Monday, September 30, 2013

Asia Trip 2013 (Overview)

I just returned from a quickly planned, but long-anticipated trip to Asia!  I'll be posting pictures and write ups about each leg of the trip, but the overview is as follows: fourteen days, four cities (and one horrible, wheelchair-bound layover in Toronto). 

Riding an elephant.  Bareback.  No hands.
You can practically taste my terror/joy.
The trip started as a visit to see my grandmother in Hong Kong with the benefit of fulfilling some residency requirements, but I quickly realized that I could choose flights with long layovers to maximize my adventure (under 24 hours is free, over 24 hours becomes an official paid stopover).  

With this in mind, I decided to visit a long lost friend during my a 17 hour layover in San Francisco.  I had to rejigger the dates of my flight, but it was totally worth it to see an oldie but goodie.  [Hi Keith!]  Sixty-five thousand airline miles and a hundred bucks later, my round trip to HK (with a jaunt in SF) was booked.

The dates during which I was supposed to be in Hong Kong coincided with Matt and Paul's trip to Thailand, so I figured I'd hit the beach with them for a few days while I was in that relative neck of the woods.  I found a flight to Thailand (25k miles and $125) with a layover in Singapore, and a side side trip to visit my buddy Dan P. (and the Singapore Grand Prix!) was in the works.

So there you have it.  Fourteen days, four cities, 95k miles, and under $250!  


Sunday, September 8, 2013

Hebron Fair

Bubbles on the midway at the Hebron Fair
Smell that?  Me neither.  Allergies have trampled me this year.  But allegedly, the air is rife with the smells of fried gluttony and farm animals.  County fair season!  Last night we went to the Hebron Fair, a first for me.  I even stealth-packed my climbing shoes in case there was a purse at a climbing booth.  Alas, nothing at this one.

Sweet Tractor Memories
The highlight of most fairs for me is the "food", and what food it is.  Turkey legs, cotton candy, fruit inspired soda, and funnel cake were had.  This year, I also witnessed a tractor pull.  Snoozefest... until I spotted a very familiar looking tractor!

I literally grew up on this tractors! Of course my version did not have an exhaust coming out of the side.

There were also animals of all shapes and sizes.  I especially liked watching the human animals.  No seriously, there were a ton of animals and birds, including pigs, rabbits, chicken, waterfowl, cows, and goats.  None of the human animals seemed to comprehend the huge "Rabies alert, do not touch or feed the animals" sign though.  Cute animal pictures below.

Immodest Sheep

Check out the tail wag!

Bunnies are vicious finger biters in disguise.  Do not be fooled.