[Old Article] Galapagos Bar and Art Space, Brooklyn, New York City, USA. March 2004

Part V: Galapagos Bar and Art Space, Brooklyn, New York City, USA. March 2004

Originally created 3/8/2004

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I left the Galapagos Islands, Ecudor, fulfilled and re-energized, back to New York City.

Then, there came the coldest January in 10 years in New York. It was so cold that it made people very depressed. Last time it was this cold is exactly 10 years ago. I still can remember I was in Boston, in my second year of (very unhappy) Master program at Harvard University. It was very cold and I was very depressed.

I kept thinking about the tropical breeze of Galapagos and its stinging sunshine.

So I tried to return to the Galapagos. Or at least the other Galapagos as substitute, Galapagos Bar and Art Space, Brooklyn. At least I can look at the dark reflecting pool, once again.

No way, it was full. At least 10 people braving the cold, waiting in line outside, just tried to get in. It is my classical New York moment again - just think things simpler than they really are. Too many people everywhere, you have to wait to get to everything. And another of my classical New York moment again: Just cannot get what I want when I need it most. At the moment I felt all alone and depressed.

I usually can do well even when I am alone, am I? I still remember I could enjoy being all by myself, while on "the other" Galapagos. Maybe it is just because the cold weather.

Maybe it is just because of New York.

It was the Valentine's Night. While all my friends in New York (okay, there are only two of them) spent that night with their loved ones, I didn't even has a friend to be with. When I wanted some human connection, I had to to make long distance call to Washington DC, California, or even Taiwan. For once in a year, I suddenly feel the sadness (usually I don't, freedom is pricier than...you know) of being single. I could see the Empire State Building on the other side of East River. It was lighted in tender pink tonight, symbolizing the special occasion, Valentine's Day.

See that color through the cold night air, I just felt disgusted. What a vulgar commercialism. Isn't Valentine Day just another excuse to force people to spend money on gifts and luxirious dinners? This society always has some ways to make you feel inadequate.

Two weeks later, with the weather unexpectedly turning much warmer (and the miserable February finally over), I came back to this Brooklyn neighborhood again. Passing by Sea Thai, a Thai restaurant extremely popular by (non-Asian) hipsters, I saw maybe two dozens people waiting outside to get in. A few more "Pan-Asian" restaurants have opened on this block, though this neighborhood still looks unremarkable.

No line outside of the Galapagos this time. I got in and found there was a mini rock concert going on. They charged $8 for entrance to see the performance.

I was not in mood to see a performance at this moment. I just stayed outside of the ticket booth, looking at the dark reflecting pool, it was still moodily lit, just as my last visit, right before I went to visit the real Galapagos.

Just three months, how things have changed. Now I no longer work for the nasty woman at the Department of Health, and now I am on the verge of moving to another new city, once again.

I walked out of the bar. Looking toward Manhattan, across the river. Empire State was in bright red color and a touch of white this night. What did it stand for this time?

Checking the info on Time Out New York: Red and White, it is International Red Cross Day. So the Empire State Building does give regard to something less commercial and bullying, something symbolizing heart and sympathy. I suddenly have warm and endearing feeling about this city again.

I remember the heroine in the movie "Under Tuscan Sun" said "Unbelievably good things can happen, even late in the game."

Who knows? Maybe unbelievably good thing finally can happen (since most of the unbelievably bad things have already happened) between me and New York.

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The End

[Old Article] Travelogue to Galapagos - Part II: Puerto Ayora, Isla Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, South America. December 2003

Originally created 2/16/2004

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I looked at the nice tiled swimming pool in the courtyard, from my hotel window. Canary Island palm trees line the poolside . It is such a sunny and breezy day, even we were in the midst of December, just a week before Christmas. But since I was physically located (a few miles) south of the Equator, I was actually in the South Hemisphere, where it is summertime.

I was on the Galapagos Islands, the Ecuadorian islands 1000 kilometers from South American mainland.

