I revisited Melbourne this week for the Asia-Pacific Roche Ophtha Week conference. The industry sponsorship meant chauffeured airport transfers and business class flights that made the 15-hour trans-Pacific journey actually enjoyable. After a program run-through in the morning, I headed to nearby Chinatown for Mr. Ramen San’s Hakata-style ramen, then joined my colleagues Colin and Rancy for a second lunch at Asado for amazing lomo eye fillet and bife ancho rib eye. I spent the afternoon enjoying Fitzroy Gardens and the hotel’s heated rooftop pool before program kick-off and poster presentations that evening. Saturday’s schedule was packed with 2 talks and 4 panels that drained my social meter. Fortunately, Sunday’s morning agenda was light and left my afternoon free. I skipped the lines at Shanghai St. for Shanghai Village’s XLB, then savored Lulu’s duck egg char koay teow en route past iconic Hosier Lane and Flinders Street Station to the NGV to browse the art and design collections that included a special kimono exhibit. I returned in time for my solo dinner at Fishpot which featured a motorized lift to keep me from losing my wagyu and fish slices in the creamy signature fish broth. I secured a last-minute seat at Her Majesty’s Theatre for MJ the Musical. Despite avoiding some controversies of the star’s latter years, the thrilling performance celebrated the life and music of Michael Jackson, touching on topics like race and identity, childhood abuse, substance use, and the inspirations behind his music and dance. It was hard not to compare the musical numbers with their original versions, but the expert portrayal felt at times like a reincarnation of the King of Pop, with sights and sounds that drew on emotions and memories of the icon’s music. I joined my colleague Nirojini to buy coffee beans from Axil and Market Lane before sharing a lounge visit and flight home. After all the recent travel, it will be nice to spend some family time back home.

After returning from Paris, I had just enough time for a school music orientation, lab lunch, and half-day clinic, before flying out again for the Retina Society meeting in Chicago. It is rare for my wife’s and my conferences to coincide in space and time, so we took advantage of the occasion to share room and board. After landing on Wednesday, I rendezvoused with her for arancini and octopus at The Purple Pig, then debriefed about her interview on the way to the hotel. I awoke early next morning to give my talk and moderate the first session, then returned to the hotel for a swim and meeting before sharing high-end korean steakhouse / BBQ at Perilla. Melody departed on Friday, while I stuck around for an extra night to tear up the dance floor at our gala. The last morning of talks concluded with a stop for Shaw’s chowder and signature seafood salad before my return flight. Back home, we completed our epic Wukong journey to embark on Split Fiction – a co-op adventure about two writers trapped inside simulations of their unfinished stories. The sci-fi and fantasy worlds provided a mix of game designs and platforms – a homage to video games – as we took turns teaming up in split screen action. Melody and I also took advantage of our remaining free childcare for a Sunday night-out in SF for Le Sserafim’s Easy Crazy Hot tour. We kicked off with an impressive Korean-inspired tasting menu at Ssal to stay on theme, then headed to the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium for our first concert in nearly a decade. The K-pop sensation did not disappoint, as we broke out our fimbong light sticks and joined other FEARNOTs to dance and sing along to the quintet’s bold, dynamic setlist. The concert made me fall in love with the group and download all the new tracks in preparation for my next trip.

