Travel

We wrapped up a month-long European adventure in Zurich — a fitting finale to a whirlwind trip through the Netherlands, Austria, and Hungary. The city is stunning, meticulously clean, and surrounded by alpine scenery that makes you want to lace up hiking boots immediately. A beautiful way to close out the trip before heading home.

Five days in Budapest with 20,000-30,000 steps daily and not a single Uber or bus ride. We caught a violin concert at Matthias Church in Buda Castle (the best violinist I've ever seen live), gorged on chimney cakes and Christmas market food, and explored the crypts beneath Buda Castle where Dracula was supposedly imprisoned. The highlight was a late-night session at the Turkish thermal baths from 10pm to 1am — the saunas and hot springs alone are reason enough to come back. We capped it off with a night cruise along the Danube with live music and glittering views of the city. Definitely coming back.

We randomly decided to hop on a plane to Vienna after a week in the Netherlands, and it turned out to be one of the best spontaneous decisions of the trip. Vienna is stunning — imperial architecture at every turn, incredible coffee culture, and Mozart's preserved apartment right in the heart of the city. We visited his home, wandered through grand palaces, and ate our weight in schnitzel and Sachertorte. The train from Vienna to Budapest was arguably nicer than Gran Class on the Tokyo-Sendai Shinkansen.

Fresh off a month in Korea, we headed to the Netherlands to kick off a European adventure. Amsterdam delivered its signature charm — canals, bikes, and cozy brown cafes — but the real standout was Haarlem, a smaller city nearby that quickly became a favorite. We spent afternoons working from Dutch coffee shops, comparing every latte to what we'd just experienced in Seoul (a tough act to follow), and gearing up for an unplanned sprint through Vienna, Budapest, and Zurich.

After two weeks in Seoul, we took the KTX to Busan — naturally watching Train to Busan on the way. Busan was incredible: late-night fish markets, seaside temples, cliffside foot-spa cafes with ocean views, and a 24/7 self-serve ramen shop we stumbled into at 3am in a random beach town. We hiked up a massive hillside at 1am to find a cafe to work from, explored mountain villages, and demolished ungodly amounts of bingsu. We'd fully flipped our schedule by this point — waking at 5pm and sleeping at 8am — and discovered PC Bangs where you can game for $5 and order katsu curry delivered straight to your desk. By the end of the month, we'd walked roughly 240 miles across Seoul and Busan.

Two weeks in Seoul with 10+ miles of walking every single day and eating absolutely everything in sight. We wandered Insa-dong for salt butter bread, stumbled into a souffle pancake cafe, hiked the Naksan Trail along the old city wall, climbed Namsan Mountain to N Seoul Tower, explored Olympic Park, circled Seokchon Lake, visited a wonderfully weird art museum, and found "Rain Report" — a rain-themed cafe with a rooftop sprinkler system, weather-report menus, and a spiced pepper foam latte that turned out to be one of the best I've ever had. Seoul's cafe scene alone deserves its own post. We hit 33,000 steps in a single day, ate the best pizza since Hong Kong at a place called "No More Pizza" (half Hawaiian, half shrimp-corn-potato chip), and spent way too many hours in PC Bangs. Seoul is easily one of my favorite cities in the world.

After almost 8 years of living in Washington, Dieu My and I finally made it to Mt. Rainier. We completed the Skyline Trail Loop — about 1,450 ft of elevation gain over 5.5 miles, much of it through snow, and all in Keen sandals with no socks. The mountain is breathtaking, the wildflower meadows are surreal, and we had a cozy cabin with a private jacuzzi to recover in after the long hikes. These mountain roads are begging for the 911 next time.

Nearly a month hopping across Asia: starting in Taipei, then flying to Fukuoka, taking the shinkansen to Kyoto, and eventually making our way up to Sendai and Tokyo. Kyoto is slowly overtaking Osaka as a favorite — we rented a beautiful traditional home and spent the week walking to shrines, hiking, and doing day trips back to Osaka for okonomiyaki and coffee at Brooklyn Roasting Company. Sendai holds a special place from study abroad days in 2011, and returning after 13 years was surreal. Tokyo wrapped things up with more ramen, guitar shops, and long walks through the city at all hours.

Flew to Sweden for Mattias Eklundh's Freak Guitar Camp deep in the Swedish woods. Got thoroughly destroyed in the best possible way. The highlight was a surprise clinic by Per Nilsson — one of my guitar heroes — who played and improvised for three hours straight. Getting to chat with him and witness that level of musicianship in person was unforgettable.

Sixth trip to Japan, bouncing between Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. Spent most of the time exploring the endless guitar shops around Akihabara and Shinjuku, hunting for vintage Caparisons and rare Ibanez models. The guitar hunting came up empty this time, but the ramen, gyoza, and the experience of just wandering Tokyo at all hours more than made up for it. Scored a first-time sleeping pod with a door on the flight home.

