11/12-11/13: Got up at 6:30, had everything (usual morning stuff, food to go - two vietnamese shrimp wrap and two torda sandwiches) ready by 9:30.Jack came picking us up at 10:30. Checked-in at 11:40, went through security check at 12:00. There are some schedule changes due to a delayed takeoff of a flight that blocked the same gate (97), we were moved to gate 95, boarding time was changed to 1:45, actual boarding time was 2:10, this flight(B747) was unbelievably empty, Anita and myself each has a complete row to ourselves, there are quite a few unoccupied seats (rows). Flight took off at 3:00. Beverage was served at 3:38, I was going to have red wine but it's not free so I had water instead :-) Lunched is served at 4:10 - meatball pasta, taste OK but pasta is a bit burned, butter is liquified. A very light breakfast is served at 11:50 pm(Rome time from this point on), stone cold butter with bun plus a small fruit salad - also very cold. Started descending at 12:30. touched down at 9:55, docked at tramway at 10:18. Our flight was rebooked to LH234 leaving at 12:15, had to walk and ask around to find Lufthansa ticket office to get new boarding passes and have our luggage rerouted. Walked 15 minutes to get to gate 68 which is at the end of a long wing. Used the 30-minute free Wi-Fi to Skype Arches B&B to let them know our new arrival time. Entered the gate swiftly, this is the first time we entered the gate by simply scanning the boarding pass ourselves. Boarded the plane after riding shuttle for 8 minutes. The flight(B737) was less than half filled - more people came on board after 10 minutes, but it's still about 15% empty(we sat in the second row - we were the sole passengers, after the business class section, the entire first row - 6 seats - was empty; lucky us). After taxing and waiting, we finally took off at 3:35. Even though itinerary indicated that there's no meal served on this flight, we were surprised to get a small sandwich right after leveling off, AND no charge for red wine:-) Landed at Rome Fiumicino(FCO) airport at 2:20. It took 20 minutes for our luggages, however, we were met by our pick up driver right after exiting the airport. Since we've already showed our passports at Frankfurt immigration(entering EU), there isn't any more custom in Rome, quite convenient. Arches B&B sits in a relatively old residential area, it's got 3 rooms only, since we were the only guests the first night, we had the whole complex to ourself - hotel owners do not live here. Went to bed around 6:30pm (9:30am San Jose time) but woke up at 1:00am. Had breakfast at 2:00, had second breakfast at 4:30.
11/14: After going through the crowd issues visiting Vatican complex, we decided to purchase tickets online(for 9:00am) so we don't need to wait in line for tickets. Ticket price(Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel) was €16 plus €4 fee each, I wasn't able to upload the voucher to Google drive to print it, I had to make a local copy on my Nexus 7 and show it at the gate, this worked out OK, we were able to go in directly at 8:20 when we got to the entrance by simply showing the voucher on my Nexus 7(ticket office open at 9:00, meaning those without pre purchased ticket won't be able to go in before that, tour groups do not have their usual privilege of early access here). Our tour began with the Vatican Museum, followed by Sistine Chapel, and end with St. Peters Church(Basilica of St. Peters) - the last one is free and is thus the most popular.Bought pizza on our way back to Arches B&B, it was a simple cheese pizza but costs €5 and the quantity was about one slice from Costco:-). Slept until 4:30, went to check out the Metro station and ticketing, picked up half dozen organic egg (€2.92) and a bag of Farfalline (€1.47), our healthy/inexpensive dinner.
11/15: Found and booked first class seats on Frecciabianca train for tomorrow at 12:00 with booking number (PNR): 3BA9VN - these are so called ”two for one” deal which is 50% off, the catch is no refund. (http://www.italiarail.com)
Head toward the Metro station to visit Colosseo. We explored the Metro station Ottaviano yesterday. Purchased two tickets( from the ticket office, returned two extra tickets to the lady who was possibly a little preoccupied. Got on A (red) line at Ottaviano, got off at Termini/Train Central Station, switch to B(blue) line then got off at Colosseo, the Coliseum is right outside of the station exit. We were a bit disappointed as a good portion of the coliseum was under reconstruction and thus destroyed plenty photo opportunity. We enjoyed orders of Italian ice cream(gelato), Pistachio flavored (€8 each). Walked to see Fontana, also stopped by Piazza Venezia on the way. We had some challenge going to Pantheon as the Nexus 7 lost its GPS reception for a good while,, Anita got help from people she asked and we were able to find our way there. As it rained throughout our walking tour, with my one hand holding the umbrella and another on Nexus 7, I wan't able to focus on taking good photos. Rest and doze on/off most of the remaining afternoon.
A note on close call on B(blue) line Metro: When I was stepping onto the B(blue) line Metro, I felt someone was pulling me(or my bag), I glanced back and saw a woman carrying a baby in front of her, at first I thought it was simply too crowded, but later on noticed that the zipper on my tablet was about 70% open, luckily nothing was missing - my glancing back must have broken off the theft process - thank God.
11/16: Got up at 5:00, finished cleaning and packing by 8:00. Packing wasn't as easy as I had to put the larger jacket and sweater in and wear polo short and slack instead. Paolo came by at 10:10 to check us out. He called a taxi for us which took us to Termini station in 15 minutes. We had a McDonalds Big MAC and a Coke for €5, Big MAC was kind of small though. There wasn't much left after the platform number was displayed - we were assigned carriage 1 which is at the head of the train - walked nearly 5 minutes to carriage 1, it was 11:55 after we got to our seats, only 5 minutes before departure time. These's a guy at every carriage trying to help people with their luggages, I fell for that and handed over our luggages, luckily we did not have much Euros and Anita gave him half Euro when he asked for 10 - ridiculous. Carriage 1 was only 30% filled, maybe that's why they have the 2 for 1 sale. Arriving Civitavecchia at 12:45, the station here is kind of old even though it's an important cruise ship port. Walked about 20 minutes before getting to a small cruise ship pier gate. Waited nearly 10 minutes for Norwegian Jade shuttle, another 10 minutes to get to check-in point, after going through health questionary, registration with credit card we were issued entry cards - Anita has the Bronze status while I have the regular stateroom entry card. After unpacking our luggages, we went to Garden Cafe for a light meal, it was good - not only because we had 3 days of abnormal meals but also because the dishes are actual nicely prepared. We dodged the 4:00 Life Boat Drill.
11/17: Apparently they did roll call during the life boat drill and we were notified to attend a make up session in Stardust theatre at 11:30 today, not sure we will be on board at the time. Got up at 4:30, there were tons of people in Garden Cafe when we got there for breakfast, guess most people could not sleep due to jet lag, should be better in a couple of days. Made a mistake having a full bagel by myself, will skip it tomorrow and focus on other less filling food items. Got off ship at 9:10, the shuttle to Livorno city cost €5 each round trip. Of the 15 minutes ride, 10 were inside the pier. Livorno is a small city, most popular vista points are close by the harbor, it took us less than 3 1/2 hours to finish what we wanted to see. Got back to the ship at 12:35. Lunch and dinner at Garden Cafe again - we are used to freestyle dinning, even considered sit down dinner as a burden. We never attended the make-up Life Boat drill session, no new notification so far.
11/18: Went for breakfast at 6:00.8:20; 15 minutes tender ride to Villefranche. Walked 10 minutes from tender docking pier to bus stop. 9:00; Got on Monaco bound bus 100, bus fare is €1.5 each. Arriving Monte Carlo at 9:50. Marked down return bus location on GPS map and started tour of the city. Walked up a wide ramp toward Palace of the Prince, souvenir shop, Cathedral, and the Oceanographic Museum. Walked back to the bus stop in 15 minutes, we watched closely the next stop display on the bus but did not see ”Villefranche” about the time we should be arriving, thought it'll take a few more minutes until I took out the GPS and found out we've already missed it - the stop where many people got on nut the stop was a different name. The driver let us off at the next stop and told us to take the bus across the street, it cost us another €1.5 each to go back, sigh :-(
11:00; got on bus going back to Villefranche. Struggle s little but finally got back to where tender docked.
