call of da wild

before there was facebook or myspace or even friendster ... or any other social network, for that matter, there was the OG social network: the goan network. throughout my life, my mom would tell me that some person or family was coming over for dinner or something. if i ever asked who they were, i would usually get some convoluted answer about a friend's brother's daughter's cousin. luckily for terence, my cousins, and me, the network was rarely used to get us hooked up, though some of my aunts have thought about it.

but hey, goans are extremely nice, helpful, and hospitable. when i moved to ny a few months ago, i was put in touch with the young goan group of new jersey. i was actually "connected" to the group through two different people. i was put on their email list, and a month or so ago, i found out about a planned camping trip. since it'd be good to know some more people in the area and camping is usually a lotta fun, i thought i'd sign up and go. yeah, i wouldn't know anyone else going, but they're goan ... it's all good.

despite some delays getting to the campground in PA, i got to the site and had a lot of fun. there were 20 of us total, and we all had a really good time. even though i just met everyone, people were super friendly and fun. we went white water rafting saturday morning. since the rapids were not so rapid, we went the majority of the time angling our raft in the best possible position to toss buckets of water onto people on other rafts while staying wet ourselves. of course, everyone was drenched in the end, but it was a really good time. the rest of the day consisted of a bbq, volleyball, dodgeball, and of course, ghost stories (provided by google on an iphone) and smores around a campfire. unfortunately, mother nature decided to pour on us sunday morning, which confined us inside our tiny cabins playing taboo. all the guys and one girl went paintballing that afternoon, which was a blast, despite continually foggy goggles and rain and hail. all in all, it was a great weekend, and now i know a few more people in the tri-state area, and the fact that they're goan is even better.

UPDATE: apparently not everyone was goan ... those phonies!

african dream

for those of you that don't know, both of my parents were born and raised in kenya (my dad in mombasa and my mom in nairobi). they were there till around they were 18 before moving to goa. they spent almost twice as much time in kenya as they did in goa. neither has been back since they left in around 1969, but my dad has been wanting to come back for years now. my mom's fears about the safety of the country has held him back, but she finally gave in. terence and i decided to tag along.

getting there:
getting to kenya and meeting with my parents and brother, who had already been there almost a week, wasn't as easy as you would think. to start things off my flight from brussels to nairobi was delayed two hours, which made me miss my flight from nairobi to mombasa ... and of course, that flight was the last one of the night. after an hour or two of talking with airline officials, they booked me on a flight the next morning and put me up in a pretty nice hotel for the night. when i got to the airport the next morning, the excitement of the trip was really starting to hit me. plus, when i got to the airport and was looking for breakfast, i found some mondazis. mondazis are basically african donuts. i love them ... but get them only rarely when my aunts will make them. the flight to mombasa was uneventful ... though i did get a beautiful view of mt. kilimanjaro from the plane. growing up, my dad used to tell my brother and me tall tales of his adventures climbing mt. kilimanjaro, which i believed for a long time. once i touched down in mombasa (which i didn't know was an island till i got there), there was a driver waiting for me with instructions to take me to my parents and brother who were on a city tour of mombasa. the chase was on. to make a long story short, the driver decided to pick up someone else too, and, instead of dropping me off first even though i was on the way, dropped off the other guy first. by that time, my parents and terence had left where they were and now we had to meet them somewhere else. after a lotta driving through mombasa, i eventually met up with the rest of my family.

mombasa city tour:
the first part of the tour (or at least the first part of the tour for me) took us through the old spice market. throughout the tour, it was fun hearing my dad tell stories of how things were "back when [he] was [there]." next we went to fort jesus, an old portuguese fort that constantly fought over. it was only relatively recently made a national monument. before then, it served as a playground for my dad and his childhood friends. they used to play soccer outside its walls, throw stones down its well, and swim to and from its banks. after the fort, it was time for lunch. lunch was aboard the tamarind dhow while it floated through crisp blue waters. we ended the city tour at hallers park, basically a zoo. there we saw hippos and crocodiles eating, giant tortoises, monkeys, and even got to feed some giraffes.

mombasa night life:
terence told me we had plans to hang out with some of my mom's friend effie's kids that night. neither terence and i had met any of them before. effie, who used to be my mom's neighbor in nairobi back in the day, has two kids, marissa and jeremy, and jeremy was celebrating his 21st birthday (not a big deal since the drinking age is 18 and even that isn't enforced much). the plan was to pre-party at their house and then head out to some bar. i guess you could say they sticked to that plan, but things definitely weren't what i expected. effie's husband mike, who used to go to school with my dad, picked up the four of us from our hotel. my parents were going to some other party with effie and mike. we got to the house around 9. as soon as my parents left with mike and effie, as if on cue, car after car starting pulling into the driveway. in the end there were around 25 (mostly goan) kids between 20 and 30 years old. after a few drinks and a few hours, we get word that the plan is to leave the house around midnight. i'm looking forward to a change of scenery, mostly because my energy level is DROPPING (keep in mind that i flew into mombasa this morning). 1am rolls around and we're still at the house, and fortunately, i start to catch my second wind. it wasn't till around 2 that we ended up getting out of there and heading out to a local bar. after a couple hours of some drinking and dancing there, the fun begins. our group gets kicked out of that bar because one of the guys with us started puking at one of the tables. being kicked out and the way the bouncers treated us in doing so really pissed off jeremy and his friends. they were regulars at this place and knew some of the management. after some strong words with the people working there and some effort to get everyone in our party out, especially ryan (recently returned to mombasa after graduating from college in australia), we decided to move the fun. this time we went to pirates, a bigger place with more of a tourist appeal (though it was 4am now and not much of anyone was still there). we were at pirates till they closed around 6. this is when the real comedy starts. ryan is drunk and acting a fool, tripping over things, falling in the sand, peeing in public, peeing in public while falling in the sand, jumping on cars, talking random nonsense about rapunzel and the devil. STRAIGHT COMEDY! though it's probably one of those you had to be there things. eventually around 630am, we were dropped back at our hotel and i hit the sack. my first full day in the country was over.

the next day, my dad gave us his version of the mombasa city tour. he showed us the church he was baptised in and went to growing up. then he took us to his old neighborhood. the house he used to live in is still there but completely uninhabitable. the thing was RUN DOWN and falling apart ... literally. that night we had dinner with effie, mike, marissa, jeremy, and some of my dad's other friends. we called it a day early ...

