Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category
Semarang, Indonesia
Agnes was finally successful in surprising her parents with a visit home. Last time she tried, they found out and ended up playing a prank and surprising her! We met her dad while he was visiting her Grandma (he was genuinely surprised! I was sure he knew). We stayed a while and played with the half […]
Singapore
Wow does time fly! It’s been almost three years since the wedding, which means that Nes and I are long overdue for a visit back to Indonesia. Our itinerary allows us a few days in Singapore on the way out and four days in Hong Kong on the way back home. Airplane pain Getting to Southeast Asia […]
Lisbon, Portugal
Lisbon is an absolutely exotic city. This is the kind of place we crave when we travel! No English signs, no mobs of tourists, just Lisbon. And I can easily say that in Lisbon live the friendliest people that we’ve encountered yet in Europe. Day one We arrived in Lisbon just before the sun set. […]
Madrid, Spain
Madrid is gorgeous. Its old architecture makes it almost feel like Paris and it has a great come-as-you-are vibe. We came to Madrid equipped with insider information and suggestions from our friend Santiago, a former madrileño. Day one (Sunday) We arrived in Madrid very early which gave us full day to explore. After checking into […]
Barcelona, Spain
Barcelona is a huge urban city. We were a little nervous after reading review after review that summed it up as basically “a big dirty city”, but it turned out to be a very pleasant stay. Day one We arrived in Barcelona late and did our best to navigate its train system. We pretty much followed […]
Venice, Italy
Venice turned out to be a fun detour. It was so spot-on to what we expected it to be that it almost felt like we were in some kind of theme park complete with gondoliers, crooked alleyways, and an uncountable number of tourists. Day one We arrived in Venice in the early evening and made […]
Genova, Italy
Genova as a good change of pace from Belaggio. We were in Genova for two days and didn’t hear any English at all in the city (except for the young woman who checked us into our hotel; I think she was a student and anxious try out her English skills). Genova is Also a VERY […]
The Bernese Alps
The regional train from Lucerne brought us as far as Interlaken, where we had to switch to the mountain-climbing variety. From there, the train carried us up to Lauterbrunnen, which if you’re driving a car, is as far as you can go. All of the villages at higher elevations are inaccessible by automobile. We changed […]
Lucerne, Switzerland
Lucerne turned out to be slightly disappointing. It’s not like we weren’t warned though; our French teacher, who grew up there, said “you’re going to Lucerne?! It’s VERY touristy.” But what the heck. It’s close to Zurich and it’s a logical next stop from Paris. We arrived in Lucerne late Friday after five or so hours […]
Paris (second try)
We arrived in Paris late Tuesday afternoon. Walking up out of the subway station, we were almost overwhelmed with the sights, sounds and smells of Paris. We checked into our hotel in the Latin quarter and headed out across the Seine to photograph Notre Dame at sunset. Nes was excited to make some long exposures […]
Wengen, Switzerland
Sorry about the radio silence! Lucerne turned out to be a wifi wasteland and the hotel’s communal computer was virus playground. We just got to our hotel in Wengen atop the Swiss Alps and we finally have a reliable Internet connection. I’ll assemble some notes and pics from Paris and Lucerne tonight and catch up […]
Delft and Amsterdam
We arrived safely in The Netherlands Saturday morning. Nes’ cousin Andy picked us up from the airport took us to Volendam, a charming little port city with lots street food and lots of tourists. The fresh fried fish and mini Dutch pancakes were delicious. After that, it was off to Zanse Schaans where we visited […]
Wedding photos
Our wedding photographer in Indonesia handed over a DVD of all 3000 raw shots from our wedding (for free—something that would never happen in the US). I’ve sorted through all of them and posted about 50 or so of the best on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/84315541@N00/sets/72157614747723551/
A day on the train
We’ve all slowly been getting sick one by one since the reception. Nes was in so much pain this morning that she went to the hospital to get checked out. They ran some tests and concluded that she (and several others) had some mysterious intestinal virus. I suppose shaking hands with over 400 people probably […]
Meet my wife
Well, our 16-month engagement is over. Agnes and I got married yesterday morning at Ursuline Chapel in Bandung, Indonesia. Considering all of the chaos leading up to it, the wedding and reception went remarkably smooth. The sun rising over the mountains outside my hotel room; 22 Feb 2009. The day started early for Agnes. She awoke […]
Sangjit
Om Thomas accompanies Joe on the keyboard Tonight my family joined Agnes’ family at their house for the traditional pre-matrimonial gift exchange, called Sangjit. Sangjit is a Chinese tradition that, from what I’m told, differs quite a bit from family to family. For our Sanjit, we each exchanged eight decorated baskets of gifts (clothes, shoes, […]
Tangkuban Perahu
Today we visited Gunung Tangkuban Perahu, an active volcano in a state park just outside of Bandung. Visitors can literally drive up to the edge of the crater and walk around. The crater is huge and constantly spews stinky sulfurous steam. The view of the city and surrounding mountains are equally impressive. Katie, Mom, Dad, […]
Rumah sakit
Grandma’s foot has mysteriously swollen up and become so painful she can’t even walk on it. She tried to tolerate it yesterday, but today she wanted to go see a doctor. Luckily Nes’ cousin Dani works at Bandung’s international hospital and agreed to meet us. She was seen by two doctors in the emergency room, […]
Menyiapkan pernikahan
Well, Nes and I have finally settled in. We’re staying at Nes’ parents’ house in Bandung. Their neighborhood is situated atop one of the foothills of Bandung’s surrounding mountains. From the roof, you can see down into the valley that the city occupies. The weather is beautiful—high seventies and partly cloudy. Heaven compared to what […]
Sittin’ in Seoul
Nes and I arrived in Seoul a few hours ago after almost 14 hours above the Pacific. Nes slept—I watched movies (Nick & Nora’s Infinite Playlist, Vicki Christina Barcelona, Eagle Eye) and this week’s LOST episode. Nes vs. laptopzilla Not much to do for the next several hours, but the airport has free wireless and […]
The wait begins
Six hours down—30 to go! Nes and I are just starting to hunker down for our nine-hour layover in Los Angeles. We bought a 30-day WorldClub pass so we’re trying our best to fill up on free beer, olives, and internet access. Right now, I’m anxiously waiting for last night’s LOST episode to finish downloading.