Let's Start Off With Some Good News... Jeff and I got married on June 14th! Jeff was planning to be in Medellin for the Pan American Master's Diving Championship, so I decided to tag along and extend our trip to Cartagena and make a honeymoon out of it. I actually kind of cringe at the "honeymoon" moniker as we have been together for almost 15 years and it wasn't as if we were embarking on a new life together, but regardless it feels good to have our relationship legally recognized now that Hawaii has passed marriage equality. Botero: The Noncriminal Son A visit to Medellin is not complete without viewing Fernando Botero's art and sculptures. On my first full day in Medellin, after Jeff established a new world record in master's 3M springboard, we trooped out ... read more

I recently traveled to Singapore for my mother's 80th birthday. While looking for mileage award flights back from Singapore to Honolulu, one intriguing option popped up: Singapore to Taipei and then to Guam on EVA Air, and then connect in Guam onto a United flight to Honolulu. I knew at booking that EVA Air had a co-branding arrangement with Hello Kitty, so I hoped that at least one of the flights would be on a Hello Kitty jet. I was disappointed that the Singapore-Taipei flight was not Hello Kitty themed, but we did get a Hello Kitty Chinese New Year greeting on the video screen: On arrival in Taipei, I discovered that one gate in the C-pier was decked out in the finest Hello Kitty kitsch - phone booths, play area, world clock, and others. On ... read more

Background Since moving to Hawaiʻi, I have been very fortunate to work for a Native Hawaiian organization with significant land holdings, first as an independent consultant and now as an employee. One of the things that struck me about the people of Hawaiʻi, and Native Hawaiians in particular, was how connected many of them were to their land, environment, folklore and traditions. This is in direct contrast to many Singaporeans who are very disconnected. Although I love nature and I daresay I am more connected to the natural environment than most of my peers in Singapore, my connection tended to be visual, aesthetic and academic (I was a Geography major, map geek and avid kayaker) rather than something I internalized for my own wellbeing. For many Singaporeans, growing up was about academics and getting a headstart ... read more

My main motivation in writing this entry is because I have a hard time describing Singapore cuisine to my American friends, so I thought I'd write this blog and simply point anyone who asks about Singapore cuisine to this post. A picture is worth a thousand words; I'll describe each dish pictured in this entry and also identify its origins to the best of my ability - note that many of the dishes are fusion to some degree so it is not always accurate to pinpoint one single origin. I'm not an expert in food or culinary history, so there may be inaccuracies. This is an evolving blog entry and I'll add more pictures as I make more trips to Singapore. For a more comprehensive and authoritative collection of pictures of Singapore cuisine, check out my ... read more

Many people who know me know that I like to schedule long layovers in Japan en route to/from Singapore. This wasn't the case until a few years ago. As children, my parents lived through Japan's brutal occupation of Singapore and my dad in particular has never been comfortable around Japanese. Growing up, we lived in an expat-friendly neighborhood; my parents, to their credit, did not stop me from making playmates out of the two Japanese kids next door. Despite interacting with Japanese people from an early age, I never really had much desire to visit Japan and so when I moved to the US, I only booked flights with short connections in Japan. This changed in 2009 when I had no choice but to book a trip with a twelve hour connection in Tokyo. On that ... read more