中谷一天遊

A friend of mine has arranged a half day trip to the Central Valley. Since I want to enjoy a day under the sun, so I thought it would be good to join her.

Lotus Garden
Our tour guide (the friend who arrange the trip) bought us to the Lotus Garden for our first stop. I didn't know that we have a lotus garden in the valley (not until she told me about it). The garden was founded in 1974 with the vision to build a Chinese garden to promote Chinese culture. There were 5 pounds filled with lotus flower (sorry can't tell what kind of lotus flowers they are as they don't have sign/label in the garden).



Besides the lotus pound, they also have others spot in the garden.


(Left: Lotus Lover Gazebo, Guan-Yin Temple, Tea House, Rose Garden)

The Lotus Lover Gazebo is really nice. The view looks like those gazebo over the pound in the historic epic drama. We all thought they can rent the place out to shoot Hollywood movie.

Of course, you can always find a Guan Yin Temple where you can find lotus (accent Chinese tale that link lotus and Guan Yin together).

The Tea House reminds me of sight seeing souvenirs shop in China tourist spot. They sell lotus drinks, snack, and souvenirs there.


(Left: Lotus Smoothie, Lotus Tea, Honey Lotus Heart Tea)

Lotus Tea is a very light tea drink. It's not sweet but the after taste is very special. It's a very cool drink in a hot summer day. Honey Lotus Heart Tea is a bit bitter because of the lotus heart. The taste of lotus is a bit stronger than the Lotus Tea, but the bitterness covers the lotus taste. Lotus Smoothie is a creamy lotus drink. They use real lotus seed to blend the drink so you can taste some tiny bits of lotus. It is actually the sweetest drink out of the all 3.

There is a small area allocated to be a rose garden. Nothing much special there as the roses are not as pretty as the lotus.

O'Briens Market
Our tour guide has done some research and recommended to have lunch at O'Briens Market. They are famous for their sandwiches. We ordered a Chaka sandwich, which contains roasted tri tip, caramelize onions, roasted bell pepper, and cheese. The meat is very tender and favor, the onions is so sweet. The food is cheap there too, $5.99 a sandwich (6 inches), a bag of chips, and a small soda. You can't find that in the bay area.

Lavender Farm
Last stop, Lavender Farm. I'm not a wild lavender fans, especially some of the lavender products on the shelves are too "strong" of a smell. I like something that is light and natural floral scent. When we get there, we were kind of disappointed because we were expecting a huge farm filled with purple lavender. The place is small, just a small field, a gift shop, and an old house. We take the opportunity to take the "class" to make the lavender wand. It's nothing special, but learned a new "art" that can be useful to earn some extra cash on ebay (like this one).

affirmative: I'm not the seller of ebay, just accidentally encounter the aution on ebay. I have nothing to do with the seller/product/ebay.

생일 축하 합니다

생일 축하 합니다!
생일 축하 합니다!
생일 축하 합니다!
생일 축하 합니다!

This year gift is + ...
It's really ...
I just want

주몽

Finally the highest rating historical epic drama 주몽 (Ju Mong)has come to an end on tv. I have been glued to the tv for 17 weeks just to see what so good about this. I guess I don't know the history of the three kingdoms of Korea, so I just watch it as fiction. The story starts off as Ju Mong as a useless young prince and follows along his path to build the strongest kingdom, Goguryeo(高句麗). Like all "palace" drama, there's always "internal affairs" within the palace that stir up all the issues. I don't like historical drama especially when they heavy focus on facts.

The twisted fate on Ju Mong and So Seo No really got me to pull my hair out. They started off having feelings for each other at the young age, but because of a series of misfortune, they both end up married another people. The both had their own families for 3-4 years before fate brought them together one more time. Again, a series of events happened and they both end up "single" along their way of building the country. They end up marring each other because it is the only way to reunited all people and stabilize the country. They spend another 15 years together before their sad ending. While you are watching them, I can't find but to think how can fate be so harsh to two lovely people. I strongly believe she is "the one" for him because she was able to assist him in any ways. I guess their twisted fate also play a key role in the drama to make it so enjoyable to me.

