This travel album stores some of
my most unforgettable memories. Herewith share them with you. Enjoys!
2023 I can finally finished my Bali trip that had
been postponed due to COVID. I also had a family trip to Cebu
watching whalesharks during Christmas.
With the quarantine restriction still in place in
Hong Hong, my family and I only had a family reunion in Vancouver
2022. We mainly explored Hong Kong local expedition.
With the quarantine restriction still in place in
Hong Hong, 2021 was another year of primarily local enjoyment for
me, except that I did have the opportunity to travel a bit in the
mainland China while working on a project in the Henan Province. In
May to July, I re/explored Shanghai, Beijing, Zhengzhou and Xi'an,
met with good friends there and learnt more of the rich Chinese
history. During this trip, I had set up my technology logistics, so
technically I can just travel from city to city only with a smart
phone without cash. It was a really unique experience.
Taking a holiday trip had become a scarcity under
the COVID pandemic in 2020. So my only journey leaving Hong
Kong was in December travelling to Shenzhen and Dongguan for work
and checking out a PRC property. That's it...
I did not travel much in 2019.
I had a work trip to Europe, then of course I went back to my London
home as usual, while visited France, Switzerland and Liechtenstein
with my buddy. Then I had two family trips to Vietnam and Thailand.
During the year, my heart had a mind of its own and went erratic, so
I had a cleansing trip to Kurokawa Onsen, Japan, grateful with two
friends. Then work only sent me to Beijing and Shanghai once. I
wasn't craving for travelling this year, so... so far so good.
2018 has been a life-balanced travelling year for me. I went back
home at London to visit my friends and Vancouver to visit my family
and nephew for the first time; visited Dubai, Korea and Uzbekistan
and Kazakhstan with great companies; and brought Tino for his first
overseas trip to Sabah, Malaysia. Then I got to quite some cities in
China for work, Beijing, Chengdu, Fujian, Shantou, etc. Life has
been continuously good so far. Thanks.
As a preparation and the eventual arrival of Valentino, I didn't
travel for leisure at all in
2017 except for the New Year 2017 trip to Myanmar. Yet life is good
staying close to home.
2016 I changed to a new job so didn't travel much. Went to Slovenia
and Croatia as new countries visited. Finally got to Chengdu and
Chongqing for work trip. The real leisure trip I had, aside from
visiting homes, was visiting UNESCO site of Shirakawa.
2015 is a travel year to me, aside from work that had sent me to
numerous parts of China including Hubei, Jilin, Zhejiang, Beijing,
Shanghai, more and more, I added in Australia and Russia to my
country list. While I also went to the border of North Korea,
Thailand, the Philippine, Taiwan and London during the year. I know
I am living.
I did not have a long vacation in 2014, only a weekend trip to
Taiwan and Thailand and a Christmas vacation to Sabah turtle island.
However, work had sent me twice to Japan, while on one of the weeks
was a Sakura season. It's magnificent.
One and a half year
after I came back from London, I was finally off for an overseas
trip in 2013. This time I visited Malaysia and Indonesia. Yet, this
is also my first time dipping down to the south hemisphere.
The theme of this trip is "investment, pray, love". I did have a
heart-felt emotion/inspiration on these subjects during the trip.
Thanks!
Eventually I moved to Europe,
living in London, in 2011.
Then I started several trips to the Netherlands, Belgium, Scotland,
Spain, Poland, Ukraine, Morocco and Italy. Think I had enough now...
Learn to be simple...
In November 2010, I
went to South-east Asia with my best friends. The tourist points are less a focus to me, but while sharing the
experience with friends are more valuable. Honestly as I've seen
more, countries' history and scenery are very similar; the
wow-factor has diminished. Perhaps it is a signal for me either to
enjoy the culture on a deeper level or to explore further distanced
countries. Life, let's guide me. =)
In May 2010 I went to
Europe again. The more I travel, the traditional tourist points are
not my interests any more. Now I am more toward interaction with the
locals. What I experienced in this trip is that the Nordics and
Baltics are quite cold in human interaction, while they will be very
helpful to friends. The Germans are fantastic to me (as always) and
the Brits have a casting system. But when London is full of
immigrants from all around Europe, I can just be a part of the mosaic.
