Tomorrow night, the world will catch a glimpse of a supermoon, the night in the year when the moon comes closest to Earth and thus appears larger to us. I walked through the Centro Storico (“Historic Center”) district of Rome tonight and captured some of the world’s most famous landmarks against the (almost) supermoon.

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While today may not have been as wild as my first night in Rome, it certainly was productive. I had my first of many cups of gelato and slices of pizza during this trip, and it was certainly interesting when I tried to order a new SIM card at Telecom Italia Mobile (there are still bumps in my Italian listening comprehension). All’s well that ends well, and I now have an Italian phone number, as well as a taste for more snacks. read more »

It’s currently noon on my second day in Rome and I’m still in bed, head aching and still dizzy from everything that happened last night. Fourteen hours of travel is enough to make anyone woozy, and I had decided, after a short nap, to take a leisurely evening stroll around the Fontana di Trevi, snap a few nighttime photos, grab a slice of pizza at Da Michele and call it a night.

I clearly failed at this. read more »

I grew up on the far west side of Oahu in a town called Makakilo, a place even some of my high school friends didn’t know about. And while I spent some time in San Francisco, most of my childhood was isolated here, from preschool in the former Barber’s Point Naval Air Station to attending high school downtown.

Remember the days without computers? Remember when your evenings weren’t spent refreshing Facebook or Twitter (or even Myspace)? As kids, we would spend our ample free time exploring our hometown, discovering new swing sets hidden in residential complexes or finding grand panoramas of Honolulu from our mountaintop perspective.

With Google Street View (somehow now available for my hometown), I’m able to explore Makakilo like I did when I was a kid. Perhaps, even more so. There are areas I had never bothered visiting. And through technology, I’m able to explore my hometown even further, all while refreshing my Facebook and Twitter feeds.

Here are some Google Street View shots of Makakilo and Kapolei:

Mauka Lani Elementary School, a public school I attended for several years. read more »

Standing in front of the magnificent fountain, surprisingly free of massive crowds that day, I chose a coin of lesser value (I’m Chinese) and tossed it over my right shoulder into the water. Apparently I had done it with the wrong hand, as a nearby traveler began to instruct me on the proper method in which one conjures the magic of the monument. Perhaps by luck, I found a stray coin on the floor, and I tossed it into the water in a manner suitable with the legend’s requirements. read more »