Tokyo 1-Ginza, New Year's Eve at Zojoji Temple

My red eye flight arrived at Narita Airport slightly ahead of schedule. From the airport, I took the hotel limo to Shiba Park Hotel.


After checking in, I took a quick nap, then it was off to my first tourists destination: Ginza. Ginza is the high end shopping district of Tokyo and while I am not a shopper, I wanted to experience the glamorous Japan for myself.

My first stop was Matsuya. According to my guide book, besides the usual fashion products, this department store also had art galleries on it top floor.

I quickly browsed through the men's fashion here, but quickly found prices to be outside my budget. Making my way to the top, my attention was immediately drawn to a calligraphy exhibition. Guessing from the name, a few calligraphy schools were showing its students' art work.

I was amazed by the works. Near the entrance were seal script and standard script pieces. The words were written well, with lots of balance and proper spacing. I was impressed! There were also several pieces with more modern format, where seal scripts words were artfully clustered to form a graphic. My favorite piece was a standard script piece called "虎啸风起 龙腾云起". I inquired about the price and found it to be 10 times more than what I was willing to pay for...

There were also really creative housewares, beautiful watercolors and ceramics on display. There was an exhibit for chopsticks and bowls, which were very refined, but to this untrained eyes, not very exciting.

After browsing through the art exhibits, I was feeling a little hungry. I went to the basement food court for a quick bite. However, I quickly realized the basement was for selling food products for home consumption rather than a place to eat. There were no chairs or places to sit down.

Being a foodie, I enjoyed browsing through the different miso and pickled vegetables. There was a high end butchery place with beautiful cured meats and a cheese stall which I went back repeatedly for free samples. Finally, my hunger got the better of me and I bought several items from the bakery. The bakery had taken food presentation to a very high level! The bread were beautifully glazed and looked really appetizing. Unfortunately, the taste was somewhat of a let down. It wasn't bad, but not as tasty as it looked.

My next stop was Ito-Ya, a 100 year old stationery store. The store occupied 9 levels, selling everything from different types of paper, pens, pencils, note books, calendar and greeting cards. Some products were common, but there were also really unique items like beautiful artisan wrapping papers and designer Frank Lloyld Wright pens which I had never seen before. Given it was New Year's Eve, I bought several New Year Day card, for use during the next Chinese New Year.

The Japanese used to follow the Lunar calendar and celebrate their New Year the same time as the Chinese. Following the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese celebrate New Year on January 1st. I knew of this, but forgot about it when booking air tickets for this trip. The implication for the trip was, while the bigger stores like Matsuya were opened, many of the smaller stores were closed. Luckily, I am not into shopping:)

After the break, I walked to Mitsukoshi. Again, another department store. Slightly larger in terms of foot print to Matsuya, but with very similar merchandise and prices. I was, however, intrigued by the Shinto shrine located on the top floor.

As I went to the top floor, I noticed there were no signage pointing to the shrine. I was able to find a flight of stairs leading to the roof, but when I walked up those stairs, I saw the roof being used as a storage area with a security guard standing outside the door.

Confused, I went down to the top floor and ask one of the cute sales lady where the shrine was. With a lot of pointing to my guide book, she finally understood where I was tring to go. She took me up the same stairs, said a few word in Japanese to the security and led me to a corner on the roof. There was a stone statue, a small store and a hand wash area... everything a proper shrine needed were there!

My guide book suggested visiting several art galleries and the Nissan show room, but unfortunately these locations were closed for New Year's Eve. I also realized finding a location using its address was crazy difficult in Tokyo! An address would read 6-10-10 Ginza, Chuo-ku. The first number referred to the chrome or side street, the second number referred to the block, which may not be in continuous order and the third number referred to the actual number on the block. Even Japanese had difficulty finding their way around, and I saw them crowding, along with me, at the police post asking for directions.

As I was just walking along, I saw an Abercrombie & Fitch store. Given this was a familiar brand, I had no intention of shopping there at all. But my interest was piqued by the bouncers outside the store, waving people along and the long line of people waiting to enter the store. What made this A&F so special?

The wait to enter the store was about 10mins. Upon entering, I understood why entering the store was like going to a club. The store was dark, with loud music playing in the background. On the ground floor, a hunky, half naked male model with low riding, brief showing jeans was posting for photos with eager female shoppers! As I went up the stairs, I noticed the attendants were dressed in casual Abercrombie & Fitch clothing, instead of the more formal uniforms favored by Japanese department stores. These attendants were very young. Most of them were very cute and some were dancing to the music while working! The whole place felt like a club more than a retail store and it showed.

After walking up and down all 12 floors of A&F, I went along the back street to Sony Building. This building housed a Sony show room, where one could try the latest and greatest Sony products.

One product heavily promoted was 3D television. I was led into a room and handed a pair of 3D glasses. The TV was showing a documentary on polar bears. The clarity and experience was amazing. When an under water camera shot of the polar bear plunging into the water was shown, I swear one could reach out and touch each bubble floating to the water's surface. The glasses made the pictures look darker, which was the only drawback.

I also saw various music player, basically Sony's answer to iPod, noise cancelling head phones, computers with touch screen functionality and various types of cell phones. Since I don't usually paid much attention to electronics, I was unsure what was new and innovative.

My final stop at Ginza was Kabukiza Theater. I had hoped to catch a few acts of a show, but the theater was closed for New Year's Eve. There was some preparation of a float for New Year and TV crews were there, setting up for the evening's broadcast. With more and more shops closing around me, I decided it was a good time to go back to my hotel.


About.com recommended visiting Zojoji Temple's New Year's Eve count down party. Since the temple was a stone's throw from my hotel, I had planned to check it out.

I reached the temple at about 7:30pm. Hungry after much walking, I immediately started checking out the food stalls. The takoyaki looked especially appetizing. Here batter was poured in a semi spherical mold. When slightly cooked, boiled octopus, pickled ginger and green onions were added to the center of the batter. Then the batter was turned using 2 long needles and more batter were added to form a ball shape dough. The takoyaki was served in a small box, topped with dried bonito flakes and drizzled with Japanese mayo. Delicious!

After dinner, I walked around the temple ground a little. I visited the main chamber, took pictures of the temple with Tokyo tower in the background and looked at the various charms on sale. I was basically killing time, waiting for 8:30pm.

Before the trip, YC found out from his friend the evening's events. The temple staff start handing out wishing cards at 8:30pm. People would write their New Year wishes on the card. With this wishing card, I could get a balloon at 10:30pm. The wishing cards were to be attached to the balloons, which would be released at midnight.

After collecting my wishing card, I decided there was still a lot of time to wait. I was feeling cold and sleepy, so I went back to the hotel for a quick snooze.

I woke up at 10pm. As I was putting on my glasses, I accidentally broke the frame! Looking at the damage, I decided there was no way for me to fix it, and I did not bring my back up glasses with me. I had worn glasses since I was 10 and have never gone extended period of time without any vision correction, so the next few days would be interesting...to say the least. I had complained 2009 was a bad year, and indeed I had a terrible farewell gift:(

I took a quick shower, added an additional layer before heading back to Zojoji temple. There was a long line to collect balloons, but people were moving orderly and quickly.

Everyone then gathered in the yard, waiting for midnight. Apparently, this tradition is quite famous and many people come to the temple just to partake in this event. I could hear several different languages been spoken amongst the crowd.

As 2009 draws to a close, the crowd got more antsy. An electronic billboard started ticking when there was less than 60 seconds left in 2009. Everyone stood up, and I noticed lights on Tokyo Tower were turned off. As the seconds started ticking off, there was an excitement in the air.

Then the countdown: 10, 9, 8,... I didn't understand a word of Japanese, but it did not matter...3, 2, 1, Happy New Year! Everyone let go of their balloons and what a sight! The sky was suddenly covered with balloons and in less than a minute, it was clear again!

I found this video clip on Youtube of this event.


Lights on Tokyo Tower were turned on once more, with the letters 2010 showing. As I stood in the crowd, wondering what to do next, I felt a surge of people pushing me from behind. Of course! New Year prayers in the main chamber!

