Lost Wandering Tokyo Drifter?

How is everyone doing? For the past few months or so, I've been stuck working from home, and apart from the occasional errands, I'm just mostly staying at home. I realized I've been away here for too long, so I thought, why not go back into writing? Yes, sorry I took so long. So here it is. Remembering the time last year when I had that week in Japan... In pictures.

Shibuya Crossing. My idea of organized chaos. It begins when the lights turn green.

Monochrome Terminal

"Monochrome" and "Terminal" paints a different picture that comes to mind to IT folks. It reminds us of green/gray text on black computer screens from days of old. It's also rather similar to Photography. Before pictures came in color, a lot were in monochrome (black and white commonly, but it also came in sepia, among others). The difference is, though, monochrome persisted.

Monochrome has always been a fascination of mine. In this age of overwhelming bleeding edge technology where newer technologies lead to more vibrant colors, I tend to step back every now and then to regress to basic black and white, and all of the two hundred fifty-four shades in between that my camera can muster. Though I imagine it'll be much fewer shades than that due to the mixing I do for contrast.

I had the chance to play with it when we traveled to Hong Kong. I had the time and luxury to experiment so I rendered some images in monochrome. More of the tones and textures here...

The Colors Of Hong Kong International Airport

Hong Kong International Airport is a marvel of engineering. It is among the most amazing man-made structures I've seen both in scale and in elegance. The whole airport is practically a small city in scale and I pretty much tired myself out exploring just the passenger accessible areas in Terminal 1 departure. 

More sights of this monumental marvel in here...

Going Home - Taxi Ride To the Airport

Time surely is fleeting when you're having fun. While not everyone may agree considering that we didn't exactly go to the usual tourist attractions, I still think it was awesome that we got to see a piece of Hong Kong. Just like that it was time to go home. We checked out at the hotel and grabbed a ride to the airport.

Short but sweet, here are some sights we saw along the way...

Strolling To Harbour City - Through The Subway

Second day in Hong Kong. Yesterday we had a long hot day, and today was no different. What is different though, is we know better now. Today we had the whole day to ourselves.

We're off to a long stroll today. Lots of sights to see, coffee to drink, food to eat, pictures to take... Did I mention food?

Afternoon Hong Kong Tour 2 - Lights In The Sky

This is a continuation of our tour that started here.

After a few turns on the Observation Wheel, we hopped on a bus to be showed around places in Hong Kong.

Just being in Hong Kong give a look and feel of being in the Asian Movies. It's as every bit awesome as it was in the films.

A portion of this story was updated as it happened on Instagram, but a lot of the sights can also be found here. Captions can be found on the Flickr page if you're interested to read them. Just click on the image and you'll be redirected there.

Afternoon Hong Kong Tour 1 - Fresh Off The Boat

This is a continuation of the previous entry.

Hong Kong is amazing. After lunch and shopping, we had a chance to take some rest. At four in the afternoon we got ready and went on to an adventure I'd not forget- An afternoon tour of Hong Kong. 

With Hong Kong being a vast place though, we picked the least stressful tour. We didn't want to spend the afternoon running a marathon playing catch up with time and the tour guide.

A portion of this story was updated as it happened on Instagram, but a lot of the sights can also be found here. Captions can be found on the Flickr page if you're interested to read them. Just click on the image and you'll be redirected there.

Hello Hong Kong

Every once in a long while, I get the chance to travel. This year, I won a trip for two to Hong Kong. I reckoned it's a good idea to spend some time with dad traveling. Coincidentally, my auntie also won a ticket. However, she didn't have the the availability at the time, so she gave it to my uncle instead. That's how it happened.

Here's what we've seen during our stay there, among other things. 

A portion of this story was updated as it happened on Instagram, but a lot of the sights can also be found here. Captions can be found on the Flickr page if you're interested to read them. Just click on the image and you'll be redirected there.

Rainy Day Roadtrip

It was a weekend, I had plans to attend a birthday celebration. Attending a birthday in Tagaytay was potentially jeopardized by inclement weather, but by some fortune, the weather seems to have cleared up enough for me to go there. Going there was relatively uneventful (Which for me, means not too many things went awry), but the view was breathtaking, even surreal as it was in a different weather condition.

This one's taken from the place. I've never been here while it was heavily raining. I think it's really surreal. I stayed mostly indoors, but I still had a really good view.

