san diego

wine tasting in temecula, california ----------------ella synold teasing the camera


happy wine tasters --------------------------------hungry panda in san diego zoo


sleepy uran utang -------------------------------khs reunion in la Jolla


sunset @ seaside ----------------------------bodyboarding session at moonlight


pizza treat in Coronada island ----------------kelly and karis endulging in old school milkshake


ruby´s old school diner in san clemente

initially we planned to spend only a few days - a week in the san diego area. yet, when the crunch came to leave, we found it most difficult and postponed our trip by a few days.

on the way from death valley, we stopped off in san celemente to see kelly (thomas). she, and brendon, live in such a cool ¨city¨, with such an awesome vibe perched right on the beach. we had lunch in a cool mexican restaurant with her and pantoof, their french bulldog who managed to befriend almost everyone in his surroundings.

carlsbad was home for the week. the synolds (jr, kelly and ella) treated us like kings (and queens) with daily trips to the beach, delicious red wine from the region and soya in all colours and shapes (indeed, soya bacon looks and tastes just like the real macoy)...the list is endless!

we explored the san diego zoo (which was surprisingly very good and well done), balboa park and it's photographic museum, corondo, temecula (wine region) for some tasting, a day in baja california and of course, lots and lots of exploring along the s.d coast.

on a few occasion we tore ourselves away from the comforts of our carlsbad home and hung out in la jolla. we smoozed around leanne´s place and met up with some old school friends that i have not seen since i matriculated...a ripe ten years ago. it was great hearing what steve, simon and katherine had been doing in all that time. indeed, a decade is quite a while.

california is a fantastic place to visit as it has so much to offer and of course hanging out with friends definately made this part of the trip that much more memorable.


On se pose ensuite à San Diego, plus exactement Carlsbad chez les Synolds. La petite famille (JR, Kelly et Ella, l´oiseau, le lapin du pérou Picchu, le cheval et enfin la chienne Ellie) nous accueillent royalement dans son appartement de Carlsbad. Ca fait du bien de se poser dans une maison et de retrouver des amis.
Les matinées se passent a la plage (Seaside, moonlight, Estreet, la Jolla) entre surf et bodyboard, puis on se promene dans San Diego downtown, dans Encinitas, petite ville de bord de mer super sympa.
Le soir, ce sont de longues discussions animées sur les très prochaines élections présidentielles. On suit les 2 débats attentivement tout en sirotant du bon vin californien et en dégustant qqunes des spécialités végétariennes de la famille.
Le wend, qq excursions nous emmènent sur l´ile Coronado, ou alors pour une degustation de vin du côté de Temecula, ou enfin en Baja California pour les plages et un déjeuner mémorable de langouste et tacos pas frais dans un resto mexicain plus que moyen. Au retour, on a droit a l´enfer de la traversée de la frontière a Tijuana avec une bonne heure d´attente sous un soleil de plomb.

Ca a été également l´occasion pour Karis de retrouver qquns de ses anciens amis de lycée, soit en vacances, soit émigrés définitivement.
De plus, nous avons pu faire une petite séance shopping aux magasins d´usine afin de pouvoir enfin jeter ce vieu pantalan trop large et trop sale ou alors ces vieilles claquettes toutes pourries.
Finalement, au lieu de rester une semaine, on s´est un peu laissé vivre tranquillement et on ne quitte la californie qu´après 10 jours de vrai bonheur.

venice beach (Los Angeles)

venice beach -------------------------arcades along beachfront


baywatch

venice beach, l.a is a REALLY "interesting" spot. there are such characters perusing streets. apparently, in the 60/ 70's, there was a lot of drug testing and these are the souls that didn't manage to get right after it all. on several occasions we saw men in tight speedos (one was wearing the american flag), topless and in cowboy boots. i kid you not. i had to look twice as it was quite surreal.

besides watching the oddities, we walked around, dined on huge american-sized pizza slices and strolled along the third street promenade.

we stayed in a great (for v.beach standards) hostel not even 200m from the beach/ freaks. prime location for a day at the beach.

off the point a little, there were some things that we noticed on arrival in usa: "ped x-ing". we were not even in china town and we saw this painted on the road or on a sign. after much discussion and reflection, we discovered that it meant ....drum roll...pedestrian crossing! those americans really are smart!