I was pushed up the stairs into the main chamber. The police's crowd control was amazing. A taped was used to stop people from advancing when the people in front of us were not cleared. Despite the anxiety to reach the main chamber, people were moving in an orderly fashion.

I got into the main chamber, saw people throwing money into a alter in front of the Buddha statue and decided to do the same. Then it's out of the side chamber door and into the temple ground once more.

I read it was good luck eating soba in the New Year and given I was slightly hungry, decided to participate in that tradition:) Then I went to take pictures of the bell ring ceremony. I did not realize this earlier, but ordinary people were joined by the priests in ringing the bell. The bell was to be rung 108 times. I timed the period between each ringing (yes, I am an Engineer). The bells were ring about 5mins apart. So, there was no way I could stay for the entire 108 ringings and still get some sleep.

It was about 1am when I got back to the hotel. I had missed the hotel's New Year reception, so this would be an alcohol-free New Year celebration for me.

Trip to Singapore 7-CK

CK is one of my closest childhood friend. We met each other in Primary school and were in the same class for 6 years. As luck would have it, we were again in the same class through 4 years of Secondary school. We went to the same junior college, and despite being in different group, continue to hang out together.

I always considered CK the smartest person I know. Right out of college, he found his own company, which was bought out by a listed company. He is now back in his own company, working on new project.

We lost touch in the past few years and I am happy to find out he is now married and has a beautiful daughter.
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This Singapore trip had been very interesting. I met with many of my friends, most of which were about my age. I had a sense we are all near the mid-life crisis age now. Most of my friends are quite successful in career and family, but now are looking into doing something more in this life. I guess in some way, I had similar feelings too.

Trip to Singapore 6-EY

EY is a friend I know from college. He was in school on a military scholarship, so even though he is only a year older than me, he had been in college for a few years when I started. Given this head start, we did not get very close in school, but he was always a good advisor to us newbies.

A few years ago, EY came back to the US for more schooling. Since his school was located near the Bay area, so got to do more things together and got to know him better.

We had a good chat about relationships, career and financial planning. EY had managerial responsibilities in the military and gave me a lot of good insights.

Trip to Singapore 5-Via Ferrata, Stella

A few months ago, I read on ZaoBao.com about Orchard Central latest attraction: The world's tallest indoor via ferrata.

I had done some indoor rock climbing in the past and rather enjoyed the experience. Via ferrata is not rock climbing, but is similar in the sense one has to climb up a wall:) I figured I would enjoy it too.

Also, according to my online research, via ferrata is fairly popular in Europe. I personally didn't think it would be popular in California. Californians would frown upon allowing anyone to drill permanent metal rungs into rocks for any reason. Doing it to promote touring would be unimaginable.

I reached Orchard Central at about 3pm. Took me a while to find BorderX, the company running the Via Ferrata. It was located on the 4th floor. We were to climb up to the 8th floor.

I was given a climbing harness and helmet to wear. Instead of being belayed by someone on the ground, there was a Y shaped rope attached to the harness. At the end of each rope was a carabiner. This is to be hooked on a metal cable running near the metal rungs. The cable were held to the wall via anchors drilled into the wall. If a person fall during climbing, the carabiner would be caught by the anchors. The Y shaped rope ensured at least one carabiner would always be clipped in, especially when moving carabiner from one stretch of the cable to a higher section.

A second protection was a long rope tying me and my guide together. The lead climber would secure the rope in pig tail shaped anchor drilled into the wall and I was to release them when I climbed to the appropriate height.

Finally, a quick draw with carabiner at the end was connect to the harness. This is for resting. I could connect a carabiner directly on the metal rungs, leaned back and rest while climbing.

Since this was my first trip, the guide, Zaki, was the lead climber and I followed. I had expected the climb to be a walk in the park, but it was actually quite tiring. While the hand hold and foot hold were really good compare to rock climbing, there was still some exertion. Also, the metal rungs were not always in a straight line. Sometimes, it bended according to the wall and part of the metal rungs had to be climbed with out leg hold. On the lower section of the wall, leg holds were mounted to the wall, but on high section of the wall, I had to press off directly on the wall. There were also overhang structure to make the route more interesting.

Zaki was very patient and encouraging as I started climbing. There was a lot more for the climber to do compare to rock climbing. Clipping carabiners to the next section of the protection cable, releasing rope from the pig tail pin. Sometimes I would forget and found myself tied down:(

During the climb, I learned that Zaki is actually a competition rock climber. This is his full time job, leading climbs at BorderX. Due to work, he had not have time to train, but going up the Via Ferrata was a piece of cake for him. He usually take 4-10 people as a group up on each climb. But, during the holiday season, things were slower and I was the only client.

We stopped on a ledge to catch our breath, then pushed on. At the top of the climb was a small room to rest before climbing down a straight ladder into the shopping mall.

My first climb took about 20mins. According to Zaki, he had clients taken anywhere from 10mins to 1hr 20mins on this climb. I asked if anyone had fell from the Via Ferrata and he told me it had happened. It was usually a rather traumatic experience. Compared to rock climbing with belay, a fall on via ferrata would not be caught until the anchor point. The distance between the anchor point was usually half a person's height, but at certain places was up to a person height. No wonder Zaki was advising me to clipped on the the next higher anchor point as soon as possible.

I half joking told Zaki I did not get my money's worth on one 20min climb. He told me I paid for an hour and could go again! This time, he put me on the right hand route, which was a more straight route but had more difficult overhang structure. There was also no resting ledge in the middle of the route.

I asked to be the lead climber and Zaki oblidged. The initial part of the climb was fairly easy and I got up quickly. At the overhang structure, I cheated and used the quick draw to rest between each rung. I did not check the time, but felt I made good time.

After my second climb, I was drenched. Zaki told me the air conditioning did not have good flow near the wall, but I suspected my physical conditioning was not quite up to par too. I decided to call it a day.

Overall, via ferrata was quite fun. It was a pity the BorderX facility had limited number of route. While easier than rock climbing, via ferrata was still quite physically demanding. I liked the fact I could loop my elbow over the metal rungs to "lock" myself to the metal rungs while climbing. This provided much stronger hand hold using a stronger muscle compare to hand hold in rock climbing.

More pics from my Via Ferrata climb here.
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That night, I met for dinner with Stella at Newton Circle Food Center for fried Hokkien noodles. Most Singaporean/Malaysian restaurant in the Bay area are operated by Malaysian, which prepare a different style of Hokkien noodle. This is one dish I craved for the most when I return to Singapore.

I got to know Stella while she was working in the Bay area. She had left San Francisco for Melbourne, Australia in 2007, but for family reasons, moved back to Singapore in 2008.

We talked about how life style was different in Singapore compared to San Francisco and even Melbourne. There were a lot more things to do and places to visit. Comparatively, activities in Singapore were more limited. Part of her wanted to move to a more "westernize" society, but part of her was glad she was home with families.

We chatted about her recent travels to African Safari, and her travel plans for the new year. It was a good time.

Trip to Singapore 4-T

This morning, I met T for breakfast. T is another friend I knew from Army. I had wanted to arrange meeting with him and Yong together, knowing the two of them do not get together unless I am around, but T had prior arrangement.

We had breakfast at Marine Parade hawker center. T is a sales manager in a telecommunication company. His company recently brought in a new CEO from CISCO and along with that a whole bunch of new VP from CISCO. Along with that, the company recently acquired another company, but in the Asia office, it was the acquired company's GM who is now running the show. T is frustrated with the culture change and is looking into starting a second career, possibily something internet related.

Trip to Singapore 3-Driving range with YC and Family dinner

This morning, YC took me and Yee-Chye to Marina Bay Golf Course driving range for a little workout.

Both YC and Yee-Chye are friends of my brother, from high school and Army respectively. YC is like a family friend and visits often, while I had not met Yee-Chye for about 10 years.

En route, I found out we would be going to the driving range instead of the course. Apparently, in order to play on the course, one had to pass an exam. Both Yee-Chye and myself had never played golf, so that's not going to happen:)

Yee-Chye and myself are southpaw, while YC is not. We were using YC's clubs, so we had to adapt and swing right handed. YC handed me a 7 iron, go through the basic swing mechanics and off we go!

