location

This morning, early, there was a full moon eclipse visible from San Francisco. The eclipse did start at 2am until 8am. So I woke very early and drove to San Francisco, I was planning on catching the second portion of the eclipse over the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. A couple of factors were not playing in my favor: First the weather, a storm was supposed to be here Saturday and the chance of clouds were at 45%. This is high enough not to see the moon at all. Second, the eclipse was past the moon set, so the moon would be not as bright as usual, combining by the fact that the moon set time was after the sunrise (by 5 minutes or so) I was predicting that the moon would be very faint against the sky. Third, the moon would not be low enough on the horizon until...

After my first post on Made In USA, a reader sent an email to point me at a local company (local meaning with a shop in San Francisco) making hoodies, vest, and other nice apparel for the same price as the Gap. So I ordered one of their hoodies and I was again pleasantly surprised by the quality, the feel and the softness of the garment. The company is American Giant and has factory in South San Francisco and in North Carolina. There is a level of attention to details that is quite nice, especially for $90 hoodie. The zippers are metal zippers, not the cheap plastic ones. There is a metal loop where the string for the hoodie goes. And a very discreet logo. The making of this hoodie: The best part is you can get 15% discount at American Giant by using this link....

Up to this point, we had done a fairly standard Burma trip. Two destinations on our itinerary were off the beaten path. First, on our way to Inke Lake we stopped for one day and one night in Pindaya. The second one was the Kyaiktiyo pagoda also known as Golden Rock, which was an extra two days trip after coming back to Rangoon. Based on my previous post about the food and the lodging you could think it was a luxury trip (and it was) but these two locations were a little to a lot more basic in the food and accommodation. Pindaya The attraction of Pindaya are the caves that are filled with buddhas. On our way to the airport, we stopped on the side of the road to take pictures of the low fog in the Mandalay valley. Pindaya is a small town and after visiting the...

Did you see the full moon yesterday? This month, the moon was rising over the Coit Tower in San Francisco. The ideal point was between Lombart St. and Chestnut St. Unfortunately there is no open view between those two streets, buildings are lining up the streets and keeping the view for themselves. I got on top of Lombart right before sunset. The cable car stops right here, with the gold light of the sunset it was great, candid shot. Even the Coit tower was basked in warm light, but I was looking for a better location. I could not find any, so I went back to Lombart St. and found a spot that was the closest to buildings as possible, while still having a view. When the moon rose, it was on the left of the tower but too close to the tower. This confirmed what I...

At the beginning of the year, I spent a few days in Nice before going to Ethiopia (more on this in another post). I knew that Monaco has nice fireworks for the New Year celebration and I had enough knowledge where they would be fired from to pick a nice view from a higher elevation as I wanted to capture the harbor, the Monaco Castle and the fireworks. There are only a few places that are public accessible to catch that view. The next evening, I went to the Chateau de Nice (castle). From the Castle, there is only one tower left and the city made a park from the land where the Castle once was. The Castle was located on the closest hill from the sea, with the Old City at its feet. During Christmas time, a gigantic Ferris wheel is installed in nearby downtown. From...

One of the most common questions about Burma I get is about the food and/or the hotel or lodging quality. So let’s talk about our trip and our experience. First we went with a small group and with a very experienced travel agency: Insider Asia. They have been organizing custom trips to Asia for many years. While this trip to Burma was their first one, they did a lot of research and selected a very good local guide. Both of those attributes made our trip amazing. The lodging was always excellent as most hotels were 4-5 stars equivalent. My favorite hotel was the Myanmar Treasure Resort Inle. Here is a couple images of what our room looked like. We had a patio with view of the lake, a cool private outdoor shower, and a fantastic bed. In Burma, they make their...