Boston, USA (05/20/2010-05/22/2010)

Boston, cradle of America - home of great clam chowder, and some of the finest academic institutions the world has ever seen. Why have I not visited you sooner? Thanks to a special someone inspiring me to spend my Aeroplan points in addition to the impending start of a very busy career far far away, I've finally managed to arrive.

While I roughly knew the history of events leading to the American War of Independence it didn't really click in my subconscious until I arrived to the very place where it all happened. I did not realize that Boston really is the nucleus of America. Seeing statues of Sam Adams, walking the Freedom Trail, even taking the Boston Duck Tour (which I fell asleep during due to exhaustion), gave a sense of this town's historical importance.

Aside from soaking in history, I ate. And I ate a lot.. a lot of things I shouldn't have. Fried everything, fresh creamy New England clam chowder (4 times in 2 days!), and cakes that could kill. Given Boston is ranked the 14th fittest city in the USA one must surmise that all the larger people one sees are tourists like me!

Boston is also an intellectual ghetto which in my early student days I dearly wanted to be part of (hence the gratuitous photos of Harvard and MIT). Overhearing two arts students talk about epigenetics outside of a Chipotle Grill on Harvard campus just made my day. Not science students - artsies! Fantastic! I wish we had more of that here.  Harvard also had much in common with Trinity, I suppose due to their attempts to stick to their common Anglican roots vis a vis Trinity trying to copy Harvard (deny it or not).

All in all - a great place to be.. and probably not a bad place to live either.  Perhaps it was the company :).  Oh and Ivey folk may recognize a familiar face!

Until the next journey..

Seoul III and Sokcho, Korea (04/01/2010-04/09/2010)

My last trip to take place during my 6 month sojourn in Taiwan was a brief visit to Korea on some personal and business matters. It also happened to be my stopover back to Canada (as originally arranged to attend my friend's wedding on the way to Taiwan last year). While there I also had a chance to see a few friends and had the great fortune of being taken out of town to the Eastern coast of Korea to hike mountains and to try the local cuisine.  Back in Seoul I was invited by a native teacher there whom I knew from her vacations in Taiwan to give a Grade 6 class a guest lecture on the virtues of speaking English in order to be a 'global' citizen. How else to do that other than by showing some photos?  I was quite impressed by the level of technology even within this remote classroom on the very outskirts of Seoul!

Bangkok III and Ayutthaya, Thailand (03/11/2010-03/16/2010)

My Taiwanese study visa was going to run out just two weeks before my return to Canada - so I had to leave the country and come back on a visitor visa for only 14 days! Was it an annoyance or a blessing, I don't know. So, if I had to leave the country I might as well go somewhere affordable, beautiful and relaxing - Thailand was the easy choice. Little did I know that a revolution was about to start. Not to get ahead of myself - it wasn't bad yet. However it was disconcerting to hear about it for the first time while waiting in the boarding lounge. 

I went there wanting to relax and not do anything, but couldn't help myself - visited temples, hiked during the day, and stayed out late :).  I didn't have too much time, so I only went close by - Ayutthaya, the old capital of Siam which was sacked by the Burmese in the mid 18th century. All in all, glad to have had a small break!