MY EXPERIENCES IN CALIFORNIA : Chapter 12

Sorry about the delay in posting.... Getting too busy here to even spend sometime posting this... I ll try to do it every Saturday from now...

CHAPTER 12- SEAWORLD AND THE JOURNEY BACK TO DAVIS

The next morning, we woke up well on time with no antics on our part and got ready half an hour before the planned 9 am start. We were to go to Sea-world, and we were transformed into those adventure seeking active tourists again after a couple of nights of relaxation in San Diego. We went for a couple of water rides first and then checked out the underground aquarium and the penguin display where there were so many amazing cute looking penguins.

We then went for the main attraction of the place. The Shamu show! Shamu was a killer whale, who would perform stunts for the audience. We went to the huge stadium, which semicircular, with a water-pool in the middle and about 200 rows of seats. It could house a thousand people easily. We went to sit in the around the fortieth row, when someone told us we should consider going a little further back if we didn’t want to get wet. Our eyes twinkled and we did get up and leave those seats to go to the second row to sit on the least-coveted seats with our grins reading “Bring it on!”. It was surprising that there were not more than a handful of adventurous people in the first few rows , so we got to sit comfortably. The gallery filled up and the trainers came out and announced that the people in the first few rows should be really prepared to get wetter that they might have ever been in their lives. That turned us on more and we stay put. People around us were buying raincoats and ponchos to protect them from the torrents, but we stay put braving anything that was to come our way.

Then Shamu came out. He was huuuuuge but looked so adorable. About 30 humans could fit inside his mouth comfortably and to see him close up from our seats was awesome. He came near us and waved to the audience. Imagine a killer whale waving to you. And one which looked so adorable, with his black color with white patches and what I could have sworn was a grin on his face. Even the most cold hearted soul would be moved by its awesome sight. The trainers hugged him and I felt I could give anything to be in their position. Getting a hug from a killer whale. Fancy that.

Then one of the trainers got on his back and he went around the pool, with such amazing speed that left us gaping. It looked so majestic to see a whale swim up close. He jumped in the middle of the pool to such a height that the people at the hundredth row might have seen him in their horizontal line of sight. It looked so awesome to watch him do that. Each time, he landed, due to a certain Archimedes principle, water splashed on us and we were soon dripping wet. It was pretty cold that day and so we had no way of knowing whether the goose pimples we got were attributed to the cold or that splendorous show we were witnessing.

And then the trainers announced on the mike that it was time for us all to get wet. We looked at each other, thinking if the mess we were in currently was not wet then what would be. We soon found the answer to that. Shamu came near us and put his fin into the water and threw what would have been a thousand litres of water, with such an amazing force that when it hit us square in the face when we were least expecting it, it stung us and threw us backwards into our seats. We looked back to notice water pouring into people sitting as long as a hundred rows back. You would have to be on the last row and equipped with a poncho to stay dry. I have experienced drizzles, showers, downpours and even torrents of water but this was something way beyond all that. It felt like a pump from a fire engine was hosing us, albeit in short spurts. We negotiated the spurts which followed better, by getting into a shell as the water splashed, as we didn’t underestimate its force anymore. At the end of the show, we had learned what the definition of getting wet was, the hard way. It is not poetically that I am describing that we got wetter that one could while taking a bath; believe me I experienced it.

We were drenched to the skin and shivering in the cold breeze the rest of the afternoon, but we didn’t complain because the spectacle we had witnessed was worth a little discomfort. We then went for the dolphin show, which was also really grand. We sat further back this time though, not wanting to get any wetter than we already were. There were about 10 dolphins in the pool and we watched with awe as they jumped through hoops and touched flags placed as high as 50 metres in the air. To think these little things, not more than 6 feet in length could jump to 20 times their height was stunning. And they looked really cute too.

At the end of the show, we went to the dolphin feeding centre where each of us were allowed to go up to the pool and a dolphin would come to us and greet us by shaking our hand with its amazingly soft fin and then jump for us a few times and even get on its back and wave at us. It was soo soo adorable to watch them do all that. I was transfixed when I noticed it was opening its mouth wide and I threw the, rather disgustingly stinking, fish in my hand into its mouth on the instructions of a representative. It jumped up and caught the fish and feasted upon it and jumped up a couple of times as if thanking me for the food and swam away backwards while waving its fin at me as if bidding farewell. I was so moved by its adorable actions that I could have cried right there. I added a dolphin to the now fast-growing wish-list of the animals I wished to have as pets. Let me see- a polar bear, a panda, a killer whale and now a dolphin among many others.

We then went to watch the sea lion and walrus show, which was a themed comical skit with the animals running around a stage ship with people and balancing balls etc. The show was quite hilarious and we enjoyed every minute of it.

By the time the show ended it was dark already and after getting a couple more souvenirs, we drove back to the hotel and had dinner and went to bed thoroughly satisfied with the day and our trip in whole, which was just about over.

