Juliet Sinclair's Trips

Juliet Sinclair's Trips

mengembara di 13 negara. Baca lagi🇺🇸Overland Park

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2018 Singapore Pengembara
Arrival Singapore
26 Mei 2018, Singapura ⋅ 🌙 26 °C
After 16 hrs of surprisingly pleasant flight (Singapore Airline is truly the best!), we arrived at our hotel: Marina Bay Sands.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Bay_Sands

This hotel is legendary and massive! With hundreds of shops, restaurants, theaters and rooftop infinity swimming pool! We actually saw a show about this hotel at the Travel channel once, never thought we would actually stay here one day.

Hotel room is big, the bathroom is really nice, love the balcony overlooking the bay as well.

This is our home for the next 5 days. Can’t wait to jump into the famous pool, and explore the city tomorrow.Baca lagi
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2017 Denver Pengembara
Day 3: Boulder, CO
24 November 2017, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
Today’s main mission was climbing a mountain! The Flatiron Mountain to be exact.

After about 45 minuets of driving from Denver, we arrived at Chautauqua Park, where the trail starts. Looking at the mountain from distance, its imposing formations didn’t seem very friendly. We eagerly started walking toward it, couldn’t wait to conquer it!

The first part of the trail is paved, weaving through the meadows going upward. The dirt trail was followed by rocky road and lovely trees. As we climbed higher and higher, the trail became increasingly more difficult. Some parts required us to climb with our hands on the ground.

We were surprised at how many people brought their dogs with them, and that those obedient animals were all really well behaved and had no problem climbing the large rocks.

After more than one hour of climbing, we finally reached the top of one of the peaks. We were met by a very strong and cold wind. That didn’t deter Evan from climbing to a notch at the edge of the cliff, telling me to take a photo of him. My body was swaying in the wind, my hat was about to be blown off the mountain top, and I was having trouble holding my phone to take a photo. So Steve climbed to the edge of the cliff and took a photo of Evan. I told them to come back from the edge. I only dared a couple of peeks of the lovely valley 1,400 feet below us, trying not to imagine Evan slipping and falling. I couldn’t even look at him as he made his way back from the notch, climbing at the very edge of the cliff against the strong wind.

We met a very nice lady from CA, about 60 years old. I was very impressed she made this far all by herself. She took some photos of us and I took some of her. Believe or not, she was brave enough to also climb to the notch so Steve could take photos of her sitting there, inches away from more than 1,000 feet drop. Good for her!

We continued our climb towards the peak next to us but we had almost run out of water. Not knowing exactly how far away the next peak was, we turned back.

Climbing down was a lot easier than going up! Although many times I had to use my hands to hold the rocks behind me, and place my feet at the tiny holes, so I didn’t slip too far down. Unfortunately, this was also the moment when I realized that my walking shoes have lost most of the traction, placing me in more danger of slipping. Fortunately, when I did slip, it happened at less dangerous places. Well, god reason from me to get new shoes! YAY!

Once we got back down from the mountain, we drove to Downtown Boulder, took a well deserved break at a local coffee shop called Laughing Goat.

Our next destination is Estes Park, which is located at the foothills of the Rocky Mountain National Park. We started our one hour drive in the lovely mountain roads. By the time we arrived at the Estes Park, we noticed a lot of police cars around and many families with kids walking on the road. We didn’t think much about it and went to a nice restaurant, and had a great dinner.

However, after dinner, as we were trying to leave the town, we realized that the whole town was blocked off for their Thanksgiving parade! We drove around and around, couldn’t pass the police barricades. Finally we had to stop the car and asked a policeman for directions to our hotel. He was nice enough to point a way out of town for us.

After much twists and turns, we finally arrived at our hotel called Della Terra Mountain Chateau, and checked into our mountain cabin. After we turned on the cozy fireplace, everything was all good!Baca lagi
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2017 Denver Pengembara
Day 2: Nature Parks
23 November 2017, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C
Since it’s Thanksgiving Day today, most of museums, restaurants and shops are closed, thankfully, not the National Parks!

Our breakfast was unusual: the restaurant we were trying to go was closed but failed to inform the Internet , so we arrived there facing the closed doors. Steve wanted to go to IHOP, I said absolutely not! I am not coming to a different city to eat at IHOP! After a quick search on Google map, I was was happy to discover a Mideastern restaurant called Jerusalem (voted as one of the best Mideastern restaurants in Denver, a business operated by the same family for the last 35 years!) was just down the block. Beef Shawarma and lamb Gyros were very tasty breakfast food! LOL!

Red Rock Park is only about 30 minuets away from Denver, and the dramatic red rock formations were visible to us from miles away due to their sizes. The Red Rock Amphitheatre locates at the center of this park is actually a famous concert venue. We loved the fact that 2 huge rock formations are its backdrop! The 3 mile hiking in the park was very lovely too.

