我近年来很少看电视了，我不懂得处理自己对可悲世界的复杂情绪。中国的节目我更是敬而远之，那种煽情，总是轻易令我手足无措。今天不小心陪爸妈看了「感动中国」，在一旁假假玩着Bejewled Blitz，一旁眼泪鼻涕却在黑暗中流个不停。泱泱大国对表扬孝、善、爱显得刻意，却必需。在这人性贪婪自私迷失方向的道德衰败的世界，美好的人性应该被表扬。总会有一些真善美被唤醒，总有人的信念被巩固。
我总是被幸运之神眷顾。当我对人性存疑，就被安排看了「感动中国」，有一种释然，对人性，对人类，对明天...
Sunday 24 February 2013
Wednesday 20 February 2013
何苦为难自己
人类应该是全宇宙最贪婪的生物吧？我们脾胃所能消化的明明不多，偏偏过年过节我们总是食欲大过天，即使不暴饮暴食，也总是多饮多食，再不就乱饮乱食，反正我们吃进去的能量远远超过我们所需要的能量。单单是能量也就罢了，我们还热爱人工化学食物，味精染料防腐剂。真是罪过。
当佳节终于结束，身体功能较佳的开始自然排毒。上吐的比较少见，下泻的却是平常，更盛的是风邪上孔下孔奏交响。身体功能较差的或许没有什么显见症状，垃圾毒素却顿积在体内，不知道几时爆发。
最犯贱的是，毫无节制满足食欲后，回到现实还得拼老命减肥。也不知道那股拼劲当初为什么不用在抵制食欲上。还称自己万物之灵呢，有够可悲的。
各位，请别对号入座，我只是发发牢骚，怨一怨自己的薄弱意志而已。愿大家继续今朝有酒今朝醉，接下去还有几天才到元宵呢！
当佳节终于结束，身体功能较佳的开始自然排毒。上吐的比较少见，下泻的却是平常，更盛的是风邪上孔下孔奏交响。身体功能较差的或许没有什么显见症状，垃圾毒素却顿积在体内，不知道几时爆发。
最犯贱的是，毫无节制满足食欲后，回到现实还得拼老命减肥。也不知道那股拼劲当初为什么不用在抵制食欲上。还称自己万物之灵呢，有够可悲的。
各位，请别对号入座，我只是发发牢骚，怨一怨自己的薄弱意志而已。愿大家继续今朝有酒今朝醉，接下去还有几天才到元宵呢！
Tuesday 12 February 2013
Sunday 3 February 2013
Rock Scissors Paper Lizards Spock
I seriously think we should upgrade from Rock Scissors Paper to a more civilized method when come to deciding who to do the chores or who to decide what shows to watch for CNY countdown:
Get it? No? Sheldon says it's very simple:
Scissors cuts paper, paper covers rock, rock crushes Lizard, Lizard poisons Spock, Spock smashes scissors, scissors decapitates Lizard, Lizard eats paper, paper disproves Spock, Spock vaporizes rock, and as it always has, rock crushes scissors.
Get it? No? Sheldon says it's very simple:
Scissors cuts paper, paper covers rock, rock crushes Lizard, Lizard poisons Spock, Spock smashes scissors, scissors decapitates Lizard, Lizard eats paper, paper disproves Spock, Spock vaporizes rock, and as it always has, rock crushes scissors.
Confession of an Addict
I guess I won't get a lot of objections if I casually mention that I'm a person with strong mind. I am determined. I believe that real freedom lies in discipline. If I promise myself to wake up at 5am for exercise, I'll do it everyday, without miss (that's why I do not simply make promises, especially to myself :p )
Unfortunately, there are moments when I'm weak, and when I'm weak, I am the type of person that easily get addicted. If I'm the scientific observation subject of an extra-terrestrial, they will notice this strange behaviour: their subject have a routine, but sometimes, out of sudden, the repetitive pattern is interrupted by some strange boring activities where their subject will spend hoursssssssssssss on.