... because we had to wake up early the next day to start our seven day safari. we were picked up by robert ... our guide and driver for the next seven days. we got into our nissan van, which was to be our home for the next few days ... and the safari was on!

the safari in general was an amazing experience. i didn't really know what to expect going in. our lodges throughout the safari were a pleasant surprise. great service, (mostly) good food, and nice accomodations. our safari consisted of four different game parks: tsavo west, amboseli, lake nakuru, and masai mara. each park was different from all the others, and each park had different things that made it special. the safari also made me realize that my sense of sight is MUCH better than my brother's or my parents'.

tsavo west:
we had an AWESOME view of a man-made watering hole from our patio and the dining terrace. unfortunately, aside from that, it was hard to see much else because the brush in this park was high and thick. since this park was the beginning of our safari, a sighting of any kind was exciting for us. later on, seeing a gazelle or a dik dik would not have been a big deal but now seeing them still brought out "oohs" and "aahs." we did get a beautiful view of a group of giraffes in a clearing and a brief glimpse of a hyena before it was scared off by a herd of elephants. on our way out of the park, we stopped at a natural hot springs where we were able to see a bunch of hippos, and since the hippos were still wild, we were required to go with an armed escort. that armed escort was not the only one we'd need that day. apparently the drive between tsavo and amboseli isn't the safest one around, and there have been reports of armed bandits roaming the area. we had to travel in a caravan with each vehicle having a person with an assault rifle inside.

amboseli:
amboseli was flat and open. for miles and miles, all you'd see is animals, all kinds of animals: zebras, wildebeest, elephants, warthogs, giraffes, gazelles, etc. seeing all those animals side by side, peacefully coexisting, was incredible. here was also the first place we were able to see some predators. other highlights here include seeing:
- a cheetah chase (but not catch) a gazelle
- a lion eating a zebra by the side of the road
- a baby gazelle and since it could barely walk, it had to have been less than two hours old
- a traditional masai tribe and village
- a herd of elephants up close

lake nakuru:
getting to lake nakuru was not the most pleasant experience ever. the trip was a seven hour drive, but this wasn't your sf-to-la seven hour drive. our driver was constantly swerving left and right to avoid potholes and other vehicles. to make thing worse, it was pouring rain the whole time too. eventually we got there. lake nakuru is famous for the flocks of flamingos that call it home. the sheer magnitude of them was amazing. robert even let us get out of the van at the shore. highlights:
- rhinos for the first time, including a black rhino, which is one of africa's most endangered species.
- a breathtaking view from baboon cliff
- of course, the flamingos

masai mara:
masai mara is kenya's most famous national park, and you could easily spend 6 or 7 days here alone. long rolling hills and vast stretches of grassland. we also happened to be there at the tail end of the great wildebeest migration, and there were wildebeest everywhere. my mom wanted to "rough it" a bit here and had us booked in tents but really these tents were really the best rooms we had. they were basically nice hotel rooms but with canvas walls. we even later found out that the place was owned by gujaratis. highlights:
- a hyena eating something while a bunch of vultures waited their turn
- finally seeing a lion with a large mane
and of course, the highlight of the entire safari:
throughout the safari, we had seen all the different animals that we had expected/wanted to see, except for a leopard. after a long search, we find a leopard. at first we didn't have a very good view and could only see spots. after robert did some maneuvering to get us a better, we could see that the leopard was eating an antelope of some kind. as more and more cars approached, the leopard was becoming noticealbly more nervous. eventually it bites down on the antelope around the neck and climbs up a tree. yeah, it climbed up a tree while carrying the antelope in its mouth. once it felt the body was secure up in the tree, it jumped down and took off in the brush, leaving its food for later, safe in the tree where lions and hyenas couldn't get to it.
what a great way to end our safari.



after our safari, we had lunch in nairobi with my dad's old neighbor (who used to be a jetfighter pilot ... even trained at top gun) and then flew back to mombasa. we spent monday lounging at the beach with ryan. that night we had dinner at "the club." "the club," actually called the mombasa institute, formerly called the goan institute, is goan owned and has its own tennis courts, soccer field, bar, etc. it's basically the hangout spot for all the goans in the area, young and old alike. that night we ended up going out and what we thought would be an early night (since it was monday) didn't end till 3am. the next day was more tame with only happy hour and dinner. then terence and i said our goodbyes to mombasa and flew to nairobi.

while in nairobi, we stayed with shashank, who lives in nairobi working as a journalist. terence and i wandered around the city some while shashank worked, though there wasn't much to see. friday, the three of us went to hell's gate and biked through the park. though we'd been close to the animals before, being close with nothing separating you from them was a completely different experience. terence and i even almost got arrested on the way there. the policeman kept telling shashank "i want to arrest these two" because we didn't have our passports with us. he was even nice about, saying "i want to arrest these two ... let me arrest them ... please." when he realized we wouldn't offer him a bribe, he simply let us go. during the rest of our time in nairobi, shashank showed us around, taking us to good restaurants and bars. we ended our trip on saturday, hour from our flight, at a casino playing blackjack. all three of us started with 2000 Ksh (~$30). i ended with 8000 Ksh, shashank with 12000 Ksh, and terence with 18000 Ksh. you read that correctly ... i quadrupled my money, which was nothing compared to the 9x that terence did with his money! why can't we do that in vegas?!!?

and with that, our trip was over ...

... but i wasn't home yet. i spent most of the next week in new york. unfortunately, since archana was working a lot of that time, i wandered around the city by myself a lot and was able to meet up with both noopur and ramneek.

three and a half weeks and 31ooo AAdvantage miles (and platinum status) later, i made it back to sd. home again.

you can check out all my pictures here.

what time the plane leavin

i know it's been a while since i've blogged ... get over it!

excitement is starting to grow for my upcoming trip to kenya. basically everything's set. i have my tickets, my visa, my immunizations, and just about everything else ... terence, even has his passport ... finally!

for the most part, we have our plan down. i'll spend a couple days in mombasa, where my dad was born and raised, before heading out on 7 day safari through various wildlife parks in kenya. my parents will leave, and terence and i will do some hiking/biking through the rift valley and mount longonot, along with spending some time in nairobi with shashank, who lives there and writes some pretty fascinating stuff. the trip should definitely be good times.

and to make things a little better, i found out i have a meeting for work in baltimore the week i get back, which means, i'm just going to stay on the east coast a bit longer (and on the company dollar), and of course, the more time i get to spend in ny the better =)

soooo ... as it's looking now, SAN to JFK to BRU to NBO to MBA, then on the way back, NBO to BRU to JFK to BWI to JFK to SAN. kinda crazy! ... and all on american airlines.

and thanks to some good looking out by terence, i've signed up for the american's platinum aadvantage challenge. the lady i spoke to at american said that i should hit platinum status halfway through my trip. even better, the status will last through february 2009! time to rack up those miles.

weekend

my brother already recapped his 4th of july bbq here, but there's no way i can not post this video.



the sound is great too.
"nice! well played, brian, well played."
"fuck ... ... ... CAMERA!"
and of course, right at the end, "hey, hey, can i see your camera really quick?" which lead to kathleen getting tossed into the pool as well as soon as the camera was safely out of her hands.

unfortunately, my likwit crew shirt was a casualty of the day; though, i suppose it could have been worse.


friday night was a trip too. good ol time at double dutch with the likwit crew. the end of the night was straight comedy. though nothing i say will be able to recapture the hilarity ... one of those you had to be there things. but a couple highlights:

• vivek's magic tricks
• and jay waking up at 530am in his car, still outside my bro's place

saturday night's garba was a good time too. it was nice finally getting to spend a bit of time with anjali before her big day. santana row afterwards was ridiculous.

