'Twas a Touristy Saturday Afternoon
Since it was Shuling's first time in San Francisco, I was tasked as the tour guide to bring her around. Not that I know loads about the city, but there aren't many typical touristy attractions to visit anyway. San Francisco is better explored and its allure lies in its quirky, off-the-road surprises you stumble upon.
Together with Thomas from Stanford, and her colleague Nigel, we began the Saturday at Mel's Diner for an absolutely scrummalicious breakfast. Shuling has been complaining about the lack of delectable HOT breakfast food, prompting me to recall the nearest breakfast joint we could hop in.
With our tummies nicely filled up with eggs, potatoes and bacons, we flagged a cab down to the most charactertistic San Francisco feature - the Golden Gate Bridge. Now, I just adore walking across huge bridges. There is something mildly therapeutic about walking across these connections in the cold. I enjoyed my stroll tremendously across the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, and even it must have been the countless time I have been on the Golden Gate Bridge, I still relished the experience. We stopped to admire the skylines, spot dolphins in the waters and posed for thousands of photographs. It was really cool.
After an hour-plus of sauntering to Marin County and back, we hopped up a bus to head to Fisherman Wharf. After a strings of missed-stops and random bus rides, we fortunately ended up where we wanted to go. We strolled along the touristy lines of shops, stopping to admire the stinking gathering of sealions at Pier 39. A pleasant break for some clam chowder and sour dough bread ensued.
We basked in the pleasant sunlight for a while, Nigel feeding the pigeons tirelessly. The next top was Ghiradelli Square, which was nothing much, really. Shuling bought some of the famed chocolates home and all of us shared an extremely heavy chocolate-fudge sundae.
Next up, the overhyped San Francisco Cable Car ride. If you ever want to hitch a cable car ride, do not EVER aboard one at Fisherman Wharf. You would probably get all squashed up in the ever crowded Cable Car because for some reason, most tourists seemingly board the Cable Cars at Fisherman Wharf. Take the Cable Car from somewhere which allows you to get a good proper seat, facing the outside, in the open, so you can totally soak in the atmosphere. Our cable car ride was a complete flop, with the most of us trying to stay balanced and avoid steppings on strangers' toes.
Dinner was at a little quaint Italian Bistro near the hotel. I had scallops with green peas mashed and bacon. It was extremely delectable. The good food was making me so.. so ... sleepy.
But the night was still young, they claimed. So, it was off to partying in the city. The night started out hilarious, with Jaret, another of Shuling's colleague, trying to get me to marry him. Apparently, according to Jaret, caucasians over at that side of the world have a huge fetish with Asians.
Nigel and I began playing finger games where I totally kicked his ass. He switched his game partner to Shuling and I began playing with Sat. Well, I kicked Sat's ass too, but I guess he wanted it that way because he wanted his drinks. Ha.
Soon, most of them were on a high, with Nigel and Jared doing silly things like sticking gummy bears on their faces.
As I was laughing at their antics, my dear girl friend was lying on the sofa with great luxury. After attempting to wake her up countless times, Nigel took over. Thank goodness for that, because he subsequently saved me from the mess that she puked out. Ha ha.
Anyway, it was downhill from then on, although retrospectively, it was a freaking hilarious experience. Despite having down 5 drinks all mixed up from shots to cocktails, I willed myself to stay sober as the rest were intoxicated. We even had to risk getting shot as Nigel wound down the windows in the cab and hollered at two rather plump girls to "COVER UP YOU PORK CHOPS, YOU ARE MAKING ME SICK!"
Even as I tried to push his head down, he came coming up to scream more insults. I was so glad when the cab driver began to drive from the junction.
Finally, we made it back to the room, but not without a mess. We were all in a mess, really. I cleaned up, showered, ensured everything was all right, switched on my laptop, and guess what?
I did my work.
Miracle.
And then it's bed time, at almost 5 a.m.
Sunday is another story to tell.
Together with Thomas from Stanford, and her colleague Nigel, we began the Saturday at Mel's Diner for an absolutely scrummalicious breakfast. Shuling has been complaining about the lack of delectable HOT breakfast food, prompting me to recall the nearest breakfast joint we could hop in.
With our tummies nicely filled up with eggs, potatoes and bacons, we flagged a cab down to the most charactertistic San Francisco feature - the Golden Gate Bridge. Now, I just adore walking across huge bridges. There is something mildly therapeutic about walking across these connections in the cold. I enjoyed my stroll tremendously across the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, and even it must have been the countless time I have been on the Golden Gate Bridge, I still relished the experience. We stopped to admire the skylines, spot dolphins in the waters and posed for thousands of photographs. It was really cool.
After an hour-plus of sauntering to Marin County and back, we hopped up a bus to head to Fisherman Wharf. After a strings of missed-stops and random bus rides, we fortunately ended up where we wanted to go. We strolled along the touristy lines of shops, stopping to admire the stinking gathering of sealions at Pier 39. A pleasant break for some clam chowder and sour dough bread ensued.
We basked in the pleasant sunlight for a while, Nigel feeding the pigeons tirelessly. The next top was Ghiradelli Square, which was nothing much, really. Shuling bought some of the famed chocolates home and all of us shared an extremely heavy chocolate-fudge sundae.
Next up, the overhyped San Francisco Cable Car ride. If you ever want to hitch a cable car ride, do not EVER aboard one at Fisherman Wharf. You would probably get all squashed up in the ever crowded Cable Car because for some reason, most tourists seemingly board the Cable Cars at Fisherman Wharf. Take the Cable Car from somewhere which allows you to get a good proper seat, facing the outside, in the open, so you can totally soak in the atmosphere. Our cable car ride was a complete flop, with the most of us trying to stay balanced and avoid steppings on strangers' toes.
Dinner was at a little quaint Italian Bistro near the hotel. I had scallops with green peas mashed and bacon. It was extremely delectable. The good food was making me so.. so ... sleepy.
But the night was still young, they claimed. So, it was off to partying in the city. The night started out hilarious, with Jaret, another of Shuling's colleague, trying to get me to marry him. Apparently, according to Jaret, caucasians over at that side of the world have a huge fetish with Asians.
Nigel and I began playing finger games where I totally kicked his ass. He switched his game partner to Shuling and I began playing with Sat. Well, I kicked Sat's ass too, but I guess he wanted it that way because he wanted his drinks. Ha.
Soon, most of them were on a high, with Nigel and Jared doing silly things like sticking gummy bears on their faces.
As I was laughing at their antics, my dear girl friend was lying on the sofa with great luxury. After attempting to wake her up countless times, Nigel took over. Thank goodness for that, because he subsequently saved me from the mess that she puked out. Ha ha.
Anyway, it was downhill from then on, although retrospectively, it was a freaking hilarious experience. Despite having down 5 drinks all mixed up from shots to cocktails, I willed myself to stay sober as the rest were intoxicated. We even had to risk getting shot as Nigel wound down the windows in the cab and hollered at two rather plump girls to "COVER UP YOU PORK CHOPS, YOU ARE MAKING ME SICK!"
Even as I tried to push his head down, he came coming up to scream more insults. I was so glad when the cab driver began to drive from the junction.
Finally, we made it back to the room, but not without a mess. We were all in a mess, really. I cleaned up, showered, ensured everything was all right, switched on my laptop, and guess what?
I did my work.
Miracle.
And then it's bed time, at almost 5 a.m.
Sunday is another story to tell.
posted by jellybeano at 4:11 PM
2 Comments:
it sounds like so much fun!! i love the pic of you and the two monkey statues.. :)
yeah it was fun while it lasted. Thanks!
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