Mock's Pictures

Santa Barbara is a very, very beautiful beach town. However, my schedule was fully packed on that day, so I couldn't go to downtown or near the beach to take pictures. Also, it rained a little bit. Anyway, here are a few pictures of the UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) ...


Coral Tree Cafe

A statue of red-and-blue pencils... huh!?

This weird structure is supposed to contain the letters 'u' , 'c', 's', 'b'.

A girl is studying for her final exam near the campus lagoon.

Storke Tower, a bell and clock tower (containing 61 bells)

The Interactive Fog Screen, a project by Prof Tobias Hollerer.

Leaving San Francisco at 9am, I arrived at P'Eak's apartment in San Diego at 7pm. (P'Eak is Him's brother.) It was a long, and partly pleasant drive. Here's the reason. The highway #508 and #5 are very, very beautiful. If you every plan to drive on this route, I suggest you pick a nice day, and drive during day time. The scenic views along the 400ish miles will stun you. I wish I could take pictures along the way and share them with you, but, too bad, I couldn't. With a speed limit of 70 mph (and you know not many people really obey the limit), I thought it was a good idea to put all my focus on the steers, and not the camera. :D

However, once I got to LA, the view turned ordinary, and worse than that, the traffic flow became really, really bad. I was stuck about 2 hours on the freeway #405, going less than 10 miles.

I was trying to burn a CD with a semi-primitive tool; I still wonder why that CD didn't work. o_O ???

P'Eak and Him, at a Laos restaurant in San Diego.
พี่เอกและฮิม ที่ร้านลาวใน San Diego แซ่บอีหลี - ดีลิเชียส

Him & Aey at Ruen Pair restaurant in Thai Town, LA.
ฮิม และเอ๋ ที่ร้านเรือนแพ ณ ไทยทาวน์ LA

Ban Khanom Thai. I bought a lot of snacks and dessert back to Pittsburgh -- almost overflew my luggage.
ร้านบ้านขนมไทย ขนมเยอะแยะไปหมด อย่างนี้ต้องโกยซื้อให้เต็มกระเป๋า .. แต่กลับมา pittsburgh ไม่นานก็เกือบหมดแล้ว

A Thai book store (Dokya)
ร้านดอกหญ้า ผมทำบัตรสมาชิกที่นี่ ($15 ตลอดชีพ) แล้วลดราคาได้ 25%
ซื้อหนังสือกลับมาสองเล่ม คือ "รอยเท้าเล็กๆ ของเราเอง" และ "นิยายข้างจอ" โดย วินทร์ เลียววาริณ

ต่อไปก็เป็นร้านต่างๆ ในย่าน Thai Town
(มีมากกว่านี้อีกแยะ, นี่แค่ตัวอย่าง)




ก๋วยเตี๋ยว 3 ชาม $10
ผมทานสองชามอิ่ม เหมาะกับการชวนเพื่อนไปหลายๆ คน จะได้ทานหลายๆ อย่าง

อยู่ใกล้ๆ สนามหลวง ค่าเฟ่ เป็นร้านขายของชำ ไทยบ้าง จีนบ้าง เวียดนามบ้าง ฯลฯ

มวยไทย ก็ต่อยกันที่นี่

Mock at Sanam Luang Cafe.
ผมสั่งน้ำแดงใส่โซดาที่สนามหลวงคาเฟ่ อร่อยมาก นอกจากนั้นพวกเรายังสั่ง คะน้าหมูกรอบ ข้าวมันไก่ ผัดไทยกุ้ง ข้าวเฉโป(หมูกรอบ หมูแดง เป็ด) และอะไรอีกนะ โอ้ย เยอะ จำไม่ได้!

ร้านพี่ใหญ่ อาหารจานใหญ่สมชื่อ ผมสั่งผัดกระเพราไก่สับราดข้าว อร่อยและเผ็ดสะใจ

We bought a lot of food to go from Thai Town, and drove to Santa Barbara. The UCSB was very generous; they reserved a hotel room with double queen beds for me to stay (as a visiting grad student). So, p'Eak, Him, and Aey had a free hotel stay in Santa Barbara that night :)

The Third Stop: Google. I'm going to be working here this summer. Will take more up-close pictures of the Googleplex and share them with you all (up to the approval of my boss, tho).

The Fourth Stop: Computer History Museum. We didn't really intend to come here, but it was somewhere along the way. The place was close 5 minutes before we got there. So, instead of a museum visit, we had a restroom visit. The staffs looked friendly, and the exhibition looked interesting. I might come back this summer. (it's free, that's why.)

1 Infinite Loop. That's the address of our fifth stop! I leave it to the readers to figure out which company lives there.

