Category Archives: Travel

Maui 2010: The Starting Days

Posted on
Reply

Well jeez the last few days have zipped on by! I feel like I just left Corvallis. In fact, some part of me does miss that sleepy summer college town where Matthew and I went to Econ four days a week for four weeks. Then on some occasions, we would collectively find something to do to entertain ourselves in the meantime — like one day it was a bike ride or run, whilst another was seeing a movie with Kevin. I enjoyed the solitude.

Anyway… The fambam and I are here in Wailuku, Hawaii located in a bay on the more southwest side of Maui. There are a few condominium units like the place we are at, but for the most part, it is so much quieter than tourist hotspots like Kaanapali up north. The beach and water is just as awesome down here and the view is amazing. Plus, the condo we rented is just as great — modern, clean, up kept, and overall the best place we have rented thus far. We do slightly miss the ease of access to the beach like we had at the condo in Oahu (ground floor about 100 feet from the beach), but the benefactors at this place in Maui outweigh that of the other place.

So, we flew in on Monday morning — and it’s now Wednesday evening. I definitely cannot blog everything, but I’ll try to give a gist of it all. Monday was mostly a “get situated” day consisting of purchasing the food items from the grocery store and just getting settled in.Yesterday was the real start of the experience as we finally hit the beach right here at our unit. The water is a little cooler here than up north, but really not something to complain about. The second major thing we did was venture into Lahaina, a busier touristy town with lots of shopping. I got a neat’o Hurley shirt that says “la)(aina” with the “H” being the brand logo. Had to have it!

Today, I went for my morning run (that I am trying to get in a routine of doing) at 6am. The sun rises earlier hear so it’s a bit difficult to get myself up at 5:30am. After showering and all, we rented some snorkel gear and hit up a location on the beach and ocean where we had snorkeled seven-ish years ago when we were last in Maui. Not as great of a fish turnout as last time, but we saw a few good ones. The best snorkeling is up north near Kaanapali. We will try that out later this week. Then, we made some grocery-related trips that took up a good amount of time and then later returned to the condo where we took our first swim in the complex’s pool. It’s a smaller pool, but not crowded at all and is neatly adorned with a small waterfall feature. The condo complex’s grounds are also very well cared for — the landscapers here just the past few days making the place continuously looking great. After cleaning up after swimming, my dad and I took a nice stroll out to the harbor about a mile away. And, as of now, I’m about to enjoy a nice barbecue dinner.

See you later, my friends. Enjoy life.
Published from my iPad.

SF 2010: The Big Day

Posted on
Reply

Saturday was absolutely packed busy with awesomeness. In the morning, my mom decided that she did want to make a poster to bring to the concert that night, so we went to the FedEx Office across the street from our hotel. Ideally, we wanted to make a poster and then have in laminated so that it won’t wear and tear. However, this FedEx Office on Market Street had a broken laminating machine so we tried the next one up a few blocks. We went there and then they said that their laminating machine was broken as well. Frustrating! So, we opted out of laminating and got poster board and some Sharpies. It turned out nice after all.

After making the poster, we met my brothers Trevor and Corey and their girlfriends Jen and Melissa at Burger Bar in the Union Square Macy’s. It was quite a tasty burger! I went with basic, but at the restaurant you are offered countless ways to customize your burger — you can even put sprouts and asparagus on it! It was so good to see everyone again. The last time I saw my brothers was spring break of last year. Too long.

We departed in our own ways, and my mom and I took a trolley down to Fisherman’s Wharf. We actually didn’t walk around a whole lot, but we got my grandma a loaf of sourdough bread, as she likes, and did other little knick-knack shopping at street vendors.

We realized the time was getting a bit late so we took a bus all the way back up Market Street to our hotel. We changed, got our stuff ready, and headed back out again — this time taking the underground Muni shuttle to AT&T Park just southeast of where we were staying. There was a lot of confusion figuring out which train to get on. We almost gave up to take a cab instead.

So, finally we were off to see Paul McCartney. It was just a short ride and the shuttle arrived down near the park. We got off and could hear Paul actually performing another sound-check. It was teasing! We were hungry by this time and decided to try and find some food. Naturally, being any type of event at AT&T park, good luck on finding an opening anywhere. Many places had over and hour waiting time. We got lucky and found downstairs seating at a place I can’t even remember the name of. The place was packed and our chips and salsa appetizer and drinks took a long time to arrive. It was understandable, though. This process took quite a while, but once it got relatively close to Paul McCartney time, we headed over to the Park.

