travel

For the Chinese Labor Day May 1 vacation in 2007, me and my friend Chris flew from Beijing to Lhasa, Tibet, for 10 days of sightseeing. For 3 days we stayed in the capital city Lhasa. Parts of the city look like a generic modern Chinese city where people who look ethnically Han Chinese walk along wide streets lined with upscale clothing and cell phone stores. That’s not what I came to Tibet to see. In the old Tibetan quarter of Lhasa it’s a completely different world. I could walk along the kora around the Jokhang temple, or visit the Potala Palace, and see pilgrims dressing in flowing overcoats carrying prayer wheels walk past market stalls selling all kinds of handicrafts. But even that felt a little bit forced and touristy. It wasn’t until I turned off the beaten path and walked down an alley to a small temple that I saw the old Lhasa. It was a tiny courtyard packed with hundreds of sitting Tibetan pilgrims spinning prayer wheels and chanting together. In the tiny dark temple monks chanted, beat a drum and blew huge horns, and yak butter candles sizzled in front of statues of Buddhist deities.

After 3 days in Lhasa we hired a Land Cruiser, driver and guide for 6 days of touring around Tibet. We drove through the countryside past small villages and farmers working the land with yaks. We stopped at holy lakes and visited monasteries. We visited the Mt Everest base camp and saw the highest mountain in the world. It was an amazing trip.

Altitude

 A few people have asked me what it was like being at high altitude in Tibet so I figure its something that many people might be curious about. My experience is that altitude sickness slaps you in the face as soon as they depressurize the airplane cabin in Lhasa at 3600m above sea level. My friend told me that small plane pilots aren’t even allowed to fly that high without oxygen. So yes, I felt the effects. I suddenly had to use the bathroom like crazy because the air inside me had expanded under the low pressure. Walking off the plane in Lhasa was painful. My head hurt. I felt a bit dizzy. I felt out of breath. I needed to walk very slowly and deliberately. When I went up a flight of stairs I needed to stop for a minute to catch my breath. I took some painkillers for the headaches, drank lots of water, generally took it easy, and felt much better the next day. By the end of the second day by body had adjusted and I could feel comfortable exerting myself. The dizziness and shortness of breath would noticeably come back when I went more than 1000m higher than Lhasa. At Mt Everest base camp, 5200m high, I felt pretty out of breath. At that altitude the air pressure on you is less than half of what it is at sea level.

For my post project vacation in the fall of 2006, my friend, Chris, and I visited Thailand and Cambodia. The pretty ambitious two week itinerary that we threw together had us staying in Bangkok for 4 days, exploring the Grand Palace, visiting the Emerald Buddha statue in Wat Phra Kaew , seeing the massive 120ft golden reclining Buddha statue at Wat Pho, taking in the National Museum, visiting a bustling night markets in Patpong and the Suan Lum Night Bazaar, catching a night of Muay Thai kickboxing fights at the Lumpini Boxing Stadium, eating some awesome Thai food, and having fun at the various nigh spots around the city. From Bangkok we flew to Siem Reap, Cambodia where we spent a day visiting the immense Khmer ruins at Angkor. These were the most amazing ancient ruins that I’d ever seen. The sight of the tall spires of Angkor Wat and the massive ancient trees growing through the walls of Ta Prohm temple can’t be compared to anything else on earth. The next day in Cambodia was spent on a boat tour of a traditional floating village on Tonle Sap lake. Then we flew back to Bangkok for another evening of nightlife before taking off the next day for 4 days of beach life on Phuket Island, Thailand. In Patong Beach I enjoyed the warm blue water, perfect sand, and vibrant nightlife. On a full day boat tour I took in Phi Phi Island, famous for its scenery, wonderful snorkeling, and monkey beach. Some decadent pampering in the hotel spa and some shopping for ridiculous fake designer clothes rounded out my time in Phuket. After that, it was back to Bangkok for a final day of touring around the ruins of the old capital city at Ayutthaya, and finally a flight back home.
 

