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Monday, August 28, 2006



Besides Vancouver, no other city got under our skin quite like San Francisco. There's so much to love about this city. The cooling weather, heart-stopping views of the many majestic bridges, dainty Victorian houses, little cable cars ascending impossibly steep hills, its unhesitant embrace of all things eccentric, astounding array of restaurants, bars and nightclubs, and of course the shopping!

Every major brand has a megastore here and it took a full day to kinda explore and splurge on the summer sale.


(You definitely need a map to plan your shopping route!)


(The uber-big Niketown)

One of the most prominent features of San Francisco is it's incredibly symmetrical road systems.


(Did they use Sim City to build SF?)

It seemed like such an efficient road system to us but it wasn't until the 5th day when we rented a car that we realised that it was quite the contrary. SF is pretty much made up of single-lane, no left turns, no right turns and as such, it practically made many parts of SF virtually impenetrable as one would have to make a ridiculous big loop just to get to the adjacent street.


(The Bay Cruise)

Can the world be any smaller? First, we met Leonard, our dearest orientation group buddy in the streets of Las Vegas and now on the bay cruise, we bumped into the pioneer batch of NTU students that were doing their summer studies in SF.

Clouds seem to hover pretty low in San Francisco. We couldn't see the Golden Gate Bridge till we were just about underneath it. I was thinking how dangerous and impossible it would be for the cars on the bridge to drive through the clouds on an expressway.



The most infamous prison in the United States, supposedly escape-proof and home to such notorious convicts as Al Capone and Robert Stroud. It was definitely quite an experience on Alcatraz island. The audio tour was really good, with first hand narrations from past inmates and wardens that really brought the old walls and bars back to life.





But I thought it was a tad too packed with tourists, the many people shuffling around and snapping photos made the experience alot less realistic and eerie. But nonetheless, the 10 dollars was pretty well spent as it made a compelling deterence for those who like myself, are considering a life of crime to support our everyday lives.

***


North Beach, or Little Italy, was a great place to hang out, with some of the most impressive churches that I have ever seen.





Apparently, the Pope was here too!



Americans really appreciate the summer weather. People lie on grass just about everywhere. Notwithstanding the Indians at Little India and the Filipinos at Orchard MRT, it's such a pity Singapore doesn't have such a culture here despite its all-year sunny weather


(Lin likes summer for other obvious reasons.)

North Beach was also the place to be on 11 July, as it burst into a party frenzy after the infamous World Cup Final, and traffic came to a standstill.

***


Car Rental No.3! Luck was with us when we went really early to collect our rental car- We got a brand new Daimler Chrysler PT Cruiser, which was really retro and fun to drive. And we only paid for a compact car!

It was certainly liberating to go 130km/h for 2 hrs on the highway to Gilroy, where the factory outlets were. It kinda recreated the exhilarating feeling when I first drove 90km/h after passing my driving test. And when Paris Hilton's Stars are Blind (Sadly but true, this is our UBC gang's anthem!haha) played on the radio, it really stuck me how wonderful and carefree summer can be.



Gilroy has a really good selection of factory outlets stores-- Levis, Nike, Birkenstock, Quiksilver, Guess, Polo Ralph etc.... Got a really nice $20 Levis Jeans, a $15 Guess sunglasses, a $30 Guess wallet for mum and some Banana Republic officewear for dad and myself. =) I say money well spent!

Lastly, we drove back to SF to catch sunset at the Golden Gate Bridge, which was bee-you-tee-full!




(And late-night supper at IHOP!)


Kennyster @
9:18 PM

The Unpretty


Kenny Loh
23
Formerly from Dunman High, VJC and formerly a proud member of the 2SIR 11th mono Alpha Company Apache warriors.
Currenly a 3rd year student at the Singapore Management University.

I'm into books, pool, soccer & conversation (by day), justice, honour & vengeance (by night).

Constantly on the lookout for crimelords, deformed megalomaniacs and women.

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