The last 12 months have definitely changed my life. I've been to 5 continents, countless cities, countries, flights, gas stations. I've moved. I've shrunk. I've ate. I've drank. I've photographed it all. I tried to pick pictures that show me at my fattest (165+ lbs) in September 2008 and how Thu lost 30 lbs since then :)
Take a look at the album.
Current Progress
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Monday, August 17, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
PEI Lobster
I'm out in PEI for a few days and of course every meal I'll try to have will involve some fresh seafood! So we went out to Queen's Meat Market before they closed and bought 3 1lb live lobsters for $5.99/lb! Not too bad :)
Boiled some water, added some salt. When it was boiling, drop in the lobster for 18 minutes. And that's it! The pot here couldn't fit all 3 at the same time so I had to do a few batches.
Of course as the unhealthy side of the meal I made garlic butter. Put some garlic and some salt and butter and heated it all up. Oh well, it was delicious. We had some salad + red peppers + tangerine + poppy seed vinagrette on the side.
Gosh, I love the CHEAP awesome farmer markets here. A huge bunch of lettuce was 99 cents.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Goal #6: Climb Machu Picchu (Day 4) Completed!!
Day 4: Wiñaywayna to the Sun Gate to Machu Picchu
Distance: 2.49 miles/4 km
Maximum Elevation: 8,829 ft/2,700 m
Machupicchu Elevation: 7,872 ft/2,400 m
Bright and early we woke up at 4am. Since I had about 8 hours of sleep, I was up and ready to go! We had a quick breakfast, said bye to the porters and off we went to walk about 5 min to join the lineup. We were about the 5th group in line at the gate that opened at 5:30am. There was a whole group that walked past us to the front of the line, we were totally not happy with that. Anyway while waiting we started seeing twilight on the horizon as the mountain were lighting up slowly. We also saw this huge star. After much debate about how impossible it is that the Northern star would be in the southern hemisphere, we were told that it was VENUS! I've never seen a planet in the sky before, this totally made my day! So Mel used her tripod for the first time and we took long exposure shots of Venus and the mountains.
Anyway the gate finally opened. I had a lil mishap with my bowel movements about 30 min into this mad rush to get to the sungate by sunrise. But I did the best I could with my short legs and poor lungs. For some reason this hour of hiking/jogging up to the sungate felt like the toughest for me, mentally and physically. Like I was so close and struggled for the last 3 days and there's only ONE hour of hiking to be done. Then the last 50 huge rocky steps came...I climbed up that with lots of struggle. The guide instructed that it was another 5 min to the Sun Gate. And voila, the breathe taking view of mountains surrounding Macchu Picchu was rewarded to me!!
I was overwhelmed with shock, awe, happiness as I joined the rest of my group and watched as the sun rose up and shined light gradually onto Machu Picchu and the shadows of the mountains withdrew. I took about 100 photos and jumped in the mean time :) I was actually there, in person, watching the sunrise! After that ensued another hour or more of walking down, taking pictures, jumping, rolling around in the grass and just taking it all in. We had a reunion at the bottom with two girls that took another trek to Machu Picchu (Lares trail which you don't need a permit for).
Then our final 2 hours with our guide was spent walking around Machu Picchu seeing the mother of all ruins. I love how they had Llamas as the residents for cutting grass and other people were cleaning the rocks. I can't describe the feeling of walking through trying to understand an ancient civilization and realizing that...I ACTUALLY MADE IT!!!!
Then I slept until the guards kicked me out :)
Machu Picchu (Day 3)
Day 3: Pacaymayo to Wiñaywayna
Distance: 9.94 miles/16 km
Maximum Elevation: 12,792 ft/3,900 m
Campsite Elevation: 8,692 ft/2,650 m
Day 3 was pretty brutal. When everyone told me that Day 2 is the worst of it, I half expected Day 3 to be a cake walk. Nope, we had to cover 16km today and...it's not flat. So up the mountain we went, visited a ruin and again went upwards to see some small ponds, then we got to another mountain pass with incredible views (~2 hours for me).
