By Train to San Franscisco and by walk across the Golden Gate bridge

One of the days I was in the Bay Area, I decided to get the local flavour of the famous Silicon Valley and headed out alone, armed with nothing but the camera and $100 in my pocket. Padma dropped me off at the Caltrain station at Sunnyvale and wished me all the best. This was the first time I travelled alone in the US. Thinking back I find it ironical because I have been here the past four months and have not ventured out alone. A person who was always venturing out alone to explore new places in homeland has not gone out on his own for four months in a foreign nation! I can't believe it myself. I guess the San Franscisco trip was the first of the many trips I am destined to make in this country.


I fumbled at the ticket vending machine before finally buying a ticket from Sunnyvale to San Franscisco ($5.75). There is nobody working at the station, only machines. You get stuck, then you have to seek help of fellow passengers, passers by or call the helpline. Having bought the ticket I sat down on one of the cast iron benches on the clean platform to wait for the train. One by one people started arriving, a Chinese girl, few Desi techies, some white men and women came in bicycles and got ready to load their vehicles into the train. Soon the train arrived and I was surprised by its silence and smooth movement. There was no chugging noise which I am so used to in India and there is no shrill horn to warn of an approaching train. Everyone on the platform ran towards the automatic doors and scrambled inside, people with bikes went to the bike cars and others made themselves in the two storey compartments.

The interiors of the train was clean and leather seats very comfortable. At the entrance of every compartment there is a small niche with several brochures one about the events happening in the Bay Area, another giving Caltrain schedules and yet another about some business etc. Having picked up one of the brochures I made myself comfortable in a window seat and sat back to enjoy the 45 minute journey to San Franscisco. Of course my camera was ready to capture any interesting sights on the way.

Big Basin Redwoods State Park

One of the other places I visited while in California was the beautiful and lush green Redwood forest. Sited in the Santa Cruz Mountains the state park is home to some of the tallest and biggest trees in the world. Big Basin was declared a state park in 1902 and since then has been involved in conservation of these redwood trees. The route to Big Basin is through some very narrow and steep roads. Driving through the road I felt as I was in India because the roads in hill stations of India are quite similar to these, narrow, curvaceous and surrouded by beautiful forests. But there is one difference here, that is the organised way in which property has been developed. There are no petty shops, hotels etc on the road. The few farms/ ranches that are sited along the road are set deep within the forest and can't be seen. The only sign of human habitation in this region is the numerous mail boxes that are installed beside the highway. It took us 45 minutes of meandering through the hilly tracts to reach the entrance of the Redwoods State Park.

The Big Basin Redwoods State Park was established in 1902 with the primary aim of preserving these tallest trees in the world. The botanical name of Redwood tree is Sequoia sempervirens, it is also known as the Coastal Redoowd. This state park also has the distinction of being the oldest in California. The state park sprawls over 18,000 acres and has 3,000 acres of redwood trees alone and extends upto the Pacific Ocean including 20 sq miles of watershed.

We parked our rented car at the entrance of the park. On display is a cross section of the trunk kept for display so visitors can get an idea of how big and how solid the tree is. After registering and paying the parking fees ($6 per day) we decided to first take on the .75 mile Redwood Trail. This is the shortest trail but gives a perfect picture of the entire forest. The trail goes through the Redwood Circle which is a circle where ancient redwood trees thrived for centuries. The trees which are present around the circle are the offsprings of these old trees. Then there are two trees which are called Father and Mother of the Redwood forest. Both the trees are estimated to be around 2,000 years old and the entire redwood forest is believed to be the result of these two trees. Standing 329 ft from ground, the Mother tree is the tallest in the forest. Both trees are about 75 ft wide at the base. It is impossible to see the top of the tree without craning our necks.