I had trouble with locking my back on my swing and had lots of trouble just hitting the ball straight on. When I finally locked my back and got contact with the ball, I was hitting it too low. The ball did not travel far. The furthest I could manage was hit the ball about 50m.

After we had hit 20-30 balls, YC took out his driver and asked if we wanted to give it a shot. With the bigger sweet spot, the driver was easier to hit with. I was able to hit the ball about 100m, but had a nasty slice and the ball did not travel straight.

I had always thought golf was a fairly relaxed game. But after hitting almost 50 balls, combined with the hot and humid weather of Singapore, I was completely drenched.

YC took me and my parents to lunch at Tunk Lok Classic. We had a cold spinach appetizer. This dish was very similar to a Korean spinach salad which I often prepared, but used sesame paste to further heighten the flavor. We also ordered a Chinese BBQ pork with Chinese hot mustard as appetizer.

This was followed by scallop and abalone in soy sauce. Here, I tasted a nuttyness to the sauce, and suspect it was thicken with butter. There was a steamed bamboo clamp dish, and we finished with steamed fish with wood ear mushroom. The seafood were all very fresh, and there was very creative use of sauce.

For dinner, it was a family affair at my sister's house. My cousins, who are both working in China, happened to be vacationing in Singapore and joined us. My sister planned the menu and prepared bruschetta to start, "Westernized" salt-water duck and baked salmon with dill mustard sauce for the main course. She also made a orange chiffon cake with lemon curd and mixed berries for dessert. There was also a cheese platter and Australian/New Zeland wine for the after dinner conversations.

After dinner, I went with my cousin and his girl friend to Zouk. It was fairly dead. I guess by Boxing day, most people had enough of Christmas parties and had wanted to take a break.

Trip to Singapore 2-Yong and Danny

Today I met with Yong for lunch at Din Tai Fung (Junction 8) for fried rice, chicken soup and, of course, xiao long bao. Yong was my Army buddy. The last time we met, he was starting his own business. He is now a successful system integrator, running a company of 2, working mostly with Sun systems. While he also worked with Window machines, the decrease popularity in Sun hardware was having a big impact on his business. Yong is married but have no kids. He told me he was tired of his work and wanted to work on something else in a few years.

Dinner was with my primary school friend Danny. We literally know each other for most of our life. In fact, Danny had sort of become a family friend. He would visit my parents from time to time, even when I am not around.

Danny took me to Chin Lee restaurant for Teochew food. We had coffee pork ribs, chicken pan cake with plum sauce, fried prawn roll, stir fried Chinese broccoli with mushroom, tofu with minced meat sauce and, the all popular Teochew dessert, orh nee (yam pudding). I am actually part Teochew. While I ate Teochew food infrequently growing up, some of the ingredients, like plum sauce, was often used in our daily meals. I had not found many Teochew restaurants in the Bay area and enjoyed the meal very much!

Danny is a support specialist at SIM University. He is married and has a really cute daughter.

Trip to Singapore 1- X'mas Eve Dinner

On most trips to Singapore, I usually par take in local cuisine. After all, that's the type of food I missed the most.

On this trip, being Christmas and all, I decided to do some fine dining (Singaporean tends to not celebrate Christmas as a family holiday). My dear sister did some research and sent me menu to White Rabbit, Prive, Il Lido and Flutes. From the menu, Prive's Christmas eve menu was most interesting and that's where we went...Joining me for dinner were my parents, my sister and niece.

Amuse Bouche

Prive offered a 7 course dinner menu. The dinner started with an amuse bouche: a cherry tomato stuffed with cream cheese, sprinkled with chopped pistachios, over a pesto base and some cracked red pepper. I guessed this was the chef's play on caprese salad. Given it was not summer, the tomato did not have the bright flavor to carry the dish. Still, it was a good concept and well executed dish.


Citrus-cured Tasmanian Ocean Trout, served chilled with Soy Dressing, Marinated Cucumver and Ikura


Compressed Watermelon Salad with Cherry Vine Tomatoes, Strawberries and Sangria Granite

For the second course, we had a choice of trout with soy or watermelon salad sangria granite. I opted for the trout. The menu describe the trout to be citrus cured, but I was unable to detect citrus flavor. The trout was served sashimi style, cubed and uncooked, with soy dressing. I liked sashimi and really enjoyed the texture and the sweetness of the fish. I had a little taste of the watermelon salad. The greens were tossed with kaffir lime leaves based oil, giving the greens a lot citrus feel without the acid.


Pan Seared Hokkaido Scallops with Ikura, Custard, Asparagus Ribbon and Beurre Blanc

The third course was scallop, pan seared and served topped with salmon roe. The kitchen showed its execution with a delicious beurre blanc sauce. The scallop was well cooked, with a hint of crust outside and tender inside. It was accompanied by a tempura tofu, wrapped with asparagus ribbon, showing a hint of Japanese influence in the chef's preparation.


Pan Seared Foie Gras with Caramelized Figs, Puff Pastry and Baby Spinach

The fourth course was pan seared foie gras. For health reasons, I seldom ordered foie gras, let alone pan seared foie gras. This dish was also well executed. The foie gras had great texture, with a touch of crispiness on the surface and a soft, melt in your mouth center. The foie gras was lightly salted and not greasy. It was served atop a puff pastery and fig jam. The puff pastery provided a good base to set off the flavor of the foie gras. I only wished the fig jam was a little more sweet to help cut through the fattiness of the foie gras.

The fifth course was the main course. We were given a choice of bracuida(fish), turkey or pigeon. I opted for the fish, while others chose the turkey and the pigeon.


Crispy Skin Barramundi with Caramelized Eschalot, Shimeji Mushroom, Broccolini and Sauce Bordelaise

The barramundi was a firm white fish. The skin side was seared until really crispy. It was served over a small soy sauce, broccolini and shimeji mushroom. The dish had an Asian flair to it. The flavor was well balance. It was a good but not great dish.


Slow-cooked Turkey Breast with Brown Butter, Pickled Vegetables and Glazed Cranberries

I also tried a little turkey. Here turkey breast was brined and probably roasted, then sliced into triangle. The turkey was not dry and had pretty good flavor. I did not try the accompanied vegetables.


French Young Pigeon: Roasted Breast and Leg of Pigeon with Sauteed Baby Carrots, Pocini Mushrooms and Taylor's Port Sauce

I had a tasted of the pigeon too. The meat was quite gamey, but very soft. The skin side was crispy and made for an interesting texture contrast.


Calvados Gelee with Granny Smith Foam

After the main course, we were served a gelee. It was an apple puree piped over pear gelatin. The dish was not too sweet and worked well as a palate cleanser.


White Chocolate Log with Griottine Cherries with White Chocolate Mousse and Cranberry Compote

The final course was dessert. The dessert was a log cake with graham cracker base and white chocolate mousse molded to looked like a traditional log cake. The log cake was garnished with a clear sugar disc, sprinkled with chocolate. The log cake was accompanied with cherry, tart cranberries and garnished with a chocolate straw. It was a good mix of sweet and sour on the plate.

After dessert, we were served tea and coffee with petit four. It was a sweet end to dinner.

The food was of high quality, but I though service level was poor, especially when the restaurant was promoted as a fine dining destination.

The servers were not knowledgeable about the dishes being served. When we were served the gelee, we asked what was in the dish. The wait staff was only able to repeat the name of the dish on the menu.

While we brought our own wine, my sister studied the wine menu just to see what they carried. The server show a hint of impatient while waiting on us.

Finally, and more seriously, I found a hair in my gelee and alerted the server. The dish was not replace, nor were any apology given.


Bridge

The restaurant is located in the marina in Keppel Bay. While the dinning room itself was curtained off, we took a stroll outside the dining room after dinner. The restaurant was located on a small island and we had to drive on a small bridge to get to the restaurant. The marina was being used as a dock and there were many boats in the harbor, which added to the atmosphere.

The food itself was very good. The chef show much creativity in the menu planning. There was good use of Chinese/Asian technique/ingredients to highlight seafood dishes. Overall there was interesting play of texture and good balance of flavor in the dishes.

