Life is good

Life is good at home. I recently took a trip back to San Jose to visit my family, relatives, and friends. I had such a wonderful time I nearly forgot that my other "home", which is not much of a home, is in Hawaii. I love it when people ask me, "So, what did you do at home?" I would always answer, "Nothing, nothing much. Just sleep, eat, TV, shop, and babysit." Last time I visited home was back in April of last year, and only briefly. It was a business trip to a conference in Denver and I made a stop at home for a day before and after the conference. Therefore, it was especially difficult leaving this time because I had not seen my family for so long. I wanted to stay but reality is cruel, because it is rarely perfect.

I had dim sum with my grandma and ate the most delicious bao. It was a steamed bun with sweet mushed-up taro on the inside. My parents very much wanted to order one on the first day we went dim sum but the bao were sold out really quickly. We didn't even get to see them come out of the kitchen because people take 3-4 orders! Before I flew back to Hawaii, we went dim sum one more time. We were not thinking of that particular bao but the cart came and we ordered 2. We were all so happy.

My house is full of beautiful blooms. When I woke up that first morning upon my return and looked outside, I saw this tree with so many pink buds. I thought, is this tree new? It wasn't. I went outside and took so many pictures because while I live in Hawaii with plants blooming all year round, I couldn't believe how amazing it was to see winter blooms!

Here is another wonderful bloom, an orchid with green flowers that I bought for my parents. The flowers are big and cute. My mom described the flowers as smiling little bashful girls. See for yourself!

Here is what I spend most of my time doing, babysitting these two wonderful monkeys. My niece is 5 years old now and she is so adorable. She ran around the backyard dancing like a ballerina. Then she told me to take a picture of her with a mini pink rose that totally speaks to her bold character.

My nephew (3 years old) is a little more reserved but when he expresses his likes and dislikes, you better listen because he can be very persuasive! He has the cutest smile and attractive eyes. One time, he saw my dad watering flowers in the backyard. Since then, he followed his footsteps.

I will always miss home :)

Baby Monkeys

Back in San Jose, one of the things I did most was chillin' with my best buds, my niece Ellyse and nephew Elliot. My niece is now 4 years old and my nephew is only 2. They both talk so much! Ellyse was always talking about her day, what she did, and what she wanted to do the rest of the day. She also asked me a bunch of questions about what I did, what I liked, and why I am in Hawaii. Elliot was curious about the new necklace my mom gave me. The necklace has a circular pendant and Elliot seemed to like it very much because everytime he saw me, he would ask for me to carry him, and then he would grab my pendant and say, "Yoon Goo Look", meaning "circular object". He was always asking questions and repeating them, making sure we were not lying to him. They are both so adorable.

I took so many pictures of them I had to pick the best ones and also merge them so I wouldn't be blogging about 20 photos in one post. The photo below was taken at their house during Ellyse's 4 year old birthday party. Before dinner, they were playing with the piano and dancing to the Christmas music. Gong Gong (my dad) and Elliot were the DJ's.

Cake time for Miss Ellyse the Princess. She requested a princess cake from my sister and she got one. Popo (my mom) and I went all over to search for princess items to decorate the cake. We ended up getting a Cinderella candle, carriage icing, and a princess tea set which she loved. My sister did a great job on the cake. It was light and not too sweet, perfect for those with 7 cavities and still craving for more sweets (that's me). You can see that Ellyse wore a Belle princess dress to celebrate her special day. She was so happy. Read more about the cake on my sister's blog.

The day before I left home, everyone came over for dinner. I commend my mom for cooking such a great dinner even with a little fever and cold. Lucky my sister came over to help. After dinner, I put Elliot right next to Gong Gong on the sofa in front of the TV. He didn't move for half an hour. He was watching Dirty Jobs the whole time. Everyone came over to poke him, pat him on the head, and talk to him. But, he did not blink, move, or talk. He was watching Mike Rowe doing some dirty manly jobs the whole time. He is so cute!

