Summer Loving - Los Angeles.

Sunday, June 29, 2014 6:07 AM Posted by wens
Before this trip, I always wanted to realise my Californian Dream.

Driving down the 2 rows of palm tress along Beverly Hills/Hollywood in a Convertible with your 3 besties/girlfriends with a puppy peering out from the car which is sooo American chick flick movie like! Well, so this trip, I was prepared to rent a car and drive out.


Rent a Car Enterprise doesn't have any cars available so I tried this. The conceirge guy called them for me and asked for a quotation for a convertible. The cheapest was at least 170USD. Soooo, we settled for a non convertible which was half the price. It's supposedly said that their service is so superb, they will drive the car down to your hotel, and you settle the documentations and voila, you're out for your road trip. However, they take at least an hour or so to get the car to you which would be wasting quite some sunshine time out. So instead, we requested to be picked up to pick a car at their office, which indeed came quite fast. So the paperwork and selection of the car was settled in a breeze. The guy set the GPS for us and so here we go.

Just when I was hitting the wheels and trying to follow the GPS, the GPS doesn't seem to dictate the location of the car and doesn't seem to be directing the vehicle to any sensible location that is entered. I kept on driving straight, having faith that it would somehow point to the correct location. 5 mins past and it still showed that same screen it was 5 mins ago and I started panicking. I tried to do a U-turn and tried to find the B&W Car Rental but oh shit we just couldn't find it! Basically I was just following my instinct and the faith that I would probably see a freeway entrance and get to the destination. Little do I know that the roads are so unfamiliar and complicated. Totally lost somehow after 1 hour of driving aimlessly. I think I ended up at Hawthorne and was approached some strangers and asked for help. One guy did try to play around with the GPS but it just seemed faulty. Then he took out his own phone and tried pointing us to the correct direction to get to our destination. On the phone it looks simple - straight roads, turn here turn there. The real deal isn't easy. Then we continued driving hoping to find a shop to get a mobile sim card to use google maps. 

FUCK! My phone isn't even unlocked? Faints. At this point, I felt so hopeless and almost at the brim of tears. My friend seemed to want to burst into tears too. But we both held in. But the most amazing thing happens when I felt that there's mankind on earth was that the lady at the mobile shop was so willingly helping us find our way back. She lent us a phone to call the rental company but we left the car rental details back in the car. Luckily their brand is so distinct I could still recall it in the state of destress. She googled it and call them and asked for a direction back. Then, printed out a google direction guide. I don't seem to seem to apprehend the directions but still very appreciative of her kind gestures. So we continued asking around the correct direction we should head in the cross junction. After driving aimlessly for the new 20 minutes and all depending on 6th sense, I finally got my ass back to the rental company.

I'm not sure whether to praise them for their service recovery or curse them for their lousy products. They gave us a faulty shitty crap GPS and spoiled the entire day and sightseeing plan, but they were 'nice' enough to refund the rental amount except for insurance - which at least we didn't lose the whole amount just getting ourselves lost in foreign land. After much negotiations, they were willing to drop us at one of the beaches.
  




Was at Manhattan Beach. The beach region is HUGE - there's a downtown beach shopping area and the truely-beach area which is unwalkable. Gotta take a bus, and even so it's still a distance. The beachside clothing retail shops has the most gorgeous beachwear, and so is the price tag! 







Beaches here are so lively - even though it's not the main touristy beach, there's just so much activities going on. Volleyball games, surfing, dining and just chilling by the beach






OOTD. Basically the whole outfit is from korea, except for my Chanel shades.




The best place to watch sunset? Anywhere on the west side of the Island wouldn't dissapoint.



Ended off the day with a hearty meal and memories/story of a lifetime. 
Labels: 0 comments

Yosemite National Park

Wednesday, April 30, 2014 6:49 PM Posted by wens
Yosemite National Park is a  UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Sierra Nevada mountains in east-central California. Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, giant sequoia groves, and biological diversity. The 750,000-acre, 1,200 square-mile park contains thousands of lakes and ponds, 1600 miles of streams, 800 miles of hiking trails, and 350 miles of roads. It is currently the third most visited national park in the United States, with an annual visitation of nearly 4 million. The park celebrated its 150th anniversary this year

The landscape began forming about ten million years ago when the Sierra Nevada was uplifted and then tilted to form its relatively gentle western slopes and the more dramatic eastern slopes. The uplift increased the steepness of stream and river beds, resulting in formation of deep, narrow canyons. About one million years ago, snow and ice accumulated, forming glaciers at the higher alpine meadows that moved down the river valleys. Ice thickness in Yosemite Valley may have reached 4,000 feet during the early glacial episode. The downslope movement of the ice masses cut and sculpted the U-shaped valley that attracts so many visitors to its scenic vistas today.
(taken from wikipedia)


Yosemite Park is 4 hours drive away from San Francisco. It's quite rush and tiring to do a day trip, but limited by time, we managed to do it spending almost 17 hours in the car! 




Halfway through the drive and up towards the mountain, there's a small restaurant after the horse shed that you could use the toilet if you purchase anything from the shop. Even a candy will do.


 It offers a very beautiful view of the mountains especially on a clear day.

Entrance to the Park

$20 per private car
$10 per person travelling on foot, horseback, bikes, or non-commercial bus
Free for children under 15

At the entrance, you will get a comprehensive map of the National Park and places to visit.

