Exploring Oaxaca (Part 1)

This entry is part 1 of 13 in the series Exploring Oaxaca

November 20, 2022

By Simon J. Lau

Day 1 of our trip to Oaxaca! We kicked off our vacation with a red-eye flight to and a 10-hour layover in Houston! Why Houston, you ask? Because I didn’t have enough points for a direct flight, and I couldn’t afford to pay the difference. 😅

What did we do in Houston, you ask? Well, we rented a car and drove through Rice University (Go Owls! 🦉). It’s a small campus, but it’s cute. We also spotted a building named after Glenn Youngkin, the newly elected governor of Virginia. That’s when I realized he attended Rice. I later learned he also played basketball here. Interesting. He did not strike me as a former athlete.

After Rice, we had brunch at The Breakfast Klub, a renowned Southern restaurant, and for good reason. They served amazing fried catfish and grits!

After a filling first meal, we visited the Houston Museum of Natural Science. They had a fun Texas wildlife exhibit with numerous taxidermy animals. My favorite was the alligator gripping a boar’s head in its jaws (second photo in this section).

What tickled us the most, however, was stumbling across Little Saigon. Who would have ever thought there would be an Asian neighborhood in Houston? Certainly not us. So, we celebrated this discovery with milk tea. 🧋

After struggling through a packed day of travel, we hopped onto our second (and final) leg of our flight to Oaxaca! 🇲🇽 Upon landing, we checked into our hotel and explored the nearby bars, restaurants, and landmarks. 😍 More adventures to come!