Here Comes Everybody

Today marks the end of our SF trip. The past 2 days has been so much fun. Wanted to stay longer in The City but we've got plans ahead. So reluctant to leave the place. We left SF for San Jose where we are supposed to meet up with the rest. The whole ride on the Caltrain was spent recollecting about our fun filled weekend in SF. Wonder whether we will get the chance to do that again. Its already been 2 months that I'm here in US. Time really flies.

Drove off from SJ to this small little town called Chowcilla. Found out from Ben and gang that they got a speeding ticket. Gosh, that's horrible. Still remember my horrible incident with the highway patrol 2 years ago. That thought me not to speed or at least watch my ass if I intend to speed. Lol.

Love the whole natural feel

Can you find me?

The drive to Yosemite seems neverending. Upon entering the park, we were told that there is a huge forest fire a couple days before. Bummer. Not only we cannot get a good view of the place, the air smell so hazy. As bad as the time when home was affected by the Indo forest fire. Now where is my breath of fresh air. Argh! There goes the beautiful view at glacier point :(

What we see and supposed to have seen. Argh!

Next stop was Bridalveil Fall. We kinda got lost as I drove to the Bridalveil Campsite instead. The other car waited for us quite long. Sorry. But it was fun getting lost somehow. Haha. We were lucky that the part where the fall is situated is clear from the fog. So we finally get a good view and a little fresh air. The climbing on rocks to the top was really fun! The water is crystal clear. Reminds me of the stream back in Korea. This is better though as there is very few ppl around. Hence we get a lot more peace and quiet.

After seeing the wonderful sunset, we checked out a hotel near the place. Pretty nice and decent but too bad we are not stayin there. It is so high class that their dining place requires proper dress code. Bleh.

Our drive to the cabin was very 'interesting' too. Apparently they were doin road works and we had to follow a pilot car for a long long time. Super slow man. The best part is actually when we reached the place, we found out that our other car is missing. Everybody was like :o We waited for a while and the are still not appearing and decided to drive back to search for them. The worries finally end when we found them. Not! We found out that the cabin we booked does not have cooking facilities and they banned campfire on the site. After some negotiation with the front desk, they decided to let us use the kitchen. Thank goodness. If not I think we would need to hunt for a deer and eat it sashimi style.

The cabin room was pretty small. Toilet was not adjacent. Really back to nature right. Too bad I am not such a nature lover. All these unfortunate events was quickly forgotten when I stare into the sky. I see such a wonderful constellation of tiny stars shinning brightly above me. Magnificent.

SF I totally *Heart* You! (Part II)

Impressed that we still woke up early the next mornin after all that booze yesterday. I forgot to mention that this is actually only day 2 of my week long vacation . Haha. Yes, I took a week off to go sightseeing. Lol.

We headed off to Chinatown and Little Italy which is really side by side each other. Well, Chinatown really does reminds me of Chinese market. The layout of shop houses, smell of vege and fish, sounds of ppl bargaining and sights of small messy sundry shop are all present. Its amazing how this place managed to keep to its root.

All smile before we try the food. You won't wanna see the look on our face once we tasted the food. :(

Our search for dim sum turns out to be disastrous. We were trying our best to save money and decided to gave a $5.99 dim sum buffet. It sure sounds like a good deal, but really it is disastrous. Worst I've ever had. We learnt our lesson to pay a little more next time so we could really get some good quality dim sum.

Transamerica Pyramid from Little Italy
We saw ppl singing opera in the middle of the street. High class buskers?

After that horrible meal, we went back to the hotel for a nap. Guess bad food does not energize us. Haha. After recharging we walked around downtown Civic Center and Tenderloin area for some really nice Vietnamese food. SF is really a food heaven. (minus the dum sum buffet of course)

SF City Hall

We headed off to the Alamo Square to see the painted ladies. The setting for Full House. Still remember how I've always liked the show when I was young.The view of the city from the park is beautiful but it is definitely inferior when compared to the one at Dolores Park. Thanks to John for introducing the place to me. Hehe. Wanting to see a better view of the city, we went to Dolores Park for the night scene. Our plan was ruined due to the thick thick fog at night. Sigh. So we took picture in the train instead. Lol. This is really funny. Guess parking is really that scarce in SF that this owner worried someone is gonna park at his doorstep .
Oh, there is this Crepe shop at Richmond which is really really good. We went back to Richmond that night just to have the Crepe. Lol. We accidentally found that shop the day before as we were taking a bus back from GGB to the hotel. Yummy!

SF I totally *Heart* You! (Part I)

This marks my 4th trip to SF in just a month. Proud of myself for being able to travel here so much. Hehe. This time around I'm here with M&J. Been a while since we see Mixue since she quit her job early to travel around. So I was really lookin forward to see her.