In October 2006 I met my parents for a week long trip around Isla Espiritu Santo, in the Sea of Cortez near La Paz, Baja California, Mexico. The island is a nature preserve with an amazing desert landscape, rugged cliffs surrounded by crystal clear blue ocean. The trip was a fully catered excursion organized by Baja Outdoor Activities. Our guide, Francisco was excellent. He kept us on track, made the activities fun, and taught me a good deal about kayaking. Our skiff driver and cook, Jesus, produced some truly amazing meals of fresh sea food, salad and home cooked Mexican food. Our assistant guide, Mario, whipped up some great Margaritas and Pina Coladas for happy hour. The highlights of the trip included: snorkeling through schools of tropical fish over beautiful coral reefs, hiking through desert canyons and up mountains to take in the view, catching a fish and a squid for our meals, and snorkeling with wild sealion pups that enjoyed playing with us in the water. But the best aspect of the trip was that it provided a complete getaway from the world. Sleeping in tents just feet away from the ocean waves, seeing the stars overhead at night, being away from electricity, internet, news of the outside world, and spending the days hiking and paddling through the beautiful landscape, was the best way possible to clear my head of the stress of living in L.A. and making games. When the sun went down at 8pm it was completely dark, and campfires were prohibited, so we all went to sleep by 8:30. At 7am when the sunlight hit the mesh of our tents we all woke up. Its amazing to be that in tune with nature and to realize how little you really need to be happy.
 

For our post project vacation in 2005 my buddy Chris and I decided to travel around mainland China. We spent 19 days visiting Shanghai, Beijing, and Xi’an. It was an awesome trip.

• Shanghai

Shanghai is an amazing modern city with an impressive skyline of futuristic looking buildings, like the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. The Shanghai Museum has an impressive collection of ancient bronzes, and the Old Chinese City has a great market to bargain for random souvenirs. The dumpling shop in the middle of the old town, provided us with one of the best lunches of the trip, a plate of steamed dumplings that fed both of us for 10 yuan (about $1.25). Prices at the market were just crazy. At first they'd tell you something was worth 120 yuan (like $15) and if you hold out and play the game you could get it for 10. For nightlife we hit up the clubs on Maoming Lu, California Club at Park 97, and Rojam, in Hong Kong Plaza. The clubs were open till 4am and packed every night of week. Music was all techno, and pretty darn good. A highlight was when the brought out a live violinist to jam over the beat in Rojam.

• Beijing

In Beijing we spent time in Tian’anmen Square, saw Chairman Mao in his mausoleum, and toured the Forbidden City Imperial Palace. All around Tian'anmen Square we kept on getting approached by pairs of “art students”. These guys or girls would walk up and talk to us in English, chat about where we were from, how we liked China, all sorts of things, for quite a while before launching into the same pitch: "We're are students. Would you like to come and see our teachers exhibition of authentic Chinese paintings?" The first time we heard the pitch we went along with it we ended up in a gift shop where they tried to sell us some pretty generic looking prints. Before I left Beijing I probably heard the exact same pitch more than 20 times from different people. It just got funny after a while.

While in Beijing, we also visited the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, and then saw the amazing 18m (60ft) statue of Buddha carved from a single tree in the Lama Temple. When visiting the Great Wall we took the extra effort to visit Simatai, which is farther away from Beijing than other parts of the wall, but is far less crowded, and allows you to hike the original unrestored wall as it climbs along a beautiful mountain ridge.

The nightlife in Beijing was awesome. The city was all about its hip hop. The Dj's were better than I usually hear in LA, the clubs were packed to 6am, and the dance floors were poppin'. Club Mix, at the Worker's Stadium turned out to be me and Chris's favorite spot. It treated us pretty well.

• Xi'an

Xi’an was the capital of China for 13 dynasties starting with the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huangdi in 221BC. We saw the army of Terracotta Warriors that were buried to protect the first emperor, along with the Hunqing Hot Springs and the ancient Big Wild Goose Pagoda, which all lie east of the city. Later we toured the lively downtown area surrounded by impressive city walls and saw the Drum Tower, Bell Tower and explored the Great Mosque, which were all built during the Ming dynasty.