One block from my hotel, a bronze statue of a giant Galapagos tortoise stands greeting both tourists and locals. Further more blocks down, at Charles Darwin Research Station, I found baby tortoises crawling around and adult tortoises resting in shallow pools (they did not even bother to greet me). Faraway in the South Pacific, I was not in New York anymore. While I can find places named after some other famous locales there, it is never more exciting than seeing the real things.

 Giant tortoise resting in a shallow pool at Darwin Research Center.

Galapagos Islands, a laboratory of evolution, and an archipelago inspired Charles Darwin to write his "The Origin of Species" after his 1835 visit (though that book did not publish until 1859. I bet Darwin needed taking a great length of time to digest his thought... sort of like me). Based on what he saw in different species of animals here, he theorized the process of adaptation and evolution. That book has become one of the most influential books ever published. But, can I, be inspired on the same level like him by these Enchanted Islands? Or I am just like millions of tourists after him, visiting here just for some rushed sightseeing. And treating the Galapagos just as another outdoor zoo?

Zoo, yes. We all come here to see some strange animals in the wild.

Since wildlife is the main reason (if not only) why people come to visit those islands.

Formed by volcanic activities, those islands are dry and arid and not very scenic. There are not many beautiful sandy beaches here like Caribbean or Mediterranean. Because they are so isolated (the only connection is the airlink to port city of Quayaquil) , it is expensive to visit here. To visit as many islands on the archipelago as possible, most people opt for the cruise-based tour: sleeping on board overnight (usually very small and basic cabin). The ships sail from one island to another in nighttime when passengers are sleeping and tour one or two different islands at daytime when ships anchor.

Not for me this time.

I did some trip like that when I cruised around Aegean Sea in Greece and remember that I woke up with nauseating feeling every morning (those are small yachts, not as comfortable as luxurious oceanliners). After a hard-working year, I really wanted a vacation that I can have a nice bed to sleep in every night, so I opted for a land-based tour: that I could stay in one same hotel every night on one island and took series of daytrips to nearby islands. The disadvantage is: I can only go to islands near the one I stayed but not the remote ones (some are more than a hundred miles away). I also had to spend many hours everyday to make those "daytrips" to each individual isle. A price to pay for just trying to have decent sleep.

While I usually travel alone and expected to meet people who book the same package-tour with me, I was surprised to find out that I was the only person in this tour group! Everybody else booked the trip from the same company arriving at the Galapagos this same week all opted for cruise-based tour!

Checking in the hotel alone, looking onto the nice swimming pool, I pondered the next few days' trips. Well, I would have my own "personal guide" for those trips since I was the only person in my group!

I was actually put in the same yacht with a group of Ecuadorian school kids and their teachers. Besides a missionary couple from Arizona (the wife kept calling Freddie), I was possibly the only foreigners there. Since the missionary worked in Quayaquil and speak fluent Spanish, I might be the only person who doesn't speak Spanish there.

We visited the very small island of Bartolome (with a nice Pinnacle Rock) and wandered around the pristine beaches, observing sea lions making out, and trying to find penguins (the northernmost penguin in the world). We climbed up to the top of the hill to have a great panoramic view of nearby Santiago Island, a barren and unhabitated island.

 

Pinnacle Rock of Bartolome Island.

 Panoramic of Bartolome Island and the nearby, much bigger (but uninhabited) Santiago Island.

Next day, the school kids were gone, but replaced by a group of (British?) teenagers. We had chance to visit Plaza Island, seeing a much bigger sea lion colony, and a lot of endemic seabirds, including the beloved blue-footed booby (a lot of them) and masked booby (only one of them and hidden at the edge of a cliff). I also found ubiquitous swallow-tailed gulls, whose red eyerings are their most famous trademark.

 

Blue-footed boobies on Plaza island.

 The only masked booby I saw in the whole trip, on Plaza island. 