There you have it, my niece and nephew taking over the world, and our hearts. They put smiles on everyone :)

Farmer's Market

On the last day of our trip in Los Angeles, we visited Farmer's Market at 3rd and Fairfax. I loved the atmosphere and the feel of the place, very country-like. It was crowded, smelled great, food everywhere, shops with weird stuff, and people doing random things. While I struggled to squeeze my way in, I came across HappyOblivion's shop, "Bryan's BBQ", ha! (No, he doesn't have a shop.)

We stopped by a general store that sold gourmet ingredients. By the front door were 6 tubs of olives, all different variety. I saw Evian water for $6 because the bottle was specially design by Christian Lacroix. The most amazing was the coloful pasta stacked neatly on the shelf. I thought, "Maybe the colors make the pasta taste better!"

A little after noon, I was craving for sweet sweet crepes. I dunno why. So we stopped for a quick bite at The French Crepe Company. I ordered the La Chapon, which was made with cream of chestnut spread and whipped cream. My sister ordered the Crêpe Suzette, which was made with grand marnier, butter, and sugar. My parents ordered the Venezia panini sandwich made with goat cheese, sun-ripened tomato, black olive spread, and basil. They were all so delicious. I LOVED the chestnut crepe, so rich and creamy. Sorry, I ate it so fast I forgot to take a picture of the cream.

While everyone were finishing their food, I wandered around the market, looking for fruit stands. I love taking shots of fruit stands because they are so colorful, and colors make me happy :)

I wish we had more time to walk around Farmer's Market. Next time...

Hong Kong Style Breakfast

My family and I took a trip to Los Angeles for 4 days. The purpose of this trip was to visit HappyOblivion's parents, but...outlet hopping was also on our to-do list :) I have never been to an outlet in LA. If I have, I certainly don't remember because either I didn't buy much and/or I didn't have any money. Now that I have a job, I saved up some to blow away.

We went to the outlet just before Palm Springs, 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, and Citadel Outlets in LA. We all expected expensive things in Santa Monica. However, we ended up buying the most there :) Speaking of purchases, my sisters bought me a Furla bag. I don't have any brand name bags for obvious reasons (in case you don't know, I am pake and I don't earn much). But a Furla bag for $60, originally $300. I have to say this, again, for the 500th time, "Wa, go Furla doy hou pang ah!" (English - The Furla bag is really cheap!) On the drive back from LA, my sister and I kept on repeating that phrase. So silly. Anywho, we really enjoyed shopping in Santa Monica. The beach was nice and the atmosphere was romantic. There were people singing on the streets, doing tricks, and dancing. One of the stores had cigar boxes for sale. I love cigar boxes because they are sort of antique and romantic.

I was excited about shopping because things were cheap. However, I was more interested in the food. When I was in Hong Kong, I ate so much good food. I don't quite remember what I ate but everything was delicious. In LA, we each had a Hong Kong style breakfast almost everyday. The breakfast came with macaroni and chicken, sausages, toast, and 2 eggs. The best part was the milk-tea-coffee drink. Milk tea is pretty common. But milk-tea-coffee is usually available in Hong Kong style restaurants, which are not so common.

Stay tuned for our trip to the famous Farmer's Market at 3rd and Fairfax.

Christmas Celebration

The day after I returned home, we had a gigantic dinner to celebrate Christmas and my two sisters' birthdays. There were lots of food! We had honey-roasted ham, yam, cranberry-orange sauce, vegetables, fish, and turkey. Although the turkey was a little undercooked in the middle, the seasoning was yummy! I also really enjoyed the fish, which was coated in batter and panko crumbs, then lightly pan-fried.

After dinner, my niece and nephew helped make madeleines for our LA trip the next day. They did a little "real" mixing before it became a game of who-can-throw-more-flour-on-the-carpet.

This year's birthday cake was beautiful. No, my sister didn't bake a cake for herself, which she shouldn't. She went and bought a cake that she loved and shared with everyone. It was a chocolate cake with winter theme decorations.

