Hong Kong

Hong Kong was probably the most important trip I have ever made. It shook off the American indifference (and related ignorance) that I had towards Asia in general, it expanded my palate, it gave me a thirst for the Chinese language (well, Cantonese in this case), and it taught me an amazement for this teeming, seething city.

Taiwan

After visiting Hong Kong, I learned (a little) Chinese over the summer and started looking a little into jobs in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. I decided on Taiwan, and in the winter of 2001-2002, my father and I went there to explore. We took a trip around the entire island, visiting most of the large cities and some of the smaller tourist attractions as well.

Malaysia

Patty and I went exploring Malaysia in January 2004. Wanting to get away from "just another Asian city," we minimized our time in Kuala Lumpur and instead spent the majority of our vacation in the lush lands of Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo. The highlight was without a doubt Bako national park, which was teeming with life and was an absolutely fascinating place to explore.

China

In the summer of 2004, I went to China with my friend Anne. It was a fantastic and varied trip, starting in Xi'an, moving then to Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Putuoshan, and Hangzhou. The trip helped to dispel some of my wary misconceptions of mainland Chinese and China in general... and helped to strengthen some new impressions.

Taiwan, Mk. II

I returned to Taiwan in 2003, to work at the Cambridge K-12 school in Xindian, Taiwan, just on the outskirts of Taipei itself. That first year was an amazing year of growth for me, in every direction -- in maturity, confidence, competence, perspective, physical fitness.. the list goes on. My time here has been one of the richest experiences of my life.

Yunnan

In the summer of 2006, I returned to China, this time with Patty. In search of nature and glimpses of the disparate ethnic minorities inhabiting Yunna, we ventured to Kunming, Dali, Zhongdian, Lijiang... and many places in between. We met with mixed results, because the newly moneyed Chinese were often seeking similar things...