Yayabiko

From Haidee: My 18-yr old niece in the Philippines, Sabrina, came to visit Europe for 7 weeks. She stayed with us in Amsterdam for a month and traveled around Europe the rest of the time.  My sister, Mylene, and my 4-yr old niece, Clarabelle, flew in from San Francisco to join Sabrina in her big tour. We packed 6 countries for this tour: Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and last but not the least Belgium. To see photos of Sabrina’s big European adventure, click here.

Actions create corrections to solve errors found in the original action, but when we discover the corrections themselves are fraught with their own errors, there’s an unweighting, a loss of direction — can’t go back and can’t move forward — a ship unhampered by the drag of a rudder. This is essentially the premise of this book that, without a plot, isn’t about anything, no conflict resolution, no climax, no story arcs; but because of it’s richness of detail and endless backstories, is about everything, the way life is about everything. [Read more →]

BMW makes a pretty good offroad touring motorcycle, but if you want a bullet-proof offroad touring motorcycle, you’ll need to buy Touratech parts for your Beemer.  Much like NorthFace has done in the camping world, the Touratech brand has come to symbolize extreme adventure on the global scale.  Once a year they throw a travel party, bringing everyone in to discuss their adventures, buy gear on sale, and make plans for future adventures.  I jumped on my RT and headed to the German Blackforest to see what it was all about.  You can see the photos here.

Mom and Dad came to visit us for the first time in Amsterdam. To see Dad’s photos, click here.

From Haidee: Reed and I expected a rush of relatives visit us in mid-April through end of May. We knew the next couple of months was going to be busy, so we sneaked a trip to Strasbourg, France to take advantage of our last weekend together before the relatives arrive.

The city of Strasbourg traces its roots back to the Romans, who were the first to overcome the turbulent course of the Rhine in order to build a military camp called Argentoratum. This camp served as a point of departure for all future expansion. The historic heart of Strasbourg is located in a curve of the Ill, a tributary of the Rhine. There is an impressive number of architectural treasures in this perimeter of 83 hectares, designated as a World Heritage Site by Unesco. Massive medieval towers, half-timbered houses and prestigious town houses from the 18th century bear witness to the entire period of the small, independent republic of the Roman-Germanic Saint Empire and the city’s history as part of the Kingdom of France in 1681. Presently, Strasbourg is the seat of European Parliament. To see photos, click here.

The first images many of us have of the Dutch are of a little boy with his finger in a dike and Hans with his silver skates.  Sadly, many of today’s young Hans don’t get to skate due to the harsh realities of global warming.  Older Dutch tell me they remember the canals freezing every winter.  Today, however, once a decade is more the norm.

Luckily for us, this is the year this decade.  For the past week the climate in the Netherlands has hovered at or below freezing thus unleashing a pent up skating frenzy not seen since 1997.  Imagine Bourbon street the weekend prohibition was repealed, and you’ll get the picture.  To get more pictures, click the picture.

Haidee and Reed break out of Amsterdam to spend a week soaking up the sun in the Mediterranean.  This time we set our sights on Istanbul.  So what if it was as cold and as wet as Amsterdam the entire time we were there?  We bundled up and learned as much as we could about this 3,500 year old city.  Napoleon Boneparte once said, “If the earth were a single state, Istanbul would be its capital.”  Click on the photo to see more from the place Europeans call “the nearest faraway place you can visit.”

It sounded like a good idea at the time. Of course, “at the time” means on my fourth glass of red wine kicked back at Bryan’s apartment with Thanksgiving turkey trickling its judgment numbing tryptophan into my system. “Sure!” Who wouldn’t want to join a ten-event decathlon to test athletic prowess, duration, and wit? And with a name like Moron-a-thon, the ability to not take one’s self too seriously. The morning of the event, however, it didn’t seem like a good idea at all. True to form, Amsterdam has been wetter than a toddler’s behind all week. The prognosis for today? Overcast and rainy. Still, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, and if that man signed up to be a moron for an afternoon, off to the moronathon he must go…. <Click on the photo to see my pictures><click on this link to see Johnny’s pictures>

I flew 13 hours to Singapore to meet up with my two sisters, Aiko and Mylene, both I haven’t seen in more than a year. Aiko flew in from the Philippines and Mylene from San Francisco. We were later joined by Gloyang, a close family friend. We spent 5 days in Singapore and 3 days in Bangkok. It was a reunion full of eating, bargain shopping, and crazy adventures. Click on the photo to see more.

After a business trip to Bangalore, I rented a car and a driver for three days, tossed all my gear in the back, and kept my head down for 6 white-knuckle hours of maniac India driving through India’s beautiful countryside. Our destination? Puducherry (formally Pondicherry), a small section of south eastern India that France never yielded to the British. Where still today, you will be greeted with a “Bonjour!” or a “Ca va?” from the locals and it’s rumored that they have the flakest croissants in India, delicious cappuccinos, and hot Creole food. Click on the photo to see more. Click here to see a map of Puducherry.