Here is a comprehensive list of every singe blog post I’ve ever written. Happy Reading!
Road Trip from Montréal to the Maine Coast
On the Road Again After a week of city wandering and filling our stomachs with delightful treats in Montreal, we picked up our rental car and head to Maine. From Skyscanner, I was able to find a reasonably priced car rental (National) that allows for cross-border drop-off. The border control…
Internet in China: Life Inside the Great Firewall
Less than a year ago, I bid farewell to my established life in Shanghai. Since, I feel like I live in two parallel Internet universe. My China life on WeChat, and the rest of the world on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram. There is very little intersection between the two worlds, and it has…
From Nomad Living to Ho Chi Minh City
We can read all about an experience, but until we’ve lived it ourselves, it’s just a story. Nomad Envy I have wanted to travel full-time for years. I read blogs and watched vlogs of people who trot around with their life’s possessions in a backpack (or a suitcase), and call…
Journey to a Changing Cultural Identity
Recently, someone on Twitter asked how quickly an immigrant loses ties to his/her heritage. The answer varies, but for me, it was within two short years. At age 12, my identity became hyphenated: Asian-American. Yet with an concerted effort to fit in, I quickly dropped the Asian part of the…
Float Spa: Weightless Body and Restless Mind
A friend recently gifted us certificates to a float spa here in St. Louis, at Float STL. I adore the gift of an experience, and float spa has been on my list of things to try. In accordance with my 2019 theme to step out of comfort zone, I went…
Saigon Chronicle – Week 1: Traffic. Noise. Heat.
After a year of globetrotting, we gathered our belongings, added a couple more bags, and headed for Saigon. By now, moving across the world has become rather habitual. My first big global move was from Taiwan to St. Louis at age 12. That was seriously major. Moving to Cameroon with…
Saigon Chronicle – Week 2: Roadside Barber. Chinatown. Eco-Market.
The initial shock from the overwhelming traffic and noise in Saigon during week 1 has somewhat dissipated. There is now even a sense of calm energy when I watch a steady flow of traffic (preferably from a café window). While slowly settling into the city’s rhythm, we are still moving…
2019 Q2 Business Update
The imposter syndrome returns as I prepare for this Q2 update. My initial feeling: I haven’t accomplished much. I spent the entire month of July traveling before settling into our new home in Saigon. If I’ve learned anything over this past year, it’s that I am a terrible travel blogger,…
Saigon Chronicle – Week 3: Home Goods. Maison Marou. Women Meet Tech.
Hello New Home After over a year of suitcase living, we moved into an apartment that is all ours. For the first time in 13 months, I unpacked all of our suitcases and put them away. Among all of the benefits of nomad living, regaining an appreciation for a physical…
Saigon Chronicle – Week 4: Living Abroad in 2019
The first time I moved abroad was in 1998, from Taiwan to the United States. The Internet was slowly becoming mainstream, but the way to keep in touch with my family was still through faxes and occasional expensive international calls. In suburbia Saint Louis, my only source of Chinese entertainment…
Saigon Chronicle – Week 5: Learning Vietnamese
After stumbling around on non-existent Vietnamese skills for the past month, we finally set up lessons with a private teacher to begin our Vietnamese-acquisition journey. I strongly believe the best way to integrate into a culture is to learn its language. Even understanding basic sentence construction helps one peek into…
U.S. East Coast City Tour: Boston, New York, D.C.
Our epic road trip from Montreal down the Maine Coast ended in Boston. We returned the rental car and commenced the US East Coast city tour across Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C. Frenchie has never been to any of these cities. Before our road trip, the only places he…
Saigon Chronicle – Week 6: Making Friends. Exploring Co-working Spaces.
One of the many reasons we put an end to nomadic living was missing a community. Yet, forming a community in a new city doesn’t happen with a snap of a finger. The steps to forming quality connections can be tedious and a little awkward. It’s a little like going…
U.S. Southwest Road Trip: 10-Day National Park Loop Across Arizona & Utah
After a tour of the East Coast, we head west to Las Vegas to begin a 10-day national park loop across the American Southwest. We enjoyed this journey with my parents to celebrate their retirement. The beauty of US national parks is the well-planned facilities and trail path. Regardless of…
Saigon Chronicle – Week 7 & 8: Apartment Rental Search
After a month of living in our temporary apartment, we began the hunt for our longer-term home in Saigon. The process proved to be more challenging than I had anticipated, but I am happy to announce that after two weeks of painstaking search, we have been blessed by the apartment-hunting…