It has only been a little over a week since returning from Peru, but I was off again to attend the Euretina congress. Timing was suboptimal with unexpected personnel departures, many manuscripts pending, and a monkey getting sick near its scheduled endpoint. Fortunately, my parents are back to help with childcare as Westley’s transitioned to 4th grade, a higher-level Chinese class, and a more competitive fencing class schedule. My first time attending Euretina brought me back to Paris to experience the sights, sounds, and tastes of the bustling city. My 14-hour connecting flight on Wednesday went smoothly with an upgraded first leg and onion soup on my layover, but my arrival was tight due to a long immigration line and traffic delays that had me registering at the meeting minutes before my scheduled presentation. Fortunately, my talk was well-attended, and I enjoyed a foccacia, eclair, and much-needed nap prior to dinner at Le Paris 17 over scrumptious escargot and entrecote steak. I awoke next morning to review slides for Melody’s upcoming interview while strolling from the Arc de Triomphe to the Eiffel Tower, with a beignet stop at La Pistacherie and peek at the Flame of Liberty and Lavirotte building on the way to lunch at Arpege. I was surprised to have scored reservations at this 3-Michelin-starred restaurant, but Alain Passard’s vegan tasting menu left me uninspired and too full to enjoy the after-meal kitchen visit, chef greet, and menu signing. I returned to my hotel after an Abbvie ad board and Coave reception to rest and digest. On Saturday, I re-explored views of the Eiffel tower from the Place du Trocadero, Pont d’lena, and Champ de Mars. I fed my onion soup and escargot crave at La Poule Au Pot, but was not a fan of their pate en croute. Afterwards, I strolled along the Seine past the Louvre and Notre Dame, revisited noisette glace at Berthillon, then toured the quirky exhibits at the National Archives Museum and Paris Design Week Factory galleries for the week-long event. I relaxed at the hotel before joining colleagues for more escargot, onion soup, and ribeye steak that put me to sleep. On Saturday, I reviewed more slides with Melody over a flat white and pain au chocolat, then picked up a cruffin, vennoise, and kouign amann from The French Bastards and pricy macarons from Pierre Herme for my flight home. I missed having Westley with me, but Paris remains for me a feast for the senses, and I look forward to coming back with him in the future.

Still acclimating to the altitude, we skipped the steep climb up Vinicunca for the more gradual but still strenuous incline up Palccoyo mountain. The long drive and low oxygen at 5,000-meter elevation made for a grueling day trip, complete with dusty clothes for us and Raynaud’s phenomenon for Melody. Our dining options were limited without reservations, but Pachapapa’s baked trout and lamb shank washed down nicely with their chicha morada. We awoke Wednesday to drop off laundry and enjoy our hotel’s buffet breakfast and freshly-washed resident baby alpaca. We then Ubered to Sacsayhuaman, where our driver sent us climbing a steep hill to the fort’s back entrance which left us breathless as we wandered the zig zag walls, lava-rock slide, and cave-like tunnels. We split up on the steep descent through the San Blas district, as Melody and Westley waited for a pizza while I snapped photos of the unimpressive plaza and twelve-angled stone en route to the ChocoMuseo for our Bean-to-Bar workshop. Here, we learned about the chocolate-making process, sipped a cup of Aztec-style hot chocolate, and worked our arms grinding cocoa beans and pouring chocolate molds before returning in the evening to pick up our treats, solve “llama” on Wordle, and share chaufa and chifa hot pot at Chicha. Our early Lima flight and hotel check-in on Thursday gave us some rest before our walking tour of Barranco’s Plaza de Armas, Bridge of Sighs, Iglesia la Ermita, and various murals, followed by lunch at Isolina that included a butifarra sandwich, ceviche, and layered minced meat on rice that did not match the restaurant’s hype. Melody passed out at the hotel before struggling through her cold on our walk along the Malecon. There, we took in views of the Pacific and watched locals enjoy picnics, playgrounds, and paragliding before our dinner at Maido. The Peruvian-Nikkei tasting menu at the “World’s Best Restaurant” included highlights like *** and freshly-sliced toro sushi with uni. Westley sampled some of our courses along with a la carte black cod tempura “fish sticks” and their high-end interpretation of “ramen.” We embarked Friday on a private tour to Paracas, where our boat tour of Ballestas Island featured pelicans, penguins, and sea lions that were worth the bumpy, high-speed ride. We toured the vineyard and lunched at CulturPisco, then headed to Huacachina oasis for an adrenaline-fueled dune buggy and sandboarding tour until sunset. The screwy shower knobs at our hotel had me suffering a cold shower that kept me shivering until we warmed up to pasta and pizza for dinner. Luckily, we slept through the Friday night partying before our early next morning drive to Nazca. After touring the Cantalloc Aqueducts, we were lucky to catch the nausea-inducing flight to view the Nazca lines before they closed down the airport due to a sandstorm and strong winds. Given the inclement weather, we skipped the Chauchilla cemetery for an earlier lunch and drive back. Our flight home was delayed by 3+ hours, which scored us meal vouchers at Las Reyes but an extra connection through LAX before we arrived home 6 hours later. Despite the mosquito bites, altitude sickness, and URI, our Peruvian journey was a fulfilling mix of wildlife and culture, luxury and adventure, and a trip to remember.