11/19: Had breakfast at 6:00, pretty much the same stuff daily. Got off ship 9:15(ship docked at La Seyne Sur-Mer which is an industrial city), a water taxi took us to Toulon at 9:25, took about 20 minutes. We didn't spend much time in Toulon as it rained non-stop while we were there, visited The Cathedral, local market, and Marine Museum(closed today - Tuesday).Water taxi started back at 11:27 and docked at La Seyne Sur-Mer at 11:45. Had lunch at Blue Lagoon, there's only one menu throughout the entire cruise from this restaurant, we ordered buffalo wing, finger chicken, chef salad, and mozzarella cheese stick, very tasty food but need to wait about 10 minutes before taking order.
11/20: Had breakfast at 6:00. J8:15 left ship8:17: boarded port transfer shuttle8:40: arriving information center in Barcelona8:55: exchanged $500 for €340 on La Rambla, the street has a 20ft wide walkway in the center of the street where people can walk, merchant can set up seats on both side for guests, a very popular night attraction.9:10: got on Metro L3 (€2.00 each), switch to L2 blue, got off at Sagrada Familia (architected by Gaudi, still under construction)at 9:32.10:02: Took L2 to Pasage de Garcia to see a few more Gaudi's products.
2:25: boarded port transfer shuttle.
2:50 - back to stateroom3:20: Sit down at Blue Lagoon for fried cheese sticks and buffalo wings(10 pieces), this time it was served within 5 minutes.
This is the first day of the cruise which sunshine dominates.
11/21: After several wake-up breaks during the night, got up at 6:30 which was close to normal now. Breakfast at 6:50. Met an old gentleman from Arizona at the breakfast table, he was a Marine and stationed 14 months in Taiwan in 1956.Shuttle from dock to Valencia center costs €12 person round trip. It's extremely cold with wind blowing widely - felt like 0℃, the sweater plus a light vest weren't enough to keep me warm, had to find shelters every now and then to regain some lost body heat. Started Valencia tour at 9:35. First at the bus stop was Torres de Serranos(Highland Tower), should have paid €2 to get a panoramic view of the city from the top of the castle. Next stop is Cathedral of Santa Maria which is in a square with a couple of other churches and a fountain. The Mercat Central(Central Market) is a mix of super market and traditional produce exchange, it is in-house and has everything you can expect from a super market (vegetables, fruits, pastry, raw and preserved meat, cheese, nuts,...) but each unit is individually owned and operated, the most amazing thing is that it is so clean you'd think you are in a model home, it is a popular for locals (to do grocery shopping) as well as tourists (for admiring). La Lonja de la Seda was a Silk Trading place famous for its architecture. Also moved down the street to see an old building area for beautiful designs. Went back to the Cathedral square and had a light bite at the McDonalds there, also went online the first time since leaving Rome.
Taking the shuttle back to the ship at 1:50 after it was filled. Got back to Jade at 2:05, carry-ons were not scanned for some reason. Had Potato skin and buffalo wings at Blue Lagoon after hot bath and short rest.
11/22: [Due to unfavorable weather condition crossing Mediterranean sea, our next stop will be Palma de Mallorca instead of Cagliari]It rained heavily while we were having breakfast, but sun showed its face a little later. But it started to rain again when we got shuttle tickets and walked off the ship. After debating to go or not to go, we realized tickets appeared to be non refundable so here we go. It rained cats and dogs when we got off the shuttle, hats and umbrellas everywhere, the entrance to the Palace (Palacio de la Almudaina)was filled with tourists trying to stay dry.We visited the cathedral(La Seu) for €6 each, it's well worth it, we not only get to stay dry but also see the beauty of this cathedral(bought 3 beautiful scarfs for €5 each - plan to give them to mom, sister, and sister-in-law on Chinese New Year trip to Taiwan) The weather cleared up by the time we finished visiting the cathedral. The La Lonja here wasn't nearly as nice as the one in Valencia, luckily there's a modern art exhibition going on inside, we stayed and enjoyed the display for nearly 40 minutes. Went back and see the surroundings of Palacio de la Almudaina - its garden and swan pool.Back to ship at 1:20.
11/23: [At sea]Stayed in bed most of the time when not having meal - get sea sick if stay up too long.
11/24: Got up at 6:00, ship docked at 7:25 while we were having breakfast at Garden Cafe. Anita studied ship excursion sheet and decided to join "Medina & Sidi Bou Said", $29.99 each - inexpensive but have to see exactly what's provided. We waited in Stardust theatre for call to exit the ship. Since we are exiting Euro and entering Tunisia, Ship ID, passport, as well Landing card are required. We were finally called to exit an boarded the bus at 9:35. Bus started at 9:52. The tour guide was very knowledgeable in the history and religion of the area, obviously well experienced guide. He took us to Carthage for a short stop to see Roman aqua duct (85 miles?), it's nice since this was not on the original tour itinerary. Next stop at Medina, we bought a small bottle of Lemon oil for €10 at the essential oil store - very pure oil. The carpet store has many colorful and nicely made carpets but they cost too much. Final stop at Sidi Bou Said; date store was nice but packaging wasn't flexible so we skipped that, Anita bought a carpet at one of the souvenir store, asking €400, final price $150 - 1/4 of the original, good deal. Back to the ship at 2:45. John and Amy shared our table for make up lunch.
11/25: Woke up at 6:30. Left ship at 9:30. Palermo is a small city where most scenic views are in the same area named Quattro Canti(at the cross section of via Maqueda and Corso Vittorio Emanuele). We started at ship's dock at Molo Piave, walk to via Emerico Amari, turn left on via Roma, then turn right on Corso Vitttorio Emanuele. The Cathedral, Fontana Pretoria, and several churches are all in the general area.Back to the ship at 12:45.Watched "Elements" in Stardust theatre, a combination of magic and circus show, not bad.
11/26: Final port of call, we bought "Pompeii on your own" excursion, essentially a bus ride to and from Pompeii - $24.99 each. Our bus was scheduled at 8:15 but didn't leave until 8:30. Ride to Pompeii took 30 minutes, ticket to Pompeii ruins is €11 each. It's difficult to comprehend the ruins without a guide as there's virtually no info anywhere you go, had to guess for ourselves. The entire ruins will need about 3 hours to cover, we had to leave and meet our bus at 11:45 which only leave us w hours and 20 minutes - ticket procuring took away 25 minutes. For people used to the info provided at a National (or even state) park/museum, this is way too primitive. Back to the ship at 12:32. Went to Naples(or Napoli in Italian) to look for Wi-Fi to check in our flights tomorrow, it didn't work at the McDonald's as Italian is the only available language there, we had to go back to the customs building where there's a snack shop with Wi-Fi, I bought a pistachio ice cream for €2, the store owner enter the password on my Nexus 7 and we are online. Anita did the check-in which had to through Lufthansa website, it's not easy but she did it in 30 minutes. Time to pack!
11/27: Got up at 5:00, had breakfast at 6:10, disembark at 8:15, got on shuttle to gate at 8:20, got to gate at 8:40(ride took only 8 minutes), we were met by CIVITATOURS at the gate drop-off(Forte Michelangelo), walked about 10 minutes (extremely cold) to bus boarding stop, got on the bus at 8:35. Passengers came on board a few at a time, bus finally heads out to Fiumicino airport at 9:35. Temperature was 5℃ but felt much colder
ADD PICKUP POINT PHOTO HERE - USE TICKET VOUCHER INSERT.
