The disembark/Carlos Pueblo

The disembark/Carlos Pueblo

After 15 days cruise journey, the ship disembark at the Port of Los Angeles

San Pedro. Usually, it is a headache for me to hop on the public transportation

to make it to the airport and lucky me, Al Huang of my old classmate of the

college time in Taipei agrees to meet me at the port. I felt very humble when I

saw the great size of the ports and he told me that he had been through all

ports, like Long Beach and others for more than an hour. He liked to take me

to visit the museum of Queen Mary, a famous cross Atlantic cruise ship and I

suggested that we just leave the port and go to a Chinese Islam restaurant at

San Gabriel for a long missed chat. I haven’t seen him for 20 years. He is a

scholar with a Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from the Wayne State in Detroit,

Michigan, a well learned person.

We were across the Los Angeles freeways with a clear view of San Bernadino

Mountains on the east with a snow peak on a top of un-melted snow. The

Freeway, the weather, and the air are all perfect. California is really a land

of abundance. We enter the small city of San Gabriel and see plenty of Kanji

signs on the two main streets. It was still too early; therefore, we walked briefly

on both sides of the intersection. We visited a pretty Buddhist Temple, Boca

Dhama Seal Temple. I am very impressed the golden color architecture and the

surrounding luxury mansions with the same color and I wonder if those are the

dormitory of the monks.

We finished a whole pot of pickled sour Chinese cabbage soup with lamb meat

and a large size baked sesame bread, both are well known and popular in this

restaurant. The original owner is retired and the new owner is still following the

traditional doctrine of Islam in the kitchen. Al and I discussed some of our traveling

experience. He is a biker and with a very thorough and complete experience of long

distance biking in both Los Angeles and the western part of Taiwan. He even passed

through my home town Huwei on the central southwest of the Island.

After the lunch, he took me to visit a park with cherry blossom, Barnes Park of the

City of Monterey Park. Actually, the cherry blossom season is over yet the flowing

festival is yet to come. There are pink tube flowers on the trees surround the park

with third generation oriental youngsters playing softball on the field. I took many

photos on the area and the San Bernadino Mountains far away on the East. My

flight back to Houston was delayed for 4 hours due to the severe weather hindering

the incoming airplane from Chicago, Illinois. He texted me with a message that we

did have a very pleasant chat that day.