Valladolid- Mexico Yucatan

Valladolid is a perfect pit stop for the famous Chichen Itza ruins and a few Cenotes. After several days spent on the beaches, I was keen on some local cultures in a cool Maya town.
Valladolid is a small colonial city with its main plaza " Parque Francisco Canton Rosado". The town was full of tourist buses and tourists. A lot of Mexican take vacation this time of the year. I was lucky to find a hotel room without an advanced booking.
After settling in, I took a stroll through the main plaza and had Yucatan dinner at a popular restaurant by the plaza. I had Cochinita Pibil and Sope of Lima again. Walking out the restaurant, there were sirens anywhere and many vehicles were slowly moving toward the plaza from one alley with sirens on. There were sounds of explosion in the distance. I was frightened and asked a shop keeper nearby. They told me that the vehicles were transporting something for New Year celebration. As the vehicles moved closer, I saw the statutes of Saint Maria and other biblical figures standing atop of the taxis and shared vans. I interpret that the sirens were used to escort the statues of saints as a sign of respect.
From Valladolid, I visited the famous Chicken Itza Maya ruins. The grandeur is quite impressive. It was a hot and humid day like any day in this region. Walking through the multiple ruins without a guide was a bit bore-some. The heat and humidity made the walk felt longer than it is. With all the impressive architectures, I was more intrigued with the Cenote Sagrado and the "sacrifice" ritual where children, males, prisoners were forced to jump into the sacred sinkhole and artifacts were thrown into the sinkhole for GOD. When I walked out of the ruins entrance a little past 1:00pm, there were a flock of tourists lining up for the entrance ticket. It is always wise to start early with a popular tourist site.
It was raining back in town. There were scattered tropical showers every day. I took a shared van to Cenote Dzitnup. Dzitnup is essentially two cenotes. I went to "Xkeken", a massive limestone formation with stalactities hanging from its ceiling and a deliberate hole on the roof. To get to the cenote, one has to walk the long stairs to the underground. The cenote is mainly for swimming. I had a short session of swimming with hundreds of fellow tourists in the pool.
I had an extra day in Valladolid. My original plan was to travel to Merida for the last day and back to Cancun on the next day. It would be a huge rush if I had done so. I instead decided to stay in Valladolid for the last day. I paid a visit to Ek' Balam where another Maya ruin is at to see the town and a Maya village. As per my tour book, the town of Ek' Balam itself is worth a visit to see what a traditional Maya village looks like. The shared taxi dropped me at the ruin instead of  at the town. I had to take another taxi to the town. The locals tried to explain to me (in limited English) there's absolutely nothing in the town. I insisted going. I had some time to kill anyway. The taxi driver drove me to a small village where there was a small empty lot, a few huts and a few bored villagers sitting in front of the huts at the end of the road. I quickly figured out the locals are right and that no one here speaks English and there's no transportation back to Valladolid. I made a quick decision to turn back in the same taxi. I put my two fingers together and told the taxi driver this town is too " bokito". Back in town, I had the whole afternoon to kill. I had some good flan in a cafe and wandered through the town. I visited " Museo de San Roque", a lovely and small museum with Spanish only illustration. I chatted with a very cool French Canadian boutique shop owner who has been residing in Mexico for decades. I enjoyed her energy and spirits.
I had the worst Mexican dinner ever at a highly recommended restaurant " Hosteria del Marques" where I ordered a local Yucatan dish " Queto Relleno". The dish is supposed to be a hollowed out ball of Edam cheese stuffed with ground pork and smothered in tomato sauce and gravy. The reality of the dish is a big chunk of cheese atop of leftover chicken and pork soup. It's so bad that it's worth a picture.
I took a stroll through Mercado Municipal in the morning to witness the lively local market as well as  for a nostalgia of the morning markets I grew up with. After that I took an ADO bus back to Cancun and flew back to US. I almost missed the flight. After 15 hours of travel, I finally made it home before 2014 bell rang.
Like any other backpacking trips, I had a good time. It turned out a safe and great trip. I feel I'm very blessed to be able to travel in my own style. I fell in love with Caribbean sea and the beaches although my skin doesn't like the hot and humid climate. I love to travel in Mexico. It's a rich experience.

