san fransisco...

i was debating between a post where i pour out my feelings in the usual negative light that i shed on everything or if i should write about my trip in san fransisco with cl where a little more positivity is sure to brighten up this blog... guess which one did i go for?

so... i've decided to split our 2 weeks in the usa to 3 posts - san fransisco, las vegas and disneyland... and these posts are going to be filled with more pics than words... they do say that a picture is worth a thousand words didn't they?

let's begin with san fransisco - the city where everyone is gay, erm, i mean happy... =P

so, we were staying a few blocks away from union square, where we spent a couple of days, just strolling around and shopping... i'm sure someone who loves shopping would be able to describe this place better than me, but for me, it's a nice place to hang out...

btw, i should mention that we were there during mid summer and it's still only 10-12 degrees?!

san fransisco spreading the love... honestly, we do need more of those these days...

union square - shopper's paradise. you've got macy's, saxs fifth avenue, prada, tiffany, victoria's secret, coach, burberry, hugo boss... i could go on and on and on, but you get the idea. and that monument is a dedication to a battle won during the spanish american war.

just another day in san fransisco - cable cars and fire engines all day long. no idea why, but they (fire engines) just keep buzzing around through town all the time. so frequent that they've actually arranged for tourists to get onto one of those fire engines for a ride. and no, i've not seen any buildings on fire the whole time we were there...

powell and hyde - took this on the way to lombard street... notice alcatraz in the background... cool huh? we took the cable car ride only a couple of times and it's interesting... kinda like the mini bus experience that we used to have in KL, only much slower and less dangerous... hehehe...

lombard street - the world's most 'crookedest' road (that's how they promote it!). i wonder if the road was naturally made this way and it turned out to be a tourist attraction or if it was indeed built with that purpose already in mind. either way, this has got to be the most photographed and hyped up street in the world.

and here i am, brought to lombard street by all it's fame of being crooked. gotta admit the street does stand out and looks eccentric enough to earn all it's popularity. and i really liked the houses along this street.

anyway... we've spent quite a long time in san fransisco, almost a week there. and truthfully, we didn't get enough of san fransisco. me falling sick did not help too. yes, i was sick in san fransisco. no, it's not h1n1. but whenever we got the chance, we were out and mostly we walked to wherever we wanna go. the weather's not too bad and besides, the city is beautiful.

the longest and most strenuous walk (aided by the sinusoidal streets) throughout the week was without a shadow of doubt the day we decided to visit coit tower...

coit tower is situated at the top of telegraph hill and overlooks the whole of san fransisco...

i just like this photo enough to include it in here... and below are the views of san fransisco from coit tower...

the lesser (only in fame) of the 2 bridges - the bay bridge...

fisherman's wharf and the piers of san fransisco...

the golden date bridge and you can see lombard street if you squint and look real close...

and being in san fransisco, i definitely can't ignore the chance to see alcatraz aka the rock in person... it is all it promises to be - a prison... =)

well, it was an interesting tour of the island actually. upon reaching the island, it's as beautiful as any other islands. birds are singing (in the case of the sea gulls, they're screaming rather than singing), fresh air, lovely scenery... and the fact that surprised me was that most of the families of the prison guards actually lived on the island. so it's pretty normal, until you stepped through the gates of the prison. that's when heaven turns to hell.

this view is probably the worst torment to the prisoners of the rock. it reminds them of what they've lost in the instant where they've lost judgement and made the wrong move...

cl has already posted a pic of us with this background. but here's a pic of me and the lighthouse made famous by nicholas cage and sean connery in the rock...

being the state with the most chinese american, the china town in san fransisco is a must see for sure... we've had breakfast there and trust me... it feels as if we've walked out of san fransisco and into hong kong!

ghirardelli - an italian who came all the way to san fransisco to make chocolate during the gold rush period. but i guess it's not our kinda chocolate as we walked into the largest chocolate store i've seen and walked out empty handed. but wat we did find on the way out were 2 malaysians! wat are the odds huh? they just recognized our english and approached us! so we ended up having some drinks with them and hung out with them a couple of nights... it's always nice to meet fellow malaysians half the world away from malaysia... =P

this picture was taken at the fisherman's wharf. fresh seafood, street performers, local artists... a good place to chill out... and from here, we actually rented a couple of bikes and rode them to the golden gate bridge...

a post about our trip to san fransisco would not be complete without a picture of the golden gate bridge would it? the pic above was taken while we were actually driving through the bridge... and the one below is from our cycling adventure...

the length of this post is getting a little bit out of hand... anyway, before bringing it to an end, a post of our vacation would not be complete without a pic of us right?

it's been a good week spent at san fransisco. there's so much more to tell but i guess i won't be able to write it all here. meeting the 2 malaysians was a pleasant surprise and we had some good times. went to a couple of bars, tasted a few local beers, went to a famous italian seafood place - soto mare, visited the castro district (google it if you have no idea wat's so special about this place), had some wine in castro - with the awkward experience of 2 guys in nothing but g-strings sitting at the bar, drinking coke... it's definitely been a colourful experience there... =)

so i'll leave you all with this pic of cl and myself and the golden gate bridge... till i come back again with las vegas and disneyland...