After some quick snacks in the car, we headed to Colorado Springs, which is only 1 hour away.

Once again, we were greeted by even more dramatic rock formations from far away as we entering The Garden of Gods National Park.

The main difference between these 2 parks is that Garden of Gods allows you to climb the rocks. Check out the amazing pictures of a couple scaling a vertical rock called Cathedral Pillar. They climbed higher than the birds!

Evan loved, loved doing some free climbing as well. Don’t worry, he was never in mortal danger... although I was a bit regretting not to bring any bandaids.

Few restaurants opened today, fortunately I’ve done my research weeks ago and booked a wonderful restaurant called Till Kitchen (voted as one of the best restaurants in Colorado Springs 3 years in the row). The restaurant indeed delivered some wonderful dishes. Evan and Steve inhaled their steak and pork chop dishes, my smoke trout salad was just ok though.

Spending a Thanksgiving Day in the National parks is a great idea!Baca lagi
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2017 Denver Pengembara
Day 1 - Night time
22 November 2017, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C
Dinner tonight was at one of the best restaurants in Denver, called Acorn. Every dish was fantastic from beginning to finish! No wonder it was ranked as #1 in some best restaurants lists.

The restaurant is located inside a very cool and hip small shopping center. The most unique store front has a flower shop and a butcher shop sharing the same space.

Once we are back to our hotel, we had the chance to admire the art work displays. One noticeable piece is a Fish Lamp creates by Frank Gehry!Baca lagi
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2017 Denver Pengembara
Day 1 - Denver
22 November 2017, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
Our move to Kansas has made Colorado closer to us. Flying to Denver took less than 2 hours.

We arrived late last night, staying at a very beautiful hotel called the Art hotel. The whole place is decorated with modern art pieces, even the TV screens in the elevators are showing modern art video exhibits instead of boring info like other hotels. The fact all the drinks and snacks in the room are free made us love this hotel even more!

The downtown Denver is very walkable. Our hotel is right in the middle of the Denver Art Museum Complex. In fact, we can see the amazing intricate design of the roof of the Denver Art Museum (by the famous architect Daniel Libeskind) right from our hotel room window. Very cool!

Starting from our hotel, we walked by the golden roof of Denver Capital Building, and then to the famous 16th Street Mall, a pedestrian outdoor space designed by another famous architect I.M. Pei. With so many interesting restaurants and street food stalls lining up the entire 1 mile of pedestrian street, we wished we hadn’t had so a big breakfast!

We took a left turn to visit an awesome art work called “I see what you mean!”, it’s a huge bear statue peeking into a building windows. Super fun!

We then walked all the way to Union Station before turning back. Had a very small lunch at a restaurant called Duck Soup. Delicious and healthy soups made from scratch every day. Yummy!

We are starting to fall in love with this city!Baca lagi
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PengembaraEnjoyed the blog wth the photos - looks like a city I would like to visit. Glad you are having such a good time. Peter
22/11/17Balas
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2017 China Pengembara
Day 8: Flying to KC from LA - 7/30/17
31 Julai 2017, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ 🌙 27 °C
The landscape from LA to KC is very interesting! It's clear how unique the land formations are from the air. Since Evan was busy reading his book on the flight, I was able to sit by the window. I realized that I haven't had the chance for a window seat for years since Evan always gets the best seat on the plane. Well, sacrifice of a mother.

Las Vegas looked amazing from the air. It's truly in the middle of the desert. After many miles of yellow and red sand landscape, suddenly a sprawling city came to view. Everything looked so organized from the air with straight streets and perfectly spaced houses.

Grand Canyon looked amazing from the air as well! This is one nature wonder we have yet to visit. Definitely will do so soon.

After traveling for 30 + hours, we are finally home!Baca lagi
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2017 China Pengembara
Day 7: Jiuzhaigou to LA: 7/30/17
30 Julai 2017, Amerika Syarikat ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C
Back to USA! I can finally post freely on Facebook again! I was able to post directly to Facebook once and then not able to pass the Great Digital Wall of China since. I had to use my FindPenguins account to post my travel journal.

I have to say the most surprising thing about this trip is the fact the bathrooms in China have improved a lot. Our guide said the government had launched a movement called "bathroom revolution", so agencies in China have invested lots of money to build better bathrooms. Even though they are still not as good as the Western ones, at least we saw a lot less horrifying things in them now. Some of them even have toilet papers! Unthinkable in the past.

Also, Chinese tourists litter less now too. There are garbage cans every few hundred meters, so they are really good at putting their trash in the cans. Some even recycle! Although some people still spit on the floor. I think there are too many smokers in China, and many of them have lung issues, therefore need to spit a lot. At least the government has banned smoking indoors. I only saw one person smoked inside, and I told him to get lost. He walked away with his young son unashamed. Horrible person!

