Waikiki Beach, Oahu

Waikiki is the beach for the first timer. It's a beach where everyone is doing something new. Lipa and I did snorkeling today. This is the first time I looked inside the water. It's an amazing world. We did our first paddle surfing, and body boarding here too. I am sure the beauty of Waikiki is long gone for excessive development. But a new kind of beauty has emerged from the reminiscent of natural beauty. It's the beauty of joyful face of tons of first timer. The majority of the surfers here stand on their feet for the first time. The joy in their face is no less than the one who just finished the triple crown of surfing. Look into their face, the beauty is no less than a Honu in crystal clear water.

I find people most amazing creature in the world. I am a city dweller, I grew up watching enormous number of people on the street. Probably that's why I find human being amazingly beautiful. Every face tells a story and most amazing of them is the face of the first timers. First timer of anything. And you would find plenty of them in Waikiki. It is the face of glory, it is the face of achievement, it is the face of fulfilment. I think Waikiki is still beautiful, may be not the way it used to be. It just got a new face.

BTW, the water is still beautiful and crazy blue! and waves are still gentle and amazing.

North Shore, Oahu

Majestic blue water, tropical weather and spectacular scenic! No wonder Hawaii is one of the top vacation place. I think Hawaii is not a place it is a experience. If it does not lure you to think about your life one more time, you are not living, especially North Shore. Something with this North Shore, that makes you feel festive at the same time extremely philosophical. No wonder everything is philosophical here. Every word is connected to the deeper soul.

I am sure the big waves are extremely philosophical as well when they are breaking into the hard rock of Oahu. You almost can hear them talking. The Hawaiian waves are nothing like I have ever seen, especially those are in North Shore, Oahu. They are almost alive. The fountain created by those waves are way more spectacular than any man made fountain including famous Bellagio fountain, Las Vegas. And the music! What can be more melodious than the song of the sea. Just sitting on the beach and listening to them can make one content. Playing with them is a whole different story.

North shore is little less developed compared to Waikiki or other beaches around. But if you sit there for a while you would know that that's the way it should. If it does not make you rethink about your life, I am sure nothing does. When I was in Sunset Beach, North Shore yesterday, I had that feeling that if I could be everything. If I were a surfer I could play with the big waves, if I were a singer I could sing with the sea. If I were a dancer I could dance with the waves. I wish I were many more things just to experience the sea. I have never felt the pain of not being any of those before in the same way I did yesterday.

I used to think I don't love sea, boy I have never seen a living sea before. This sea is so lively that you almost can talk to the waves. They know for sure what you are talking and you would know their roar as well. Life in North Shore is nothing like I could have ever imagined. North Shore is not a vacation destination, it should not be a vacation destination. It the culmination of a human philosophical inner soul where nature and soul crate resonance with each other.

ALOHA!

New York

New York this time! New York, the capital of the world! I have been in new York before, it seems too busy last time. But I would definitely like to stay there for some time. New York has a lot common with Dhaka. The streets are too busy always happening. It is probably the most cosmopolitan city. But certainly yiu can feel Dhaka, even in Manhattan. There is always something to see, at least people on the street. What I like most about new York is its business. Some how everyone is running all the time. Settle is nice and busy but it is no way comparable to new York. The streets of New York are flavorful. Seattle on the hand is monotonous. However the scenic of Seattle is a second to none.

Waiting at the gate. Airport is dreadful place. I hate airport. Somehow airport makes me feel so bad that my face remains pale two days before and after any travel. Anyway, let see what's waiting for me in new York this time.

Travel photography in Las Vegas

Travel photography in Las Vegas, is little tricky. The lighting condition changes so abruptly, it is hard to keep up with lighting. If photography is the sole purpose of the Las Vegas trip then I guess it is not all that difficult, but if you are are a travel photographer like me, lighting can be very challenging. Each place has its own different lighting situation. Sometimes the light seems superfluous, sometimes it feels like creepy. Here are some things I learned in my last Las Vegas trip:

Keep a small bounce flash. Bounce flash is very useful is Vegas. Chances are high that you are taking indoor photographs, in that case bounce flash is really useful. You can definitely carry a large flash but if you want to travel light, bounce flash works just fine. I used SB-400 in my last trip and it served well.

Keep a careful eye on ISO. ISO is really important in Vegas. Each lighting situation deserves different ISO setting. The other two things of the triangle is pretty important as well. Carrying a monopod could be useful, but I used available camera supports (nearest wall or glass) for my pictures. But I definitely recommend something light, like monopod.