the joys of being a tourist in a foreign country -

Venice beach

L´arrivee sur LA se revele quelque peu chaotique avec des autoroutes a 7 voies, des voitures qui doublent dans tous les sens, des ´humers´, 4*4 hauts en suspension, des limousines a tous les coins de rues. On se trouve une auberge assez sympa a cote de la plage des ´freaks´ou gens bizarres. En effet, en se promenant sur le front de mer, on peut observer plusieurs zigotos un peu decalés portant des strings avec drapeau americain et santiags ainsi que plusieurs hyppies essayant de vendre qq trucs. Apparemment, c´est ici que pas mal de drogues expérimentales auraient été testées ... En tout cas, en un jour, on a pu voir la cabane de mitch bukanon (alerte a malibu), les filles qui font du roller sur la promenade en maillot de bain (alerte a malibu), les flics super baraqués a vélo (alerte a malibu) et enfin les skaters et surfers venant taquiner la vague ou le bitume. Le soir, on va diner américain (entendre bonne grosse part de pizza) sur Third Promenade du cote de Santa Monica.

death valley

seb admiring the remains of the sunset at zabriskie point -------- jhb? in death valley? no way!


the sand dunes of stonepipe wells village ------- amoungst the salt pinnacles at devil's golf course


macro view of a salt formation ------------------artist's palette


afternoon walk through the golden canyon ----- bodie ghost town


driving..but getting nowhere -----------------------the once saloon/post office

the interior of the saloon -----------------------seb supported by a joshua tree ready for mexico

the old mining mill in bodie --------------------doing a little window shopping in bodie

mono lake -------------------------------------- tufa formations in mono lake

contrast of vegetation on the salt desert

mono lake is situated in the middle of a volcanic desert and homes two volcanic islands, one black (negit) and the other white (paoha). it resembles something from a sci-fi movie with with huge tufa formations (limestone) bulging out of the now dried-up lake (thanks to the city of l.a which sucked it dry in the late 1800's, due to drought).

we had a little walk along a wooden promenade to the edge of the lake. it was mind-blowing being so close to these alien-like formations. really, really weird. star trek here we come!!

En sortant du parc Yosemite, on tombe directement sur le lac mono et ses paysages lunaires. En effet, le lac est entoure de structures de sel blanches (Tufa) qui constrastent avec la cendre volcanique noirs des deux volcans du lac. On fait une promenade dans cette grande etendue semi desertique loin de tout et on en revient tout ebahi.

bodie ghost town was once a booming mining town in the 19th century. it was scary walking around, looking in through the windows at the remains. it was as though the inhabitants suddenly packed up and left everything as is. saloons still have the glasses (obviously empty), gathered with dust, pool tables have the balls in position and the local store still with products on the shelves. it reminded me of elizabeth bay in luderitz, namibia. it really felt as though we were intruding. definately well-worth the visit.

Suite a cette drole d experience extra terrestre, on part pour la ville fantome de Bodie qui fut une ville miniere importante du 19e siecle lors de la ruee vers l´or. La ville est situee dans le desert de la mort et elle a laissee telle quelle par ses habitants. on peut encore voir les couverts sur la table, les bieres entamee sur le bistrot de la ville.
En se promenant dans les rues, on se croit vraiment dans un western.

death valley was also quite memorable as it suddenly went from bearable to stupidly hot. i thought that india was bad but this was really a killer! the a/c was on at all times (unless when we were driving up a winding hill. then we were advised to turn it off). the colours were spectacular especially at artists pallette where the rock has various colours due to the different components; blues, greens, pinks etc. beautiful!

the devil's golf course (named because only the devil would be able to play golf on such terrain) was incredible with the salt formations. we were able to walk around them which really left us with a strange feeling. again, like we were from another planet.

zabriskie point had a marvellous view over the valley and served as a perfect spot to watch the sunset.

we left soon after, driving along the torturous road out of the valley. it was unbearable as it was constantly winding, there was not a soul to be seen and it could have been the perfect scene for a horror movie. indeed, i have a wild imagination.

