Xanadu presented her work on marine mammal call detection at the Workshop on Detection and Localization of Marine Mammals using Passive Acoustics. This was a great chance to check out the Mediterranian principality of Monaco. During the workshop, we mingled with royalty, checked out the high life, and played James Bond at the casino in Monte Carlo. As an added bonus, we had a 1 day stopover in Amsterdam!
Xanadu presented her work on Kirlian Images to ICSP. We explored Beijing, climbed the Great Wall, saw the Terra-cotta warriors in Xian and the madness in Shanghai!
Just a short trip from Taipei was paradise. We spent our days on the pristine beaches of Koh Phi Phi and Railay. Railay is attached to the mainland but isolated by geology so the only way to arrive is by longtail boat. Phi-Phi was a small island a 2.5 hour boat ride away from Krabi and Phuket. We are saddened to learn it was completely destroyed by the 2004 tsunami.
Naruwan! I presented a paper at ICME, so we crossed the Pacific to Formosa island. Taipei was a wild city, exotic and familiar all at once. We couldn't find any cheap "made in taiwan" electronics, but the night markets were the best! (p.s. stay away from the Betel nuts)
We wore some flowers in our hair... and rode a seaplane! We hiked in Muir woods, escaped from Alcatraz, zapped our eyes out at the Exploratorium and flapped at lazy sea lions!
Moorea is a one-road island a ferry ride away from Tahiti, in French Polynesia. It was here where we found our paradise on earth - we swam with dolphins, hiked up to a waterfall, explored on bikes, kyaked - and the best part was that our bungalow was over the water, so we could jump into the lagoon straight from our room! We also discovered that the best way to get fish to swim towards our bungalow was (you guessed it) to feed them! When are we going back?
Vermont
It was Xanadu's birthday so we went up to Vermont!