I have a permanent addiction to books. I have to read at least a few pages of anything before I go to sleep. It started all the way back to age around 4 or 5, at my mum's cousin's house. After getting tired playing outside, I started to explore the interior. I found a huge cupboard with various types of books and I'm attracted to the mysterious colourful mess. Ah Nee Jie Jie gave me a《儿童乐园》, and I'm hooked on books ever since. I will not pick up a fiction if I knew I got no time for it. However, sometimes I'm easily seduced and usually it means I'll stay up until 2am or 3am, until my body functions totally give up. I hate the fact that I'll get super tired the next day but I just can't help myself. And what I hated most if the sense of "emptiness" after I finished a great novel. I guess that is what drug addicts feel after they come back to consciousness.
I'm easily addicted to games. From Game & Watch, to Atari, to those 8 bits computer games, to PS to online games. I remember how I spent my school holiday destroying enemy's fighter jets and helicopters to protect a convoy of tractor trailers, or shooting peppers and walk around the maze to make hamburger, or forcing En En to play bubble bobble with me when he actually wished to polish up his driving skill in Crash Bandicoot. As exchange, I also spent equally long hours on Crash Bandicoot too. During my days in campus, sometimes I spent hours on a same boring game (like Solitaire or Hearts), trying to beat my own high score. Ever since I graduated from university, I have vowed not to play computer games anymore. So i always try very hard to keep myself away from the evil virtual universe. When someone that know me extremely well (like En En) tell me how great a game is, i know that is the game that i have to avoid forever. However, unfortunately, sometimes accidents do happen. I remember how I accidentally sit in front of En En's PC and played Sim City. I was so amazed by the cities I built, I spent a few months, utilizing hours after work to develop them and it was so tiring yet satisfying. I said no to game after that, but still accidentally started to play Bejewled Blitz. "It's only 1 minute per game, how harmful can it be?" That's my excuse for trying that game. Before I noticed, I start to play hours after hours. Now even I have stopped this bad habit, I still play it daily, as if something missing in my life if I don't touch it for once. So, for friends that trying to introduce new games to me through Facebook, sorry that I have to reject you. Having addicted on one at this moment is bad enough for me now.
I am a sitcom addict too. During the pre-Astro era and pre-internet download era, though i love tons of sitcoms but i never aware that I'm actually an addict. (To spend only less than 1.5 hours per day really cannot consider as an addict isn't it?) Decades ago, we have only TV1 and TV2. The sitcoms that I like only on air for 30 minutes per week (but I spent 7:30~8pm in front the TV set, in between 7pm Mandarin news and 8pm prime time news, every weekdays without miss). I love "I Love Lucy"(yes, I'm that old, thanks to TV2), "Family Ties", "Small Wonder", "Growing Pain", "Full House", "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air", "Boy Meets World", "Malcolm in the Middle" etc. this seem like normal, healthy, brainless yet harmless entertainment to me, until I noticed that I can be a couch potato for eternal when Astro air the Friends marathon. When all my siblings (including my cousins) telling me how good "How I Met Your Mother" and "The Big Bang Theory" are, I knew it too well that I have to stay as far away as possible from theses shows. I was quite successful until an unfortunate event happened during my flight back from US. I slept so well that when I woke up we were less than 3 hours away from Hong Kong. Too short for me to watch the movies so I told myself "What harm can it makes if I watch a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory?". Sigh..... It was so hilarious that I can't help myself from falling in love with it. I couldn't resist to finished En's downloaded 5 seasons of TBBT in less than one month. And now I'm in the dilemma of whether to start downloading Season 6 or to wait for En. For the record, I am so not going to start watching any episode of How I Met Your Mother! Please don't even try to persuade me!
I really want to spend my valuable time to learn new things, to grow, to be, to live a balance life......So,dear friends, please help me to keep me away from all these addiction :)
Unfortunately, there are moments when I'm weak, and when I'm weak, I am the type of person that easily get addicted. If I'm the scientific observation subject of an extra-terrestrial, they will notice this strange behaviour: their subject have a routine, but sometimes, out of sudden, the repetitive pattern is interrupted by some strange boring activities where their subject will spend hoursssssssssssss on.