Mmm...I still like her cakes more :)

Leaving on a jet plane

I figured I won't have much time to catchup on blogging once I return to Honolulu, so I decided to begin now since I have some time. HappyOblivion and I left Honolulu for home on the same day but different flights. He flew Delta to LA, and I flew Hawaiian to San Jose. We showed up at the airport 2 hours before his flight at 1:36PM. After checking in our baggage and going through the security gate, we met up in the Hawaiian Airlines Premier Club Lounge. We sat there until 1 and then I walked him to his gate. At 1:15, we heard a final call for HappyOblivion to board. We ran and ran and ran. It was AWESOME! After he boarded and on the way to my gate, which was a completely separate wing of the airport, I saw his name everywhere on the monitors. HappyOblivion was famous!

While his flight left early, mine was delayed half an hour. Grrr!

I just updated my Artsy Blog, so please check it out!

Bye bye la...

So long, farewell, la dee la dee doo... I am going on vacation for the next two weeks. Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Before I sign off, I want to leave you with this picture that signifies a beautiful memory. Nope, not telling you what happened. Ooooo, the suspense is killing you, whoahahahahaha! Happy Holidays :)

Haliimaile General Store

I know you are bored of reading my wonderful Maui vacation adventures, but, I promise this is the last one. We finally ate at Bev Gannon's restaurant, Haliimaile General Store. Bev is the executive chef of Hawaiian Airlines. No, the restaurant does not serve airplane food. Quite the opposite, the food is pretty fancy. 

For appetizer, we had the Curry Crab Wontons. Onolicious!

HappyOblivion had the Maui Cattle Ribeye. The meat was soft and fatty. I LOVE FAT! Oh and side is some sort of stuffing but more ono than regular stuffing.

I had the scallops with the special sauce (I forgot the name of the sauce). If only there were more than three. I could eat this all day.

Ok, this is the last of my adventures in Maui. Hope you enjoyed reading them.

Linus

While we were in Maui, we made a new friend. His name is Linus and he is a piggy :) We met him at Dan's Green House in Lahaina. We had been to this shop the last time we vacationed in Maui, maybe over a year ago. At that time, another piggy was there and her name was Sherry. We were hoping to find her again this time but we found Linus instead. He was a little different from Sherry. Sherry was friendly and not intimidating at all. I could pet her all I wanted and she wouldn't run away from me. Linus didn't want to be petted. He would come lick our shoes, follow us around but when we tried to pet him, he squealed and ran away. Then when we walked away, he came back to licking our shoes. Since it was so hard to take a photo of him (because he was constantly moving and squealing), we took a video of him eating cheerios. HappyOblivion fed him first and then it was my turn. Dude, pigs salivate ALOT when they eat. Linus drooled all over my hand. After he ate all the cheerios, I looked at my hand and it was dripping with saliva. Regardless of the ickiness, Linus is one adorable piggy. 

There were also lots of parrots in the shop. One birdie greeted me with "Aaalllloooohaaa". I responded with, "Oh, hello there." I repeated it a couple times while he curiously watched my lips pronounce the words. Then he blurted out, "Oh hallo, hallo." Ha ha, so cute! He even said "bye" to me when I left the shop. We are going to make it a habit to come visit this shop everytime we vacation in Maui.

Alii Kula Lavender Farm

My friend had told me about AKL and that I would enjoy walking in the farm. Well, I DID! The farm was beautiful. Even though we went after the harvest, the farm and the gardens were still entertaining the visitors with their bubbly charm. The farm was divided in half - uphill and downhill. The uphill portion of the farm was filled with little dome-shaped lavender plants. From the bottom of the hill, the ground looked as if it was foaming with green bubbles. The downhill portion of the farm consisted of an array of eclectic gardens, some of lavender, some of other wild plants. I tried to take photos of all the weird flowers in the garden but the weather was windy, so still-shots were rather difficult. The nursery was in the downhill portion. There were keiki lavender and succulents. When I walked in the nusery, I felt like godzilla trampling on the babies. Scattered around the farm are purple benches, which I absolutely adore, and resting spots. As we were leaving, I stopped by the gift shop to see what sort of products can be made from lavender. I saw jams, jellies, spreads, perfume (of course), and bath items. Nothing out of the ordinary. Back at the car, we finished the last of our krispy kreme donuts. Despite, the cold weather, I was glad I wore my purple dress to blend-in with the lavender farm.

