Introductory Course: Taipei 101
All of a sudden, everyone knows what Taipei 101 is, after Alex Honnold scaled Taiwan’s tallest building with no ropes and no fear, live on Netflix. We were in Taipei a month before this death-defying stunt, and when Victor mentioned that we would visit Taipei 101, I had no idea […]
Hail Mary at Taoist Temple
“You enter on the right through the dragon door and exit on the left through the tiger door. And you never enter or exit through the middle door. That door is for gods.” We sat on a bench in front of a brightly colored Taoist temple with a rooftop looking […]
Taiwan: The First 24 Hours
The first 24 hours in Asia are crucial. This isn’t an easy 4-hour flight to Mexico City, where we get out of the airplane and hit the ground running, only occasionally stopping to marvel that just a few hours ago we were at home. It doesn’t have a mere 6-8 […]
When the Night Falls: Night Markets in Taiwan
A few days before our trip, I was talking to someone who had previously visited Taiwan and their only piece of advice was straightforward and without mincing words: “Do not eat street food there.” This was completely unexpected. If they’d said, “Don’t go there under any circumstances,” that would have […]
Back to Asia: Discovering Taiwan
The last time we were in Southeast Asia was in 2019, which now seems like a lifetime ago. Our first trip to that region was Thailand in 2013, followed by India in 2014, Japan in 2016, China in 2017, Cambodia in 2018, and finally Vietnam in 2019. On our first […]
The Places We Go and The Places We Stay
If I ever decide to run for a political office, I will take an unconventional step of having Airbnb provide my character references. A quick glance at our Airbnb guest review page will quickly demonstrate what an honest, punctual, clean, quiet, and non-intrusive person I am. It really sounds like […]
A Night in the Cemetery – Picnic with Ghosts in San Andres Mixquic, Mexico
Continuing from the previous post: Day of the Dead in Mexico – This is not Disney’s Coco. After the Day of the Dead parade was over, we grabbed a few tortas and coffee at a local restaurant to warm up. It was 5 pm, and the weather was turning again […]
Day of the Dead in Mexico – This is Not Disney’s Coco
We had conversations for years about visiting Mexico on the Day of the Dead (Dia de Los Muertos) but wanted to wait until celebrations fell on the weekend. Finally, in early 2019, we bought tickets to Morelia and excitedly started planning the trip. Around Lake Patzcuaro, an hour from Morelia, […]
Tombstone Tourism
A cemetery is not something you travel to another country to see. Not usually, anyway. Maybe you stop by for an hour or two to stand at a grave of a long-dead celebrity, pay respect to fallen American soldiers of WWII as we did in Normandy, or explore a beautiful […]
Sardines and Egg Custard Tarts – The Overlooked Cuisine of Portugal
We were standing in a giant store where every wall was covered with floor-to-ceiling shelves, displaying thousands of cans of sardines. “Is this… a sardines store?” Julia asked no one in particular. Her question echoed off endlessly stacked cans and down the airport hallway. We had arrived on an overnight […]
NSFW Temples or How Victor and I became Temporary Celebrities
Buckle in, the day has come. This is our very first NSFW post. None of this previous “Asian Massage but no Happy Ending” or “Pot Pizza without Any Actual Pot” nonsense. This post is going to contain the most non-family-friendly pictures so far, at least until we get to posting […]