Monterey Bay

Last weekend I went up to Monterey Bay. An old friend from school has been asking me to go up there for a film festival. At first, I thought it's too far a drive, but after my Germany trip, I realized that I need to take little trips to refresh and regroup. As well, apparently cycling is good in Monterey. So I decided to go up there for the weekend.

On Friday I started driving at around 8.30 am. It would be a 6 hours drive but I'd make it in 5. I think I'm getting bored of driving. I get really sleepy when I drive and have to stop every few hours. As I was nearing Monterey, the temperature outside was still in the 30s, but all of a sudden it went down to the teens. Such a fast transition! The air was very fresh too. I drove into town at around 1.30 pm and went to see some films at the festival. The films were quite interesting. I liked the one where they were following some sharks migration and breeding. The female shark has 2 uteri and each contain many fertilized eggs, yet only 2 babies come out. This is because there is cannibalism going on inside the womb where the bigger baby sharks eat the smaller ones to survive. Still after awhile I fell asleep during the film.

The next morning I got up early to do some cycling on 17 mile drive. The day before I found out that it cost $10 to drive through it but biking is free. So of course I parked my car outside and cycled in. I guess I didn't have to get up so early because it was foggy and so cold! But there were lots of cyclists there already and the view was great too. The smell not so much. The ride was rather short so I did two rounds. Still it really wasn't much of a workout, my heart rate barely increased.

For lunch I met up with my old friend. I found out pretty soon that he is full of shit. I don't know if he has changed or I can see clearly now, I think it may be a combination of both. For instance, he is a shark hugger and complains and calls the government ignorant for wanting to kill sharks that have attacked and killed 5 surfers in WA in the past year. I asked him what does he think of a tuna or a sardine? He says that sardines are fine to eat, but tunas feed on many other fish to grow big so it's unsustainable to eat them. There are many things that I disagree with here. First, what makes a shark any different from a tuna or a sardine? They can not choose what they are born as. And I have never understood why some people think they can play god by deciding which species is worth protecting while others are to be eaten. Second, if a person truly wants to be sustainable and not just trying to sound sophisticated and environmental, he'd become a vegetarian or better yet, choose not to exist. As well, even I know that sharks have low metabolism while tunas have high metabolism, so in actual fact it's more sustainable to eat sharks. Third, the government choosing to kill these sharks is a very logical move to protect the community. What else could they do? They cannot put up nets to protect the surfers and swimmers because that would cause even more protest from animal lovers and indeed kill non offending animals. To call the government ignorant for doing their job is very ignorant in itself. This would all be fine if not for the fact that he thinks that he is humble, worldly, well-conversed and sophisticated. He proudly tells me that he talks to bums. He himself doesn't have a job and is floating around, basically not far removed from becoming a bum. And to be proud to talk to bums, seriously?! That says a lot about ones maturity and arrogance. So I conclude that he is full of shit.

I was happy to have been done with him and go off to see the aquarium. Parking was horrible. There were lots which charge flat rates of $20! So I looked for a spot on the street. It only cost $1.50 per hour and the meter still had 4 hours left! Ha free parking. The aquarium was amazing. I loved the jelly fish. There were so many kinds and they looked so delicate. While looking at them, I got quite hungry. I also liked the touch pool. But there were only star fish, sea slugs and kelps. I wanted to touch more things. I guess these are the hardy ones and can stand all the touching. Oh yes, I also loved the eels (they were almost like static corals but then you see the eyes and teeth) and sea horses (I saw a movie of a male sea horse giving birth lol). As well as the gigantic aquarium housing sea turtles, tunas and sharks and another huge aquarium containing many different fish swimming in an enormous kelp forest.

The following morning, I was to cycle the Cachagua loop. It was supposedly intermediate level and 30 miles. I was all dressed and ready to go. Once I got there though, I discovered that the road was super narrow and had no center divide. It looked hard to fit 2 cars let alone cyclists. I kept driving hoping to find the road widening. But it never did. As well, there were sections of the road that my car had trouble going up, it reminded me of going up to Baldy ski lifts ahhhh. Later it got a bit flatter and I thought about parking at a lookout point, but there were hardly anyone up there. And I was afraid that by the time I get back my car may already be gone. So I'm sad to say that I didn't do any cycling.

In conclusion, a great little trip. I should do more of these, maybe once every couple of weeks.