Got to Fiumicino airport(FCO - Leonardo Da Vinci) at 10:35. Check-in was easy, but we do have 2 hours to kill before boarding (1:00). Had a meal at McDONALD'S - I Grande Classic plus a Sundae ice cream.(€9.45), ketchup and mayonnaise each cost €0.25 extra. Wondered around a bit, this airport is kind of primitive, more like a domestic airport. Went through security check point at 12:25, passengers traveling to US and Israel go through a more strict examination. Stores and general surroundings are better than those outside the gate. one interesting comparison, a 7 oz lindor chocolate costs €8.4($12) where a one pound(16 oz) of the same costs only $8 which is roughly 1/3. Our flight LH233(A321) was delayed to 2:20 as we waited to board, it then was delayed again to 2:30, the actual take off time was 2:40. Because of tail wind, our flight was able to make up some lost time, we landed at Frankfurt at 4:20, we fast walked through the airport (from gate A all the way to gate Z), and got to gate Z23, after being questioned for luggage packing issues, we boarded flight UA933 at 4:45, our seats are 46G and 46D with empty seat 46E between us, after the doors are closed, the lady attendant offered to move us to economy plus with the same seat condition, we kindly declined after think it over - row 46 may be a little bumpier and has shorter leg room, but we still like it much :-) The dinner meal was surprisingly tasty, a first from an UA flight, also 777, although relatively old, does have individual entertainment center. The flight ran into a rough turbulence about one hour from Dulles airport, it continued all through landing - possibly caused by strong tail wind since we landed 25 minutes earlier - I probably would have thrown up had it lasted one minute longer. The airport was surprisingly empty, this flight appeared to be the only plane landed at the time. Going through customs and baggage claim(although ours came out really late, worried us a bit) smoothly. We were expecting a large crowd as this is Thanksgiving eve, but once again, to our surprise, no crowd in the domestic area. The flight to SFO was delayed by 15 minutes, Anita was in a row with all seats filled while I got a better deal - seat next to me was unoccupied. Again, no food except water was served on the flight. We landed at SFO pretty much on time. Jack pick us up at baggage claim exit gates (9 & 10).
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Missing San Jose Mercury newspaper
05/08/2013: delivered after 11:00
05/24/2013: delivered after 10:00
05/26/2013: not delivered, sent complaint mail to customer service, they respond with one week
credit plus forwarding complaints to higher level.
06/09/2013: delivered after 8:00
06/16/2013: delivered after 9:30
06/22/2013: redeliver request sent at 7:06am - paper came at 7:45, it turned out to be a late delivery
09/26/2014: redelivery request sent at 8:00AM but newspaper was not redelivered
10/31/2014: redelivery request sent at 8:45AM, no delivery!
05/24/2013: delivered after 10:00
05/26/2013: not delivered, sent complaint mail to customer service, they respond with one week
credit plus forwarding complaints to higher level.
06/09/2013: delivered after 8:00
06/16/2013: delivered after 9:30
06/22/2013: redeliver request sent at 7:06am - paper came at 7:45, it turned out to be a late delivery
09/26/2014: redelivery request sent at 8:00AM but newspaper was not redelivered
10/31/2014: redelivery request sent at 8:45AM, no delivery!
Sunday, May 26, 2013
2013 Turkey Trip (5/9/2013-5/23/2013)
5/9-5/10: Jack picked us up at 9:50am, got to SFO at 10:20. There were tons of people waiting to pass security check point, Anita was pulled to have her luggage examined due to the knife look-like chopsticks she carried. Arrived at Frankfurt at 9:37 am (9 hours ahead of San Jose time), going through security checkpoint (Germany was different, they don't require people removing shoes or belt but do require tablets being taken out of backpack), we are ready to board Turkish Airlines to Istanbul. Turkish Airlines uses Airbus 340 for this service, even though it was not brand new, the long leg space and LED TV for every seat was much much better than United airlines' outdated 747. The flight took off on time and arrived 20 minutes early. It was easy to get the $20 landing visa after getting into the airport lobby, but there was a huge crowd trying to pass custom, airport official,finally decided to open up another check point to relieve the wait. There was at least 3 dozen people outside the custom, all holding name(s) they want to pickup, we checked several times but could.not find Anita's name, but finally decided upon another pickup service - the same price. Traffic to the hostel was pretty bad (not sure if caused by usual commute or something else), it took more than 45 minutes. Paid（to the hostel）€25 for the shuttle - kind of expensive but did save some hassle. The Sur hotel room was small but neat, a total of $225 for 3 nights. We rest for a while then walked to Blue Mosque, male must not were short, female must not show arms or legs, plus all shoes must be removed to see the inside. Walked along Divan Yolu Cd, populated with tourists, much like our 夜市. The Sur hotel has bad sound-proofing rooms, you can hear people talking in the lobby downstairs, or walking up/down the stairs, we could not fall asleep until all was quiet but then it's jet lag take-over time.
5/11: Woke up early - 2:00 am, managed to relieve by drinking a lot of water and consume more food. Went out to walk on the wharf, wasn't an easy access, need to walk along a very busy street, cross one wide road, and pass a garbage filled field, there were a dozen people fly-fishing on the wharf, some kind of small silver fishes appeared to be their only catches. Buffet breakfast was served on the top floor, vegetables are fresh, scramble eggs are tasty, and instant nestcoffee was actually very nice. Our plan was to visit Hagia Sophia, but there wad long lines already even though we arrived before it was open, we decided to visit Topkapi Palace instead, this one was easier to get in (ticket was TL25) but required 5 to 10 minutes wait to enter each of the display chamber/room. We spent 2 hours total in Topkapi Palace then went back to Hagia Sophia, there were three lines now, as we got close to the ticket office, Anita discovered the third line was considerably longer and that it was for people to get in after getting the tickets, we decided to come back tomorrow morning - earlier! Visited the Basilica Cistern, an ancient underground water storage structure built in the 6th century - the largest of several hundred of them under Instanbul. After taking a short break and some food, we started walking toward the ruins of Bozdogan Aqueduct - an ancient structure that convey water to the city. We walked nearly 40 minutes back to our hotel room at 3:30, we were exhausted and slept until 8:00, so instead of going out for dinner, we consumed what's left of our bring-over food plus some chips.
5/12:
First thing today is to finish what we missed yesterday - Hagia Sophia/Ayasofya - there were less than 50 people waiting in line for the ticket, maybe there were fewer (or no) cruise ships today. Constructed about 300 A.C.E as Orthodox church, converted to Catholic church, then to Muslum mosque, and finally to museum. BTW, ticket was TL25 each.
As we walked toward the pier, Anita noticed a €10 deal for a two-hour ride, we took it. Someone lead us to a shuttle which then took us to the boat e minutes away, it was an old and not too big boat, this may explain the price. First half of the ride was not bad as there were quite a few photo opportunities, the second half was on the Asia continent side of the bay and not much to see.
After getting off the bay cruiser, we crossed the street(?) and found Egyptian Market (?), took some photos and bought about 1 kilo Turkist delight(1/2 kilo of dry figs for TL8, 1/2 kilo of pistacho mashmellow for TL16, plus 1/2 kilo ? for TL16). We lost our direction and had to ask around to get back to the hotel.
We had burgers for dinner at a stand near Ayasofya - TL4 cheese burger, TL3.5 burger, and TL3.5 fresh screezed O.J. This possibly the fisrt time eating buger without fries and coke.
5/13: Got up at 6:30 and started packing, the consumption of one Pringle chips seemed to balance the addition of the Turkish delight box for the luggage space. The shuttle was scheduled at 10:35 but was late by 30 minutes, it took only 20 minutes to get to Atatuk airport, the driver was nice to take us to domestic part of the airport, we were a little scared when he had to get out of the airport then turn around to enter domestic section. It was very confusing that we had to go through security check again when we wanted to enter boarding area, this was after an exactly the same security check process when we entered the airport building, to me, this was totally a waste of time. We bought a mazrella salad from the food court, costs TL12, a bottle of water costs TL2.50, quite expensive. A Muslim lady gave us an apple and orange without any reason, this was the first good will we received today. TK2750 to Van took off on time at 2:00 and landed on time at 4:00, there was even a meal on board, which we saved the sandwich for dinner. Got out of the Van airport and hop on a taxi, they charge fare by meter, the cost to Merit Sahmaran hotel was TL35.
