Carnival, French Jewelry Exhibit at Legion of Honor

After some bargaining, K and I decided to go to San Francisco for Carnival and the French Jewelry exhibit at the Legion of Honor. I get to see scantily clad women, and she gets to see jewelry...something for everyone!

We were join by K's sister and cousin. Carpooled to the Mission, where crowd had already gathered. We squeeze our way between the people, got watch the parade from there.

This parade is a celebration of various Latin culture. I saw dancers in colorful Brazilian carnival costumes, doing the samba, people performing capoeira, Caribbean steel drum bands and several Mexican dance. The weather on this Memorial Day was too cold for the costumes many of the dancers were wearing, but they marched on bravely.

From Mission, we stopped for lunch at San Tung #2 in the Sunset district. K had invited a few more friends and we all enjoy a good lunch. See my review on Yelp for more details.

After lunch, the guys decided to check out a bar, while me and the ladies went to the Jewelery exhibition. I am not too familiar with jewelry as an art form, but the exhibits were very beautiful. There were some jewelry, clearly of the Art Nouveau style with its organic forms and the more stylistic art deco styles. The ladies were discussing what it would take for the significant others to buy them jewelry, while I wisely stayed out of those conversations:)

The ladies and me in the Legion of Honor museum ground. Sorry boys, all these fine ladies are taken!

Dinner was at Kan Zaman Cafe for Middle Eastern food with Belly Dancing. Check out my review on Yelp for more details.

An enjoyable Memorial day!

Kayak Elkhorn Slough

After the mis-adventure from last week, I decided to take another chance and kayak again...this time the relative calm water of Elkhorn Slough.

I got a single kayak this time and paddle along the slough. We were going toward the sea, so during low tide, the water helped the kayaks moved along. I had not adjusted my foot pedal well and after about 30mins in my kayak, my legs were falling asleep.

There was no wave at all and we were able to take our time observing the wild life: beautiful birds and sea otters. The surrounding was quite beautiful, with patches of greens and puddles of water. Paddling in this condition always made me feel very peaceful.

The Slough is a fair popular spot for kayaking. Besides our group, we saw at least 3 other groups kayaking. There is also a natural boat tour for those who is looking for a more relax experience.

We paddle for about 2 hours to the mouth of the river where we stopped for lunch on a beach. The morning chill was gone and the sun was shinning. I took a quick nap on the beach and woke up refresh!

I took the opportunity to adjust my foot pedals before starting on my way back. Half way back, I needed to use the bath room very badly. I had to paddle fast back to the dock. As such, I was not able to enjoy the trip back as much.

I met Amy, our assistant tour guide from the whale watching trip last week, at the dock. She was helping with another group. We chatted a little and found out Dave sometimes ask people who had trained with him to be guides. That sounds like a very sweet gig!

Definitely was rushed a little at the end, due mainly to my own doing. However, the condition at Elkhorn Slough was great and the surround was beautiful. This is probably a location I will come again and in my opinion, is great for beginners.

Kayak whale watching

I was searching online for kayaking trip when I found a story of whale watching on kayak. I research further and discovered such trips are available in Santa Cruz!

On this morning, I left for Santa Cruz. From Santa Cruz, we took a van ride to Davenport and launch our kayaks on the shores there. Dave, our tour guide, had a person stationed on shore to help spot whales while we paddle in the ocean, looking for the animal.

The day was quite sunny, but the winds were strong. I could see white peaks on the wave. According to Dave, it was going to make whale spotting more difficult, as the whale's spouting was going to be obscure by the white peaks of waves breaking.

We paddle south for about 2 hours. Along the way, Dave had us fan out to increase our chances of spotting whales. But nothing...I was quite disappointed.

Then came a call that one kayak saw a whale spout. We tried to kayak to its location, but the wave was strong and we were not making good progress. Given the condition, Dave decided to bring everyone back to shore.

We were about the 3rd kayak back to shore. Then we waited and waited...no signs of other kayaks joining us! Our spotter on shore told us that one of the kayak had flipped. They were rescued, but the paddlers were feeling tired. Dave decided to bring them to another beach.

Turns out, that other beach was surrounded by steep cliff. There was no way of carrying the sea kayaks (which are generally more heavy) from the beach back onto the road. Dave had to instruct the rest of the kayak to make another short trip, onto a beach which the kayaks can scale more easily.

By now, it was almost 1pm and the winds had really picked up. Dave's experience really shows. He would observe the wave and had the kayaks come in right at the same time as the wave was coming in, using the wave to help the kayak come ashore. All the kayaks came in fine, until Amy, our assistant tour guide came in. She was in a single kayak, which is more unstable. A side current came when she was trying to shore and flipped her over:(

I was glad our kayak did not flip over, but was a little disappointed since we did not see any whales.

