For once I was a guest at a wedding and not the official wedding photographer. Of course, I couldn’t help but take some pictures. I used both my professional camera and my iPhone. Here’s to Tim and Kaoru!

Thankfully, only church spires, frames on walls and books on shelves appear to be casualties of today’s 5.8 magnitude earthquake. I’ve got two out of three.

When you first see the floating islands of Lake Titicaca, it’s amazing to think that these islands and the homes on them and the boats next to them are all constructed from the tall totora (reeds) growing everywhere in the water. But it’s true. And it’s been true for hundreds of years. The islands slowly sink, so the people living there constantly lay down new reeds to build up the “ground”.

It’s been almost one year since I traveled to Lake Titicaca but I must say sleeping overnight on one of the islands is a must. Just make sure your visit is sustainable. I stayed on Isla Khantati with Cristina Suaña (the link is in Spanish and about 10 years old) and her husband Victor. They’re both Lake Titicaca natives. Cristina is listed in Lonely Planet as “highly recommended by readers.” I recommend her, too. She was incredibly welcoming, smiling all the time and adjusting her dinner menu to accommodate the fact that I’m vegetarian. That was so very kind of her.

Cristina lost no opportunity to educate me and the other tourists about her culture and her life. Especially interesting was how she got started hosting foreigners in her home: Cristina had seen tour operators taking advantage of the Lake Titicaca islanders. She didn’t like it. So she talked with her husband about starting their own operation. It would cater to foreigners but be more of a cultural exchange than a typical tourist visit to the islands. Cristina attended culinary classes so she could learn how to cook for western palates. A volunteer created a brochure. Slowly, tourists started calling her. Then she got written up in Lonely Planet a few years ago and business boomed.

There were four of us tourists all together. Two men and one woman from Portugal and one man from Germany. The Portuguese people spoke Spanish but not the German man. I had to translate from Spanish to English for him. We all sat huddled in a hut around a reed table, sharing travel stories as we waited for dinner. Periodically Victor or Cristina would appear to talk with us. That night and during a fishing expedition the next morning we all learned so much about the history of the area and the struggles the islanders have faced balancing tourism with maintaining their cultural roots. I stretched my Spanish to its limits during these talks.

I just looked in my journal to find the exact facts I learned during my 24 hours on Isla Khantati. All it says is:

I’m about to go to bed on a floating island. It’s been an amazing day. I’ve learned so much. It’ll have to wait until later, though, because I’m exhausted. I could feel the island moving when I was in the bathroom.

Then I never wrote about Lake Titicaca again. Let that be a lesson to me to stay up late and just write. Well then. I did learn a lot. I remember feeling overwhelmed by all the facts given to me by Cristina and Victor. Maybe that was why I went to bed instead of wrote.

I don’t want to write wrong facts, so I’ll write about feelings instead, like the feeling of being on a floating island. When you’re standing or sitting still you can sometimes feel the island gently bobbing in the water. I remember standing in the toilet stall (like a luxury port-a-potty) and feeling the ground undulate. I carefully stepped out of the stall and into complete darkness except for the stars twinkling above. I felt the bobbing again. So lovely and wonderful.

Be prepared to be cold when you visit Lake Titicaca, especially if you stay overnight, especially in winter. I froze during the night even though my sleeping attire consisted of pants, long johns, a long-sleeve shirt, a sweater, a scarf, a wool hat, my knee-length down coat, eight wool blankets and a hot water bottle at my feet (provided by Cristina and Victor for all the guests). The blankets were so heavy that I couldn’t move. I decided it was better to be cold than to smother to death, so I kicked off a few blankets.

The next morning all us tourists set out to go fishing with Victor. He caught lots of little fish whose name I can’t remember. Cristina had a western breakfast ready by the time we returned. After breakfast came a surprise: Cristina wanted us all to sing and write down the words to a song from our home country. First went the Portuguese people. Then the German man. Everyone wanted to hear a Korean song from me, not an American song, so I sang a kids tune called 나비야 (Butterfly) and – surprisingly – everyone hummed along. Even Cristina hummed! Turns out the song’s melody is one that’s used in a lot of countries. And to think I had to travel all the way to Peru and spend a night and morning on Isla Khantati in Lake Titicaca to learn that. Life is amazing.

If I had to choose between living in the mountains or by the beach, I would choose the beach. Who can live without hearing the crashing of waves? Or seeing the never-ending view of the ocean stretching out to the sky? The scent of salt and the sound of water lapping up on shore never cease to calm and comfort me.

Well, things are a little different when you’re one of about two dozen riders in the I Street Bike Social. People on the sidewalk clap. And they cheer. And yes, they dance. Certainly, it helps that the ride leader has a stereo system hooked up to his bike. It’s surreal to be pedaling down K Street at night, all lit up by semi-empty lobbying offices, while “Stayin’ Alive” booms from in front of you and cyclists surround you.

It’s also so freakin’ cool. I think we must’ve looked like a small parade that lost its way.

Most people seemed to be new to tonight’s bike social. There were several riders like myself who came alone. There were also some random bicyclists we picked up along the way, which added an air of whimsy to the ride. See in the picture above the two guys riding away from the rest of us? They were heading somewhere else and decided to join the fun. Cheers all around, as I recall.