Cusco is more than 11,000 ft above sea level, so we booked a ride directly to Ollantaytambo and popped acetazolamide to better acclimate to the altitude. Westley was too exhausted for dinner in town and missed out on Apu Veronica’s hearty quinoa soup, alpaca skewers, and chicharrones. The walk back was slow, however, as our tiny house was hard to find in the dark and Melody struggled to catch her breath. The unheated and uninsulated tiny house required extra blankets and hot water bottles overnight, but the morning revealed the property’s charming garden, golden retriever, and yoga deck. We retraced our path in daylight to Ollataytambo station for our train to Macchu Picchu. The Hiram Bingham was decked out in old-world opulence, pampering us with a lavish lunch and complimentary backpacks to our destination. Voted one of the “new” Seven Wonders in 2007, Machu Picchu was breathtaking, as our knowledgeable guide taught us about the site’s purported function as a learning center or pilgrimage site, and its unique architectural feats in mortar-less masonry, advanced irrigation, and astronomical alignments. We concluded with elaborate snacks and mocktails at Sanctuary Lodge, then boarded the Vistadome train that featured music, an alpaca-clothing fashion show, but no views after dark. We had dinner at Apu Veronica again for soups and cuy al horno – roasted guinea pig with more bone than meat. On Sunday, we awoke early to tour the Ollantaytambo Ruins and its resident alpacas and llamas, hunted for an ATM, then relaxed with late breakfast tacos and pancakes at Sunshine Cafe. Our day driver took us on a tour through the terraces of Moray, salineras de Maras, and a stop in Chinchero for a textile demo and alpaca sweater shopping alongside beeping guinea pigs and a moaning baby alpaca. We arrived in Pisac for dinner, where we watched a French cartoon in Spanish with the owners’ daughters as we sampled sopa criolla, loma saltadov, and more food than we could handle. Our cute guest house’s made-to-order breakfast stuffed us even more for a morning of bargaining at Pisac market for an alpaca blanket, fish paintings, and carved gourds. The hotel staff offered to drive us to Cusco himself, with stops at Awana Kancha to feed llamas, alpacas, vicunas, and guanacos, and at Cochahuasi Animal Sanctuary to marvel at Andean condors, say ‘hola’ to saluting macaws, and gawk at a spectacle bear. Our room at the Palacio del Inka was not yet ready when we arrived, so we checked out the Colonial-style property and nearby Quorikancha where Christians built a church atop Incan temples. After settling in, we explored the bustling Plaza de Armas and tried Nikkei fare to feed Westley’s udon cravings as we prepared for the rest of our Andean experience.

