Boarding Gate 101

I spent most my childhood, outside of school, hanging around the market in my hometown. My grandparents's house, where I stayed until I was in first grade, was located near the public market, so I grew up with the tiangge  as my playground. It probably is the reason why I am more at ease with the hustle and bustle of urban areas, especially while traveling.  Maybe because of that that I kind of felt right at home exploring the night markets of Taipei during a trip there late last year. I was able to explore two night markets: one in Jin Liang St., and the other (the more famous of the two), in Shilin. Jin Liang is right across my hostel and very near Taipei 101 , so I spent a longer time there. Just point and pray your digestive system is strong enough Night markets are a mostly Asian phenomenon, usually occurring where Chinese migrants congregate, like chinatowns. The open-air markets are usually composed of stalls placed on the sidewalks and streets, wit...

The primary reason why I wanted to visit the Art Institute of Chicago is to see the painting of Grant Wood called American Gothic . So I was disappointed to know after talking to the concierge that the iconic work of art, which shows two farmers in Iowa - a woman and a man with a pitchfork - was on loan somewhere else. Still the visit to the museum was not a disappointment at all. I got to see another favorite painting of mine and then some.  I only had the opportunity to visit the museum on my second time in Chicago, last fall. We were exploring the Magnificent Mile and the Millennium Park all morning, and we were able to swung by the museum after lunch, after visiting the Bean once again.  The Art Institute of Chicago is the second-largest art museum in the United States, second only to the Met. It was founded in 1866, and found its home at a Beaux-Art building along Michigan Avenue in Chicago [ 1 ]. We came in through the new wing that was added t...

We went to Subic last weekend. I was planning to have another go at flyboarding in Networx Jetsports, and to make the trip less hectic and get more chances of better light (the Subic freeport, which was a former US naval base up to the 80s, faces west so it's hard to take photos near sunset) we made the trip an overnight one. We booked a hotel along the Subic boardwalk, which is very near the Networx facility.  Getting suited up in the jetski We arrived there in the afternoon and after checking in went around to check the freeport and also walk along the boardwalk. I also checked on Vince, the manager of Networx, about the flyboard but it turned out they lack some spare parts for the machine, so tough luck. Not that it's wasted though, as I decided to just jetski the next morning. Zipping across Subic Bay I've tried jetski before, in  Canyon Cove in Batangas  (turns out Networx is now managing the water sports facilities in Canyon Cove), and I find i...