I have a permanent addiction to books. I have to read at least a few pages of anything before I go to sleep. It started all the way back to age around 4 or 5, at my mum's cousin's house. After getting tired playing outside, I started to explore the interior. I found a huge cupboard with various types of books and I'm attracted to the mysterious colourful mess. Ah Nee Jie Jie gave me a《儿童乐园》, and I'm hooked on books ever since. I will not pick up a fiction if I knew I got no time for it. However, sometimes I'm easily seduced and usually it means I'll stay up until 2am or 3am, until my body functions totally give up. I hate the fact that I'll get super tired the next day but I just can't help myself. And what I hated most if the sense of "emptiness" after I finished a great novel. I guess that is what drug addicts feel after they come back to consciousness.
I'm easily addicted to games. From Game & Watch, to Atari, to those 8 bits computer games, to PS to online games. I remember how I spent my school holiday destroying enemy's fighter jets and helicopters to protect a convoy of tractor trailers, or shooting peppers and walk around the maze to make hamburger, or forcing En En to play bubble bobble with me when he actually wished to polish up his driving skill in Crash Bandicoot. As exchange, I also spent equally long hours on Crash Bandicoot too. During my days in campus, sometimes I spent hours on a same boring game (like Solitaire or Hearts), trying to beat my own high score. Ever since I graduated from university, I have vowed not to play computer games anymore. So i always try very hard to keep myself away from the evil virtual universe. When someone that know me extremely well (like En En) tell me how great a game is, i know that is the game that i have to avoid forever. However, unfortunately, sometimes accidents do happen. I remember how I accidentally sit in front of En En's PC and played Sim City. I was so amazed by the cities I built, I spent a few months, utilizing hours after work to develop them and it was so tiring yet satisfying. I said no to game after that, but still accidentally started to play Bejewled Blitz. "It's only 1 minute per game, how harmful can it be?" That's my excuse for trying that game. Before I noticed, I start to play hours after hours. Now even I have stopped this bad habit, I still play it daily, as if something missing in my life if I don't touch it for once. So, for friends that trying to introduce new games to me through Facebook, sorry that I have to reject you. Having addicted on one at this moment is bad enough for me now.
I am a sitcom addict too. During the pre-Astro era and pre-internet download era, though i love tons of sitcoms but i never aware that I'm actually an addict. (To spend only less than 1.5 hours per day really cannot consider as an addict isn't it?) Decades ago, we have only TV1 and TV2. The sitcoms that I like only on air for 30 minutes per week (but I spent 7:30~8pm in front the TV set, in between 7pm Mandarin news and 8pm prime time news, every weekdays without miss). I love "I Love Lucy"(yes, I'm that old, thanks to TV2), "Family Ties", "Small Wonder", "Growing Pain", "Full House", "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air", "Boy Meets World", "Malcolm in the Middle" etc. this seem like normal, healthy, brainless yet harmless entertainment to me, until I noticed that I can be a couch potato for eternal when Astro air the Friends marathon. When all my siblings (including my cousins) telling me how good "How I Met Your Mother" and "The Big Bang Theory" are, I knew it too well that I have to stay as far away as possible from theses shows. I was quite successful until an unfortunate event happened during my flight back from US. I slept so well that when I woke up we were less than 3 hours away from Hong Kong. Too short for me to watch the movies so I told myself "What harm can it makes if I watch a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory?". Sigh..... It was so hilarious that I can't help myself from falling in love with it. I couldn't resist to finished En's downloaded 5 seasons of TBBT in less than one month. And now I'm in the dilemma of whether to start downloading Season 6 or to wait for En. For the record, I am so not going to start watching any episode of How I Met Your Mother! Please don't even try to persuade me!