Sun light hardly penetrates through these tall trees to the ground. In the middle of the Redwood trail flows the Opal Creek which is a major tributary of the Waddell Creek. Sturdy wooden bridges enable hikers cross the creek without getting into the water. It is nice to see the water gurgling and hear the wind whistling through the trees. The only noise we heard was the chattering of a bunch of school kids who were on a hiking trip and learning about the country's rich natural heritage and why it should be preserved.
After clearing the Redwood Trail we decided to head to anothter trail which leads to a water falls about 4 miles away but since time was short we decided that we would go halfway and turn back. We walked through the forest climbing uphill enjoying the feel of moist mud below and inhaling the pure oxygen-rich air of the forest, marvelling at the trees and natures creation. After about an hour we turned back towards the park headquarters. We saw Banana Slug and a strange looking lizard in the forest. Here are some pictures of Redwoods State Park.

Strange looking lizard in Big Basin Redwoods State Park

Slow moving Banana Slug is an interesting animal common in Big Basin Redwoods State Park. This is the first time I set my eyes upon this shell-less snail like creature. Wonder what its life cycle is like?

Monterey Bay and Big Sur Highway

Driving through the tunnel to reach Monterey Bay

After hiking around Point Lobos and enjoying the stark beauty of coastal rock formations and lush green forests, we drove towards the Monterey Bay, famous for its mega aquarium. Sited on the Big Sur Highway which snakes along the coast of California, Monterey Bay is a quaint little town dependent on tourism. It's antiquity is obvious when one passes through its narrow one-way roads and parking is at a premium. The cheapest parking available costs $5 for a day, other parking lots charge something like $0.50 for every half an hour. We didn't visit the aquarium because it was late (4.00 pm) by the time we reached there. The aquarium closes at 6.00 pm and according to Padma it takes at least 6-7 hours to take a look at the numerous aquatic beauties displayed inside.

Driving on the Big Sur highway was like a dream come true for me. When I had reviewed the book AMA's Ride Guide to America, the Big Sur had been my favourite chapter. As we drove through the scenic route that hugs the California coast, we enjoyed stunning vistas of rugged sea cliffs and the music of the crashing surf of Pacific ocean.

The tranquil surroundings and clear skies made me long to camp there for couple of days, but time was not in our favour and we had to return back to our hosts home for the night. In my opinion a ride/ drive along the Big Sur is a worthy escape from the daily grind, the beautiful landscapes and panoramic sea views are a bonus to our city sore eyes. Stopping at a few places along the highway we climbed on the coastal rock formations and went as close to the roaring sea as it was possible. Took pictures of the sea gulls which flew along in thousands.

Get the right insurance for your needs!

Automobile insurance is something absolutely necessary for everyone who own cars. For individual users it is normal insurance but when your vehicle is running trips for commercial purposes such as courier delivery, taxi services, etc the entire insurance ballgame changes. It is a real cahllenge for business owners to get the best insurance for their vehicles.

Ordinary car or van insurance is not the same as Courier Insurance. This is a specially created policy for vehicles being operated in a courier service and are expected to do multiple trips everyday in various parts of the city. Insurance policies for these vehicles must include haulage, hire and reward too. Another thing is that this a courier insurance should cover people in the vehicle which is not provided by ordinary van insurers.

Getting the right Courier Insurance for your vehicles is something very important for your business. This not only keeps the courier vans insured but also saves you thousands of dollars every year. If you land up with a wrong policy you will end up not being covered properly and also spending lots more than you must ideally be spending.

Finding the right policy is an option available at your fingertips. You just need to log on to the website of Autonet and find which policy works best for you. You could be looking for health insurance, automobile insurance, life insurance, home insurance or anything for that matter. Speaking for myself I am a conscientious insurance buyer, I first study all the available options and then check with my friends and family to know what kind of insurance they have opted for. Once I am aware of all the intricacies of the various types of policies in the market, I call the agend and make my decision to buy the insurance. I think this way there is little room for choosing the wrong insurance scheme.

Hiking in Point Lobos (cont'd....)

Whalers cove is more like a car park and place for people to have lunch sitting along the sea. Wanting to get out of the civilisation and cars we headed up the steep flight of stairs towards the forest on a well marked trail. Actually the hiking trails are fenced with polymer ropes to prevent hikers from moving out of the path into the forest. It felt constricted and like traffic rules on the road, but well in America everything is enforced and one better follow rules, even if it is in the middle of the forest.