The menu for the night can be found here. Given my preference for local food while in Singapore, I will probably not come again, but thought the food was prepare well enough, I am willing to give this place a chance to improve their service.

Trip to Singapore 0- 5 movies en route!

Somehow, I ended up not watching many movies. On this trans-pacific flight to Tokyo, I ended up catching up on several movies I had wanted to watch in 2009, instead of catching up on sleep:(

The movies were: Funny People, Up, Julie and Julia, Public Enemy and Hancock.

I saw the trailer for Funny People and had wanted to like the movie. But, at the end of the movie, I had mixed feelings. Putting a human face on a celebrity and showing how lonely he felt is not a new concept. But the Adam Sandler character was self-centered and not likable. There was no one I could root for in the movie.

I had seen many positive review for Up and I loved the movie. The story was well told, with plot twist and turns to keep things interesting. Some exaggeration and plots were unreal, but acceptable for an animation movie. Another Pixar classic!

As a foodie, the story of Julie and Julia appeals to me. I thought Meryl Streep's Julia was full of energy, but not to the point of being annoying as Julia Child sometimes was on TV. Amy Adam's Julie was insecure and vulnerable. While I like Julia more, Julie felt more real. The story itself was interestingly told.

After 3 movies, Public enemy felt like a blur. It used documentary style filming, which always made me a little confused. I thought the acting was great, but the story itself and the narrative was a little weak.

The last movie was Hancock. The concept of profiling a fallen hero was much discussed in the critic's review and I looked forward to see how it was being handled. But I was a little disappointed in the ending. Introducing a second super hero was an interesting plot twist, but, IMHO, spoiled the movie. The ending was predictable and not convincing.

I think I am all movied out for a while...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas music in the air,
Crazy mall traffic everywhere!
Yes my friends,
2009 is coming to an end!

New experiences in the year pasting:
Silicon debug and Lee Vining Canyon ice climbing;
Old activities that were fun rediscovering:
Swimming and white water rafting.

Dreams were brought to fruition:
Hiking Half Dome and Europe vacation;
Unfortunately there were also life's frustration:
Unachieved goals and failed relation.

2009 will end with a bang!
With a trip to Singapore and Japan.
Here's looking forward to the New Year,
Engaging in new endeavors with no fear!

Calligraphy class get together

As some of you know, I started practicing Chinese calligraphy at Tzu Chi foundation's Northern California chapter in late 2001. I had been attending classes regularly until early 2008. Over the years, many students had come and gone, but a few fellow students and our teacher became very close friends.

In March 2009, we had a gathering at K and DM's house. It was a really good time. Our group of friends had stopped attending class regularly and it had been more than a year since we last met each other.

We shared stories of LS mountain biking accident in Ireland, M's job in Southern California and her return to the Bay Area, K's co-worker's story, Phil's travel and poem and teacher R's part time gig as TV talk show host.

After 9 months, we had another gathering, again at K and DM's house. Phil came with his wife and M brought her daughter along. Since it was a work night, we could not stay as long, but enjoyed a scrumptious French dinner prepared by K and DM and lots of conversation.

K and DM would be moving to Southern California in May next year. LS just came back from a trip to Peru and wanted to go study Spanish in Guatemala. Phil's mom pass away a few months ago and he had been travelling between US and Taiwan taking care of business. Teacher R is now a full time TV host. M is preparing to launch her own skin care product.

In this holiday season, it was really nice catching up with old friends. I had a good time and wished for more similar gathering.

Broomball

I was having dinner with A, D and S at Sakoon when I checked the time. It was 9:20pm. I asked, "Guys, can we leave now? I have a broomball game at 10."

"What the hell is broomball?", A asked. He is from India and went to school in Arizona State. There was no chance he had heard of this game.

"It is basically ice hockey without skates." I replied. "I have never played it myself, so I don't know too much about it either."

When I was going to school in Michigan and Wisconsin, I had heard my friends talked about playing broomball. My understanding was broomball was ice hockey without equipment. The game was usually played on a slick, frozen backyard, with players wearing tennis shoes, running around hitting a tennis ball with a broom.

The Michigan Alumni Association of Silicon Valley organized a broomball game for 10pm on Saturday night at the Cupertino Ice Center. I signed up, figuring I need to play broomball at least once, so my winter experience would be complete :)

I arrived at 10pm, wearing a fleece jacket, jeans and sneaker, not knowing what to expect. The public skating session was getting over and we had the entire ring to ourselves. We were supposed to be given formal instructions, but the only orientation we got was a short plead by Matt, the association's president, telling us to keep the sticks low.

The ice center provided the broomball equipment. The "broom" used was not a real broom. Instead, a small triangle rubber attachment was inserted to one end of a broom stick. We were also given helmets, but most of the helmets were broken, and many did not have any foam protection. After running around in one of the broken helmet, I decided not to wear one, since the helmet was getting in the way.

Finally, instead of a tennis ball, we were using a rubber ball, about 5 inches in diameter. We were not given the option to rent broomball shoes.

We had 25 people who joined the event. Since we had the ice to ourselves, we were split into 2 teams. The criteria was those wearing college colors("College")and those not("not"). Since I was not wearing my Michigan attire, I was assigned to the "not".

Since there were couple of broomball "virgin" among the crowd (hmmm...I guess I was not the only one working too hard in school and did not have any broomball fun!), all of us took the ring and the same time and started a game.

I quickly found running on the ice to be rather tiring! Since we took the ice after a public skating session, the ice wasn't extremely slippery. We could run on ice. Stopping was more suspect though. I found myself running deliberately. I just didn't want to fall! The ice ring was also deceivingly big. At the start of the game, I ran from offense to defense, chasing after the ball. I was quickly winded and had to pick and choose my involvement.

With about 12 people on each side, and most of us novice. We really did not have any strategy. The ring was crowded with people, so neither side really had a chance to score. I also found I need to work on my hand-eye coordination! There was lots of "air" swipe with the broom, when I tried to swing hard at the ball, only to catch it at an angle and had the ball rolled in directions I had not intended. I was reduced to poking at the ball and sometimes kicking at it. I also found on defense, it was better to extend the reach of my broom stick by falling on my knees. It could be a really rough game, but since this was a alumni/co-ed event, everyone was careful not to hurt each other, and helped each other up if they fell. There was no body checking:)

After about 20mins of play, Matt called timeout. We were to start a real game. 6 per side, including goalie, for 5 mins. Then the players rotate. This was to be repeated until end of the session.

I took ice with the first team and was assigned to play mainly on defense. Since this was the first real game, both sides were tentative and focused more on defense. While there was some scoring chances, neither side really threaten.

After 5mins, all 6 players rotate out. As I was wiping sweat off my face, our team, "not" scored! It happened fairly quickly and I did not really saw how the scoring occurred.

"College" started playing more aggressively to score, but our defense held for the rest of the 5min session.

I got rotated back into the game and was helping out on offense when "College" had a break away. I was late getting back on defense and the player on "College" had a one on one with the goalie. He scored :(

For the rest of the session, neither team really had good scoring chances. After another 5mins, I rotated off the ice. The "not" team got a few good chances in front of our opponent's net. We were able to score again, near the end of that 5min session.

For the last 5min session, it was "all in"! Everyone on both team took the ice at once. "College" team, being down 2-1, pulled their goalie. I was playing a middle fielder type position where I was mainly playing defense, but was forward enough where I could get involve on offense.

About 3mins into play, our team had a few shot at goal, but "College" played great defense and stopped all the shots. As the ball was rolling back to center ice, I moved forward and hit what I thought was a fairly slow shot. But since "College" players were starting to move on offense and there was no goalie, I scored!

With that score, the game ended. We returned the equipment and chatted a little. Matt said if there is enough interest, he would organize a game every month, but probably at a Foster City ice ring, where they have real helmets.

We had about an hour of ice time and the game was totally fun. I will joined the game again, but next time, I would wear gloves, bring my own helmet and wear knee pads. My knees were pretty bruised from all the falling on the ice.

House warming and Wedding

I got an email on Thursday from V. It was an invitation to his wedding on Friday evening at Mantra in Palo Alto. I had already made plans for the evening, but told V I would stop by after my dinner to congratulate him and his wife.