Then everything that we gained in elevation, we lost by going downwards for another 2 hours. There was a gigantic ruin here which involved some steep steps to get to. We were starving by then but this was not our rest stop - luckily the porters packed us a lollipop and a halowe'en size candy bar. (NOT...ENOUGH...FOOD!) After visiting the ruin, we had to go down to another ruin, and up through the Cloud Forest.
Ok, the Cloud Forest was pretty cool where it was obvious that the microclimate had completely changed. Humidity and low hanging clouds produced this mystical rainforesty type place with cool vegetation and hummingbirds. Poor legs and tummy of mine, I took in the scenery as much as I could while trying hard to rush through to the lunch site. It must have been another 2-3 hours before I made it to lunch - but the views were definitely rewarding! We could see Aguas Caliente in the distance...which means we're close!!
After lunch we visited another cool ruin with shower stall ruins. (I wish there was a real shower stall). We learned more about how amazing the Incans were at engineering, astrology and running their community. Then it was our last 3 hours down to get to the camp site. This is where I finally learned that I had more of a core than I thought. I ditched my poles to Freddy (the assistant tour guide), gave Mel my camera and started to run down down the stone steps. It's not bad, we picked up our pace and had quite a work out flying down the mountain. Well, flying is a bit of an exaggeration, haha I kinda wish Mel took a video of how awkward my "flying" must have looked. (The next day my legs and abs were mucho hurting)
We made it to our final camp site in time for sunset! (and POPCORN - which I seem to reeeally enjoy after a good days work of hiking). We opted to not pay for a luke warm shower since it was down a hill and I couldn't walk another step. Plus we smelled already so whats the difference to wait another day. That night the porters baked us a cake and we fell asleep at 8pm to wake up at 4am! In contrast to the previous night all I wore was a tshirt and didnt even zip up my sleeping bag this night.
Day 3 definitely had the nicest variety of hiking and ruins and vegetation. I thought it couldn't be beat...until I woke up!
Distance: 9.94 miles/16 km
Maximum Elevation: 12,792 ft/3,900 m
Campsite Elevation: 8,692 ft/2,650 m
Day 3 was pretty brutal. When everyone told me that Day 2 is the worst of it, I half expected Day 3 to be a cake walk. Nope, we had to cover 16km today and...it's not flat. So up the mountain we went, visited a ruin and again went upwards to see some small ponds, then we got to another mountain pass with incredible views (~2 hours for me).
Then everything that we gained in elevation, we lost by going downwards for another 2 hours. There was a gigantic ruin here which involved some steep steps to get to. We were starving by then but this was not our rest stop - luckily the porters packed us a lollipop and a halowe'en size candy bar. (NOT...ENOUGH...FOOD!) After visiting the ruin, we had to go down to another ruin, and up through the Cloud Forest.
Ok, the Cloud Forest was pretty cool where it was obvious that the microclimate had completely changed. Humidity and low hanging clouds produced this mystical rainforesty type place with cool vegetation and hummingbirds. Poor legs and tummy of mine, I took in the scenery as much as I could while trying hard to rush through to the lunch site. It must have been another 2-3 hours before I made it to lunch - but the views were definitely rewarding! We could see Aguas Caliente in the distance...which means we're close!!
After lunch we visited another cool ruin with shower stall ruins. (I wish there was a real shower stall). We learned more about how amazing the Incans were at engineering, astrology and running their community. Then it was our last 3 hours down to get to the camp site. This is where I finally learned that I had more of a core than I thought. I ditched my poles to Freddy (the assistant tour guide), gave Mel my camera and started to run down down the stone steps. It's not bad, we picked up our pace and had quite a work out flying down the mountain. Well, flying is a bit of an exaggeration, haha I kinda wish Mel took a video of how awkward my "flying" must have looked. (The next day my legs and abs were mucho hurting)
We made it to our final camp site in time for sunset! (and POPCORN - which I seem to reeeally enjoy after a good days work of hiking). We opted to not pay for a luke warm shower since it was down a hill and I couldn't walk another step. Plus we smelled already so whats the difference to wait another day. That night the porters baked us a cake and we fell asleep at 8pm to wake up at 4am! In contrast to the previous night all I wore was a tshirt and didnt even zip up my sleeping bag this night.
