Madrid 2012

First time in madrid after multiple times in barcelona.
It is impressive and felt like a stern big brother city compared to playful little brother barcelona.
It is good to see Ana after all these years. I would never have guessed 7 years ago that our next meeting place would be madrid, us in winter wear, eating churros with chocolate.
I took the AVE high speed train to Madrid that took 2 hours instead of 6. It certainly brought back "fond" memories of chasing trains in Europe platforms.



Unfortunately, I was exhausted with work and slept the whole way in spite of the nice ride. I felt bad for the guy next to my seat, who has to suffer my tossing and turning while I try to sleep.

Ana picked me up at the train station upon my arrival. For dinner, we went to a Madrid bar where we had tapas in Madrid style. There is no seating, everyone is standing around small tables as the idea is to squeeze as many people as possible. As you start ordering drinks, they give you food for free. The quality of the free food gets better as you drink/spend more. Sadly, Ana and I did not drink enough to earn our dinner =) and we end up purchasing food. But it's a really unique experience standing at the bar listening to yelling Spanish people talking spanish (i think that's what they are speaking..)

Saturday
After a good night sleep at Ana's cosy apartment, we are off to explore the city.
First off, churros with chocolate for breakfast. One of the best churros i ate in my life. Note the 2 kinds of churros. My personal preference is the thinner one that's crisiper, and they serve a dipping/drinking chcolate (in the white cup) that's smooth and warm and intense! woo!


After that, we went to temple dubod which are Egyptian ruins,



Followed by sauntering down the city of Madrid through the touristy zone, looking at palaces, the cathedral and the market.









This is GROUND 0 in Madrid.

Significance: Supposedly, all roads in Spain spider outs from this points.
Illogical! If u ask non-Madrid-ians. Clearly a sore point!

We decided to go to the La Bodin for lunch. It's the oldest restaurant in Guinness book of records and specialize in roasted pig and lamb.


 Reminds me of the suckling pig in Singapore. Man, I wished for some sweet soy sauce and chilli to go with that pig. But it's a really good meal.

We went home for a nap after the nice lunch and chill for the afternoon, before going for Peruvian food for dinner.



The cerviche is excellent, with the fried yuca. Nice and light for a late dinner.



On Sunday, we had a typical Madrid pastry marzipan bread for breakfast, with some croquettes.


After that it's a jaunt around the central park to aid digestion. It's a really nice day for the park, lots of kids and families.



After that, we went to see city hall, prado museum, walked around a little more before I got ready to go back to Barcelona.

It is an interesting taste of Madrid life style, sights and food.



 A pity that I don't have more time and energy to explore the city more. But I'm looking forward to visiting it again.

Honolulu - Day 5 and Day 6

Day 5 is another quiet day. We hang out at the beach in the AM watching boogie boarders catching the surf.
And I tried renting a surf board in the afternoon but the board renters told me the surf is not good due to high tides and bad winds. So she told me i'm better off waiting for the next morning =( bummer.
But i end up going boogie boarding in the pm but it's tough to catch a good wave without my fins. All in all, not an eventful day.
Dinner however, was a different story. We went to a really nice restaurant called the House without a Key.
It has a really good Mai Tai, and we had Ahi Poke, onion soup, grouper, coconut cake and Lychee/pineapple sorbet. That's a really good dinner.

There's also entertainment by a really good Hawaiian band with Hula dancing by a former Miss Hawaii. She's really good and the background is really nice

Day 6
We rented a car and drove around Oahu for the day.
The first stop is at Pearl harbour and we visited the museum.

Subsequently, we went to North shores and had some very nice view of Hawaii shores. We took a picnic lunch and snorkelled at Sharks Cove. The snorkelling there is really good and we saw 2 turtles playing around the reef. Very cool

After the snorkelling, we went to Ted's bakery http://www.yelp.com/biz/teds-bakery-haleiwa
We had a piece of the Haupia pie (which is coconut pudding with choclate pudding.. yummy) and their garlic shrimp. After driving more, we realized the north shores are famous for shrimp trucks.. no wonder those shrimps are soo good..

