Travel, Beijing, Asia, Motorcycles, Food, Art, Stuff.
Bangkok is such a cool, diverse, and fascinating city. It is a place where an expat can easily fill every day with a new experience, from fruit carving to Muay Thai, tattoo schools to photography classes. This city attracts the artistic, the adventurous, and the weirdos, and many of those choose to share their experiences with others.
My friend Carolyn and her lovely family recommended this spot to me as the perfect easy, laid-back holiday destination. Then I remembered that my mum used to take us to Jervis Bay as kids to stay in the caravan park. I soon realised there was so much to offer on the NSW south coast and I just had to share this magical destination. It seems that the more time I spend outside of my beautiful country, the more I appreciate just how lucky I am to be Australian.
The kind people at Tropicalist picked up my article and published it for you to read at this link.
Continue reading “A Secret Paradise – Callala Beach, Jervis Bay”
Hospitals suck. Over the past 17 years, I have been to every hospital you can name in Beijing for my spine and various other things, ranging from motorcycle accidents to lady business. I wanted to share this guide with you to make the process less intimidating.
This article was picked up by Beijing Kids and published on their website. Thanks, gang!
Continue reading “Chinese Hospital Guide – Chaoyang Hospital”
Qingdao is one of those cities that just feels good as soon as you arrive. It has a vibe, a warmth, a breeziness, a friendliness. The people there are chill compared to the perpetually grumpy Beijingers. Though I do love a grumpy Beijinger, I myself am definitely firmly in that category of human, it is nice to escape the big, mean city sometimes and hit up the coast.
I recently wrote a little travel guide to Qingdao, which gives you lots of helpful travel hints and advice. Forget Qingdao Airport, it is all about the bullet train! It’s almost summer now, and the weather is perfect to see where the beer comes from and drink loads of it on the beach at dusk. Read my article on Travelicious at this link.
Australia’s Pacific Coast is just stunning. I grew up driving up and down it with my mum, and little brother. Listening to a soundtrack of Patsy Cline, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens. We spent every holiday in a caravan park in Arrawarra, we went to the Pet Porpoise Pool in Coffs each time we drove through. We regularly visited friends in Dorrigo and Belingen, and for a few years when I was young, I went to Currumbin Primary School. My brother and I were both born in Sydney, but we were central coast kids at heart. Recently I wrote an article detailing the perfect road trip from Sydney to the Gold Coast and it was published on Tropicalist. Click here to read it, but be warned, it might inspire you to get in the car and start driving.
Last year, I took Tyler to Australia for the second time. Tyler’s favourite book is Moby Dick, and he has a mild whale obsession. I planned a trip the gorgeous Sunshine Coast to visit another friend, see some whales, and just escape Sydney a little bit.
Buddina is a tiny town, full of charm and natural beauty. I wrote about our trip and the awesome people at Tropicalist picked up my article. You can read my guide to visiting this part of Australia here.
A friend of mine recently asked me what I would recommend for a trip To Langkawi in Malaysia. Me, being the overenthusiastic weirdo that I am, I wrote him an email that ended up being more like a novel. I thought I would share it here for others to see.
Our first trip to the Philippines was incredible. We spent 3 weeks on Palawan Island, visiting El Nido, Port Barton, and Puerto Princesa. We loved the people, the beaches, and the country and really wanted to go back. For our second trip to the Philippines, we didn’t have a whole lot of time and we were looking for a vacation which just included lots of swimming, eating, and relaxing. After some online research, we decided on Matabungkay in the Batangas Region.
Continue reading “Travel Guide – Quick, Cheap, Easy Philippines”
Beijing’s suburbs provide endless entertainment, even if it is hard to find sometimes.
For Tyler’s birthday last May, I rented a bus to take us and 12 of our friends out to the mountains around Changping to stay in a nongjia hotel and then visit a shooting range to blow stuff up. We had a blast (pun intended) and I wrote a bit of a story/guide to getting out of Beijing for this kind of adventure. Today I learned that Travelicious have published my story!
Biking out to Liyuan Library — one of the world’s most beautiful libraries. Great journey into the deep Beijing countryside. Also, books… Continue reading “Road Trip to Liyuan Library”
No one likes mooncakes. This is a simple fact of life in China. Every year I am gifted several boxes by employers and business associates (jk, I don’t have those). Every year, I re-gift them to my ayi and my mechanic. Every year, I get the distinct feeling that they are going to pass them on to distant relatives. It is the cycle of the mooncake. I am quite certain that—in the history of mooncakes—no one has ever eaten one, ever. Continue reading “DIY Mooncakes – They’re Edible, It’s Lunacy!”