Day 3 definitely had the nicest variety of hiking and ruins and vegetation. I thought it couldn't be beat...until I woke up!
Machu Picchu (Day 1 and Day 2)
Well, I've been home for a few days but wanted to write a little about the best hike I've ever done.
We started at Km 82 along the river and the train tracks. If we were optimizing, we'd follow the train tracks which are flat and takes us directly to Machu Picchu. Actually we'd be on the train. But no, instead we used our two feet, arms and sometimes a core to plow through 4 days of 8 hour a day hiking. 40 km, 26 miles and ridiculous elevation.
Day 1: Km 82 to Huayllabamba
Distance: 7.8 miles/12km
Elevation: 9,691 ft/2,953 m
The first day only involved about 4 hours of hiking and plenty of tasty food from the chef and the porters. It started off pretty flat with only one little elevation gain and the rest was down hill.
I've never been on a hiking trip where people carry your stuff, run ahead and set up camp and greet you at the meeting point with a bowl of warm water to wash your face. Then serve all sorts of soups, pastas, salads and delicious meals. My favourite is the pop corn snack time with coca tea!
Anyway we saw our first ruin as we came up our first mountain. This made me so excited!
We saw every animal possible: Llama, donkeys, sheep, cows, roosters, chickens, ducks. And we also got woken up by every animal :)
The next morning we were introduced to our team of 17 porters, 2 cooks and 2 guides...for our team of 12 tourists :) The most luxurious camping trip ever? Indeed.
Day 2: Huayllabamba to Pacaymayo
Distance: 5.1 miles/8.2km
Warmiwanusca pass Elevation: 13,776 ft/4199 m
Camp Elevation: 11,833 ft/3607 m
Day 2 will forever be known as the up hill of torture!! The journey before lunch was already pretty grueling to go up so much. It was really cool to see more tropical weather with waterfalls! Little did we know that after lunch was 2 hours of hell to get to the top of Dead Woman's Pass. Where I seriously was delirious and stopping every minute to catch my breath. I did learn a bunch of spanish while stopped since porters would be racing past me every minute too.
Hola.
Cómo estás?
Estoy bien.
Mucho Gracias!
Yup, that's the extent of my spanish vocabulary repeated 100x and ingrained in my tiny brain now. Anyway I made it up to the graveyard of the dead women at the mountain pass to a bunch of cheering from my GAP tour which made the last few minutes bearable. Then at the top, I take my signature jumping picture and probably didn't make it off the ground.
Boy we were in for a treat, another 3 hours down the mountain to our campsite! We were rewarded with a selection of Wontons with cheese or Wonton with apples! The night in the campsite was definitely the coldest - me wearing 4 shirts, 2 pants and 2 socks and had to bust out 2 heat packs too.
We started at Km 82 along the river and the train tracks. If we were optimizing, we'd follow the train tracks which are flat and takes us directly to Machu Picchu. Actually we'd be on the train. But no, instead we used our two feet, arms and sometimes a core to plow through 4 days of 8 hour a day hiking. 40 km, 26 miles and ridiculous elevation.
Day 1: Km 82 to Huayllabamba
Distance: 7.8 miles/12km
Elevation: 9,691 ft/2,953 m
The first day only involved about 4 hours of hiking and plenty of tasty food from the chef and the porters. It started off pretty flat with only one little elevation gain and the rest was down hill.
I've never been on a hiking trip where people carry your stuff, run ahead and set up camp and greet you at the meeting point with a bowl of warm water to wash your face. Then serve all sorts of soups, pastas, salads and delicious meals. My favourite is the pop corn snack time with coca tea!
Anyway we saw our first ruin as we came up our first mountain. This made me so excited!