Sunrise at Sea

When the Superferry was first launched, HappyOblivion and I bought tickets to Kauai. The tickets were on sale for $5 per person and the same for a car. Great price for two pake people. But, the unexpected happened - protest by a bunch of environmental enthusiasts. The ferry was canceled and we got three vouchers, one for the car and two for us. The ferry didn't make sail for probably 6 months or so. When it was re-lauched, the ferry would only sail to Maui. So, we used the vouchers to go Maui. I know I know, with all these work trips to Maui, why would I go Maui for vacation? Well, simple answer - I HAD NO CHOICE BECAUSE THE VOUCHERS EXPIRES IN 2 MONTHS! [Ok, calm down]. This past weekend, we sailed and sailed away. 6:30AM was the departure time and we had to arrive to the port by 5AM. The ferry looked so big on the outside. Heck, it was gigantic! However, the part where people sit (the top of the ferry with the windows) was only a fifth of the size of the ferry. Driving into the ferry was fun. On the way to Maui, we parked at the bottom level. On the way back, we were shuttled to the top level right in the middle of the U-bend, which was more crowded and chaotic.

Vacation began when the sun rose behind the city and the clouds, dressing the sky with colorful shades of orange glow. Watching sunrise at sea was different from watching it on the beach. In the ocean, you are dancing with the clouds, the colors, and the sun. The farther the ferry sails away from the island, the glow from the sky becomes softer yet captivating. It was a different kind of romance. Let me take you through the sunrise.  Hopefully, you can sway with the colors of the sky and feel the love the island has to offer. Here is sunrise over Honolulu as we were sailing out of the pier.

Sunrise over Diamond Head. My favorite photo. 

The glow faded away as we sailed further from the island.

Last of the glowing sky. Hawaii is awake. 

About an hour into sail on the way back from Maui, we saw Lanai and Molokai. The photo below shows Lanai. Look at the clouds hovering the island. Beautiful weather.

This is Molokai. The difference between Molokai and Lanai is that Molokai is a very long island. In this photo, I tried to stand as far back as possible on the railing but I still couldn't capture the entire island.

As I was swaying with the ferry and enjoying the ocean mist on my face, I looked at the vast ocean and felt a sudden loneliness. I had the urge to jump into the blue, daring my mind and body to be so alone with the ocean. I couldn't, but I kept watching and wondering...

So, this was our Superferry experience. We had a blast! Stay tuned for more posts from this trip. By the way, my Artsy Blog has been updated.

Sushi Buffet

Sashimi Sashimi Sashimi Oy! Sashimi Sashimi Sashimi Oy! I have never seen and eaten so much sashimi before. One of the highlights of my visit back home was our sashimi buffet dinner. My sister ordered fish from an online company called Catalina Offshore Products. She ordered toro, maguro, sake, hamachi, scallops, and amaebi. In addition, she bought takoyaki, unagi and tamago. Mommy also cooked some delicious deep fried yam. Yes, we had a tremendous amount of food but we gobbled them all down with happy smiles. I particularly enjoyed the hamachi and the toro. HappyOblivion ate so much he couldn't get up from the couch. My dad loved the yam so much he ate 5 pieces. My sister probably ate 40% of the scallops. Everybody seemed like they had a second stomach. Below is a picture of the sashimi buffet dinner.

Another memorable event during my visit back home was the belated Mother's Day home cooked dinner. HappyOblivion, my sisters, and I were responsible for cooking 1-2 dishes for my mommy. HappyOblivion cooked miso wasabi salmon and pizza. My sisters cooked, pasta, beef stew, and warm chocolate cake dessert. I cooked corn soup and vegetable medley. The favorite was the pizza. My dad ate one and a half pieces and my mom ate one. Even my brother-in-law who cannot eat cheese ate a piece. I really liked the dessert. It was simple, delicious, and warm. My niece and nephew each ate one piece happily. Funny thing was that the kitchen was a complete battlefield during the cooking hours. I don't know how my mommy manages to keep the kitchen clean and still cook a delicious dinner for 8-10 all by herself in one hour. She is wonder woman.  