Tulum - Mexico Yucatan

Tulum is a hippie's beach town on its own terms. It's one hour bus ride from Playa del Carmen. I was walking from the ADO station to the other side of town and walked back to the bus station and forth with my backpack on my back in the hot afternoon, looking for a hotel. I realized it might not be a good idea not book a hotel in advance in a high season at Tulum. By the time I finally settled in a hotel by the roadside, I had gone through "Tulum Pueblo" a few times.
From Tulum, I visited a few famous Mayer ruins- Tulum ruins and Coba ruins, interesting Gran Cenote and Tulum beaches.
The ruins of Tulum preside over a rugged coastline, a strip of brilliant beach and green-and-turquoise waters. The walk through the archaeological site pass and around the ruins was quite pleasant. Coba ruins were in a cool jungle set where biking through the jungle is a much cooler way to explore the ruins. My favorite part of visiting the ruins was to catch a breeze on the bike and ride through the mystic jungle. After the Coba ruin tour, I had a fantastic Yucatan buffet at restaurant La Piramide where I indulged myself with the local fare like cochinita and pollo pibil and sope of lima.
Gran Cenote is intriguing and mystic. Snorkeling in Gran Cenote can be quite fascinating with some amount of imagination. I was bewildered by the underwater formations, the caverns and the divers beneath me.
Tulum beaches are intimate and quieter. I rented a pink bike at Tulum Pueblo and rode it to Gran Cenote and Tulum beaches. I felt I indeed enjoyed the ride, swimming and snorkeling and all the activities I did in Tulum. I felt I was so free in Tulum as I always do when I travel alone.
Solo travel can be a bit lonely from time to time. I stayed at a hotel right by a noisy bar for the first night. The live band started to play music at night as if they were playing in my hotel room. I was waken up and went over to the bar for a beer. All the tables were occupied by couples and groups of friends. The noise made me feel lonely. I had one beer and a bit chat with one of the musicians. The cost of freedom is loneliness, sometimes. But the freedom is awesome when you wake up in the morning, knowing you have a brand new day and you can do anything and go anywhere you want.

Playa del Carmen- Mexico Yucatan

Playa del Carmen is a superb touristy beach town with easy access to beaches and a long pedestrian corridor lined up with all the shops and Western style hotels and restaurants.
At Playa del Carmen, I stayed at a cool hotel called " Hotel Casa Tucan" where there is a tropical garden, a large swim pool and a lot of mosquitoes. (throughout the trip, I developed all sorts of skin problems- mosquitoes bites, flea bites, heat/sweat rashes, bruise on the butt from snorkeling).
I took a nice one day trip to Isla Cosumel for a short snorkeling tour. I attempted to take a long tour run by good quality yet pricy dive shops. Unluckily it was Christmas day and good quality dive shops were close for the holiday. Out of options, I joined the tour run by the street tour touts. The snorkeling was short, the crowds were like a mob, the tour guide was annoying. But the Caribbean sea is amazing. The water is so gorgeous and perfect. The reef is so beautiful. I didn't get enough from the tour and tempted to go back on the second day for a longer tour. I strolled along the seaside on Isla Cosumel in the afternoon and snapped a lot of beauty, local life and arts on the island.
Playa del Carmen's beaches might not be as nice as north (Cancun). The water is still perfect. On the last day at Playa del Carmen, I walked 36 streets north to have a delicious breakfast at the beautiful restaurant called " La Cueva de Chango" and walked and swam all the way back to hotel. From there, I packed and headed to Tulum.
I was struggling to find authentic Yucatan cuisine at Playa del Carmen. Instead I discovered a popular local restaurant " El Fogon", four blocks away from the seafront touristy zone.

Cancun - Mexico Yucatan

I traveled to Mexico Yucatan for the Christmas. My first stop was Cancun. During the 2-day stay at Cancun, I visited Isla Mujeres where I snorkeled and swam at Playa Garrafon. The water was warm and beautiful. I had a little accident while snorkeling. I was pushed by the current and tripped on the reef. My right side of butt was bruised terribly and the pain remained through the rest of the trip.
I was very impressed with the beautiful jade green water and wide stretch of beaches. I enjoyed Cancun beaches on the second day.
I stayed at Ciudad Cancun near the Parque de las Palapas. There was a lively night market where locals hang out for live entertainment and food.

Snowy Thanksgiving at Ithaca

I spent the first Thanksgiving with Yiyi and my family on the east. It was snowy during the Thanksgiving week. We made a small snowman in front of the house. It was the first snowman for Yiyi. Yiyi was a bit confused with snow and tried to figure out how to walk in the snow.
Jim made a fantastic turkey.
My mom and I had black Friday shopping spree.
In the cold snowy winter, Yiyi's biggest outdoor activity is to visit several kitties in the small animal adoption center in the Ithaca mall. 
I did a lot of walks with my mom and Yiyi. I always needed to carry Yiyi back home. Yiyi will mutter mama, baba, meimei, lao lao, lao yi.
Yiyi knows her younger sister's name is er ya.
It was a sweet and warm Thanksgiving for so many things to be thanked for.