With so many changes (many more high rises and highways), what hasn't changed is the kindness of the people. Everyone we met has gone out of their ways to make our travel easier. When I forgot my shoes, the hotel sent someone to bring them to me to the airport; the wife and father of our guide in Chengdu, escorted my parents from airport to train station in our absence; our VIP minibus guide in Jiuzhaigou made herself the guidance angel of my parents, always made sure they were safe and sound at every site.

Sichuan is known for its amazing cuisine, and we had so much amazing food! From the best mapo tofu, to very authentic street food; from extremely tender yak meat, to Tibetan stuffed pancake made with local corps in the mountains. Every where we went, people were shocked how much Evan could handle the spicy food. He even challenged a chef in a little family restaurant to make the dishes as spicy as he could, and the food was spicy and wonderful!

Saying goodbye to my parents was hard. They had turned 80 years old this year, and my mother has terrible knee problems that she can't walk very well anymore. She told me this may be her last trip, and she had a really good time. She then thanked me for enabling her to see how much of the world in the past 10 plus years. I of course told her this would not be her last trip, and I would bring her to see as much World as she wants!

We will go back to China in 2 years!Baca lagi
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2017 China Pengembara
Day 6: Huanglong - 7/28/17
28 Julai 2017, China ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
Today is our last day of vacation; we are heading home tomorrow.

Huanglong in Chinese means Yellow Dragon, it's another national park that draws many Chinese tourists. Thankfully, since there are a lot stairs and walking involved with this park, the crowds are much smaller.

This is also our favorite day of the whole trip, because we were mostly on our own for the whole day, enjoyed the park at our leisure. Unlike yesterday when we were in Jiuzhaigou, even with the VIP minibus, we still felt like cattle, being shuffled around all day.

Really enjoyed the amazing sceneries of this park!Baca lagi
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2017 China Pengembara
Day 5: Jiuzhaigou - 7/27/17
27 Julai 2017, China ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
Today, we visited Jiuzhaigou National Park. This park is a massive park that's one of the most well known tourist sites in China, therefore it's always packed with Chinese tourists. Unfortunately we went on the day that there are more than 30,000 people visiting!

As we arrive at the entrance, we met with sea of people. Tour groups everywhere with their megaphones. We decided to take the VIP minibus instead of waiting for the bus with thousands of people, and trust me, it was a wise decision.

The park is truly an amazing nature wonder, with many little lakes and massive waterfalls decorating the mountains. We just have to imagine their tranquility without huge crowds.

The day ended with an amazing Chinese culture show.Baca lagi
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2017 China Pengembara
Day 4: Chengdu to Jiuzhangou
26 Julai 2017, China ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C
Flying to Jiuzhaigou was thankfully short, only 45 minutes. It was nice to look down at the mountains from the plane. Very loud Chinese kids and adults though. There was a guy in sunglasses insisted getting in front of everyone, he was walking towards the front of the plane even before the plane arrived at the gate, the flight attendant had to use to overhead speaker to tell him to sit down. He was ignoring the her until all the passengers told him go sit-down. He finally sat. As soon as the plane arrived at the gate, he jumped up and run to the front. We all thought he was in hurry, until we saw him waiting just outside of the plane, playing on the phone. And then much later we saw him came out with his wife. So when he left the plane, he left his wife behind. What a selfish and impatient person!

Our driver met us just outside. A very lively young man who talks a lot, which made our 1 and half hour drive from the airport to our hotel very interesting. As we stopped and took a break, a woman approached us with some necklaces for sale. She took a necklace and told me the pendant was wolf tooth, and it costed ¥200 (about $27). I quietly asked the driver should I get it. He shook his head. After we got back in the car, he told me that real wolf tooth pendant would've cost ¥2,000! The tooth she was selling was most likely fox tooth.

When we stopped again for photos, some locals approached us. One of them handed us a baby lamb for photo taking (¥10), another trying to sell fake wolf tooth necklace again. This lady only asked for ¥20. I though ¥20 for fox tooth was kind of neat too, so I bought one. Kind of worth it just to see how happy she was!

I am very happy to be in the beautiful mountains now, at the eastern part of the Himalayan mountain range.Baca lagi
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2017 China Pengembara
Day 3: Chengdu - 7/25/17
26 Julai 2017, China ⋅ 🌙 25 °C
Today, our main itinerary is Leshan Buddha, the tallest Buddha status in the world. More than 1,000 years ago, the Buddha was carved on the side of a mountain, over 90 meters tall! And it took over 90 years to complete this massive project.

Our tour guide told us that since this area is where 3 different rivers meet, the current was very unpredictable a thousand years ago, many fishermen died. So a monk proposed building a massive Buddha here to provide blessings. Once the Buddha was carved out from the mountain, and the amount of rocks dumped in the rivers actually did ease the current. Amazingly, the Buddha did save many lives!

