Stop eating meat

2008-03-17T16:52:00.000-07:00

I spent the last few months of 2007 living and working in China. In China meat seems to be the basic ingredient for almost every dish. My Chinese colleagues couldn't quite imagine a day without eating it. Eating carrot was as sinful as eating pork, Life was life.

Here are a few reasons why one shouldn't eat meat -
Health Reasons: vegetarians are less likely to get cancer by 25 to 50 percent.
Environmental Reasons: 70% of grain production is used to feed farm animals. The grains and soybeans fed to animals to produce the amount of meat consumed by the average American in one year could feed seven people for the same period.
Animal Rights Reasons: animals do feel pain. (check this youtube video)

We don’t need to eat animals! Most of us don’t eat animals because we must in order to survive. We eat them because we want to.

a weekend in Hawaii

2008-03-07T10:56:00.000-08:00

Thursday, I called Southwest and found out that I had about $800 of credit with them, which was expiring soon. I decided to make the best of it, and booked two tickets from Oakland, CA to Honolulu, HI for the same day. It turned out to be all to sudden and rushed, and we missed our flight that day.

Friday evening, we left for the airport early to avoid any more near misses. The flight was on time. It was a 5 hour flight, we reached Honolulu airport at midnight. We took the shuttle to our hotel, Royal Garden at Waikiki.

Shuttle service to Waikiki is very convenient and probably the best way to get to Waikiki if you don't have a car. They charge $9 one way and $15 RT. A cab ride to Waikiki would cost about $35 on average.

AS for our hotel room at the Royal Garden at Waikiki, we booked it through Priceline.Com, which lets you "Name your own price" . It worked out to $90/night, which is reasonable considering it's location - It's right in the heart of Waikiki, and a seven minute walk to the Beach. The hotel itself was old, and not the cleanest but the beds were well made and we had plenty of fresh towels for when we returned from our all too frequent beach trips.

4 days in Waikiki

Day 1 (Sat):
Morning: Breakfast: Eggs n' Things, fantastic breakfast place - very popular too, they open at 6am. Make sure you get there early if you don't like waiting. The afternoon was spent walking around Waikiki Central and at the Waikiki Beach

Evening: Paradise Cove Luau - It's about an hours drive north of Waikiki, a lovely setting with the setting sun in the back ground. We booked online through their website, it cost $75 per person. It includes the pickup and drop off, a Hawaiian dinner buffet and a cultural program. It was a 4 hours well spent :).

Day 2 (Sun):
Morning: at 8 am we checked with Outriggers Snorkeling and Sailing at the Waikiki beach. It's about a 2 1/2 hour long ride, which includes a short sail on a Catamaran and lots of time for snorkeling. Snorkeling was fantastic and we got to see and swim with the Green Sea Turtles!! However, Cost: $48 / person it's definitely overpriced. A better option would have been Hanauma Bay, which we did the next day.

Afternoon: Lunch: Bombay Garden, delicious Indian Buffet on Alamona Blvd- not greasy like most other Indian places I've been to in the States. Their dessert - the gulab-jamun was the best I've had in a along time. Cost $24 / person
Evening: Beer and Chips on the Waikiki beach and another beautiful sunset. Icecream from Coldstone to finish off the day.

Day 3 (Mon):
Morning: Pearl harbor, we had to be up by 6am to get into the facility. The number of permits handed out per day are limited, and it's strictly on a first come first serve basis. We took a tour bus (Roberts Hawaiian Tours). WE found it's free to entry the facility, and the money we paid for the tour (Cost: $26/ticket) was just for pick up and drop off, and a total ripoff. The tour of the facility and the the short movie on Pearl Harbor was very informative to say the least.

Afternoon: Hanauma Bay Wildlife Preserve: very touristy but for a good reason. It's incredibly scenic, well maintained, the sea life here is vibrant and waters are great even for beginners. Do note that the the preserve is closed on Tuesdays, some of our friends were disappointed as they found out too late. Cost: $5 /person

Evening: Dinner: Singha Thai on Alamo Blvd, the decor is brilliant, complete with some Royal Thai Dancers. We order the dinner for 2, it comes with appetizers, rice and two entries and a dessert. The appetizers were excellent, but we were sourly disappointed by the main course. Desserts was just above average. Cost $90 for two, way way overpriced. Next time we go there, it's going to be just for the appetizers.

Day 4 (Tue):
Morning: Diamond Peak National Park: It's one of the highest vantage points in Oahu. The park rangers suggest it takes about 1.5 - 2 hours RT on an average. It's a moderate climb with a long narrow tunnel and step steps towards the end. The climb was certainly well worth it, as the panoramic view of the West Side of Oahu top was simply spectacular. Cost: $1 per person

Afternoon: sadly it was time to go back. We called a shuttle for the airport. Although, I feel sheepish about admitting it, I forgot to take my backpack while getting off from the van, and didn't realize until a bit latter. The driver was really helpful, he went out of his way to have my bag reach me in time for the flight. Cost: 7 /person. Airport Shuttle (808) 590 0700

Cost:
Airfare: $380 RT SouthWest
Hotel: $90 /night Royal Garden at Waikiki booked on Priceline
Snorkel & Sail: $52 /person Outriggers at Waikiki booked on Expedia. (OVERPRICED, goto Hanauma instead)
Luau: $75 /person direct on Pardise Cove Website. To get a $20 discount per ticket goto the agent right across The Breakers on Beach Walk.
Pearl Harbor: $25 / person Robert Hawaiians Tours. Take "theBus" (cost: $2) and go by yourself instead.
Hanauma Bay: $5 /person
Bombay Garden: $24 /person Buffet. (Must Go)
Singha Thai: $90 for two. (Go, but only for the decor and appetizers)
one nice tan & one big grin: Priceless

Take with you your swim wear, sandals, sunscreen, sunglasses, beach towels, life vest(?), snorkels & flippers and you'll bring back your nice tan and your best big grin

Help My Tiger !

2008-02-14T09:25:00.000-08:00

The Bengal Tiger is spiraling towards certain extinction. Tiger Census from 2007 puts the figure at 1,411 tigers in the wild, down by 60% from the Census conducted just 10 years ago, in 1997.

I was 8 years old when I saw my first(and only) tiger in the wild at the Bandipur Tiger Reserve, that was over 20years ago. Even today I vividly recall every second of that encounter. It was an awe-inspiring sight, an "out of this world" experience (no pun intended).
It's shameful that were are not giving the Tiger it's rightful place on this planet, and saddening that future generations to come will never experience the Pride of the Wild.

Click here to find out how you can save the Tiger.

for a better world

Stop eating meat

a weekend in Hawaii

Help My Tiger !