If you can keep up with white balance well, then no problem; otherwise I strongly recommend shooting raw. So that you don't have to worry about white balance. Otherwise white balance is another thing to worry about. Each place has its very different light, some are warm some are cool. Fixing white balance on-the-fly requires significant skill. You may ruin your trip messing with your camera settings. Hence, my recommendation is: shoot raw and fix the white balance later.

Play with frame ratio. Square frame or full frame could be very interesting as well. The good thing about Vegas, you can find all kinds of pictures for all sorts of frame ratio. Composition is the most important part of travel photography, at least to me. Frame size plays key role in composition. Don't get scared of experimenting with frame ratio. Experimenting with frame ratio could be very rewarding.

Finally and most importantly, don't ruin your trip in photography. There are other ways of enjoying Vegas, not just taking stunning pictures. Most importantly have fun in Vegas, don't ruin your entire trip on just the photography. 

California trip: The end

So, we are having heading back to Oklahoma City today. Overall it was a nice trip. Plenty of things to see. California is the place of natural beauty. We have finished it smoothly, no grumpy feeling no complain. We visited several attraction in LA in last day. I would say our tour would not be completed unless we saw Hollywood and Beverly Hills. That's what we did in our last day. In my view it was a successful trip. I loved it.

California trip: Mission Alkatraz

We went to Alcatraz yesterday. It was good. We bought the ticket online from their Alcatraz Cruz's website. We went to the pier 33 about 10 am and our boarding time was at 11am. It was a cloudy morning. The Cruz ship left the dock at 11am. The view was spectacular. They arranged an audio cell house trip. It was super cool. They gave you a piece of machinery and a headphone. A narrator explains everything as you walk by the cells and other places in the cell house. I think the was very entertaining.

Our next destination was pier 39 for lunch. It was total crap. The shrimp I had was either made of plastic or it had been chewed before and nothing left in it. I had real trouble with the food. Jamee had food poisoning after having food there. We did not realize Jamee had that severe condition until yesterday night. Our next destination was Golden Gate Bridge.

But we entered into a super fun neighborhood. It was a roller coaster ride. The roads were very steep and narrow. It looks like a very expensive neighborhood. The houses are on the sides of hills facing San Francisco Bay.

After a quick detour from that neighborhood we reached at vista point for Golden Gate Bridge. We took some pictures and enjoy the sunset. Then we moved toward mountain. We did our grocery and went to Googleplex. Finally we came back to hotel and went to a Chinese restaurant, PF Chang. Usually I don't like Chinese food that much but their food was not Chinese. I would say it was a mix of Thai, Indian and Chinese but the food was good.

Pretty much that's our last day at San Francisco. In my view San Francisco is a golden city. It is the most complete city, it has everything money, beauty, culture. It too perfect to be true. Apart from its recent semiconductor and IT boom, it has lot more to offer. When I came here I had the impression that, maybe it would be couple of tech companies one after another. But discovered life here. It not just tech companies. It is the most complete city I have ever been.

California trip: San Francisco

We went San Francisco today. Although we had a plan to go to Yosemite today, we think it would be too adventurous to go to Yosemite today. So we went to San Francisco today. We wake up late and went the Japanese tea garden. The admission was $7 and I can tell it was a total crap. Bad start for a day.
Our next stop was San Francisco piers and we spend our whole day in piers. San Francisco piers are fun. They are busy and very active. Street shows, crown, scenic and delicious food. It was fun. Pier 39 was the best among all and most of the thing is going on pier 39.

There are plenty of food shops, mostly sea food. We enjoyed our time. Finally we went to a Thai food shop and had our dinner. We pretty much took a break today. Not too many activities. We were relaxed and resolved some of the grumpy feeling we had after yesterday's 12 hours ride.

Some of the streets in San Francisco were really steep and scary. Driving around San Francisco was fun. We have a busy day tomorrow.

I noticed some of my previous posts and pics are not in correct order and time. I'll fix them once I have some time.

California trip: Highway 1

Today we reached San Jose. We took highway 1 from Los Angeles to San Jose. I have heard about highway 1 for long time and all I can say the experience is unique. Some part of highway 1 is superb, in a single word mesmerizing. We stopped in every few hours or so. It took us about 12 hours. We are all tired and exhausted. By the time we reached San Jose we have no energy left. We are staying at Goodnight Inn at Fremont.

At the end we were very tired and I almost hit a car. It was a truck merging from my right and I did not notice it was coming. Unfortunately he decided not to yield me, and I noticed him at the last moment. So I tried to move my car by moving into left lane and there was another car. It was a near miss. Anyway finally we reached San Jose.