Sicky Vacation

I went back home for vacation and came back with bronchitis. Yeah, kinda' sucks. However, I was elated to see my family and my precious little niece and nephew. My parents may have grown a year older since I last saw them, but they look young, handsome, and beautiful as always. My sister with the babies look malnourished, probably from chasing the kids around and not eating healthy. The other sister who bakes cakes look more healthy, same with her husband. My niece and nephew are cuter than ever. The girl can talk in chinese pretty fluently. HappyOblivion was trying to teach her english. She was a little shy at first but as they spend more time together, she was more comfortable repeating words and phrases after him. The boy can walk now. He loves his sister and smiles whenever she talks to him. Ha ha, he gets gassy too! When he wants something, he plops down on the floor and yells "ma ma". Little does he know that ma ma could not afford to spoil him. My turtles look super fat. I bought them a new aquarium heater because they broke the old one, again.

Shopping was fun. A New Balance Outlet opened in Gilroy and HappyOblivion saw an empty bank account flash before his eyes. He bought 3 pairs of shoes and a couple shirt there, whereas I only bought one pair of running shorts. Well, if the 5 pairs of shoes I tried on had my size, I would've went crazy too. He also bought another pair of shoes from Bass and I bought the most comfortable pair of slippers at Clarks. I can't wait to wear them on Monday when I return to work.

Last Monday, I flew back with all the sypmtoms you can imagine: cough, runny nose, fever, chills, sore throat, post nasal drip, headache, muscle ache, lost voice. Landing was %@$&# painful to my ears. I had to continually pop my ears during landing that I looked like an exploding lemming. Now I feel much better. I called work to request for sick leave and I think I sounded like a zombie!

5 Days in Kauai

Whew...it has been one crazy week. You know I kinda' look like that Yahoo emoticon, in which the little guy wipes off his sweat and sighs. Vacation nevers feels like one when it is spend somewhere away from home. You are constantly looking at the map, making sure every single attraction is not missed, and the pictures that were taken in a rush justify your "been-there-done-that" attitude. HappyOblivion and I were trying to avoid the whole ordeal of "touring Big Island in 3 days" (ha, that's another story to tell), so we decided to take it lazy and took a trip to our favorite island, Kauai, for the short amount of time we have off.

HappyOblivion's friend was very nice to accomodate us in his new house in Kalaheo. He also let us borrow his brand new Toyota FJ Cruiser to drive around the island and go on our crazy adventures. Little did we know we were going to spend a chunk of time playing Guitar Hero and saving Toad in Super Mario Galaxy than touring the island. One of our crazy adventures was driving in the sand dunes at Polihale State Park, our friend's idea of "breaking-in" the car. The road to the park was bumpy, muddy, and rainy. We splashed every puddle, big and small, along the way while praising the performance of the car. "This car is great!" we boast, or "This car can do anything!" Then...we got stuck in the sand dune, no kidding. HappyOblivion and his friend had to dig, in the heavy rain, away the sand surrounding the barried tire, which didn't work. Luckily some locals showed up and helped pull us out. Of course we had to pay him beer money to do so but 20 bucks wasn't at all an expensive lesson considering we had no way of getting out. Regardless of this unfortunate occurrence, we had a great time on the beach. The water was amazingly clear. I still remember the sparkles that filled the surface of the water, and would reappear after every wave.

Another highlight was our trip to the Kauai Nursery and Landscaping, and the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG). I had wanted to take pictures of rows and rows of seedlings, and bunches of the same plant. Home Depot and regular garden shops just don't have enough plants to achieve the desired effect. At the nursery, I took so many pictures I thought the camera was going to die on me. There were bunches of everything and I was going happy crazy! The next stop was NTBG. It wasn't the greatest botanical garden partly because I had to pay $20-40 to tour the upper parts of the garden. Despite this limitation, I did manage to take some good close-up photos of a butterfly pollinating a large orange flower. I waited 20 minutes in the midst of buzzing bees, scary spiders (those that weave X spiderwebs - I think these are poisonous), and hungry mosquitoes. The entire time I was waiting for the perfect moment, the hungry mosquitoes were feasting on HappyOblivion. Luckily I only got a couple bug bites :D Some of the photos I like from this trip are posted in my Flickr account or below.