After a little confusion we found out how to get to the field where our seats were. We made acquaintances with a nice Japanese couple to our left to whom we talked to for a long while as Paul was an hour late to start the concert. Then, it started, and nothing else mattered — not even my need to pee. He sang so many songs (over 30!) — I think a couple of my personal favorites were “Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da”, “Live and Let Die”, and “Dance Tonight”. I was thrilled with “Dance Tonight” because Paul had released his Memory Almost Full album in the time after I last saw him in concert. So, this was the first time hearing that song live. With “Live and Let Die”, everyone knows that this is the “big bang” song that has all the pyrotechnics. Because the stage was outside in an uncovered area, the show was impressive. During the key points in the song, you would not only have sparks and stuff on stage — but also higher aerial fireworks that were amazing!

Also, during one of the songs, we saw the camera pan right in front of where we were sitting. I held the “Paul” side of the poster up and you could see it on the big screen behind the band! So neat! Whew! It was such a good concert. I’m so happy I was able to go with my mom — even if it was only for the weekend and with an incredibly long drive to get to San Francisco.

After the concert, we were going to take a cab to Tommy’s Joynt, a restaurant where Paul had visited in the past, but all the cabs were taken and it was too late. We finally figured out how to get back to our hotel and opted to split Subway instead. We were so tired of being on our feet all day. I think I even fell asleep with my glasses on looking out the floor-to-ceiling window in front of my roll-away bed. I loved our weekend excursion to San Francisco. I still love the city and can see myself working there someday. Until next time, San Fran.

SF 2010: Let the Music Play

Posted on
1

I’ll post the rest of this action-packed day come tomorrow, but for now we are at Pete’s Tavern just near AT&T Park. We took BART to get here and that was a bit tricky to figure out. But, it all worked out and here we are. We can hear Paul playing his soundcheck, but the gates don’t open until 6pm.

Anyway, I have set up my blog for phone-in audio postings. I’ll call my blog and hold the phone so you can all hear Sir Paul himself. So, check back after 7:30pm. Enjoy!

SF 2010: The Beginnings

Posted on
Reply

After leaving Redding Friday morning, we drove and drove (I helped a wee bit) until we arrived near Sacramento, California. There, we rendezvoused with my Uncle and enjoyed a tasty cheeseburger and fries from In-N-Out which we do not have in Oregon.

We parted our ways and continued our trek to San Francisco. I resumed the co-pilot seat and performed my excellent responsibilities of dozing off and falling asleep. I awoke and we were about 20 minutes from arriving at our destination. After some tricky traffic, maneuvering San Franciscan roadways, and working around the infamous California drivers, we finally arrived at the Westin Hotel. But, the bustle doesn’t end there.

Upon reaching the check-in desk, we received two pieces of irking news. First, the supposed two-queen bed stateroom we, again, supposedly “reserved” was all booked up. Who knows how that happens, but we overheard other families having the same issue. Second, the check-in start time is 3pm. We arrived at about 3:30 and they said our room wouldn’t be available for another hour! With the very limited time we have here in San Francisco, we have no room for sitting around with our cumbersome luggage — waiting for our room to be cleaned. We were kind of peeved regarding the lack of smoothness of this check-in, so we called hotels.com, with whom we made our reservation with, and asked them what they could do. They called the hotel but had no luck. However, we still got a king bed and a rollaway for me. Additionally, because of the issues, hotels.com through in a 10% deduction on our hotel stay and included a $50 credit on our next booking with them. Nice service and quick to answer and attempt to make things right. Good job. Anyway, we got to our room and wasted no time heading out on the road to explore around.

We decided to take a browse through China Town. I was in San Francisco last year and got a brief tour of the area, but here with my mom we adventured through many seemingly-identical stores selling pretty much the same products. We got a few knick-knacks here and there. But, we were hungry for dinner, so we began scoping out places to catch a good, safe bite to eat. Several different locations tried to hustle us in — giving us some coupon and pointing the way and calling over to us. It was annoying. We happened to take a turn around the corner and found these stairs leading up to a restaurant. We saw a couple other tourists going in, so we thought we’d be like cattle and follow them. Boy, what a find it was! The Oriental Pearl was great! You can come casual or more dressed up without feeling out of place. Many people had reservations, but we got in after a medium wait. The Oriental Pearl has been AAA Diamond Rated three years in a row and has accomplished many other profound awards and mentions. Dinner was excellent at the mid-range price point. I would definitely suggest it to anyone. Make reservations too. You know it’s a hot-spot in China Town when the Asians go there themselves.

