I was online and found a ridiculous post at someone’s site but I happened to glance at his most popular posts. He had 690+ comments on the one post. Now, that is impressive considering even Dilbert’s creator doesn’t get more than a couple hundred on his daily blog. I looked at the post and I can’t stop laughing. Apparently he went to a Chinese restaurant with his wife and was told that the menu was in English. He looked at it and liked it so much he bought it all. The menu I mean. He purchased the menu from the restaurant because it was so hilarious!

I love humor and I count every time I laugh hard out loud as an “Awesome” moment. I have laughed so hard during life that I have major laugh lines in my face and crows feet around my eyes but you know I’d never give back even one good laugh to change my face!

Here is one Engrish humor photo I took here in Thailand at the McDonalds in Krabi, Thailand. It’s bizarre because it took me a long time to figure out what they meant. You would think that McDonald’s corp might care what people are doing in other countries with their franchise. Maybe, maybe not… but, here is the funny Engrish photo…

Here is the extremely funny post I found surfing the net…

The funniest item on the menu to me - in my demented mind is number 1327, “Fragrant spring onion sauce explodes cow son”. That’s gotta be hard to beat.

Number 1211 also isn’t to be missed, “Salty egg vegetable sponge liver pig soup”.

Here is another post of his with a priceless picture of (his?) 2 kids (last pic, scroll down) that I liked even better than the Engrish menu…

Best of Life!

Awesome life experiences are happening all around you. There are more than half a million people in the area surrounding Krabi town here in Thailand. Only 5 of us, 2 tourists, 2 Buddhist monks, and myself saw this Christmas Eve sunset exactly like this last night.

Why wasn’t there a crowd of 6,000 people at the top of the mountain to see this incredible sunset?

They were doing other things. Their minds were focused on something else. I hope it was something as awesome as this because it was a great life experience as the rest of the western world celebrated Christmas Eve.

Go out and find yourself an awesome experience. You don’t have to jump out of a plane or sled-ride down a glacier. Awesome life experiences are happening all around you and if you slowed down and looked for them you’d find them. Or maybe they’d find you?

Have a great Christmas!

:)

Best of Life!

Ocean Kayaking is an amazing life experience that can be enjoyed by ANYONE! Even if you don’t swim, you can float with a life-vest. Even if you swim well, it’s wise to wear life-vests and in Florida and Hawaii it is the law.

One of the coolest things about kayaking is that the learning curve is almost absent. It takes little to balance and paddle around waveless ocean. Kids and grandparents can have fun immediately. You paddle as much as you want, or lazily drift along with the current, up to you.

I first sat in an ocean kayak at a place called, “Mad Paddlers” that is on a canal connected to Tampa Bay, in Tampa, Florida. I had never kayaked on the ocean before, though I had frequently rented kayaks and fished from them on the Hillsborough river in Tampa near Hillsborough State Park in search of big bass.

I took to ocean kayaking immediately. For me, the primary motivation was to use the kayak as a fishing platform, but the adventure and exercise factors are great reasons to buy one as well! I bought a kayak called a “Perception” for about $700 USD. It was 14 feet long and built for one person. I outfitted it with some places to stick my fishing rods, bait buckets and other essentials for another $100 USD. The paddle came with it for free.

Perception ’sit on top’ ocean kayak ideal for fishing or short adventures (day trips).

I had rented an apartment on a canal very close to Mad Paddlers and I kept my kayak on the staircase leading up to my 2nd floor apartment. Whenever I had the chance to go fishing I’d slide it out the door and carry it for 40 meters down to the dock over the canal and drop it in. It was a 2 km paddle to reach the wide-open expanse of Tampa Bay, but once there I felt so free from the stresses of work and personal projects! I’d lazily drift around the bay for six to 10 hours catching trout, flounder, permit, redfish, snook, small sharks, Jack Crevalle, ladyfish, catfish, blowfish and many other fish - even some I couldn’t identify. When I got back to my apartment I always had fresh fish dinner that I’d bake on a pan at 500 degrees for 10 minutes. I’d wrap the fish in foil with lemon, garlic and some secret seasonings that usually included cumin, one of my favorite spices.