Lately, I have been particularly interested in photography. With that said, I would like to start a tradition in which I pick a favorite photo for each collection I create. The winning photo from this trip is...tun tun tun...

Trip to Hong Kong

Hi hi! This post is long overdue. It originally started as a draft and has been sitting on the server for the past month because I haven't had the time to update it. As some of you know, I started my new job on October 1st. I work for the State as a hydrologist. (Oh, I love that title!) So far I have been working on creating GIS-maps. I also created a database that allows the user to search for data (e.g. area, land cover, etc) on specific watersheds.

I never thought I would feel this but I miss Hong Kong. Originally, I had the impression that HK was dirty (open markets commonly know as "gai see"), polluted (smog and smoke), and dangerous (pick-pockets and gangs). Well, all that but to a lesser extent. Besides, my parents made sure not to take me to the "BAD" places so I won't comment further on the subject.

Let's talk about the positives. Transportation is extremely convenient. Hop on the MTR (Mass Transit Railway) and you can tour the entire HK. Almost every MTR station is directly connected to a mall so you can go shopping in a Category 3 typhoon (because you don't even have to step outside!). All the malls are at least 5 stories high with the escalators strategically placed to enhance the architectural design of the building. I shopped so much that I bought something everyday, even on days that I didn't visit a gigantic mall!

I stayed at my parents condo near the airport. Looking outside the window, I could see planes taking off and landing. Many flight attendents and foreigners live in the complex as well. The complex has a fitness gym with basketball court, tennis court, volleyball court, billards room, swimming pool (indoor and outdoor), kid's play room, and computer room. Everyday, I would swim in the gigantic outdoor pool for at least an hour. Gotta say tho, some people didn't look while swimming so I had a couple near-collisions.

A few days after I arrived, my parents and I left for Fukuoka, Japan. It was an awesome trip because the place was so peaceful (completely opposite of Tokyo). Fukuoka is a rural area where not many people understood English. As I looked outside the window on the tour bus, I saw rice patties and cute little villiage houses everywhere. Fukuoka is sort of like the village in the film "Totoro". We had breakfast and lunch buffet almost everyday. Unlike the sushi buffets in CA and HI, the Japanese buffets had fresh fish and delicious cooked food. Of course, I couldn't stay away from the HUGE tamagos. I remember we had a gigantic sushi boat for dinner one night and I had warm sake to go with it. Oooooooooooo, it was the first time I felt good even when I was 120% full :)

It is impossible to list all the places I visited. Maybe you can look at the pictures below and figure out yourself...ha ha :) Someday, I will put captions...someday.

Big Island Vacation

The start of my vacation was truly an interesting experience. We originally planned on going to the Big Island on the 13th, the day that my sister and brother-in-law arrived to Honolulu. However, Hurricane Flossie (a category 4 hurricane) was expected to hit the southern portion of Big Island on the 14th. It was pretty exciting yet worrisome to see that Flossie was all over the news with updates every minute. Not knowing what to do, HappyObilvion and I called my friend who called his friend on the Big Island to ask about the situation. His friend said Walmart and Costco were ransacked. She couldn't even get gas because the line was a mile long. I also called my friend who has lived in Hawaii for a long time. She suggested to stay in Oahu because of the unpredictable nature of the hurricane which may wipe out the entire island. Plus, we wouldn't be able to go anywhere with the heavy rain anyway. So, we decided to stay. With only a couple hours of time, we had to make important decisions and reschedule everything. First, we decided to go to the Big Island after the storm, which was the 15th. I called the vacation home owner and requested a refund for two days of rent. Then I arranged with the airline company to change the flight. HappyOblivion was busy getting a rental car for Oahu and the Big Island. After dinner, I called many hotels and finally reserved a room for my sister and brother-in-law. Even though it was a crazy night, I am glad I took control of the situation because I learned so much! My friends (Sue and Dale) were a great help! Mahalo!