We saw every animal possible: Llama, donkeys, sheep, cows, roosters, chickens, ducks. And we also got woken up by every animal :)
The next morning we were introduced to our team of 17 porters, 2 cooks and 2 guides...for our team of 12 tourists :) The most luxurious camping trip ever? Indeed.
Day 2: Huayllabamba to Pacaymayo
Distance: 5.1 miles/8.2km
Warmiwanusca pass Elevation: 13,776 ft/4199 m
Camp Elevation: 11,833 ft/3607 m
Day 2 will forever be known as the up hill of torture!! The journey before lunch was already pretty grueling to go up so much. It was really cool to see more tropical weather with waterfalls! Little did we know that after lunch was 2 hours of hell to get to the top of Dead Woman's Pass. Where I seriously was delirious and stopping every minute to catch my breath. I did learn a bunch of spanish while stopped since porters would be racing past me every minute too.
Hola.
Cómo estás?
Estoy bien.
Mucho Gracias!
Yup, that's the extent of my spanish vocabulary repeated 100x and ingrained in my tiny brain now. Anyway I made it up to the graveyard of the dead women at the mountain pass to a bunch of cheering from my GAP tour which made the last few minutes bearable. Then at the top, I take my signature jumping picture and probably didn't make it off the ground.
Boy we were in for a treat, another 3 hours down the mountain to our campsite! We were rewarded with a selection of Wontons with cheese or Wonton with apples! The night in the campsite was definitely the coldest - me wearing 4 shirts, 2 pants and 2 socks and had to bust out 2 heat packs too.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Lake Titicaca
The past 2 days have been a very unique amazing experience. we took a motorboat 3 hours out to a few islands in Lake Titicaca. The first was Taquille, where the blue water and views were breath taking. It took about an hour to climb to the top to the town square and a few more steps to get up to a house for some quinoa soup and fresh grilled trout. The views and people were just incredible. The walk back down to the docks was also full of stops of picture taking. The island was perfect.
Then we headed to another island where we had a host mama take us into her family hut for the night, complete with sheeps and a little adorable 4 year old. We hurried up the hill to miss the sunset but the views were spectacular. For views like this in California, it'd be a couple million dollars Im sure. Then we sipped on hot chocolate which I have a feeling was spiked. Then headed down to star gazing and dinner that they cooked in their small fire. Vegetable soup and pasta....delicious. After dinner we dressed up for the party (these pictures will for sure be burned) we looked ridiculous as we had to climb the mountain one last time to head to the party. I think my anemia and just high altitude really kicked my ass ont he way up to the party. These people are sooo fit, walkiing up and down the mountain everyday. After about 2 dances, we were pooped and asked Mama to go home.
The night was the worst migraine Ive had. But thats ok as the sun came up and the sheeps and roosters started waking up, it was a perfect view outside the window. they made us pancakes and off we went! We went to these floatiing islands where families of 8 make an island by themselves and their boats and their huts off of the plants growing in the water. Seriously, its 2009 and people still live like this! Sooo coool.
Anyway, we're back in Puno with a flushable toilet and shower. Life is pretty sweet. We travel to Cusco tomorrow and prepare for our Machu Picchu hike! Ciao!
Then we headed to another island where we had a host mama take us into her family hut for the night, complete with sheeps and a little adorable 4 year old. We hurried up the hill to miss the sunset but the views were spectacular. For views like this in California, it'd be a couple million dollars Im sure. Then we sipped on hot chocolate which I have a feeling was spiked. Then headed down to star gazing and dinner that they cooked in their small fire. Vegetable soup and pasta....delicious. After dinner we dressed up for the party (these pictures will for sure be burned) we looked ridiculous as we had to climb the mountain one last time to head to the party. I think my anemia and just high altitude really kicked my ass ont he way up to the party. These people are sooo fit, walkiing up and down the mountain everyday. After about 2 dances, we were pooped and asked Mama to go home.