We got up the next morning and break-fasted and realized we were really far from home. About 600 miles. We had one long drive back and we started at about 10 am. We went to the San diego beaches on the way and spent some time playing soccer and I got a chance to ride a jet ski there. It was really amazing. To go at 40 mph in water, and wherever you look around you see no land, it is quite scary. Each time the ski hit the surface of the water while going at 30+ mph, there was an amazing jerk. It was an awesome experience.

We had an uneventful journey back, thanks to MS’s safe driving but we were really slowed down by the trademark traffic out of LA, which went all the way to San Francisco. Guess southerners were going north for Christmas. It seemed like being back in India, with cars in all directions. For about 4 hours we were inching (by US freeway terms it is inching) on at 40 mph.Also near the bay area, there was a great amount of fog and we the visibility was not more than a few metres. It is a scary feeling to know that you are travelling more than 20 metres each second and you cannot see more than the next ten metres. You just had to pray there wasn’t some stranded vehicle or a broken road just ahead of us, as there would be no reaction time to do anything even as soon as we see it. We stopped in resting places, off the freeway, 3-4 times so that we wouldn’t tire. We some some frosted ice and snow too at one of the resting places- the onset of winter was quite clear.

I have to mention the organization of US roadways is really brilliant. The Interstate freeway connects states and the roads are 8 lane. Whenever some city comes up along the way, or there is a bunch of shops off the road, an exit comes up which takes all the traffic away from the freeway and then branches off to different points so that the freeway cruisers are not affected by cars turning left or right from the freeway itself to go to their destinations. Admiring the effectiveness of the system, we travelled for close to 16 hours on the road and reached Davis at about 1 am. We took turns to sleep in the car and the person who was awake would be MS’s cartographer and companion. It was a brave effort by the equally tired MS to keep his concentration and drive safely.

Once we reached home, we hit the bed right away and it was the worst feeling to get up as early as 8 am next morning to return the rented car, but if we didn’t do it, we would have to pay another day’s rent and I volunteered to accompany MS to Enterprise to do that. Once we came back, I went to bed again and the best part of the next 3 days was spent sleeping, resting our physically and mentally exhausted selves. AZ left for Seattle to visit his sis and it was the four of us again for some time.

(TO BE CONTINUED...)

MY EXPERIENCES IN CALIFORNIA : Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11- SAN DIEGO BEACH ADVENTURE AND ZOO

We slept for 12 hrs that night and got up the next morning and had a late breakfast and headed to San Diego on the car. It was only a couple of hours drive but it was one helluva drive, as it was totally along the coast. We could smell the sea and feel the moisture when we opened our windows and could almost hear the thumping of the waves on the rocks and the beach amidst the quiet roar (a quiet roar is oxymoronic while describing anything except good cars, which is a complement to them) of our Chrysler 300 engine.

We found our hotel, Holiday Inn and checked in and it was awsome hotel, right by the harbor. We could see the sea right from our room window and it was one hell of a sight. We felt relaxed mentally. We decided the best way to sight see San Diego was to laze around, as it was a city meant for that. We had some places on our list to go to and we would go with the plan but at a relaxed pace, unlike LA.

We lounged around for a couple of hrs in the afternoon and then started for the nearest beach at about 6 pm. It was getting dark by the time we got to that area. As we drove towards the beach, the lights from the shops seemed dimmer and dimmer, and the roads got narrower and narrower, and the people seemed shadier and shadier. We hesitated a bit to go further but then we thought… what the hell…lets see what this side of the US is all about. We parked the car at what seemed to be a car park, only that it seemed more like all the cars there seemed out of some dump yard. We headed towards the beach, noticing that all the shops were shady salons and bars where almost everyone seemed to have a ruffled look and sneer on their faces and the sneer seemed pronounced when they took in the sight of 5 nervous Indian tourists walking their streets. We could see a few shabbily dressed whores on the street winking at passers-by. We could see some people, just lounging on the road, who looked to be drug sellers, talking in low voices to people.

We went past all these people to get a sight of the beach. It was dark at that time but we could make out enough to see that it was quite deserted. Or was it? There was a gang of about 10 well-built people we could see, who would fit the definition of the gangsta typically described in Hollywood movies. And they had with them…..on a leash….a dog. We were first perplexed by this. Anyone, who just saw 10 of the scariest looking men, taking a dog on a stroll by the beach would be perplexed. After sometime we realized, they were waiting for someone. We put two and two together and concluded there was going to be a ferocious dog fight here between two gangs that night. The gang whose dog kills the other dog is granted some favor by the other gang.

Some of us were (including me) excited by this and thought it would be a good spectacle to watch, especially considering there was a good chance someone may take a gun out of his jacket and just shoot us dead for nothing. But then sense prevailed and we decided to scram from there. We just turned around and walked towards the car, when a giant of a guy stopped us. We thought the game was up and he was gonna set his gang upon us or rob us or worse, but then he asked us if we wanted some weed. We refused his offer and walked away, as he mouthed some expletives at us. We breathed a sigh of relief to find our car intact and just drove out of that area as quickly as we could. We could relax only after we went to the more secure parts of the city.

