Accomodation - Green Tortoise hostel at broadway. Its kind of far away from the Bart station, had to drag our bags like 1 mile to it..and uphill -_-!! the room is not really fantastic, kind of small, and the toliet is real squeezy...kind of regret choosing the place tho..but nonethless.. the place is still accpetable for me lar..Location is quite good (except the part is far away from the Bart station), its located near Chinatown, and fisherman warf and right in front of our doorsteps ar porn video store, and those nude dancing clubs...sounds cool??haha
Day 1, Saturday - Reach hostel ard 11 plus and decided walk ard the fisherman wharf before our ferry to alcatraz. spent our time 'googleing' the streets and came across the Coit Tower which is able to see across the bay area. Decided to save the 5 bucks up the tower, we did not go up in the end. COntinue our way down to Pier 39. It was bustling!!Probably is saturday. The atmosphere is really good. Time flies and we went for alcatraz at Pier33. Bought tickets online a week before our date as its really hot!!!Alcatraz island was quite nice actually. Tickets we bought comes with an audio tour which narrates the history of it as we walk through the cell house. Take a jacket with you! its gets really cold and windy on the way to and on the island....If you feel rich, you might wanna buy the night tour of alcatraz...maybe it will give you creeps on the island at night!
Food- Had my first wan tun mee in america! Its called the Hons noodles house or something located along Kreany st. Wells its resaonable i guess.. 4 bucks per bowl not including tax. Hong Kong style (well Chinese here mainly speaks cantonese). Dinner was subway- budget man.
Day 2, Sunday - Went to Lombard st to view a scenic driveway. Its beautiful (and those people staying there must be filthy rich bah...) view from there down the city and bay area is magnificent too. Then we track down to a bike shop called Bike and roll. We got our bikes at the shop ar Colomobus st. Well, it might be best to get it near the warf as there are many other bike rental shops and its closer to golden gate bah...Nonetheless there is discounted price for us cause we stay in the hostel..As we cycle to Golden Gate bridge, we pass by lots of places along the bay like the Fort Mason. we din go in tho cause its like not really attractive from the outside. Then we cycle along Cissy Beach towards Fort Point. Went in and took a quick look (its free la...) and then off and on our way to the Golden Gate bridge. Its really like lifetime experience to cycle thru it man. By the time we get to the other end, i m already dead beat and hungry lor...Decided not to cycle Sausilto. Instead head back to find food. Haiz..the bad thing is..its hard to find a decent eating place ( i meant like fast food burger kind and stuff) along the way!! We cycle back to the fisherman warfs area (anchorage point) to have subway. My legs are super tired by then...After lunch is already like 2 plus i think. We wanted to cycle to Golden Gate Park. Determined and not beaten by fatigue, we cycle back in the direction to the Golden Gate. And we stopped by this Greek designed place called the Exploratium with a big dome like structure along the way to Crissy beach. Its quite nice actually. But we just walked the grounds as the admission was kind of Xpensive also....Then cycle for another mile and finally i took out my white undies and called it a day. Decided to head back and give up cycling to Golden Gate park. We return our bikes and went to walk around Chinatown. Finally after some luck we saw the iconic 'gate' of Chinatown. To me its really nth much tho..but wells..the largest Chinatown in the US???Then as we continue to search for our budget meals we came across this eat all you can buffet!!(its hard to find man, cause its a tourist attraction here and its full of restaurant and we wanna scrimp the price and tips etc). the 5.99 dim sum buffet add up to like 6.60 a person but the food sucks lar...its located at jackson st if i m not wrong... Totally cannot make it..but to stuff yourself full after a whole day of workout...its worth it bah...for me..but not for my partner tho...
Day3, Monday - Went to Golden Gate Park in the morning. Well, we did pick the wrong day (Monday) to go there as the Deyoung Museum and the Conservatory of Flowers located in the park are closed on Monday. The other attraction is the some place for the sciences and stuff with aquarium. But the admission is way too expensive. So we decided to got the Japanese tea garden instead. But thinking that thats probably nothing inside, we give it a miss as we wanna save the $5 dollars entrance fee. Then we walked like half a mile under the sun to catch a bus down to Japantown. Thinking that it would be somewhat like Chinatown, haiz...expectation is way off man. there is only a little mall and it termed the whole area as Japantown..Totally sian diaoz..BUt then, we went to have our first ramen in American, decided to spent abit, its ard 11bucks per person, But the food and portion is definitely worth the price. I forgot whats the name of the place but its in the centre mall (there is like 3 interlinked). After which we head to back to Union Square near downtown. Spent the rest of the aftn shopping. Well since the outlet mall is like so out of town and i dun want to rent a car, we decided to shop in the town area. Wells, nothing is really cheap in this area. but i did manage to get a couple of tee for ard 12- 17 USD. Tons of shops here like the Westfield shopping mall, and stores like Macys and stuff. But ya..like i say its no cheaper than in singapore.