The night was the worst migraine Ive had. But thats ok as the sun came up and the sheeps and roosters started waking up, it was a perfect view outside the window. they made us pancakes and off we went! We went to these floatiing islands where families of 8 make an island by themselves and their boats and their huts off of the plants growing in the water. Seriously, its 2009 and people still live like this! Sooo coool.
Anyway, we're back in Puno with a flushable toilet and shower. Life is pretty sweet. We travel to Cusco tomorrow and prepare for our Machu Picchu hike! Ciao!
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Peru...first impressions!
Hey everyone, I've landed safely yesterday into Lima. We stayed in Mira Flores and only had a bit of time to walk around to see fast food restaurants, a church and a whole bunch of casinos! We played slots and could've walked out ahead 1 sole but left when we lost 2 soles.
This morning we headed to the airport to fly to Juliaca with a stopover in Cusco. Then took a bus to Puno which is built along a mountain cliff at 3860m above sea level. Instantly I felt light headed as blood tries to rush to my head. My water bottle keeps shrinking as I walk around with it, not sure what that means but Im sure the same thing is happening to my head. Hopefully the Gingko Biloba and iron will not fail me. In good news, I've completely recovered from my cold and got my voice back that I had lost 2 days ago.
Tomorrow, we are headed off on a motor boat to explore different islands on Lake Titicaca, the largest, highest lake in the world. Then we will stay with a local family and dress up to have a big party in their clothes. They will be cooking us dinner and breakfast then we go cruising to other islands. I can't wait!!
The food has been alright, nothing spectacular yet and Im thinking of eating veggies until a Guinea Pig in Cusco. Alpaca was alright...tasted like beef/lamb. Fish also was alright. Plane food has been alright too. But you know how picky I am. If Im getting off the wagon to eat meat, it better be stellar!
Anyway, Ill probably have internet in Cusco which is in a couple days! I love how its so cheap here.
This morning we headed to the airport to fly to Juliaca with a stopover in Cusco. Then took a bus to Puno which is built along a mountain cliff at 3860m above sea level. Instantly I felt light headed as blood tries to rush to my head. My water bottle keeps shrinking as I walk around with it, not sure what that means but Im sure the same thing is happening to my head. Hopefully the Gingko Biloba and iron will not fail me. In good news, I've completely recovered from my cold and got my voice back that I had lost 2 days ago.
Tomorrow, we are headed off on a motor boat to explore different islands on Lake Titicaca, the largest, highest lake in the world. Then we will stay with a local family and dress up to have a big party in their clothes. They will be cooking us dinner and breakfast then we go cruising to other islands. I can't wait!!
The food has been alright, nothing spectacular yet and Im thinking of eating veggies until a Guinea Pig in Cusco. Alpaca was alright...tasted like beef/lamb. Fish also was alright. Plane food has been alright too. But you know how picky I am. If Im getting off the wagon to eat meat, it better be stellar!
Anyway, Ill probably have internet in Cusco which is in a couple days! I love how its so cheap here.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Great Wall at Badaling
If I had more time to plan things out I would not have taken the hotel recommended tour to the busiest section of the Great Wall at Badaling. We got off to a rough (2 hour) start of lineups and crowds and pushing up to...a slide car. What's a slide car you ask? Well a slide car is the following:
It's like Thunder Run at Great America/Wonderland. I'm not a fan of the tacky souvenirs, constant haggling, pushy lineups and the tour company trying to get you to spend 60 RMB to go on this ride instead of hiking up. He said that we only had an hour, but we spent 2 hours in the lineup and then had an hour at the top. In hindsight, I'd definitely skip the "optional" slide car.
Anyway after finally getting to the top, it was AWESOME!!!
We hiked up to the 8th watch tower and the views were incredible. I couldn't feel my fingers by the end of it and didn't take nearly as many pictures because of the frost bite and snow, but it was totally worth it. I just can't imagine the 2000 years it took to build and how much history has taken place here. It definitely is one thing I've been meaning to check off my list.