We arrived Big Island on the night of the 15th. It was so dark it took us a long time to find the vacation home. The home was very nice even though the pool was a bit dinky. The floor of the shower in the master bedroom was made of rocks, supposedly used for foot massage. It was painful for me!

The next day, our first stop was Mauna Kea. I have been to the Big Island twice and still have not made it up to Mauna Kea (Grrr! That drives me crazy). We took a 4-wheel drive up there because the roads were not paved for the most part. It was a very bumpy and scary ride. We were above the clouds during the ride and we could see a fluffy sheet of cotton balls below as. If they were pink like cotton candy, I would eat them. Near the top, the heavy fog and clouds limited our view to only a hundred feet in front of us. I thought we would drive off the cliff! Finally, we arrived at the Keck Observatory, the largest telecope in the world! I don't know much of telecopes and planets, but these cute domes were neatly situated on the mountain like snow cones. One was very shiny too. On our way back home, we visited Manua Loa Macadema Nut Factory (my dad's favorite) and Akaka Falls which was pretty nice considering the amount the rain the hurricane brought.

On the second day, we started off with Punaluu Bakeshop. Everyone loved the bakeshop because of the soft yummy bread. My sister bought 6 loaves home and I bought two. I can still smell the wonderful freshly baked bread :) The next stop was Punaluu Black Sand Beach Park. Luckily, we saw at least 5 sea turtles swimming and basking in the sun! Then we drove for another 2 hours or so to get to Volcano National Park. We saw the usual stuff - lava rocks, steam vents, caldera. There was no active lava flow because of the recent movements that shifted the lava to flow east instead of into the ocean. Oh, I forgot how much I loved the brownie looking lava rocks!

On the last day, we decided to tour the resort area and do a self-guided tour of the coffee farms in Kailua-Kona. I woke up early so I went for a half-hour run around the resort. When I came back, HappyOblivion wanted me to run with him because he felt bloated from all the eating and sleeping :D I took him to the Mauna Lani Hotel to run along the beach. Then he decided to keep on going to who knows where! I followed him until he stopped and asked, "Where the heck are we?" I looked at him and said, "WHAT!!!!!!" I was so scared because I have no sense of direction and I always rely on him to get me home. If he has no idea where we were, then we were LOST! All around us were lava rocks. I was so scared and on the verge of crying. After half an hour, we finally found our way back to the vacation home. In the end, we took a one hour run and I was exhausted because I ran half an hour before that. We quikly took a shower and packed our stuff. Our first stop (which was 11AM already) was Mauna Lani Hotel. We went to see the baby sea turtles and the juvenile ones that will be release into the ocean on next independence day. Then we went to Ueshima Coffee Company and Kona Coffee Joe to do a self-guided tour. I have never seen a coffee tree in my life, not even a picture of one! How rediculous is that! Our last stop was the Mountain Thunder Coffee Farm which I learned has a pet feral pig. Yup, we drove almost 20 minutes just to satisfy my desire to see a feral pig :D It was worth the drive because we saw geese too!

I had a great time on the Big Island especially with my family. Too bad Frankie, Paul, Ellyse and Elliot were not able to join us. We missed you guys everyday! I want to thank you Vincent and HappyOblivion for driving us around the BIG FAT FAT FAT island. I know it was hard work and drained most of your energy. Mahalo!

Blazy

Blazy - a new word created by ME. It means busy being lazy. That's what I have been doing lately. I am still in the vacation mode so all I want to do is to go shopping or eat out. However, we have to save money for a new camera so we went to Daiei and bought groceries instead. I can't believe school started and I have HOMEWORK due next week. Good thing I still have one more day to goof off, thanks to the three day weekend xP

The CW network is finally available in Hawaii's DIGITAL CABLE!!! For those who live in apartments that have regular cable supplied with the apt complex will NOT have that channel. So this news is actually not GREAT to us! On the contrary, this makes us (or only me) super mad. We deserve to have all our favorite channels because we are passionate TV addicts! Oceanic Cable owes us!!!