I really want to spend my valuable time to learn new things, to grow, to be, to live a balance life......So,dear friends, please help me to keep me away from all these addiction :)
Wednesday 30 January 2013
Together
I haven't post anything for almost a month, and I would like to start my 2013 with a song:
Why choose this song for my first blog post of 2013? Because I want to show you how much I love all my siblings:
Why choose this song for my first blog post of 2013? Because I want to show you how much I love all my siblings:
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| My REAL siblings |
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| My Other Siblings |
Saturday 29 December 2012
The Best Garlic Rice in Penang
Up to date, Chai Diam Ma still serve the best garlic rice in Penang.
We love this dish so much that we keep on going back to this small little shop whenever we have time. (Well, time is a super important factor in this case. The speed of them processing the food is incredibly slow, where you have to factor in 1 hour of waiting time even if you are the first customer of the shop!)
Besides Garlic Rice, I have tried their various udon and macaronies too (but yet to try their sandwiches and pizza) but I'm not impressed. However, I love the ambience, and the Garlic Rice make sure I keep on returning to this restaurant.
We love this dish so much that we keep on going back to this small little shop whenever we have time. (Well, time is a super important factor in this case. The speed of them processing the food is incredibly slow, where you have to factor in 1 hour of waiting time even if you are the first customer of the shop!)
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| Shop Exterior - you have to pay attention when you walk along Queen Street |
Besides Garlic Rice, I have tried their various udon and macaronies too (but yet to try their sandwiches and pizza) but I'm not impressed. However, I love the ambience, and the Garlic Rice make sure I keep on returning to this restaurant.
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| Vegetarian Udon |
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| Bacon Udon |
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| cute arts on sales |
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| Very nice to see, too hot to sit :) |
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| Cozy corner |
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| They even have an art gallery upstair |
Saturday 8 December 2012
The Happiest Place On Earth
This is my 3rd visit to a Disneyland. First in California, second in Hong Kong, and here I am, back in California Disneyland again.
I am not so keen of re-visiting this place. One have learnt too much truth to actually think that this place is magical. When you see Chips and Dale walking around, I bet you are not as excited as the kids as you know someone is inside, and that someone may not even love chipmunks.
I really wish to spend more time exploring LA. However, since I have promised the little girl if she accompany me to US, I will accompany her to the theme parks, so here we are, taking photos with Mickey and friends as everyone does.
Well, based on what I said earlier, you may think I wouldn't really enjoy myself in this theme park. Haha! you are so wrong! I love every moment of it! How could you not fall in love with the happiest place on earth? Laughters are everywhere, the kids are putting smile on everyone's face, the aura in this place is pure happiness.
To ensure we don't regret in the future,we decided to get ourselves a USD125/pax park-hopping-1-day-ticket. Our first target is the Car Land at California Adventure Land. Unfortunately the Radiator Spring Racers was broken and the FASTPASS were concluded for the day early in the morning! Well, still, Car Land is a great place since I love Radiator Spring. I even met Mater and it's fun! (We did came back to check for Radiator Spring Racers later in the afternoon and the queue was 2.5hours long. Sigh...... I don't have time for this.)
We then got ourselves enough dosage of 3D/4D, roller coaster, and got ourselves real wet too before we head to Disneyland Park.
For Disneyland Park, we have only one thing each in our must do list: I MUST be on the Star Tours while Ching Ching will not leave Disneyland without the Space Mountain. Our strategy was to get the FASTPASS of these 2 rides first, then have some shopping before come back to these rides later.
After getting our Star Tours FASTPASS, we ran to Space Mountain only to find out that the FASTPASS were concluded for the day too! We were so disappointed! The queue was so long and I don't think I would like to spend one or two hours standing in the queue doing nothing in Disneyland. The Disneyland worker taking care of the Space Mountain FASTPASS must have felt our "pain", (or we must be just too cute to be ignore :p), he decided to show us a magic, and pulled out two overdue FASTPASS from behind of my ears, and let us walk down the Space Mountain FASTPASS lane immediately! So touched!
