Home Sweet Home

AMOS - The little lion king, patiently waiting for us to come home

I'm blogging this post from home. We arrived safely noon today after been away for almost two months. The flight home was long, with the added leg from Hawaii. We spent a total of about 30 hours in the air and at airports. We are glad to be home. I'm signing off for now and wishing the next blog to be something like NEW YORK, NEW YORK.
Goodbye!!

Aloha Hawaii

Sunset at Waikiki Beach. A breathtaking sight
Dinner with friends at the Outrigger

At the Arizona Memorial

At Hickam Air Force Base. A view of the Officers Club. Hickam took a brunt of the Pearl Harbour attack and have plenty of remnants left, especially bullets holes at the Hq

The last part of our holiday was to Hawaii. We were here for two nights and the first night was actually spent at the famous Waikiki beach. We watched the sunset while having our dinner at the Outrigger Hotel restaurant. It was indeed a beautiful sight as the sun set and day turn to night. There were a large crowd at the beach and many more were in the water, some are surfing and others are playing in the shallow water.
The next day, I had the opportunity to play golf in the morning and right after lunch we visited the Arizona memorial. It was very touching to be at the memorial and to know actually a total of 1177 sailors perished during the attack on the battle ship. We were brought to the platform and saw the remnants of the ship underwater with part of the gun turret sticking out. We also observe traces of fuel from the sunken ship still visible on the surface. Apparently, the fuel has been sipping all these years as Arizona was fully fuelled when she was attack.

South to San Diego

Torrey Pines Golf Course at La Jolla. the home of 2008 US Open

The Aviation Museum. One of the many museums at Balboa Park, the home of famous San Diego Zoo. The aircraft at the front is the early copy of SR 71 spy plane

The USS Midway became a museum piece

Spanish Architecture. One of the many buildings in San Diego showing the Spanish influence

At the wharf. A nice place to relax and admire the beautiful harbour

We had an opportunity to make a visit to San Diego, the southernmost city of California. We took a rental from Los Angeles and with the GPS, driving there was a breeze. It took us almost 2.5 hours as the traffic was quite busy. But down here, if you have more than two passengers, you will get to ride on a special lane. That was what we did. The GPS also took us onto a new toll highway along the pacific coast before we join the San Diego highway. We checked into a hotel not far from the famous Sea World. We had a nice sea food lunch down at the wharf. The place definitely has a good business as the place is rather crowded. Well, the food is excellent and the ambiance is fantastic. The wall is pasted with old photographs of fishermen making big catches.

On the way back to LA, we make a detour (thanks to the GPS) to La Jolla (pronounced La Hoya) beach. The weather and the surf is just nice for the crowd to enjoy the water. Further up, we visited the famous Torrey Pines Golf Course, the home of 2008 US Open. We make a stop at the pro shop to buy some golf souvenirs. It was indeed a fun outing. We got back to the hotel in LA at about 8 pm after braving the heavy traffic.

Beverly Hills and Santa Monica

Santa Monica. The beach is made famous for the setting of the popular TV Series "Baywatch". The road fronting the beach is the Pacific Coast Highway, the same highway that goes all the way to Monterey.
Beverly Hills

Having coffee at Cafe 208. In the background is the Wilshire Hotel

The familiar sight of Beverly Hills. However this one is unique as it is bright yellow.

Beverly Hills is a city in the western part of LA. We had the opportunity to drive through the city, the playground of rich and famous. We passed through Rodeo Drive, Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard. Rows and rows of up market stores line up the streets which are dotted by many palm trees. Many tourists flocked to this area not only to browse the stores but to soak up the atmosphere of just being in Beverly Hills. Some are hopefuls to meet the celebrities and quite a number of them are just happy to snap pictures with the many exotic cars as the background. We stopped for cup of coffee and cheese cake at Cafe Rodeo 208. This cafe is on the Via Rodeo Drive, just above the "Spanish steps". This cafe also overlooks Beverly Wilshire Hotel, made famous by Julia Roberts in the movie "Pretty Women". We waited for a while to catch a glimpse of Will Smith, Eddie Murphy and Julia Roberts; but there were probably away at the movie sets.