 A lovely pair of swallow-tailed gulls, on Plaza Island.

There are also a lot of brown pelicans and various species of birds whose names I forgot.

Indeed, Galapagos is really a birdwatching paradise!

While seabirds and sea lions are the most popular wildlife on the nearby small islands, I could see iguana everywhere on the main island of Santa Cruz, even right at the waterfront
of the very developed Puerto Ayora.

 

Iguanas are everywhere, even in the main town. This is the only marine iguana in the world. 

Basically similar to lizards, iguanas are much bigger, fatter in sizes (should I also say uglier?). Galapagos has the world's旧 only marine iguanas, which feed on seaweed and algae. Female iguanas are more slender and darker, less colorful (or should I say uglier?) than the male ones. If human species can be like that....

After touring different islands and highland ranch for three days. I finally had a half-day that no scheduled sightseeing was arranged. I walked to the west end of Puerto Ayora, found the entrance leading to a quaint beach. After 30-minutes' easy trekking, I arrived at the Tortuga Bay (Turtle Bay) Beach.

Surprisingly, no turtles to be found here (maybe it is not yet the season for them come ashore to lay eggs). Only a couple was lying on the beach, enjoyed the faint sunshine.

It was a little cool this morning for sunbathing, I thought. Another family of five were playing near water and kids was trying to have a better look at brightly red sand crabs.


I walked to the far end of the beach, into a lagoon area.

Suddenly, I found those ubiquitous marine iguanas everywhere. And then, a pair of my favorite birds on the islands - Blue-footed booby!!

They looked like they are mating but also ignoring each other.

After a few minutes of such indifferent ritual, one just flew away alone. The other left, actually, less than a minute later, toward different direction. In such New York style mating, everybody ends up alone.

Back to my hotel, lying in my bed (it is a nice Spanish colonial styled room with a large painting of penguins), I looked at the spinning ceiling fan.

I felt alone again. Sort of like the blue-footed booby that flew away, alone. I traveled to another new country, once again, alone.

I felt I am my own island here on the isle of Santa Cruz, Galapagos, Ecuador.

But I actually enjoyed it.

Simply by not waiting for a special someone to be with, I end up see more of the world.

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[Old Article] Travelogue to Galapagos - Part I: Galapagos Bar and Art Space, Brooklyn, New YorkCity, USA. December 2003

Okay, to celebrate my first return visit to Ecuador, I dug out this series of 9 and 1/2 years old travelogue and publish them here on my rarely used blog!

Yes, my last trip to Ecuador is nearly 10 years ago (at the time I was still a "New Yorker"). How time flies!

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Part I: Galapagos Bar and Art Space, Brooklyn, New York City, USA. December 2003

created 1/4/2004

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I looked at the dark reflecting pool, moodily lit with floating and wall candles. The whole bar space is relatively dark and the interior decoration minimal. I could not associate anything of this place with its namesake, the Ecuadorian islands 1000 kilometers from South American mainland.

Though occasionally, I had some false expectation that there might be a giant Galapagos tortoise surfacing out of the pool.

Outside, it was an extremely cold night. Too cold and windy for an early December night, maybe. Thus, it was great that we could hide indoors for a while. It is always good that we can find a hiding place from the noisy and disturbing life of New York.

By the end of 2003, it would be a one full year since I moved back to New York City, from that warm, friendly, yet quite boring Atlanta.

Of course, for me, the Year ．03・ will be remembered as a year I hold 3 jobs, earning more money than any other year in my life, and by the end of the year, finally having 3 new research papers accepted for publication (after altogether had 8 rejections).

However, this will also be a year that New York and I failed to find any significant reason (other than some minor ones, mostly food related) to fall in love with each other, yet once again. Even though I like my small (or mini, should I say) pad on Clinton Street, I love my neighborhood of Lower East Side, and I enjoy numerous choices of Broadway shows, concerts, and museums, I start to feel losing passion about a lot of things. Maybe because of the isolation I have had ever since moving to New York. Emotional isolation. So I feel bored again (like this is Atlanta or Baltimore)? In fact, it is nearly impossible for anyone to feel bored about New York. However, not feeling bored is not enough to maintain one・s passion, about life.