Jordan, our ride leader, started this bike social for his employer BicycleSPACE after seeing a similar bike ride in Boulder, Colo. Here in DC, we started out at the BicycleSPACE office at 4th and Eye St. NW at 8 p.m. – close to sunset – and then wound our way through H Street, Capitol Hill, the National Mall, Foggy Bottom and Georgetown. A light breeze blew and the temperature was just right as we coasted around. DC is beautiful at night. We had some mishaps with the contraption carrying the stereo but Jordan played some good tunes: Adele, Rhianna, Outkast. I tried boogeying on my bike but that’s actually kind of hard if you don’t want to crash. Which made me realize I had never listened to music while riding my bike.

As I mentioned before, other people seemed surprised and really pleased to see us. We weren’t doing anything special, but somehow, being part of the group made us all look special. By the time we took a break by the Potomac River, the sky was dark and I gratefully drank from my water bottle. After about 20 minutes, we headed up K Street. I broke off at 11th St. to go home. Two hours of leisurely biking was enough for me.

For all the fun I had, I think the name “bike social” is a bit of a misnomer. It’s not like all us bicyclists were talking and laughing and socializing all the time. I did chat with a cool woman who just moved here from Wisconsin three weeks ago. I also talked with a nice gal wearing a bike helmet that looked like a houndstooth ball cap. But for the most part, those conversations and the whole night gave me more of a sense of community. People seemed to simply enjoy being a part of this small band of bikers, taking over one or two street lanes at a time – even in Georgetown. Which is kind of crazy if you’ve ever been in Georgetown.

Can’t wait for next week!

Johanna and I have been biking, walking and sweating our way around Hoi An, a small city on Vietnam’s central coast. Despite being quite close to the Vietnam DMZ, Hoi An escaped unscathed from the Vietnam War. The city is beautiful! Hoi An’s Old Town was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. With such credentials, you can imagine the number of tourists in this city. You can also imagine the number of businesses that have popped up to support the tourists. The Old Town is filled with hundreds of old buildings, many of which are occupied by tailors and shoemakers offering to make you a dress or stitch you some shoes for $10 or $15. It’s a little disconcerting.

Nevertheless, there’s a lot to see and do here beyond getting a new wardrobe made. We’ve visited Chinese Assembly Halls (many Chinese fled to Vietnam after the Ming Dynasty fell in the 17th century) and explored restored homes, such as the Museum of Trading Ceramics (not too edifying except for the small section on the history of restoring old Hoi An buildings). One of our most interesting visits was to Reaching Out Vietnam, a fair trade shop where all the handicrafts are made by disabled people. Johanna and I spent about an hour browsing the store and watching the tradespeople make the items sold in the store. According to the Reaching Out brochure, employees receive salaries that are 35% higher than other artisans and also receive health and social insurance. The employees we saw did look happy and interested in their work. It’s heartening to know that a Vietnamese-founded and Vietnamese-run organization has found such success in Hoi An.

And what would a visit to Vietnam be without eating some really good food? I’m not an epicurean but Johanna is – lucky me! We’ve tried all sorts of noodle, fish and vegetable dishes. I’m not the biggest fish person but braised fish with lemon grass sauce was one of my favorites. One of our favorite desserts was fried wonton with fruit and chocolate inside. We enjoyed that one at Mango Rooms, an upscale Vietnamese fusion restaurant where Mick Jagger supposedly once dined. Yes, even Mick Jagger has been to Hoi An.

All in all, I really like Hoi An. It’s easy to get around on bicycles, though the lack of stop lights and stop signs makes any journey a little bit dangerous. You’re constantly dodging motorbikes darting onto the road from hidden alleys and swerving away from bicycles moving into your path. Let’s just say traffic is very, very fluid here; lanes are optional. The people are friendly, though, and the vibe is peaceful. Whenever I visit a new place I always ask myself, “Could I live here?” And the answer for Hoi An is, “Yes. I love it.”

Street outside Tran Family Chapel

Abandoned house near the Thu Bon River

Tran Phu Street in Old Town Hoi An

Johanna inside the Assembly Hall of the Fujian Chinese Congregation

Fish inside the Assembly Hall of the Fujian Chinese Congregation

Dragon inside the Assembly Hall of the Fujian Chinese Congregation

Restaurant in Hoi An

Banana flower salad

Bar at Mango Rooms restaurant

Marvelous menu at Mango Rooms

Wedding pictures in front of the Japanese Covered Bridge

Portraits in the Chinese All-Community Assembly Hall of Chinese resistance heroes in Vietnam who died during World War II.

Get your shoes made here.

Johanna trying on clothes in a tailor shop.

Johanna at Mango Rooms

Figuring out where to go next in Hoi An.

We took a bumpy shortcut to dinner.

View of Hoi An street outside the Mango Rooms restaurant.

“Heaven” in a park around Hoan Kiem Lake.

View from the hotel room.

Kumquat tree on the hotel room balcony.

Hoan Kiem Lake

One of the many reasons I love Korea – cultural experiences in the airport!