ライアーゲーム

I'm finally switching language .. haha .. something for a change



Liar Game (ライアーゲーム), based on a manga with the same name, is one of the hit Japanese drama this Spring/Summer. This one is so addicting because the story line is so interesting (with lots of twists and mind setting). Basically, a company is hosting a game with a bunch of participants that their goal is to lieu others through "lying" . In order to win, the players are setting up mind traps and coming up with all sort of game strategies. Man, I have to say the writers are good. The game strategies are brilliant. I can identify the traps but I can't come up with the strategy (yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm not smart enough. At least I'm smarter than other on identifying the traps ). If I'm one of the participant, I think I'll be out in the 2nd round already. I'm so envy that Nao has such a smart partner, Akiyama san . To my surprise, I can understand Akiyama san every single moves . We must be match made in heaven (the character/personality, not the look)... lol ... (need to make a run ... haha)

I have to agree with most people that the motive behind the game itself is lame, very lame . But the twists and turns in the process of the games never failed to surprise me. I love how they always plan one step ahead of the others and you'll never know who is your enemy until the very last minute . I think they did an excellent job in portraying human in reality; you never know when will the others turn their back on you. We'll always have doubt on others in order to survive. We can't be as naive/trusty as Nao, because this type of people will be always on the bottom of the chain in this "greedy" world. We all have lie at some point throughout our life (whether sincere or not), But on the other hand, we should still have a little faith on others so that we won't turn into a "dark/evil" person. Maybe we all need someone like Nao to shade a little light to our world .

Special thanks to Mr. E and Mr. A for recommending this drama. OK, boys! I'll watch Death Note anime. Or should I watch Hana Yori Dango first?

Who needs a new name?

Can you believe just one simple word can cause so much trouble? According to Wiki:

Rain is a type of precipitation which forms when separate drops of water fall to the Earth's surface from clouds. Not all rain reaches the surface; some evaporates while falling through dry air. When none of it reaches the ground, it is called Virga, a phenomenon often seen in hot, dry desert regions. The scientific explanation of how rain forms and falls is called the Bergeron process.

Come on, people. This is just a simple word which describes the nature. It never meant to be a name for a classic rock band nor some hot sob in South Korea. Who would have think of a legal battle on this common word which causes a fuss with so many parties .

According to the news, Rain is postponing his US World Tour legs because of the lawsuit against Rain Corporation, a music company based in Nevada.

This young boy here just want to show his "talent" to the world. Who should be responsibility for this ? I'll think it's has to be the "organizer". Shouldn't they be doing some research before they start the promotion ? The concerts are just 1 week away and ticket sales started month ago. If they have to "rescheduled" the concerts because of this, it will definitely hurt his reputation the most. The organization of this tour has been very poor throughout the whole project. Look at all those last minute ticket sales, concert announcements, and concert cancellation . Look at what happened to China? The originally plan was to have 35 concerts in 6 months; six months has passed and we only have 16 concerts so far (excluding the 4 concerts in US this month). These people really need some whipping since time is running out .

Of course, "fame" also play a major role in this outbreak. If he haven't held the concert in Vegas last year, no one will ever know about this. If the concert wasn't reported on the Nevada Show Biz Magazine due to the world class production and preparation for the US market, I'm sure Rain Corporation wouldn't have find out. Just happen to be "in the wrong place at the wrong time".

Well, Mr. Rain, maybe it's time to have a new start (hay, now that you're on your own, you can have a clean new start). First off, let's start off with a "name change". It's not a sin to use your Korean name. You don't need an "English" name to succeed in foreign market. The Korean girl in Lost once said, "If you have the ability, people will eventually learn to pronounce your name correctly." Yeah, Jeong Ji-Hoon ssi, show them what you got. If you don't want to, you can always play safe with "Bi" (Korean word for Rain). Since you have been called "Bi" for the past 5 years in Korea already, what's wrong with continue using that? Oh, it's patient with JYPE or you are getting bored with it? Hm ... how about "Snow" or "Sleet"? Oh yeah, they are for that "special someone" , forgot about that. Something English? Hmm ... K-Rain? Korean Rain? Ah Rain? JJH? JH? Whatever, just pick something.