The Amazon has always been on Melody’s bucket list, which helped kickstart our action-packed itinerary to Peru this summer. Melody returned from her work trip at midnight to find us still awake with little time to sleep before our 5am flight. We bought playing cards to replace our forgotten MTG deck for our 5-hour layover in Houston, but had only 30 minutes at the KLM lounge to learn Spit and Speed before getting kicked out. Instead, we filled on gumbo and etouffee before starting our malarone prophylaxis in preparation for our connection to Lima. Our hotel in Barranco served as home base next morning to explore Huaca Pucllana and the historic city center. After learning about Lima culture and the adobe and clay pyramid, we shared La Lucha’s chicharron sandwich and La Mar’s ceviche and arroz marisco before taking an Uber to tour the ornate altars at Iglesia de la Merced, the Moorish facade of the Palacio de Torre Tagle, and the mosaics at Catedral de Lima. The Plaza Mayor was bustling with tourists as we squeezed our way to the Convento Santo Domingo, bought Westley a fluffy toy alpaca, and sampled street vendor churros, queso helado, and mystery “crema”. Casa de Aliaga was not accessible, but we took photos of the Casa de La Literatra Peruana’s stained-glass ceiling in the historic Desamparados Station en route to the impressive catacombs of Convento San Francisco and nearby Parque de la Muralla. We were too exhausted for the Circuito Magico del Agua, and instead shared wonton soup and beef chow fun at Chifa Dragon Tong before calling it a night. We awoke Monday for our flight to Iquitos to meet our Aqua Expeditions crew, enjoy lunch on a floating restaurant, and bus to Nauta for orientation and safety training before our 4-night Amazon cruise. Our first morning excursion included sightings of kingfishers, vultures, and fly eaters as we passed pink and gray dolphins and a distant blob of a two-toed sloth on the Marañon River. Our afternoon visit to a local village included learning about high-low water seasons, inspecting a fisherman’s catch, playing with a little girl’s pet turtle, and poking at a venomous snake carcass. We relaxed with Animalogic followed by a napkin folding workshop before our night excursion that featured sloths, toucans, macaws, fishing bats, saki monkeys, river turtles, and a baby caiman but no anaconda, capping with ceviche & picarones for dinner. We awoke Wednesday to dolphins playing off the side of the boat, then went on an excursion where we spotted a green iguana, a caracara unsuccessfully chasing a kingfisher, and an egret nearly faceplanting from slipping on the river bank. We attempted to canoe dugouts while local women propelled us around before we transitioned from the brown to black waters of the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve on our way to a jungle walk, where we saw termite nests, leaf cutter ant mounds, two millipedes, and giant ceiba trees but no other wildlife sightings. We hurried back for a picnic lunch on our rafted boats under a gang of squirrel monkeys before taking a cooling dip in the iced-tea waters near some gray dolphins. After siesta and backgammon, we enjoyed a chocolate demo and a sunset jam with the crew on deck. On Thursday, our attempt at piranha fishing with beef scraps was a success, with Westley catching white and red belly piranhas plus an herbivorous silver dollar, followed by a final toast on the Amazon River, a round of Scrabble, and slideshow from the crew. We awoke early for one last excursion past the docks in Iquitos with sightings of Amazon turkeys and a pygmy marmoset but no capybara before disembarking to visit the Amazon Rescue Center, where we had closer views of manatees and other animals that we missed on the real Amazon. Our airport lounge access supplemented our bag lunch before we boarded our flight to Cusco.

Like rain on my cousin’s wedding day, July has been a month of irony. After lunch with Brenda’s family and fireworks at the Davis Community Pool Party, we took advantage of July 4th sales at the Hyundai dealer to lease a new Ioniq 5 for Melody, only to find the driver’s door handle needing replacement the very next day. My i4 also needed a tire swap just two years in. Beside car issues, I dealt with a gltichy e-mail migration at work and my grad student getting hospitalized, just as we were receiving notice of our new R01 grant to study gene therapy in the eye. News traveled fast as I received congratulatory remarks from friends at the ASRS conference in Long Beach last week. Aside from my talk on genetic testing using AI and a half-day ad board that ended with a tsunami advisory, I spent the rest of my time meeting industry partners and colleagues, including seafood with Genentech at Parker’s Lighthouse, kebabs with Apellis at Ammatoli, tofu stew with my classmate Brian at Sura, chicken-n-waffles with my co-fellows at The Breakfast Bar, and stir-fried lobster and grilled oysters with my friend Dan at A&J Seafood shack. I returned in time to join an 80’s-themed Murder Mystery Dinner Theater at the Old Spaghetti Factory with Melody’s division, where we placed dead last, of course. With Melody out of town for two work trips, I had bonus time with Westley. Between his UCD and Davis summer camps, we battled yaoguais, built a model castle, and preserved a dragonfly using isopropanol and acetone. He also had a playdate with his friend Albert, where they tried to sear an oak gall with a magnifying glass and sunlight. Beside preventing arson, I kept busy pruning backyard plants, patching irrigation leaks, installing bonsai spotlights, hanging a German gear clock, and brewing my first espresso. With fresh beans from Temple Coffee and my new Barista Impress Touch, I learned to craft my own latte, flat white, and cappuccino, which hopefully will power me through to wrap up loose ends at work before our upcoming travel. 

