[SOURCE]

The island of Molokai is often referred to as "The Most Hawaiian Island". Life there is slow and relaxed. It's rural and peaceful. It's like stepping back in time 50 years. It's a place like no other. 

The following pictures, taken by local photographer Ted Kanemitsu, and the stories that accompany them, reflect perfectly the spirit of that island.

"The Secret Spot" [SOURCE]

Great news! I will soon be sharing BEAUTIFUL photographs and unique stories from Hawaii based artist Ted Kanemitsu! Select photos from his portfolio will be featured in regular posts here on The Drifters Blog.

It's time for another "Days Go By" write-up! This time around you guys voted for the Instagram photo of my smiling Taiwanese student, a picture I titled "ESL Student Archetypes". And that's what I came up with, a short list of 3 basic ESL student stereotypes* in Taiwan, plus a few extra contributed ones sent in by readers! 

I'm an English teacher, but I have a confession to make. I don't speak English. Okay, okay..I do speak English, but contrary to what most people think, it's not exactly my first language. Okay, okay...so strictly speaking, "English" sort of is my first language, that is of course, if you consider what linguistics refer to as Hawaiian Creole English as being English, then yes, I speak English as my mother tongue.

Legally speaking, the official languages of Hawai'i are English and 'Olelo Hawai'i (Native Hawaiian.) However, 'Olelo Hawai'i as a native language is only spoken by about 24,000 people. As for English, although 74% of residents in Hawaii reportedly speak English at home, the form of English being spoken is debatable. 

You may remember Scott Muehlbauer from "Chat With an Expat" a couple months ago. Well, now he has his own Drifters Blog column called "Shot of Scott" where he shares with us a photo or video clip from his many travels around the world!  In the first installment of this series, Scott takes us on a walk across Galata Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey.

The Galata Bridge links the historic old city of Sultanahmet with Galata and Beyoğlu--two districts of Istanbul known for their restaurants and nightlife.  I was interested in seeing these areas and sampling some of the fantastic Turkish food.  

I've come up with a general technique when writing each "Days Go By" article. While the votes are being tallied and the time gets near, I will sit and stare at the pictures that are up for nomination, letting random images and phrases flash through my mind. I knew that 'Manila Laundry' would probably be this week's winner, so in preparation I decided to load the page and stare at the picture. After a moment, one clear phrase stood out: "Good things come to those who wait."

You see the craziest things in Asia. Like the time I got home, late at night, and I almost slammed into a giant pig! The most bizarre thing was what was going on behind it. I know that the picture above is of a dog, but for the sake of storytelling, I will begin this tale with a pig.

I had just turned the corner into the alley where I live, a dimly lit backstreet lane in a suburb on the outskirts of the second largest city in Taiwan. It had been raining all day and night, so the atmosphere was foggy and gray, the road was slippery wet, and the wind blew cool. As I pulled my motorbike up to the front of my house, ready to turn in, I could see, silhouetted by the flickering streetlights, a huge shadow lumbering towards me from a distance. 

I'm pretty new to the travel blogging scene, so while perusing through the latest travel tweets last night, I was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon the hashtag#TNI, an apparently popular interactive tweet session between drifters, expats and armchair travelers alike. 

The subject of the night was on the evergreen topic of 'solo travel'. This was question #10:

It happened in Taoyuan International Airport at 10:28 pm, while walking towards the Departure Gate area. I was focused on making the 12:30 red-eye out to Manila on Cebu Pacific Airlines, when I suddenly looked up to see a familiar name. Honolulu. Capital city of my native land: Hawai'i.

A distant yet familiar memory of soft sun-rays, warm golden sand and pounding surf flashed through my busy 'Asian' mind and I found myself stopped in my tracks, staring up at that familiar name. Honolulu. I read the three Chinese characters transcribed next to it: 檀香山, Tán Xiāng Shān, literally translated, Sandalwood Incense Mountain. Honolulu.