California trip: Universal Studio

We went to Universal Studio, Los Angeles yesterday. It is definitely a fun place and I never been place like that. But I thing we were expecting too much, at times it seems like little repeatating. Some of the show was spectacular. We have not been in all shows because it was too crowded yesterday. There was literally explosion of people during the afternoon. We missed some of the great attractions like King Kong and Transformer 3D. I think we attended about 6 or 7 shows.

At the gate "House of Horror" welcomed us. It was okay, a scary tunnel with tons ghost loaded inside it. While you are passing by them some will attack you randomly. The ghosts were very realistic and truly scary. But I think there were too many people there and it was hard to get scared, since you know what's going on and there are too many people in there. It would be really interesting if one has to go alone.

The next show we attended was "Terminator." It was an interesting show. They kind of make some part of the terminator movie. Interesting part is some part was taken before and some part was actually portrayed on the stage. It was 3D show and they made transition between stage and movies amazingly. Not only the transition, they kind of blend the movie and the stage.

Our next pick was "Shrek." it was a pure 4D show, whatever it means to you. What is 4D show? Well it is a 3D movies with special seating arrangement, so that you can get the feeling of some of the things you are watching on screen. Like if the character on screen is soaked into they will spray some water and give you that feeling or the chair will move if the character is riding a horse.

Then we went to the ride section and took "Jurrasik Park" and "Mummy." Both of them was kind of roller coaster ride but I like "Jurrasic Park" better. They took us in a boat ride into "Jurrasic Park" and the entrance was spectacular. I don't know why other people in our group did not enjoyed it much but I loved it. It was so cool. "Mummy" was just a ride, no story no show. As a ride it was great. But there was no theme in it. Anyway the ride was good.

We went to into the special effect stage then. It was cool show. They were showing some of the cool techniques of special effect and other cool techniques. It was sort of comedy, I liked it. Finally we went to the "Water World" show; it was spectacular. The show was unlike anything I have seen before. This is in my opinion a must to go place.

And then, Lipa lost her camera and found it at "Lost & Found" and call our day. The city walk next to universal studio is a cool place. It is a happening place. Full of shops, some concerts.

California trip: City of Angeles

Los Angeles is one of the best cities I have ever seen. It is significantly different from other US cities. So far I like it best among all other cities. Our day started with the church our lady of Angeles. Ironically it ends with the church of our Lady of Angeles as well and interestingly they are not same! Actually the parish these churches belong to has couple of churches with same name. So all of them are church of lady of Angeles.
We went to the Griffin observatory then. It is superb. You can see whole Los Angeles downtown from Griffin observatory. It was super cool. It was close for Monday and Tuesday, so we could not see the planets. I hope we will go back there again.

Our next stop was Topanga state park. We had a plan to stay there for some time but it rained before we been there. So the trails were muddy and Lipa didn't bring her shoes so could not walk too far down the trail.

Finally we went to Zuma park beach, Malibu. We also stopped in some other beaches down the line. Malibu offers some extraordinary beaches in California. We went to LAX from Malibu to pick Jamee and went to Los Angeles downtown. We roam around downtown LA until midnight and finally we returned to our hotel and call our day.

California trip: Adventurer All Suit Hotel

We reserved a suit in Adventurer all suit hotel to save some money. It was cheap place and interesting. I would say something I have never seen before. I think its partitions are made off paper, we can literally hear what's going on in next room. And on the top of that, it is very close to LAX. You can actually count the number of aircraft take off or touch down on LAX. I am taking about LAX, one of the busiest airport on earth. And parking was a test of skill.

However the place is interesting and fun. Lots of things are happening here. Plenty of free stuff. But the place is little congested. Their two room suits are very tiny. This place is not too bad from budget perspective unless you don't mind the sound.

California trip: Santa Monica

At last we reached Los Angeles. Our flight was about one and half hours late and then we had to wait for the shuttle for about 30 min and finally we got the car. It was hell of a driving in LA. It is always confusing to drive in big cities. Anyway, we managed today.

At first we stop by a Japanese restaurant, the food was good and not too expensive. It was near to Venice Beach Santa Monica. We went to the Santa Monica pier and went to the beach. Water was too cold to get wet, so we walk down the coast line upto Venice Beach. And then Venice broad walk.

It was a over cast day and little cold, I think the temperature was around 55. Venice broad walk was fun. It is a hippi place of art, everyone was showing their works. It was fun. Tons of beach parties. The view was spectacular. We all enjoyed the beach. The beach was not as crowded as Florida but I guess this is because of weather. California is not as warm as Florida during winter.