Friend from Singapore

Got an email from TS about a month ago. He is visiting from Singapore!

TS is a old friend from my Army days. Him, me and another guy use to hang out together a lot, complaining about our superiors. I last met him about 2 years ago.

Anyway, his wife was in town for a conference and he tagged along. We met up for dinner in Fremont at Salang Pass. Unfortunately, I had a fever that night and was not able to do too much with him.

Still it was great seeing a friend from long ago and seeing how much had change between him and me. The youthful, wide eye lads of yester-years are now older:)

People Paddle 2007

First, a big Thank You for all your support to make my paddling at this year's People Paddle event possible. I have raised a total of $270 for Project Open Hand.

This morning, I got to SF at 8:15am. I was forced to drive as both Bart and Caltrain do not have service that can get me to Pier 40 at 8am. Found a free parking spot across from Delancey Street restaurant, so the day is off to a great start!

I signed in, grab a little breakfast, got my PFD (personal floatation device, not PDF:), listen to last minute paddle and safety instructions and was in the water at about 9:30am.

I had asked for a sit on top kayak, but regret a little this morning. Having taken a self rescue class, I am fully qualified to use a sit inside kayak, which is faster and more manuervable.

We were in formed of a course change due to weather and instead of going from Pier 40 to the Bow and Arrow, we went south toward China Basin (that's where Barry Bonds hits those home run:) and went up the mission creek.

Before the kayak race officially started, we were blessed by the "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence". The sisters are 5 drag queens, which definitely gave the whole event a San Francisco feel:)

A funny thing happened on my kayak back from China Basin to Pier 40. A couple in 2 person kayak ran into my kayak twice. The husband, paddling in the front apologise profusedly, saying "We're sorry, but I am not the one steering". That statement did not sit very well with his wife, paddling in the back.

During our trainig, the instructor had specifically told couples in double kayaks to take it easy, saying double kayaks are nicknamed "Divorce boats" for a reason. I hope those 2 make it:)

The entire trip took 2 hours, but with the relatively calm bay water, gorgeous weather, sun shine and cool breeze, it went by very quickly.

I docked at about 12:20pm, had a quick snack, then sat and enjoyed free music outside Java House. There was an award ceremony to honor the person who raise the most funds and the fastest kayaker, presented by the above mentioned "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence".

The entire event ended at about 1pm. Definitely a pleasant way to spend a beautiful spring Sunday morning.

For people whose interest in kayaking are piqued by my description, City Kayak offers this same kayaking trip, plus Bow and Arrow for ~$70.

Here is the SF Sentinel blog posting on the event. I am in the last picture, wearing a blue baseball cap.

Kayak Self Rescue Clinic & Visitors From San Diego!

In preparation for People Paddle 2007, City Kayak offered a self rescue clinic at a discount to people paddle participants. I decided to take advantage of this offer, since I enjoy kayaking, and the lessons will make me more comfortable in renting a sit inside kayak for future trips.

Ted from City Kayak led the lessons. The first part was a demostration and practice on land. For self rescue, we learn paddle float rescue, which can be used in any conditions. Then there is T-rescue, where by another kayak would assist a cap sized kayak. Finally, the sloppy rescue, to be used in calm weather conditions.


In this picture, Ted have me simulate wave on the paddle float to get us a feel of where our center of gravity should be, in order to have the maximum leverage against the wave.

After land practice, we have a hands on session. We were all given wet suit, and then cap sized our kayak on purpose. Getting wet in SF during early April is not a good idea, even with wet suit:(

I was able to do the paddle float rescue and with the help of Brenda did T-rescue. However, I think I have an extremely unstable kayak and was never able to do the sloppy rescue. Hopefully, this will not come back to haunt me during People Paddle:)

More pictures of the clinic at posted by Dean.

After the clinic, I met up with my landlord's family from San Diego. I first met the family while working as an intern in San Diego almost 10 years ago.

We have remain friends after I moved out. We last saw each other in 2003, and then sort of lose touch. When I sent out email asking for donation for People Paddle, they suddenly realized I am in the Bay Area and they were out here visiting.

We had dinner together in at R&G Lounge in Chinatown. After dinner, I drove them around town for some of my favorite SF sights.

I am really happy to get back in touch.

Friend from Chicago

S call out of the blue and mentioned she is in town! She is literally one of the first person I met when I came to this country almost 15 years ago. She was like a big sister to me, sending me cookie while I was in college and welcoming my visit during Thanksgiving.

We had not seen each other after I left Midwest and came here to work.

We met up at B44 for dinner with her friends, then stop by Jade bar for after dinner drinks. It was really cool catching up with her.