Wendy and I went camping on Saturday at Gold Creek. I think we stayed last year at the same camp site but as always, the experience was very different. Weather wasn’t so good when we got there, drizzling but not too wet or anything. I tried to set up the tarp with ropes, tied up stones to one end of the rope, threw it all the way up so that it would catch some branches high up on the tree. The trees were fairly far apart but we ended up making a pretty nicely tilted tarp set up. Setting up the tent was a breeze, but starting up a fire wasn’t. Splitting the firewood wasn’t so hard but we had a hard time starting up a fire - tried using some smaller pieces of dried wood as the tinder, which didn’t work, they just wouldn’t burn for more than 10 seconds. Luckily we bought a fuel tablet which helped a LOT. It would keep burning for maybe 5 minutes straight which got most of our firewood started burning. The little electric fan that I brought helped a lot as well to get the fire going. Next time I’ll try dried leaves and dead tree twigs… We had a fun time barbequing all the beef, chicken wings, saugages…etc that we prepared, kept eating non-stop until the sky turned dark.

The next day we hiked the Lower Falls Trail, which was a 6km round trip easy hike. We stopped over at various scenic spots, checking out the clear looking water and river rocks. At the end of the hike it was a very pretty looking fall, actually one large one and a few smaller ones. The weather was so nice and sunny, which made the falls look really nice. We climbed to the top of a huge boulder to have some lunch, before heading back to Richmond. Overall the trip was a great one and we had a lot of fun doing quite a few different things.

On another note I got a refurbished Kitchen Aid 4-speed blender at New Country Appliances for $69. It works magic! I tried chopping ice with it it literally chopped up 12 icecubes in less than 5 seconds! So far I’ve successfully made coffee frap and chocolate frap with it, the size of the ice granules was perfect, tasted just like those in the cafe. The blade component at the bottom was a bit loose though but I was able to tighten it up with a crank. Now there is a very minor leak when it’s blending but it’s not really noticeable. I’ll see if I can further enhance my fix.

It’s been a week since I’m back from the trip. It was an extremely satisfying and fun trip, comparable to my Utah trip last August. Even though the weather wasn’t cooperating at all, I managed to go to most of the places in the original plan (even though the scheduling was all messed up). I had been doing a diary/journal everyday, and ended up with a 11-page document

Needless to say, I’m back to work and there’s TONS of work..! I got an iPhone from work though, pretty awesome! Been playing with the phone for a while, loaded a bunch of cool apps onto it. So far I’m liking the phone. The screen is awesome, the OS is really responsive, and it’s really easy to setup apps on it. The 3MP camera isn’t the best but it’s adequate.

I’ve taken over 5000 pictures this time and it’s overwhelming to go through them.. Very satisfied with the pictures though, much better then ones I took in Utah. Probably going to take a month or so processing all of them, but it’ll be well worth.

I got a papercraft of the Stonehenge from Wendy. It’s a scale model in printed paper all I have to do is to cut it and glue. It’s just 1 huge page of cutting, doesn’t seem too hard. I want to start building it soon, but it’s time to work on my tax return..

Less than 12 hours now before my flight to Las Vegas departs. I THINK/HOPE I have everything I need packed up and not missing anything. My camera gears are all packed (most important thing to pack). Left a message on my flickr so people wouldn’t think I just disappear and not commenting on their pictures..! My flight is checked in, backpack is secured and I’ve put my passport and stuff in….I think I’m ready.
Now going to bed for 7 hours or so and then I’ll have to get up at 3AM and catch a cab so that I can be at the airport at 4….so early.

Wonder if I’ll have internet access there… probably not.

Went with Wendy to the Skagit County near Burlington to see the tulip fields. We left around 7AM but then I forgot to bring some stuff for a few times and therefore had to drove back home to pick them up and wasted some 45 minutes. The drive down the States wasn’t too bad, around 1.5 hours excluding the line up at the border.

