Live Spherically

French influenced hill retreat town, in Northern Vietnam, of Sapa in Lao Cai Province, with its minority groups, beautiful villas and cherry forests

Colorful treaties from an exclusive tropical island resort  Juice and soda push wine drinking to record low, In France

Typical unified invoices in Taiwan on a cell phone picture by Don Schumann While Taiwan tries to recruit California students to its universities in the USA. On the home front, the allegations of fraudulent invoices submitted by researchers have seen the National Science Council come under fire for failing to enforce procedures

(Slide image queued up for digital scan) The iconic Hollywood sign overlooking Tinseltown is getting its biggest renovation for 35 years, ahead of its 90th birthday next year

Volcán de Agua in Guatemala A mind once stretched by a new idea will never regain its original dimension

Models: Amanda, Kelly, Sharon, Phoebe, Maggie, Allen, Ivy, Brian, Akane Souma, Mei Mei, Claire, Arlene All photos by Don Schumann Global fashion brands selling poisonous and harmful materials under investigation

Elephants in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand In the misty lush hills of northern Thailand, where Thailand meets Laos and Burma, a herd of elephants is excreting some of the world's most expensive coffee

Self-portrait taken on cell phone, on 7/9/2011 My tenure with the days in Tamsui is phasing out 4/8/2012

For years, this is the best value lunchbox, or dinner-box, I can get in Taiwan local. Its price jumped from NT$45 (US$1.5) to NT$65 (US$2.24) while a part-timer gets paid NT$103 (US$3.55) per hour if you can get one, but we are not going deep on that here today Cell phone picture by Don Schumann  Each student asked to pay NT$45 (US$1.5) each day for school lunches while getting only merely NT$23 (US$0.67) worth's meal

Cheese is always my fave, photo taken at a hotel Cafe in Davao, Mindanao If you've been hoarding gross cheese cakes, you might want to consider dumping it, ASAP!

A church in central Germany  A recent decree by Germany's Catholic bishops states that people who opt out of a church tax should not be given sacraments, including weddings, baptisms and funerals

Makati skyline The hotel, which will be Fairmont Hotels & Resorts' first property in Southeast Asia, is in Manila's upscale business district

North of England Bad weather expected to head north as David Cameron promises help to communities in south-west and Midlands

With beautiful, snow-draped scenery End of 1990's flashback: Happy Thanksgiving, guys! By the bye, during the present time, people go shopping their Black Friday gifts on the "Black Thursday". Were not we calling it Thanksgiving before?     Back in Los Angeles from excursion Far East. I was simply happy to be back but had an amazing wintertime out of town

Palisades Park, California, USA Christmas Nativity scenes had been erected in Palisades Park for decades   

Đà Nẵng (Danang City), Vietnam, overlooks the East Sea Three-star Michelin chef Michel Roux launches his first restaurant in Asia at the new Intercontinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort, which opened this summer in Danang City

Taking off at a Philippine domestic airport Taiwan has been the export powerhouse of fraudsters to the Mainland China and Southeast Asia, namely Malaysia, Thailand...

A rustic barbeque chicken on a remote island off Caohagan Island Australia's first outbreak of a highly pathogenic bird flu virus in 15 years should be contained by a cull of 50,000 chickens

Located 20 minutes north of Muscat, the capital of Sultanate of Oman The Chedi Muscat

JR (Japan Rail) Pass JR West Obama Line: including Obama Station ( 小浜駅) , Higashi-Obama Station ( 東小浜駅) , Kato Station ( 加斗駅) , Seihama Station ( 勢浜駅) , and Shin-Hirano Station ( 新平野駅 ) Back when Barack Obama was sworn in for his first term, a small Japanese town was overjoyed. Women danced the hula at the local temple, and...

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner made its inaugural US flight, from Huston to Chicago   

I got this mug from a French chain store back in late 1980's. Long after I found out it was made in Japan, surprise surprise, and it is from Hallmark, too!? To the side, the steaming cup is from SeaWorld Gold Coast, Australia, with my name on. Also an acquisition dated back to early 1990's by the way   How much do you drink per year?

It has been a high-maintenance work to do in order to cope with my porcelain white complexion since I obtained my first bottle of Banana Boat tanning lotion back in 1988 Cell phone photo by Don Schumann Color is only skin deep, but I do care so much

Biking on Venice Ocean Front Walk in Los Angeles The Santa Monica Bike Center's offer of a free, well-equipped bike for two weeks was simply too good to pass up

Edinburgh Rail Station Taiwan's Chinese-language Daily News, Liberty Times, reports that THSR (Taiwan High Speed Rail) mislabeled it's "20% Off discount rates" starting earlier this month on the 5th as "80% Off", due to common mistakes in English , on it's English web site

Central Germany Steinau: Romantic Medieval Village 1/8 史代瑙．中世紀浪漫之城 1/8 Steinau, Germany / 德國史代瑙 by Don Schumann (My apologies to all English speakers for posting original published article in in-flight magazine in Traditional Chinese. Please make good use of your internet translator!)

This ramen bowl sitting on my countertop, while I started working on this blog entry, with a too high temperature ambient light filtered through my backyard bushes casting an eerily color shift. “That is perfect (for my writing)!” I said to myself. It's readily mimicking the usual TV commercial's “grading” effects in Japan without being tweaked I wonder what "dolphin bone ramen soup" is made of how and to what materials to use?

