Tag: #retirementtravel

Posted on

islands in the sun

A Guinness with a cigar from Cuba. The best thing to do in Pattaya.
My first hamburger in many years. It was pretty good.
One of my favorites, grilled waterfall pork (NAMTOK MOO) with sticky rice.
Having some grilled duck with noodles at the airport
Some pork with noodles in a soup it’s fairly tasty and not
The main international airport in Bangkok has completed its center art piece
I think there is a spelling mistake. It should be “FEMEAL”
Just a photo to keep your attention
Be careful passing his truck. Several times I thought it was going to fall over
Good to know
I didn’t stop in to see if the haircut was really free
A nice cappuccino design
Beautiful flowers at the resort
A view of the fishing village on Koh Kood
Below you will see the original Honda Giorno. They have a new version out this year which is so similar to a Vespa
The license plate is from some island of the host of China
Was Goldfinger here?
Thang you too. Papa makes good bread
The international bocce crowd; Italy, England, Laos and a confused nationality
CORNELL COLLEGE colors
What is a Monk living in my apartment?
In Japan, near where I used to live, beautiful tricycle motorcycles from this shop
Playing tennis at night in Tokyo
Thief wants to be the first to get any snacks in the morning
Some good Lao food
Getting home, one dog begging for food and the other two guarding to keep other dogs away from potential snacks
It seems the use of chemicals produces this green and yellow hybrid bunch
A special Poké bowl presentation
The shark is still there
A Poké bowl falafel
A very tasty chicken and coconut soup
Who says dogs can’t do paddle boarding
This cat from White Elephant fancy himself a leopard
Posted on

Paksong -Southern Laos (coffee, tea, avocados)

Local monks helping fix the walkway by the river
A beautiful sunset in Pakse
Waiting with the family tractor for the rain to stop
Tad fang waterfall in Poksong
Do you wanna do the zip line across the canyon? Pretty scary
You can have a table sent along on the zip line so you can drink your coffee suspended over the canyon. They have another option so you can sleep in a hammock on the zip line over the canyon. Is that on your bucket list?
The dogs don’t care who’s doing the zip line training
Parallel zip lines. The guy in Orange on the right is getting his phone ready to video the person on the left as they go across the canyon
Avocados are available in this area for about $.70 per kilo and they are delicious. Most people have avocado trees in their yard and then they put up a little stand in front of their house on the road to sell their avocados
There was quite an accident with these trucks and trailers
A captured American army Jeep with the wrong force identifier under the windshield. It obviously it’s still running but has been extensively used
This very aggressive Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer is using 3M for some parts of their manufacturing and probably display the company symbol. This was on a local taxi, part of a new, inexpensive, taxi service in Vientiane
The new Lao development bank in Pakse. The architecture is a little bewildering. It is very white.
The kid on the back really wanted to wave to me but he is following the strict orders from his younger brother who is driving to hang on tight and not let go
Posted on

Food and friends

At Mauro’s Babylon Italian restaurant on Koh Chang
Falafel dish at Poke Bowl. Can’t say it is very Hawaiian but it is good food
A nice café desert
Sweden and the U.S. at one of our usual haunts
Chicken rice (KAO MAN GAI) in Vientiane
Lao style “sushi” in a hot open market, not my idea of sushi for sure (Vientiane)
small lunch, spring roll
gee at her coffee stand before moving back to her home town in Surin
in the city (SFO) we used to have Mr. Muso’s cookies like this one in my cappuccino
in Laos, pineapple picked the day before. Soooo sweet
delicious Indian food in Lungprabang
Cooking for Gee’s return home party. We will miss her.
In Pakse, Laos, a remarkably delicious pizza lunch
Laab (spicy minced pork), tam som (papaya pok pok), and dried, fried beef in Vang Vieng, Laos
Posted on

Paris – Villa Savoye

in the outskirts of Paris there is this very interesting and modern looking home built in the 1920s by a famous French architect. Below is a link to further information.

Villa Savoye

The cars parked down below in a garage inside the area color in blue. What was unusual at that time is the servants quarters were built on the first floor.
The master bath
The problem that plagued the house for years was water. What many architects now know is that building roofs and tops of buildings with flat areas creates many opportunities for water to start leaking below.
Posted on

paris – museum of modern art

i’m visiting the museum of modern art in Paris we focused on the Palais de Tokyo. The interior cement lining infrastructure was constructed by a Japanese artist.