We first saw the Buddha from a boat, soaked in its magnificent size from afar. Then we walked to the top of his head, and hiked the narrow path, along with hundreds of Chinese tourists, all the way down to its feet, and then all the way up to its head. Despite of the massive crowd, it was still a wonderful experience.

Afternoon, we visited the largest shopping mall by volume in the world! The brand new shopping mall is truly massive! There is a whole water park and ice Skating ring inside!Baca lagi
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2017 China Pengembara
Day 2: Chengu - 7/24/17
26 Julai 2017, China ⋅ 🌙 25 °C
Today, we went to Qingcheng Mountain. A famous mountain know for its Taoism temple. Despite the hoards of Chinese tourists, as we walked around the beautiful mountain paths, we could still feel the peaceful atmosphere.

Afternoon, we went to Dujiangyan, an irrigation marvel build 2,000 years ago! Check out why this system so important to China here. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dujiangyan

We ended today with eating in a restaurant by a busy local food street.Baca lagi
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2017 China Pengembara
Day 1: Chengdu - 7/23/17
26 Julai 2017, China ⋅ 🌙 24 °C
Today, we went to the biggest Panda facility in the world! There are 80 pandas reside here. We went there early enough to see many pandas playing outside (pandas have to go inside once the temperature passes 26 C).

The whole facility is well build and maintained, lots of green space for pandas to play and for humans to walk around. We've seen 2 weeks old panda, 2 months old pandas, 2 years old pandas, and many adult ones. It's so clear how well they are being cared for. The caretaker was feeding a baby panda when we passed by. Our guide told us that there were twins, and panda mom chose the stronger one, so the weaker one was being cared for by the caretakers. They would feed it and then rub its tummy gently, to help it digest the milk.

He also told us that the panda population was thriving in the wild as well. So much so that panda is no longer listed as endangered animal.

Afternoon, we went to a huge city park called People's Park. Many locals were spending their leisure time here. Today is matching making day, so we saw many ads for singers laying on the ground, Abdul many people (mostly mothers) were sitting around waiting for inquiries. Very unique thing to see in China.

As we passed by an amusement park, Evan really wanted to play bumping cars, since he is finally old enough to drive one by himself. I insisted that my father join him as well. Watching my dad laughing like crazy on the bumping car made me extremely happy!

We ended our active day at Sichuan Opera theater. This opera is known for a technique called face change. The actors can change their face masks in the blink of an eye! The whole show was very authentic and very enjoyable!Baca lagi
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2016 India Trip Pengembara
Day 9: Abu Dhabi
28 November 2016, Emiriah Arab Bersatu ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
Lost my sneakers at the Olympic event at the India Expo Mart. I was washing my hands in the lady's room when suddenly people around me screamed and jumped back. I looked down, the sewage has come out of the drain and I was standing in the pool of pee and poo. I screamed too and jumped back, feeling so grossed out. Luckily we have brought our luggage with us so we could go to the airport directly from the venue, so I was able to find another pair of shoes and throw the dirty pair in the trash.

I can't help but trying to compare India with China. There are many similarities between these two most populated countries in the world. Both are extremely crowded and polluted; both experiencing the big boost in their economies. However, I do think India is lagging behind in infrastructure development. There are way fewer roads than what the cars needed, in some smaller cities, the roads are in very bad shape, desperately need repair. Public transportation doesn't meet people's needs, that's why we see as many as 5 people in a tiny scooter. The air quality is worse than China too. Believe me, China has its own smog issues, but Evan and Steve didn't experience such a severe reaction as they do in India now. Evan started coughing soon after we stepped into the smog the first night we got here; sadly the coughing is getting worse. Last night he coughed almost all night! Steve started to develop some respiratory issues too now. It's actually a good thing we are leaving now before he gets worse.

Despite all these issues we have experienced in India, we have fall in love with the country and its people. The rich history and culture are impressive; the arts and crafts are amazing; most importantly, the people are the nicest people we met! They are kind and considerate, hard working and easy going, always ready to help. We have made some good friends in this trip.

To reach Abu Dhabi, we have to go through 4 separate security checkpoints. Let me tell you, it wasn't easy. We have our LEGO robot pieces in our carry on, along with many batteries and chargers. The most suspicious item is the EV block which is the brain of the robot, unfortunately it looks like a bomb detonator, so it would be checked by multiple people at each checkpoint. I have to show them the invitation letters from the Indian government for the Olympic game every time. Once they realize all these stuff are for Evan to build a robot and compete, they were very nice about it. Gave him a thumbs up and told him good job. I guess it's good that they take security so seriously, but it took us forever to go through each checkpoint.

Abu Dhabi airport is very modern, I love the fact they have excellent Wifi, which allows me to post this final entry of my India trip travel blog.