A few weeks ago, I was at G's house warming party. I knew G and V from my first job. At that time, I had been with the company for almost 6 years, while G and V were NCG (new college grads), just left from grad school, starting their first job. I had worked with both of them to help learn about the work environment and the company's design methodology.

I had left my previous for 3 years now, but it was exciting seeing the coming of age of the then new engineers.

Styrofoam cups and Thai Nakorn

I read his comics blog every work day for almost 3 years now.

Three years ago, Boey posted a link on Craigslist to his comic blog. Each blog entry is a simple line drawing comic about his work, friends and love life. Since he post a blog entry everyday, on some days the comic might be funny, on other days, thought invoking and, still on some days, boring.

It was from one of the blog posting I read about his styrofoam cups. Boey is an artist and draws on styrofoam cups when bored. Then he started showing the cups at Art Festivals and scored an interview on Orange County Register. That was when he hit big time!

From the article, I learned his work could be found at Marion Meyer Contemporary Art gallery in Laguna Beach. On this Thanksgiving weekend, I was in Orange County to spend time with my brother and his family. Not a shopping person, I talked my brother and his family into seeing this unique art work on Black Friday.

There were about 10 cups on display. The details on each one was amazing! This was like graphic art, souped up to fine art. Most of the cups had whimsical design, but a few were darker and more serious. Quite a treat for me, especially having seen some off the cups on Flickr.

There was a painting by Robert Mah in the Marion Meyer Gallery which we enjoyed very much as well. It was a landscape painting that had a hint of Chinese landscape painting. Using only black coloring, the brush stroke were more obvious compared to most chinese painting, but it did had the same mystic feel.

After the show, we went to Thai Nakorn in Stanton for dinner. The best thai food I had ever had. Read my review on Yelp about it here.

--
Update 11-30-09

I emailed Boey and told him I made a trip to Laguna Beach to see his styrofoam cups. He repiled asking if I made the trip for that purpose only. When I answered yes, he said he felt sorry for me, because he did not leave his best work with Marion Meyer. He also told me to email him in advance on my next trip south to Orange County and he would show me his best work over coffee. Sigh...I think I have low standards. I thought the cups in Marion Meyer were quite good already.

Friend from Taiwan/New York

WCT and I went to grad school together. We were all part of the late night gang, working from 7pm to 3am in clean room every day. A special bond was formed while we were working crazy hours in a stressful environment.

After graduation, WCT went to work in New York for GE Labs. He also started a family and keep non-engineer hours. Given the time difference, we did not contact each other very often. But every time he came into town for business, we would make an effort to get together and catch up.

We last saw each other in April in San Francisco. He was contemplating about a teaching position in National Taiwan University. I learned on this visit he is currently an associate professor at NTU's Electrical Engineering Department.

There was a lot of change in his life over the last several months which we shared over dinner at a mutual friend's house and drinks at A Perfect Finish.

Santa Cruz Archery

Growing up, I loved reading stories about Robin Hood and William Tell in western folk stores. Chinese history also have its fair share of famous archer: 后羿, 李广, 花荣.

However, the only time I had shot an arrow was years ago at Formosan Aboriginal Village in Taiwan. So, when I found out there was going to be an archery lessons in Santa Cruz, I eagerly signed up.

We met at UCSC and drove to DeLaveaga Park. The route we took to the range took us through some residential neighbourhood in Santa Cruz on the east side of Highway 1, then we drove along a very narrow and winding road to the archery range. At the range, we went indoors and met with Henry and Randy. They are both members of Santa Cruz Archers, as well as our instructor for the lesson.

Since an archery range can be a dangerous place if rules are not followed, we were quickly taught three commands. "Archers to the line", when we were allowed to pick up our bows and straddled the firing line, "Clear", when we were allowed to pick arrows out from the ground quiver and start firing and finally "All Clear", when all arrows were fired and we were allowed to retrieve our arrows. There was also "Hold" command, which meant stop shooting and released the draw.

Next we learned the standard archery technique. Before he started, Henry made a point that there are excellent archers who do not follow any of the techniques we were going to learn, so all techniques he taught us were optional.

The standard stance we learned involve standing feet parallel to the firing line, then moving the fore foot a feet inches back. The left hip should be over the left ankle. The right hand holding the bow (I am left handed) with the first three fingers and the last two fingers curled and relaxed. The right arm should be slightly bend and turned away from the bow so when the string was released, it would not hit the arm.

We used aluminum arrows with plastic feather for this shoot. The arrows had a plastic cap with a notch on the back and we would slide notch into the string. There was a small bead on the string which guide where the arrow should be notched. We were using a modern recurve bow for this shoot, and there was a small notched on the right side of the bow, just above the handle where the front of the arrow rested.

As beginner, I was given a 20lb bow, which means drawing the bow open required 20lb of force. When drawing the bow, the middle three fingers were used and the string should be drawn fully until the pointer touches the mouth, and the back of the left hand fitted on the jaw. In the anchor position, the body should be relaxed, except the upper back.

The release was basically letting the string slipped forward while sliding the left hand backwards to act as a counter weight. Modern bows are fairly delicate and releasing the bow without an arrow could break the bow.

Other equipment used, besides the bow and arrow, was an arm guard to protect the fore arm from the released string and a finger guard, so that while drawing the bow, the string would not cut into the fingers.

As we were all beginners, we started with blind baling. We shot at bales of hay with no target at short distances. Randy and Henry helped correct our stance while we shot. Since there was no target, we were asked to shoot in the same manner so all the arrows landed near each other to form a grouping. I am happy to report I had decent grouping on my first few tries.

After several rounds of blind baling at short distances, Henry moved the firing line to about 20 feet and put up paper plates as targets. Turns out, due to parallax error, we needed to aim away from the target for the arrow to actually hit the target.

My first shot at the target was left and high by a large distance! I corrected my aim for my second shot and was able to hit the edge of the paper plate. But I missed again on my final shot in the first round.

We did one round of shooting at paper plates when Henry decided to make things interesting. He pulled out a bag of balloons. We were going to pop the balloons with our shots!

I went to the line and starting firing. On both rounds, I was able to pop a balloon on my second shot. However, my first shot and third shot were way off.

The lesson ended with a pop! Shooting arrows were surprisingly a lot of fun. Henry told us the range is open to public every Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4pm. Equipment rentals are only $3. In spite of the distance, I think I will come back...

Golden State Warriors vs LA Clippers

On this Friday evening, A had an extra ticket to the Golden State Warriors game. The warriors haven't been very good lately, but it was a Friday evening and I had no plans. So, it's off to Oakland for "a great time out".

I met up with A at his office. Going to the game with us was his co-worker Brian. We took 237 east then 880 north. A and Brian were Warrior's season tickets holder and they had done this trip many times. They avoided traffic at the stadium off ramp by exiting at 98th street, then taking San Leandro Street to the BART parking lot.

Friday evening traffic was a little worst than we had expected, so we missed the opening tip off, but as we were getting to our seats, the Warriors were on a mini-run. There was a 3 point shot and a lay up scored by the Warriors and the score was tied. The Clipper called a timeout, and I went to get some food as I had not have dinner.

Big mistake! While I was waiting in line for food, I saw the Clipper slowly increase their lead to 10. By the time I got back to the stands, it was the beginning of the second quarter and for all practical purposes, the game was mostly over as Clippers increased their lead to about 20.

The Warriors had no answer for the Clipper's center on defense. The Clipper guards: Baron Davis and Eric Gordon played well. Offensively, the Warriors looked confused and did not have much ball movement. Ill-advised, long jump shots were taken without much setup. It was not a pretty sight. Before the game we knew the Warriors were not very good, but thought the game itself would be close since the Clippers were not very good too. Given this performance, I can only wonder what would happen when the Warriors played some of the better teams in the league.

We tried out best to enjoy the game. There was break dancing performance, Philippines dancing performance, dunking performance, pizza giveaway and a whole slew of activities to keep the time entertaining. We did not leave until the game was over.

On the way back, on KNBR, we heard coach Don Nelson called the game "embarrassing" for the Warriors. Sadly, I had to agree. With the various entertainment option the Bay area had to offer, combined with the cost and distance of attending a Warriors game, I would not be back until something changes.