We set out Friday morning for Hohenzollern Castle, which felt more medieval fortress than royal retreat. After lunch capped with spaghetti eis, we admired the cuckoo clocks in Triburg and indulged in original Black Forest Cake from Hotel-Café Adler before marveling at the world’s largest cuckoo clock in Schonachbach. With 6-pack tickets, we raced toboggans at Sommerrodelbahn Gutach, then settled into Hotel Bell Rock with its American-themed buffet and pool. Our early access to EuropaPark next day gave us a whirlwind tour of the continent through roller coasters, dark rides, wet rides, and even a bobsled ride, along with a daredevilish Zorro stunt show and a hilarious Magic Atlas puppet show. We stayed until closing before driving to Baden Baden for dinner. Next morning’s breakfast at the stately Hotel Belle Epoque evoked the romance of the bath town. We ditched our hiking plans to soak ourselves at Caracalla Spa, picnic with takeout shawarma, and tour the glitzy Baden-Baden Casino. The punishing heat cut short our tour of the Burg Hohenbaden ruins and Heidelberg market square, but fortunately cooled down for shipboard tapas and paella with my old lab friend Monika. Despite lacking overnight AC, our host greeted us with a generous breakfast spread of pastries and homemade jams before taking us up the funicular to Heidelberg Castle to circle the giant barrel, and educating us about Student Kisses and the Student Prison. After souvenirs from a closing apothecary and salads for lunch, we caught our train to Luneburg, where we bumped into my parents and headed to our hotel together. We lost our sense of time with the prolonged daylight and belated dinner, but managed a morning start for a Hamburg day trip Tuesday. We picked up a jean jacket and sweater to keep us warm for our rainy stroll past the Rathausmarkt, Binnenalster, Mellin Passage, and Alster Arcade, where pastry shops lured us in for strawberry tarts and Nutella shakes. The ornate interiors and spiral staircases of the Hubner Haus and Kontohaus buildings were a photographer’s dream, but we were more intrigued by the paternoster at the Sprinkenhof building, where we decoded the lift’s mechanism with an apricot before testing human subjects. We roamed the Speicherstadt district, took our obligate photo from Poggenmuhlen Bridge, then recharged with fish & chips and fishburgers at Fleetschloesschen en route to Miniatur Wunderland. The world’s largest model railway offered much more than trains – with interactive VR, day-night cycles, F1 racers, and even an Airbus Beluga model that can take off. After dinner with mom’s family and a mellow morning of mall and market browsing, we headed to my cousin Jasmine’s wedding at the city’s water tower and banquet at the groom’s family restaurant. Between Melody’s stilettos clattering on cobblestones and Westley’s dwindling patience with the 4-hour meal, we were wiped out for family time afterwards, and crashed early to prepare for our train and flight home. We had enough time to graze at Frankfurt and SFO, and reflect on the satisfying mix of friends, family, and fun on our Germany vacation.