The end of the day. We had a dinner with p'Muen+ & p'Os at Xanh Vietnamese Restaurant in Mountain View. Here, p'Park was sitting in front of the "fighting prawns." (that's the name in the menu.) Very big, fresh, and delicious. $15(+tax+tip) for this IS really a good deal. Oh, I'm hungry now. FYI: There were also "shaking cows" and "angry crabs". I'll be sure to order them next time I come.


Finally, we skated! P'Os took us to this rink in Mountain View. This was my second time on the ice. I got much better: falling only 3 times in two hours. (The previous time I skated, I fell about a dozen times.)

Today (15 Mar 06), we ran out of ideas about where to go. We've been to many places in San Fran already. What about San Jose? (pronounced San Ho-Say) Hmm... we didn't really know what's out there. But we do know what lie between San Fran and San Jose -- the Silicon Valley! Huray, we're going to have a geek tour of the Silicon Valley. I proposed this idea to Gade and p'Park. As geeky/nerdy as they are, the idea was accepted.

Let's see where we have been to ...

The first stop: Oracle. My friend (and former roommate) "Share" willl be working here for a few years. p'Os, from CMU, is already a full-timer there. The pay they get? I don't know. But I can guess it's a little less than 73,000 million :P


A sign to remind bikers that the penguins may be crossing the road. Do you believe there really are penguins at Oracle? [I don't.]

Second stop: Stanford University. Too bad I didn't get in here. It's THE MOST beautiful campus I've ever seen. I've seen their pictures before; but when I saw the place with my own eyes, i was still stunned. Really!

Another pictures of Stanford. It's like a museum / a painted picture / a set-up scene in a movie, don't you think? 

Okay, this is the final part. I'll try to be brief, so we can go on to the next day (more interesting!)

A reporter in Japan Town. I asked her to pose for my camera. (If you don't believe, look carefully. Her eyes are looking at my camera, not that guy's.) There was a shopping mall nearby. Inside, we could not really tell if we're in the USA or Japan -- it looked soooooo Japanese. It has everything; you name it: Japanese gift shops, Japanese food/snacks, Sushi, Japanese bookstore. Oh, there were even some Japanese videos Gade was looking for!

King of Thai Noodle! I had dinner here once (last December), and now we come again :) They offer a wide variety of (reasonably authentic) Thai food, both noodle and non-noodle. We liked it a lot. Gade (the guy in the pic) told me he also liked some other things beside the food as well. (That's why we sat there for so long, even after we finished our dishes. Hehe... jkd)

A street-side artist. I gave him some spared changes -- wasn't really sure if it was a good idea. He could easily be hit by a car. Hope that doesn't happen. 

North of the Golden Gate Bridge, there are quite a few beaches. We visited two (and forgot both of their names). The 10-mile road through the mountains was quite narrow and curvy. (It was so bumpy that both of my passengers fell asleep; i'm glad I didn't!) Anyway, the view was worth the effort. It reminded me of the beaches in Southern Thailand.

Another curvy road: the Lombard Street. But this one is in the city. (and it's pretty short.) They claim this is the "crookedest" street in the world. I think it's probably one of the most beautiful as well, especially in the Spring when the flowers blossom.

A windmill in (or near?) the Golden Gate Park. The wind was moderate, but the windmill's arms weren't swinging. I'm not sure if it still functions anymore.Well, who care? It's beautiful, and that's enough.

The beautiful garden near the windmill. 

Today, Gade, p'Park, and I rented a car and toured San Francisco. We visited many places. Although this is my second visit to this city, it wasn't boring at all. In fact, we had a lot of fun, a lot of good food, and a lot of great scenes. The only thing we lack is... hmm... a lot of girls. :P

Ooops.. what did I say?

I'd better stop talking, and start showing pictures. Haha! Here we go...

Ghirardelli Square: they sell great chocolate and ice cream (made from their chocolate) here. They also give delicious free samples.
[pictures taken by p'Park's camera, with wide-angle lens)

We watched sea lions at Pier 39. But, well, I don't think they are so cute. So, let's look at a picture of these boats instead. The island behind the boats is Alcatraz -- the famous prision. I visited it last time (December 05) -- very beautifully depressing.


The rented car. Pontiac Grand Prix. I wish I have one of this as my own. Hehe.. hmm... maybe not? It takes a lot of gasoline!


P'Park and Gade, on the north side of the famous Golden Gate bridge. This bridge is famous for its beauty, its history (of which I don't know much about). Oh, and it's also a favorite place to die for many heartbroken people. (next to Niagara Falls, perhaps.) Quite a romantic place to die, huh!?

In case you wonder, these two gentlemen didn't jump :D 

Mock with the berkeley bears.

A statue (the meaning of which I don't know) in the middle of the business school.

The famous Sather Gate, at the south entrance.

Somebody's car in front of Soda Hall (The CS dept's building). Look at the license plate. This is one example to show that Berkeley people are quite politically active.