SFO ahoy !

interesting place to visit... this city... the odd people.. the even odder weather... odd but an interesting place to visit nonetheless... a few random takes on the hippy-est city of em all...

the locals..

A few minutes after getting lost and hardly a few hours after landing in SFO, the potato and I were dumbstruck by what was undoubtedly the oddest behavior we've seen in a loooooong time... we were staring blankly at a map of downtown san francisco when a bus that was merrily on its way pulled up abruptly right next to us... the driver swings open the door.. sticks her head out and hollers...

"where do you guys want to go?" ....

"errmmm.. we were just.. ermm.. trying to get to the embarcadero.."...

"oh that easy... take this bus to street x, then cross the street, walk a block in that direction, take the second bus from there, get off 5 stops later..."

me and the potato just stood there dumbfounded nodding away in the hope of hiding our gross incompetence when it came to following directions.... a good two minutes later the bus pulls away with us just as confused about how to get where we wanted to go... what was odd about the whole conversation that just happened was that how somebody would go out of their way to give directions to people who were unlikely to find a way south if they were actually lost in the north pole... we sure as hell weren't in new york anymore...

and it turns out this wasn't an isolated incident, either... a good half hour later, after finally getting on the bus that we needed to take, we're surrounded by people explaining to us the places to see in the city and how to get there... the ceremony of the nodding-of-the-heads-of-the-directionally-challenged continued unabated....



the weather..


sunny california... sunny california... one thing that i did learn from this trip is to never rely on cliches when packing for a trip... with the temperatures in the low 40s when new york itself was touching the upper 80s, the odd locals weren't the last of our surprises... i actually ended up having to buy a fleece hoodie to walk about the city.. the thick fog over most of the city wasn't helping either...it sure as hell ruined any chances of getting a decent shot of the bridge...



the sights n' sounds..

as a city, san francisco was very different from new york... the steep inclined streets, the pier with its street side stalls, the trams that criss-crossed through the streets, the streets themselves as oddly twisted as could be.... there was an almost hippy feel to the whole city.. i half expected to hear "dham maaro dham...mitt jaaye gham.." resonating through the streets as we wandered aimlessly... of course, now we had a GPS unit in our hands... made it much easier for us to get lost much faster... ahh... the wonders of technology...

back outdoors again..

felt great to be outdoor once again after a huge gap... just wanted to publish something on the blog so that no body thinks i've vanished off the face of the earth... (methinks me hears a steady chorus of "if only..") :D

(above) the view near mirror lake in yosemite (yo-se-mi-tee) national park in California...

(below) a winding path through Muir woods...



more random pics here...

Viva Las Vegas !!

Before you start reading this post, I just want to go on record to say that I don't have a gambling problem... I really honestly do not...So what if I like the clinking sound when the coins start cascading down a slot machine.. or if I feel like getting on the table and doing the macarena every time I get the winning number playing roulette.. or if.. (well you get the idea..)

Welcome to Vegas..

The first time you visit Vegas the thing that really hits you is how much money is actually flowing through those casinos... you can see people all around throwing away enough money to pay off the debts for most small developing nations... well... if you can't beat 'em, join em...

date with lady luck

lets face it... there's no point being in vegas if you don't know squat about gambling.. thats kinda like sending homer simpson to work at nasa.. but with the tremendous odds stacked against you winning anything, there's no doing anything on the casino floor without lady luck on your side... something that the author and his slightly misguided friend from Mass. found out first hand... thank heavens for the "what happens in vegas, stays in vegas" tag line...

but if you're fortunate enough to get your groove on in vegas, there's no turning back.. if you're willing to throw around some greenbacks(cuppla hundred grand or a mil or two, that is) your practically royalty out there... i guess more often than not most people just show up in vegas, just hoping to join that club... and more often than not these people take the bus back home... ah well.. there's no beating the house, is there?

gluttons inc.

one stop that needs to be made by every foodie in vegas is the world carnival buffet at the Rio Casino and hotel... 300 items on the menu (yes, thats right -- THREE HUNDRED) in this daily lunch buffet... i'd died and gone to glutton heaven.. for those to whom the magnitude of the challenge, that lay in wait for us that day, isn't immediately apparent, i ask but one question... have you ever thought of a scientifically acceptable way to make the best out of such a buffet without having to regurgitate every 20 minutes? well, i did... is it better to go cuisine by cuisine, so as not to mix up lasagna with salmon sushi or lobster meat in garlic sauce with roast beef? or should one go with time tested favorites alone, leaving behind oodles of food never tried before? or with unheard of preparations at the risk of spending an eternity in the restroom? and what about dessert? how on earth does one pick what one wants from tables with over a gazillion choices? well... it was a dilemma... and it was no easy task.... but we, the brave souls at gluttons inc. forged ahead and an hour & a half later, gravity seemed like our biggest adversary.... ooof.... cant wait to do that again :)

the best free show on earth..