Game review by SFGate.com here.

Gold Star Gymnastics

I ran into Nathalie at the break room at work a week ago and saw her heat up dinner at 5pm. "Wow, early dinner!" I commented.

Nathalie told me she was taking gymnastics classes at Gold Star Gymnastics that night and wanted to eat something early so she would not throw up while doing various tumbling exercise. Then she asked if I wanted to try the lessons. "The first lesson is free", she said.

I had to work late that evening, so had to decline the invitation, but promised I would try the lesson next week.

This Thursday, I reached Gold Star Gymnastics at about 7:45pm and was given a waiver to sign, then changed into workout clothes in the bathroom. At 8pm, a lady rounded up about 10-12 people to begin the class.

We started by running around a big exercise mat followed by stretching of the hamstrings. Then we practise fall. A common gymnastic injury is when a person falls, he uses his hands to balance himself. The weight on the wrist and elbow may be too much and bones can break. We learned to fall backwards, roll backwards while keeping our hands on our sides.

Warm up continued with jumping on a trampoline, followed by doing a seat drop on the trampoline. This involve jumping on the trampoline, then in mid air push the legs horizontal and keeping the hangs on the side, then drop butt first on the trampoline. With the bounce, get mid-air and stand up. There was a more advance move of doing seat drop in one direction, followed by seat drop in another direction which I was unable to do. The final warm up was inch-worm.

After warm-up, we formed lines to do forward rolls and backward rolls. My lack of arm strength quickly became obvious. Also, I was not used to being upside down. After each roll, I quickly lose orientation and needed a few seconds to gather myself.

The instructor pulled me aside to do backward roll on a decline mat. This way, I do not need to use as much force roll myself backwards as gravity helped do some of the pulling. I was able to do the skill several times, but the dizziness got worst.

The next exercise was cartwheel. I was too weak to try doing the drill. The instructor pulled over a stack of mats and had me do semi-cartwheels by putting my hands on the stack and jumping over the mats. She had the students worked on a roll followed by a handstand turn. I could not do a handstand, so I was reduced to doing a hand push up with kicks of the legs in the air.

After these exercise, the instructor pulled a big roller mattress and have the students do running flips. The students ran towards the roller, then bend down to pushed themselves onto the roller with their hands. At this point, I was feeling very sick and did not participate in any of the drills. I started watching my fellow students and found most of them were doing quite well. A few were even able to do the flip without the rollers! I later learned that many of the students were former gymnasts and just wanted to continue working out gymnastics moves. Compare to them, I was clearly out of shape.

After the running flip exercises, it was a free for all period. I saw some people worked on floor exercise moves, working on back flips with rollers. The gym also has a setup for working on jumps. I saw more than a few students ran down the running track, jumped, twisted and turned in mid air, then land into a pool of foam cubes. A fellow student saw me watching and encouraged me to try. I politely declined as I was still fighting the urge to throw up.

After 45mins of free exercise, we gathered again on the mat for conditioning exercise. There was a body crunch followed by rolling on the sides, and clapping push ups.

Nathalie came and checked with me to see how I enjoyed the class. It was fun trying something new, but clearly I am not ready for many of the exercises and definitely not ready for the rolls and flips. I would need to work on those skills before returning.

Scientist turned Comedian vs Engineer turned Comedian

I had been a subscriber to an email newsletter from funcheapsf.com for a couple of years now. One event from this week's contest piqued my interest. "Scientist-turned-comedian", the title read. The comedian, Tim Lee, had a PhD in biology, but now does stand up comedy.

The event was held at Le Petit Trianon theater. Located across the street from San Jose city hall, Le Petit Trianon was a beautifully decorated, classically looking theater. The atmosphere there was a step up from the more bar-like environment of a comedy club.

The show opened with a opening act, 2 middle acts and Tim. One of the middle guy, Norm, was pretty funny. He was introduced as a writer for Jay Leno, and it showed in some of his jokes. The other middle act, was too self deprecating for me and I did not enjoy it too much.

Since comedy would be funny only if unexpected, I would not describe any of the jokes here. However, I like to compare Tim Lee's material with Don McMillan.

Don was an engineer turned stand up comedian. I was at his show a couple of years ago and his opening jokes draw on his experience working in corporations. His prepared piece was not very technical at all and could be enjoyed by anyone. However, some of the material felt old and needed to be updated to appeal to younger audience.

Tim's setup was more technical. He would explain some scientific facts/definitions, and his punch line was usually applying some of this fact/definition in day to day life. Worried that this format might still be too boring, he broke the act up into several sections, and interspersed the act with some funny personal stories.

Both Don and Tim used Powerpoint in their presentation. I thought adding a visual element to standup routine was really entertaining. Also, both comedian kept their jokes relatively clean, so the material would have wider appeal.

I do enjoy the work of both Don McMillan and Tim Lee, but felt I like Tim's material better.

Here is a youtube clip of Tim Lee's performance. Enjoy!

Whitewater Rafting in the Middle Fork of American River

White water rafting on the South fork of American river was so much fun, I decided to do it again. This Labor Day weekend, I venture out to Coloma once more. This trip was to run the Middle fork of the American river.

(BTW, I have gotten some question on this: yes, there is a North fork of the American river, which I plan to run next Spring. That river is not dam controlled and typically do not have enough flow to raft after Spring time.)

I had enjoyed my rafting trip with Mother Lode: the company I went with during Memorial day, but they did not have enough clients to fill 2 boats on this Labor Day weekend! I was therefore transferred to join Mariah Wilderness Adventure on this trip instead.

I arrived at 4:30pm the day before to set up camp and spent the night. Mariah's camp ground was all dirt:( I had preferred the lawn camp ground at Mother Lode. This camp ground was also located by the South Fork of American river, less than a mile from Mother Lode's camp ground. The nicest feature of the camp ground had to be the swimming hole, basically a bend in the river with shallow bottom. I had brought my swim gear, but decided not to swim because the water and the weather was too cold.

After an early dinner at Sierra Nevada House, I read a little and went to sleep. I wanted to be ready for the 7am trip.

I got up at 6am, and considering I was camping, had a fairly decent night. Mariah did not offer breakfast, so I brought along some banana and bagel. The middle Fork rafters met at 7am and were driven to Raley's at Auburn, where we picked up 2 more guest. I made a mental note to check hotel prices at Auburn. It would make a more comfortable sleep compare to camping.

From Auburn, it was a 45min drive to the put in point, located at the foot of Oxbow reservoir.

As usual, we were given a briefing on the van ride to the put in point. The Middle fork is classified as a class IV-V river, so besides a repeat of the usual paddle commands/safety instructions (which I had heard on South Fork), we were taught a few more tricks. One command was "get down", where all rafters would abandon their usual position sitting on the side of the raft and get into the middle of the raft, holding on to straps attached to the raft.

The other was "high side". This command would be used when a raft is about to flip, one side of the raft would be higher than the other. Rafters sitting on the lower side of the raft should shift to the higher side of the raft to re-balance the raft.

Our lead guide for the trip is Morgan. Our guide is Matt. In our boat were 4 guys from India (sorry, I don't remember their names) and Vince. Vince was a former river guide, so we had extra help on this trip.

I sat in the front right hand side spot. Vince was on my left. There was a diver (aka non-swimmer) on the trip, so he sat in the back, right next to Matt.

We were given the usual PFD, paddles, spray jackets and helmets for this trip. After a quick gear check, we pulled the raft to a small ramp for put in. Of the dozen or so companies that were rafting that day, we were the first to launch!

Immediately after put in, we practiced turns and other paddling commands. We did not have much time because there is a Class III rapid near the put in point. It is appropriately named "Good Morning!" Learning from my South Fork experience, I wore a spray jacket on this trip. Still, I got a good splash and woke up even more!

The first couple of miles down the Middle fork were filled with class III and class IV rapids. Between these rapids, Matt had us working on paddling and turning again. Also, in preparation for tunnel chute, we also worked on "get down" and "high side", so it was a really active start to the day.

