I've reached for 3 days
Touched down at SF, regretted and rued the day that i packed so many things into my bag. Good thing Ray helped some of the way. Took the BART- which is like our MRT- from the airport to Civic Centre which is basically the equivilant of our Suntec city area. Was basically clueless how to get from there to our hostel at Fisherman's Wharf and had to ask this old man who was also waiting for a bus.
IT WAS A LONG AND TORTOUROUS journey to the hostel coz my luggage was bloody heavy. factor in the fact that SF is SUPER HILLY, itz roads are simply slopes. So anyway it was upslope all the way to HI(Hosteling International). But i have to say the hostel is so beautiful. Will post the photos on my
photolog. Because we reached around 6 plus, we only got to explore SF around 7 and had to walk in the dark.
SF is basically a very well planned city and we basically walked through the residential areas and along polk street. what struck me was 1) it was bloody quiet on a sat night. 2) it was bloody quiet on a sat night. no incidents that night, although dinner was at a very familier fastfood joint called SUBWAY... and they are phasing out their coupons too. lol. whatz different in there? there are more choices of cheese and they use a diff kinda onion.
ok FIRST CULTURE SHOCK occurred on the BART when the driver suddenly said through the PA system :' the guy with the canoe please do not lean the canoe against the door... the girl with the bike please place it in the bicycle deposit area...same for the owner of the bike' ??!!??
I'm rushingthis blog coz i am BLOODY cold and i have slippers on
2nd day. walked along fisherman's wharf which is connected to the back of my hostel. went down towards the financial district which was a ghost town on sunday and then went towards union square which is the ORCHARD ROAD equivilent. ok i've found the levi's store and the victoria's secret's store. went up to chinatown and it was extremely crowded. think the crowd in mango multiply by 200. stopped by this chinese coffeeshop for a rest and ate damn gross wantons. took a walk along russian hill which has the crookediest street in the world and went up the Coit tower- Both which are NO EASY FEAT!! to get up there, one has to climb the roads which have like a 45-50 degrees incline. Those type which u will slip and fall to ur death on a rainy day. Views from these areas are GORGEOUS, not so for the scenenry but what u can see of the city planning.
itz funny how the difference of one street in SF translates to a difference in the type of pple their social status. went along the tenderloin area which is perpendicular to Union square. More pple dressed badly, bag ladies- those pple with the push trolleys, African Americans. Got a little worried although it was in broad daylight. I think it also has to do with the fact that here, pple actually sing out loud, make STRANGE noises and no one bothers.
1 incident: this crazy man was asking $$ from this woman, and when she refused to give he started cursing her 'Fuck you! bitch' then he saw us and asked us for $ and we simply walked past him and he started cursing at us ' fuck you to hell!' which amused us coz we were expecting it
and this guy jsut walked past me singing and he has a damn good voice. but he looks like tom hanks in castaway.
talked to this gal emily was was staying at the same hostel as me. she's from portland seattle. and she said that seattle isn't as cold as SF. what else, she loves seattle. she's getting a tattoo. she's talking her trip of independence. io think that is smth americans do coz i spotted this sign that referred to such independence trips. strange really. a holiday is a holiday IS A HOLIDAY.
ok cafe closing i will blog again
and
THANK GOD RAY is travelling with me.
he is GOOD WITH directions and helped me carry my luggage the whole way today
bye
