Chhimi & Tabitha - Ramblings

It's been a great run!

Well it's been a great run, but I am off and back to chhimi.com. Thanks TYPEPAD you have been a great and wish I didn't have to leave but since I have already paid my web host for a year I need to use it. Maybe I will be back who knows. For those of you deciding what blog to use - GO Typepad. It's ease of use is what I will miss the most. For now the site will run for another month. So please -- take a look at the pictures - and read about our mis-adventures in South East Asia. Hopefully we will have more fun on (chhimi.com). New feature I added there is the Photo Album - register and you can share your travel adventures too. See ya next door. Ciao

Second Bestest Friend

This weekend Chhimi and Tabitha spent it with Ahmar, Chhimi's official 2nd Bestest Friend, from Norfolk, VA. We saw Ahmar and his lil' brother, Nadeem in December 2003 when they visited their parents for Xmas. This time around Ahmar came by himself just to spend some time with his dad on his vacation. What a sweet man. Click Here for pics.

We went to Pacifica, Half Moon Bay, Union Square, and caught a movie (Anchorman) at the Metreon on Saturday.

Toes in the Pacific Ocean

We drove from Ocean Beach onto HWY 35 to HWY 1. The scenes were breath-taking to be right their on the edge of the coast. Chhimi and Tabitha haven't been on the beach in a very very long time. It was wonderful to see the waves, despite the cloudy weather of the city. We saw Pacifica Beach on the right hand side of the road and decided to pull over to enjoy it. We walked down the long winding stair case onto the beach strip and saw a group of 4 people flying kites. Awww...wished we had a kite. Then there were surfers all around in the water. We dipped our feet into the freezing Pacific ocean .... but it felt sooo nice to have the sand and salt water wash over our feet. We definitely got used to it. Even Ahmar couldn't resist and had to take off his shoes and run into the freezing cold ocean :-).

Half Moon Bay (sort of)
Next stop is Half Moon Bay's Harbor. We stopped over on our way to Half Moon Bay State Beach (which we never reached) but we decided to pull over and look at all the fishing boats. We stopped at a fish & chip placed and had ourselves some nice light lunch. Afterwards, we strolled onto the pier and saw all the fishing boats and fishing market selling fresh caught salmon. People were actually buying them too. ..at the end of the Pier there were a flock of seagulls flying overhead and sqauting on the buildings so Chhimi decided to investigate. ...OMG! It was a close one, Tabitha felt something wet fall on her face...and she totally freaked out and thought it was seagull poo-poo. YUCK! She rubbed anti-bacteria gel on her face to wash away any thing that may be not "clean". Hahaha. Chhimi and Ahmar had a good giggle over that.

Union Square Dinner Time
Afterwards, we headed inland on HWY 92 to HWY 101 back into the city for Union Square. It was a very neat drive where we passed over fresh fruit stands and nurseries. Chhimi wanted to stop over but knew it was about to get dark already so decided not to. Next Time. We parked at the Metreon parking lot and decided to stroll over a few blocks onto Union Square. Same as always lots of boutiques and shops. We walked into a couple of stores and decided we were ready for dinner. King of Thai Noodle here we come. As we walked on Clement St, Chhimi got a scared when his favorite Thai joint was closed...but luckily, they just moved to a new location :-). Whew! The place is SMALL. Chhimi and Ahmar are not small boyz. Sooo...in the first table we got placed...it was hard for Chhimi and Ahmar to breathe. Poor things. So Chhimi requested to switch tables...a little better but still tight. Oh well. Food was good as usual. Chhimi and Tabitha even tried to order in Thai. The waitress definitely appreciated it and was more attentive to us :-). Awww....that's why we love this joint!

Funny Movie
Now, we decided to settle down the night at the Metreon Loew's theatre with Anchorman. Thought the movie was going to be sooo stupid....but all three of us laughed soooo hard and loud. Thought the movie theatre was going to be emtpy...but nope, it was a full house! Chhimi's sides were hurting afterwards. It was that funny (ok, Stupid Funny).

That's it for now. We're calling it a night at our hotel room in Foster City. Tomorrow, we're heading over the Berkely for some South Indian cuisine (DOSAS) ...MMMmmmm....looking forward to that!

Sunday Afternoon
After getting woken up at 8:00am by the hotel's maid asking for "housekeeping" and then proceeded to unlock our door even though Tabitha kept yelling "Go Away!" was freaky! Thank goodness we had the double-bolt so she could only open the room less than 1/8 of the way. Was that really housekeeping or was that a close encounter of something else?! Either way... Freaky. But no worries, Chhimi and I went back to sleeping soundly afterwards. By the time we woke up again to get ready and finally checked out, it was already 11:30am....so Sunday afternoon, here we come.

Dosa In Berkeley
We dropped by Ahmar's parent's house in the Richmond district to take Ahmar and Uncle (Ahmar's dad) out for Dosa. Unfortunately, Uncle had to pick up prescriptions at the pharmacy prior to 6:00pm and we didn't know when we would be able to drop Ahmar back off. So, just the 3 of us again but we promised Uncle that we would bring him back one for sure. We got onto HWY 101 North and proceeded to Chhimi's favorite Dosa place.

We ordered 3 Masala Dosas with Sambar. MMmmm. We also order a Masala Uthapam (similar to a "steamed" pizza with India spices mixed with potato and other veggies. The food arrived just as our bellies were about to curse and yell. The fragrance and aroma from the spices were wonderful and tingled our nostrils. The sambar was cooked to almost perfection! It was sooo yummy that we all finished our share and were almost fighting for the uthapam. Good lunch for sure.

CRAZY WALK
Afterwards, Tabitha got the crazy idea of walking from Sacramento Ave to 9th Ave. Yeah, WALK more than 15 blocks down to an Indian grocery store. What's even crazier was despite good judgement, both Chhimi and Ahmar tagged along. Half way through, Chhimi finally called it quits and said "that's it. It is way too far to continue to walk and way too far to walk back". So Tabitha quickly grabs the car keys and sprints back to the car on Sacramento and traveled back on University to pick up the 2 very exhuasted passengers. :-) It worked out.

WEIRD GROCERY STORE
We finally found the grocery store that Ahmar was telling us and parked. Chhimi decided to walk to another one right at the corner called "Milaan". It was a big indian grocery store but very very weird staff. The moment we walked in, a man quickly came to Tabitha's side and as Tabitha stared back at him, he asked "did you need some help finding something?" Response was "No, we're just looking" meaning "please move away from me before I kick you.". Then after walking to the aisle of premade package foods, Chhimi got sooo excited and wanted to get some. But NO PRICE STICKERS on any of its products. We got the same guy and asked "How much?". He says "$0.99"...then a younger "punk" comes up and says "No." "$1.99". Tabitha then found a package that stated "$1.49" and showed it to the guys...the younger "punk" says "No, that is wrong price. $1.99". We said "No thanks, we don't want it" and walked out. WEIRD STORE!!

Saying Good-Bye
We dropped Ahmar back to his parent's place and gave him hugs and waved good bye until the next time he comes back out to the Bay. Bye Bye for now "Second Bestest Friend" of Jigme Chhimi. :-) It was a nice time to see Ahmar and to catch up with him.