Matt guided us expertly through the next few rapids before we reach "Tunnel Chute". Tunnel Chute had to be the most famous rapid on American River. It is basically a hole in granite blasted out by gold miner with a turn and a big drop before going into a tunnel. Some even considered it class V rapid. All the pictures one sees with rafters holding their paddle up in the air and seated inside the raft were from this rapid.

We had to positioned the raft when we entered the bend and into the drop. Just before the drop, Matt called "Get down!" Everyone reacted immediately. Then for a second or two, there was nothing except white water all around us. At the bottom of the chute, we had to get out of our position and immediately start paddling again, as the river took another turn. It was hardcore white water fun!

After Tunnel Chute, everyone relaxed a little. After all, the most difficult rapid was behind us. Vince and I switched position with guys in the second row so they could experience the full force of the river for themselves.

We got through the rest of the class II and class III rapid without much difficulty. Then we approached Kanaka falls. Matt had the habit of briefing us on the rock formation of the major rapids ahead of us and the paddling he expected of us. On Kanaka, we were to make a bend in the river and there was several bumps along the way. As we paddled the rapid, on one bump, both person on the front row fell. I was able to grab the person in front of me and pulled him in, but Vince was unable to pull the guy on the left back into the raft. He fell into the white water. It was the lower portion of the rapid and water was starting to slow, so Matt called "All forward". We raft towards him and pulled him back into the raft.

Morgan had mentioned on a rafting trip, an average of 1 client would go swimming. Since she and Matt did not have client fall out on the previous day's trip, I guessed they were due.

After Kanaka, the water flattens out. There was about 2-3 miles of flat water paddling. I had a chance to really admire the beauty of the river and its canyon. According to Matt, the canyon walls are 2000 ft high. Being near the river, the area is lusciously green. The view was just amazing!

There were also lots of guide stories swapping between Vince and Matt.

Matt recalled this past summer, he had given a briefing to a group of rafters and noticed one lady looking very puzzled. When the lady first saw the river raft, she exclaimed, "Oh...these type of rafts!" The raft she had in mind were formed by tying several wooden log together....like those described in the adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Vince countered with another story. When he was guiding, at a bridge running across the river, he would tell clients that this was Native American territory and the Native Americans did not like people looking at them. In fact, they would shoot people looking at their faces. Just as all the clients were looking away from the bridge, he would slap the water with a flat paddle, simulating a gun shot sound and gave everyone a good shock!

I asked Vince a little more about himself. Turned out, he was a techie just like me! He used to work in a technology company and was married. After his divorce, he and his ex-wife sold their house. Each of them had about $300K from the sale. He became a river guide and worked the river for 5 years. His ex-wife, meanwhile, bought a new house in Half Moon Bay. Given the current real estate market, it was likely his ex-wife was underwater in that mortgage. He had his fun being a river guide and now worked in Philippines, managing a call center for My Linux Support.

Vince told me he was tempted to tell his ex: "After the divorce, I rafted a 100,000 river, scuba dived a 100,000 dive sites and f**ked a 100,000 women. So, what did you do with your money?" Then he contemplated for a second and said: "I better not. She would shoot me!"

It was about 12:30pm when we reach a small beach and break for lunch. Given the bumpy ride, any bread the guides brought along would be squashed! Instead, we were given pre-squashed bread: tortilla! It was served with ham, cheese, fresh cut vegetables, potato chips and condiments.

After lunch there was another 2 -3 miles of flat water paddling. On this stretch, Matt showed us his favorite rock formation on the river.



My waterproof disposable camera picture did not turn out well, but the rock was basically one rock shaped like 2 boobs with cleavage in between. Naturally, someone had placed 2 pebbles on top of the rock. Matt deadpanned, "And the rocks on top only shows up on a cold day!"

About half an hour of flat water paddling, we got busy again. The interesting rapids were now ahead of us. Our first major rapid after lunch was Chunder. Chunder was a finesse rapid. We had to position our raft in a particular direction on the right side of the rapid to go through it.

After Chunder, was the other infamous rapid of Middle fork. Ruck-A-Chucky was thought to be un-runnable until some river guide did it in the 80's. However, no river company would take client down this rapid. We left the raft and walked around the rapid on a small unmarked trail. Even Matt did not raft through this rapid. He had Morgan pushed our raft down the rapid, while he waited at the bottom of the rapid to pull the raft in. Despite claims that we were suppose to portage, we did not lift the raft on this rapid.

After Ruck-A-Chucky was Cleavage. This rapid had a opening between two rocks (hence the name). After a drop, there was a rock right in between the open which Matt referred to as Dick rock. We were to help turn the raft to avoid it.

Parallel park was the final major rapid. Here we were required to turn left, then backed the raft up and then pulled all forward. The motion of the raft resembled parallel parking, hence the name. We had no problem with this rapid too.

Coming out of parallel park, we hit Texas Chainsaw. There was a rock formation on the right where the bottom of the rock, near the river, had been eroded away. Since we had a fair amount of speed coming off the previous turn, we were not able to paddle away from the rock. I was on the front row left and had to bend down to avoid the rock from taking my head off.

Off the next class III rapid, Matt suggested we go surfing. We park our raft in the eddy where water was calm, then paddle upstream towards a the rapid. I realized for the first time how much power rafters could generate when we paddled together. At the base of the rapid was a with lots of white water. As the front off the raft moved into the white water, it tipped down, and the front of the raft was filled with water. White water has no bouancy.

The surfing was pretty much the last thing we did on the river. We pulled out at a small ramp near a park and took a 45min drive back to camp.

I had planned to camp another night, but I was no tired after all the rafting. After breaking camp, I drove home.

Before leaving, I asked Vince about Cherry Creek. This was a class V river, which called itself the standard which all class V are measured against. I wanted to raft that river someday.

Vince suggested running North fork and Cal Salmon before doing Cherry Creek. Also, on a high flow (3000-4000 cfs) day, South Fork could be a good training ground. The idea, according to Vince was to experience falling out of the raft. That way, one would not panic as much if it happened on Cherry Creek.

A map of Middle Fork of American river can be found here. Description of the rapids can be found
here

Finally, photos of me going down Tunnel Chute can be found here

Half Dome

I first learned about Yosemite National Park and Half Dome in 1993. My sister and brother-in-law had visited the park and were showing us her pictures. She had told me Half Dome was the largest rock in the world (note: I cannot find the reference anywhere on the web), and people rock climbed up the Northwest Face in days to get to the top. The physical abilities required to rock climbed that far was clearly beyond me. The top of Half Dome was like the top of Mount Everest: it exist, but not somewhere I would likely reach in my life time.

Then, a few year ago, while I was training to run half marathon, someone told me about hiking to the top of Half Dome. I was intrigued, but due to injuries, work commitment and other reasons, I never made the trip.

Early this summer, A mentioned on Facebook he was planning to do hiking. I talked him and his friend D into doing Half Dome. We had been hiking 10-12 miles on most Saturday for 2 months in preparation.

Our first set back on this trip came on Wednesday before the hike. During a "controlled" burn, Yosemite Park officials started what is now known as the Big Meadow fire. Highway 120 into the Park was closed as a result. Why is this a set back? Well, the hotel we booked, Yosemite Westgate Lodge, is located near the Highway 120 entrance into Yosemite, in Groveland, CA. This is to facilitate an early start to the hike. When we heard about the road closure, it was already too late to cancel our room. After some debate, we decided to continue staying in Groveland, but take a 3 hour detour to go into Yosemite National Park.

Big Meadow Fire map, displayed outside Groveland Firehouse

After a leisure drive to Groveland, we checked into our hotel, got updated on the fire situation, ate an early dinner and went to bed at 9pm. But all there of us: A, D and me, are not early sleepers to begin with, and the anxiety of hiking Half Dome did not help. I did not fall asleep till 1am. D said later he did not fall asleep till 2am.

I woke up at 4:20am. Surprised, I checked my cell phone for the time again. We had asked for a wake up call at 4am, but the hotel did not call us! We quickly got ready and hit the road at 5:00am.

We decided to follow the recommended detour of taking junction 132 to Hwy 49 to Hwy 140 and enter Yosemite through the entrance near the town of El Portal. However, we were misled by the map posted outside Groveland fire station.