• manasa's hair catching on fire ... okay okay, not on fire, but it definitely burned, smoke and putrid smell and all
• five drunk girls and at least four cameras make for a bunch of great pictures
  
• "alright, well we all just took a shot of patron ... probably not a good time to drive home." then seeing the cop next to us look up and smile
• getting bombarded by drunk girls to be nice to my gf during her intern year

the wedding ceremony was beautiful. the reception was a blast.

• drinking in the parking lot with tha liks, bumping wu
• my suit button issues
  
• jay being drunk off his ass during the speeches
• saving a glass of scotch for after my speech (didn't quite work out that way)
• anjali's little cousin with the same ol sass i remember
• guys being all over labonee
• table 13 ... aka the drunk table
• labonee losing her purse at the end of the night (not sure what she was doing while she lost it)
  

good times ... i haven't had that much fun in a long time.

pictures of:
july 4th
double dutch
anjali's garba
santana row
anjali's wedding


and CONGRATULATIONS ANJALI AND NIRAL!

the bay

i've got a slow week at work, and i haven't posted in awhile ... what better time than now.

it'd been awhile since i've made my way over to the bay to kick with friends. seeing as i have a lot more free time these days on the weekends, i figured it was about time. i'm not going to get into details, but it was a damn good weekend, filled with good friends and lotsa drinking.

some highlights:
- ronak telling me that he's disavowed the four prong method for getting girls for a new and improved five pronged method ... apparently because of me. yeah, and i'm still not funny.

- ankita ... good ol drunkita. first, selling her beerfest ticket to my friend then changing her mind and buying another one on craigslist. i'm glad she came though ... pouring beer on people and smashing cake in people's faces ... good times.

- zena's drunk ass not knowing who i was

- our awesome limo driver gus gus

- my drunk ass at double dutch

- since i had a free upgrade on united that expired at the end of april, i flew first class back.

ahh, good times ...

pictures here and here

tonight ... nasty nas live

make way for the alkaholik crew

awesome past fews days. most of the stories wouldn't be conveyed well over a blog, which means i won't get into most of em ...

first of all, since thurs night, things have been pretty good. however ... the days before SUCKED. a project deadline was looming, which meant long hours of work. i'm glad to say that the model is now done with only minimal work left to "pretty it up" and i'm confident it's bug free and accurate.

aight ... to the fun. i made sure to have the model done by thurs evening, ensuring i had time to hit up dynamite thurs night. you all know i love this place (it keeps me sane), but this past thurs was my best dynamite night yet. i met SOO many random people, and unlike most nights, i was talking to someone or the other almost the entire night, which includes but isn't limited to:

- my new regular friend who's not as good looking as alexia is but much much more interesting and down to just hang out and talk. i think she's going to come with me to the jurassic 5 show this week. i'm hoping this will move outside the confines of bar dynamite.
- cute indian girl that goes to usc law, whom i met a few months ago there.
- fobby indian dude who's been in the country only a year. he was by himself, and i decided to go talk to him.
- two random guys from vegas. these guys were straight comedy. one of em started talking to me in the line for the bathroom because i was wearing my gang starr shirt. they told not to go to vegas this past weekend and go next weekend because they'd be back there and would be able to hook me up with tables and vip treatment. one of the guys told me to lookup the law firm he helped start next time i'm going to be in vegas.
- martin smith. just graduated from cal and used to play point on the bball team. but seriously though, this guy looked like he had ZERO game (not that i have any) and was having a horrible time ... didn't end up talking to him much.

so yeah, awesome night. what a good opening for a good weekend.

ahh ... vegas. i don't think there's much i'm going to say about vegas because, frankly, unless you were there, you wouldn't understand. one of those 'you had to be there' things. for the most part, we didn't do much but drink and gamble. we ended up going to jet in the mirage sat night, but not much other than that. anyways, to highlight a few.

- jay's flight being delay over FOUR HOURS!
- wyborny B*TCHES
- yeah, that's what she said
- byyyyaaahhhh
- trying to wake up labonee one morning and then having her say she's a light sleeper the next.
- jay and i being horrible shooters on the craps tables. one of the dealers was even like, "uhh ohh .. this guy" when i got the dice and later called told jay "you're slow today." ahh, that chack, good man.
- jay's adventure getting home saturday night.
- labonee's drunken walking
- vivek getting his nipple/shoulder bit on on the dance floor (and having marks to prove it)
- "i like mexican food"
- losing my first nine blackjack hands while labonee is tripling her money next to me.
- hearing about sanjay and viren's drunken exploits

good times. unfortunately i lost about $175 gambling, which means the next vegas trip probably won't be anytime soon (though i can probably be convinced if you try hard enough ... okay, you probably have to try that hard).

... and i miss spending time drankin with tash and ol dirty. get tha liks together and you know it's gunna be a good time.

UPDATE: pictures

loungin'

(if you haven't read this post about san ignacio, read it now)

back in belize city and once again, waiting at the water taxi station for our boat to leave. unfortunately, there was no random encounter with a group of girls this time. now we're on our way to caye caulker, which is another island, and for the most part, exactly the same as ambergris caye ... but less. less people, smaller island, less tourists, much more chill. there did seem to be a lot of belizean tourists though, and i'm not sure if that was because it was easter weekend or if belizeans regularly came here on weekends. ambergris caye had few cars; this place had none. the only transportation consisted of golf carts (once again, where's sidney when you need him ... probably at the block). most people walked from place to place. our hotel here was much more ghetto than the other places we stayed at (but cheaper). there's no real fresh water on caye caulker, aside from bottled water. water coming out of the taps is desalinated water, and you could definitely still smell/test the salt in it (we learned our lesson the first time we tried brushing our teeth). by this time, shawn and i had pretty much done all we had wanted to do in terms of tours and activities (plus we were running low on funds). we had planned our time on caye caulker to be really chill ... and that's exactly what it was. we didn't do much the first day. we swam a bit for the first time (not counting snorkeling and in the cave). actually, you don't see people swimming much in belize in general. that probably stems from the fact that belizean beaches aren't san diego/miami/hawaii type of beaches. the majority of belize is protected by a barrier reef (i believe the largest living barrier reef in the world), and because of the reef, there aren't any waves on the shore. it's really odd looking out to the horizon and seeing waves crashing off in the distance in what appears to be an arbitrary line in the water. the lack of waves allow for sea grass to grow underwater on the shore, and the grass makes swimming not very pleasant. however, caye caulker got hit hard by some hurricane in the mid90s, which split the island in two. this area is now appropriately called 'The Split.' at the split, there's a decent current running from one side to the other, getting rid of most of the sea grass. here, there was a good amount of people swimming, hanging out, and laying out on the shore. the hurricane also destroyed the dock in this area, and it was strange to see people hanging out on the remains of this broken dock. locals would dive and do flips. tourists would lay out and tan. some book or website described it best, calling it post-apocalyptic looking.