Enfin on arrive au coeur de la vallee de la mort, qui tient son nom des chercheurs d or decedes lors de la traversee du desert d est en ouest. Il y a fait une chaleur insupportable, elle est situee apres 3 chaines de montagnes, donc ne recoit quasiment aucune goutte d eau. Il n y a rien a perte de vue, si ce n´est sable, poussiere, arbres Joshua et formations rocheuses bizarres. Les lacs y sont asseches et ont laisses derriere eux des deserts de sel. Lors de la traversee on fait halte a Badwater, l´endroit le plus bas des US (-50m d´altitude).
On decide de conduire de nuit vers Los Angeles et l´experience fut assez interessante dans la mesure ou sur 3 h de conduite a travers la vallee sur des routes sinueuses de poussiere dans le noir complet on a pas du croiser une seule voiture. Le ciel est superbe depuis la vallee car il n´y a aucune lumiere alentours.

Yosemite

meadow in the valley -----------comfy bed from the Ford Focus


giant sequoias -------------------last vertical portion of the half dome 

       
el capitan (referring to the rock on the background) ----half dome 





karis was also there -----------------------shaky pic for an unusual encounter




        

the meadow next to el capitan where rock climbers hang out @ 2000 m high...---tree fight

Parc Yosemite

Je suis heureux quand j'apercois les cimes de la sierra nevada.
En effet, le parc yosemite se situe au coeur de la sierra, sur plusieurs centaines de kms.

En arrivant, on est tout de suite seduit par la hauteur des arbres, l'immensite de la foret, et la stature de ces immenses blocs de granit. L'endroit est sauvage, les ours bruns en sont les principaux locataires, il fait beau, l'air est pur. Je retrouve un peu de la Savoie ici et ca fait du bien.

Lors de notre sejour, on se planifie plusieurs randonnees. On adopte une approche plutot attentiste avec deux premieres marches permettant d'acceder a des points de vue sur la vallee et sur Half dome, cet immence bloc de granit.

Le soir, on dort dans un camp a l'interieur du parc. Les nuits sont assez difficiles car il fait froid (dans les 5 degC) et le comfort du coffre de la ford est tres limite. Pour couronner le tout, on se bat pour avoir chacun un bout du seul duvet qu'on a amene.

Le soir, on assiste a une veillee organisee par Ranger Jean Michel autour du feu. Il nous raconte toutes ses histoires sur les ours.  C'est sympa 5 minutes mais on reste quand meme car au moins il fait chaud autour du feu de camp, pas comme dans notre lit de fortune...

Pour l'ascension de Half Dome (1500 m de denivele et 8 h de marche), on se leve tot. Sur le chemin, on tombe nez a nez avec un ours (cf photo) en quete de petit dejeuner.

La randonnee est assez difficile, la vue du sommet est grandiose et la derniere partie consisite en une ascension plus ou moins verticale avec l'aide d'echelles. 

On est fatigue, mais heureux d'avoir pu passer 3 jours dans un parc naturel grandiose. 

Direction les paysages lunaires du mono lake et la vallee de la mort....

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what a magical place yosemite is. the national park stretches on and on forever and its just as amazingly beautiful from bend to bend. around each corner, there is another view of one the monstrosities of a mountain.

we spent three nights near/ in the park. where? the ford of course! well not all the time. the 1st night, we managed to find quite a cool campsite that had the tent and blow-up mattress already installed and ready for some lazy, unprepared campers (us). this place was really a one-horse town. one minute you were in the place, not even a second later you were out. lucky for us, the village was having a chili cook-off. music was blaring, pots were being fulled with chili (a combo of beans, veg and spices) and it was party-time. we dropped off our bags and headed straight to the national park for some exploring.

as i mentioned earlier, we were not at all prepared for the change in temperatures especially in the evenings. seb had unfortunately left his nice, warm sleeping bag in vietnam, so we were sharing mine, wearing almost all of our clothes to keep warm. one good thing came from this, we were up before sunrise and out with the avid mountaineers. believe it!

we conquered the half dome(25km with 1500 elevation), which was a strenuous eight hour hike; up and down faster than the average mountain goat!!
i don't want to brag or anything so before i do, i shall tell you a little about mono lake and death valley -

Napa valley

On part pour la vallee de Napa (celebre pour ses vignobles) un vendredi apres-midi au milieu des embouteillages. N'ayant rien reserve, on realise vite en arrivant de nuit que si on veut rester dans notre budget, on va devoir dormir dans la voiture de location.
Apres une petite discussion, Karis est convaincue et on decide donc de se faire plaisir en s'offrant un restaurant. On commande egalement une bouteille de vin local pour deguster mais egalement pour aider a dormir...