We climbed up the steep slopes and were rewarded by the fantastic vista of the white foamy ocean. As we walked through the thick forest which kept the afternoon sun away, we could hear the sound of the surf as it ruthlessly ran into the rocks far below. Noticing the beautiful scenery and keeping a watchful eye out to sight any wildlife we walked along the trail.


As we rounded a bend in the trail we came face to face with couple of a deer grazing on the grass. Hearing us approach they looked up and gave a cursory glance and went back to their grazing. I was wonderstruck at their familiarity with human beings. Or is that they know that we wouldn't go off the trail in their pursuit. I don't know. It is peaceful, quiet and beautiful. No wonder people from California find it difficult to live anywhere else in the US.

I would compare Bangalore with California, we don't have two things that California has. The roaring sea and the excellent road network, apart from these two features, Bangalore has great weather and wonderful trekking and outdoor places much akin to California.

Get more clients, engage telemarketing services

When was the last time you answered your phone only to hear an unknown person trying to sell you something? I am pretty sure most of us receive calls from people trying to sell some product or service or inviting us to participate in some survey or the other. It is irritating to receive unsolicited calls from Telemarketing executives day in and day out. But imagine if you were in the market looking for some service and right at that moment someone calls you and offers the same. Wouldn't you be happy?

Everything has a flipside to it but then there are obvious benefits too. Telemarketing has helped launch products, catapult companies to success, make fortunes for people etc. This is one type of activity which will help businesses prosper and expand.

Telemarketing activities are the key to generate positive sales leads for businesses. When an enterprise is new and most prospective clients are unaware of it, telemarketing is one of the best ways to generate leads and notch up new business. It is estimated that telemarketing has alone helped businesses grow in the past two decades. Several companies are even getting Telemarketing done remotely.

To get leads for your business all you need to do is to hire a good telemarketing company and continue your quality work. Your clients will multiple several times in a very short time.

Point Lobos State Reserve

Having taken in Santa Cruz, we drove further down on the scenic road towards Point Lobos State Reserve. Historically famous for its Whaling connection, Point Lobos is a wonderful hilly tract with forests, rock formations, coves and beaches. This is one place where the sea seems to blend with the land almost seamlessly. Parking fees inside the park are quite expensive $6 (around Rs.250) so we decided to park beside the road walk. Anyway once inside the park we were going to walk or rather hike up the hills along the sea.

We first headed towards Whalers Cove, one of the landmarks in the park. This is a horse-shoe shaped natural cove formed by erosion of rocks due to beating waves. The rock formations here are ruggedly beautiful and stark, but once again the water looks quite dirty and unappealing. A small museum known as Whalers Cabin displays the various whaling implements used by whale hunters used to kill the giant aquatic mammals. The methods and procedures used by ancient whalers to cut sheets of blubber and extract oil is detailed in graphic and nauseating detail in the museum. Most of the whalers were of Chinese and Japanese origin and they extracted oil for fuel and burning lamps. Other animals such as sea otters and sea lions were killed for fur and skin.
I am glad all that has been banned and such things don't happen any more.

This is me at the Whalers cove. I posted this on my blog to remind all my friends who seem to have forgotten me

The right bed for rejuvenating sleep!

A good night's sleep or even an relaxing afternoon nap always does wonders for our spirits and health. If we spend about 8 hrs everyday on sleeping that is a third of our lives on bed. But how much attention do we pay to buying and maintaining the best bed? Most of us experience some kind of sleep problems in our life. It could be plain insomnia, back or some other musclar ache and pain due to bad sleeping posture etc. Or sleep problems could be due to an old and worn out bed we are sleeping on.

A few decades ago one would have had to live with the problems but not any more. With the advancement in technology, healthcare and other amenities it is easy to get solutions for our sleep problems. In this article I hope to cover some aspects about the right kind of beds we could switch to and enjoy our sleep.