we didn't do much that night. we actually spent a lot of time (here and at ambergris caye) on the beach at nights with my ipod and portable speakers (which were key) and just hanging out and talking. of course, it helped that we still had our bottle of 1 barrel that we picked up in san pedro. 1 barrel is belizean rum that the guy at the liquor store recommended. really good ... has a hint of chocolate to it. i brought a bottle home with me, and you can have some if you come over to my place.

the next day, once again with nothing to do, shawn and i decided to rent bikes for the day. our first quest: bike around the island. imagine our dismay when we accomplished this feat in around 30 minutes. we had fun following two young local boys in hopes that they would lead us to something exciting. i think the younger one was terrified of us. we head to the split for another swim, and this time, shawn and i swim across the split (the other side doesn't have any building or housing and is pretty much all mangroves and plants). once there, we decide to follow some dirt path into the forestation. big mistake. next thing you know, we can feel ourselves being eaten alive. we had been getting mosquito bites off and on throughout our trip, but we never actually felt them biting us. we'd simply feel the bites itching the next day. different story here, we felt them biting. we quickly decide it's time to get back in the water. as we turn around and i see shawn back, he has like five of em on him. we had to deal with those annoying mosquito bites for the next few days.

caye caulker didn't have much of a nightlife ... or at least, we didn't know about it. shawn and i found some outside patio during happy hour and grabbed some drinks. by this time, shawn and i have nothing to say to each other. any conversation that there was to be had between the two of us had already been had in the past week ... and we've been with each other 24/7 since, which means there was nothing new to talk about. a deck of cards and pasoi (sp?) came in handy. so here we are at this outdoor bar, playing cards when a group of girls walk in. i didn't really pay much attention, but one of em comes up to us and is like, "one of you is brian, right?" hey, it's maryland girl (now find out her name is brittany) with four friends (emily1, emily2, lauren, and sarah). we teach sarah and lauren how to play pasoi, which is good because i needed better competition than shawn. all of them besides lauren are studying abroad; although, apparently there is little studying involved. lauren, brittany's friend from college, teaches in honduras and is in town for the weekend. brittany wants to shoot some pool (what can i say she likes playing), and we go with them to some ghetto place with a couple tables. the girls are all pretty nice, and when they've had their fill of pool, they invite us back to their place 'to hang out and drink some rum' .... which is exactly what we did. we sat on their porch, passing around a bottle of 1 barrel, and talking about random stuff from movies to music to traveling (these girls didn't go as deep as the sd girls did). eventually, it got late and we parted ways.

the next day was our last full day in belize. shawn had a laundry list of things to bring back for friends and coworkers and we figured it was about time to do any souvenir shopping that needed to be done. i didn't buy much, though i did bring home a cuban cigar (which i was able to get home without a problem) and some spices to make belizean jerk chicken (which i think i may prepare and leave to marinade tonight and cook sometime in the next day or two ... if you ask nice enough, you can come over and experience my cooking expertise ... sorry veggies, you're outta luck). we ran into the girls again (considering the size of the island, it was inevitable) and hung out on the beach with them. i had my speakers and ipod with me and decided to play some music. now it may not be for most people, but this is a big deal for me. you have to take into consideration the crowd, atmosphere, time, etc in choosing the ideal music to play. i failed. they groaned 'more reggae' when i started playing some bob marley. i asked them what they liked to listen, to which they replied, "well what do you have?" brittany kinda groaned again when i said lotsa hip hop. she said she liked 80s stuff, and i broke out with some police (yes, i had police on my ipod). after playing some more cards with emily2 while the other girls tanned and read, shawn decided it was time for a switch in the music. he told me to play some j5. i'm thinking that's not the best idea judging from brittany's reaction to my hip hop comment. however, emily2 was like, "you got j5 ... yeah, play that." now you know me ... j5 isn't a hugely popular group, and anyone that has heard of em, and more so excited to hear their stuff, gets major brownie points in my book. so i put some j5 on. apparently one of the girls had commented on shawn's j5 shirt the day before and that's why he suggested it. brittany looks up from her book. i'm thinking, ohh no ... she's gunna complain. you can imagine my shock when she asks if i have any mos def. umm ... is this the same girl that winced at the idea of hip hop ... now i'm thinking (hoping) maybe she expected me to have the type of hip hop you hear on the radios nowadays and winced at the thought of that. i put on mos's new album, and everyone goes back to what they were doing before ... contently. after a few songs, brittany looks up again, "did i miss 'sex, love, and money'?" i like this girl. i put that song on and she's feeling it (can i take her home). we grabbed some lunch with the girls and then went our separate ways again.

shawn and i knew we wouldn't have time to go to easter mass tomorrow, which meant we had to go to easter vigil mass tonight. longest mass EVER! and seeing that it started at 9pm, we were getting antsy midway through. we managed to sit through the whole thing. we had seen a bunch of flyers for easter parties tonight, but shawn wants to head back to the room for a bit first. while he's changing, i decide to take a peek into the bar downstairs. the girls are all in there. after shawn's ready, we head down there and grab some drinks (we killed the bottle of 1 barrel in the room before). all five of the girls were there. there were also a group of the british army (belize used to be a british colony and although it's completely autonomous now, the british army still does jungle training exercises in the country) there too. enter peter (more like pee taaah). this was one big dude. he kept trying to tell us jokes, but we couldn't understand a word the guy was saying because of his accent. it was comedy. this guy was a character ... and that was with barely being able to understand what he could say. at one point someone asked where emily2 was ... "up against the back wall dancing with one of the british guys." hahah. we hung out with the rest of the girls and drank, danced, chatted. at the end of the night, emily2 was nowhere to be found. i offered to walk emily1 home. she was staying with emily2 but didn't have a key to the place. of course, when we get to the place, emily2 isn't there. we hang out on the porch steps for awhile talking. eventually emily2 shows up the british guy, and obviously not happy about the fact that we there. she came up, handed us the keys, then walked back down to the guy. they walked off a bit and started making out (they probably should have walked farther). not wanting to interrupt anything, i hung out with emily1 some more. sooner or later, emily2 came back in, mumbled something about something being ironic, empathically stated she needed to take a shower, and proceeded to do so. i said bye to emily1 and made my way home.