 

Garlic shrimp at Ted's bakery


After the shrimp, we went to Huli Huli truck http://www.yelp.com/biz/mikes-huli-huli-kaneohe and packed their pork kalua and barbecue chicken for dinner back at the hotel.
And we drove around to the south shores before heading back to the hotel.

The next day, we took a hike on Diamond head before heading to the airport.



The crater

 


Waikiki Beach from the top of Diamond Head



Honolulu - Day 3 and Day 4

Day 3 was a quiet day for me. Peregrine arrived at 2pm and I was waiting for its arrival with minimum activities. I went for a Mai Tai at Shore Bird restaurant in Outriggers Hotel On the Reef.
It's a good deal ($3.50) and I enjoyed it before walking to the Marina to welcome Peregrine.

There's a welcome party by Pacific Yacht Club for the boat and we all hanged out for a while, before heading for a Barbecue dinner at Shore Bird. (no photos as i was too hungry and wolfed down the food before i can take photos)

Day 4 is surfing day for me!
Initially there's no other person to form a group lesson with. So i would have to pay 90 to get a private lesson. Luckily, Zach was supposed to take his private lesson at the same time but he was kind enough to share it with me to form a semi private lesson.
Background: private lesson - 90, semi private - 75, group - 50
Outcome- I paid 75 instead of 50 for my lesson, Zach paid 90 and got a semi private lesson. We both got free CDs showing our surfing pictures.
Did i mention Waikiki is super touristy and they really know how to make $$ out of tourists? But i'm not complaining as i think it's a great momento for my first surfing attempt.
Before you are too impressed, i'm given a really big board that aids balancing. Also, the instructor pushes me in the right direction with added momentum that makes this a lot easier.
Aka, if i'm going to do this again in SD, i don't think it will be this easy. But i'm hooked now to learn more about surfing !



wooo.. wobbly




that looks really cool




oops.. board incoming




i'm getting down.. not up..




getting down before i get thrown off




glad i did all those push ups at the gym




paddling away..




Way cool !

  

just one more..





yay ! i'm still alive




The ocean and a board



Hawaii - Honolulu Day 2

A morning view of Waikiki Beach

I had only one thing booked/planned for Waikiki in this trip. That's a scuba diving trip on Saturday AM, that includes a free dive refresher course in Marriott hotel pool.
Ironically, I forgot to bring my Padi certified diver card and for some bizarre reason, they could not find me on the diver system.
Anyway, i was treated with some suspicion whether i lied about the certification but it all ended well once i'm in the water and they realize i know how to use the equpment and I can dive. But i'm quite happy with the suspicion as there's nothing scarier with going with a dive group who doesn't care who they bring into the ocean.

Anyway, the instructor is really good and entertaining during the refresher course (comments like "do not touch anything alive down in the ocean, which includes me. I do have a dive knife and i will stab you if u disturb me"). It's also a good refresher course for me as I haven't dived for 2 years.
I was worried that we will be diving with a bunch of non-divers which will slow us down. But there's a smaller group of 3 of us with a Dive Master that works out really well.

We went out in a really nice Catamaran boat that's configured for scuba diving and it's one of the best diving boat that i have been on. A Puerto Rican guy Jose (who is the other diver) kept getting his photos taken with me as the Dive Master thought we are there together. It's pretty funny.

Coral fishes are breath-takingly colorful with very unique lava coral. We saw crabs, sharks, moray eel and played for a long time with a cute octopus. The dive master took a digital camera with him and took lots of photos and even a couple of videos. I end up paying 35 bucks for the photos as i really wanted the memory of that octopus.




Getting Ready for First Dive




I'm doing OK





Cheesy Aloha rock at the bottom

 


Coral fishes




Crab hiding inside Coral




Playing with the little squid




School of fishes




More fishes




funny looking fish




Scary looking fish



My only regret is the rubbery air from breathing through the regulator still makes me nauseous. I was puking my guts out by the end of the 2nd dive. This made me reconsider my decision of going for another day of scuba diving, especially with the high price tag.

After the dive, I went back to the hotel room and had a nap. I walked around the Waikiki International market at night and saw a really nice sunset back ground with the Duke Statue.

Waikiki Sunset view