I am quite enchanted
by Europe as it has a bit of everything -- culture, arts, business,
green environment, etc. Next time when I visit Europe, I may
actually be living there =P.
In late October 2009 I took a trip to
Singapore, Malaysia and India. Out of them, India for sure is the
focus. My trip was an original one although with some luxury
elements attached it. There were times during the trip I was alone,
and some times with the company of my Indian friend, just wanted to
take on experience with a safety net. I was totally not expecting
anything of the trip, even not watching the Slumdog Millionaire
before hand. I saw things that shocked me, but in lesser scale as
I've seen quite much before... But definitely something I learn is
that you have to travel to realize the meaning of family, friendship
and home.
Honestly I have already lost the exciting
spirit I used to have when travelling to different countries. I
don't know what happen. It feels like I have already past the point
of seeing difference. I don't want to be lost anymore; I want
comfort and peace. Though I have not found my definite position in
the ever changing world, I want to settle down and commence a good
life. This perhaps is what I earn out of this trip...
In June 2009 I gave
myself a birthday present of travelling Europe alone. Initially was
planned with friend but schedule doesn't always fit, so... whatever
reason I got to live my life! ;-)
After traveling to
different places quite a few times, I created extra spice for this
trip by not preparing where to visit until days before each
destination. (Though I had some ideas in mind...) I booked the
flight only 2 weeks before departure, while during these 2 weeks I
had a short trip to Fujian Tulou, so
overall I wasn't prepared... When the departure day approached, I
was really scared due to lacking of preparation and also I would be
alone on my own for weeks in places I don't know... well, I must
suck the fears up as I reached the point of no return...
The objective of this trip is different from my
previous ones. The emphasis is not too much on culture but rather
finding that missing feeling I call home. I also know more about
myself through out the trip as I realize I want to be in major city
and that I want to be in place with diversity, so scraping the idea
of Brno and Dresden for Copenhagen during the trip. Perhaps I missed my home feeling
of Vancouver, a place I feel safe but don't want to go back...
Anyhow, share with you here my travel memory. =)
During the year
end of 2007 and early 2008 while I am fortunate to be a freeman in
between jobs over continents, I decided to gain some different life
experience by living in one of the most glamorous cities in the
world - Manhattan. Mainly the goal of this trip is to live in
Manhattan for the sake of living in Manhattan. During the month I
stayed in four different districts: Chelsea, Lower East Side, Murray
Hill, and Upper West Side/Harlem.
The trip is so rewarding and the effect to my life is prominent. It
fulfills my dream to spend a Christmas under the Rockefeller
Christmas tree and also to witness the ball dropping at the Times
Square during the new year countdown.
I remember, the weather was so accommodating, a sweet five degree C,
no clouds, no rain. Got to Times Squares at noon, barricaded at
43-44th St., sweet 2 blocks directly from the ball, then no washroom
for the next 12 hours. Millions and millions witnessed the moment
world wide, and I was there LIVE along with other 750,000. Youth. =P
In May 07 I was on a backpack tour to Mexico, from Teotihuacán to Palenque to Chichén Itzá.
For sure it was an eye opening experience exploring the ruins of one
of the world ancient civilizations, the Aztec and the Mayans, and
learning the background and history of the struggles in Mexico. It
was indeed very difficult to handle the pain as Mexico is full of
unjust, painful, and being exploited stories. The original purpose
of this backpack tour was to get me into a tougher and rougher man.
However it didn't serve the purpose as I had so much fun with the
group. We helped each other, so turned out that I didn't have to be
tough after all. Having said this, my life has changed as I lived
with a group of amazing people with diverse background and beliefs
and for certain learned that there are alternative ways to live a
life.
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