... and that pretty much ended our trip. my journey back was uneventful. shawn and i ended up being on different flights back because he couldn't get on my flight for some reason (even though it was only half full when we took off). shawn's return was more exciting. he has a knack for being interrogated by customs (... and it probably doesn't help that he started kinda mouthing back). by this time, he's glad he didn't buy a cuban too. eventually they let him go on his way. i got into lax around 1030, by the time i got my baggage, waited for my parents to show up, and got back to bp, it was 1130. i had work the next morning and didn't want to deal with traffic then, so i headed back to sd that night. here i am at midnight, thinking which of my friends will be awake ... and sadly, the only ones i could think of that would be awake at this time were jay and sueellen. and just my luck, neither pick up.



home again =)

all in all, the trip was great. like i said before, i would recommend to belize to anyone. in the words of shawn, "it's funny how we had a plan for what we wanted to do in each area, but we really didn't plan for that plan ... but still everything went as planned." my lonely planet book was a huge help (terence swears by these things ... and now i know why). great time all around ... from the jungle hikes to boat tours to mayan ruins to snorkeling to meeting fun random people.

where to next? ecuador?

welcome to the jungle

(if you haven't read this post about ambergris caye, read it now)

now we're on our way to san ignacio. from talking with other people, the vast majority of tourists didn't stray far from ambergris caye. after seeing san ignacio and experiencing what it had to offer, i don't think people who only stayed on ambergris caye got a good picture of what belize is like. san ignacio was very different from ambergris. much more diversity (we saw groups of local asian and indians), much different atmosphere, and definitely not as touristy. we had to take a two and a half hour bus ride to get to san ignacio from belize city. the ride was like riding a bus in india, except the BO probably wasn't as bad. i ended up sleeping most of the way. actually, we technically weren't staying in san ignacio. we were staying in a little town called santa elena just outside of san ignacio. when we got into san ignacio, we decided to take care of booking some tours before heading to our hotel.

we post up on a city bench in some park-like area and were trying to figure out where to go when this guy approaches us. he introduces himself as jerry, and he looks like he's high or drunk or both. he tells us he works for a tour guide company and asked if we wanted to book a tour. from research in my lonely planet book, i had a good idea of which tour operators we wanted to use, and we told the guy we weren't interested. he then shows us this jade pendant he has and asks if we want to buy any (even claimed to make them himself). we say no again and move on our way. we eventually find one of the places we were looking for and book that tour. we still have one other tour to book and decide to give the place jerry was talking about a try (lonely planet said it was reputable enough). we run into him again and talk to him a bit before book that one. then we headed to our hotel.

the hotel was nice, the staff was really friendly ... but if we had to do it again, we would have stayed in san ignacio itself. not only was where we were staying not in san ignacio, it wasn't even really walkable, which meant every time we went back and forth, we had to grab a taxi. so after settling into our room and just hanging out a bit, we head back to san ignacio for some dinner. there's actually a good amount of tourists here, but they were all european ... very very few americans. since it's a monday and we don't really know what to do, we end up hanging out the majority of the night on a patio of one of the restaurants on the main street. we sat and people watched ... and drank some beliken, of course. jerry came by again and chatted with us for a bit. he even tried to sell us some weed. some other local came by. he said he was a tour guide and there was this meeting they had to go to tonight. he made the meeting seem really boring and said he had to grab a few drinks before the meeting to make it bearable. jerry came by again, and this time said he had half a joint he saved for us. we declined again, and he was more than happy to smoke it himself then wander off again. shawn and i tracked down a pool table (one of the crappiest tables ever with no 9 ball and chalk everywhere) in the restaurant across the street and played a couple rounds there before moving back to the patio, where a now very drunk/high jerry was dancing in the middle of the street and would every once in awhile yell, "buck buck buck!" while shooting with his hand in the air. very amusing. it was also funny how quickly he would nonchalantly duck behind a pillar whenever the police drove by.

ACTUN TUNICHIL MUKNAL (ATM):

this day was probably my favorite of the whole trip. we got picked up from our hotel around 9am by this afro-mayan guy named patrick. patrick was our tour guide for the day. this guy was awesome. funny, extremely knowledgeable, and light-hearted in general. there was a couple from wyoming that owned a dog sledding business, honeymooners from vancouver, and a girl from san francisco (whose brother goes to cal) in our group. patrick referred to the girl from san francisco as 'san francisco' for the rest of the day. we had a two hour drive to get to know each other. sf told us how she fell in love with this local soccer player on the bus over to san ignacio and had plans to meet him later in san pedro. patrick actually knew the guy and teased her nonstop.

once we got the to where we were going. we hiked for a couple hours through the jungle. we were wet the entire day from wading waist deep through rivers to cross them. patrick, an apprentice to the shaman in his village, would point out all kinds of plants and would tell us how to use them to cure different ailments. very fascinating. we even stopped to swim in one of the rivers, which was nicely cool and refreshing. at the end of our hike through the jungle, we reached the opening of a cave (ATM) that had a river running out of it. the next few hours consisted of us exploring the cave. we even had to don helmets with lights attached to them. to get into the cave, we had to swim a few feet to the other side. once again, we were constantly in water, whether be to our ankles, knees, waists, or even swimming. it was incredible seeing large stalactites, stalagmites, and calcium formations. we had to maneuver through some tight crevices between rocks at many points. eventually we got to a point where we had to climb two large boulders. now we were in the dry half of the cave. patrick's demeanor immediately changed. you could tell he treated this place with a sense of reverence. there were remains of mayan life all over the place. there were pots (broken and whole), some tools, and other stuff. there was this stalagmite that had been carved in such a way that when someone held a torch in front of it, it cast a shadow of a man walking on the opposite cave wall. a little farther into the cave, patrick pointed out evidence of human sacrifices. at the end of the cave, there was an almost entirely visible full skeleton. pretty creepy when you think about what was happening at this very spot ages ago. then we did the whole thing in reverse. more of the same, except for the large tree limb that almost fell on the wyoming lady.

that night, after grabbing some dinner, we were wandering around san ignacio looking for something to do when a random local guy started talking to us. we asked him what there was to do around here on a tuesday night. he was like, "here, i'll show you." ludwig aka charles first took us to some bar, and there was no one in there. after talking to a couple people, charles came back and was like, "let's go somewhere else. no one's here." then he took us to cocopele's. we never would have found this place on our own. it was a small place with a single pool table but a decent crowd. as soon as we get in, charles starts talking to some girl. actually, let me first tell you a bit about charles. charles is the type of guy who talks a lot of game, but obviously has none (i at least accept the fact that i have none). on the entire walk to cocopele's, he was telling us how he was going to take home some girl tonight and this and that. he even said that shawn and i could easily pass for belizeans and was worried we were going to take his girls. so yeah ... he starts talking to this girl. we find out that she's from maryland studying abroad in belzie. upon hearing that this girl is from maryland, charles starts cracking up. he says his gf is from maryland. she asked what part of maryland, and he answers, "uhh ... west maryland ... you know ... maryland." uh huh, riiiight ... you have don't have a gf. charles then starts talking to maryland girl's (didn't quite catch her name) rather large friend hannah. shawn and i shot some pool and ran the table for a few games. we met another american guy named dominic from virginia doing peace corp work in belize. charles comes back, tells us he just got weeded downstairs, and is now making even less sense than he was before, which was very funny (though not too fun shooting pool when he's on your team). he's amazed by the fact that shawn and i drank gin and tonics. he even seemed a little nervous about drinking one when i bought one for him (he went back to belikens after that). maryland girl and hannah leave, we chat with dominic a bit more, charles is now trying to hit on two rather hot locals, and we decide to call it a night.

