We were supposed to go to Carmel but dreading the long drive and particularly on a sunny day, decided to stay in and instead go for a stroll up Windy Hill. This turned out to be an excellent idea. I found a walking guide online which took us off the main path, down gulches, over […]
Chaat shaat
A quick drive over to Sunnyvale, which is where all the Chinese and desis come to settle, apparently. It was a place of strip malls, unlike wooded Woodside, first strip malls in Chinese, then in Hindi. We had some extremely tasty chaat – I’m afraid I overate – and then went off to an Indian […]
Cal cuisine
Last night we met an old school friend for dinner. It was at a health food-ish restaurant that I was originally somewhat suspicious of, as it was full of gluten-free ancient grains, wellness talk, superfoods regardless of air miles and had calorie counts on the menu. Such places, aside from the Gwyneth Paltrow aura, tend […]
Breaking waves
Yesterday, Sunday, we went first to the Palo Alto farmer’s market. Singificantly nicer than the other part of the Palo Alto, although still full of unpleasant people including, I understand, Mark Zuckerberg’s preferred hangout. We bought some highly organic and overpriced steamed dim sum which sadly lacked all finesse and tasted mostly of corn flour. […]
Going to San Francisco
Yesterday, our first day in California, we went down to Stanford and Palo Alto in the afternoon. I’m afraid it was all quite repellent. Stanford is not an attractive campus to my mind, it gives off a distinct ‘we own you’ feeling and it was probably the first time I’d ever been to a university […]
Sunset over Hilo
The Surfer Dude had promised to take us to a beach where we were sure to see turtles, so he came to collect us at around 4.30 and took us to the other side of town, near the airport. After a grim series of warehouses and factories came an older part of town, with colourful […]
Born-again Rachman
Yesterday was my busiest day in a while, and just before I staggered off to bed I saw a newpaper headline about ‘Sheriff Fatman’ by Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine. The song (which I like) immediately got stuck in my head and unfortunately it is not the type of music that lulls you to sleep. […]
Into the earth
The morning was spent working and I finished enough that I agreed to join the Gentleman Friend after lunch – he had asked Surfer Dude to take him to Akaka Falls. An excellent name, Akaka Falls, it makes one think of an old-fashioned thriller. Peril at Akaka Falls, that sort of thing. First, though, the […]
The other side of the island
This morning, around 8.30 Surfer Dude came to collect us and we left for a tour around the island. Going west, we took the mountain road, between Mauna Kea on one side and Mauna Loa on the other. It was very clear and the landscape was stunning. The two mountains are immense shield volcanoes so […]
The earth moves
I woke up in the middle of the night and turned over and the bed started shaking violently. I leapt up, my instinctive thought to make for the outdoors. The Gentleman Friend also woke and said, sleepily, ‘earthquake?’ I paused and thought, still half asleep, I am not in Pakistan where the houses are made […]