When I moved back to Hawaii for a couple years I was able to rent kayaks for exercise at Kailua beach park on the windward side of Oahu very close to where I worked. Ocean kayaking from Kailua is an amazing experience that you’ll likely never forget. The beach has soft sand, a gentle slope, and many trees for visitors to picnic under. The waves are generally tame and there are a couple places that rent ocean kayaks by the hour or by the day. If you’re energetic you can go explore some islands that are close by or just paddle along the beach. My friend Christian from Sweden and I used to have some awesome trips on the kayak from here. Christian is an appraiser in Hawaii doing residential real estate appraising if you need something like that.

Here’s a 360 panoramic view of Kailua beach park in a video posted at youtube.

Though I didn’t fish from the kayak in Hawaii, as I had no license. I did have the chance to kayak surf some of the smaller waves here in Kailua and that was incredible fun when I wasn’t overturning the kayak! It’s a bit tricky to keep the kayak upright while attempting to slide down the wave. I’d recommend you try it with small waves, but keep an open mind, and don’t bring anything onboard that you can’t afford to lose!

I’d love to share some of my photos of kayaking in Tampa Bay and Kailua, Hawaii but, unfortunately my photos are on hard drives at home in the states!
Ocean kayaking is a unique way to explore the world around you while on vacation. Here in Thailand there are incredible limestone karsts and thousands of small islands to explore by kayak on your vacation. The prices are very cheap here and you can have an ocean kayak for as low as $15 USD for all day at some locations! Here is avideo of some visitors to Thailand taking a long-tail boat around some prime kayaking areas. Kayak tours are seen during the video. The long-tail is a much bigger boat than a kayak and yet this boat gets right into some of the caves. Nice video put together by heinz10 at youtube.

Kayaking in Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii with Kailuasailboards.com.

If you want to take an amazing experience, ocean kayaking, and turn it into an Awesome Experience, you should look at the Maui ocean kayaking companies that offer firsthand whale watching experiences from your kayak! Every year the humpback whales are found off Maui’s coast (as well as other Hawaiian islands) in large groups. They give spectacular shows by jumping out of the water (breeching) and slapping their tales against the water dozens of times per episode. I’ve never seen the whales by kayak, but next time I go back to Maui I must have this awesome life experience. I’ll probably go with “Maui Eco Tours” as I heard good things about them when I was a marketing manager for a resort firm on Maui.

Anyone want to relate their ocean kayaking experience? Tell us about it in the comments section!

Best of Life!

Amazing panoramic view of Hanauma Bay on island of Oahu, Hawaii. Click for VERY large photo.
Credit: Dave Tonnes of Panaviz.

Snorkeling in Hanauma Bay, Oahu, Hawaii is one of my favorite life activities. The water is warm, clean, shallow and safe. There is a natural coral reef that blocks large animals (sharks) from coming into the bay so it’s safe for everyone.

There are rental fins, masks and snorkels available at bottom of the path on the beach. There are showers and restrooms and places to buy food to eat, including Hawaiian shaved ice. This is a favorite for Japanese and US citizens alike.

Tip 1: If you want to feed the fish (you should, you’ll have a great time), stop by the supermarket on your left before you go up the hill to Hanauma Bay and buy some bags of frozen peas. The fish LOVE them and will swarm you once they see you have a bag. Caution, do not hold the peas in your hand because the parrot fish will bite your hand or fingers. I had a friend that held one pea in his hand like he was feeding a dog a piece of scrap. The parrot fish bit his finger really good and he was bleeding!

Tip 2: There are some amazing paths to explore up above the bay and that lead down to rocky cliffs on the right side. There is a Jeep stuck down there that could not make the trip back up the hill. It’s treacherous for vehicles (and illegal I believe), but, if you’re walking its a fun walk and you’ll get some great photos. The photo on the right was taken from the path on the southeast side of Hanauma bay looking North toward Koko Head and Oahu’s windward side.

Go snorkeling!

Best of Life!

Oh before I forget… I have a friend, Christian that does Hawaii real estate appraisal in Honolulu, Maui, Big Island, and Kauai. If you need an appraisal give him a call or zap him an email. He’s a great person and one of my best friends.