Thanks for reading it! It has been fun!Baca lagi
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2016 India Trip Pengembara
Day 8: World Robotic Olympic-Game Day 2
27 November 2016, India ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
Well, the boys' luck has run out today. They didn't get any medals, however, neither was any of the teams assigned to Table A. What happened was that after the practice runs, the judge cleaned the table using the cleaning spray, and may have failed to wipe away the wetness right by the starting point for the robot. Almost all the robots on the table have slipped, and went crazy on the table! The only robot didn't slip was the Japanese one, since that robot was super slow, somehow survived the wetness. All the teams protested, and called the Head Judge over. He looked at the table and said it was fine. Of course by the time he got there, the spot was no longer wet.

The Olympic committee members had an emergency meeting and decided not to give the teams assigned to this table another run because one robot was ok, they didn't think it would be fair to them if we redo the match. We are all very disappointed about the decision but there was nothing we could do about it. 😢

The bright side of the incident is that the boys now have the chance to walk around and really check out the whole Olympic game, since there are other categories:

At the high school level, there are robot bowling and robot soccer matches. Then there is Open category. The kids from many countries brought their idea about recycling and environmental protection. The theme of this robot competition is Rap the Scraps. There are some really amazing displays here. One team's robot machine can convert used cooking oil to soaps; one team's robot machine can clean beaches automatically; the robot machine from Iran can go under water and clean the bottom of the ocean!

As the boys walking around and exchanging trinkets with other teams, some of the asked for photos. As I was getting ready to take the photo, kids from other countries would walk by, and I told them to get in, and then more walked by and joined in. Check out the photo which has kids from 7 or 8 countries! Ghana, China, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, South Korea, Japan, Nigeria, Malaysia and of course, USA!

Happy to say that our American Flag pins are very popular at the event. People would come and ask for them. The Syrian team are happy to see us today, and asked for photos with the boys. Evan gave them a huge handful of the American Flag pins! Iran team gave Evan and Kyran some nice chocolates, and happily took some photos with us.

Needless to say, this is the true highlight of the event. Meeting people from so many different countries, and making new friends!

What an amazing experience for us!Baca lagi
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2016 India Trip Pengembara
Day 7: World Robotic Olympic-Game Day 1
26 November 2016, India ⋅ 🌫 18 °C
New flash!! Evan and Kyran have made through to the finals tomorrow!! Woohoo! I guess bad rehearsal does make a good opening day!! After yesterday's disastrous practice day, I kind lost hope a bit. But guess what? They did amazingly during the actual game day! The boys are so relieved and excited!

Sadly the other American teams didn't make it, which means the Awesome Blockies is the only team representing USA in the Olympic now.

I always told the boys that the fact we are here means we have already won; but now we are going to the finals, my hope has gone up! It's so nice that all the hard work has paid off for them!

They will be facing very strong competitions tomorrow (Russian, Chinese, German, South Korean, South African, Japan and some other teams are all through) with extremely strict single elimination rounds, meaning they only have one try to score perfect points in the shortest time. A lot of times, it comes down to luck. So please send us your good wishes again!

The coolest thing about coming to Olympic is to meet people from other countries. Check out this awesome photo of Team USA and Team Iran! When the Iranians saw us taking a group photo, they said they wanted to join us. Of course we happily agreed. It doesn't matter how much our governments don't get along, we know we can be friends!

The boys then walked around the hall and tried to talk to people from the all over the world, to exchange our American Flag pins with their trinkets. Check out all the stuff Evan scored from other countries !

What an amazing experience it has been for all of us so far!

Go USA!Baca lagi
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2016 India Trip Pengembara
Day 6: World Robotic Olympic - Practice
25 November 2016, India ⋅ 🌫 15 °C
Many other countries' teams are staying at our hotel, so we saw lots of them at breakfast. The German team already got their game faces on, looking serious and ready to battle. The Philippine team ate all the white rice at the buffet table, and a guy insisted that Evan take a picture with two Philippine girls. LOL!

Once we got to the Expo center, we saw many more International teams. So happy to see the Syria teams made it. They were happy when I asked a photo of them, but did refuse my American flag pins. :(

Many other countries were happy to receive them and exchange their trinkets with me. Although a guy from the South Africa team expressed his disappointment about us electing Trump.

I wish I could report that the practice went well but I can't. The software in the robot malfunctioned and was running an older program. Not knowing about this, Evan and Kyran spent all day fixing the new program, but the robot was not running it. We were so confused as why the robot didn't perform any of the changes, and we didn't discover this issue until it was time for us to leave. Basically, the two boys wasted all day and didn't accomplish anything.

However, there is still time tomorrow for them to make some fixes after they finish assembling the robot during the game. We have confidence in our boys to do a good job.

Fingers crossed! Wish us good luck!Baca lagi
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2016 India Trip Pengembara
Day 5: Bharatpur
24 November 2016, India ⋅ 🌫 15 °C
I went to sleep at 9 PM hoping for a better sleep, but woke up at 12:30 AM and unable to fall back to sleep. It's going to be a long day for me.

