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Love the following series. They really should be hung in a gallery somewhere.





LOL! Thank you Rob for giving me permission to post those.
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It was March 7th, 2010. Cool and slightly overcast.
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The whole journey down to Big Sur was beautiful.
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Happy Californian cows :)
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Best [Scrambled] Eggs Benedict ever from Deetjens.
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Deetjens is a historical inn and restaurant along Highway 1.
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Stopping to smell the flowers.
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A lot of road work due to erosion problems en route.
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Bright California poppies in bloom!
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I just like saying the word “yurt”. Yurt-yurt-yurt…
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We stayed the night in a yurt. Yurts= a hybrid of a room + a giant tent
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The wines we brought with us. The one on the left was a wedding gift from my Bridesman.
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The inside of our yurt.
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Enjoying the (limited) view of the Pacific outside of our yurt.
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Yurt-view.
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This is their “human nest”. Very cool!
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Organic garden
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Chanterelle mushroom soup. Delish!
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Hello friend.
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Random broken steps by the side of the road. Yes, we climbed it.
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The view from where it led us.
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Sand Dollar Beach. Very windy and tumbled rocks EVERYWHERE!
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Rob loved the sound they make when the surf pulls in. Like popcorn popping in a kettle.

Some highlights of our trip:
- Seeing my family in Flushing, NY, which was pretty much Taiwantown, U.S.A.
- The Statue of Liberty, minus the two hours in two different security lines.
- New York pizza!
- Seeing Wicked for the first time on Broadway.
- Tuna tartare and the high tech Japanese toilet at Sakagura.
- The view from the Top of the Rock.
- The window displays were redonkulous!
- Straight New York tap water. Seriously.
- Lunch at Jean Georges with Karri and Misha.
- The Met, minus the insane crowds.
- The butternut squash soup and tweed kettle pie (got it b/c of its name!) at Tea & Sympathy with Karri.
- Central Park right after it snowed.
- Junior’s NY cheesecake with strawberries, thanks to my cousin Theresa.
- The Apple store on 5th Ave.
- Blueberry pancakes at Clinton St. Bakery, minus the 1 hour and 45 minute wait >_<.
- The last minute right before the ball dropped at Times Square, minus the 5 hours and 59 minute wait beforehand.
- 30% off sale-price sale at BR.
- PDT Bar. Really great original drinks made in the old-fashioned way.
- Momofuku Ssam Bar’s fried brussel sprouts (trust me), kimchi apples, and steamed pork buns. I don’t usually eat much pork, but I’m glad I made the exception this time.
Lowlights of our trip:
- The wait to do practically anything.
- The crowds and lines and more lines, and more lines…
- Did I mention the lines?
- Slow-ass people that take up the entire sidewalk (actually, that’s a running pet peeve of mine so it doesn’t only apply to New York).
- Trying to hail a taxi in freezing weather and they’re all full.
- Rob lost one of his gloves at the Statue of Liberty and it seemed like the entire island sold out of mens gloves. We tried BR, J Crew, Gap, H&M, Armani Exchange, etc.
Overall, a great trip and we’ll want to be back in the couple of years to experience the stuff we didn’t get to see yet. Photojournal to follow when I finally get all 5k pictures uploaded.
I had so much fun this Halloween . Rob and I went up to the City to hang out with our friends M & G and danced the night away. The only sad part was that M was sick so he had to go home early, but other than that it was one of the best parties I’ve ever been to.
Pictures:
 Vampire Bill (from True Blood).
 A very sick Santa, literally.
 Keepin' it together.
 Scary tooth-fairy.
 I was a Renaissance pirate wench.
 Much needed H2O after a tiring night of dancing.
Hope you had a fun Halloween too!
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Unwrapping my Chinese breakfast burrito. Inside is dried pork, Chinese donut, pickled radish, and covered with sticky rice.
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The National Performance Hall.
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Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial
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National Concert Hall
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Rob getting to know the locals.
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View from the Memorial.
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Changing of the guards (I think).
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Chiang Kai-Shek Statue
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Inside the museum. This ivory tablet has Sun Tzu’s The Art of War written in teeny tiny text above the image of his head. You need a magnifying glass to see it.
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Pictures of Chiang and his life story.
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Picture of him, Roosevelt, Churchill, and his wife.
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Wax apples, my favorite.
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A huge variety of tasty drinks. Rob already misses them.
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Inside Longshan Temple, the oldest temple of its kind in Taiwan. It survived earthquakes, typhoons, the Japanese occupation, etc. for over 100 years.
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People come here to light candles/incense and pray to Buddha and Taoist gods. Here is an altar for Guan-Yin, the Goddess of Mercy.
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Tons of people chanting.
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Beautiful artistry.
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Realistic litchee cluster carved out of stone.
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Chinese tea preparation at a Japanese-style teahouse.
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The tall cup is for sniffing the scent (kind like sniffing wine to get the aroma), and the short one’s for sipping/tasting.
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The koi in the koi pond right outside our private tea room. Some were enormous!
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At Yangmingshan National Park. Figuring out our hiking route.
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Meet spiders as big as your hand! If you have arachnophobia then I don’t suggest going to Yangmingshan.
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They don’t have actual trails. If you hike uphill, it’s actually climbing up countless slippery stairs.
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Coming down, we took a paved road and passed by a bunch of family gardens and fields.
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I <3 dragonflies that let us take their pictures.
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National Palace Museum in the distance. That’s where they display on rotation all the Chinese artifacts that the Nationalists brought over.
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I have only pictures of the outside because photography was not allowed inside.
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About to enter Shilin night market, arguably the best night market in Taiwan.
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Ba-wan: meat and bamboo-filled with a soft outer shell. These are delicious with their red sauce.
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Rob being a brave Westerner and trying stinky tofu.
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“Frog egg” drink. Which are actually basil seeds with an outer membrane.
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Delicious fried chicken as big as your head. I kid you not!
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Night market chaos.
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I found Hope in a water buffulo at the airport.
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