The only decent club we found was called 1+1 Disco Bar, right across the street from our hotel on Dong Dajie. It was a pretty cool techno club. Fewer people spoke English in Xi'an than Shanghai or Beijing, but people were super friendly. Me and Chris generally attracted a lot of attention as people in China just weren't used to seeing people looking like us. But in Xi'an it was more pronounced. People in the club wanted to buy us drinks, shake hands, and just hang out, even though there wasn't much we could say to each other. It was a lot of fun.

After Insomniac shipped our game, Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal, in the Fall of 2004 I used my end of project vacation time to spend an amazing week backpacking around southern Spain. I went on my own with just my backpack on my back and my travel guide in my hands. I in 10 days explored 5 different cities: Ronda, Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada and Malaga. I took the buses between the cities and used my travel guide to pick out a cheap place to stay in each town as I came to it. November is not exactly the peak tourist season for Spain so accommodations were easy to come by. I spent my time walking, sight seeing and taking pictures. I kept myself very busy, and by the end of the trip I was feeling a little tired, a little burned out and a ready to go home. The highlights of the trip were:
 

• Ronda's amazing Puente Nuevo, a bridge across the 300ft deep river gorge that divides the new town from the old Ciudad.
• Sevilla's wonderful Cathedral which contains many works of art and the tomb of Christopher Columbus. The Cathedral bell tower, La Giralda, is a converted Muslim minaret from the 12th century Mosque was there before the Christian reconquest. The Alcazar Palace is also a worthwhile place to visit as it reflects the heritage of Muslim and Christian Spain.
• The Mezquita in Cordoba is really amazing. It was originally built in 785 as the main Mosque of the region, and the maze of ornate red and white columns and beautifully carved mirab still reflect that past. In the center of the Mosque is a 16 century Cathedral, which is also quite beautiful. The contrast caused by two religions merging their art styles into one building is something to see.
• In Granada the place to see is the Alhambra. This royal palace complex overlooking the city has amazing ornate Muslim palaces, a Renaissance palace, a large fortress with towers offering great views of the city, and the huge Generalife gardens to walk through.
• In Malaga the Alcazaba and Gibralfaro fortresses are fun to explore. The views of the city and coast from the battlements are pretty awesome.

Summer 2004 - Visit to Toronto

In August 2004 me and my girlfriend at the time, kimi, took a week off to visit my family in Toronto. My grandfather was in town visiting my parents, and so I was able to see him for the first time in years. Me and kimi visited the Toronto Zoo, and then went with my parents on a boat cruise of the 30,000 island in Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. We also visited the historic Jesuit mission called Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons. The next day our whole family visited Niagara Falls and took a ride on the Maid of the Mist boat into the falls. Finally, me, kimi and my brother, anthony, went to African Lions Safari, a wild animal park outside Toronto, where you drive your own car right through the animal enclosures.
 

Winter 2004 - New York City

Around Valentine's Day in 2004 me and kimi, my girlfriend at the time, took a week long trip to New York City. We did all of the touristy things, visited Times Square, climbed the Empire State Building, saw some shows (Rent and Stomp), explored the Metropolitan Museum of Art, did some ice skating in Central Park, and just enjoyed the city.
 

Winter 2003 - Family Visit to LA

My mom, dad and brother, Anthony, came to visit me in Los Angeles for the first time for the Christmas holidays in 2003. We had a week to tour around LA, visit the Getty, the La Brea Tar Pits, see Cirque de Soliel, and hike on the beach in Malibu. My family spent a wonderful Christmas day with the family of my girlfriend at the time.
 

Fall  2003 -Zihuatanejo, Mexico

The highlights of the trip for me were:

• The all day horseback riding trip with a local guide, Ignacio, that took us to a secluded corral beach full of tropical fish, and included a meal of freshly caught fish, as well as a little bit of cantering on the sand of Playa Larga.
• Snorkeling at Playa Corral, on Ixtapa Island, where the water was calm and clear and the reef was teeming with tropical fish.