The palace hotel is not a 5 star hotel, but it's very charming. The decorations in the hotel restaurant is astounding!

The main attraction today is the bird sanctuary, and according to everyone, now is the best time to visit since many kinds of migratory birds come to this park around this time.

We hired two rickshaws and a naturist guide, so we can cover more grounds in this huge park with an expert. The wonderful thing about this naturist is that even though he has been doing this job for more than 20 years, he was still super excited to spot the birds and show us the best parts of the park.

The most amazing thing we saw was that in one area, there were 3 or 4 trees that covered with almost 100 beautiful birds. Not sure what they are called, but they are big and colorful, with black, white and pink feathers. There were many baby birds on the trees, and they were being fed by their mothers, which got our guide extremely excited.

We can easily spend many hours here, but guess what, we only had cash for 3 hours, in order to pay for the drivers of the rickshaws and the guide. After paying them, I only have about 400 rupees (about $8) left in my wallet, and we still have 4 more days here. I hope we can use credit cards from now on since we will be in a more developed area for the Olympic competition, otherwise, we are in deep trouble!

On the way to our final hotel, we met one of the worst traffic jams I had ever seen! We spent about 30 minutes to drive 100 meters! By the way, I saw a bike carry 5 people today! A boy about 3 years old, his father the driver, his grandmother, his mother and his baby sister who was in his mother's arms.

Tomorrow Evan and Kyran will spend all day practice.Baca lagi
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2016 India Trip Pengembara
Day 4: Agra / Taj Mahal
23 November 2016, India ⋅ 🌙 11 °C
Finally, we went to Taj Mahal! It's as beautiful and magnificent as I imagined. It towered over the entire city, glistening under the sun, shining through the history.

Our local guide Raj gave us some wonderful history lessons and told us the love story behind this building. I didn't know Mrs. Taj had 14 children in her 20 years marriage! Another interesting story is that after her death, her husband was going to build a black Taj Mahal in a mirror image of the white one. But his son (one of her 14 kids) took the throne from him and put him in house arrest, because he thought his father had spent too much money on the white Taj Mahal, and the country couldn't afford a black one. Interestingly, when we went to the back side of Taj Mahal last night, we actually saw the foundation of it, didn't realize what that was. Can you imagine how awesome it would be if there is a black Taj Mahal standing right behind the white one?!

Ever wondered why the beautiful writings and pictures on the building never fades? It's because they were not painted, they are actually gem stones inlayed into the marble stones. The red colors are coral; the blue colors are turquoise; Brown colors are jasper; white colors are mother of pearl; green colors are jade... All the writings in black are onyx. When you touch the surface, it's entirely smooth. Because the artists would shape a gem stones into a flower pedal shape, then outlined it on the marble, then carve out the shape and finally use a very special glue to stick the gem stone into the carved out space. They needed to do it hundreds of thousands times to cover this huge building. The colors will never fade!

The reason I know all this is because we went to a shop where local people demonstrated how this is done. I know it's a tourist trap, but I still enjoyed learning how this was made. Also, I am now the proud owner of a set of very, very expensive coasters that were done exactly same way as Taj Mahal. Next time you come to our house, you can set your coffee mug on one of these beautiful coasters made with a rare green marble, and inlayed with gem stones. LOL! Yeah, I know I may be a sucker for falling into this kind of tourist trap, but I really like these local artists who were making this kind of art, so I wanted to support them by paying way too much money for their goods.

Evan's favorite Indian food is samosa; and for some reason, he hadn't had the chance to eat one since we arrived. Once we told our wonderful driver about it, he brought us to the roadside stand that supposedly selling the best samosas in the city. They were indeed delicious! This is the first time we ate street food in India. Hopefully we wouldn't come to regret the decision.

We then visited the Agra Fort. An interesting story: when the British attacked the Fort, they used cannon. One of the cannon ball hit the King's throne and bounced off, created a hole on the wall.

We arrived our hotel called Laxmi Vilas Palace. The room we are in is a very traditional Indian palace room. Evan is so happy that he got his own room for once. In our last hotel room, he had to sleep on a couch. A spacious couch but still just a couch.

Looking forward to visiting the famous Bird Sanctuary tomorrow !Baca lagi
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2016 India Trip Pengembara
Day 3: Road to Agra
22 November 2016, India ⋅ 🌬 1 °C
Woke up after 4 AM today, I guess I am getting better at recovering from Jet lagging. After another excellent breakfast, we visited an amazing Sikh Temple in Delhi.

The uniqueness of this Sikh Temples, called Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, is that they have a large kitchen hall that feeds anyone who is hungry, regardless of race and religion. At this temple, they are known to feed more than 10,000 people every day!! Many poor people actually set up their shelters just outside of the Temple, so they will never go hungry. I donated some money at the alter to help with their noble effort.