As a die hard Star Wars fans and a person that grow up with Disney cartoons and movies, Star Tours is like a dream come true for me. The ride itself got nothing to shout about (3D / 4D rides no longer impress me nowadays, a bit boring actually :p), however, walking in the queue while "boarding" felt like boarding on a space ship that got something to do with the Rebel Alliance, besides, R2D2 and C3PO are talking (and beep-ing) non-stop, assisting you during the boarding. After the ride, you will come to a store selling everything about Star Wars, from T-shirts to models, from light sabers to phone covers, caps, mugs, pins, stationaries, lego, jackets etc. The Force is strong in here. I almost went crazy!Since I do not have specifically any other rides in mind, I spent almost an hour in the store admiring all these cute figures and got Wei, En and myself some cute T-shirt.
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| Having fun with Mickey-Ears-R2D2-hat |
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| I'm having Jedi training |
After having fun with everything Star Wars, of course, we still find time for pirates and wandering around the park. Our last itinerary in Disneyland was the parade at Main Street U.S.A. (no fireworks on the day of our visit). After the parade, we rushed back to California Adventure Land for World of Colour. There were already a lot of people gathering at Paradise Pier. We have to squeeze ourselves in to get a spot that both of us at least can see the Mickey's Fun Wheel. (Make sure you got yourself a FASTPASS for better viewing location. We were too busy having fun, forgot to collect our FASTPASS for World of Colour and ended up got to stand at some lousy location).
When the show started, everyone was awed. The vibrant lights illuminated fountains dance to mesmerizing music. The classic characters of Disney and Pixar appear magically on the mist screen. That's really a magical, vibrant 25 minutes! Don't miss this!
Other posts for this trip:
Sunday 2 December 2012
为了Julia Child
其实，在Julie & Julia之前，我根本从来没有听过Julia Child的大名。看了电影后，也不知道是不是为了Meryl Streep的个人魅力，还是为了Julia Child的真性情，反正我就喜欢上这个大情大性的著名美食家。这一次到美国西岸，做功课时无意中发现了一家名为La Super-Rica Taqueria的墨西哥餐厅，说是Julia Child当年的心头所爱，我就毫不犹豫地把它列入我的行程。我食量小，所以偏爱taco这种小吃，吃起来完全没有内疚或罪恶感。再加上美国西南部本来就受墨西哥文化影响，把墨西哥食物当午餐是再正常不过的选择。
我们在Pacific Coast Highway一路走走停停地来到了Santa Barbara。正好肚子有点儿饿了，人有点儿累了，正是最适合让好食物来暖肚的时刻。GPS把我们带到一家毫不起眼的小店，那时候已经过了午餐时间，也不觉得也别多人，但总是陆陆续续看见有人捧着一大盒的食物从里头走出来。我带着探索的兴奋，走进了这家远富盛名的老字号。
食物正如网上所说的那样，多样化、精巧、便宜。我在写着菜单的黑板前发呆，最后决定把抉择的责任交给看起来最老经验的掌柜。他很尽责地介绍了几个非吃不可的经典，我凭感觉随口说了两个，就会去座位等他叫我们的号码。号码响起后顾客得自己到柜台取食物。由于没有为顾客提供服务，我们省却了给贴士的烦恼。真好！
我们在Pacific Coast Highway一路走走停停地来到了Santa Barbara。正好肚子有点儿饿了，人有点儿累了，正是最适合让好食物来暖肚的时刻。GPS把我们带到一家毫不起眼的小店，那时候已经过了午餐时间，也不觉得也别多人，但总是陆陆续续看见有人捧着一大盒的食物从里头走出来。我带着探索的兴奋，走进了这家远富盛名的老字号。
食物正如网上所说的那样，多样化、精巧、便宜。我在写着菜单的黑板前发呆，最后决定把抉择的责任交给看起来最老经验的掌柜。他很尽责地介绍了几个非吃不可的经典，我凭感觉随口说了两个，就会去座位等他叫我们的号码。号码响起后顾客得自己到柜台取食物。由于没有为顾客提供服务，我们省却了给贴士的烦恼。真好！ |
| 才美金7.88 |
这是非常正宗的墨西哥菜，肉味洋溢。我最喜欢的是他们的salsa，香菜、番茄等很有层次地为酸辣之外增加鲜香口感。绝对价廉物美。最重要是分量适中，我们轻轻松松就可以把它吃完，不必互相推卸责任。
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| 厨师很熟练的准备着食物 |
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| 想象着，当年Julia Child就坐在这靠窗的位子， 享受着飘溢的香味和人来人往的热闹…… |
Other posts for this trip:
Friday 23 November 2012
Pacific Coast Highway
During the planning of my US trip, there are 3 things that I really really wanted to do:
1) Drive a convertible along Pacific Coast Highway -- checked
2) Sunset and Sunrise of Grand Canyon -- checked
3) Camping in Yosemite National Park (Well, you can never get everything you want in your life simultaneously. I can always plan my camping trip next time.)
