It felt like I had just written the 2023 year-end review, and bang! 2025 is almost upon us. Time flies when you’re having… fun? Travel The big international trips this year mostly fell under the “revisiting places to spend time with loved ones” umbrella. For spring break, we went back to Taiwan. In addition to
Project Concentric Circles – the Ultimate God of War Shield
Earlier this year, we replaced our two failing toilets with the fancy Japanese kind. The bathroom upgrade was life changing, and I was impressed by something else: the boxes that the toilets arrived in were made of double-layered corrugated cardboard! The discovery was like when a fictional wuxia blacksmith finds a special ore from outer
HK & Macau 2024 (9/9) – Play
I had never been a gambler. Phil, too, had changed quite a bit since the days when he’d drop $20 into a coin pushing machine at a random gas station. So when we sat down at a slot machine in Macau, it was mostly ceremonial. He pressed the buttons a few times, and was ready
HK & Macau 2024 (8/9) – Eat
We ate well in Hong Kong and Macau. Not counting egg tarts, most meals fell into three categories. Each had one restaurant that was so good that we visited twice. Here is a summary. Cha Chan Tang Hong Kong is a global city with as many options as can be found anywhere else, but Phil
HK & Macau 2024 (7/9) – Shop
Goldfish Street Because we just ate around the corner and needed to walk it off, we took a stroll down the famous Goldfish Street in Mong Kok. While fish did occupy most of the street, people looking for non-aquatic pets could also find plenty of options here. Although we had no business shopping here, it
HK & Macau 2024 (6/9) – Watch
People watch is a big part of most travels. Usually it refers to observing local people go about their daily business, but sometimes it can be fun to watch other tourists, too. Social Media like Instagram and Tiktok (or Xiaohongshu and Douyin in this case) have the tendency to send hoards of unrelated travelers to
HK & Macau 2024 (5/9) – See
Hong Kong has far more skyscrapers than any other city in the world, and is physically adjacent to Shenzhen, which leads the third place by another 30%+. It’s crazy how dense the tall buildings are in this part of the world. Naturally, sightseeing in Hong Kong consisted quite a bit of appreciation for its urban
HK & Macau 2024 (4/9) – Pilgrimage
A major theme of our trip was visiting houses of worship. We went to the most famous temples in Hong Kong and Macau, as well as some lesser known ones. It was cool to see all walks of people practicing vastly different religious lifestyles. Sikhism – Khalsa Diwan Gurudwara Sahib This 3-story Sikh gurudwara in
HK & Macau 2024 (3/9) – Obsess
At some point during the trip planning phase, Hong said, “eat some egg tarts for me!” She was referring to the Portuguese egg tarts that Macau was famous for, because we hadn’t been to Macau. Those are usually brought up in contrast to the Hong Kong style egg tarts, which further branch into flaky crust
HK & Macau 2024 (2/9) – Move
I have grown to really enjoy different modes of transportation around the world and made it a point to experience them on each trip. Hong Kong and Macau, small chunks of mountainous land surrounded by water, had to devise ways of moving people without the luxury of placing cars on paved roads everywhere. They were