i guess no post about vegas is complete without one mention of the bellagio fountains... proof that there is hope for the rest of us... and there are things that you can do without having to sell your house and half your relatives.... the fountains outside the bellagio casino... truly amazing stuff... a must-see if ever there was one...

a "grand" adventure

Alright... I'll admit it... I'm a cynic... and believe you me, no ordinary cynic at that.... I can scoff at most any thing without the slightest twitch... the word pucham should pop into the minds of people who're familiar with the term... i'm not entirely sure how i got to be this way, but i'm pretty darn sure its not something that's happened overnight... ah, well...

the problem with being a cynical traveler is that you expect a lot from the places you visit and more often that not, the places turn out to be a disappointment... it was in this exceptionally cynical frame of mind that i headed out to the west coast this thanksgiving, and i must admit that I was more than awed by what was out there.... a few snippets from the trip there.....

daybreak

I'm not sure who exactly came up with the idea that we should be up in time to catch the sunrise at the grand canyon... i'm even more unsure as to who thought we could actually pull it off... needless to say, the sun did rise a wee bit (say a few hours) earlier than we actually got there... but still we did put in some effort in trying to get there on time... and the view of the sunrise en route wasn't all that bad either...


the grand canyon

When it comes to imagining what the grand canyon looks like, the first thing that you'll have trouble envisioning is the sheer size of the place... it is big... You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is... (sounds familiar... i wonder why.. hehe..)



Seriously, though, the place really is huge and pretty awe inspiring as well... Even the cynical minds of me and my cohorts could not continue on about instant conspiracy theories about how everything there was the work of aliens and/or secret government agencies for little more than a minute...

the grand canyon national park is one great place to be if you are interested in outdoor activities.. hiking, camping - can't imagine a better place to do all that... our three hour hike on the south kaibab trail (though an unpleasant reminder of how badly out of shape i am) was truly awesome... the steep narrow path to the floor of the canyon present some pretty breath taking views of the canyon...


i could harp on and on about the place but i'm pretty sure the cynic in you will possibly have started with the sarcasm by around this time... so i'll leave it at this... a day well spent, well worth the effort...

half a cup of metal...

A snap (taken on my cell phone) from the iron maiden concert in camden , nj, a couple of weeks ago... most of the songs played were from their latest album, apparently the first maiden album to ever reach the top 10 in the US... unfortunately, not all of us had heard that yet and we were much happier when they started playing older much better known songs... for those who appreciate good metal, know this - it sounds a whole lot more powerful in a packed auditorium... gave me a well deserved and long overdue jolt from the pits of the caffeine deprivation that I have been subjecting myself to over the past month...

(Link: Much better snaps of the iron maiden tour (from their concert in Toronto) posted at Sam J's [daily dose of imagery]...)

out of this world !

One of the most interesting blogs that I've come across in recent times... mainly cos of the novel nature of the the content and of course the unique location from where the blog is getting posted...outer space !!... chk out Anousheh Ansari's blog... (in case you haven't heard the name before, she's - as her webpage describes her - Earth's "First Female Private Space Explorer & Space Ambassador")

An excerpt from the blog

You have probably heard the expression “watching the world go by.” I guess it is usually used in the context of just passing time, relaxing, and not doing anything… just observing… Sort of a state of inaction…

For Astronauts this expression has a new meaning…

Have fun Anousheh... Sounds like the adventure of a lifetime.... Now if only I could find a cuppla spare millions lying around in my bank account.. :D



(Photo: bluedharma. Used with gratitude, under the CC attribution license)

game.. set.. match !

One infant grows up and becomes a jockey,
Another plays basketball or hockey,
This one the prize ring hates to enter
That one becomes a tackle or center,

I am just glad as glad can be
That I am not them, that they are not me.

from "Confessions of a born spectator"
Ogden Nash

Different kind of game, i agree... but couldn't help but remember this poem we studied in school... (ain't it funny how disjoint the few things that we actually remember being taught in school are from the professions we've taken up today)...

anyways... here's another snap from the Federer-Blake quarter final from this year's US Open...This is the first time that I've actually attended a live sports event.. (i'm sure the ppl who know me well enough are surprised for sure.. well...times change, i guess) ... and i have to say this really is a whole lot different seeing it on screen... the euphoria at the arthur ashe stadium was overwhelming... the crowd's pro-American / pro-underdog support was no match for the performance of the champion as he glided effortlessly across the court... kudos to u, roger... all the best for the semis today...