I think it was the last day to show the tulip fields before they “top them off”, which is to chop off the petals / head of the flower in order to prevent disease…etc. The remaining fields were still vast and colorful - red, orange, yellow, purple, white, pink…. so many colors. Wendy had a chance to try out her new Olympus E-PL1 camera, and I busted out my Zuiko 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 for some serious bokeh fun. This lens was extremely capable in the fields, more useful than my beloved Zuiko 12-60mm f/2.8-3.5.

We went to the Burlington Outlet for some shopping but then the place was kind of tiny, nothing much there so we just wandered for a bit and drove back to Canada. We walked SO much and were super tired. Wendy got some sunburn on her nose and face hopefully it’ll heal fairly soon.

Have been spending some time doing more trip planning for the upcoming Yosemite National Park & Death Valley Nationa Park trip. I love Microsoft Streets & Trips! Without it it’ll be 80x harder to do any planning, if it’s even possible. In fact I’ve been using it since so long ago that I can’t even remember when.

Went to Chapters to search for books that are helpful for the trip. Chapters on Broadway has way more books than their Richmond counterpart. I picked 6 books or so from the shelf, spot a comfy seat, sat down and read for an hour. I picked three of the books to buy.

The Rough Guide to Yosemite
by ROUGHGUIDES / Paul Whitfield
This book will be my general-purpose book for general information, where to eat, hike, tips, some small guides, maps…etc. I usually get Fodor’s or Frommer, but this one seems to be better.

Day Hikes In Yosemite National Park
by Robert Stone
This is a pure hiking guide. It has ALL possible hikes in Yosemites, detailed information about each trail, trailhead, maps, elevation gains…etc. I’ll keep this book in my backpack at all times.

The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite & the High Sierra, where to find perfect shots and how to take them
by Harolad Davis
Even though I’m not going to the High Sierra, this book is worthy enough to buy just for all the incredibly useful picture taking techniques and tips about where/when to take any picture at the parks. I have to start reading it real soon, have to finish it before the trip.

I actually just ordered another book online (from BuyCDNow.ca) that I wasn’t able to find in Chapters, or the Travel Bug bookstore: The Photographer’s Guide to Death Valley. It’s published by the same company as the photographer’s guide to Yosemite book mentioned above. Can’t wait for it to come in my mail…

Been back to Vancouver for a couple days, trying to adjust to the time differences/jet lag, have been feeling super tired/lack of energy for the last few days… Also spent time cleaning up the “mess” caused by the kitchen reno… had to rub off a lot of stains on the hardwood floor, lots of vacuuming as the entire living room was covered with dust, also reorganized virtually everything within the living room as now that I lost a huge closet (took over by the fridge), I had to throw away lots of stuff that I had been keeping in the closet..

The last week I spent in Hong Kong was really fun. Wendy and I went to Chime Long in Guang Zhou (China), spent a night at the Chime Long hotel (new year fireworks was visible from the hotel room!), watched a circus show, visited a really huge zoo, and had fun at a world-class amusement park (with some really crazy roller coasters!) It was really a trip packed with fun, and it wasn’t too expensive as well. Other than that we went to a few places that we’ve never been to in Hong Kong, like Sheung Wan, and Tai O. In Sheung Wan there were a lot of old historical buildings (people still living in there) and I took lots of pictures; at Tai O (at the Lantau island, 2-hour ferry ride from Hong Kong) we walked around the area on foot, it was really interesting as life style there was really simple and people that were living there were really slow paced and chill. Lots of great photo opportunities as well. The entire area was next to the water, most of the homes were floating homes that were built on top of some wooden poles and platforms. We saw some interesting street vendors selling preserved fish, guts, and other dried stuff..also some local snacks like the 雞蛋仔 (lined up at a booth for half an hour to get it) and 天癸汁 (tasted like plum juice..quite refreshing).

I don’t feel like working at all….:( but there’s no choice.