In the afternoon, we proceeded to Santa Monica, about an hour drive from Beverly Hills. It was crowded with tourists and visitors and the air of festivity is always there. The street is jam packed with visitors strolling to the famous beach. There are also many street performers.

Pedicabs

Siapa sangka akan berjumpa dengan beca di California. Kami berjumpa dengan beca di bandar San Diego, bandar yang paling selatan dan berhampran dengan Mexico. Disini beca ini atau dipanggil "pedicab" (dari perkatan pedal cabs) adalah amat popular untuk membawa bukan sahaja pengunjung tetapi penduduk tempatan. Melihat beca ini, kami terus teringat Kota Bharu. Cuma yang berbeza adalah disini beca dikayuh oleh anak-anak muda lelaki maupun perempuan, lain yang di Kota Bharu yang dikayuh oleh Pak Cik.

Hollywood and Universal Studios

In LA, we had a chance to visit the famous Universal Studios. It was one of the most enjoyable visits that we had made during our holidays in the US. We were there for almost the entire day as we were mesmerised by the number of shows and exhibitions on the set. The high point was the tram ride round the estate that took us almost an hour. We were also awed by the quality of the rides as we embarked on three of them. They were the Jurassic Park, The Simpsons and The Mummy. We also shopped at the many stores available in the compound. Towards the end of the visit, we had a chance to be entertained by a cast at the set of "Waterworld". The play was magnificent as there were plenty of pyrotechnics and water splashing. Quite a number of the audience, including ourselves, were splashed. It was all fun.

Kong about to grab a pedestrian

One of our favourite store, "The Simpsons"

At the iconic globe of Universal Studios

On the red carpet, at the entrance

With Shrek and Fiona

At the set of "Fast and Furious"

At the set of "Jaws". The menacing predator can be seen swimming towards the crowd. The beach and sea setting for the movie "Jaws" was filmed here. As a matter of fact, this set was the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Ocean to Universal Studios

One of the houses of "Desperate Housewives"

The set for "War of the Worlds". Real aircraft and cars were used for this scene. This is a movie that I thoroughly enjoyed

With "Homer". He was not too happy when I punched his big tummy and his big arse. Duh.........

At the set of "Waterworld". The audience were seated in a stadium like setting with the cast acting a scene choreographed after the movie "Waterworld". Many of the audience were happy to be splashed by the water scooters and water jet blasters. Very impressive show, with lots of pyrotechnics and stunts

Down at Hollywood Boulevard. Crowding around the "star" of Michael Jackson, in front of the Chinese Theater.

Hoover Dam

On the way from Las Vegas to Grand Canyon, we came across the famous Hoover Dam. The dam was actually constructed in 1935 and now become a tourist site. Currently a highway is being constructed, cutting the mountain high above the dam. A long bridge is also being constructed to connect the highway. We saw the bridge construction, and it was a awesome sight to see the end of the bridge being wedge against the side of the cliff. The working gondola and crane is being suspended high in the air with cables running between two steel towers. An engineering marvel indeed. Unfortunately or fortunately we did no see Megatron here!!!

The highway and bridge being constructed. Have a look at the end of the bridge edged aginst the side of the cliff

The Hoover Dam

Lake Mead, where the water is channel to the dam

Grand Canyon

The above picture is of a "peninsula" that juts out into the canyon. From here you van have a 360 degrees million dollar view of the canyon. For that you have to track 10 minutes to the top. We did not try that venture as it looks really dangerous. With no guard rails, a mere slip or mishap will see you one mile down the canyon. A sure way to say goodbye world.....