CAVES BRANCH RIVER:

the next day was much more chill and less strenuous than the hiking/climbing/swimming of the day before. after another long van ride, we reach the caves branch river. each of us (the two of us, a couple, and our guide) are handed a large inner tube, and we start through the jungle. there were many more people here than there were at ATM. apparently this area was a hotspot for daytrippers coming off the cruise ships. our guide decides to take us further upstream than all the other groups. 20 minutes into our hike through the jungle, it starts POURING! it seriously starts coming down hard. shawn and i are like, "cool ... true rain forest experience." (inexplicably, the pictures we took with the waterproof camera in the jungle while it was pouring are nowhere to be found. no prints, not in the negatives. no idea what happened there). 10 minutes before we reach the point of the river where our hike ended, the rain stops and clouds disappear. talk about great timing. now that our hike was done, we hop in the river on our inner tubes and float back. talk about relaxing. the river went through a few caves, and it was pretty tight floating in almost complete darkness and quiet. really relaxing ... till we got to where the cruise boat people jump in. now the river is completely filled with people on inner tubes. little kids are screaming and splashing. so much for the serene cave experience. we decide to get out of the river, grab some sun, hang out, and wait for the crowds to subside. while we were hanging out, we find out that some guy lost his passport in the river. why would you bring your passport with you?!? to make it better, they were searching for it in the area of the river where the current was the fastest. it doesn't take a genius to realize it won't still be there. while out of the river, shawn had a great time trying to figure out what shape rock sounded the best when he threw it into the inlet nearby (*plop* vs *thwiiiip*). we get back in the river and float down some more. somehow, our guide finds the passport at the bottom of the river inside of one of the caves. of course, he didn't mention he also found a $20. after we got out of the caves, we floated for another hour or so under sunny skies.

that night, we tracked down an indian restaurant that some cabby recommended (that cabby was awesome ... really nice old guy that basically gave us the life story of him and his family). my chicken tikka masala wasn't what i was expecting, but shawn loved his food. the staff at our hotel told us there was a big soccer match in town, and we decided to check it out ... and we're definitely glad we did. not so much because of the game, but because there was some creole guy in the audience sitting next to us who took it upon himself to add play by play commentary to the game. this guy was comedy ... constantly complaining about the 'fuckin refs fixing the game,' going nuts when his team took a shot on goal, and we even got to hear a "gooooooooooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!!!!!." and all of this is in creole, which is basically english, just faster and jumbled together. good times ... especially since the home team won. then we went back to cocopele's (dominic said he's there every night for the most part). once again, shot some pool, drank some beers, talked to some locals (one of which was helping patrick on our tour of ATM and was convinced we were professional pool players in cali ... uhh, we're not that good).

that was it for our time in san ignacio. the next morning we headed back to the bus stop for our long trek back to belize city. in the commotion to get a seat on the bus, i ended up sitting down next to charles. we talk for a bit, and i decide to ask him which girl he took home that night. he smiles big, "the big one ... she was gooooood." in my head, i'm thinking, "she left before us, there's no way he took her home. she also didn't seem like the type that would do that." i decided to be nice and not call him on it. when i asked why he was heading to belize city, he said he had to check on his visa. when i asked where he was going, "maryland ... to visit my girl." hahha ... maybe he wasn't lying about that one.

la isla bonita

(if you haven't read this post yet, read it now)

weary after sitting on planes for most of the day, shawn and i grab a cab to belize city (the airport is about 20 minutes outside of it). ambergris caye is an island (it's actually what madonna's "la isla bonita" is about), and we need to catch a boat to get there. since we have about an hour and a half before the next boat leaves and since we didn't plan on ever staying in belize city, shawn and i decide to walk around a bit and catch whatever sights there are to be seen. yeah, they weren't any. it was your run of the mill poor city. that combined with the fact that shawn and i are tired and still hauling around our luggage, we decide to wait out our time for the boat at the water taxi station. shawn and i are hanging out and just finish talking about how we should try meeting some other travelers around our age since it'd be cool to have people to kick it with but at the same time not be tied to. right on cue, three girls walk in. they're obviously tourists too, judging by their bags, but also because one is asian, and i think she's the first asian person i've seen since i've entered the country. they end up sitting down right next to us. we get to talking and sooner or later, i ask, "so where you girls from?" "ohh, we're from california." i kinda laugh, "really? i'm from san diego." "we are too." what a small world. two are from north park and one is from encinitas. eventually we get on the boat (it's about an hour and a half ride) and get to ambergris caye. talking to those girls (mimo, wendy, and marty) made the ride go quicker. once we got to the island, stupid us parted ways with the girls without making plans to meet back up.

our hotel was a short walk from the water taxi pier. often times with things like this, websites and pictures make the place look/sound better than it actually is. not the case here. the room was simple: two beds and a bathroom, pretty much, but the view from our deck was amazing. it was right on the beach and pretty much in middle of town. we settle in a bit and wander around. the island is pretty small. there are very few cars. actually, the majority of people got around the island in golf carts (where's sidney when you need him?!). after grabbing some dinner and killing some more time wandering around, we make our way to fidos, which we had seen numerous advertisements for in belize city ... "the place where singles come to mingle." there's a band playing 80s songs and some people dancing. it was mostly an older crowd, but we decide to grab a table and a few beers anyway. **side note** there's basically only one beer in belize, called beliken. they have their regular and a stout, which is darker and more alcoholic ... for the same price. we also caught word of a premium, which was supposedly an amber beer, but we were never able to track it down. US$1.50-2.00 each **end side note** shawn and i are hanging out at this place for a bit, when in walks the three girls from sd. they join us, and the five us entertain ourselves by making fun of the people dancing. san pedro (the main ... i mean, only ... town on ambergris caye) has a few clubs. the five of us decide to check out some place called jaguars, mainly because it was nearby and because it looked cool from the outside (the entrance is the mouth of a jaguar ... i should have taken a picture of it). on the inside, it looked like many clubs here, maybe just not as nice. the majority of people there were locals with a handful of tourists. the place was pretty packed because there was a dj battle going on that night. apparently it had been the talk to the town amongst the locals our age for awhile now. now shawn and i are a little excited ... foreign dj battle ... sounds good to us. unfortunately, it wasn't what we were expecting. belize dj's don't really use vinyl. actually shawn had done some research into this area (would you expect any less from shawn?), and the country in general didn't really sell/use/produce music on wax. belize's version of a dj battle was simply the two djs playing/mixing music off the cds they had. the first guy was pretty bad ... no continuity to his set, beats were running into each other all over the place. the five of us were pretty annoyed because it made it very difficult to dance to. mimo and marty don't drink (still not sure why) but all three of them went off to the bar. they came back with five drinks (two were diet cokes). they handed shawn and me a drink even though we still have the drinks we bought ourselves. shawn looks at me, smiles, and says "terence would be proud." i was like, "why." he holds up both drinks, "double fisting, baby." i laugh, then responded, "actually he be proud because we're double fisting, and they bought us drinks." the next dj (obviously the crowd favorite) was considerably better, but for whatever reason, after his set, they go into a round two runoff. this round consisted of each dj playing a song that dissed the other dj, with each dj getting five songs. once again, this made it very difficult to dance to the music. once they announced they were going into round three, we decided we had had enough. plus since it was past 3am, we called it a night ... but this time shawn and i had the sense to make plans to meet up with the girls the next night.