After checking in, we immediately head out to town center to get map since the hotel does not have any. Since taxi was expensive to get around, we decided to use the popular transportation - minibus - ,you simply stand and wait by the roadside and wave off one and tell them where you are going, fare was distance dependent. While we werewaiting by the roadside, a nice guy told us that for our destination, we need to go to the other side. As we were crossing the street, a lady driver stopped her car and ask if she could offer us a ride, but too bad we were not going her way :-( We finally got on a minbus, we found out none of the people on the minibus spoke any English, we tried hard to communicate where we were going and how much the fare was, after some struggle, we kind of understand that they were taking us to the place where we could get a map and there will be no charge, it's confusing on the latter part but we gladly accepted their offer. After they dropped us off, Anita asked a few girl students on how to get to Van castle, they were also happy to gave us directions. According to one gentleman on the sidewalk, it'll only be 10 more minutes from where we were, but it ended a lot longer, we finally hopped on another minibus for TL3 to take us both there - 5 minutes later, this would have taken us another 30 minutes if we had walked. Van castle was a fortress built in the 7th to 9th centries BC. A local boy (we learnt later that he's actually dumb - unable to speak) approached us indicating he can take us and see the fortress, so we followed him around, climbing a lot of the time (in my sandles), we would not have climbed so much and accessed to so many amazing views if it weren't for our dumb guide. It's time to go back, as Anita to a minibus look-alike car, it stopped, but it's a private car but the people in that car offerred us a ride, we were only hope they would drop us off at the cross road and we'll get on a minibus to the hotel, but they insisted taking us all the way, and they even stopped the car to ask for directions at a police station. We were so touched by their good gesture. We each took photos in front of the hotel as memento, we should have asked for their e-mail address so we could send them the photos.
5/14: Merit Sahmaran looked like a 4 star hotel by its appearance, hallway, room, amenities but when we enthusiastically went into their breakfast dinning hall, we were shocked to see the food they served, the only thing we could consume were boiled eggs, coffee, and small quantities of vegetables, no bread except big baked 餅, not only it wasn't up to a big hotel standard, it was even much worse than the breakfast in Sur hotel in Istanbul, sigh.
We caught a minibus across the street and headed toward the town center, the fare was TL2 each, that appeared to be commonly followed price. We got off at the corner of iPek Yolu Cd and Melen Cd, Anita realized that we could still ride alone as the minibus turned right, in our direction. But I wasn't able to walk fast because of leg problem, so we had to settle for walking, as Anita asked around as we walked, an old gentleman started showing how/where to go, this continued for more than 30 minutes before we arrived at a minibus stop of sort, there's a minibus heading toward Hosap Castle but they won't take off until 10:00 while it was only 9:00, Anita then found out there's another bus about to take off so we jumped ship. It took the bus about an hour to get there. The castle was right next to a Kurd village(we thought so as the people there spoke in some sort of accent), the castle was part of a joint excavation/conservation/restoration study, not open to the public (as far as we know), plus it was not in a convenient area to attract public. It was no surprise that we were the only visitors not from the neighborhood village. We got on a minibus and headed back to Van, stepped on Van soil at 12:05, since our next stop was Akdamar island in Lake Van, but we are having problem getting there, even though there was a good samaritan leading us to the places/people he knew to find a solution for us, but all these seemed to go in vain, taxi too expensive (TL100), no other minibus want to go (not enough people going), and even if we went there, no ferry would set sail with fewer than 4 person. It than started to became very cold and windy so we decided to head back to the hotel. As we were getting some hot food to take back for lunch as well for dinner, it started to rain, this sealed the idea of going back to our hotel. Entered our room at 1:35. Anita was not comfortable without getting the tickets to Batman in hand first, so she took the trouble going to otogar (auto garage/bus terminal) to buy the tickets - 2 minibus rides each way, took her one and an half hour to do that, really appreciated that.
Our good samaritan (photo taken) in Van :
5/15: Wake up at 1:00, did some packing then went back to bed, repeated several times and finally got up at 5:00. Breakfast was the same except the addition of 2 new kind of baked buns, taste better though. Hotel shuttle took us to otogar, this much like our own 公路局, we met three guys and one girl from Belgium, they were here to visit one of the guy's uncle (turned out we would meet them 3 more times during our trip). The Batman bound bus (a full size) left the station at 9:00, actually passed our hotel enroute. We had a good view of the lake shore for nearly 2 hours, we even saw the Adkamar island, a couple of zoom photos were able to capture the church on the island. Even though we are well in Turkey territory, there was a check point where a military personnel came on board amd check everyone's paper. Bus stopped for lunch at 12:00 and left at 12:27, we bought 4 bananas for TL4 at the grocery store there. We entered Batman at 2:06, the total driving time was 4 and half an hour. We were lead to a bus that's actually taking us to the minibus bounded to Hasankeyf, but we didn't find out until a gentleman who works for Turkey government and spoke fluent English, told us the fare for the first bus was free but the bus taking us to Hasankeyf would be TL3. The bus left Batman at 2:33 and arrived at Hasankeyf at 3:05, didn't take long to find Hasbache Guest house, the owner wanted TL100 for room and breakfast which was TL20 more than what Anita read online from people who visited here in March, we decided to forfeit the breakfast and pay only TL80. We plan to get some stuff from the market for breakfast. Crossing the bridge, we explored the ruins of a bridge from the old silk road. And, the people here are very aggressive , even the kids - they would come chat with you (hello, where are you from, your name, and usually comes the next question, do you have money...), this pattern appeared after several kids did the same. We bought some vegetables from a truck, 4 peaches for TL2, 4 cucumbers for TL1, some strawberry for TL1. Also purchased a Turkish baked bun for TL1, a 1.5 L bottle water for TL1.
The two boys were interesting, so we took a photo of the owner with his truck of vegetables/fruits. He left his address so we could send him the photo.
Produce truck owner address:
Kesme Köprü 3 - o 與 u 上各有兩點
Hasan Key_Batman
Ozan Tapkan
Baris Tapkan
5/16: Breakfast - Strawberry, banana, peach, cucumber, Turkey baked bun. Took a walk to the places we visited yesterday to see them from a different angle - amazing view. Crossing the bridge the last time. Also saw the ruin of an old mosque (name?), in a residential area. Checked out at 8:30, got on the Midyat bound bus at 8:50, fare was TL8, but the ticket master only took TL15 from Anita (turned out the guy did not have proper change, we later paid the shorted one lira. Arriving Midyat at 9:45, found a taxi station nearby, the taxi driver demanded TL70 to take us to Mor Gabriel Monastery he wouldn't budge the price and we relented. The trip began at 9:51. Arriving Mor Gabriel Monastery at 10:10, spent about an hour in the monastery, started heading back at 11:14, the taxi driver took us to the otogar at 11:35 where we took the bus to Mardin, this saved us some trouble looking for otogar. The bus left otogar after 10 minutes, picking up customers from main streets and came back to otogar where a few more passengers got on before we were on our way to Mardin. We entered Mardin city limit at 2:40. When it's time to get off, Anita showed the driver the hotel we want to go but he had no idea, a fellow lady passenger warm-heartedly tried to help us figuring out where the hotel was, made phone call, asked passers-by and took us across the street, the hotel was apparently on a different section of the city, told us to get on the city bus when it came along, also asked driver to tell us where to get off - what a nice lady. After we got off the bus and asked around, we started walking in the direction given. A lady passerby showed us how to get there, 10 minutes later we were at the lobby of a hotel but turned out to be the wrong one, we were told the right one was 4 blocks away, it took us nearly 30 minutes to find it - very tiresome since the road was under repair, the sidewalk was narrow, it was uphill most of the time, and we were pulling our luggages with backpacks. Our room in Reyhani Kasri Hotel had a nice view of Mesopotamia, it had a modern bathroom, a nice lighting design, a balcony, a strong WiFi signal, and total privacy, plus plenty of power outlets. Anita found a deal with the hotel sending a taxi to take us to and from Dara for TL120. Later we found out that the hotel manager Ali would take us instead, according to him, taxi was asking more for the same trip. He drove a nice/new hotel car, very comfortable, he drove fast but safe - I didn't even have seat belt on. The goal was to see the ruins of the East Roman fortress in Dara, current excavation started in 2008 but stopped in 2010, only 20% had been excavated as of now, no plan for new excavation was in place. Ali accompanied us throughout the trip, he lined up a local guide for us and helped translate since the guide spoke limited English. With his help, we were able to see a lot more than with a taxi driver. For TL50 more we also visited Deyrulzafaran Manostery on our way back to Mardin - which left us more time tomorrow to casually walk about the town. Spent TL22 for some skewed beef and stewed beef for dinner, consumed only half.
