bisbee was at the top of the list. We've heard many good things about Bisbee, so we decided to check it out over MLK Day weekend.

Bisbee is an old mining town. Standing from a high point, you can see layers of colorful buildings lining the hills.


There were several antique stores with lots of quirky old things. I could've spend the entire weekend in those stores.


Every corner was brimming with history and interesting details.




And of course, we had lots of good food. Delicious brunch at POCO! Joel had the best soy chorizo breakfast burrito both of us have ever tasted. My Brazillian banana french toast was not bad either.




We also visited Karchner Caverns, but I don't have any photos since they don't allow cameras. I highly recommending a visit to Karchner if you're in Arizona. I've never been so impressed with geology!

All in all, it was the perfect little getaway!
Where would you like to visit over a three-day weekend? What would you put on your local bucket list?

I'll leave you with this little gem while you think about that. We didn't plan to jump this way together, but it looks like I'm a little Joel Mini-Me or something--the little Asian girl version of Joel's Mini-Me, that is.