LAMANAI:

the next day we had to be up around 6am for a tour that was leaving at 7am. we get picked from one of the docks and head across the water towards the mainland with about 20 other tourists. on the way over, we see some dolphins and manatees swimming around. our guide steers the boat toward the bank, which is completely covered with mangroves. i have no idea where he is heading at this point because it seems like we're heading straight toward a mangrove covered bank. all of sudden, he makes a slight turn, and we see an opening in the mangroves ... basically a small river inlet covered all over by plants (even above). we travel up this river for a few minutes then stop for breakfast. there were five or six manatees hanging out where we were stopped. i definitely understand why these animals are called the cows of the sea. we head off again, and the rest of trip upriver was pretty awesome. think disney's jungle boat road, but real. we saw all kinds of stuff: crocodiles, iguanas, lizards, bats, hawks, vultures (circling around something), and many many other types of birds. the most amazing part was our guide would be manuevering the boat through the river at about 20 mph, then stop all of sudden, turn the boat around, and point out some animal. however, even when we're stopped and he's pointing out where it is, half the time half of us couldn't see it ... or least, it took us 5-10 minutes to find it finally. how this guy would see this stuff while driving the boat at 20 mph is unimaginable to me. check out this picture. see the iguana? do you think you could see it while driving a boat 20 mph. nuts, huh? after about a few hours on the boat, we get off the boat. shawn reminds me that we have yet to be in the country for 24 hours yet, which is crazy considering how much we've done and seen. now we're at lamanai, which is ancient mayan for 'submerged crocodile' (kinda). we walked around the site, seeing all kinds of ancient mayan building, structures, etchings, etc. we even got to climb up a very large one. supposedly, from the top, you can se both mexico and guatamala (in opposite directions). great view, but i must say, it was HOT up there. you could feel the heat coming off the stones. after some more wandering around, we did the whole river in reverse and headed home.

later that night, we met up the girls at some random bar. we ended up talking to some local who gaves us a hilarious recount of his ex-wife and their divorce. eventually the five of us ended up having some pretty intense conversations about relationships, culture, religion, etc. it was then that i found out more about our new friends. mimo, late 20s, has been in a relationship for about 4 years now (once rocky but now going really well). she kept relating her experiences to mine with sue ellen. wendy, turning 30 soon, is dating a 42 year old ... woman. marty, early 30s, is an ex-marine who's just little off her rocker (i already knew that one actually). we ended up heading back to jaguars that night, which is apparently the thing to do on sat nights. it was more of the same but with decent music this time.

HOL CHAN MARINE RESERVE AND SHARK RAY ALLEY:

the next morning we went snorkeling. i had never been snorkeling and i must say it was pretty cool. we saw all kinds of fish, a buncha sting rays, a few sharks, and one large sea turtle. the pictures of the sea turtle do it no justice. it was much larger than it appears to be in the pictures. i would guess at least 2' wide. at one point, i thought it was going to run into me, and, luckily for me, it turned before it did. i easily could have touched it. i did touch a sting ray that our guide picked up.

we knew where the girls were going to be for lunch and met them there. we ate some good bbq and drank some more beer. we parted ways with the girls again, and shawn and i needed to get some laundry done. we both ended up passing out near the laundry machines because of the afternoon heat (but only shawn got his picture taken). since it was sunday, we had planned on going to church that evening. the girls decided to join us. all three were raised catholic and none practiced anymore. the mass had to be one of the most entertaining/interesting masses that i've ever sat through. it was supposed to be a spanish mass, but for some reason, the regular priest wasn't there, but the priest that was there didn't speak spanish (worked for us). he grabbed some guy from the crowd to translate for him, but it was obvious the guy wasn't doing a very good job. during the priest's homily, he breaks out with some story about a donkey. when he looks to the guy to translate, the guy just looks at him with a "are you seriously preaching about a donkey and expect me to translate" look. the priest was like, "go ahead ... you know, burrrro." from then on, the priest stopped using the word 'donkey' from then on and only used 'burro.' funny stuff. i completely missed the point the priest was trying to make. the homily was topped off when at the end, he said something about being jesus's burro, and then used his hands to make donkey ears on himself. i couldn't help but laugh ... luckily, i wasn't the only one.

we grabbed dinner with the girls and decided to take the night easy tonight (after two straight nights at 3am+). there seemed to be a lot of creepy old men on the island (i felt like they were preying on the younger female tourists). while walking around, marty sees some old guy that was talking to her the first night at fidos. he sees her and says, "hey, i know you." to which, she responds, "i know you too." then he said, "not as well i'd like." the normally loud and outspoken marty was speechless and walked away. hilarious ... but like i said, creepy considering the guy had to be twice her age. we ended up at a bar on one of the docks and caught a live 'punta rock' (kinda reggae-ish) band play and just hung out there all night.

the next morning, we packed up and caught a boat back to the mainland. coincidentally, when the boat stopped at caye caulker to pick up more passengers, an indian girl got on. shawn thought i was just staring because she was cute and indian, but i was like, i know that girl. it ended up being poulina (sp?) from cal. she was in the raas i did for culture show my sophomore year, lived a floor below me in my apt on hillegass, and graduated a couple years before i did. talk about random.

once we got back to belize city, we found this hole in the wall joint that had really good food and friendly people, then headed to the bus station ...

I'm a travelin' man ...

... goin through places, bags in hand.

even before we got to belize, this trip was getting exciting. for those of you who know my mom, you know she stresses ... a LOT. it's what she does (i obviously got my genes in this area from my dad). we get to the airport around 10, and when she finds out that shawn is still in van nuys (about 30 min from lax), naturally, she starts worrying. let me get one thing straight first, our flight is at 1210. it's still only 10ish. even if shawn gets here in 30 minutes, it's still more than an hour before our flight. yeah, we're going to belize, which is international, but the flight is a domestic one, since we have to go through dallas and miami first. nevertheless, mom is freaking out. of course, shawn gets to the airport with plenty of time to spare, and mom can finally rest easy (well as easy as she ever does). shawn and i make our way to the security line with about an hour left before our flight is scheduled to leave. and guess who's in line behind us ... vivica fox. shawn tries to get a video of her using his phone, but she's facing the other way, and he only manages to get a clip of her from the back (which is fine by me because she has a nice ass). in shawn's words, "i hope she's going where we're going." unfortunately, we're not that lucky. actually our luck got worse ... flight's delayed. like i said before, we have to go through dallas and miami before getting to belize, and our connection time in dallas was tight to begin with. if we miss the connection in dallas, we'll easily miss our flight out of miami too. i'm thinking, "i've already missed one flight this week, i don't want to miss two (maybe three)." it turns out that there were about 20-30 other people in the same boat (plane?) as us. we ended up making our connection in dallas (and consequently, in miami); although, it was pretty close. picture 20-30 people filing out of one plane and then rushing to the gate where our other plane was departing out of. in the end, we got to belize on time and with no real problems. let the vacation begin!! our trip was broken up into three segments. we spent three nights in each of ambergris caye, san ignacio, and caye caulker. i'll probably blog separately for each, but a few words about belize in general first. great place. shawn and i had a really good time. the three places we stayed were each very different from the other two. from talking to other tourists and other people that have been to belize, it sounded like most people (especially americans) only visit ambergris caye. after visiting san ignacio, i think those people missed out on a good picture of the rest of belize. too bad for them. belizeans, on a whole, were very friendly and helpful. their currency has been tied to ours for awhile now ($1 of ours = $2 of theirs), and you could use US money everywhere. i actually didn't exchange any money (did have to hit up their atm a few times though). we also met a good amount of interesting people (locals and other tourists). it was cool talking with random people and hearing everyone's story. like i said, we had a really good time, and i would definitely recommend a visit to belize to anyone based on my experiences there.

posts on each of the three areas will be coming shortly (and may even be here by the time you read this), but until then check out these pictures from the trip

i'm leaving on a jetplane ...