5/17: Got up at 7:00, intentionaly late since breakfast buffett won't open until 7:30, plus we will only be visiting the old town and they in walking distance. The breakfast was much better than Merit Sahmaran in Van, various kind of breads and hot egg, potatoes plus true professional services are the main difference. Got some info from the front desk and we were off to trek the town. Had lunch at a local store, food was OK, the rice was surprisingly good, all other dishes were too salty to consume without rice or bread, not a real fan of Turkish food.
After finished visiting Mardin Museum (TL5 each), we came back to the hotel. Had to go to the front desk to get Anita's iPad WiFi activated (with my passport number) as the activation provided by Ali expired.
5/18:
Taxi (pickup us at the hotel at 7:50) to otogar 8:05
Bus start 8:08(TL10 each)
Stopped to get gas at 8:55
At otopark ucretlidir (9:22)
Minibus (TL1.5) to hotel 9:30
Thank heaven for a smooth transportation.
Rested until 12:00, had the rolls made last night and head out to see the city at 12:35.
There does not appear to be much too see in Diyarbakir, the few places we visited do not, in my opinion worth the stay here.
Went see the so-called city wall, it was the second longest in the world (since we could not climb up to explore the wall, there wasn't much to say about it. We did encounter an unexpected strong gust that prompted us looking for cover, as the situation did not improve, we headed back to the hotel for shelter. Ordered a lamb döner kebab meal to go on our way, this would be the first true Turkish dish we had.
5/19: Got up at 5:50, went for another look at the city wall at 6:30, this time we were lucky and met the old man who was the care taker of that part of city wall where we were, we did not have any small change lira, but he finally accepted €1 and allowed both of us in. Had breakfast at 7:05, they had scrambled eggs and varieties of breads. Checked out at 7:40, a taxi took us to otogar (small minibus only) at 7:55. The bus (fare was TL8 each) left the otogar at 8:35. As usual, picking up additional passengers along the way before heading out to the highway. Arrived Siverek at 10:10. Got on the minibus to Kahta (prounced ke' ta) at 10:11, the driver came over to find out the address of our hotel in Kahta, he called the hotel but not sure why though. The bus did not leave until 11:01.
Arriving ferry dock at 11:35, missed the 11:30 ferry, had to wait for the scheduled 1:30 daily departure. It's going to be a long wait. Luckily, we were able to sit down drinking tea while waiting for our ferry. A ferry came back from the other side at 12:01, this meant we could leave earlier, at 12:05, our driver signaled us to walk onto the ferry, and our bus moved up to its parking space, the ferry left the docking area at 12:15. The ferry docked at 11:30 and we were on our way to Kahta. Weekend ferry, apparently, had more runs due to higher demand. The minibus dropped us right in front of the New Kommagene Hotel at 1:30. Taking off with hotel tour (TL120 each) at 2:10, first stop was Black Bird Hill/Karakuş, Nemrut Dağı or Mount Nemrut was a man-made tomb from the Kingdom of Commagene. Met the group from Belgium the fourth time, one of the guy lent me his jacket so I didn't have to suffer the extreme cold wind and/or catch a cold. Next stop was Kahta castle, not open to the public, could only take photos afar. Zesi coffee (no caffeine), at Rome Cafe at the bottom of Kahta castle, was made from special Menegig Kah Zesi, it was different but not that good. The guy was selling half kilo for TL40 (stiff price for any coffee), we were going to get some but later found out it was in liquid gel form which we could not take with us. Also stopped at Severan bridge, a Roman bridge constructed in the 3rd century. Came back to the hotel at 7:40, explored the neighborhood and bought the following for dinner as well as for lunch tomorrow:
4 apples: TL4
6 cucumbers: TL1
4 bananas: TL3
Grilled chicken wings with rice, fries, baked bun, and vegetables: TL10
5/20: Our room in New Kommagene Hotel had only a single power outlet, I had to quickly charge the batteries one at a time, managed to get Nexus 7, two Sony NP-BG1 95% charged. IPod touch was on last minute charge while we had breakfast. Breakfast plate contained slices of tomato and cucumber, some salty oliver, 3 kinds of cheese (only one wasn't too salty), one slice orange, and one slice salami, plus a basket of bread (pretty good, went well with butter). The couple who camped outside actually travelled on bike, it's amazing that they can pack everything they need (including their tent) onto the bikes they rode, they (from Netherland) appeared in their 60th. A number of different types of travelers stayed here - by minibus like us, by rental cars, on bike, or in van with bed. We were told our tour bus won't come until 9:35, at that time the owner revealed that the third person for the trip won't be joining us because she's sick, hmm, our guess was that he invented the third person to help sell the tour, but since he lower the price from TL350 to TL250 for two, we are happy for the result plus that he refunded the park entrance fee (to Mount Nemrut yesterday) of TL18. First stop was the Ataturk Dam, Turkey's largest and world's 5th largest.
The world's first temple in Harran, dated back 11,000 year ago, Gobeklitepe was discovered by a German archaeologist in 1995 and had been excavated ever since. Harran ruin was considered the first university of the world. The driver sent us to the hotel in Sanliurfa after finishing the tour, the hotel upgraded us to a better room with balcony and a great view because the driver and the hotel (New Kommogene) he worked for has business relationship with this hotel, how nice. After we get in the room, Anita suspected if we were in the wrong hotel because the name does not match, she went to the front desk and found out that we are OK, most likely the original booking was for the guest house (a hostel style housing) next door and they have the same owner, an upgrade really lifted us, had to thank the driver. Explored the neighborhood - the Fish Pond, Abraham's birth cave, local street market, bought a chicken kebab wrapped in a large thin 麵餅, looked like 春捲 for TL2.5, very tasting. Also bought the following:
6 apples: TL3
3 bagels: TL1.5
This hotel did not have WiFi, first ever in our trip. Found out that they did have WiFi, only available in the lobby - password 6363636363.
5/21: Got up at 6:45, their breakfast started at 7:00. There was a crowd when we went there, sounded like German. This hotel had the best breakfast in our whole trip, 4 different types of egg preparations, cantalope, watermelon, a whole selection of breads, plus Danish bread (cookie?).
We checked out at 8:45, got on taxi at 8:55 and arrived otogar at 9:10, got tickets (TL20 each) to Gaziantep at 9:13. This was a long haul bus which stops at Gaziantep, Adana, Ankara, and final stop was Istanbul. We took the very front seats on the right , had a great view of the bus ahead, should be able to take some good photos. Bus left otogar at 10:00. We were told to move to our assigned seats 13 and 14, too early to be happy ^_^.
The bus turned south heading Suruc which was only 10 miles from Syria boarder, the bus stopped in Onbirnisan, which was about 12 miles from Syria boarder, picked up several passengers before heading northwest to the main freeway. Bus stopped in Birecik at 10:55 for more passengers. The national freeway system can be seen here enroute to Gaziantep, it's very well maintained and has 3-lane on each direction most of the way. Arriving Gaziantep bus terminal at 12:22. Taxi took us to hotel Ugurlu. Since we were early, we had to wait about 10 minutes (for them to clean up the room) before checking in. Took a minibus (TL1.5 each) to Zeugma Mosaic Museum, spent one and half an hour there, amazing display, especially the Egyptian Girl - major feature of the museum. Rested in the hotel for a short while before walking to Imam Çağdaş (a famous local restaurant) with the assistance of Google map, it was only a short 8 minutes walk, with occasional consulting of passers-by of course. We were going to have the meal (TL17.5) takeout but we probably did not communicate too well, we dined there which was good because it tasted great. We also purchased half kilo of mixed Baklava - TL24. We accidently found the must see "Old Grand Bazaar" right across the street, Anita bought a "Egyptian Girl Mosaic" magnet and a string of prayer beads. This hotel did not provide hot water until 7:45pm, took a while to figure out - a first in all our hostel stay but I guess you couldn't ask too much for €35 per night. WiFi was available but was kind of slow. On the plus side, this hotel provides hairdryer, TV with one English channel (CNN), multiple power receptacles.