Still in La La Land

I am back from vacation x( Yeah, I don't sound too happy because 1) I miss my family at home - the lovely yummy food and the cozy atmosphere with a beautiful christmas tree, 2) I am still lazy from all those days of doing nada in San Jose, 3) I contracted a cold from HappyOblivion so I couldn't play with my niece and nephew for the last two days, grrrrr, 4) I finished all the yummy chocolate almond cookies my sister made for me, and 5) SCHOOL. On the good side, I bought a bunch of crap from CA and I had a fun time unpacking and redecorating my apartment xP.


A set ot Le Creuset spatulas my sister got me for Christmas.


New quilt cover from Ikea that only cost $25.


A set of mini-hampers for my many many private-wear (sorry, no details)


A cube set to stick in the corner for all my stuffed animals.

Lots of fun!

Hi hi my dear readers. Sorry for the nonexistent blog updates. I have been...at home, resting, sleeping, and eating. As you already know, my home is in California and whenever I return home, I become more piggish than ever.

For the past week, I went on a tour with my parents to the East Coast. I am not a big fan of the East Coast and this tour made sure I am never to return, well at least to the crowded cities. The tour began with New York City. It was disgustingly crowded with air that smelled like humans and gas. Times Square is a small portion of New York that resembles Las Vegas at night. The FAO became a huge ToysRus with a miniture ferris wheel ride inside. We also visited many other popular tourist attractions such as: Ground Zero of Former World Trade Center, Wall Street, Federal Hall, Trinity Church, Empire State Building, United Nations Headquarters, Statue of Liberty, Fifth Avenue, St. Patrick Cathedral, and Rockefeller Center. My dad loved Wall Street and he actually bought a miniture statue of the bull on Wall Street!


A gum commercial I saw at Times Square.


Nathan's mouthwatering cheese hot dog.

From New York we went to Philly. I thought I could savor the taste of a delicious Philly Cheesesteak but I couldn't. We only went to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in the morning and off we went to Washington DC. DC was a bit boring partly because of my disinterest in the politcal world and that I have visited the place before. Places we visited were: Capitol Hill, Ford's Theater, White House, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korea War Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

The fourth day was the second best day of the trip because we visited the Hershey's Chocolate World in Hershey, PA and the Corning Glass Museum in Corning, NY. We each ate a strawberry and chocolate ice cream at Hershey's and I bought a whole bunch of crap to commemorate my busy 1 hour and 15 minutes of touring the entire factory. At the Corning Glass Museum, we saw glass making demonstrations and lots of weird shaped glass items.
Hershey's Chocolate World sign.
The best day of the trip was at Niagara Falls. We saw the night view and the morning view of the falls. They were majestic. Pictures do not reveal the beauty of the falls. You have to be there to hear the roar as the water comes crashing down on the rocks below, feel the mist that forms a pure white cloud, and smell the freshness of the air around it. With our blue rain coats and non-waterproof camera, we took a boat ride and went under the falls. I have never felt so refreshed and fullfilled in my life! We were very lucky since the day was beautiful, sunny, and without rain. We also saw not one but 2 rainbows peeking out from the American Falls with the Horseshoe Fall in the background. We also saw a couple mini rainbows during the boat ride to the Horeshoe Fall.


Niagara Falls with rainbow.
The last day was a short tour of Harvard University and Quincy Market. Of course we ate lobster and it was okay. Not a great as I expected but I am satisfied. Lots of cool red brick buildings in Boston. The undergrad campus of Harvard University was beautiful of course. Oh and there was a statue of John Harvard that if you touch his left shoe, you will become smarter. You can guess if I touch it or not :)

Harvard University undergrad campus.
The tour schedule experienced a little change due to the terrorist attack in London. We had to fly home from the Logan Boston airport when the security alert was raised to orange. It was a bit scary when they said we couldn't carry anyting with liquid content. So we had to quickly rearrange our luggages so that all our liquid items were in the check-in luggage. Poor people in England had all their laptops, iPods, and cell phone confiscated! Imagine how much people have lost because of this incident. Some students or researcher may lose years of research in the laptop computer! Anyway, our trip was very nice and a bit surprising at the end :)