Later, we browsed a few more shops and meandered our way back towards the Westin. Our minds started drifting more onto Paul McCartney and his current whereabouts. Is he in the city? Is he around town? So, naturally, I turned to Twitter to get my dosage of news. I searched “Paul McCartney” and pulled up people tweeting that he performed an awesome sound-check at AT&T Park. We considered taking a taxi down that-a-way but we didn’t want to be disappointed if we didn’t hear him or whatnot. Ideally, we’d like to see and meet him (who wouldn’t), so that’s why we are getting so excited now. Paul McCartney is in San Francisco! I wonder what he’s going to do during the day tomorrow?! We continued our Twitter patrolling over a cup of coffee at Starbucks until closing time, then headed back to the room for the night. We talked for a while — hypothesizing his possible plans for this evening and all of tomorrow. We can see AT&T Park from our room and watched the stadium lights shut off. That was a for-sure sign he was done there. We also thought about where he might be staying this evening. Also from our room we can see the Four Seasons Hotel — a more prestigious place that would most likely be on his list for plausible lodging choices. We can only wonder, but will we ever know? Let’s hope for the best.

Published from my iPad.

SF 2010: On the Road

Posted on
Reply

Hello all! Quick update as I need to rest for the early morning:

Thursday after Econ class, my mom picked me up from Corvallis and we began on our way to San Francisco. We stopped in Yreka, California for dinner at a place called “Grandma’s Restaurant” which reminds me much of Miller’s Homestead in Lake Oswego. After that, we went a little further and decided to stop for gas. After filling up, we ran some calculations and figured out that my mom’s Honda Civic got 41 miles per gallon and we only fueled up eight more gallons at that stop. Awesome!

We reached Redding, California around 9pm, went for a swim, and are now conked out tired. Tomorrow after the 7am included hot breakfast (Waffles… Yes!) we will finish the last leg of the drive. I’m so excited to see San Francisco and Paul McCartney again! Stay tuned for more! I can blog on the road.

Published from my iPad.

Turning the Page

Posted on
1

I’ve been thinking about the future.

So much of my time is consumed with thinking about the present — which classes to take, where to live come this fall, my academics, friendships, my personal mindset. But I’ve recently been exposed to thoughts of who or where I’ll be after college. When I was asked this by a friend, I immediately answered that I would like to work in Portland and live at home for a short time until I got things going and would find my own place. But… I think about it and now think more deeply about life after school. We are about half done with college. It’s never too early to look ahead and set new goals, dreams for our upcoming selves. It can be like turning the page in a novel and seeing things before they happen.

Perhaps Portland is not my destined location; perhaps it is. But what if I dug deep and, instead of going with what’s simple and most direct, took a leap into the dreams? Where do I want to go? Who do I want to be?

I wouldn’t mind being somewhere with better weather. But I also don’t think I’d favor a small suburbia town like Corvallis. Yet, at the same time, a large town like Portland is even daunting. The weird people, the traffic, parking, and sketchy areas. But I know I want to go into public health. It’s still so strange to me how I’ve been pursuing the wrong major up until this most recently-completed term – and then pretty much without taking any previous course or giving any prior interest, just jumped into the public health field.

So, I want to work at maybe a hospital, institute, or state organization to work/manage/create health programs. I’d like to cover, perhaps, something in healthy/fit lifestyles or HIV/AIDS awareness. However, these are just initial thoughts. I’m sure many other areas of health interest me. But where I want to work is still a big brainstorm. Should I stay near home? Should I follow my heart and let it lead me to new lands?

I think a lot my confusion can be solved.

I need to travel. I crave so much to see the world. Maybe if I got this necessity for adventure out of my system I could then feel more like settling in somewhere I’m familiar with… Like Portland. It would be quite great if I could travel within my employment company — fly out to attend conferences and interact with foreign populations and policy.

Writing this has actually spurred an idea. Maybe I should look into studying abroad through OSU. This will give me extreme hands-on experience and help me figure things out for the future. I think I’ll look into it right now. Study public health on the east coast? Europe? Australia? Ok… A little ambitious, but I’m still going to check out the possibilities.

Oh, man! Now I’m feeling so ready to turn that page and start writing my next chapter in life. What a good day!

Published from my iPad.