5/22: There was breakfast afterall, it was behind a less noticeable door. The food provided was more than adequate for the room charge. After Anita took care of the online check-in issue, we headed to "Gaziantep Kale/Castle", it wasn't special but we spent sometime exploring the nearby neighborhood, bought some Pistachio (TL14.5) and Pican delight(TL38). A little later we saw the same Pistachio delight selling for half the price in the street. Went back to the hotel at 11:20 - lunch our style (apple, cucumber, Turkish bagel, Baklava from Imam Çağdaş, and bottle water. Explored the neighborhood again, discovered that there were a number musical instrument stores as well as used bookstores just up the street from the hotel, somewhat resembled our 菇嶺街. Bought a small piece of Pistachio sweet (TL3.75) two circular sweets (TL1) and dinner (TL15). Dinner consisted of rice, french fries, patato half, ground lamb sticks (4), tomato half, and salad.
5/23: Got up at 4:45, had everything packed by 5:30, 6:00 taxi, arrived at the airport at 6:30. since there's only one gate for all departures, we had to wait until 7:30 to pass the second security check point. Bottle water was TL1.5 - forgot we could not bring the water pass security check point, left it half filled. Flight took off on time at 8:20, arriving Istanbul on time at 10:00. Istanbul airport was quite big, we had to take 5 minutes shuttle (from the plane) to get to airport building. Lufthansa airlines counter was way back - all easy access counters were assigned to Turkish airlines, understandable. Got our boarding passes (4) from their Kiosk(?), went through security check point - always a hassle but we have to live with it. After we sat down in gate 221, Anita went looking for souvenir, some guy came over and asked everyone to leave the room because they need to check boarding pass, I wasn't able to get back in because our flight was still early and gate number may change. Waited outside until Anita came back (empty handed), bought a bottle of drinking water for TL3, twice the cost at Gaziantep airport, and 3/6 times that of street stores. Our gate number was changed to 220, even though the flight time was only one hour and 40 minutes, a simple but appreciated meal was served. Lufthansa 1299 took off at 2:40, delayed by 45 minutes. There were quite a few empty seats, I switched (I was 2 rows behind) to the seat next to Anita's. This Airbus A310 has a different design, seats were very roomy and comfortable, and there wasn't a single TV display in the cabin area, kind of strange for a new plane. A meal was also server on this flight, chicken, rice, bell pepper, chocolate bar, and a small bottle of water, oh, I had a nice cup of red wine. We landed at Frankfurt airport at 4:20 (scheduled boarding/taking off times were 4:35 and 5:05 respectively), we walked 10 minutes before getting to inter terminal tram, then walked another 5 minutes before getting to gate Z25. We have never been questioned so much by gate security (this was after the security check point) at boarding area, it took 30 minutes to get through, I believe this applied to people who visited certain countries. We finally boarded the plane at 5:06, but the plane did not take off until 6:02 (Frankfurt time) - apparently some luggages had to be taken off the plane for unknown reason (perhaps someone wasn't allowed to board). Anita and I sat at seats 61G and 61D, after a long wait, the two seats between us remained unoccupied, thank heaven. We landed at SFO at 7:50, flight time was about 10 hours and 50 minutes. Joe (from 㨗達 service) picked us up, met him at UA arrival door 4 center island, commercial transportation service only section($145 round trip, tips included). Home sweet home at 9:27pm.
Monday, March 4, 2013
2013 misc
1/23/2013-2/17/2013: Chinese New Year Taipei visit. Flew Evergreen airway, the plane was surprisingly not crowed, almost all three-seat rows has one seat unoccupied, my next seat passenger moved to one row with only one other passenger - this made me very happy since I was in a 2-seat row, felt like in business class :-) Had blood, urine, and stool examined, stool examine return positive, recommended 大腸鏡 but they could not find an open for me before I left, had to do it next time. Blood sugar a little high but within boarder line, cholesterols are OK, blood pressure has been OK during the one-week test(except sometimes it went over the 135/85 mark but most retests are below). Met big brother/sister Chou at 三四味屋. Had lunch at Anita's brother's home, 14 dishes total - the most I've ever seen there.
2/26/2013: Start trimming the Wisteria, selected the heavy ones that were causing the trellis to lean toward the brick pavement, used one of the old oak floor leftover to help straighten the trellis, I think it can serve its pur[ose for at least another year, need to trim off one of the larger branches close to the back of the right side trellis as it is pressing the old and fragile fence.
2/27/2013: Start trimming the defunct Cherry, cutting off the smaller branches first to clear up access space for handling larger branches; realized that the saw blade may be a bit dull when cutting larger branches, need to get a new one before continuing with other larger branches. Played ping pong at Dynamic Foundation at 1:00.
2/28/2013: Got a new saw blade for the reciprocal saw at Lowes - ~$3.00. Cut off the vertical branch that was blocking our bedroom view. Cut branches small and big into short and manageable pieces took the most time.
3/1/2013: Went to Chi/Willis' dinner party in Los Gato, even though I studied the map over and over before driving, I still made several wrong turns but safely arrived and parked on the street. Nick's Next Door is a small but popular place, our appointment was 7:45PM, but we didn't get seated until 8:10, food was different but not bad, I had Chilean Seabass, fairly tasting, oh, their bread was very good, I could just eat the bread and be satisfied. Played ping pong at Dynamic Foundation at 1:00.
3/2/2013: Went to California Badminton Academy and played table tennis with Ching Lee - he and his partner joined the table tennis club of this academy because their memberships with Top Spin expired plus the new place charged the same without any play time restriction, oh it is only 5 minutes from Ching Lee's house; this place has 10 tables on one side of the building, granted, badminton is their major event, it was filled with mostly young people learning and playing games, we were the only serious table tennis players there.
3/3/2013: Decided to vist the Chinese supermarket near City Sports, the last we were looing something else and did not spend much time there. I wanted to see if it is competitive to Ranch 99 as their price is going out of hand. Turned out it has a lot more stuff and I liked their price, they even carris the stinky tofu cake(臭豆腐乳).
3/4/2013: Cut down the horizontal center branches - cut a 2-foot piece first, but realized it is too slow since it's not easy to cut it up there, so I decided to use the shorter power cord as rope to hold the branches so they won't fall on the flower plants below, worked well. Kept the thicker part of the branches to serve as fence bottom blocker. Played ping pong at Dynamic Foundation at 3:00 (1:00 canceled due to their meeting).
3/5/2013: After struggling to deal with the hard to reach larger vertical branch, I finally managed to place the ladder next to the deck and trimmed off it piece by piece. Went to play ping pong at Dynamic Foundation, but was cut short half way through, because Kung got a phone call from his sister Teresa, apparently their mother once again is acting up due to Alzheimer disease, sigh.
Cutting the trimmed off branches to smaller pieces in 80 minutes, backyard tree trimming project completed.
3/7/2013: No ping pong today, my neck is acting up, need to rest it nicely. Started to rain around 5:30PM, took out all ~8 empty buckets. Went back in the yard to fill them until all are done - around ~11:30PM.
3/8/2013: Still pondering how to solve the heavy 3-leg table support problem. Refilled Anita's T-mobile cell phone with $10 - (408)627-9458, expiring 3/8/2014.
Paid LS400 DMV registration fee $120 at 11:21:58 AM, authorization number 184800.
3/9/2013: Drove with Jason to hike in Saratoga. Finished the 3-leg table installation - after some modification to original design - except the legs, I'll leave them on the floor for a few days before taking off the top parts for final installation.
3/13/2013: Called Jihua and cancel dinner with them.
3/14/2013: Played ping pong with Ching Lee at CBA from 10:30 to 12:15. Qualified for $5 senior price.
3/15/2013: Started working on final phase of the 3-leg table, manually cut off the lower part of the legs, keep only the decor. Sand off the excess and stained them, reinstall them with their original screws and voila - done.
3/16/2013: Went hiking in Saratoga hill - Jason's turn to drive - in the morning, 9 people were in the hiking trail - me, Jason, Yung, Jerry, Ruby, John, Allen, Steve, and Ching.
Went to Po's 60th birthday party at Chef Chu - by myself - took 101 N., Middlefield rd, San Antonio rd and El Camino. It is still very popular, a lot of people waiting to pick up takeouts, almost all tables were occupied, parking, of course, is a challenge, I got a spot at lot 2 - second to the last one.