A whirlwind through four countries: started in Taipei with hiking despite 97°F heat, then flew to Singapore for incredible food and architecture. From there, ferried to Indonesia to visit the Vietnamese refugee camp where Dieu My was born — we found the exact hospital room, now dilapidated and surrounded by monkeys. Kuala Lumpur rounded out the trip with temples, caves, and some of the best noodles ever, before heading onward to Japan.

Started in Osaka where I stumbled across a shop carrying Caparison guitars — the first time seeing them in their natural environment. Took a quick shinkansen ride up to Kyoto for dinner with an old friend, then headed to Tokyo for the remainder of the trip. Tokyo was all about exploring guitar shops in Akihabara, Shibuya, and Shinjuku, discovering a cafe that makes black lattes with incredible art, attending an AI meetup, and eating way too much (yet simultaneously not enough) ramen, gyoza, and sushi.

Korea's coffee shop scene is on another level — wildly creative spaces that defy expectations. Beyond the cafes, we explored Seoul on foot, walking miles each day through markets, neighborhoods, and historic districts. The food was incredible and the city has a vibrant energy that makes it easy to just keep walking and discovering.

First time back in Hong Kong since 2016. We packed in a dim sum cruise, hiked Victoria Peak and Dragon's Back, tried egg waffles, egg tarts, and HK milk tea from all the famous spots, and visited Chi Lin Nunnery, Nan Lian Garden, and Wong Tai Sin Temple. The Kowloon leg ended with a stay at The Peninsula, shaved ice, and a leg-shredding Castle Peak hike in Tuen Mun. The best pizza of my life happened here too. HK remains one of my favorite places in the world.

Five days, four countries: The Hague and Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Antwerp in Belgium, Dusseldorf in Germany, then Athens and a ferry to Crete in Greece. We walked 5+ hours every day through way too many cool places to count. It had been a long time since visiting Europe, and it was a wonderful reminder of how incredible the continent is.

Walked even more in LA than in NYC. Day one was 10 miles around Silicon Beach, and the trip ended with a 5-mile sunset hike from Culver City all the way to Playa Del Rey Beach, passing insane hillside mansions along the way. The hike culminated at Sushi Beluga, where I devoured some of the best sushi I'd had in ages, then rented a scooter and rode back along the marina jetty bike path while being passed by a chain of at least 100 cyclists.

First trip to NYC and it did not disappoint. Easily the highest quality and variety of food I'd had in the USA — seemingly every place, no matter how small, makes everything in-house. The city attracts people who genuinely care about being the best at what they do, and the competitive energy is palpable just walking the streets. Way too many museums and art exhibits to fit into one week, but we crammed in everything we could, and it was incredible.

An impromptu solo trip back to Taiwan. After a 12-hour red-eye on only 5 hours of sleep, the first stop was Louisa Coffee for an iced latte ordered in completely broken Chinese. Walked somewhere between 10 and 20 miles that first day alone, including a hike that left my legs thoroughly destroyed. Highlights included drowning in an incredible sesame iced latte at a hole-in-the-wall cafe near the trailhead, exploring Songshan district, and capping the trip off with The World of Hans Zimmer concert on the last night — original soloists performing Dark Knight, Inception, Pirates of the Caribbean, and more.

Drinking hot chocolate in -4°C temps while watching a movie on the slopes of an indoor skiing resort inside Mall of the Emirates, while it's 44°C outside, is genuinely mind-bending. Dubai is a city of absurd contrasts and impressive engineering. The coolest hot place I've ever been.

Two weeks in Singapore attending ISMAR2022 and touring AR/VR labs. Dieu My joined partway through, and from there it was nonstop exploring — the food, the architecture, the culture. Every moment was incredible. The trip ended with a few nights at Marina Bay Sands, which is absolutely ridiculous in the best way. The flight over was pretty special too: a sky cubicle with a large TV, three windows, and a lie-flat bed.

Dieu My and I arrived in Taipei on January 1st, 2020. We spent 1 month living in the Songshan district near Taipei Arena. We walked 10+ miles through the city nearly everyday and were able to check out most of Taipei's districts. Unlike in the USA, you can walk anywhere at anytime of the day and be safe! We also took the high speed rail down to Kaoshiung City on the southern side of the island for a weekend — beautiful place with amazing hotels that will blow your mind. Night markets are a must; hiking is incredible; Louisa Coffee has some of the best coffee I've ever had. There's an endless list of praises I have for Taiwan and it is easily one of my favorite countries.

After spending January in Taipei, Dieu My and I spent February in Osaka, Japan. We stayed in a really nice apartment just 5 minutes walk from Dotonburi. In the same way that Taiwanese hotels will make you forever detest American hotels, Japanese bathrooms will make you detest American bathrooms and think of them as barbaric relics of the past. You have to experience it yourself to understand.

Unfortunately, I spent a good amount of time in Japan sick. I had to go to the doctor twice as an uninsured foreigner, yet it was the most pleasant, painless, and cheapest medical experience of my life. When I wasn't sick, we were walking all over Osaka, working at coffee shops, and gorging on sushi, udon, takoyaki, and okonomiyaki.