Inside, it was peaceful and tranquilizing. Three Sikhs were singing their prayer songs with traditional instruments, a Sikh holy man sitting in front of a large holy book. Some people were praying quietly. I was happy to see men and women were praying at the same area, not separate areas like some religions. By the way, anyone enters the temple must cover his/her head. I was happy to know that Steve and Evan need to cover their heads too, not just me. I like when a religion treats men and women equally.

A large reflecting pool is at the center of the temple. For the first time since I arrived, I felt calm and peaceful. The city itself is full of nervous energy, it was so nice for us to quiet our mind down for a while.

This is my favorite temple so far. It's too bad that Sikh people are harassed in US a lot because they wear turbans. They are actually the most generous and peaceful people in the world. Needless to say that no one should be harassed for their religion and beliefs.

After leaving this temple, we were heading to Agra, where Taj Mahal is located.

Along the way, we also saw the magnificent Lotus Temple and Akshardham Temple (the largest temple in India).

Lotus Temple is one of the Baha'i temples that located at several continents. The North American one is located near Chicago, so we have visited that one many times. It's so nice to visit their Asian Temple. Today is a no school day in India, so many school children were visiting there as well. They were lined up in an orderly fashion, and were ushered in the temple in absolute silence (no one is allowed to talk inside the temple).

We sit there quietly, marveling the intricate architectural design of the roof. When I asked Evan if he is ready to leave, he shook his head. We waited a bit longer and he was final ready to go. Outside, he told me that he needed more time to study to architecture design of the building, and explained in detail how they managed to build the lotus shape roof (which materials they used, and how everything was supported). I could only nod my head because I didn't quite understand everything he was saying. He really should be an architect when he grow up because he has gotten such a natural talent for it. He loves modern arts, very good at drawing, and unlike most people, as his IQ test has proven, he can design an entire object in his head in 3D; he loves geometry and math, and is incredibly creative. Perfect attributes for an architect. Well, we will just have to wait and see.

Akshardham Temple is no doubt magnificent! Getting inside was not easy for me though. They have a strict no electronic equipment rule, so we were not allowed to bring phones and cameras. The lady at the security checkpoint (men and women have different entrances) seemed to love their jobs too much. They checked my purse and told me not to bring a USB cable. So I ran back to the car and gave it to our driver, then ran back to the checkpoint. They checked my purse again and dug out my headphone. I was getting really annoyed, and was worried they would send me back again. The head lady waved me over to her, checked my Apple Watch and waved me through.

Meanwhile, Steve and Evan breezed through their checkpoint in seconds.

Finally inside, our mouths dropped open. We have never seen so much carvings in our lives! Well, when we were in Istanbul, we loved the lovely and complicated Islam design in their mosques, but nothing compared to the detailed carvings here! Every inch is the entire building is carved; and the building is HUGE! The artistry and detail for this every inch is unbelievable! Too bad we couldn't take any pictures, so bought some post cards so I can show everyone what it's like.

After this temple, we finally head to Agra. We arrived just in time to see Tan Mahal in a beautiful sunset.

Can't wait to see it again tomorrow morning!Baca lagi
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2016 India Trip Pengembara
Day 2: New Delhi
21 November 2016, India ⋅ 🌫 27 °C
Woke up at 2:40 AM and couldn't go back to sleep. Stupid jet lag!

One good thing about staying at a 5 star hotel is that we can always count on the quality of the breakfast buffet. And this one is no exception! Fresh squeezed juice and make to order omelette and dosa (a paper thin deep fried bread) were all excellent!

Our Driver and our guide met us promptly at 9 AM at the hotel. Both are really nice guys! Our guide speaks very good English. His knowledge of history, culture and location made our entire day very educational. Our driver is an excellent driver who knows how to navigate his way out of the crazy Indian traffic. We felt very safe while in his car.

Happy to report that the smog has significantly reduced today, we can actually see the blue sky. Although we are all experiencing some kind of respiratory problems. Especially when we were in the world famous spice market, once we walked in, everyone was coughing and sneezing. We had to turn back from an alley after only spent a few minutes there.

There are many people sleeping on the street in this city. The starch differences between rich and poor are very apparent. The saddest thing was to see young kids begging on the street. Two of them (a girl and a boy) were fighting in the middle of the street for some reason. The girl, in her messy hair and dirty clothes, was using one of her shoes to hit the boy, crying and shouting. The boy, who was a bit bigger, tried to defend himself by holding her arms. The people in the fancy car (maybe the kids were fighting about the money these people gave them) were laughing, sitting comfortably in their air conditioned car with windows closed. A sad scene we witnessed while stuck in a traffic jam on the other side of the street.

