Carmel by the Sea After the whole afternoon of fun driving, we arrived at the charming Carmel-by-the-Sea. Some of the cottages in this town are straight out of Hansel and Gretel story book. In addition to its ginger bread cottages, this city is famous for its white sand beach, art galleries, restaurants, and dog-friendly hotels. Doris Day’s Cypress Inn is a must see historic hotel. Its blanco Spanish architecture building features a tranquil courtyard and a cozy living room with an oversized fireplace. The afternoon tea service is a must try. A great variety of teas are complemented by a selection of homemade scones and tea cookies, tea sandwiches, jam and thickened cream. After strolling along the main and side streets in downtown Carmel, we were ready to head back to San Francisco. We decided to ... read more

Monterey Bay To car enthusiasts, Monterey Bay is one of the special places in Northern California. In addition to mesmerizing coast line roads, blue ocean, temperate climate, and mouth watering seafood, this place hosts many high speed and historic racing events. Laguna Seca circuit is located just a few miles west of Monterey Bay’s sand dunes off Highway 1. Due to the rolling hills and valleys that make up the region’s landscape, Laguna Seca circuit features the highly respected and challenging high speed turns, switchbacks, and hairpins. The elevation changes on the turns give the continuous 3D racing experience that is rather unique to this circuit. The famous corkscrew turn pushes not only the limit of the drivers but also to the engineering teams that build and tune the chassis, suspension, and brake. Even Avatar 3D ... read more

Hutongs and Nanluogu Xiang Back in Beijing, crisscrossing the city center, through the passenger windows, there are small alleyways tucked within large blocks of modern skyscrapers. These alleyways are known as Hutongs and there are thousands of them. Strolling or cycling is the best way to explore and experience how the city used to be nearly 800 years ago. Since Genghis Khan’s time, the people of Beijing have built single-story homes with tiled roofs, facing into a central courtyard. From the labyrinth of crumbling grey alleyways, one cannot see the houses as they are protected by high walls. From a corner of a Hutong, one can watch children playing soccer, men working in a tiny workshop dimly lit by a single bulb, street vendors on a bicycle with a wagon attached selling foods, rickshaw drivers taking ... read more

Qianmen Street Turning left from Dongchang’an Jie onto the street that lines the Tiananmen square, we head south towards Qianmen Street. Originally built 570 years ago during the Zhentong Period of the Ming Dynasty, Qianmen Street has gone through several renovation projects over many generations. This saturated-by-history street today features colorful and ornate Chinese structures modeled on the ones from the 1920’s and 30’s. Many buildings have red, gold, blue intricate mosaics, bright red thick columns, and shiny green roofs. The grand and tall five arches Qianmen Wupailou structure welcomes people to this pedestrian-and-tram-only shopping street. Birdcage, rattle drum, and sugar-coated haws streetlamps invite first comers to continually explore the hidden gems. And, at nights, the buildings on this street glow like gold bars. During the Ming Dynasty this street serv... read more

Sentosa Island Traffic is getting busy as the day is advancing. We enter Sentosa Island in our navigation system and start driving towards the southern tip of the main island. We also choose the route that includes some highway driving.While other city planners discuss and design how many parks to build in their cities, Singapore’s city planners design and build working and living spaces in the Garden. This is how Singapore got its Garden city status. The highways around the city are lined on both sides with trees with far reaching branches that create continues canopy. The natural canopy protects the people on the road from the scorching heat during the hottest and humid days. When we arrive at Sentosa Island we are surprised by the massive development effort just as we enter the gateway. Large ... read more