Category Archives: 旅行的意義

Let it be

Written by . Posted on September 22, 2011. Filed under 旅行的意義. Tagged . No comments.

 

I know. It’s about time that I blog again. Besides, there must be a lot to blog about since I came back from Europe, right? The truth is, there’s TOO MUCH to say. The whole trip has been an awesome experience to me, especially the wonderful, lovely friends I met in this trip. We never really planned our trip carefully, but the fact is, the most memorable experiences we had came from the unexpected: celebrating the victory against Madrid with Barça fans on the street in Barcelona; getting lost in Tuscany and feeding mosquitoes in an unattractive neighbourhood restaurant with unexpectedly delicious food; watching the Mediterranean sunset and enjoying figs and wine with friends on the beach outside of Rome; dancing with a French girl and a jazz singer in the rain on the street in Paris and then watching the thundershower pouring when trapped under the sidewalk roof…

We didn’t plan all these. So maybe sometimes it’s better to just let it go…let it be.

Jazz Band on St. Germain Street

Written by . Posted on September 3, 2011. Filed under 旅行的意義. Tagged , , . No comments.

Dancing in the rain with them is amazing.

Centre Pompidou

Written by . Posted on September 3, 2011. Filed under 旅行的意義. Tagged , , . 2 Comments.

Macarons & Eiffel

Written by . Posted on September 1, 2011. Filed under 旅行的意義. Tagged , , . No comments.
Two of my favourites about Paris.

Greta

Written by . Posted on August 31, 2011. Filed under 旅行的意義. Tagged , , , . 1 Comment.

Meet the dog that only understands Italian – Greta.
She’s a super friendly Bernese Mountain Dog, an active nine-year-old, who likes to welcome you by leaning on you.
According to her master, Matteo, she would “herd” people when there’s a group of people standing around. How adorable is that? Oh I love meeting dogs with great personality!

Hello again, Siena

Written by . Posted on August 25, 2011. Filed under 旅行的意義. Tagged , , , . No comments.

Isn’t it wonderful not to have a single tourist in the photo?

【Maui】Buddha

Written by . Posted on January 27, 2011. Filed under Sweet Hawaii, 旅行的意義. Tagged , , , . 2 Comments.

If you stay in Sugar Inn, you have to know the dogs that live there: Caramel, Tian Tian, and Buddha. All three dogs have completely different personalities, but are all easy to get along with.

Caramel is the head of the group. She’s always calm and gentle, except when she’s scratching her butt against the ground. Tian Tian is totally the opposite of Caramel. He’s a playful pit bull that always jumps around when you try to approach him. He’s only 2 years old, the youngest teenage boy there. Tian Tian always follows Caramel around the house. Buddha, on the other hand, is sometimes a loner. He’s a Shar-Pei and pit bull mix. We fell most connected to Buddha after spending time with him, because we know that it would take so much efforts and time to earn his trust, as he had been abused for three years before he was adopted by Kat. If you look into Buddha’s eyes, your heart would soften immediately, and you would have the urge to give him anything in the world to make him happy. It was tricky to get close to Buddha at first. Since he’s extremely insecure (poor thing!), we had to interact with him gently. Any sudden movements would make him defensive. During our last few days there, Poan found a way to earn his trust – by bribing him with food. Since then, Buddha would come upstairs and look for some treats, and he would do a few tricks if we asked him to. He was still a bit insecure and got scared sometimes, but he’s actually a very, very sweet dog. There was one time he just came into our room and lie on the floor. He would “cry” if he doesn’t get any treats from us. But when he cries, our hearts soften again. Knowing that he was abused once and might not become normal again, it meant so much to us when we saw his tail wiggling in the air. Just before we left Maui, Buddha let Poan pet him and hug him without any defensive behaviours! It was really an amazing journey spending time with Buddha and getting to know him.

In the end, we fell in love with Buddha. We love him so much that we wanted to bring him back to Vancouver and continue to give him love. But I guess he would be happier in Paia, as he can play in the wild with Caramel and Tian Tian. I believe that we’ll see Buddha again, someday soon!

【Maui】Sugar Inn, Paia

Written by . Posted on January 22, 2011. Filed under Sweet Hawaii, 旅行的意義. Tagged , , . 3 Comments.


This is where we stayed during the 12 days in Maui – Sugar Inn. It’s in a small town up north called Paia.

Sugar Inn is only 3 minutes from the Paia town centre, so we went there a lot for groceries and dining. Our favourite places were Mana foods, a local market that sells cheap, organic foods, and The Fish Market, a restaurant that serves big and fresh fish plates. We ate so much fish in Maui. I must say that my diet there was actually way healthier than it is home. Paia is really a lovely town. People there are down-to-earth and extremely friendly. It’s a great place to stay if you want to experience the local life.

The house is surrounded by trees, and there’s a big sugar cane field behind the house. We lived on the second floor, which has four rooms, a big kitchen/living room, and a L-shape balcony. The whole place is open – there’s no doors at the entrance, which was actually quite nice, as we could see the ocean from the kitchen! We could even hear the sound of the waves at night. Since we were surrounded by nature, there were lots of insects flying around in the house. I never like bugs, but as the days went by, I kind of learned to live with them without hysterical screams (except for the big-and-sneaky cane spiders).

It is a great place to make new friends. At some nights, we would gather on the balcony with the owner, Kat, and some other tenants for some wine and snacks. We would talk about which beach we went to or what we saw when snorkeling. We talked about the must-visit places on the island, and what we planed to do the next day…what a lifestyle! I’m so glad that we didn’t stay in a hotel. What could you do in a hotel after dark?

As much as I hate spiders, I will choose Sugar Inn again if I return. I think I fell in love with the place, especially the dogs.

【Maui】Big Beach

Written by . Posted on January 16, 2011. Filed under Sweet Hawaii, 旅行的意義. Tagged , , , . 2 Comments.

Maui has many, many wonderful beaches, which are all different. Some are great for snorkeling, some for surfing, and some are perfect for those who just want to take it easy, like us. We’ve visited quite a few beaches on Maui. I guess our favourite one is the Big Beach, which is a long, sandy beach. It has really fine sands so you don’t have to worry about stepping on big rocks or sharp fragments of any kinds when you’re playing in the water. It was such a luxury to eat a whole pineapple on the beach and watch the sunset.

Kapalua Bay is my other favourite beach. It is petite, but definitely a gem on the island. The colour of the water is a gradient of baby blue to turquoise. It’s a wonderful spot for snorkeling. You don’t even have to go deep to see the fish; they are only few steps away from the shore. Too bad that I didn’t bring my camera with me to that beach, but I’m sure you can find photos of it on the Internet.

I must say that any beach we went to on Maui is ten times better than Waikiki: less crowds and less touristy. So next time if you’re going to Hawaii, forget about Waikiki. Go north on O’ahu or stay in Paia, Maui, like we did.

【Maui】Double Rainbow?

Written by . Posted on January 13, 2011. Filed under Sweet Hawaii, 旅行的意義. Tagged , , . 3 Comments.

We were told by the locals that the weather had been ugly before we arrived, so we were quite lucky during our stay there. There were only one – two rainy days. But even if it rained, it didn’t last long. The sun usually come out soon, followed by the rainbow.

It’s really easy to catch a rainbow on a tropical island like Maui. Sometimes it seems to come out of nowhere, such as the sugar cane fields.

We once saw a double rainbow on the road to Hana (a little town on the east coast), and the whole car of people just went nuts. Then we cried…