Around the World with Luke Mertens

Livermore

Luke — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:41:47 +0000

A winter visit to Livermore wine country.

Walk to Boudha Stupa

Luke — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:30:47 +0000

Today I decided to go on a little walk to Boudha Stupa. I walked through Patan, along the Bagmati River, through Pashupatinath and then got a little lost before finding the stupa. I saw many different faces of the city along the way. After the stupa I took a bus back to Ratna Park and then walked home.

Kathmandu

Luke — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:33:44 +0000

The city is an entirely different world. Traffic, noise, dust and busy busy busy. I checked out Patan Durban Square today. Mailed some post cards, did some shopping, and ate the most amazing cheese pakotas.

Nepal Nangi Village Trek

Luke — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:38:40 +0000

A six day trek to Nangi, Ramche, Mohare, and more just out side of the Annapurna park. We decided on this local village trek rather than the more touristy Annapurna Base Camp or Poon Hill treks. We only saw a few other tourists and we had a great time meeting local families at homestays and guest houses. I would highly recommend this trek over the more touristy ones.

View large map on Everytrail

Nepal

Luke — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:59:05 +0000

I’m in Nepal right now and it is amazing. I spent about 10 days trekking with friends in the Annapurna area and now I’m in Kathmandu for one more week. We decided to forgo the tourist treks to Annapurna base camp and instead visited a handful of small villages to get the real, local experience. We stayed at small guest houses and homestays. The highlight was eating dinner with a family in a small kitchen where the small wood stove was both the heater and the cooking stove. The Nepali people that we met were pretty tough and impervious to cold. One night I was freezing and bundled up in three layers of clothes with a scarf, beanie and gloves and then I saw a Nepali woman washing her meter long hair in a public water source with near freezing water and no towel. I saw another woman walking through the snow in sandals. There were also many men and women on the trails carrying heavy loads of firewood, building materials, or other supplies. On our way to one village we asked one man carrying a 10 meter long beam how the trail would be and what he called “flat” turned out to be a few hundred meters of vertical descent. On our treks I was constantly amazed by both the people and the landscape of Nepal. If you visit I highly recommend getting outside of the cities and tourist areas to discover some of the worlds most amazing people and nature.

A Day in Hong Kong

Luke — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 12:14:29 +0000

I thought a day would be enough to see Hong Kong but boy was I wrong. The only things I had planned to see was the peak and the giant escalator, but after a few hours of walking around I realized there was way more to see. From the moment I stepped out of the airport express train terminal I was completely disoriented by all the huge buildings and cars and roads. I had to step back into the terminal to look at a map and then I managed find the bus terminal. I took a bus up to the peak and it took about 30 minutes to drive up the winding mountain roads. The view of the city from the peak was amazing and I got some Japanese tourists to take my photo. I road the tram down and it only took a few minutes and then after consulting another tourist map I was off to the escalator. The Escalator is the longest outdoor covered escalator in the world and it was as awesome as I had imagined. Halfway up there was a machine to swipe your bus card to get some credits for walking so I was able to add a few HK cents to my card. After that I wandered around and went to some parks and a harbor. Hong Kong was very impressive for me with all of the hills and millions of buildings. It earned a place on my list of favorite cities and I would like to return someday to spend more time exploring.

Bridgeport

Luke — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 06:29:39 +0000

I traveled around the world and saw all kinds of “biggest” this and “largest” that. But it turns out that the longest single-span wooden covered bridge still surviving in the world is right back where I started in my home town. It has a total length of 233 feet and a span of 208 feet. It’s amazing what kinds of treasures are buried right under your feet!

San Francisco

Luke — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 05:23:39 +0000

Hi Ho San Francisco, very nice!

Santa Cruz

Luke — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 05:00:09 +0000

A friend of mine from Switzerland visited last weekend and we went to Santa Cruz. We drove up the coast and stopped by the Swanton Berry Farm for some olallieberry berry pie. The ocean was beautiful as usual.

Kalifornia Oktoberfest

Luke — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 06:06:45 +0000

I think it’s kind of funny that I spent three months in Germany and then came back to the United States to celebrate Oktoberfest. I have traditionally attended the Campbell Oktoberfest but this year I also went to ‘fest in Redwood City. The Campbell festival seems to be on a downward spiral because this year the only German beer they had was Becks and that is the wrong kind of beer for the occasion. Apparently the Redwood City celebration is new and I liked it a lot better because they have a better selection of beers from local breweries. It was also a lot less crowded than Campbell. I wonder if I’ll be in California for next years Oktoberfest.