Misleading map, displayed outside Groveland Firehouse. You are here on the map is not the Groveland Firehouse!

With all these delays, we did not enter Yosemite Valley till 8am. We quickly parked our car, and hiked 1/4 mile to the Happy Isle trail head. From the trail head, we hiked along Mist Trail. The 1-1.5 mile was a bit of an up hill climb. The roads are paved, so there is no need to trail find and the scenery was great. We crossed a bridge where we caught our first glimpse of Vernal falls. From the bridge, the trail starts becoming more wild. The paved roads disappear and we started walking on dirt path. The trails have lots of rocks embedded in the path, which made the walking rather tiring.

Trail head warning

After another 1/2 a mile, we started seeing Vernal Falls up close and personal. In late August, Vernal Falls have much less flow. Various websites suggested bringing along a poncho for this stretch of the hike, which I did. But there was no spray from the water fall , so I did not use the poncho.

Vernal Falls in late August

As we continue further on this trail, it become steeper. Steps are cut into the rocks to and hand rails are provided along some especially narrow path. Then the trail open up and we reach the top of Vernal falls. The body of water that feeds into Vernal fall is Emerald Pond. It looks really calm, and somewhat greenish when we were there.

From Emerald Pond, we followed Mist Trail to Nevada Falls. Again, these hikes were mostly on granite steps since the trail is fairly steep. Nevada Falls have more flow compare to Vernal falls, but we were spared any spray from Nevada Falls as well.

Nevada Falls in late August

We reached the junction of Mist trail and John Muir Trail at about 11:30am. Here we debated if we should go further. The mile marker read "Half Dome 4.5 miles". We figured in another 2 hours, we would reach the top of Half Dome and therefore decided to push on. We badly under-estimate how long the rest of the hike up would take.

The next stretch of the hike was the most relax. We walked along Merced River in Little Yosemite Valley. The trail is flat and the footing is mostly sand. After about 1.5 miles, the flat section ended and we started climbing again.

Here we were starting to feel tired. We start to meet people coming down from Half Dome and we would randomly asked them how much further we had to go. It was not encouraging. It was going to be 3 more miles, but would probably take us another 2 hours.

Another 45mins hiking brought us to the last mile maker "Half Dome 2 miles".



Walking another 45mines, we finally reached were at the foot of the granite dome. A and I spotted people going up the cable, but also saw people going up a lower rock structure without cable. This lower rock structure was quite steep! This was our first introduction to Sub Dome.

In preparation to hike Half Dome, I had attended Mr Half Dome's talk at REI. He had mentioned the most dangerous part of the hike were not the infamous cables on Half Dome, but Sub Dome. I was skeptical then, but now I understand why he had said that.

Sub Dome looking down

Steps were also cut into the Sub Dome rock, but the trail is very exposed. As such, our progress was more measured. After hiking Sub Dome, there was a small drop in the trail into a narrow ridge where we met the cables.

"The Cables"

The cables are probably the most talked about feature on the Half Dome hike. Looking from the bottom up, the climb up Half Dome does look quite intimidating. The rock is steep and the exposure is large. I had no doubt if a person fell from the cable, he/she would die. We were hiking Half Dome late in the season, so the cable was not crowded at all.

People I talked to always reassured me the cables are not that difficult. I had a different experience when I climbed the first half of the way. It was very tiring and I stood on each wood planks to rest, before moving to the next plank. Fear probably played a big role as I had never climbed something so steep without harness. (I later learned that part of the route is Class 3, so ropes were optional).

I had made the cables more difficult by using the wrong technique. I was pulling myself up the cables with my hands and it was very tiring. Half way up the cables, it strike me I should be leaning more towards the rock and use more of my feet to walk up Half Dome. While parts of the rock was slippery, for the most part, I had good traction and was able to walk up the rock and used the cable for guiding/security only. I had done rock climbing and should have applied knowledge learned there faster:(

At 2pm, we reached the top. D was tentative at the base of the cable, but A and I encouraged him to do it. When he reached the top of the cable though, he didn't feel like moving at all. He sat near the cables and rested while A and I walked around the top of Half Dome.

I did the classic "Diving Board", took panoramic pictures, paying special attention to the smoke from Big Meadow fire. A ate tamarind rice as celebration while I took a short nap.

Smoke from Big Meadow fire. I never smell smoke on the hike, except when I was breathing hard on the cable.

Diving board

At 3:15pm, we decided to head down. In late August, night falls earlier and I did not want to hike down sub dome in the dark.

Knowing how exposed the cables were, I descended them by facing the rock while climbing down. Using the same rock climbing technique, I was able to moved down fairly quickly, though the footing coming down was a little worst than going up.

Another group of hikers were climbing up the cables when we were descending. The sky had began to darken. I hoped they had a short stay atop Half Dome, else they will need to hike down sub dome in the dark.

The hike down sub dome turns out to be easier than I had imagined. While we moved carefully, it was not as scary as I had initially thought.

After sub dome, we moved at a brisk pace, trying to cover as much ground as possible before dark. Fatigue began to set in. I had finished all my Gatorade and began to worried I didn't carry enough water. Also, stepping on the rock all day on the trail was beginning to take its toll. I was avoiding walking on rocks since it hurt my feet. I was also grateful to the high top. Without that support, I would have twisted my ankle several times on the way down.

We reached the John Muir Trail/Mist Trail junction at about 6:45pm. Most guidebook suggested taking John Muir Trail because it is less steep, though longer. We debated a little, but decided to take Mist Trail in the hope of covering more ground with the remaining light.

It felt like a mistake after a few steps. Mist trail was very steep. When hiking up, it was tiring, but I was not worried about balance. However, when hiking down, I was concerned I would slip and fall on the very steep trail and be seriously injured. Further, the trail was all rocks, which hurt the feet a lot. The rock surface on the trail felt like it was cut with a slight angle pointing down. This made climbing up easier, but felt really unstable going down.

While Mist Trail to the Happy Isle trail head is shorter, I wondered if we saved any time, since hiking down Mist Trail was really slow. The hiking poles were really helpful because it helped me with balance and took pressure off my knees.

At this point, we were hiking by ourselves, and realized Mist Trail wasn't very well marked! When coming up, there were many hikers on the trail and we did not have to do any trail finding. With the sky was mostly dark and being all alone, we resorted to our memory and foot prints on the trail to find our way.

We made it to Emerald Pond. Another group of hikers from Cisco which we had met atop Half Dome was already there. One of the hikers had done this hike before and he led us down the rest of the way. It was completely dark at this point. Luckily all of us were prepared with flash light and head lamps. I had also ran out of water, but weather was beginning to cool, so I did not feel dehydrated. We were lucky the entire day, since weather was never an issue. It never got too hot or too cold during the hike.

With the Cisco hikers leading the way, we got back to Vernal Falls bridge where we filled our bottles with water. Then it was onto the paved section of the trail. With no problem with footing, it was just a matter of walking the final 1.5 miles to the trail head.

It was 9pm when we reached the trail head and we were all very tired. A bus pulled up at the trail head and the driver was nice enough to wait for us. We asked about riding back to the trail head parking lot, but learned that the bus does not stop there! We had to walk back to the parking lot on foot.

The 1/4 mile hike from the parking lot to the trail head did not feel like anything in the morning, but after hiking for almost 12 hours, the distance felt like it would never end. Again, this path to the parking lot was not well marked and we kept wondering if we were going the right way. It was 9:15pm when we got to the car.

Since our hotel was another 3 hours away, we drove around Yosemite Valley looking for a place to grab a bite. There was a grocery store and we got sandwich and Gatorade.

I must be really tired because after wolfing down a cold Gatorade, I suddenly felt the chills and had to warm myself up wearing a fleece jacket. D took the keys and drove 2 1/2 hours back to the hotel. It was about 12:30am when we arrived.

We took turns showering and hit the sack. I don't know about the other guys, but I fell asleep immediately when my head hit the pillow.

So, Half Dome is in the bag. The final stats: 14 miles, 4800 ft, 12 hours hike. I felt that despite a summer of hiking, we were not as physically prepared as we should be. This hike was the most physically demanding thing I had ever done, and like I told D and I, I had ran 13.1 miles at some point in my life.