Trans-Siberian Railway Part 4: Ulaanbaatar to Irkutsk
August 16, 2018
Our train departing from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia was already at the station when we arrived, but boarding didn’t begin until around 30 minutes before departure. When booking this trip, I booked second class for journeys that are around 24 hours or less, so for this 23-hour leg, we were in second class. Old World Charm The 305 train is markedly older…
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Trans-Siberian Railway Part 3: 24 hours in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
July 19, 2018
As soon as we got off the train, we felt the breeze of that fresh Mongolian air with a shining sun. We saw a guy holding a sign of our hostel (Zaya Hostel), and walked towards him. But first, cash. With 3 ATMs in the train station, only one worked with my Charles Schwab VISA card. With 2,000 to one…
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Trans-Siberian Railway Part 2: Beijing to Ulaanbaatar
July 4, 2018
Goodbye China The overnight leg of our Trans-Siberian railway journey was a 31-hour ride from Beijing, China to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. We arrived at the Beijing Railway Station a whole 90 minutes before departure. The night prior, we had seen long lines at the square, where people were getting into the station, and feared the same. Turns out, at 5:30am, while…
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Trans-Siberian Railway Part 1: Shanghai to Beijing
June 29, 2018
The day has finally come to begin our grand goodbye tour! The first leg from Shanghai to Beijing was fairly ordinary. We took the high speed rail from Shanghai Hongqiao to Beijing South station. I’ve taken this journey several times throughout my time in China, but this time would be without a return ticket. As usual, I purchased all the…
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Shanghai Farewell
June 21, 2018
Today, a friend asked me to sum up my 6 years in Shanghai in a word. I haven’t had much time to reflect since time has been occupied by the massive task of minimizing all of our belongings down to two suitcases and two backpacks. I gave it a quick thought, and the word diverse came to mind. Diverse Friendship…
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Minimalism Journey
June 20, 2018
8 months ago, Xav and I got serious about becoming more minimalistic in our lives. We were very far from it. Every drawer and shelf of our 110 squared-foot apartment was filled with stuff. We were organized hoarders. As such, discipline was necessary. I had read the Marie Kondo book and had been listening to The Minimalist podcast. The Konmari…
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10 Years Since the Peace Corps
June 12, 2018
Last week marked 10 years since I left the comforts of American suburbia for a different life. It was 2008. I packed up two massive bags and flew to Philadelphia to meet a bunch of strangers, some would later become lifelong friends. From there, we got vaccinated and were inundated by information. Within a few days, we were shipped off…
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Le Wagon Week 8 & 9: Final Sprint
April 30, 2018
Demo Day @ 3pm: We are 4 hours away from final demo day. Phew! My team pushed our final sets of Mini-Program codes to WeChat last night at midnight for approval, and have rehearsed our pitch a dozen times over the last two days. Final version approved this morning, and we are ready to go.
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Le Wagon Week 7: Just Get It Done!
April 16, 2018
Final third of the coding camp! After some much needed solitude last week, I dove right into the project trial week, where we make an AirBnB/Mobike-esque app in 5 days. This practice project gave us a chance to work with our assigned group, to work out any kinks, and to trial run through the entire process beginning from idea on Monday to presenting a working demo by Friday at 6pm.
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Le Wagon Week 6: Epiphany in Coding
April 8, 2018
This past week was both extremely frustrating, yet exhilaratingly rewarding. I took a temporary break out of the coding camp bubble, and made incredible stride. For the first time, all the puzzle pieces emerged and I built a very simple, but fully functioning web app. This is the beginning of the rest of my life as a coder.
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