Final Blog Post - Moved to Facebook

As a way to simplify things a bit, this will be my last blogger post. Since FB is so ubiquitous now, I'll put the rest of my updates there!

Congrats Alex and Julie!

Congrats to 2 of my best friends, Alex and Julie. I wish you both the best!

 

 

 

The best cake topper, ever!

 

Bachelor Party - Vegas!

3 Epic Nights in Vegas for Alex's Bachelor Party.

 

Rented out an MGM Signature Penthouse Suite.

 

Made Alex jump off the side of the Stratosphere while we just got dangled off the side.

 

6-wheeled limo - I think you could fit 30 people in here?

 

Hanging out at the lounge in Aria.

Congratulations Susan & Ian!

Congrats to my sister, Susan for a beautiful wedding!

 

What better way to celebrate a wedding than a big family trip to Disneyland! It's been more than a decade since I've been to Disneyland.

 

Veg Bacon Delivery!

I was making a joke the other day about how I was craving some In-N-Out, burritos, and veg bacon. One of my friends bubbled wrapped some veg bacon with a Walgreens cold pack and sent it over to Shenzhen through a coworker! Thanks, Karl!

 

5 days 4 Nights in Bali!

This is the beginning of my summer marathon of weddings.

Mid July - Wedding in Bali
End of August - Wedding in Los Angeles
Beginning of September - Wedding in San Francisco (Fremont, actually)
Mid September - Wedding in Shenzhen

Not a bad way to kick off the marathon than with lots of good Indonesian food, Bintang beer, California Wine followed by lying down on the beach and sleeping in! Our Bali trip was a combination of a Zao Tech company trip and a wedding - my boss Scott and his fiance Mei were getting married! Congrats to them both!

 

Here is a photo from inside the wedding chapel overlooking the beach.

 

Zao Tech family photo at a rice terrace.

 

Lunch at the hotel. Note the blue wristbands, which mean free flow of alcohol starting at noon and ending at 2am. It also means unlimited food 24hrs a day!

 

Lying down under an umbrella on the beach behind the hotel... life is good!

Tongli (同里)

I was in Suzhou for a business trip last weekend so I got there early and made a day trip to go to Tongli. A very relaxing water town! It's what I imagined Suzhou to be...

 

Comorants - the same ones they have in Guilin, where the fishermen put a ring around their necks to prevent the birds from swallowing the fish they catch.

 

Venice in China?

 

Gengle Hall.

Nanjing!

Last weekend, I had to go to Nanjing for work, so I was able to spend a day walking around and exploring the city.

I spent the better part of a day exploring the Sun Yat Sen Mausoleum. Lots of walking!

I stayed at a hostel in Fuzimiao - Confucius Temple Qinhuai Scenic Area, which was bustling with shops and food stands.

The Nanjing Massacre Memorial reminded me of the Holocaust Museums I'd gone to previously. Very moving.

Guilin & Yangshuo!

Another eventful weekend! While playing Chinese monopoly last week, a few friends and I decided to go on a last-minute trip to Guilin/Yangshuo over the Qingming holiday. It was COLD, but luckily, it didn't rain too much. Yichen, Tiffany, great trip idea!

Here was our visit to the Reed Flute Cave in Guilin. Really awesome underground karst formations.

The back of the RMB20 bill is this shot of the Li River (maybe at a slightly different angle...). I snapped this picture on our 2hr bamboo raft ride from Guilin to Yangshuo along the Li River.

A picture of Yangshuo's Impressions of Liu San Jie show, directed by Zhang Yi Mou (who also directed the Beijing Olympics, Hero, House of Flying Daggers, and Impressions of Lijiang, which was awesome).

Here's the view from the top of one of the hostels we stayed at 11 Youth Hostel in Yangshuo near West Street. I wouldn't mind waking up to this every morning!

Lantau!

I've been to HK a few dozen times over the last two years, and I've never been to Lantau to see the Big Buddha and the Po Lin Monastary. I guess after feeling settled, you don't do those touristy things.

We took the cable car from Tung Chung.

The Big Buddha is the largest bronze buddha in the world (34m). Yes, to be the largest or tallest of anything, one way to do it is to put as many descriptors/adjectives as possible.

It is a small world! Lora Oehlberg (friend from many ME classes) was traveling through China & HK for a conference. She had a friend who put her in touch with Amy Dinh in HK(who lived across the hall from me my senior year at FroSoCo) and told me about Lora's trip. So we spent the day sightseeing and hanging out in HK.

Guangzhou!

I've been in Shenzhen for more than two years, and I've only been to Guangzhou twice, both times for factory visits. I figured it was about time to explore the city, so one of my buddies and I decided to hop on a 1-hr train to Guangzhou and spend the day walking around.
Lots of roots and mushrooms for Chinese medicine... 
...including lizards on a stick! 
Me and Francis getting some Vietnamese food. 
A visit to the Canton Tower (108 floors, 600m high). Weather was a bit dreary, but at least it didn't rain! 

Cooking Classes!

Since I love Indian food so much, I figure it'd be a good idea to learn how to make it. This in no way means that I'll start cooking anytime soon, but I'll have these pictures and videos ready for the day that I start to use my kitchen.
 Fried Dal
 Tomato-Onion Raita
 Puris!
 My veg lunch thali, which includes dal, aloo gobi, tomato-onion raita, jeera rice, puri, chapati, halva (not pictured), and pakora (already eaten).

That's it for my India trip!

Sightseeing in Udaipur

 Ranakpur - a Jain temple with 1444 uniquely carved pillars.
 Kumbhalgarh, a walled fort built ~600yrs ago with a 36km perimeter. It has only been taken once, and even then, it was held only for 2 days.
 Having a nice cold Kingfisher at a rooftop restaurant before sunset.
 Nightime view of the City Palace.

Typical Day in Udaipur

Udaipur is my last stop in India, which was a fantastic way to decompress and relax. It's a charming clean city with lakes, small alleys, colorful dresses, and fantastic food.
 A stroll through the vegetable market.
 An India Mark II deep lift water pump can be found at every corner!
 A family from a farm 70km outside of Udaipur on vacation.
 The world as seen from 2 cows chillin' in the middle of a busy intersection. They say good milk comes from happy cows and happy cows come from California. I would argue that happy cows come from India, which is why the milk tea tastes so good!