Those fonts in bold are the main attraction points to visit in Yosemite National Park.




Just before the entrance, the roads start to get narrower and more winding, and there's some remains of the snow by the side of the path.



The road ends at Glacier Point and a quarter mile long paved walkway leads to one of the most spectacular viewpoints in the park. The road is closed from sometime in November through early May.





This is the half dome, which is the most recognised symbol of Yosemite Park, rising 5000 feet above the valley floor. Some people even hike or rock-climb to the top!





At the Glacier Point, embark on a 4 mile trail towards another viewpoint. Glacier Point is most famous for the view you can see from it, but the Glacier Point cliff itself is quite impressive.





Yosemite is home to countless waterfalls. The best time to see waterfalls is during spring, when most of the snowmelt occurs. Peak runoff typically occurs in May or June, with some waterfalls


Headed to the Brivdalveil Fall. It flows all year, with peak flows in May. This is often the first waterfall visitors see when entering Yosemite Valley.


Walking up to the base of the waterfall.



As its name suggest, the flow of the waterfall looks like the Bridal veil. At the base of the waterfall, there's rainbows you can spot due to the water droplets and the angle of sunshine!




Next up, El Capitan is also one of the famous rock formation. It is amongst the favourite for experienced rock climbers. It is the largest monolith of granite in the world, standing at 3000 feet above valley floor. El Capitan is opposite Bridalveil Fall and is best seen from the roads in western Yosemite Valley.







So this marks the end of the day trip and we headed down the mountain before the sun sets. The road down the mountain is winding and with a miss, the car may just  topple down the mountain. There's no lights or street lamps, at most probably reflective panels, hence it would be safer to get down the mountain before the sky turns dark.

Labels: 0 comments

Cinque Terre - 5 Islands of Italy

Saturday, March 1, 2014 8:41 PM Posted by wens
The Cinque Terre  is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. It is in the Liguria region of Italy. "The Five Lands" comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The coastline, the five villages, and the surrounding hillsides are all part of the Cinque Terre National Park and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Over the centuries, people have carefully built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. Part of its charm is the lack of visible corporate development. Paths, trains and boats connect the villages, and cars cannot reach them from the outside. The Cinque Terre area is a very popular tourist destination.


Getting to Cinque Terre

Take a train from Milan Centrale to Monterosso (it is is northernmost and largest city of Cinque Terre).
The journey takes about 2 hours 45 minutes and for a journey of this length, it is better to get a 1st class ticket with more spacious seats for a more comfortable journey. On certain trains, there are enclosed cabins in 2nd class 6people to a cabin. If you are in luck, you may just get the entire cabin to yourself.

Cinque Terre Travel Route 

The train from Milan stops at Monterosso, and there is a train that runs from Da Genova to La Spezia, and stops at the different villages according to this Sequence. Monterosso -Vernazza - Corniglia - Manarolo - Riomaggiore. It would be better to plan the journey either starting from Riomaggiore to Monterosso or the other way round. It takes only 3-4 minutes between each stop. While you can also hike from one village to another, it will take around 1hour at least!








The first stop is Monterosso. The town is divided into two distinct parts: the old town and the new town. The two areas are divided by a single tunnel that caters to pedestrians and the very few cars in the town.

The beach at Monterosso runs along most of the coast line and is well used by tourists and locals. The beach is the only extensive sand beach in the Cinque Terre. Monterosso is a small town that in the summer months is overrun by tourists. When I was there, it was the end of winter coming towards spring, and was quite a quiet town.














Parish church of St. John the Baptist 




Vernazza











Manarola is the oldest of the towns in the Cinque Terre, with the cornerstone of the church, San Lorenzo, dating from 1338. The local dialect is Manarolese, which is marginally different from the dialects in the nearby area. The name "Manarola" is probably dialectical evolution of the Latin, "magna rota". In the Manarolese dialect this was changed to "magna roea" which means "large wheel", in reference to the mill wheel in the town.


Manarola's primary industries have traditionally been fishing and wine-making. The local wine, called Sciacchetrà, is especially renowned; references from Roman writings mention the high quality of the wine produced in the region.








Lunch at Marina Piccola. It was just by the seaside and the interior is heated during the cold seasons. It is one of the trip advisor featured restaurants.



Walk towards the hill from the restaurant to get a panaroma view of the village by the sea.


Closeup of the rocks formation caused by the natural elements of the earth.

This is one of the most famous and iconic view of Cinque Terre with the colourful buildings of Manarola. It would be especially beautiful during the nightfall where lights from the town are on.


The last village is Riomaggiore.

The village, dating from the early thirteenth century, is known for its historic character and its wine, produced by the town's vineyards. Riomaggiore is in the Riviera di Levante region and has shoreline on the Mediterranean's Gulf of Genoa, with a small beach and a wharf framed by tower houses. Riomaggiore's main street is Via Colombo, where numerous restaurants, bars and shops can be found.
The Via dell'Amore is a path connecting Riomaggiore to its frazione Manarola, also part of the Cinque Terre.

Riomaggiore is the most southern village of the five Cinque Terre, all connected by trail. The water and mountainside have been declared national parks.











Labels: , 0 comments
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)
abcs