Posts Tagged ‘travel’

25th birthday

laelene Posted in general blog,Tags: , , , , ,
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What a busy, busy birthday!  I got into LAX around 2 am and got home sometime past 3.  After scarfing down some food (I can’t believe the airlines didn’t offer a single meal after all the delays and overbooked flights they put us through!), I was asleep by 4.  I woke up just before 9, probably because I’m still sort of on EST.  I took a shower and renewed my auto insurance, then went to get Panda.

We took a stroll around the park, had a huge lunch at a Northern Chinese style restaurant, ran some errands, and made the congested trek over to Sprinkles in Beverly Hills.  I got my usual: a red velvet and a chocolate marshmallow and then it was time to rush off to the apartment complex to drop off my first month’s payment and sign the lease.  I completely forgot that plenty of people actually went to work today, so I hadn’t expected the kind of traffic we got stuck in!  Nevertheless, we made it to my soon-to-be new home in time to take care of the paperwork.  Tomorrow my roommate does the same and gets the keys so we can officially move in this weekend.  🙂

By that time, we were running late to meet my parents at Din Tai Fung for dinner.  Fortunately, we got there at the same time that they did so neither party had to wait for the other.  We did, however, have to wait to get seated.  Tonight was more crowded than the previous couple of times I’d been by DTF to eat and we were waiting for a good 40 minutes before getting a table.  We ordered 10 items from the menu and chowed down as they started to serve dish after dish.  Everything was steaming and delicious and soon enough we were all stuffed.

My parents headed home from there and Panda and I spent some time sitting together to talk and rest a bit.  He’s getting ready to move out to work on the east coast, so things are going to be changing quite a bit in another two months or so.  By and by an hour passed and we had to get home.  I dropped off Panda and just got home not too long ago.  There’s been a lot of traveling and not so much sleeping for me in the past day, so I’m just about ready to crash before we go celebrate New Year’s at a family friend’s place tomorrow afternoon/evening.

Aboard the Norwegian Sky

laelene Posted in photo blog,Tags: , , , , ,
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Woo, I’m back from my cruise and here are some pics of when we first got on 4 days ago.

Vacation

laelene Posted in general blog,Tags: , , , , ,
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Well, today’s the first official day of my vacation! The only other time I took days off were to volunteer for Opportunity Green, which wasn’t much of a break since that kept me busy. So this is the first time since I started my job that I am going on a vacation, truly going on one with days off, travel, rest, and the whole shebang. Usually I can manage one or two of those items, but now I’m taking advantage of all three. Plus, my parents are here to enjoy this vacation with me and we’re going somewhere exciting and new. 🙂

I spent the bulk of the day on a plane, going from LA to Atlanta to Miami. I slept as much as I could and pigged out on cheap pasta for lunch and dinner. When we arrived in miami, most of the day had been lost – I left 9 am from LA and got in to Miami around 7:30 (local time), so after settling in, eating dinner, and resting a bit, it was already time for bed. I wasn’t sleepy though, so I’ve been up playing games. Tomorrow we get on our cruise ship and head for the Caribbean! I’ll make sure to get some pics on my phone so I can post some.

Bumpy squeaky bus ride

laelene Posted in video blog,Tags: , , , ,
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Coming down from a visit to Ngong Ping Village, I wasn’t sure the bus would make it at times.

the bumpy bus ride down from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Hong Kong light and sound show

laelene Posted in video blog,Tags: , , , ,
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the light and sound show begins from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

the light and sound show from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

the light and sound show continues from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Floating to Ngong Ping

laelene Posted in video blog,Tags: , , , ,
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Here are some of the views that passed below me in my crystal cabin going up to Ngong Ping Village.

crystal cabin from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

people working in fields from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

people walking up to ngong ping from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Hong Kong nightline

laelene Posted in video blog,Tags: , , , ,
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The skyline at night!

expansive hong kong skyline at night from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Airports

laelene Posted in video blog,Tags: , , , , ,
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Well, my mom missed a connecting flight today, so I decided to share some videos from when I was sitting around at an airport in Thailand…

First, the retracting of the bridge when all the passengers are loaded:

retracting jet bridge from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

The plane, unable to back up itself, gets pushed by a pushback tractor (I believe that’s the correct term).

pushback tractor working its magic from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

The next plane comes along and the bridge slowly seals itself against the side.

jet bridge meeting plane from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Our luggage is loaded and soon we get to boarding to start the process all over again, for anyone still sitting there to watch.

luggage loading from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Hungry bull

laelene Posted in video blog,Tags: , , , , , , ,
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It’s been a long 3 1/2 days, so here’s a quick video post. When I went up to Ngong Ping Village in Hong Kong, I was walking over to the temple when I came across this bull grazing. He was SO close – the video doesn’t do it justice. I was intimidated and very watchful of him, in case he decided to run one of us over. But hey, it seems he’s really into his food.

grazing bull from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

Ferry docking

laelene Posted in video blog,Tags: , , , ,
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I took a ride on a ferry all around the Hong Kong harbor. Here we are stopping at Central Pier to pick up a few people. First they churn the water really hard to stop the forward momentum, then a guy pulls us in.

approaching central pier from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

ferry docking from Mary Qin on Vimeo.

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