http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/halefg/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from halefg en-us Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:32:04 +0000 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 00:32:04 +0000 ... Santa baby a '54 convertible too light blue I'll wait up for you dearSanta baby so hurry down the chimney tonight Marilyn MonroeOnly a few days before Christmas.The air in San Antonio smells a little sweeter in the last couple of days. Christmas time conjures a familiar spirit inside me although sometimes it is desecrated by the overcommercialization of desperate American industries http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Texas/San-Antonio/blog-353981.html A man may stand there and put all America behind him Transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau about Cape CodI can recall maybe around six or seven times in my life when I have suffered from somewhat severe sunburn but this particular time is different for several reasons. One it is a cheerful reminiscence of a perfect and relaxing weekend chillaxing chill and relaxing at the beach by http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Massachusetts/Boston/blog-306003.html ldquoSo yoursquore Lan Zirdquo my tea specialist concluded in her broken English. She was suspiciously staring at me as if I had just poured hot water all over her delicate hand. I just finished explaining my lame excuse for not being able to talk in any of the Chinese dialects fluently the ability to speaking Chinese stopped in my generation because I was born in the nonChinesespeaking http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Hong-Kong/blog-267738.html Macau Most Americans would raise their eyebrows upon hearing the name. For us Macau is almost as exotic as secluded Timbuktu or legendary El Dorado but in reality it is more accessible than those two aforementioned places. Unfortunately Macau is not going to be on travelerrsquos top list places to visit anytime soon. Its proximate location to mega polis Hong Kong dwarfs the importance of http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Macau/blog-267740.html Within only 85 miles north of the equator line Singapore is wickedly humid. Lush tropical trees and exotic plants are thriving and covering most of the island along its roads and in between modern buildings and historical structures making it even hard to breathe yet comfortable for having the shades over human habitation down on the ground level.After receiving a bad news from my brotherin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/blog-267699.html So I found out that Eric our fraternity's traveling Charge consultant is obsessed with the beautiful upcoming country singer Taylor Swift. He so adores her and the rest of us on the table couldn't help it but look at each other and smile.Our conversation at our little Japanese dinner continued ranging from Boston's party scene to our pact of hiking up the Mt. Kilimanjaro sometime in the near http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/South-Carolina/Columbia/blog-253126.html Mazel Tov lsquoGood fortunersquo a phrase that is often said frequently and loudly at Jewish celebrations.The excited exclamation brings me back from my brief daydream after a couple of minutes listening to a foreign speech that I can not understand. I look around and find myself sitting among a hundred enthusiast worshippers inside Baron Hirsch Synagogue an intricate American Orthodo http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Tennessee/Memphis/blog-213780.html Monday October 1st 2007 Sydney New South Wales AustraliaI have to admit that I have not found any negative things about Australia so far. Beautiful nature stunning harbors and an easy going culture what else one might want It seems like the whole continent has a good gene pool everybody is fit and athletic and the only obese people I have spotted so far are international tourists a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-208862.html Wednesday September 26th 2007 Sydney New South Wales AustraliaAfter backpacking and moving to one new place to the next for almost a month now I started to understand the importance of having a home base. A place where you feel belong a place where your heart is. Thus in my case I am becoming an unofficial bum in Australia of which I canrsquot complain much anyway. Homesick started http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/blog-205602.html Friday September 21st 2007 Sydney New South Wales AustraliaFauna of the Down Under are unique to the region concluded a nineteenth century British biologist named Alfred Russell Wallace after noticing the distinctive mammal species that can not be found anywhere else in the world upon his visits to Australia. Back in our Indonesian high school we always learned about the Wallace Line whi http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-204256.html Monday September 17th 2007 Sydney New South Wales AustraliaSydney Australia. The name of the city conjures up many world known landmarks located in the area Sydney Opera House the coat hanger Harbour Bridge and Bondi Beach to name a few. And some tanned Australians wandering around in their funny hat saying lsquoGrsquodayrsquo. Surprisingly the more I read about Sydney the http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/blog-203782.html Saturday September 15th 2007 Milford Sound World Heritage Fiordland NP New ZealandQueenstown is named after the fact that 'it was a city that was fit for Queen Victoria'. It also happens to be the adventure capital of the world the world famous bungee company A.J. Hackett's first bungee jumping was born here just outside Queenstown in historic Kawarau Bridge.The aforementioned facts combi http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Milford-Sound/blog-202336.html Wednesday September 12th 2007 Rotorua New ZealandldquoWhat is sheeprsquos favorite newspaper The WOOL Street JournalrdquoI chuckled as I finished one of my favoritersquos sheep jokes. Prior to the New Zealand trip Irsquove read many sheep jokes in my attempt to blend in with the Kiwis. Some people around me just rolled their sarcasm eyes and some just smiled politely so they http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-202093.html Monday September 10th 2007 Auckland New ZealandQantas has lived up to my expectations it provided excellent services and helps that we all needed during our 13 hrs flight.It was an interesting thought to think that we simply never existed on Sunday September 9 2007 as we crossed the International Date Line. Our flight left Los Angeles on Saturday September 8th and arrived on Monday Sep http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/blog-200834.html Friday September 7th 2007 Atlanta GeorgiaLos Angeles CaliforniaMy travel plan to the Down Under brought me to the City of Angels for a short time.The first leg of the trip was a three hour flight from Atlanta to Phoenix. I have to admit that I was impressed with the city as this was my first encounter with the state of Arizona but I can name plenty of other airports in the nation than the http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/Hollywood/blog-200502.html Sunday March 25 2007 Atlanta Underground Atlanta GA I hardly can recall on how a marathon would do such harm to your body from my past Marine Corps Marathon which took place six months ago see . A hostile reminder however was inevitably after completing another 26.2 mile course noticeably when you were wobbling around the finishers ground while your now stiffen legs strained back mus http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Georgia/Atlanta/blog-142272.html Friday May 25th 2007 DallasFt. Worth TexasGas prices are expected to reach its peak during this Memorial Day weekend the unofficial starting date for 2007 summer traveling season for millions of Americans. According to todayrsquos edition of USA Today 1 out of 8 Americans are traveling more than 50 miles from their home this weekend a staggering number of 38 millions travelers of which http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Texas/Dallas/blog-163587.html Friday June 8 2007 Atlanta GeorgiaNorth Charleston South Carolina We left Atlanta Georgia a tad earlier than what originally had planned but unfortunately the blight journey delivered us right into the middle of notorious ritual of Atlantarsquos Friday afternoon traffic jam. It was another opportunity to put our patience to the test among Atlantarsquos worst drivers. Or it might be b http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/South-Carolina/Charleston/blog-167879.html Friday June 15 2007 Biloxi MississippiNew Orleans Louisiana I touched down in GulfportBiloxi Mississippi regional airport to start my New Orleans weekend getaway at 734pm. This was not my first time arriving in the State of Mississippi but the stereotype of how the lsquopoorestrsquo state in the Union would offer you was inevitably lingering on my mind. Of course the stereotype i http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Louisiana/New-Orleans/blog-170746.html Friday April 27th 2007 Miami Florida lsquohellip Welcome to Miami Buenvenidos a Miamirsquo I finally made it to Miami albeit a typo error problem on the Delta Airlinesrsquos eticket in spelling my name apparently an lsquoFrsquo sounds like an lsquoSrsquo over a phone reservation but it was permuted rather quickly thanks to Dustinrsquos Delta Platinum Member program http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Miami/blog-153857.html