... don't know when i'll be back again. actually i do. i'll be in belize for the next 10 days coming back easter sunday night. i can't wait. and now that all the work shit i had to get done with this week is done with (or at least, i'm done with it), i'm starting to get really excited about the trip. i'm all packed. shawn is all packed and driving down from palmdale. in less than 24 hours, i'll be chillin in belize. maybe i'll stop by here and post if i get to an internet cafe or something. i can't wait to be there already. unfortunately, i got to go through dallas and miami to get there. oh well ... BELIZE BABY!

JFK to LAX

i'm at work waiting for two coworkers to integrate their code, which needs to happen before i can integrate my code with both of theirs. i figured with this short span of dead time, i'd try taking the chance to blog about my new york trip, especially since i wanted to get it done before i left for belize (which is tonight!!!). so yeah ... new york. i actually didn't fly into JFK nor did i fly out of LAX, but i've always wanted to say that (*see footnote or comment later). terence and i got in early morning friday into newark and trained into manhattan. wandered around for awhile before eventually meeting up with yatin around 1pm. commence drinking (which basically doesn't stop for the rest of the weekend). we wind up at some outdoor bar (the weather was beautiful) and, sooner or later, our original party of 3 grows to about 8 or 9. at some point, my brother's friend ronak decides to grill me about my love life. do i have a gf? what's the deal with my ex? etc, etc. let me point out that i have never met this guy before in my life. after it seems he's done with interrogation. he schools me on the 'four pronge approach to getting girls' the four factors are: research, intelligence, listening, and humor. seems reasonable enough. he then proceeds to tell me that i am lacking one: humor. (thanks ass ... although he later gives up on the four pronged approach). yatin had created an itinerary for the weekend, which was comedy in itself. we kept to the itinerary pretty damn well, except for never making it to the p-lounge (which some would argue was the most important part). the key to this itinerary were the scheduled naps. after naptime, we headed to this bar called kanvas. i was pretty drunk/tired at this point (redeye plus little food plus lotsa alcohol probably isn't the best combination). i'm just glad i was able to catch terence dancing with this girl 'who must have had headphones on because she was definitely dancing to a different tune.'

saturday:
yat manages to go to the gym in the morning and get back around noon, when we're all waking up. he proceeds to pour himself some goose. 'hey, i just ran five miles. i deserve it.' commence drinking again. we head to cpk for lunch, and as soon as we get seated, someone orders 11 shots of patron. we end up taking another round later. sadly, the waiter refused to give us a third ... so we headed downstairs to the bar for that one. we went bowling (with beer, of course) after that, and some people stuck around for some entertaining rounds of ddr and air hockey. we head back to yatin's place, and what happens next is STRAIGHT COMEDY. basically, 'it's 7 and smitty is in 4am form.' he was walking around the place in just his boxer, and even those he had trouble keeping on (not a pretty sight). smitty manages to pour beer ALL OVER the new guys couch and get pushed onto (and tip over) the coffee table. people are throwing shit everywhere and seriously, the place is a DISASTER. naptime again. when i wake up from my nap, smitty was asleep with his door locked. anuj still wants to bug him some more and proceeds to take smitty's door off the hinges (smitty wasn't too happy about that one). after some serious indecisiveness, we manage to head to ps450. i'm in much better shape than the night before. terence, ankit, and now sriram once again argue about topgun and who the better wingman is: goose, maverick, or iceman. for much of the night, i end up following around a drunkass sheetal, who is hollering at every girl he can using his 'smile' line. at some point, i end up talking to some girl. average looking, not particular cute, but by no means, ugly. next thing i know we've been talking for about 45 minutes. then teesha comes up to me, and tells me we gotta go because anuj got kicked out. i talk about a bit more and tell her i gotta. she asks for my number when i leave, and i give it to her. we end up back at yat's place, still drinking. at like 430, she calls. she asks if she can come over to where i am. i'm like, uhh, there are like 20 people here and it's not my place so probably not. she then says i can come over to her place even though it's far and her roommate doesn't like when she brings guys home. i'm thinking i'm going to pass, but i tell her i'll call her back. she calls me FOUR MORE TIMES that night (ronak renounces the four pronged approach after hearing this story).

sunday:
brunch at hells kitchen with all you can drink. some entertaining/interesting game of never have i ever. the hostess was cute (and i think catholic, guessing by the cross and rosary she was wearing) and sri thinks she was feeling one of us. to make a long story short, terence and i miss our flight by less than 5 minutes after trekking all the way back to nj because of traffic on one of the tunnels. the worst part is that if we had checked in online at home, we would have been fine. we go back to the city where half the group is still drinking and the other half is napping (sri decided he take the bus back to boston in the morning, and anuj and sheetal missed their flight too, but only because their idiots). after more deliberation, we grab dinner and head a small local bar down the street. terence decides we should drink scotch on the rocks (which i normally don't mind, just not in large amounts). ronak even left reena (again) to meet back up with us. next thing i know it's 4am, we're the only people in the place besides the bartender and her maybe boyfriend and basically everyone is dancing on the bar. good times. we end up back at pooh's apt at 5 or so, and we have to be up in less than an to make it to the airport.

all in all, my first time in ny was AWESOME. lotsa drinking. good times chilling with some down guys. interesting conversation/drinking games.

my pics
terence's pics

if i get permission from terence (or smitty), i'll add some links to some hilarious video clips later.

other notables:
- 'good luck having sex tonight'
- 'why don't you .. uhh ... why don't you ... uhh ... heeeey'
- 'smitty is sleeping backwards on his bed. i wish i could take a picture' *said very sadly*
- my momma hits harder than you

** footnote: some of you (and by 'some of you,' i mean terence and shawn) may know why i've always wanted to say i've gone JFK to LAX. and on that notes, i've decide to attempt to make all the titles of my postings refer to a song, lyric, artist, etc. try guessing what each title refers to. this is also the reason i decide to change the title of my first post. if you don't think a title refers to something, call me on it ... maybe i'm slipping.

** UPDATE **
check out my bro's blog for a little more detailed account of things