2022
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St Louis
Oct 23, 2022 to Oct 29, 2022We planned a trip to St Louis to coincide with the area’s peak fall colors by comparing past fall foliage reports and hoped mother nature wouldn’t trick us this year. Unfortunately, just three days after booking the accommodation in July, St Louis broke the 100-year wettest day record where the historic flood water rose to… Read more…
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Nerstrand Big Woods State Park
Oct 16, 2022Our seasonal leaf peering activities continued — this time, in Nerstrand Big Woods State Park. This park was named after a Norwegian village where its settlers farmed in this area in the mid-1850s. Although we vividly remember hiking in this park before, that was exactly ten years ago in the fall season, much to our… Read more…
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New Ulm
Oct 13, 2022 to Oct 14, 2022New Ulm — proclaimed “the most German town in America” — has intrigued us for many years. This small city only has a population of 14,000, and it was named after the city of Neu-Ulm in Germany because many original settlers came from that area. When we made a day trip to Mankato earlier this… Read more…
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Klang Valley
Aug 21, 2022 to Sep 10, 2022We spent the last stretch of our trip in the Klang Valley. This trip was low-key as we didn’t have any sightseeing activities planned. Our usual daily routine involved going for a morning walk with dad and running errands in the afternoon. Typically, we enjoyed the free air conditioning at a nearby shopping mall to… Read more…
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The Garden
Aug 18, 2022Whenever we came home, dad-in-law would request me to capture photos of his garden — partly to document the progress made, and he could also send them to his friends. This time was no different. Minutes after we arrived, he enthusiastically provided us with a grand tour of his ever-changing garden that he is incredibly… Read more…
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Sarikei
Aug 17, 2022 to Aug 20, 2022We spent the shortest time in Sarikei since we met most family members in Kuching. Nevertheless, this trip home was extraordinary. Not only Tony and Jimmy traveled with us from Kuching, but Simon flew from Kuala Lumpur to meet everyone for a few days, with Richard waiting for us in Sarikei. The last time all… Read more…
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Kuching
Aug 10, 2022 to Aug 16, 2022Our last visit to “The City of Cats” was six years ago. This time, several family members made last-minute efforts to join us in Kuching for a week. We had parents flying from Sarikei and Tony from Singapore. Most surprisingly, Jimmy and Shing decided to join us a few days later, even though we had… Read more…
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Semporna
Aug 7, 2022 to Aug 9, 2022Our day began at 4 AM when we checked out from the airport hotel to catch the 7 AM flight to Tawau to visit Jimmy and Shing in Semporna. We made many promises to see them throughout the years. Still, we could not carve out extra days in our usual tight itinerary due to the… Read more…
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45-Hour Flight to Malaysia
Aug 3, 2022 to Aug 6, 2022This imminent trip home was our most anticipated event of the year. Like many individuals living abroad, this was our first trip home since the pre-COVID-19 pandemic. The flight prices were twice as high, and at the same time, most flight durations were longer than before. Instead of hunting for better prices, we blindly swiped… Read more…