-Well my friend here say she cant get clothes here cause she is too petite(well either is really the case or the types of clothes she choose is like not very popular..haha..kidding..) but females hu are very thin might have difficulties finding clothes here....
As for dinner - we went to the foodcourt locateed at the basement of Westfield mall, had a like 8 dollars usd de chap cai rice under some korean bbq and noodles or something....well its really nice but just abit x lar..
Day4, Tuesday- started our day again, and tried to find more shopping places apart downtown and union square. Went to try Polk street but cant find the mall. In the end we head down to City Hall. Nothing much except that there is a museum there. Didnt go it cause my friend is not interested. City hall is also pretty much the same like in singapore. nth much to see. Then we head down to EmBarcedo Shopping Mall by bart. Thinking that we could shop, haiz...nth much there also..can give it a miss.........Then we head back to Union as my friend is desperating trying to find some clothes and spent her money on..but then....same thing..din find anything to her liking tho..(she's picky)Haha.... Then head to Fisherman wharf and visited the National Maritime Museum for free. Then we walk the streets of the bay again. I really like the bay view of San Francisco..Its freaking nice for me...i could sit at the bay..just watch the seas and the golden gate with alcatraz let time pass by.......
Food - Nothing much had burger king for lunch and Chowders, a fastfood place at Pier 39. My worst meal in America..the seafood platter was so so bad...Never go and eat it!!!
Day5, Wednesday - Wanted to go Angel's Island but as we walked down for breakfast, we saw that the Acadamy of Science at Golden Gate Park (Day3 i mention that there is some science stuff that the admisssion was like 20 bucks usd) has free admission!! I think its has free admission on Wednesday or something. So again, we went to Golden Gate Park and wanted to go the sciences place. But its hell lots of people when we reached like 9 plus?? and altho its like 10-5pm, they started letting people in by the time we reach there...really the queue was long...in the end my friend chose not to queue (well for me..i dont mind to queue to go in cause i think the line is like moving lar..not stagnant for long time.) So bottomline, we didnt go in. Then, saw the Deyoung Museum. Its 10 dollars (adult)entry (think if you have those student card u might can the admission at a student price) but if you take bus there, keep the bus ticket, you can get two dollars off the admission price. Guess the theme of the exhibit doesnt interest my friend tho, so again much that i would like to go but in the end didnt go. But at least we went to the tower of the museum which its free. Then she wanted to go to the conservatory of flowers (caused its closed the other time on monday), and yup, to me...its nothing much there, just a small greenhouse kind of not worth it lar..but i guess since its like for travel, just go ard sightseeing, you never know it might be fun or something.=) Then. we head down to Haight st. It just next to the golden gate park. Its kind of like Haji Lane in singapore? with lots of boutiques shops lar..OF course, the price is more expensive lor. My friend likes boutiques as she would want to be different in a way like you wun find it so easily on the street that kind of stuff...
Then we headed back to our hostel to get her painting (she did a painting on the streets and wanted to go back to the artist's signature the other day). Then we head back to the wharf where she had her face painted but we failed to find the artist..Well i think she's kind of disappointed but hopefully she gets over it lar....
Food - Well, we had sandwiches at Katie's Kitchen along Lower Haight st. Its was pretty norm. Price is reasonable. As for dinner later???Hmmm..no idea yet..but there is this House of Nanking which is located on Kreany st, near our hostel, it is like there is always people queing for it..hopefully i have a chance to eat there later!!
Well, today was kind of rough for me. Had a tiff with my friend early this morning and it sort of ruins the whole day, well at least the mood lar, for me. Haiz..to me if you are on vacation, we should like enjoy every day or not like dampen any mood and stuff la...So now kind of feeling abit sian lor....
-- In the end we went to the shop beside House of Nanking. Think is like Chef Jia restaurant or something. The food is good but its way too salty..Haiz..dont know why but think it kind of suit the taste of americans or something....--
Day 2 - UNiversal Studio! It was so awesome! Great rides, great shows, and atmosphere was great!And prepared to get WET!!Haha..its fun for the weak hearted like me lar..dare not go for like upside down or high rollercoasters ride and stuff....In the end we spent the whole day there from 11 till 7 plus. Its definitely worth every cent spent there (well the admission is like 60 bucks usd).
(to be continued...)
(to be continued...)
