National Philharmonic: Handel's Messiah

Music Center at Strathmore was as nice as before since I visited it years ago. I was happy to see my world traveler friend there to enjoy conversation and .a holiday concert

My Single Female World Traveling Life Style

My solo-travel world adventures began in Fall 2011, when I took a three-month leave from work and travelling Argentina/Chile/ Colombia/Ecuador/Peru to experience Latin American life style. http://southamericajt.blogspot.com/

I recently got back to Washington DC on 11/20/2012 from my 2.5 month trip to Taiwan/China/Vietnam/Cambodia/Thailand/Nepal/India during September to November 2012. My trip highlights include (1) hiking for 7 days in Annapurna Sanctuary, Nepal, (2) visiting the Halong Bay near Hanoi and a virgin cave in central Vietnam; (3) experiencing cultural shocks in Delhi, India; (4) being victimized by a gem scam in Bangkok, Thailand, and (5) attending 23-yr college classmate reunion in Taipei, Taiwan. Here is my updated blog for your casual reading. http://asiajt.blogspot.com/

I continue learning the art of solo travel such as doing things safely as a single female, finding travel pals in vehicles and terminals, making local friends on the go, etc. I invest in real estate and work part-time 9 month each year to fund my trips. I used local transportation and hostels instead of taking tours, I found pals to negotiate as a group for discounts, etc., so to contain my budget to less than $1,000 USD a month including all expenses. Other people deploy strategies such as working via the internet or remotely, finding jobs abroad, etc., to realize their own overseas life style. Stop giving yourselves excuses like it is too scary, too expensive, I don’t speak the language, etc. If you reallywant to do it, you will find a way to do it. For example, after staying in South America for three months, I still speak about 20 words of Spanish. Simply google online you will find many wandering soles like me living the way we want.

Enjoy a prosperous 2013. See you around the world soon.

NSO POPS: New York Voices Concert at Kennedy Center

I enjoyed the Grammy-winning vocal ensemble New York Voices, a Santa Claus, and the charming conductor  Randall Craig Fleischer. The conductor engaged the audience to clap their ahnds and sing along some Christmas songs.

The most entertaining hike I took

I hiked these trails (White Oak/Hawksbill Summit/Cedar Run) many times as different combinations with the same tails or in conjunction with other trails. The 12-m Early Morning Day Hike contained some things unique: one hiker did a wall backflip upon a shelter along the AT near the Hawksbill Summit (the hignest point of SNP), and two hikers dived into 40 F water.

 

Little Devils Stairs and Mt Marshall - 22 miles

I took a few long hikes in 2011-2012. Most of the time hikers are too busy to take photos, including this time. It was not easy to take a long hike after traveling in Asia for 2.5 duing which only hiked once.

Hike with 007

Right after I got back from Asia, I felt a need to stretch my legs since I only hiked once in Nepal in the 2.5 months. I took the 8.5m Strenuous  hike at the George Washington National Forest covering Duncan Knob with A Rock Scramble On Massanutten Mountain.  I did not like the rock scrambles, because a lot of them were loner than me.  You can see me at the right cornor of the photo.

I run into my hiking pal again who works at the UK Embassy in DC, and joked about his job and my coming office party with a James Bond theme. I will figure out how to dress and act in the party. It was a fun and fast hike. 

Day trip to new York city

It was aggressive to take an overnight bus from dc to start a 15-hr visit of NYC. The bus was 1 hr early and arrived near penn station at 3:30 am. Me and my companion were very sleepy so we stopped by a hotel lobby to wait for the daylight to start our visit.

Time square looked refreshing in the early morning. We bumped into fox 5 morning news shooting and enjoyed free yogurt after acting in the background. I had a photo taken with a weather anchor.

We ran across a charity run in the central park on our way to the metropolitan museum. There are always so much to see in the museum

The afternoon highlight was the free ferry to Stetson island to see the statute of liberty. We walked to the running bull near the wall street for good financial fortune (which i need more in this economy). The weather was very cool and pleasant for the whole day. It was a pity that we missed Chinatown this time due to the express train skipped the stop.

I met my friend near time square and chatted for 1.5 hrs, then I saw the end of gay pride parade, walked via the street festival along the avenue of Americas, and enjoyed a concert in the Bryant park before I jumped on the 8:30 pm bus back to dc. What a day!

Post Holiday Hike

At the George Washington National Forest to the Kennedy Peak which was 10-mile hike with 2600 ft elevation gain. It was so cold on the ridge that I felt my fingers were going to freeze and fall off!!! I did this hike at least 5 times but 1st time in winter.

Last minute notice to be a usher for the play BUST

On 12/31 at the Studio theater. It was a comedy about a female prison volunteer's experience with inmates intertwined with her acting career and her lie to be raped. You can read the following review at Washington post.

http://www.washingtonian.com/blogarticles/artsfun/afterhours/21808.html

This was the best one-person play I had, and I enjoyed ushering at the elevator to advise people where they can go and collect ticket stubs. Of course, I got to see the play for free.

Appalachian Trail

11-mile AT Hike with 41 degree f and 1700 ft elevation gain from Washington Monument to Annapolis Rock with The Mid-Atlantic Hiking Group.

It was a pleasant winter hike and had great conversation with my fellow hikers. I also discovered the main cause of my left knee pain starting from my Chilean hike and I am using IT band foam roller to release the muscle tension.

Eastern Indian River dance?!

I enjoyed the performance of Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh's Indian fusion dance on 12/10. The first dance expressed an Indian story about how the Godness Spring was allowed to return to the earth again. Although there were only nine dancers, their sync movements created the effect of a much bigger group of river dnacers. In addition, they had very delicated hands and fingers movements combined with rich facial expressions to tell the story. The other three dances were very mordern which reminded me of Alvin Ailey. The last dance was expecially interesting because each of the dnacers were sitting on a swivel chair to roll and move on the stage to create a flow.

The dancers came from all different ethnic background. You can read more about the group at thier website http://www.dakshina.org/

The performance was followed by a Bhangra flok dance workshop/party. I learned quite a few Bhangra dance moves and had a great time. Bhangra flok dance was a Punjabi dance traditionally performed during harvest festivals and weddings, characterized by the beating of a large, two-headed drum, and it is now a popular style of music combining traditional bhangra drumming with modern Western instruments and rhythms. More info is available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhangra

No wonder the performance was picked as a Wash Post Weekend's Best Bet this weekend.