The dishes selected by Po and CC are fabulous prepared by the chef - the best dishes I had for as long as I can remember.
Menu:
Appetizer: 核桃, 素雞, 捲黃瓜，小魚乾
金瓜濃湯
北京烤鴉
龍蝦拼盤(蝦，龍蝦，墨魚，干貝）
Lamb lollipop(thick and juicy)
湖南豆腐
壽麵
米素雪魚
杏仁茶(with )芝麻球
{XO醬: 辣椒，小蝦米，火腿,...- excellent}
Interesting waiter
3/18/2013: Heading to SFO at 10:10 to pick up Anita, flight status indicated that it will be 16 minutes late - 10:26, I did a nice estimate and arrived at gate G, took a leak at the restroom at ther end of the building and got a call from Anita as I came back to the gate, turned out she just came out, almost perfect timing. Parking was $4.
3/20/2013: Got the following from Costco
Bagel, croissant, seaweed salad, spring mix, sweet bell pepper, grape tomatoes,
smoked gouda cheese, and California Mandarins.
4/7/2013: Ordered Sony DSC-HX20V fro walmart.com for $299 plus tax - the loest price seen, most other places ask for over $380 for it. Used free shipping instead store pickup, estimated delivery date is 4/15/2013.
4/11/2013: Received SONY DSC-HX20V camera ordered from Walmart.com, similar look as the SONY DSC-HX7V except the hidden flash, 20X zoom, and a little heavier body, oh plus a smaller micro USB charger connecter - the same as Nexus 7.
4/12/2013: Received twin-pack NP-BG1 batteries and charger ordered from Amazon.com, the batteries and charger are tested and appeared to work well - the two replacement batteries also allowed the cameras to show percentage of battery level instead simply the battery bars - a better indicator.
5/9/2013 - 5/23/2013: Turkey trip
5/24/2013: First weight measurement after trip to Turkey - 150.2
5/28/2013: Second time weight measurement after trip to Turkey, expecting to gain some but got 148.8 - a low record in recent years (15?)
6/8/2013: Dinner at Sushi Mizu, ordered
- Calamari (OK)
- Cajun Tuna Sashimi (OK)
- Spicy Tuna Salad (OK)
- Pink Godzilla Roll (OK)
- Butterfly Roll (not OK)
- Mizu Margarita
- Dragon's Hurricane
Bill plus tip = $109 ($94.57+$14.43)
7/21/2013: Discovered my new bike has a flat front tire, determined it was caused by thorn covered 果實 after careful examination. Pumped air in the tire.
7/22/2013: The front tire is completely flat. Got a bottle of sealant and air pump from Walmart. Reinserted the front tire inner tube and reinstalled the tire/wheel. Followed the directions on the sealant bottle: 1. Remove tire valve core (with tool included) and deflate tire, 2. Inject sealant (4 OZ) into the tire,. 3. Reinstall valve core, 4. Inflate tire, 5. Rotate tire to distribute sealant.
Also did the same to the rear tire, will examine the result tomorrow.
8/25/2013: Found a way to include more photos in the same MyPublisher photobook page - collage:
- CollageIt 3 Free version, not easy to use as it does not have enough templates to accommodate different photo formats (number and orientation).
- Use CollageIt to create new photos - large size file, usually the total memory used by all the original photos. save photos.
- Open each collaged photo and crop properly (command+shift+4), it will be saved on desktop.
- Rename the cropped files, remove collaged photos
- Launch iPhoto and import these photos as MyPublisher can only get them from iPhoto.
2/26/2013: Start trimming the Wisteria, selected the heavy ones that were causing the trellis to lean toward the brick pavement, used one of the old oak floor leftover to help straighten the trellis, I think it can serve its pur[ose for at least another year, need to trim off one of the larger branches close to the back of the right side trellis as it is pressing the old and fragile fence.
2/27/2013: Start trimming the defunct Cherry, cutting off the smaller branches first to clear up access space for handling larger branches; realized that the saw blade may be a bit dull when cutting larger branches, need to get a new one before continuing with other larger branches. Played ping pong at Dynamic Foundation at 1:00.
2/28/2013: Got a new saw blade for the reciprocal saw at Lowes - ~$3.00. Cut off the vertical branch that was blocking our bedroom view. Cut branches small and big into short and manageable pieces took the most time.
3/1/2013: Went to Chi/Willis' dinner party in Los Gato, even though I studied the map over and over before driving, I still made several wrong turns but safely arrived and parked on the street. Nick's Next Door is a small but popular place, our appointment was 7:45PM, but we didn't get seated until 8:10, food was different but not bad, I had Chilean Seabass, fairly tasting, oh, their bread was very good, I could just eat the bread and be satisfied. Played ping pong at Dynamic Foundation at 1:00.
3/2/2013: Went to California Badminton Academy and played table tennis with Ching Lee - he and his partner joined the table tennis club of this academy because their memberships with Top Spin expired plus the new place charged the same without any play time restriction, oh it is only 5 minutes from Ching Lee's house; this place has 10 tables on one side of the building, granted, badminton is their major event, it was filled with mostly young people learning and playing games, we were the only serious table tennis players there.
3/3/2013: Decided to vist the Chinese supermarket near City Sports, the last we were looing something else and did not spend much time there. I wanted to see if it is competitive to Ranch 99 as their price is going out of hand. Turned out it has a lot more stuff and I liked their price, they even carris the stinky tofu cake(臭豆腐乳).
3/4/2013: Cut down the horizontal center branches - cut a 2-foot piece first, but realized it is too slow since it's not easy to cut it up there, so I decided to use the shorter power cord as rope to hold the branches so they won't fall on the flower plants below, worked well. Kept the thicker part of the branches to serve as fence bottom blocker. Played ping pong at Dynamic Foundation at 3:00 (1:00 canceled due to their meeting).
3/5/2013: After struggling to deal with the hard to reach larger vertical branch, I finally managed to place the ladder next to the deck and trimmed off it piece by piece. Went to play ping pong at Dynamic Foundation, but was cut short half way through, because Kung got a phone call from his sister Teresa, apparently their mother once again is acting up due to Alzheimer disease, sigh.
Cutting the trimmed off branches to smaller pieces in 80 minutes, backyard tree trimming project completed.
3/7/2013: No ping pong today, my neck is acting up, need to rest it nicely. Started to rain around 5:30PM, took out all ~8 empty buckets. Went back in the yard to fill them until all are done - around ~11:30PM.
3/8/2013: Still pondering how to solve the heavy 3-leg table support problem. Refilled Anita's T-mobile cell phone with $10 - (408)627-9458, expiring 3/8/2014.
Paid LS400 DMV registration fee $120 at 11:21:58 AM, authorization number 184800.
3/9/2013: Drove with Jason to hike in Saratoga. Finished the 3-leg table installation - after some modification to original design - except the legs, I'll leave them on the floor for a few days before taking off the top parts for final installation.
3/13/2013: Called Jihua and cancel dinner with them.
3/14/2013: Played ping pong with Ching Lee at CBA from 10:30 to 12:15. Qualified for $5 senior price.
3/15/2013: Started working on final phase of the 3-leg table, manually cut off the lower part of the legs, keep only the decor. Sand off the excess and stained them, reinstall them with their original screws and voila - done.
3/16/2013: Went hiking in Saratoga hill - Jason's turn to drive - in the morning, 9 people were in the hiking trail - me, Jason, Yung, Jerry, Ruby, John, Allen, Steve, and Ching.
Went to Po's 60th birthday party at Chef Chu - by myself - took 101 N., Middlefield rd, San Antonio rd and El Camino. It is still very popular, a lot of people waiting to pick up takeouts, almost all tables were occupied, parking, of course, is a challenge, I got a spot at lot 2 - second to the last one.
The dishes selected by Po and CC are fabulous prepared by the chef - the best dishes I had for as long as I can remember.