The very grand "Grand Canyon". A powerful and inspiring landscape with about 1.5 km in depth. The awesome canyon is really breathtaking. We approach the canyon from the west, about 2 hours drive from Las Vegas. The point we visited is famous with its newly constructed "sky walk", a jaw dropping construction jutting out from the edge of the canyon. We walked onto the glass surface, staring a mile below. Very scary indeed.

A view from the edge of the canyon. Nothing closed than this. There is no barrier or guard rails here and not for the faint hearted. The drop below is 1 mile. No recovery.....

The sky walk in the background

Las Vegas

At Luxor Hotel
The "strip" at night

We flew to Los Angeles and after a brief stop over we flew to Las Vegas, the entertainment capital. True to what we have seen on TV, this city that was built out of a desert was very popular with the tourists. There airport, which is right in the middle of the city, was very crowded and upon embarking from the aeroplane, we were faced with countless numbers of slot machines. There are so many hotels here and all of them has their own gambling area and plenty, plenty of slot machines. We checked into Luxor Hotel, that looked like a pyramid with an ambiance of ancient Egypt.

Rodeo

Our last weekend in Monterey were spent at the Salinas Rodeo festival. It was a rare opportunity for us to be able to see the famous western pass time of rodeo. We there in the morning and did not have time to see all the event. It was all fun also to be able to soak up to the atmosphere and to browse around for some cowboy gadgets. Manage to buy a cowboy hat.

An event called "roping". It's like cattle rustling whereby a calf will shoot out of the pan at top speed and two cowboys will chase it with lasso and ropes. One cowboy will attempt to lasso the calf and the other will attempt to get the hind legs. The event will be timed and the fastest to bring down the calf will win. Average timing about 10 seconds. An interesting event. Another event that we saw was "barrelling". An event for the cowgirls. The rider will ride slalom around several barrels and the fastest will be declared winner.

cowboys lining up before the event

Goodbye, Monterey

Today I say goodbye to Monterey, my home for the last 30 days. Befitting the farewell, my last posting from here is about the school iconic peacock This is a picture of one of the peacocks, a long time residence of NPS. Generations of this iconic peacock has been living in this school and has become synonymous with it.
Goodbye!!

Graduation

Finally the auspicious graduation is here. Today we graduated and inducted to be the citizens of "Drmacia". All 44 of us from 28 nations were there to receive our scroll from the President of the School. It was indeed a proud moment for all of us and also those spouses that were present. We are all looking forward to proceed home and some of my colleagues departed immediately after the ceremony. As for me, I will stay here for a while longer and actually depart to Los Angeles this Sunday. Farewell to Monterey and hope to come back some other time in the future

SIDMC 09

This is a group photo of our course participants. Photo was taken on the stairs of the hotel as we awaited for the bus to take us for a weekend outing

Final Week

We're coming to the final week of our course in Monterey. The course is scheduled to finish on Friday the 17th. There will be a get-together dinner amongst the participants this Tuesday at one of the Lebanese restaurants downtown and also a cocktail dinner hosted by the President of the College. Looking forward to both these social evenings.

Panorama of San Francisco

USS Hornet - the museum

Lion Seals basking at the wharf. The purpose built platform are built for the seals that migrated from another area about 20 miles away a few days before the earthquake of 1989. The wharf area also provides a protection from their natural enemy, the sharks. The sharks never ventured into this area the as the salinity of the water is not suitable.

Crabs anyone?

In one of the many outlets at Pier 39

'The Rock' - made famous by a movie of the same name

The Golden Gate Bridge shrouded with early morning fog

King Tut comes to town

Haight Street - One of the streets of San Francisco. This street is famous for its bizarre shops and tattoo parlours

The 'six sisters' over at Postcard Row. This Victorian type of houses in the up market part of the city is featured with the city skyline in the background.

With 'Eric Estrada' of California Highway Patrol (CHiP). Actually he is my Pakistani colleague. Don't you think he looks like Eric Estrada of the CHiP fame?

The Cable Car - Very popular amongst the tourists. This transportation has been featured in so many movies

Riding the Cable Car