Passion? Does that mean I have to travel (one real passion) to another new destination again? Need another escape from New York? Why after so many years moving around, I still haven・t evolved into another type of persons who adapt to adverse environment faster and more painlessly?

Looking onto the reflection pool, I somehow expected that there might be a giant Galapagos tortoise surfacing. A species evolves into its own variety after millions of years・ isolation on that faraway South Pacific islands.

I am my own island here on the isle of Manhattan, New York.

Firework over Hudson River. This picture was taken in 2013, not 2003.

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Updated List of Countries I've Been To (As of May 2013)

Since I have finally crossed the "1-5-0" mark in the recently ended West Africa Expedition Cruise (hosted by Toronto-based G Adventures), I think it is time to update this list again.

One thing I have to mention is that, before this trip, I did not have any friend who has traveled to more places than me; however, after this expedition and met my 100+ fellow passengers, I now have at least 10 (well, maybe 20+) new friends who's more traveled than me. Yes, Leon, you know you are one of them! ;)

The more you travel and the more humble you are. That also helps me to further realize how insignificant I am~~~

This list is based on Travelers' Century Club (TCC) Master List (see:http://travelerscenturyclub.org/countries). So, don't argue with me why Tasmania and Hawaii count as separate countries....However, I do believe Hong Kong, Macao, Bermuda, French Polynesia, Easter Island, and Faroe Islands should count separately ;-)

Country and the year I visited

1 TAIWAN (Country of Birth)
2 South Korea (1983)
3 Japan (1983)
4 Hawaii - US state (1984)
5 United States - Lower 48 states (1984)
6 Mexico (1984)
7 Hong Kong (1991)
8 Australia (1991)
9 New Zealand (1991)
10 England (1991)

11 France (1991)
12 Belgium (1991)
13 Holland (1991)
14 Germany (1991)
15 Switzerland (1991)
16 Liechtenstein (1991)
17 Austria (1991)
18 Italy (1991)
19 Vatican (1991)
20 Macau (1991)

21 People Republic of China (1991)
22 Singapore (1992)
23 Dubai - UAE (1992)
24 Egypt (1992)
25 Denmark (1993)
26 Sweden (1993)
27 Norway (1993)
28 Finland (1993)
29 Scotland (1993)
30 Greece - Mainland (1993)

31 Wales (1993)
32 Monaco (1993)
33 The Bahamas (1993)
34 Canada (1994)
35 Czech Republic (1995)
36 Spain (1995)
37 Puerto Rico (1996)
38 US Virgin Islands (1996)
39 St. Maarten - Netherlands Antilles (1996)
40 St. Martin - French Leeward Islands (1996)

41 Dominica (1996)
42 Barbados (1996)
43 Martinique (1996)
44 Thailand (1996)
45 Russia (1997)
46 Malaysia (1998)
47 Gibraltar (1998)
48 Portugal (1998)
49 Peru (1999)
50 South Africa (2000)

Boulder Beach, near Cape Town - My Country No. 50 that I just revisited 5 weeks ago.

51 Bermuda (2001)
52 Balearic Islands - Spain (2002)
53 Andorra (2002)
54 Ecuador (2003)
55 Galapagos Islands- Ecuador (2003)
56 Laos (2004)
57 Myanmar (2004)
58 Cambodia (2004)
59 Vietnam (2004)
60 Guatemala (2004)

61 Honduras (2004)
62 Canary Islands - Spain (2005)
63 Turkey (European parts) (2005)
64 Turkey (Asian parts) (2005)
65 Slovakia (2005)
66 Hungary (2005)
67 Poland (2005)
68 Chile (2006)
69 Argentina (2006)
70 Uruguay (2006)