2014 Back To Reality Via Taiwan - Revisited

A revisit to that time when I partook in a journey to escape a bleak daily reality. It was when I left my old bland self, albeit temporarily. And on my way to a world that's surreal I took a stop at somewhere that is both surreal and quite strange.

I've seen wonders in Taiwan. And I didn't even have to leave the airport for it. To me it was quite a treat, and truly was beautiful!

2014 San Diego Beach - Revisited

I don't usually go to the beach... But when I do, it's in San Diego, California...

2012 San Mateo, CA - Revisited

Back in 2012, I was given the good fortune of being assigned for training for our work in the USA. I was working in San Mateo, it's a not-so-often-heard place that I haven't heard from any Hollywood movie. It's located around 20 miles south of San Francisco. Unlike the crowded 'Frisco though, it's actually very peaceful and quiet. It is by far among the best surprises I ever had. The town is very upscale and folks are friendly. This is one of the few places that I'll definitely remember. 

I got a good chance to take evening walks and a nice camera at the time. Here are some of the pictures I've taken around town. There are a lot of parks here, this one in particular is in the residential area. 

Ola Taal Vista!

It was my cousin's wedding. My family and I had the opportunity to go to Tagaytay. It's been over a year since I've gone to the place and I somewhat missed the scenic view. Driving there was a bit challenging for me and the car. Mostly for the car, traveling uphill while carrying three overweight adults and their bags. 

We arrived at the hotel the day before the wedding, with all our fancy clothes in tow. But no, this isn't about the wedding. This is about the interesting place I've found with a lovely view.

The Way Back - Narita Layover

While Nashville was fun, warm and welcoming, we inevitably had to leave. On one chilly Friday morning, we met up at the hotel lobby and embarked on our journey back to Manila. We flew to Atlanta, and almost missed our flight to Japan. The flight to Japan has been long and unforgiving. We've had some respite when we touched down in Narita. From there, we had some time to unwind a bit before our flight to Manila. I thought it'd be an opportunity to look around the airport.

Dinner With Office Folks

While we didn't have exactly the time to go wander around Nashville during working days, on our last two nights before flying back we got treated to some awesome eats by one our bosses there. It was actually amazing each night. On the first night we went to this Bar/Restaurant/Brewery called Fat Bottom. Apart from the awesome food, it had great music. On the following night, I forgot to take note the name of the other restaurant. It was a fine dining place, and food was great too.

I did mention previously that we were going home.  But our visit here wasn't going to end without any going away gathering.

Downtown Nashville Nights

While I enjoyed walking around Nashville in the day,  the nights there were no less lively, festive and colorful. It's not exactly Las Vegas, but nonetheless the lights are bright with a crowd that's plenty. It's nothing like a sleepy town I initially thought it'd be. As far as interesting places go, it's as fun as any.

Nashville Days - Getting All Chummy

By now I've gotten comfortable with the environment, so I've gone a bit more assertive (read: reckless) and it made for some more images more intimate than the previous sets. And I've gotten more fun at it actually. I can't stop raving on how awesome and lively Nashville is.

Our Stay In Nashville Hosted By Hilton Garden Inn

Our stay in Nashville has proven to be enjoyable. Yes, it was work, flight was terrible due to delays and close calls in our flights going to and from Atlanta, but while we were in Nashville, after work hours were awesome hours. What made it better was the fact that our hotel was located right in the middle of Downtown, surrounded by awesome places, and our office was only a block away. I especially like the convenience of the hotel we stayed in. If I'm ever back in Nashville, I'd definitely pick this place to stay.

Nashville Days - Getting To Know

We arrived in Nashville at midnight. Tired and weary, we checked in to the hotel. The hotel was a more traditional looking offering compared to the one we stayed in at California. Went to sleep after that. When I woke up it was almost noon. My co-worker was nowhere to be found, so it was just my boss and I having a stroll downtown. There's an NHL event this week, and the whole place was quite lovely.

Travelling By Plane

While I like travelling in general, especially when the mood hits me, travelling domestic in the US has become a nightmare for me. I'd not generalize though. It's a given that delays are inevitable. I usually won't mind it. It all becomes an ordeal when it means missing the next flight. I have visited Atlanta, GA. I was there... For around half an hour. Running like hell transferring from one terminal to another fearing I'd miss the next flight. It's not something that one easily forgets.