En effet, quand arrive l'heure fatidique du coucher ( il n'y avait plus personne au resto a part nous), on parque la voiture en face d'une eglise et on organise notre lit de fortune. Banquette arriere repliee on peut juste s'allonger aves les pieds dans le coffre et la barre de fer de la banquette a hauteur de hanche, un veritable plaisir pour le dos...

La nuit se passe bien dans l'ensemble malgre de nombreux changements de position douloureux.

Tot le matin, on petit dejeune puis on suit la route scenique qui nous mene a travers les vignes. La region est jolie, les routes agreables mais je m'attendais a mieux.

On quitte donc la vallee pour rejoindre le parc Yosemite.

napa valley

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napa valley could be compared to the vineyards of franschhoek or perhaps even bordeaux. wine farms line the hills in all directions and many were tempting to visit. unfortunately, we arrived too late and left too early to enjoy a glass or two of wine tasting.

so why did we arrive too late, you may be wondering. well, alcatraz was mesmorising and getting out of san fran was chaotic so arriving after dark was part of the plan. not ours but fate. due to the fact that it was a friday (yes, we are brilliantly efficient with planning), we weren't able to find a hotel in our budget so it was our ford that was "home" for the night. i can honestly say that we had no choice as $250/ night seemed a tad extravagent. wouldn't you agree?

we wined and dined in a local restaurant, enjoying some of the local vino before parking our "home" in front of the community church. yes, the methodist church watched over us while we slept somewhat uncomfortably in the boot/ back seat. a word of wisdom: don't do it! it's not worth it!!

so supper was mmm delicious and breakfast was too. we found a lovely little bakery in the centre of the town where we shared strong cups of coffee and croissants with the local folk. e-vent-ful ;)
once we had had enough, we left for yosemite...not really ready for the change in altitude -

San Francisco

stylish interior Alcatraz ------------finally got K locked


San Fran trolley --------------------sundowners at fisherman's wharf


tandem ride over the golden gate


golden gate bridge ----------------------------our neighborhood in san francisco


street art in Mission ----------------


trolley and downtown view from the tower

Retrouvaille avec Karis a l'aeroport d'Hong Kong sur les sieges oranges du premier etage.
On embarque de suite pour notre vol a destination de San Francisco.

On se pose dans Mission, un quartier populaire au sud du centre. Les premiers jours, on les passe a gerer le decalage horaire, a visiter le centre ville, celebre pour avoir heberge la plupart des auteurs celebres de la beat generation.

On loue un tandem pour une journee, durant laquelle on avale le golden gate d'une traite puis on enchaine sur l'ile de Saucelito avant de prendre le ferry pour revenir downtown.

Enfin, on passe une matinee sur Alcatraz a visiter la prison et a ecouter Bob, ancien agent du FBI nous donner sa version des faits concernant les 13 evasions.

On laisse San Francisco ainsi apres 4 jours durant lesquels on a pu s'integrer a la population de notre quartier (principalement des etudiants), a la nourriture americaine (en fait plutot de la nourriture mexicaine), et aussi au mode de vie.

C'est un vrai changement apres l'Asie du sud-est surpeuplee ou la notion d'espace prive est inexistante. Ici, tout est grand, tout est immense. Ce sentiment de proximite avec les gens me manque un peu. Par contre, c'est vrai qu'ici tout est plus comfortable et plus propre (draps propres) et ce luxe (douche chaude avec serviette propre) est tres appreciable.

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after two days of flying and uncountable hours of jetlag, we made it to the u.s of a. the moment we got off the metro, it felt as though we were on a set of a movie...americans, americans everywhere. besides that, everything was big. cars, burritos, streets. you name it - it was BIGGER. needless to say, we felt extremely small arriving on this continent.

we spent about four days in san fran, exploring the various districts (including admiring the incredibly curvy lombard street), cycling across and beyond the golden gate bridge (which was somewhat of a killer but so worthwhile...even the getting lost part) and spending a few hours at alcatraz.

then before we knew it, we were in our rent-a-car on our way to yosemite national park via napa valley. a truly magical place.