71 Brazil (2006)
72 Paraguay (2006)
73 Serbia (2006)
74 Srpska - Serb part of Bosnia (2006)
75 Bosnia & Herzegovina (2006)
76 Montenegro (2006)
77 Croatia (2006)
78 Slovenia (2006)
79 Corfu - Ionian Islands (Greece) (2006)
80 Albania (2006)

81 Lithuania (2006)
82 Latvia (2006)
83 Estonia (2006)
84 Ukraine (2006)
85 Romania (2006)
86 Bulgaria (2006)
87. Bali - Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia (2006)
88 Ireland (2006)
89 Northern Ireland (2006)
90 Luxembourg (2006)

91 St. Kitts & Nevis (2007)
92 Aruba (2007)
93 Curacao (2007)
94 Namibia (2007)
95 Botswana (2007)
96 Zambia (2007)
97 Zimbabwe (2007)
98 Malawi (2007)
99 Tanganyika - Tanzanian mainland (2007)
100 Zanzibar (May 26th, 2007)

Stone Town, Zanzibar.

101. Kenya (2007)
102. Uganda (2007)
103. San Marino (2007)
104. Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (2007)
105. Kosovo (2007)
106. Alaska (2007)
107. Abu Dhabi - UAE (2008)
108. Qatar (2008)
109. Ethiopia (2009)
110. Iceland (2009)

111. Republic of Cyprus - Greek part (2009)
112. Turkish Republic of Cyprus (2009)
113. Malta (2009)
114. Sharjah - UAE (2009)
115. Umm Al Qaiwain - UAE (2009)
116. Ras Al Khaimah - UAE (2009)
117. Fujeirah UAE (2009)
118. Philippines (2009)
119. India (2010)
120. Jordan (2010)

121. Israel (2010)
122. Palestine (2010)
123. Sicily - Italy (2010)
124. Sri Lanka (2010)
125. Maldives (2010)
126. Lebanon (2010)
127. Bahrain (2010)
128. Ajman - UAE (2011)
119. Moldova (2011)
130. Trans-dniester (2011)

131. Bolivia (2011)
132. Palmer Peninsula - British Antarctica (2011)
133. Palmer Peninsula - Chilean Antarctica (2011)
134. Palmer Peninsula - Argentine Antarctica (2011)
135. Easter Island (2011)
136. Tasmania, Australia (2012)
137. Djibouti (2012)
138. Armenia (2012)
139. Georgia (2012)
140. Azerbaijan (2012)

141. Cuba (2012)
142. Siberia, Russia (2012)
143. Mongolia (2012)
144. Colombia (2012)
145. Panama (2012)
146. Costa Rica (2012)
147. Brunei (2013)
148. Angola (2013)
149. Congo - Brazzaville (2013)
150. Sao Tome e Pricipe (April 16, 2013)

Reaching Country 150 on the island of Sao Tome. Eerily, the shape of this island resembles so much of my Country No. 1!

151. Benin (2013)
152. Togo (2013)
153. Ghana (2013)
154. Sierra Leone (2013)
155. The Gambia (2013)
156. Senegal (2013)

Senegal, my newest country. Will I stop here and not rush to visit any new country in next 3 years?

So, that's it for now...and, what's next?

At this moment, I have to say, I really need to take a break from all these traveling. Obviously, I am still very unhappy with where I live and my current life situation. This continuous dissatisfaction keeps giving the urge and desire to "move". However, I just do not think that "moving" should equal to "traveling" anymore. I need to find a place I can call HOME, so I can hang all the tapestries from South America.

Should I put a three years "moratorium" for my travel - that means, no new country until 2016?

Well, maybe I should visit the following places before the moratorium starts?

-  Venezuela
-  Greenland
-  Morocco
-  Nepal
-  Sabah and Sarawak
-  Maybe a "European Grand Slam", by finally visiting Belarus and Faroe Islands?

【Te be continued】