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@madqh

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utterly flawed
brimming with afflictions
made of light
perfect girl

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corner by corner, object by object, thought after thought, making a life of your own...
photos of my room 2025-2026
see you next year new york taken in Brooklyn, New York by @madqh

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9 days ago

on the last day of my trip, i took a 7 hour round trip bus ride to plitvice lakes national park. i saw fairies and learned about tufa barriers and dynamic karst systems. most unique ecology ive witnessed with stunning nutrient depleted waters flowing through moss, dolomites, and limestone

last pics: grandma standing on fence tending to her grapes, last beach day, sun drying laundry before my departure

on multiple occasions, christina alina and i would reflect on how blessed we are to be there, to eat well, rest, have leisure. its unfathomable, to have health, time, intellect, love, to be able to go to europe to work on a meaningful project and then let myself tan and jump into the sea for a week. most blessed first trip of my 30s taken in Plitvice Lakes National Park by @madqh

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2 months ago

last breakfast in taipei for now, gloomy day, reading things in nature merely grow by yiyun li, indulging in 대만감성 or 台灣感性, a term popularized recently on korean sns to describe the sentimental atmosphere and cityscape of taiwan. faded city, mist in the air, pink and green, everybody trying their best

this time around, i took my 92yo grandma on a trip to chiayi and taichung, got my scuba diving license in xiaoliuqiu alone (tiny island off the south coast), visited tainan for the first time with soran, and spent 16 days by the ocean in taidong for ryt200, sleeping in a bunk bed in a tiny cabin amongst 16 sweet taiwanese women

how fortunate i am for all my challenges. im still uncertain, east or west, this or that, what to do... but i find that decisions are made for me as i relax, my face naturally turning towards the source of my suffering, to be illuminated by it and grow to meet it, like plants towards the sun

this place 五湖豆漿 serves the best 蘿蔔糕 i have ever had taken in Taipei, Taiwan by @madqh

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6 months ago

how i pack for 3 months of travel
madqh.com/packed

stopped by taipei for 3 days on my way to spend a month in japan. i started taking photos of my belongings while unpacking and ended up making a website

i love my things
i love having exactly what i have
i love seeing it all together

i tend to overpack these days to avoid purchasing duplicates, unless i intend to get a new item in that category. e.g. left my hoka tor ultra lo behind bc i want something lighter. let me know if you have recommendations! i’m going on a 40+ mile hike. the older i get, the less i shop during travels. i'm just happy with what i have

here's to the grounding power of making a list
and to the personal website

visit url to read more about my things (best on web. ok on mobile chrome and safari) by @madqh

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2 days ago

📍Dong Lake, Wuhan taken in 武漢東湖風景區 by @madqh

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5 days ago

utterly flawed
brimming with afflictions
made of light
perfect girl by @madqh

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15 days ago

started this fall by visiting america's only remaining 35mm drive in theater, fallingwater, 3 other flw houses, and the kish valley amish community in central pennsylvania (s/o @pastry_club).

we parked our car next to buggies and bid on eggs during their weekly produce auction, i had to win so i went a lot higher than locals and bought 3 dozen farm fresh eggs for $2 per dozen.

found designer stainless steel egg holders for 50 cents each, milk glass mugs for $2, vintage forks that are definitely 100 years old for $3, butterfly jar for $2, handmade rug for $14 (honor system shack of rugs for sale with box for cash)

last but not least, got a few spatulas from joseph peachey, amish woodworker who had a showroom full of nakashima inspired furniture bc someone gifted him a nakashima book. soran asked him what's the hardest thing about running his shop now. he said it's getting repeat customers due to online shopping, and lamented about how we scroll too much and are disconnected. if anyone around us can give us a lesson on community and staying offline it would be the amish. he said if i ever have a custom design i can send it to him via snail mail. he asked do you have designs in mind or are you just dreaming? i said i'm just dreaming...

we got stopped by a cnn reporter outside a thrift shop who is there to report on the measles outbreak due to the lack of vaccination in amish regions

then we visited scranton to pick up some aluminum tables at a surplus and recycling center. dude gifted us a box full of hexclad and two pumpkins. stopped by the office gift shop, parked behind a car with license plate BEETZ. iconic. soran has never watched the office. lastly we went to the iconic @oldegoodthings.warehouse to dream more. saw a lot of stunning door knobs

one of the tables flew off the roof rack on our way home but an angel named jason helped us secure the rest. we got home safely before the noreaster started. now i'm sipping on high mountain tea with my favorite incense burning, enjoying my room, safe from the wind.

there remains a lot to love about this country and its people. i'm grateful for america taken in Brooklyn, New York by @madqh

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19 days ago

by @madqh

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a month ago

a few weeks before i started running, soran and i started a small garden on telos rooftop. we strapped fences on his car to section off the roof and found pallets around the neighborhood to raise the floor

4 months later, we’ve harvested bowls of lettuce, dino kale, cilantro, ~20 radishes, ~10 cucumbers, ~15 cherry bomb peppers, 30+ okras, 30+ cherry tomatoes, 1 large beet, 1 giant eggplant…

bees, butterflies, and wasps started visiting us
rain and heat meant now something different to me
girl dinners were elevated

grateful for an abundant summer
grateful to learn
bye bye august

see more in my garden highlight by @madqh

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a month ago

life is short, like foam on the ocean

pics of the philippine sea i took during break times at yoga retreat this march. somewhere on the east coast of taiwan. 16 days of eating home cooked vegetarian meals, waking up at 5am, living and laughing with cute roommates... taken in Taitung台東 by @madqh

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2 months ago

city girl taken in Tokyo, Japan by @madqh

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2 months ago

01-02.03.2026

one of the most precious stays of my life with koh, ichika and their toddler linlin. every piece of furniture, ceramic, and utensil was made by koh. we had no plans for the next few days, so they invited us to stay one more night and drove us to a famous soba restaurant to eat lunch together. we did woodworking and metalworking, bathed and use the sauna (all built by koh), and enjoyed his chinese inspired japanese cooking and expansive views of the japanese alps

after our last bath, i walked out to see everything we crafted resting on the table, ambient music playing, living room pristine. he even made us the most unqiue ume infused taiwanese fantuan for our last breakfast

we talked about business ownership, city life, architecture, remote tech work (which koh still does), dissonance, money, international school education... it eases my mind to know that this house and their world exists. memories that remind me that i shall live a life that is mine, one i build with utmost intention and respect taken in Ogawa, Nagano by @madqh

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2 months ago