There are numerous kinds of beds available the market. Beds are mainly classified based on their material, design, style, composition and the purpose. Based on comfort level beds can be made of leather or be exotic Faux Leather Beds. Then based on who sleeps on it, there are divan beds, childrens beds. Then there are beds classified on basis of material they are composed of: wooden and metal. Then there are beds based on style: french, antique style, upholstered, white, guest, memory foam divans.

Once you have the bed there are the accessories you need to complete it, memory foam mattresses, memory foam pillows, standard mattresses, headboards and other bedroom furniture. Without all these your bedroom would look incomplete and good rejuvenating sleep will continue to elude you. One of the top dealers of numerous types of beds and bedroom accessories is a company known as Time 4 Sleep. Their online website has one of the most exhaustive range of bed products including Faux Leather Beds.

Each product is excellently explained and a picture is provided for you to know first hand what it looks like before you decide to buy one for yourself. If you want to sleep well and spend that part of your life well, just look through their stock and start your journey to happiness.

Grisly Motorcycle Accident

Can you believe there is a motorcycle in this mangled remains?

I was forwarded these pictures and explanation by e-mail from a concerned friend. Being a biker, myself I was shocked beyond wits to see how a motorcycle rider's carelessness has taken three lives including his own. This accident happened in Sweden recently.

Apparently a Honda rider was traveling at such a "very high speed" that he didn't have enough time to react and avoid this crash. Forensic experts of Swedish Police estimate a speed of over 250 KM/h (155 mph) before the bike hit the slow moving car side-on at an intersection. At that speed, they predicted that the rider's reaction time (once the vehicle came into view) wasn't sufficient enough for him to even apply the brakes. The car's two occupants and the bike rider was found INSIDE the mangled remains of what once was a swank car. The Volkswagen actually flipped over from the force of impact and landed 10 feet from where the collision took place.

All three involved (two in car and rider) were killed instantly. This graphic demonstration was placed at the Stockholm Motorcycle Fair by the Swedish Police and Road Safety Department. The sign above the display also noted that the rider had only recently obtained his license.
At 250 KM (155 mph) the operator is traveling at 227 feet per second. With normal reaction time to SEE-DECIDE-REACT of 1.6 seconds the above operator would have traveled over 363 feet while making a decision on what actions to take. In this incident the Swedish police indicate that no actions were taken.

Vocational training for self employment

One of my friends used to always say "It is better to own a small coffee shop, than work as a waiter in a 5-star hotel". In short he meant that it is always better to be one's own boss and give employment to few people rather than work under someone. Well to a certain it makes sense, when you are your own boss you can decide how much to work, how long to work and how much to earn. But when you are employed you are bound to the organisations rules and regulations, timings and will earn a specific sum month after month.

But my friend and millions of other entrepreneurs who have realised their dream of not working of someone and being on their own have realised the importance of getting trained in their line of activity. The training and learning is not a one time affair but continuous and repetitive. And once your business does well and you start employing more people, you will have to plan for different levels of training depeding on the staff you employ.

Supposing you are into a home maintenance and repairing business. You need to employ numerous tradesmen, masons, plumbers, electricians, technicians, flooring and roofing staff etc. Each of their training needs are different. How do you face up to the challenge of training and ensure that you retain and upskill all your staff? One simple and quick way is to hire an agency like Avand and outsource all your staff training needs. Avand is one enterprise with training agents across the UK and offers a slew of courses such as Plumbing Training, Electrical, sales, management, electricals, etc.

Personally speaking I have attended several training programmes to develop my skills. I have attended philatelic workshops, training programmes in gardening, mechanical maintenance etc. What I like the most about training programmes is their hands-on nature and interactivity. Most of the programmes take one away from the boredom of the classroom into the laboratory and workshops where real time projects keep trainees occupied. This kind of training is interesting to every participant and trainers also.

