miami

was epic. love and energy and sunshine all around. till next year... UMF14

stop this train

so i just got back to socal from a lovely long weekend in the Bay... i am exhausted and still a bit sick, but mostly guilty that it's been 6 days since i've posted on this thing. in my defense, i've been busy and sick, sometimes just one or the other but mostly both. anyways, here's my weekend in a photographic nutshell!













seeing old friends and classmates -- beat the clock -- BART prices going up -- pho at Oakland koreatown -- hitting up the Berkeley Big Four (bars) in two nights (yep that’s really all there is) -- 21st birthdays -- brunch at Sunshine Café -- game day tailgating -- beating Maryland’s ass 52-13 -- chocolate dipped churros and other little tapas at Cesars -- Tahoe sun -- more California fires -- airborne, fever, aspirin -- not fishing =( -- driving through Labor Day traffic -- grooving to John and India -- quoting Doug from Up

Hong Kong // overindulgent consumerism

just got back to taipei from hong kong yesterday evening. been busy packing and seeing family before i fly back to CALIFORNIA tomorrow. yipeee it's been so long... get me some nachos and guacamole stat.

anyways, hong kong, definitely doable in 2 days, unless you have endless funds and a burning loyalty to brand-name goods... then you really can shop till you drop. we tried to squeeze some touristy things in between the malls =)
here are some photos...


day view of pretty much all HK from victoria's peak




watching the light show across from Hong Kong Island on the ave. of stars


big buddha! do you see it? (lan tau island)


obligatory touristy picture






alter at Po Lin Monastery

shopping was everywhereeee. seriously. at like every subway stop, at the top of this scenic peak, a bus ride away from the monastery. it was almost a little ridiculous. i guess the no sales tax + cheaper than usual luxury goods get people all riled up.


pretty display wall at H&M


metro

i found the bestttttttt wool coat at H&M on Canton St. best but not perfect, which is why i didn't buy it =( but it was so beautifulllll. i have some pretty embarassing dressing room pics that i might post soon, hehe.

wind in my face (pt2)

some more photos from a great weekend down south in Kenting... most of the ones i posted last time were taken with the crappy point-and-shoot. fancier, expensiver cameras + wind and sand and salt and speeding mopeds just don't logically go together... but i tried to include some better quality shots in this post. enjoy! =)

7-11 squatters bums loyal customers


you can't really tell here... but it's raining hard and the wind kept kicking up pebbles in our faces... what we woke up at 7am on sunday for


din din?




leave your mark


check out our ballin' gang sign

oh yea, and i finally just saw Up. (it didn't release here in Taiwan until July 31st... and between packing and NOLA I never got a chance to see it in the States before I left) it was great! very cute and touching, but definitely not as crazy as all the surrounding hype suggested.

sand between my toes (pt1)

back from Kenting and it was sooo much fun!!
a solid 3 day beach weekend complete with cheap meals at 711, shady companies that will rent out mopeds to 12 kids without licenses or experience, rain and wind during our surf, matching henna tatoos, and a couple cases of Taiwan beer as we watch the sunset.










on another (sort of?) related note... i never realized how essential a floppy wide brimmed hat or a straw fedora is for the beach and summer in general. let's be honest, the "beach hair" in magazines never actually happens at the beach. there's too much sand and windy and salt --- hair, at least mine, just ends up being a huge tangled knot. soooo beach hat to the rescue! =) the ones we 'acquired' this weekend were totally cheap and lost their shape in 5 minutes... just as well though, we rode around on our mopeds so often that we just kept stuffing them back into that tiny seat compartment and would have ruined any quality hat anyways.



more pics in a later post! there are so many good ones =)

Hualien - Farglory // Taroko

after 2 hours of sleep and a 3 hour train ride... welcome to hualien!

Farglory Water Park. weird to see all these cheesy, fake park decorations in the middle of all this beautiful nature.

the cutest.

being silly.

views from the top.

new photographer hard at work.


at the park's aquarium.





later... fireworks at some water dance park


cornfields


free mochi samples in every flavor possible... chaos ensues




Taroko!! isn't it so beautiful??


splishsplash








bye bye!

Great trip. Fun times, good people, and we got lucky with the weather too!

On another note, I'm loving this Nikon =)