We call it day after sunset. We came to the hotel and went to a Thai restaurant for dinner. Overall the the day was good and we like it very much.

California trip: The take off

At last we took off from OKC for LAX on flight AA 3635. It was about half an hour late. There was a good incentive though, I observed the sunrise on the horizon while I was waiting for take off. Sunrise does not fit well into my life style. I have not seen the sunrise since last year at Ft Lauderdale. Sunrise is always a pleasing thing, it gives me the sense of life. It has its own mind. Slow and steady! Seems no matter how much you want it or hate it, it is going to happen. I wish I could observe sunrise from some place close to pole like Finland.

Coming back to LAX, LAX is the first place that gave me the preview of United States. When I first came into United States, I immigrated throw LAX. It was the first glimpse of rest of my life. LAX! after four and half years! I am sure I would have entirely different view now. But still I have not forgotten that police officer! :) everything is big in US. Sometimes we carry small memories for whole life. So far it looks okay, we will probably arrive around 8:30 am. So far the plan is get the vehicle and drive it to the Santa Monica bay. Maybe stop somewhere for breakfast. What are we gonna do in the beach? Not sure yet, this is something yet to be resolved but I just wanna relax for some time.

The captain said we are flying over Grand Canyon. I have a plan to camp there sometime. I am not sure when it is going to materialize. Anyway, let get back to the trip. I wanna make this trip little different than other US trips. This time I wanna 'go slow' little laid back may be. No pressure no rush, just relax. This is probably our last trip with Zafar and Parisa. They are moving to Wichita and we are going to graduate next semester, so nobody knows what's going to happen next. And finally flying sucks!

I hate everything about flying. The security check, waiting, boarding, and finally flying. I wish there is any thing good about it. I would rather drive coast to coast instead of flying. I wish somebody does something with this whole aviation industry. There is no fun in it. It is pure simple dull and boring.
Here are some shots from my Window. Truthfully, I was hoping for dull view but it runs out that some views are spectacular, since we flying over Grand Canyon. I am sorry about the wing, I could not avoid it anyway so I tried to use it best way possible.

California trip: Preparation

We are flying tomorrow morning. I guess I need to do some preparation for the trip. 1) I need to print all reservations and tickets. 2) I need to do little shopping, I don't have any carry on luggage. 3) I need to clean my photography gears. 4) I need to buy couple of car chargers 5) make some play lists for the road trip. 6) Clean our kitchen utensils. 7) Lipa needs some dresses as well. 8) Check-in into the flight 9) Call hertz to confirm my car reservation, I guess that's it. Ohhh! Of course I need to pack my bag.

California trip: The Detail

Here is the tentative schedule of our California trip, times are not exact. We may change everything as we go and enjoy some places more than others.

December 23.

08:05 LAX

09:30 Car pickup & Breakfast

11:00 Santa Monica Bay 

12:00 Venice Broad walk and Lunch

15:00 Santa Monica Pier

17:00 Hotel

18:30 Venice Broad walk

December 24.

09:00 Topanga state park

11:00 Point Dume, Malibu

12:30 Zuma Beach, Malibu

14:00 Griffith observatory

16:00 Our lady of Angeles

17:30 Pick Jamee

18:00 LA downtown walking tour

December 25.

09:00 Universal studio

18:00 Hollywood Boulevard

December 26.

08:00 Drive Highway 1

15:00 Big Sur

22:00 San Francisco, Pier 39

December 27.

07:00 Get up early

11:00 Yosemite national park

16:00 Lake Tahoe

21:00 San Francisco downtown

December 28.

09:00 Pier 39

11:00 Alkatraz

15:00 Golden gate bridge

17:00 Cupertino, Mountain view

20:00 Socializing

December 29.

07:00 Start toward LA

17:00 Socializing

December 30.

09:00 Santa Monica Bay

16:00 Car return

11:00 Norman

OR 

09:00 Car return 

11:00 Manhattan beach

16:00 LAX

11:00 Norman

We deeply appreciate any comment and suggestion.