This speaking mouse is also present at several museums throughout Europe
These old people in the retirement home move around this section of the museum, completely automated.
Pablo
He designed the mirror floor of the center part of the museum. I found it walking around the floor and looking down at it was extremely mesmerizing
Looking down you see the glass dome
Posted on

Koh Chang excitement

This photo speaks for itself
A snake is taking its time to suffocate a Tokay gecko
Koh Kood coffee shop
Keeping fish for customers at the restaurant
I think he’s trying to tell people he wants some food
These leaves are good food for shrimp farms
Clearwater at Koh Kood
This grilled gecko is the reason this electric plug was not working
You could do almost anything to Ciccio but he would not move
Theif likes her belly rubbed
I wonder what they charge for
This guy was hanging around for some reason
No filter was used for this photo
The guy in blue jumped onto the ferry as it was leaving the dock, hit one of the metal plates which dislodged and almost fell in the water
A beginning driver
Obviously an early PC adopter
Where else would you use your phone but while riding your motorcycle
Do all wheels on the back axle serves some purpose

Posted on

Japan- food

One of my favorites made in my favorite sushi Drinkery
Nice and fresh oysters
With my former neighbors and one of my best college friend’s son (studying in Japan)
This is one of the better breakfasts I had, curry rice Japanese style
The old wartime navy food never dies. Spam mixed with tuna and mayonnaise wrapped in seaweed
Cornell graduates, and a friend’s son, gathering for a meal in Tokyo
Nice little snacks for dinner
One of my favorite breakfast meals
A not so good free hotel breakfast
A standard lunch
Wild duck
A few veggies more than half eaten
A very tasty but simple lunch
Special beef at a very popular Wakayama Korean barbecue
Very special rice as well
A very simple meal which I find incredibly nice, grilled beef of different marbling with KimChi and rice
With a seaweed soup
This is the Korean barbecue in Wakayama I really recommend
you know by now this is one of my favorites
Posted on

Japan 2024

Full bloom near my old house Temple
Very clean train
This was Being promoted
There was some shaking but nothing significant
A clear view of Mount Fuji from the hotel
Beautiful evening view from the room
One of my favorites
The only Cuban cigars we could find that week. Cubans are in short supply
My friend’s car.
Very boxxy
An Irish pub in downtown Wakayama
Posted on

Paris food

A local bistro’s idea of fish and chips
And their idea of Caesar salad
This was my hamburger with sauce all over it, very French, sauce on everything
Some wild animal
Beef tartar on the right in abundance. The portion was way too much for me but I learned it was named after the tartars who often didn’t have time or the proper cooking equipment to grill the beef. I suspect they had it raw because they had to go kill some people on a fixed schedule.
Coffee ice cream dessert. I was surprised this time all the desserts were extremely sweet, much more than I had remembered.
The menu from the restaurant in Versailles
Multicolored cauliflower
Very tasty ice cream
Another dessert
Scallops
An orange flavored dessert
The typical morning breakfast at the hotel
This is a very local and traditional cuisine restaurant. The food is not fancy but it seems it is very well known for its excellence
Our friend has a niece who works in this restaurant. It has been open only for less than a year but a few days after we ate here they received their first Michelin star
Potato skin and sauce
The central theme that night was potatoes
Dessert
Posted on

japan – wakayama and…

Wakayama is kind of a quiet town with a decreasing population like many non-major cities in Japan but I have a close college friend who lives there and so I visit from time to time to enjoy the good food and the company. This time I just flew in from Bangkok for four days and then one day in Tokyo before flying back.

We smoke Cubans in his car on the way to dinner
My first quality Ramen in five years
These dolls are placed as a seasonal celebration, a shrine near Wakayama
The front of the shrine
The gate (Torii)
The business hotel where I stayed has a very uninteresting breakfast but it’s included
On Christmas day we had a nice tiramisu at a French style restaurant
In general the food was not too much and very tasty, Japanese – French style
Cute car. Only 600 cc. It’s a shame this company lied and cheated and had to shut down until they made certain acceptable corrections
A very nice lunch
A friend’s house, very traditional
Coming into Narita you can see some solar farms for the local residents
Friends at a countryside karaoke bar (snack) before a yakuza boss walked in
Representing Thailand, Japan and Borsalino land
It was a very clear day. Yes you can see Mount Fuji