Down the Rabbit Hole

I have encountered the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum while searching for child-friendly places to visit in San Jose, CA. Some of my co-workers have seen it and only had good things to say. I ran the idea with Val, and he was interested in seeing this museum, so we went there on a Sunday afternoon. Who are the Rosicrucians? The Rosicrucians are a group of people who believe that they hold some secret knowledge handed down from ancient times. This hidden knowledge is a combination of occultism and monotheistic religious beliefs. The Rosicrucian group is symbolised by the "Rosy Cross".  Rosy cross found near Luxor Temple, Egypt.  This cross features a rose in the centre and is estimated to date back to around 100 AD. Reading about the Rosy Cross reminded me of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code due to the connections between the Knights Templar, Freemasons, and Rosicrucians. A brief inte...

Lac Nokoué is a prominent feature of the map of Cotonou (at least in my phone when I wanted to know where we were). I wanted to see it but wasn't sure if we had the time to visit. Somehow, Val was able to fit it into our schedule one afternoon (despite my school project and his journal articles). With his cousin's family, we went to the port... it was also the kids' first time to see the lake.  And I've got to say that it is one very  busy port. There were a lot of dugout boats conveying people and produce from Cotonou to the stilt village of Ganvie, a potential UNESCO Heritage Site. Val explained to me that Ganvie is dubbed as the "Venice of Africa", which made me even more curious about the place.  However, on this trip, we were just there to see the flurry of activity on the Cotonou side of the lake. Aside from the passenger boats, there were boats that sold food to the passengers on the boats... very enterprising for the traders, I thought.  ...

When we went to the beach, we passed by a music and games festival along Plage Fidjrossè... Val got curious because it seemed like the perfect place to bring his nephews and niece to. Hence, once the kids were finished with homework, we went there with their parents to see what this event was all about.  It's the MTN XWE Festival de Musique et de Jeux ; as far as I understood, it's sponsored by MTN, a mobile phone services company. RC Cola was another major sponsor, with all the tarps and the soda being given out at the event (drinks were inclusive of the entrance fee). The event had in interesting concept: set up an events venue using container vans; put up inflatable playgrounds for young children and video games for the older kids; and decorate the venue with Christmas-themed motifs. For the adults, there was a spot where they could lounge on pallets converted into chairs and tables. In the evenings, apparently, there were concerts. However, we were there for t...

Last year, I explored Ouidah , a city in modern-day Benin. It was a significant location in the transatlantic slave trade when it was still known as Fortaleza de São João Batista de Ajudá. For my next visit to Benin, Val took me on a car tour of Benin's capital, Porto-Novo, another city whose name suggests a prominent Portuguese history. For me, it is fascinating to find a city with a Portuguese name in a country where people largely spoke French. Upon crossing the bridge from Cotonou, the first thing I saw was a government building that's currently under construction. It sat right by the banks of an inlet of the Gulf of Guinea.  In downtown Porto-Novo, the pace was much slower than in Cotonou. There weren't many multi-story buildings where we drove past. There are fewer vehicles on the roads here... but it could also be because we drove in when people were currently at work. There were not as many tourists as in Cotonou too. What I noticed (again) was the prese...

Val said that people typically spend New Year's with their families at home. But the day after New Year's, people flock to the beach. I thought that people went to swim.  ... and then I saw the people. They were fully dressed. On the beach. And nobody seemed interested to swim in the Bight of Benin.  It seemed like everyone was there to lounge and relax until the sun set. And that sunset is glorious. That harmattan haze made the sunset dramatic, I have to say.  Frankly, I've never seen a crowd this thick on any beach; not even in the Philippines. We were supposed to stop and stay by the beach in this spot in Cotonou but the crowd was too big so we headed further westward to find a less populated spot. We ended up in Vickey Beach, a public but more peaceful beach. It has soft, golden brown sand that stretches for miles. Only locals were there when we arrived so it was the first time I noticed that people were staring at me. I guess I stood out because...

The last time I tried to something crazy with my annual US pilgrimage route, I chose to experience the Island Hopper  route across the Pacific Ocean which was offered by United Airlines . That was two years ago. I was thinking of how to top that adventure for several months now and then I decided that I'd do something bigger: travel around the world (literally). I had to choose destinations (at the continent level) that I haven't been to before and flight deals that won't break the bank. That means that Europe was off my list because I was just in Denmark for UNLEASH . And that left me with the continent I have never been to in my entire life. Africa. The Dora the Explorer in me was excited! So for this trip, I was doing this route via Cathay Pacific, Ethiopian Airlines, and United Airlines (Expedia made the search for the combinations convenient and the flight options on the affordable end): Manila–Hong Kong–Addis Ababa–Lomé–Cotonou–Newark–San Francisco...

Since the Hanuman langur incident  (in which I spotted the monkey but only had my iPhone 6 with me), each time I go outdoors, I bring my Canon Powershot SX720 HS  just in case I find myself an opportunity to take photos of animals.  For my trip this winter, I had a bit of a chance to take photos of a few animals. I didn't go out too much because I got hit by bronchitis ; a shame, really, because I wanted to go outdoors before I had to go back to my daily grind. There were wild animals in this collection but most have learned to live in proximity to humans.  Anyway, here are some of the animals I encountered along the way... I'm always confused whether the black bird I see is a raven or a crow . Same thing happened when I found this black bird up on a lamp post one afternoon in Concord. Based on it's size, I'm willing to bet that it is a crow. There are many of them roosting in the trees in the city. With the grey skies of winter, these birds just add ...