It's like Thunder Run at Great America/Wonderland. I'm not a fan of the tacky souvenirs, constant haggling, pushy lineups and the tour company trying to get you to spend 60 RMB to go on this ride instead of hiking up. He said that we only had an hour, but we spent 2 hours in the lineup and then had an hour at the top. In hindsight, I'd definitely skip the "optional" slide car.
Anyway after finally getting to the top, it was AWESOME!!!
We hiked up to the 8th watch tower and the views were incredible. I couldn't feel my fingers by the end of it and didn't take nearly as many pictures because of the frost bite and snow, but it was totally worth it. I just can't imagine the 2000 years it took to build and how much history has taken place here. It definitely is one thing I've been meaning to check off my list.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Animals
As a self proclaimed vegetarian for the year, I surely have done a terrible job at avoiding meat here in Beijing. It's very tough to just order vegetables - meat seems to be the center of attention and part of every dish. Ok, well when in rome...right?
It didn't take much to twist my rubber arm to eat...
Beijing Duck. Gosh, I can't get enough of it. The perfectly crispy skin. The lovely wrap and toppings. The tender duck. At Quanjude, they served us their 110009th duck. Tonight, we had it again at Wangfujing. They roast it when you order and it comes fresh outta the oven in 40 min. Instead of the rottiserie chickens you get at Safeway in north america, you get the roasted duck at any supermarket here. Damn, I wonder if the US customs will let me in with a duck.
A wild turtle.
This took succumbing to peer pressure and curiosity. The plastic gloves were a nice touch. I must have had a few bites before I saw the head...and couldn't eat the rest.
I also had Frog, Beef, Pork, Chicken and whatever they have inside of them. Gosh I have no idea what other animals made it into my tummy, sometimes you can't tell with the spices and oil. But whatever arm you twist there ain't no way I ate that:
It was still moving!!!!!
The food here was so good this week - I'm not used to ordering 5-10 plates every meal, it seems normal here! The one complaint is all the oil everything is soaked in. Today I was able to convince my kind hosts of more simple steamed vegetables and soups as some of the dishes! I am definitely craving a nice fresh salad and fruits that are not soaked in sugar.
It didn't take much to twist my rubber arm to eat...
Beijing Duck. Gosh, I can't get enough of it. The perfectly crispy skin. The lovely wrap and toppings. The tender duck. At Quanjude, they served us their 110009th duck. Tonight, we had it again at Wangfujing. They roast it when you order and it comes fresh outta the oven in 40 min. Instead of the rottiserie chickens you get at Safeway in north america, you get the roasted duck at any supermarket here. Damn, I wonder if the US customs will let me in with a duck.
A wild turtle.
This took succumbing to peer pressure and curiosity. The plastic gloves were a nice touch. I must have had a few bites before I saw the head...and couldn't eat the rest.
I also had Frog, Beef, Pork, Chicken and whatever they have inside of them. Gosh I have no idea what other animals made it into my tummy, sometimes you can't tell with the spices and oil. But whatever arm you twist there ain't no way I ate that:
It was still moving!!!!!
The food here was so good this week - I'm not used to ordering 5-10 plates every meal, it seems normal here! The one complaint is all the oil everything is soaked in. Today I was able to convince my kind hosts of more simple steamed vegetables and soups as some of the dishes! I am definitely craving a nice fresh salad and fruits that are not soaked in sugar.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Healthy travels?
I'm torn. Having a healthy routine and lifestyle has been the goal of 2009 and beyond. However, I also love the excitement of the random life of living every minute to its fullest, in a new place, trying new foods, making new friends or catching up with old, and learning new things. Why is it the year I decide to change my life around, I've flown to 7 cities and 4 countries in 3 months?
What a long winded justification for my week of unhealthy behavior! Did I mention that I LOVE the food here? I just had Schezuan food for lunch which included some American favourites such as Kung Pao chicken. Except it tasted SOOO good and I couldn't recognize it as that until they told me. I have no idea what I've been eating - I can describe it as hot pot or rice + stuff or appetizers of crunchy stuff. Oh and meat. Laser keeps pointing out turtles and random things like lamb pen!s on the menu. We haven't braved into that stuff yet but since I can't read, I can't order anything anyways.