More about Santa Cruz Beach

I felt that some more information ought to be given and some more sights shown to you guys before I sign off from Santa Cruz beach and head towards the Big Sur highway and Monterey Bay. Well one of the most alluring features of Santa Cruz beach for adventure lovers is also the most dangerous. This is the only beach where I saw signboards for who has the right of way in the sea too.

The sea is pretty rough here and the coastline is mostly rocky and quite dangerous. According to a sign board nearly 100 surfers have had fatal accidents in this area. All along the coastline there are numerous staircases from the road leading into the water, to the place where the waves come and welcome the surfers into their adventurous highs and lows. All along the sea there is a long walking path where it is common place to see people walking, jogging, cycling etc. Some people even just sit on the park benches and stare into the wide and beautiful azure oceanic expanses. Friends and family of deceased surfers have installed memorials in the form of benches, flags etc along the walk way. The state-owned tiny, one-room Surfing Museum is an interesting spot to visit if one is interested in the history and dangers of surfing in Santa Cruz beach.


I met this wave surfer who was just getting to hit the waves and shot a series of pictures as he prepared and started off his sojourn into the sea.

Avail business mortgage to get the swank space for your enterprise

To succeed in any business enterprise it is important to have the correct office space and infrastructure. Renting an executive suite in a large building is a good solution when your enterprise is small and has few employees. But as the business grows in turnover and the number of employees increase you need bigger space and larger offices. At this point it no longer becomes economical to rent space. It is time to purchase commercial building space for your operations. Having an own premises serves several purposes, you don't have to move, no rent increases, no hassle of dealing with realtors etc. You are not only the boss of your business but also the owner of the space.

But buying a office space is expensive and one has to avail Commercial Mortgages to achieve this daunting task. Getting a suitable mortgage quote for your business is not easy. One of the best solutions is to approach an expert in this field. An enterprise which puts customers first and gets the best rates for property purchase.

Business Mortgages, a UK-based company is one of the pioneers offering Commercial Mortgages and allied services to businesses. The unique selling proposition of Business Mortgages is to find the best mortgage quotes for businesses. Especially in the current mortgage market where getting the best rate is very difficult, executives of Business Mortgages come as angels to help you find the best rates for Commercial Mortgages.

So if you have decided to invest in commercial property for your business or even as an investment just get in touch with Business Mortgages and let them work for you and get you the best rates.

Visiting Santa Cruz Beach

Last week we visited California to attend the volunteer meeting of Sankara Eye Foundation. After the meeting was over we decided to take in some of the most beautiful sights of Bay Area. It was revisiting old favourites for Padma, but for me it was a vast and beautiful new world. One thing that is strikingly different in California in comparison to Texas is a significantly smaller roads and much higher traffic.

We started off in the morning towards Santa Cruz, the beachside township going on the busy and hilly highway 17. Though the road passed climbed up a steep slope through an undulating and curvaceous stretches, it didn't feel that way to me. I presume it is due to two reasons, one we were travelling in the car and second on a four-lane road, unless it is a hairpin bend it is difficult to feel the curve. It took us about 45 minutes of driving through choc-a-bloc traffic on the highly scenic highway 17 to reach Santa Cruz.

The quaint tourist town is the first and only place in America where a fuel station widely advertising and selling BIO-DIESEL. Most of Santa Cruz is located on a high platform above the water level, but locals say that when the sea is rough, waves rise up to the road level, which is at least 50 ft above water level. Santa Cruz is a great place for chilling out, one can bicycle along the coast, enjoy water skiing and wave surfing, walk along the sea for long distances.

One of the notable features here is the natural bridges formed by sea eroded rocks along the coast. Natural beauty aside the beach is quite dirty and full of trash, which was quite disappointing to me because I expected clean, litter free beaches. Among the interesting sights in this town are the Surfer Memorial monument, Museum and a BMX biking track in which people perform stunts. I would say it is a pleasant aberration from the busy rat race of the cities full of corporate executives rushing from place to place. I would like to return back in Summer and when I am richer to take lessons in surfing and try my hand at this new and thrilling adventure sport. Several surfers in thermal suits were enjoying in the relatively calm seas.