Delhi is big and crowded, dusty and dirty. Everything is covered by a thick layer of grey dust, including every leaf on the trees. Our guide told us that Delhi is the greenest city in India because there are many trees. Every tree is tagged and protected by the government. It's so nice to hear that, because this city needs all the fresh these trees can provide.

At the end of the day, my throat is dry and painful due to all the dust in the air and all of us are coughing.

Tomorrow, we are leaving this wonderful grand city, heading to Agra.Baca lagi
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2016 India Trip Pengembara
Day 1: Arrival
20 November 2016, India ⋅ 🌫 26 °C
Finally arrived in New Delhi, immediately realized what disorganization look like. The surprise move by the Indian Government to discontinue the most popular currency has sent the whole country into a huge chaotic mess! All the ATMs are out of cash, we had to wait for 40 minutes just to exchange our US dollars to Indian Rupees. And the cash is limited to only $70/person. Let's see how much we can use our credit card here. Otherwise, we may need to wait in other long lines to get cash every day! Not good at all!!

After finally getting some cash at the currency exchange, we stepped out of the airport, and was hit by the smog. The government has declared the city was smog free, we didn't think that's true. There is a terrible smoke smell in the air . After I took a couple breaths, my throat felt tightened, my eyes started watering a bit. I started to regret my decision not to bring a mask.

We used a Uber driver for the first time, in order to persevere our precious cash. We met him at the messiest taxi stand I've ever seen. There were 4 or 5 lanes of cars, instead of coming into the pickup/drop off lane, the drivers would stop at any whichever lanes as they want, even though there were many policemen standing in those lanes and trying to stop this kind of behavior. They blew their whistles as loud as they could, but no one paid them any attention. The drivers were honking their horns, waving in and out of the lanes... many and many accidents were averted at the last second. We got into our Uber car nervously.

Then we experienced the famous Indian traffic. Turned out the entire traffic system was not that much better than the taxi stand. The lines of the road seemed like a suggestion only, since many drivers just drive on top of them instead of between them. The drivers would stop their cars in the middle of the highway, and pedestrians would walk across and dodging the incoming cars like it was nothing. More horn honking, and many last second traffic aversions. Well, we did see an accident while the driver crushed into the medium poles. For some reason, the medium divided the highway was a deep ditch, so the car was almost vertically stuck in that ditch.

Motorcycles seemed to be the best method to move around since they could squeeze between the cars and get ahead. Although much to our horror, many people would jam a kid between the driver and the passenger. Of course no one wore helmet.

I thought, this is just like China in 90's. Riding a car is more like riding a roller coaster... but more scary!

We have hired a driver for our trip here. We are meeting him tomorrow. Fingers crossed that he would keep us safe in this crazy chaos!Baca lagi
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2016 Costa Rica Pengembara
Day 6: River boat ride
16 September 2016, Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
6th day and the final day at Costa Rica: we went to a National River park for a river boat ride. We saw several crocodiles, monkeys, iguanas and birds.

The afternoon was spent at the beach for our resort. I got an one hour massage for only $20! Evan played beach soccer with a Costa Rican family.

Sadly we are leaving tomorrow. Hopefully we will be back soon! We love this beautiful and happy country!Baca lagi
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2016 Costa Rica Pengembara
Day 5: Rain Forest
16 September 2016, Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
4th Day in Costa Rica. We went to the well equipped gym and exercised before breakfast, and then we went to a nearby beach town for a surf lesson.

Believe it or not, the first time Evan got on the surf board, not only he was able to stand up on the board (for people who ever surfed, you know how impossible that is), he actually surfed the wave all the way to the shore! All of us, including the instructor, couldn't believe our eyes. We looked at each other in amazement!

For the next 2 hours, Evan had a great time learning more and had an amazing time.Baca lagi
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2016 Costa Rica Pengembara
Day 4: Surfing!
15 September 2016, Costa Rica ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
4th Day in Costa Rica. We went to the well equipped gym and exercised before breakfast, and then we went to a nearby beach town for a surf lesson.

Believe it or not, the first time Evan got on the surf board, not only he was able to stand up on the board (for people who ever surfed, you know how impossible that is), he actually surfed the wave all the way to the shore! All of us, including the instructor, couldn't believe our eyes. We looked at each other in amazement!

For the next 2 hours, Evan had a great time learning more and had an amazing time.Baca lagi
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2016 Costa Rica Pengembara
Day 2: Visiting a volcanic mountain
14 September 2016, Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C
Second day at Costa Rica was full of activities. We started with Zip lines which soared above the rain forest, saw some Howler Monkeys along the way. Then went down the mountain in a giant water slide. After some delicious Costa Rica food for lunch, we rode horse to a very nice hot springs area, while we covered ourselves in Volcanic mud before soaking in the hot springs pools for couple hours, while sipping some cool tropical drinks.

What a nice way to spend a lovely day in vacation!!Baca lagi
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