The EPA was responding to a report in the Chinese-language Minsheng Daily that claimed the level of microcystins in nine reservoirs exceed the acceptable level set by the WHO, posing a threat to tap water users

Hanau Steinau: Romantic Medieval Village 2/8 史代瑙．中世紀浪漫之城 2/8 Steinau, Germany / 德國史代瑙 by Don Schumann (My apologies to all English speakers for posting original published article in in-flight magazine in Traditional Chinese. Please make good use of your internet translator!)

Single-family home prices continued to jump in the Bay Area in September, with the numbers suggesting the "move-up" buyer is back

Schnappskorb (loosely translation in English: snap basket; a water torture cage in medieval times for punishing those dishonest jerry-built — mainly in the bakery — merchants) Steinau: Romantic Medieval Village 3/8 史代瑙．中世紀浪漫之城 3/8 Steinau, Germany / 德國史代瑙 by Don Schumann (My apologies to all English speakers for posting original published article in in-flight magazine in Traditional Chinese. Please make good use of your internet translator!)

A bunch of school kids I met in Hai Chau district, Đà Nẵng, central Vietnam Who says only the Hollywood's high-end tech savvy guys can do the transformers? Here comes, Taiwan is producing it you see in real life every day

The extremely expensive, full-fare, air ticket I bought directly from the Narita Airport counter IATA is working on a new model for airline ticket booking while ASTA has questions

Update: Outbreak-Tied Peanut Butter Plant Shut The Universal Product Code (UPC) is a barcode symbology, allowed for scanning trade items at the point of sale Cell phone photo by Don Schumann Always double check the UPC or SKU numbers on your jars of peanut butter and/or other nut-and-seed products!

The first hut to the left, a suite villa deep in the Peten jungle, served as my base for my adventure around Guatemala's Tikal National Park, 1998 Archeologists have found a tomb with the remains of a Mayan queen, buried with treasures like jade jewellery and obsidian knives

Steinau an der Straße Steinau: Romantic Medieval Village 4/8 史代瑙．中世紀浪漫之城 4/8 Steinau, Germany / 德國史代瑙 by Don Schumann (My apologies to all English speakers for posting original published article in in-flight magazine in Traditional Chinese. Please make good use of your internet translator!)

Smoked salmon tainted with salmonella has sickened hundreds of people in the Netherlands, authorities said, sparking major recalls there and in the U.S.

A crumpled discarded parking ticket on the roadside, New Taipei city, Taiwan More than 1,300 of its employees, including police officers, owe almost NT$10 million in unpaid fines for violations of various traffic regulations

I had to fight so hard to cope with my Nosocomephobia to shoot in a hospital This new "HIV-like" virus is probably not easily transmitted sexually, but is easily transmitted through kissing, which often takes place during sexual contact. This is why people who catch this virus mistakenly think they have caught a sexual disease

Gasthaus Weißes Roß Steinau: Romantic Medieval Village 5/8 史代瑙．中世紀浪漫之城 5/8 Steinau, Germany / 德國史代瑙 by Don Schumann (My apologies to all English speakers for posting original published article in in-flight magazine in Traditional Chinese. Please make good use of your internet translator!)

I had to fight so hard to cope with my phobia to shoot in a hospital A mysterious new disease that has left scores of people in Asia and some in the United States with AIDS-like symptoms even though they are not infected with HIV

My favorite books Photo on a cell phone Listen, there’s a sequel to “The Shining” (novel) will be coming out to haunt you again on September 24, 2013, Stephen King fans!

Der Kumpen Steinau: Romantic Medieval Village 6/8 史代瑙．中世紀浪漫之城 6/8 Steinau, Germany / 德國史代瑙 by Don Schumann (My apologies to all English speakers for posting original published article in in-flight magazine in Traditional Chinese. Please make good use of your internet translator!)

Westside Los Angeles, USA Los Angeles County’s first toll lane will open Nov. 10 on the 110 Freeway, officials announced Tuesday

A marketing and promotional project I had done for a five-star hotel group, sorry, a dubbed five-star hospital group, in 2005 The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed yesterday Taiwan's first cases this year of locally acquired cholera

Fantastic Sashimi (Japanese: 刺身, raw fish) presented by an island resort operated by an Australian team Food prices jump again but, this time, it is not corn related, I hope!

"This is not a wind-driven fire, it is topography fire," California coastline A fast-moving 10-acre fire was whipping its way uphill east of the Sepulveda Pass, causing staff at the Getty Center to voluntarily evacuate

Alte Kellerei Steinau: Romantic Medieval Village 7/8 史代瑙．中世紀浪漫之城 7/8 Steinau, Germany / 德國史代瑙 by Don Schumann (My apologies to all English speakers for posting original published article in in-flight magazine in Traditional Chinese. Please make good use of your internet translator!)

"City of Pied Piper Fame", one of my reportages released in late 1990's Photos & written by Don Schumann The German city of Hamelin may be in need of another Pied Piper - it seems the rats are back

(Latest news updates on 10/30/2012) Eat More Dark Leafy Greens on doctor's orders! Which is not applied to Taiwan locals A Taiwanese doctor warned Monday that a food source most consumers consider healthy -- leafy green vegetables -- could actually cause a potentially serious blood disorder

My first ever traditional food from Latin America in 1998. It made me feel choked up in the tearful way  (Not only it was my first time eating Latino meal locally, it was simply... Picante !) The International Gastronomic Fair Mistura 2012 is set to take place in Lima from September 7 to 16