The Terra Galleria Blog – QT Luong

Last December, I visited Phu Quoc Island for a few days. Located in the Gulf of Thailand, south of the mainland Vietnam, the island is the largest in Vietnam, measuring 31 mi (50 km) long and 16 mi (25 km) wide. It is famous through Vietnam for its fishing industry, and in particular fish sauce, [...]

The three first hikes in this series may have given the impression that to see something out of the beaten path in Yosemite, you need to venture out of established trails, on exposed or strenuous paths. This could well be true of Yosemite Valley, so unique and so full of landmarks such as Yosemite Falls [...]

More Yellowstone Winter Wildlife pictures All Yellowstone Winter pictures The official winter season (during which lodges and roads are open) generally lasts from mid-December to the beginning of March. If I was to return to Yellowstone in winter, I would pick mid to end January. At the beginning of winter, the Park may not have [...]

In the past, I have visited Yellowstone at three different times of the year, in July, September, and late October. I have always wanted to come back in the winter, and eventually got around to doing it this February. Part of the reason it had taken me so long are the logistics, which I’ll detail [...]

Melaka being a popular tourist destination just two hours away from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital, I expected it to be a breeze to book bus transportation, but it turned out not to be the case. First, you’d think that the area around the Jalan Petaling street would be full of travel agencies, but I managed [...]

I had initially planned to travel by sleeper train from Penang to Kuala Lumpur. Making arrangements proved surprisingly difficult. None of the travel agents in town would handle train reservations. When I called the official railway office, I was told that reservations could be made over the phone only if the planned journey was at [...]

Because of the weather in Ko Phi-Phi, I decided to shorten the stay in Thailand and spend more time in the cities of Malaysia. Rainy weather isn’t great for photographing (or even enjoying) tropical islands, but it doesn’t matter that much in a city, if you are concentrating on architecture and people. The next stop [...]

I had a great month in Asia, but I was now feeling eager to get back home. The flight to San Francisco was scheduled as an inconvenient 3.40AM departure from Ho Chi Minh City airport, with a 5 hour stopover in Beijing. When I showed up at the airport at 2.30AM, no activity was taking [...]

It’s been a month since I arrived in Vietnam. In the evening, I remark again, on the street where I am staying, a construction field of the size of exactly one townhouse width, between two standing houses. The ground is covered with rubble from a recently demolished building. This is a site that I have [...]

Updated Oct 1, 2012. With their tremendous diversity of environments and pristine scenery, the National Parks are a great place – although not always the best – to see and photograph fall foliage color. Here is a guide to fall color highlights in nearly each of the National Parks, which lists the best time to [...]