Can you see me grinning from ear to ear as I checked on my bucket list?
I am not sure if there are any lists about "100 road trips you must take in your life time", or "50 routes that you must drive before you die", or "500 highway of the world" etc. If there are any such lists, they MUST make sure Pacific Coast Highway is in the list.
First of all, it is all about the Pacific Ocean. This world's largest ocean is persistent energetic and has the most expansive view. We were basically surrounded by endless shades of blue and it is simply magical.
Secondly, driving along this twisting, cliff-hugging road is an exhilarating experience. I really love driving all the hair-pin curves, especially with this marvelous weather. The fact that I can end up falling 3000 ft below if I happen to loose control also give a healthy dose of adrenaline rush and make the drive more fun.
Thirdly, the sunrises and sunsets are irresistible. We stopped our car at the middle of nowhere when the sky turned warm orange. Witnessing the huge egg yolk slowly fading into the Pacific ocean was magical.
Fourthly, you are going to fall in love with all the wonderful small towns along the coast. We stayed in Cambria for one night, and we both love the quite yet lively small town. We also had a brief stop at Morro Bay for picnic, and we love that place too!
We drove from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 2 days time and spent 1 night in Cambria. It was too rush even though we still enjoy every single second of it. If you wish to plan for a road trip at Pacific Coast Highway, make it at least a 5 days trip. There are so many things to do and there are so many great things to see.
1) Drive a convertible along Pacific Coast Highway -- checked
2) Sunset and Sunrise of Grand Canyon -- checked
3) Camping in Yosemite National Park (Well, you can never get everything you want in your life simultaneously. I can always plan my camping trip next time.)
Can you see me grinning from ear to ear as I checked on my bucket list?
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| Monterrey Bay |
I am not sure if there are any lists about "100 road trips you must take in your life time", or "50 routes that you must drive before you die", or "500 highway of the world" etc. If there are any such lists, they MUST make sure Pacific Coast Highway is in the list.
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| Big Sur |
First of all, it is all about the Pacific Ocean. This world's largest ocean is persistent energetic and has the most expansive view. We were basically surrounded by endless shades of blue and it is simply magical.
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| 17 Miles Drive |
Secondly, driving along this twisting, cliff-hugging road is an exhilarating experience. I really love driving all the hair-pin curves, especially with this marvelous weather. The fact that I can end up falling 3000 ft below if I happen to loose control also give a healthy dose of adrenaline rush and make the drive more fun.
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| Got myself a Chrysler 200 |
Thirdly, the sunrises and sunsets are irresistible. We stopped our car at the middle of nowhere when the sky turned warm orange. Witnessing the huge egg yolk slowly fading into the Pacific ocean was magical.
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| Sunset at Highway #1 |
Fourthly, you are going to fall in love with all the wonderful small towns along the coast. We stayed in Cambria for one night, and we both love the quite yet lively small town. We also had a brief stop at Morro Bay for picnic, and we love that place too!
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| Morro Rock |
We drove from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 2 days time and spent 1 night in Cambria. It was too rush even though we still enjoy every single second of it. If you wish to plan for a road trip at Pacific Coast Highway, make it at least a 5 days trip. There are so many things to do and there are so many great things to see.
Other posts for this trip:
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