I've slept in spurts of 2-3 hours, waking up to sync up with the mother ship. Also living inside of a "conference room" which looks pretty much like a storage room has been a grueling 12+ hours a day.
Maybe I should consider a different line of work that doesn't take me to exciting new countries I've never been. Maybe I love this job more than I realize though I just need to exert some boundaries of where it ends and where my life starts.
At least I'm more aware of how badly I treat my body when I eat with my eyes. As long as I make it to the gym everyday and do a 10km on the great wall this weekend that should make up for it right?
Anybody have any recommedations of what I should do if I had the weekend here? I've narrowed it down to these things:
- Olympics - Birds Nest and Cube
- Tiananmen Square
- Great Wall of China
- Temple of Heaven
- Forbidden City
Sorry for the lack of pictures. At times where I have way too much equipment to lug around, I'm less ambitious to bring my camera.
What a long winded justification for my week of unhealthy behavior! Did I mention that I LOVE the food here? I just had Schezuan food for lunch which included some American favourites such as Kung Pao chicken. Except it tasted SOOO good and I couldn't recognize it as that until they told me. I have no idea what I've been eating - I can describe it as hot pot or rice + stuff or appetizers of crunchy stuff. Oh and meat. Laser keeps pointing out turtles and random things like lamb pen!s on the menu. We haven't braved into that stuff yet but since I can't read, I can't order anything anyways.
I've slept in spurts of 2-3 hours, waking up to sync up with the mother ship. Also living inside of a "conference room" which looks pretty much like a storage room has been a grueling 12+ hours a day.
Maybe I should consider a different line of work that doesn't take me to exciting new countries I've never been. Maybe I love this job more than I realize though I just need to exert some boundaries of where it ends and where my life starts.
At least I'm more aware of how badly I treat my body when I eat with my eyes. As long as I make it to the gym everyday and do a 10km on the great wall this weekend that should make up for it right?
Anybody have any recommedations of what I should do if I had the weekend here? I've narrowed it down to these things:
- Olympics - Birds Nest and Cube
- Tiananmen Square
- Great Wall of China
- Temple of Heaven
- Forbidden City
Sorry for the lack of pictures. At times where I have way too much equipment to lug around, I'm less ambitious to bring my camera.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Una semana en España
Only a day left in Spain. I really enjoyed it. Everyone is dressed up in really nice suits. The food was ridiculously good. The architecture is amazing. The mens restroom always has a long line of europeans while there's no lineup on the womens side! Ah...being a female engineer in Spain seems to have its perks ;)
I will probably lose all followers of this blog if you found out all the things that I did this week here. I broke every rule I set for myself in the last while when it comes to food, drinks and self control.
I hope I get back on the wagon when I get back to California. I also realized that maybe my rules are too limiting. I inherently LOVE trying new tasty food, great tasting wine, the buzz you get around great company. I also LOVE to be alive to experience life. The two aren't mutually exclusive so I'll figure out a way.
I did hit the gym twice! And only drank 2 nights. And ate proscuitto twice. All the other meals have been plants + seafood + water. And some dessert. Ok maybe too many desserts.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Peru!
It's done and booked!
I'm headed to visit Puno and Machu Picchu in June. It's something I've wanted to do for years now and it's finally going to happen! I couldn't have picked a better year since I'll be in tip top shape by June (or so I hope).
Mission Peak will now be added to my weekly training or other nice hikes in the Bay Area. Feel free to join me!
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Happy New Year!
Where to begin, 2009 has been great so far! After the delicious steak dinner at Ben and Jack's, we tried to head into Time Square to bring in the New Year - except the Police had blocked every street leading into Time Square. Crap! Apparently to get in, you had to show up in the early afternoon. At 11, we made a decision while almost reaching 59th St that we really weren't going to see Hilary Clinton. So we hopped in a cab and headed to The Park. No lineup, decently packed and $25 with a free drink. To my surprise, as we walked in, we saw Jia Fu! It happened that we all knew each other from San Diego. What a coincidence. So we brought in the new year (sans countdown) with his friends (and got my 20000 steps a day!)
