Travel Souvenirs
Reading this article from the New York Times made me think about the various random stuff I bought on our travels. Eu-Jin frequently complains about my shopping habits. I usually can't resist getting more tchotchkes hawked by the vendors in the various places we have visited. It is fortunate that we try to travel light, and therefore everything usually must fit into our carry-on baggage. I am also quite cheap, so at least I don't waste all that much money.
I think the one souvenir item that I have used the most over the years is my favorite baby alpaca woolley hat from our first trip to Peru in 2004. It cost about 3 bucks from a store right by the main square in Cuzco, and it has kept me warm over many vacations and camping trips. The photo (taken by Eu-Jin) from several years ago shows me wearing that hat at the summit register of Mount Whitney. We have a "travel shelf" too, filled with figurines (eg. llamas made from salt, wood, stone, and wool) and other random stuff (windchime, glass snail etc.) that were bought or picked up over the years or were given to us from our friends' travels. And we have a small box filled with various sling bags (I can't seem to resist getting more bags), scarves, coin purses (a particular favorite of Eu-Jin's), woolley hats. We have also bought food items, such as biscuits (lots of interesting varieties in the grocery stores), teas (anis tea!) and candy, but those have long since been consumed.