We took the Caltrain down to SF as usual the cheap and convenient way. Weekdays are even better they got this baby bullet that only takes 45 min to get to SF :) The process of walking to our hotel almost killed us. Never expected it to be all the way at the Civic Center. Walked for about 40 plus minutes......
The Whitcomb Hotel was really an old antique hotel as they claimed to be. Looks like a haunted mansion too :s Headed straight out for lunch at Union Square. Very very nice. Haha. They have hearts all over the city. Cannot remember what it is for but sure it speaks for me. I *heart* SF. Haha.
The process of finding a bus to the Golden Gate Bridge, GGB was really funny. From missing a bus, to chasing after one and getting off a little too early. The climax was actually when we could not see a bus stop sign. Mixue was pointing out to me and Joyce that there is a bus stop but all we see is a huge red stop sign in front. We laughed at her silliness only to find that there is a bus stop. Its written on the ground! OMG!
The hardship gone through was well worth it as we were greeted but a super sunny weather. Absolutely no fog, when we reached the GGB at sunset. I feel like I could really fly. Nice weather perfect scenery. My first time walking along the bridge although I've been to this city countless number of times.

View of The City from the bridge.

Time for some Action :)

I couldn't decide which photo is better. Thanks MX, the professional photographer!

The houses around the Marina area are so pretty too. I really hope that someday I could buy a huge beautiful house here in SF facing the ocean.
That night, we went clubbing at the Castro area as they gal feel safer clubbin' at a place that they are preyed on. It was certainly a fun fun night. I shall spare the details of that eventful night. :p Gotta go to the club again soon!

Another Year Older

OMG, Another year older. my my my. This year I am in LA. It seemed to me that every birthday I'm at different place. Had a nice expensive Sushi dinner, watched WALL-E and shopped around. Pretty normal but it was really comforting. No partying and no speeding ticket or ponding like those years before. Best thing is the thing that I got for my birthday. Thank you :)

Canon Camera!

With a nice MAroooon casing!

Oh btw, thanks girls for the pre-birthday dinner. Have fun water rafting!

The Seaside Village

We visited Capitola Village after the sailing trip. It was a rather small place. making it more compact than the beach and downtown at Santa Cruz. We could feel the vibrant atmosphere here unlike back in our workplace. Perhaps its hard to enjoy the place when one works there.


We checked out a specially themed wine place called Poison. They even put the wine inside a coffin shaped box. Ewwww. The mascot right in front of the door is uber scary as well. I wonder whether one will see ghost from drinking those wines. Haha.


Our walk around the beach led us to a green grass patch near the place. It was really really inviting that we lie around the place for almost an hour. Took lots of funny pictures as well. It was certainly a very fine day.

A Day at the Sea

We get to sail on the company boat today! Its called Chardonay II. Apparently people pay like $40 dollars to get on. We only need to pay $10. But minus the food and refreshments. What a way to show the workers their appreciation. This company really need to work on its welfare. Boooooo

Back to the whole sailing thing. It is actually my first time on a yacht. I am so so excited. Almost all the SG people are there too. Think it is our first group outing. The weather was so sunny and I forgotten my sun block. Dumb ass. Gonna end up getting burnt later.
The first part was really fun as we went around to take picture and cam whore around. But man, I was having a ultra bad hair day :( Then I simply relaxed on the yacht. The relaxation somehow turned into boredom after a while. With no food and drinks on board for 2 hours, we decided to do our own entertainment, playing childhood games. Bet the other students must be giving us the ........ thing. Haha.
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The Biggest SF Celebration

Went down to SF again after just 2 days of work. Haha! I have 2 main agendas today. Meeting up with friends and checkin out on the huge pride celebration in SF.

Before that I went around the wharf as Santa Cruz is also having something big. It is the annual vintage car show. Hehe. Very impressive. All those ppl really took good care of the cars or rather spent a lot to refurbish them. Prices of the car going on sale is even more expensive than a brand new one. Did not really manage to see everything as I needed to catch the train down to SF for a bigger and more flamboyant celebration.

Took advantage of the good public transport from San Jose to SF via the Caltrain. It was very comfortable and for only $7.50 one way, it is really a steal. Had a very pleasant hour long train ride. Yup it only took me 2.5 hours to get from Santa Cruz to SF with total cost of $11 dollars. I foresee myself heading down to The City a lot this summer :)
Met up with my UofC exchange friend Zoie. So envious of her being able to move to SF. I've met up with almost everyone from UofC gang except Christine. Guess Taiwan will be the next stop. Lol. We spent lots of time deciding where to eat and finally settled for Vietnamese cuisine. The 7 flavored beef was special but the price was a little steep. It was great catching up with her.
The next day was spent going around Market Street where the pride parade takes place. It was really and eye opener. Not an event to miss. Very very happening indeed. So glad I get to see and experience this man.
Also checked out the booths at the Civic Center with John and friends. The whole pride event was so huge that then condone off like the whole area and street around the Civic Center. It is really not a event to miss. See so many funny things. There is even guys and gals walking around stark naked! OMG! Was too pai seh to take photo of that. Now I kinda regret not doing it. Sigh! Will try to get some of the photos from friend. Once I get it will upload them here. Haha.