Summer 2003 - Toronto for Mike's Wedding

My good friends Michael and Sandra got married in August of 2003. I've known Mike since grade 4. Me and my girlfriends at the time, kimi, took a weekend trip to Toronto for the wedding. The redeye flight was brutal, but the wedding was great. Although we didn't have much time in the city I still managed to show kimi most of the sights of downtown TO.
 

Summer 2003 - St. Petersbug, Russia

In August 2003 my family organized a trip to return to the city of my birth, which we left in 1979 when we emigrated to Canada. This trip was important for all of us as most of us had not been back to Russia in almost 24 years. This was our chance to explore the sights of the city, visit the palaces and museums, and meet with an extended family that we hadn't seen in many years.

For me the highlights of the trip were the:

• The Hermitage Museum with its impressive collection of art including some really nice impressionist works.
   
• The Amber Room in Catherine the Great's Palace at Tsarskoye Selo. The walls of this room are covered in amazing amber mosaics in various shades of yellow, orange and red. The amber pieces were taken by the German's during World War II and subsequently lost. The room has been under restoration since 1982, and this summer it was opened to the public for the first time since before the war.
   
• The Savior On Blood Cathedral has all of its interior walls covered in bright colorful mosaics.
   
• The Artillery Museum was interesting. It has a collection of guns ranging from 15th century cannons, to World War II tanks and anti-aircraft guns, to cold war era ballistic missiles.
   

Overall this trip was an interesting experience. The city itself was a little run down and some of the situations we got into can only be described as sketchy. Having to bribe an immigration official just to get on the plane to come home was a little irritating. I enjoyed bargaining with the vendors for souvenirs, but was annoyed by the fact that every museum, palace, tour, or show, cost 5 to 10 times more for tourists than Russian citizens. Sometimes I could pass as a local, and sometimes I couldn't. I have to say that all of the sights that I saw were overshadowed by the experience of seeing my grandmother again after almost 10 years, and meeting aunts, uncles, and two cousins that I'd never met before.

Summer 2003 - Sequoia National Park

In July 2003, me and kimi, my girlfriend at the time, took a weekend off and visited Sequoia National Park. The park is in the mountains a few hours north of LA, and is famous for its massive redwood trees. We took a hike up to a lookout point on the top of a mountain to catch the sunset. The trees were amazing. We walked and played around the forest, which made us feel very small.
 

Summer 2003 - Joshua Tree National Park

In June 2003, I went on a weekend camping trip with kimi, my girlfriend at the time, and some of her family to Joshua Tree National Park. We did a few hikes over the rocks and hills of the high desert. We also took a trail to a historic abandoned mine.
 

Winter  2002 - France Trip for WAFR 2002

Summer 2002 - European Trip for Solid Modeling 2002

• Munich
• Neuschwanstein castle
• Luxembourg
• Trier
• Hiedelberg

On the flight back I had a couple of days to stopover in London, where I visited:

• Westminster Abbey
• Camden Gardens
• Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, where I saw A Midsummer Night's Dream

Summer 2002 - Cross Country Road Trips from NC to CA and back

Check out my comments on the places we visited on the trip.

See the pictures from the trip out to California.

See the pictures from the trip back to North Carolina.

Spring Break 2002 - Ashville NC

• The Blue Ridge Parkway
• The Biltmore Estat
• Smokey Mountains National Park
• Chimney Rock Park

Summer 2000 - Continental Crossover

On May 18th, 2000 I flew to London. Two days later I began a 49 day tour of 17 different countries in Europe that has convinced me that a life without travel is just sitting around. In just under two months I experienced history, art, culture, drinking games, a duty free super mall, a movie at the Cannes Film Festival, 4 days of sailing, a Turkish WW1 tunnel, a belly dance show, a Grande Bazaar, a mock wedding, a torture museum, a Dracula  party, paragliding, white water rafting, canyon jumping, a glacier, a sex show, and the chance to meet some really great people from all over the world.

I have posted my travel stories and pictures from the trip.

Spring 1994  - Sicily with the Canadian Dance Tapestry 

Spring 1994 - Greece and Italy with Earl Haig Secondary School

Summer 1992 - France with the Canadian Dance Tapestry