Menu:
Appetizer: 核桃, 素雞, 捲黃瓜，小魚乾
金瓜濃湯
北京烤鴉
龍蝦拼盤(蝦，龍蝦，墨魚，干貝）
Lamb lollipop(thick and juicy)
湖南豆腐
壽麵
米素雪魚
杏仁茶(with )芝麻球
{XO醬: 辣椒，小蝦米，火腿,...- excellent}
Interesting waiter
3/18/2013: Heading to SFO at 10:10 to pick up Anita, flight status indicated that it will be 16 minutes late - 10:26, I did a nice estimate and arrived at gate G, took a leak at the restroom at ther end of the building and got a call from Anita as I came back to the gate, turned out she just came out, almost perfect timing. Parking was $4.
3/20/2013: Got the following from Costco
Bagel, croissant, seaweed salad, spring mix, sweet bell pepper, grape tomatoes,
smoked gouda cheese, and California Mandarins.
4/7/2013: Ordered Sony DSC-HX20V fro walmart.com for $299 plus tax - the loest price seen, most other places ask for over $380 for it. Used free shipping instead store pickup, estimated delivery date is 4/15/2013.
4/11/2013: Received SONY DSC-HX20V camera ordered from Walmart.com, similar look as the SONY DSC-HX7V except the hidden flash, 20X zoom, and a little heavier body, oh plus a smaller micro USB charger connecter - the same as Nexus 7.
4/12/2013: Received twin-pack NP-BG1 batteries and charger ordered from Amazon.com, the batteries and charger are tested and appeared to work well - the two replacement batteries also allowed the cameras to show percentage of battery level instead simply the battery bars - a better indicator.
5/9/2013 - 5/23/2013: Turkey trip
5/24/2013: First weight measurement after trip to Turkey - 150.2
5/28/2013: Second time weight measurement after trip to Turkey, expecting to gain some but got 148.8 - a low record in recent years (15?)
6/8/2013: Dinner at Sushi Mizu, ordered
- Calamari (OK)
- Cajun Tuna Sashimi (OK)
- Spicy Tuna Salad (OK)
- Pink Godzilla Roll (OK)
- Butterfly Roll (not OK)
- Mizu Margarita
- Dragon's Hurricane
Bill plus tip = $109 ($94.57+$14.43)
7/21/2013: Discovered my new bike has a flat front tire, determined it was caused by thorn covered 果實 after careful examination. Pumped air in the tire.
7/22/2013: The front tire is completely flat. Got a bottle of sealant and air pump from Walmart. Reinserted the front tire inner tube and reinstalled the tire/wheel. Followed the directions on the sealant bottle: 1. Remove tire valve core (with tool included) and deflate tire, 2. Inject sealant (4 OZ) into the tire,. 3. Reinstall valve core, 4. Inflate tire, 5. Rotate tire to distribute sealant.
Also did the same to the rear tire, will examine the result tomorrow.
8/25/2013: Found a way to include more photos in the same MyPublisher photobook page - collage:
- CollageIt 3 Free version, not easy to use as it does not have enough templates to accommodate different photo formats (number and orientation).
- Use CollageIt to create new photos - large size file, usually the total memory used by all the original photos. save photos.
- Open each collaged photo and crop properly (command+shift+4), it will be saved on desktop.
- Rename the cropped files, remove collaged photos
- Launch iPhoto and import these photos as MyPublisher can only get them from iPhoto.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
中國醫藥大學內湖分院檢查經驗
Sharon showed me how to get around
1. Fill out first time visit form, take a number, present health insurance card and the form at the registration counter
w. Go to 家醫科 at 2nd floor
3. Relay to the doctor with issues - high blood pressure, need blood test,...
4. Go to test labs in the basement - urine collection, instruction for blood test, and guide for stool sample collection
5. Pay for visit at the same registration office
6. Pick up prescription at the counter across the hallway
7. Fast for at least 8 hours before having blood drawn
1. Fill out first time visit form, take a number, present health insurance card and the form at the registration counter
w. Go to 家醫科 at 2nd floor
3. Relay to the doctor with issues - high blood pressure, need blood test,...
4. Go to test labs in the basement - urine collection, instruction for blood test, and guide for stool sample collection
5. Pay for visit at the same registration office
6. Pick up prescription at the counter across the hallway
7. Fast for at least 8 hours before having blood drawn
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
2013 movie experience
Zero Dark Thirty: The movie about tracking and killing of Bin Laden (1/7/2013: SantanaRow CineArts)
The Descendants: A hawaiian family decide if selling their holding a heritage land is a good thing for the family and the island (1/23/2013 on BR27 to Taipei - watched this a few years before)
Johnny English Reborn: A discharged MI7 agent is brought back to join a mission (1/23/2013 on BR27 to Taipei - funny as always by Rowan Atkinson of Mr. Bean)
L'amour dure trios ans: A man's distrust of long term marriage changes as he met a girl (1/23/2013 on BR27 to Taipei)
Trouble with the Curve: A baseball talent scout's daughter gets to know her father and herself (1/23/2013 on BR27 to Taipei - Clint Eastwood's traditional style loner movie)
Taken 2: Similar scheme and plot as Taken, the only difference is the location and groups involved (1/23/2013 on BR27 to Taipei - Liam Neeson is still all violent in the film)
OZ the great and powerful: Mina Kunis in this new version of OZ, entertaining. (3/29/2013: SantanaRow CineArts)
Die Hard, A good Day to Die Hard: McClane helps son capturing villain with weapon-grade Uranium (7/10/2013: Funshion.com)
Despicable Me 2: The gangs save the world again (7/11/2013: SantanaRow CineArts)
We are the Millers: A pretend family of 4 is trying to make money by bringing in drugs from Mexico (8/12/2013: SantanaRow CineArts)
The Wolverine: Wolverine goes to Japan to help a dying old friend (8/24/2013: funshion.com online)
Lee Daniels' The Butler: This film relieves the civil rights movement through the life of a White House Butler who severed 7 presidents (Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan) (9/23/2013: SantanaRow CineArts)
Gravity 3D: Astronaut repairing Hubble Scope fall victim to space debris (Sandra Bullock, George Clooney) (11/4/2013: SantanaRow CineArts)
Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Past champions/survivors are selected to 75th Hunger Games (Jennifer Lawrence)( 12/5/2013: SantanaRow CineArts)
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: Second episode of the Hobbit series ( 12/16/2013: SantanaRow CineArts)
The Descendants: A hawaiian family decide if selling their holding a heritage land is a good thing for the family and the island (1/23/2013 on BR27 to Taipei - watched this a few years before)
Johnny English Reborn: A discharged MI7 agent is brought back to join a mission (1/23/2013 on BR27 to Taipei - funny as always by Rowan Atkinson of Mr. Bean)
L'amour dure trios ans: A man's distrust of long term marriage changes as he met a girl (1/23/2013 on BR27 to Taipei)
Trouble with the Curve: A baseball talent scout's daughter gets to know her father and herself (1/23/2013 on BR27 to Taipei - Clint Eastwood's traditional style loner movie)
Taken 2: Similar scheme and plot as Taken, the only difference is the location and groups involved (1/23/2013 on BR27 to Taipei - Liam Neeson is still all violent in the film)
OZ the great and powerful: Mina Kunis in this new version of OZ, entertaining. (3/29/2013: SantanaRow CineArts)
Die Hard, A good Day to Die Hard: McClane helps son capturing villain with weapon-grade Uranium (7/10/2013: Funshion.com)
Despicable Me 2: The gangs save the world again (7/11/2013: SantanaRow CineArts)
We are the Millers: A pretend family of 4 is trying to make money by bringing in drugs from Mexico (8/12/2013: SantanaRow CineArts)
The Wolverine: Wolverine goes to Japan to help a dying old friend (8/24/2013: funshion.com online)
Lee Daniels' The Butler: This film relieves the civil rights movement through the life of a White House Butler who severed 7 presidents (Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan) (9/23/2013: SantanaRow CineArts)
Gravity 3D: Astronaut repairing Hubble Scope fall victim to space debris (Sandra Bullock, George Clooney) (11/4/2013: SantanaRow CineArts)
Hunger Games: Catching Fire: Past champions/survivors are selected to 75th Hunger Games (Jennifer Lawrence)( 12/5/2013: SantanaRow CineArts)
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: Second episode of the Hobbit series ( 12/16/2013: SantanaRow CineArts)
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