LukeMertens.com

Spring Flowers

Luke — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 04:33:17 +0000

I have the most incredible flowers in front of my apartment right now. It’s a joy to see them every time I leave the house and every time I come back home.

Rancho San Antonio

Luke — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 06:28:44 +0000

Rancho San Antonio is a nice South Bay park to visit when you can find a parking place. Unfortunately we didn’t get to the farm until after it closed so I missed the goats. So sad.

Hello Train

Luke — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 07:00:30 +0000

Saw this train on the way home from work today. It was starting to rain a bit but had to stop to take a picture.

Working in Sydney

Luke — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 01:47:44 +0000

I didn’t think I’d be back in Sydney so soon but here I am. I’m working for a few weeks from my company’s Sydney office so that I can learn how things are done. This is my first time working full time outside of the US. It is a lot of fun because our office has a good working environment and the people are really great.

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

View large trip on Everytrail.com

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.