Mineral King Camping Over Labor Day Weekend

Longing for a real camping experience in deep woods, I drove up to Sequoia National Park with Rae over the Labor Day weekend for some camping and hiking. We camped out at Mineral King Campground, one and half hours away from the Sequoia National Park entrance. Mineral King campground is at 4000 some feet elevation and it is far from the main park. One and half hour of driving on the winding mountain road, we got into pretty deep woods. In spite of the fully occupied camp site, everyone has their share of nature and space, which is quite of luxury compared with a local camp ground.
After we set up the tent, we walked down to the river for some refreshing splash. The snow melt water is still freezing. We changed the plan from full body splash to feet soaking.
We took a 12 mile hike to Franklin lake and back. Haven't hiked such a long distance for a while, it's a physical trial for me. The landscape changed from deep forests to highland mountain ridge as the climbing continued. It's a quite rewarding hike.
On the third day, we decided to take it easy for a smaller hike to Mosquito lake. We got back early to the camp site and hung out at the Silver city restaurant for some cold refreshing beer. Hot shower costs $5 at the store and I decided it doesn't make economic sense. I finally took a hot shower on the fourth evening when I got back home. I started to long for bug free civilian world and a clean and soft bed that evening. Human, adapted well to the wilderness prior to the evolution, have lost the compatibility with the nature. We have talked about the past and the future of creatures on the planet. We can't imagine. We like to try to imagine. The imagination gets lost in the course of growing up in a social world. We, human lost all- the survival skills, the nature of adaption and the imagination. We become pretty dump machine, occasionally in need of some fresh air. After a couple of nights of sleeping in a tent, we decide we need hot shower and internet and we pack and load our vehicle back to the concrete world. When we rushed to get on the road, the giant Alpine tree family was laughing at us. They have been there for thousands of years and they have seen all. Human, in their eyes are a bunch of  funny, busy and little things. They rush in and out and eventually gone.

2013 New Zealand North Island Trip- Sleepy, breezy and cozy!

Lance and I traveled to Wellington, New Zealand to visit Lance's brother and tag along a road trip on North Island for 8 days. Our primary mission is to spend time with families and mainly 3 year old Ayden. Sighting and surfing lay rest. Unlike the adventurous solo backpacking trips I took before, the trip is indeed a family vacation and turned out a sleepy, breezy and easy good time, suiting the current state of my mind perfectly. Sleepy- thanks to the Antihistamines I took against Hey Fever, I had felt chilled and slightly sleepy through out the trip. I absolutely enjoyed the moments of relaxation. Breezy- we drove through beaches by beaches along the coast on North Island. It was the best weather and time of the year. Cozy- families and nice and warm locals made the journey cozy. Ayden is a joy and sunshine. The people we met and the places we visited are so laid back. It's a peaceful land.
We spent the first 4 days at Wellington. Besides spending time with Ayden and Lyka, we visited a few beaches- Plimmerton, Paraparaumu, Kapiti and Otaki and took a hike at Tararua Forest Park. The beaches are literally just natural and low key beaches without any human touch up. Tararua is a massive and impressive forest terrain and we only got to take a peek of it through an one-hour hike. Wellington is supposedly second biggest city and capital of New Zealand. It's a very mellow city.
We took a 8-day road trip and drove through about one quarter of North Island. We enroute stopped at Palmerston North, Napier, Gisborne, Whakatane, Rotorua and Taupo. Napier and Gisborne are beautiful and laid back beach towns, where we swam, hung out on the beaches and played at parks. Whakatane has an interesting Mario female heroine statute. Lance checked off one more spot on  his global surfing map at Ohope Beach. Rotorua is a stinky city thanks to the sulfuric acid. Interestingly it's also the entertainment capital in New Zealand. We did Luge and checked out stinky geysers around the city. Taupo is no doubt a gorgeous city on the lake shore. We enjoyed the water resort in the hotel and unfortunately we didn't make to staying second night at the lovely city. Along the way, Lance's brother Andrew successfully discovered a bunch of Geo caches.
I let myself immerse in the low-key beauty and peace of the country. I probably have no major stories to tell as I always like to do coming back from a trip. There are definitely a lot of little lovely and refreshing moments that can only be experienced in a county of authentic beauty and peace.