California Trip: The Glitch

I made an expensive mistake. I booked a hotel at San Francisco for wrong date. I made the reservation for November 26 through 29. Man! This morning priceline asked me rate my recent stay at San Francisco and then I realized I booked the hotel for wrong date. I called them immediately, but since the dates have passed they are not obligated to refund my money. It's $300! My entire budget for California trip. I called price line and days Inn, apparently both are happy to ripp off my money.
There is nothing called customer service in lodging industry. Everyone is trying get your money. Priceline says since the days have passed, they are not obligated to refund, so they would not refund (they only do what they are obligated to do, nothing called customer service exists in their dictionary). Days Inn says, since it is booked through priceline they cannot do anything (although they got money without selling anything, probably sold the rooms to other guys as well) . Well, I guess it was just an expensive mishap. This is the first time such stupid mistake happen to me. Well I understand these things happen once or twice. But whatever happened was very expensive and cost me $300. Btw, I think from now on I am not gonna use priceline anymore. I think I don't want to do business with a company that doesn't have any customer service. Priceline sucks!
Edit: Lipa gave the biggest argument to avoid priceline: the amount I save in total in my entire life through priceline is just ripped off by one single glitch.

California Trip: A Rendezvous

Jamee called me yesterday and told me, he is willing to join us in California trip. Jamee! It was quite a surprise. When we were in college Jamee was the last guy whom we asked for any trip. He was one of our best buddy but he was not very outgoing type. Zafar explains this event as 'amazing stuff.' He actually bought the ticket for Los Angeles yesterday. He is going to join us on 24th December. I hope the number of people is not too much yet.

I still remember Florida trip. One thing I learned in a hard way in Florida trip: if there is no leader chaos is inevitable. Whenever I have some time, I still think of our Florida trip. I believe it was a problem of leadership. If someone step forward and wanted to play the role of a leader we could have much better result. I am not going to let the same thing happen again.

An amazing thing happened in Florida that changed my philosophy forever. I am still very confused about our behavior in Florida trip. What was wrong? Leadership? Commitment? Respect? Trust? Competition? Pride? Florida trip was moment of truth for me, I am still looking for the mystery of Florida trip.

California Trip: Mission Alcatraz

I bought the ticket for Alcatraz today. We are planning to visit Alcatraz on 28th. Alcatraz is in San Francisco Bay. It is an abandon penitentiary. I think several movies were shot in Alcatraz. I think it was in the movie 'the rock.' There is also a prison break movie named 'Escape from Alcatraz.' I have never been in abandoned penitentiary; I hope it should be fun.

We had to buy the ticket online and long before the visit. I have no idea why they have this kind of system. The ticket is $28 each. We are hoping to take the 11:00 AM ferry from San Francisco pier 33. I hope 11:00 AM is fine. We should be able to drive to pier 33 before 11.

We need to finalize the entire plan. And I need to see whether the total plan makes any sense. In our last Florida trip we have several underestimated our travel time. This time I don't want that happen again. There is problem of perfect plan: there is no surprise left for the guy who does the planning. Again I don't want that either.

California Trip: The Blueprint

I never tried travel blogging. This time I decided to do travel blogging. I am planning for a trip to California this winter. I have reserved the lodges today. We have not finalize the details yet, but tentative idea goes as follows.

We will fly to Los Angeles 23rd December and stay there till 26th. We have a plan to visit universal studio, Hollywood, death valley, Santana monia beach and bay area. Probably we will head to San Francisco on 26th. And of course we are going to take highway 1. I have been listening about this drive since I was kid. This is one of my dream ride. Highway 1 goes along the pacific coastline.

We are planning to stay in San Francisco till 28th. We are not sure yet about where to go in San Francisco. The tentative idea is, we will go to Yosemite for one day, Alcatraz and golden gate Bridge for one day and probably we will visit other part of the San Francisco and San Jose on 26th and 29th.

We will return from San Francisco to Los Angeles on 29th. This the day when we have a plan to see night life in LA. Probably we have to do some socializing in LA as well. I am not sure yet. Finally we will take our return flight on 30th December. We are not sure yet, if we can manage some time, we will probably visit San Diego as well.

Btw, we are four: me, Lipa, Parisa and Zafar.

California Trip: The Beginning

Today I book the ticket for California trip. I have been thinking of this California trip for long time. We are planning to go to California this winter.

We are taking 23rd December flight to Los Angeles. We will be back on 30th December.
Air ticket is always a waste to me. I never enjoy air travel. I don't know why but somehow I hate it. Anyway since everybody else preferred air, I had no choice. Rental car is little expensive at airport location, so we are thinking of getting the rental car from neighborhood location. May be we have to take a bus to the neighborhood location but it saves almost 20$ per day.

We have not planed the details yet but roughly we will touch Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Riverside. This time I have a plan to go to universal studio if money permits. I have very tight budget for the trip, I am not sure how everything gonna work out, I am hoping it would.