Vacation = Catching up on reading

I’m on vacation in South America right now, and I realized that it is also a way for me to relax and finally catch up on some reading - on the flights, during wait times between transportation, on buses, etc. I just finished Richard Feynman’s book “Surely you’re joking, Mr Feynman!”, and it’s such a delightful book for me, especially I’ve known him only as a famous physicist and philosopher! It made me realize this is how mavericks and really smart scientists think - they’re inquisitive, constantly challenging rules and norms, and doing things their own way. It’s also what’s celebrated in San Francisco today, though it can get annoying when pompous people try to pretend they’re one of those mavericks and act intentionally weird/antisocial when it just comes off as creepy and annoying...

Anyway, I was reading “Surely you’re joking, Mr Feynman!” and I get to the part about Brazil - and it’s so funny that I happened to be in Brazil as well. We’re in the same city that he was in (Rio de Janeiro), at Copacabana beach exactly where he described his stay at the Miramar hotel, that hotel where I just walked past yesterday. The beaches, the streets, and the neighborhoods he mentioned - Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon, etc. it’s funny that for once I know all the places he’s talking about, having just seen them so they’re real to me, fresh in my mind.

For most of the book I had been reading it as fiction and “traveling” to Alberqueque, Los Alamos, Caltech through his words, but I’m so glad that for once I can relate to exactly where and what he’s talking about! It’s such great timing hahaha...it’s just like that time I reread “A Child called It” and it turned out the setting was in Bay Area Daly City, where I’ve been and seen multiple times since I first read the book back in Singapore. That feeling of serendipity and coincidence is just amazing hahaha

Meanwhile, I’ve been traveling all around South America for the past week, and will continue for another week and a half - through nature, big cities, and some wine and dining too! I’m really excited about what I’m going to learn and discover about these culturally rich and different countries I’m visiting!