Disappointed at not having been able to set foot on the beach but more than content with our adventure that night, we had dinner and went to our rooms. This side of the US is not seen unless you go to the right places and we were really happy to have experienced that. Now AZ’s birthday was also that night and so to give him a “surprise”, JD ‘n I kept him out of the room trying to distract him by playing soccer with the ball we had brought, in the lawns of the hotel and forcing a couple of toilet breaks, just to ensure he wouldn’t go to the room where MS and JB would smuggle a b’day cake after buying it and hide it so that we could surprise him at midnight. It looked really retarded for JD and me to play our parts, dragging AZ along with us to satisfy our sudden “desire” to play football in the night outside. He would’ve guessed something was up for sure, nonetheless we did our part. We “surprised” him at midnight, though we all knew he was wide awake and knew what was going on. Still… we were all sports. So we had a nice little celebration, feasting on a delicious cake and some b’day bumps. We had some badushah (curse you JB :x for having disclosed the meaning of the codeword on your blog) too for the sweetness ;) . So we all went to sleep quite late.

The next morning, we got up very late (at about 9 am), considering what we had planned for the day. Well, we actually woke up early but then our laziness didn’t make us get up. My alarm rang at 7 am and I woke up and silenced it. I turned towards JB, who was sleeping next to me and I could see him shut his eyes quickly as I looked at him. I then closed my eyes thinking a couple more minutes of sleep won’t make a difference. I lay awake for the next 5 minutes and though it was high time we all woke up, but didn’t want to take the initiative. I opened my eyes and lay on the bed when I sensed JB also open his and look towards me. I quickly closed my eyes and pretended to be sleeping. Had two of us seen each other awake, we would be weighted by logic and would take the initiative to get up, which means I couldn’t lounge longer on the bed. So I didn’t want to be among the first ones to take the initiative to get up and wake the others. I later discovered that was exactly on JB’s mind too. And AZ’s too. And probably the other two too. So we basically had been all awake on the bed, pretending to the others to be asleep so that we could laze around on the bed longer. A couple of hours passed like this and finally at about 9 am, JB, AZ and I (un)fortunately opened our eyes at the same time and there was no excuse this time. So we got up in a jiffy and woke the other two.

We knew we were running really late, as we had planned to step out of the hotel at 8 am max. After all, we needed one whole day to visit the largest zoo in the world and the national park and take its numerous safaris. As we had just one bathroom, it took us about 11 am to step out of the hotel and so we had to modify our plans as the national park was 20 miles from the zoo in the other direction. So we had to choose between them. That was a tricky choice but we finally choose to see the zoo because it was really famous and had some animals no other zoo in the world would have and it was closer by about 15 miles to the hotel and we knew the way.

In the now pouring rain, we reached the zoo in half an hour and decided there was no point in waiting for the rain to stop and so walked into the zoo in the rain. It was pretty deserted because of the weather. We looked at the map of the zoo, and it was huuuge. We decided to take the motorized tour of the zoo and it took an hour for the van to go all around the zoo, that’s how massive it was. By the time we got down from the van, we had an idea of the layout of the zoo. So, with zoo maps in hand, braving the rain, we went to visit the animals we had picked out. We must have walked about 10 miles in the zoo in the next 3-4 hours, during which we covered about 50 percent of the zoo.

The stand-out animals, which might not be seen anywhere else were the panda and the polar bear. Yeah that’s right. A real polar bear. The name polar bear itself suggests that it lives only in the poles. But hey… this zoo had one. It was housed in a huge 1 acre glass enclosure, in which the polar habitat had been simulated with caves ad polar vegetation and optimum temperatures. It was really exciting to see an animal, which only the explorers who explored the poles would generally see, right in front of us. It looked so majestic- so large and ferocious but it looked friendly too. I guess it was the white color of its fur that gave a friendly harmless look. Our mind always associates mild colors like white to be non-violent and peaceful unlike brown or black which are associated with violence. It seemed to me that if there were no glass enclosure, it would run to me and hug me. A bear-hug it would be too. Good thing I couldn’t try it… cos it might have had other ideas….

We then went to the part of the zoo when another attraction was housed. That was the panda. It was sooo cute. Cute is a term often overused and misused by most girls, but this is one time I would totally agree with any girl who might have called this cute. It was black with white patches in its body. There has never been a time after that where I felt it would be amazing to have one as a pet. Alas… they are protected animals and I was lucky to have had the opportunity to see one at least.

Due to the lousy weather, it grew dark as early as 5 pm and the zoo was closing down. We did some souvenir shopping, where I got a stuffed panda, which was so soft and fluffy that I even toyed with the idea of hugging it in bed(:D), much to the disgust of AZ, who was barbarous to the poor thing all the time (:x).

We went back to the hotel and made some rice, with the rice cooker we had brought from Davis (lol…look how planned we were), because we realized we had spending a lot and we could save up on this at least and so we had some curd rice. I then hit the hay, with regret on my mind for the first time in that trip, because after having come this far, we couldn’t get to see the wildlife sanctuary, due to purely our laziness and stubbornness in not getting up that morning. That is the only thing which I would want to change if given the opportunity in the otherwise perfect trip. But I guess that was one of those times our physical fatigue won over our mental willingness to make the maximum of the trip.

(TO BE CONTINUED...)