Joe and I barely made it to the bus terminal the next day to take the megabus to Boston. Our round trip between NYC/Boston only came out to be $18/person on a clean bus. Not a bad deal. When we arrived in Boston, (#@&*!! it was so bone chilling bitterly cold. We spent 3 days touring MIT, downtown Boston's Freedom Trail and Harvard. Aside from packing along fruits, going to the gym at the Sheraton and getting my average of 20,000 steps a day - I didn't do anything else healthy :| I'm referring to the food I consumed - it was oh so tasty but I did break the no simple carbs rule multiple times.
1) Legal Seafood - oysters, lobster, clam chowder (The PEI oysters were delicious - The clams and mussels were DISGUSTING and full of sand.)
2) Starbucks oatmeal breakfast
3) SamraatTandoori Naan, Basmatic rice with spinach/chicken
4) Pomodoro - Antipasto appetizer and a seafood linguine (LOVED the food and decor here)
5) Leo's Place - egg white omlette and salad (soo good)
6) TeaLuxe - great selection of teas.
7) Shabu-Ya - tasty shabu shabu without the rice of course.
Pictures to come.
So, my 5 day trip in NYC/Boston resulted in over 100,000 steps on my pedometer!!! (And hopefully not an equal amount of calories!)
Currently, I'm waiting to go to the airport and finally go home to Santa Clara where I can get back to a somewhat normal healthy routine...until Vegas next weekend :|
Happy 2009!
Joe and I barely made it to the bus terminal the next day to take the megabus to Boston. Our round trip between NYC/Boston only came out to be $18/person on a clean bus. Not a bad deal. When we arrived in Boston, (#@&*!! it was so bone chilling bitterly cold. We spent 3 days touring MIT, downtown Boston's Freedom Trail and Harvard. Aside from packing along fruits, going to the gym at the Sheraton and getting my average of 20,000 steps a day - I didn't do anything else healthy :| I'm referring to the food I consumed - it was oh so tasty but I did break the no simple carbs rule multiple times.
1) Legal Seafood - oysters, lobster, clam chowder (The PEI oysters were delicious - The clams and mussels were DISGUSTING and full of sand.)
2) Starbucks oatmeal breakfast
3) SamraatTandoori Naan, Basmatic rice with spinach/chicken
4) Pomodoro - Antipasto appetizer and a seafood linguine (LOVED the food and decor here)
5) Leo's Place - egg white omlette and salad (soo good)
6) TeaLuxe - great selection of teas.
7) Shabu-Ya - tasty shabu shabu without the rice of course.
Pictures to come.
So, my 5 day trip in NYC/Boston resulted in over 100,000 steps on my pedometer!!! (And hopefully not an equal amount of calories!)
Currently, I'm waiting to go to the airport and finally go home to Santa Clara where I can get back to a somewhat normal healthy routine...until Vegas next weekend :|
Happy 2009!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
NYE
Since 2009 will be the new healthy cooking Thu, the last day of 2008 will be the opposite :) Lunch will be at Gordon Ramsey's Maze and dinner at Ben&Jack's Steakhouse.I've been looking forward to today since I started my diet :) Other ppl have cheat days once a week, this will be my once a year cow eating day. Might as well make it the best porterhouse for me to remember for the next year.
But lots of walking will be happening before and after this mighty intake of food - a walk across the brooklyn bridge and towards Time Square after dinner! How exciting :)
I hope all of you have a happy healthy new year with your loved ones!
(We took pictures in Time Square a day early to beat the crowds!)
But lots of walking will be happening before and after this mighty intake of food - a walk across the brooklyn bridge and towards Time Square after dinner! How exciting :)
I hope all of you have a happy healthy new year with your loved ones!
(We took pictures in Time Square a day early to beat the crowds!)
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