Westley and I embarked on our trip to Germany on Father’s Day, stopping for bun mee and MTG in SFO before our 11-hour flight to Munich to rendezvous with Melody. We picked up our VW convertible, settled into our artist apartment, then set out to explore Marienplatz and nearby Asamkirche, St. Peterskirche, and Frauenkirche, followed by kaiserspatzle and crispy pork at Viktualienmarkt for lunch. BMW did not offer factory tours this week, so we checked out BMW Welt instead and slurped Max’s beef noodles before turning in early. Not having adjusted our biological clocks, we awoke at 2am Tuesday and kept ourselves busy until breakfast at Café Rischart with weisswurst and kaiserschmarrn ahead of our morning tour of the Munich Residenz. The Rathaus glockenspiel was underwhelming as I expected, but at least put us back near Viktualienmarkt for shweinwurst, leberkassemmel, and liver dumpling soup for lunch. After a short nap, we headed to the kid-friendly Deutsches Museum to explore the science of aviation, bridges, particle physics, and musical instruments, followed by dinner at Zum Alten Markt for delicious mushroom soup, crispy schnitzel, and more kaiserspatzle. On Wednesday, we sped through the autobahn and steep climb up Neuschwanstein Castle to catch our timed tour of the iconic Bavarian palace, including an impressive throne room and singer’s hall. We squeezed past other tourists to snap photos from Marienbrucke Bridge, then rested our legs at Café Kainz over spatzle and spaghetti on the way to tour Hohenschwangau Castle, from where Ludwig II observed his fairytale palace. After a sunny treetop walk across the Austrian border at Walderlebniszentrum, Westley cooled his feet at the alluvial forest trail, while I detoured to photograph Lechfall and bring back ice-cream. We barely made the last English tour at Linderhof Palace and its gardens, and enjoyed a traditional costume parade passing by our dinner in Oberammergau. We relaxed with a serene boat ride on Lake Königssee on Thursday, with a short hike from Salet to Lake Obersee, before returning to Seelände for crepes and bubble waffles. At the Berchtesgaden Salt Mines, we donned overalls to ride the miner’s train, slide, and raft across an underground “mirror lake,” but sadly left our souvenir alpensalz behind. Our day concluded in Salzburg, where we ate Barenwirt’s famed fried chicken, braved the catacombs at St. Peter’s Abbey, and learned about Mozart at his birthplace, before crossing Makartsteg Bridge to Mirabelle Gardens where the Sound of Music was filmed. Marionette shows were sold out, so we drove back to Munich for pho and to pack up our belongings in preparation for the Black Forest.

Having watched our kurapia lawn die slowly each year, we finally hired someone to install new fescue sod that promises to be both sun- and shade-tolerant, along with some creeping figs and more lava rocks. We also chipped in our own yard work planting a new Jade Butterfly Maidenhair gingko tree and repairing landscape lights. The refreshed lawn helped prepare us for another backyard camping adventure with the Deas on Memorial Day, including a viewing of E.T. on our back patio. Our movie night inspired us to catch up on 80’s nostalgia with other vintage movies like the Goonies, Labyrinth, Back to the Future, Batteries Not Included, and the Sound of Music to prepare for our Salzburg visit. We also met up with Ala for hot pot, and our cousin Pam to check out their fancy new digs over tri tips and pool time. Our home projects this month included my new undercabinet lights in the butler pantry, and Westley’s GaoGaiGar to expand his growing gundam collection. My car was stuck in the shop for a drivetrain issue for a few weeks, so I drove our X3 loaner to check out Taffach’s Ethiopian fare, Estelle’s pastries, and Maya’s birria ramen for my lab lunch. With looming threats of rising tariffs and car prices, Melody also test drove an Ioniq 5 and 6 in preparation for joining the EV evolution. Nico’s recurrent cheek mass required a pricey work-up and nightly antibiotics that added to our checklist for the pet-sitter ahead of our Germany vacation. With Melody heading out first for her fellowship reunion, I spent Father’s Day weekend with Westley tiring ourselves out with a Black Ops 6 campaign and Rush Hour marathon to prepare for our 11-hour flight together. I can hardly wait.