Ramie and I had a great trip to the Big Island of Hawaii swimming with sea turtles, seeing a volcano, hiking to secluded beaches and eating good food. IPad and iPhone users, link to Flickr slideshow.
This video is funny but true. Lots of Asian food, no Asian people on the Food Network other than Ming Tsai, and his show isn’t on the network anymore.
An aside: I saw Tsai, the East Meets West star, when I was celebrating my birthday at Alan Wong’s restaurant in Honolulu a few weeks back. Didn’t get a chance to say hello.
This post can is also on Hyphen magazine’s blog.
My trip to Chicago last week for the Unity Journalists of Color convention drew some parallels the “Across Asian Middle America” feature in the Road Trip Issue of Hyphen, which hits the streets in August.
Chicago is a great city and has a sizable Asian American presence, but it’s nowhere near Los Angeles, New York or San Francisco, where I live. Maybe a generation ago, an Asian American writer from Chicago could have written a piece for Hyphen magazine’s “Across Asian Middle America,” a series of vignettes in The Road Trip Issue about living in places that are far away–geographically and spiritually–from areas where there are large populations of Asian Americans. Read more…
A tourist junk sails in Halong Bay, Vietnam. More photos from Japan and Vietnam
It’s probably not common to combine visits to Japan and Vietnam in one trip, but we did it. We had friends we wanted to see in Japan and Vietnam sounded interesting, so why not? There’s quite contrast between Japan and Vietnam. They have almost nothing in common, but each was intriguing in their own way. Read more…
The jet lag is wearing off, but I’m still waking up at 5 a.m. Tokyo time. Ramie and I have been here almost a week and just got back from two days in Kyoto.
Japan is a study in contrasts. Goth teens, maid cafes (waitresses acting dainty in French maid outfits), men in little girls’ clothes, geishas and staid businesmen in dark suits all seem to work in this society.
More thoughts as the trip progresses.
Since visiting last year, I take an interest at any news I come across about South Africa. This Los Angeles Times story highlights a long-simmering problem of social unrest in Zimbabwe and the mass migration of people across the border to South Africa. Read more…
The bright lights of the Las Vegas Strip.
My first visit to Las Vegas was in 1999. A buddy and I booked the best hotel deal we could find, and not knowing the geography, we ended up in the Stratosphere, at the far north end of the Strip away from most of the action.
In subsequent trips, we’ve got a little smarter and stayed at hotels at the southern end of the strip, where most of the big hotels are located, but often still trying to get a decent room and eschewing the larger luxury casinos, which have grown in size and number since 1999. Read more…
I was on the same Southwest flight from Oakland to Burbank with actor-director Penny Marshall on Saturday. My wife Ramie and her sister Debbie spotted her at the gate waiting area, and at first they weren’t sure it was her. She was wearing sweats and a baseball cap, pretty normal looking. Read more…
It could be the white-sand beaches. It could be the blue sea that calls you to jump in. It could be the warm tropical weather and the palm trees waving in the breeze. It could be a laid-back lifestyle.
It’s all of these things that make Hawaii unique and make me feel so comfortable when I visit. What really sets Hawaii apart, though, is its population. About 60 percent of the state’s residents are Asian Pacific Islanders. Read more…
Our South Africa trip is winding down. Ramie and I (seen with the Three Rondawels rock formations along the Blyde River) are in Johannesburg now on our last day in the country. We’ve been to Cape Town and been in the bush country on a safari. It’s been a great trip. The aftermath of apartheid can still be seen almost everywhere, and the country is still very segregated. Read more…
