Californacation Part - 3 ( dont ask me where are parts 1 and 2 )

Trip Details: San Francisco

distance :

Denver- San Francisco - 950 miles/1529Kms

No of days: 3.5

Cost : $990 (Rs 44000)

Mode : Rental Car, Bus , Cable Train

Song : Cold Deserts - King of Leon

WARNING: ONLY FOR TYPICAL INDIAN TOURIST

SFO lies on the west coast of US. A little to the North.It is much cooler than LA.I spent almost 4 days in and around San Francisco (SFO). I had been there before but did not see much of it.

Weather: SFO is a windy and cloudy city ( as per many of my friends ). I was lucky all the 4 days were

sunny that too in winter!Sunny and winter is the greatest tourist combination, alwaysremember. Except mild showers the second day it was dry through out. It does not snow.Win ds...Yes it was windy a little bit.

City: City is just awesome. It has its own character. You will see lot of ethnic Chinese ( the settled here in late 1800's and were source of chea

p labor) , Mexicans ( California was a part of Mexico before the civil war) Indians ( tourists and white collared workers) ,Caucasians and general tourists. Landscape, well I think this is the most unique thing about SFO. This is a city built on the hills. Some roads cross more than 60 degrees! cycling or for that matter even walking can be a mountainous task ( ohh...It has to be mountainous rt?). Houses lining the streets are treat to your eyes. Colours will hit you. They are really beautiful. From the top of the mountains you can see the deep blue Bay. The golden gate bridge cannot escape your eyes.It has that shade of red which no one can describe ( Let me know if u know it! ). This city has a good amount of green cover. Golden Gate is a part of national Park and it is not to be missed. Link to the government website http://www.nps.gov/goga/index.htm

Transportation: I would say transportation is one of the good things here. Golden gate area is fully made for bikers liking. Though winds might just get u straight. See the weather before you venture. City buses ( BART...not a Simpson ) are equipped bike racks. You can rent the bikes from the Fisherman's Wharf. The local transport BART is known to be good.There are some weird electric buses with wires hanging. From airport there is a direct train ( or metro..a part of Bay Area Regional Transport ) link for their chick site http://www.bart.gov/. The most famous mode of transport is the Cable Car. You would wonder why is it named cable car? The cables run underground to pull the car. $5 per ride or free :).It has its areas of operation downtown to fisherman's wharf. You would need to rent car for going around the national park areas ITS CAL PPL.

The Trip: Its a personal choice what to see and what not to. I am a nature freak to some extent but I wanted to see the urban landscape. We rented a car from Budget with a GPS ( must!) at SFO. SFO airport is one of the biggest and filled with Chinese ppl. Stay, I would suggest find some cheap hotel in downtown area. We stayed at The Opel hotel on Van Ness Ave. It was close to almost all the city landmarks ( except the Airport ). Hotel is ok for $50 but parking cost us $25 per night. Parking is a headache in downtown area and costly! It cost us more than $120 to park. But if u act little intelligent unlike us you will save a lot!

Day 1(was just 1/2 a day) : Pier 39 : Its ia a pier lined with shops and people performing on the road. It is a place to be at DUSK. food..is mostly sea food.I had a crab sandwich which was unexpectedly good n expected costly. There are shops filled with magnet souvenir's.,California wines. There are good restaurants but Its upto your liking of sea food.Chowder is a very popular dish. You get a good view form the pier. You can see the Alcatraz island ,the Bay bridge etc. At sunset it looks amazing. You can also have a good look at the SFO downtown. There is a maritime museum there. Worth a visit if you have lots of spare time. The pier is a crowded place bustling with colours , people and fish! Public Parking is expensive $7 per hour ( max $35 per day). You can spend upto 3-4 hrs here.

Day 2 : Was partially sunny with little rains!

Alcatraz Island (The Rock): Do we need an introduction. This was the place where Al Capone was kept. Movies were made on it..The Rock (and the famous Kamayat with Neha dhupia n ajay Devgan). Its an Indian reserve now. It was a prison uptill 70's .Now converted to a tourist spot ( these Americans know how to do it! i.e. fleece!). Its a fairly walkable small island. You can see bay bridge, GGB and the city skyline and the dropping roads! Its a part of National Park area.It has been well maintained. It has to be traversed in a boat that starts from pier 33.

As soon as u get down from the boat they will give you a brief introduction and a history. Then you can start on your own. They have a short film ( made by Discovery channel) .Then you walk to the main prison. They have an Audio tour. It is self guided and good! available in Chinese,Spanish ,French and of course English! The tour gives you brief history. quite fascinating!After the tour you can go around the island , buy souvenirs or go back! Boats take you back to 33 every 1/2 Hr. I would advise you to book online and print tickets. The rides get overbooked often .It should not cost you more than $23 from official site http://www.alcatrazcruises.com/

Mill Valley: Its a small Scenic place just close to the Golden Gate .Nothing much to see but the

beauty is just astounding. Roads are clean but have to watchout for the cyclists cycling at a higher speed on the way. You ll have to cross the GGB and take highway 1. I could still see fall colours in winters.There are small caffes where you can have snacks n stuff. Worth visiting if you have some spare time.

Muir Woods: Pronounced as Mee Urr woods. Is a good place to hike, Its a part of NPS.Getting here was a bit tricky but do follow CA-1 and i guess ppl(cyclists) will be there to guide you. We can see the simply astounding tall red wood trees and Sequeras. Trees are more than 400 years are there so watch out for elefants..;). Some are older than 1000 years old. There is a $5 entry fee and you ll get a brochure with the trails map.There are different beautiful trails some short ,some looong.There are trails more than 6 miles long so bring in good shoes.Some times it rains during winters so dress accordingly.If you have visited northern India's forests then it might not amaze you after all !!

http://www.nps.gov/muwo/planyourvisit/hours.htm, All your FAQ's will get answered here. Remember! in winters park closes at 5.

Stinson Beach: It is about 10-15 miles from The Muir woods .The road is extremely scenic.

We pass through good huge woods and the beach front. The road speaks for it self. There are speed limits so watch out for the speed limits! and also the bloody cyclists ( if you are not one! ). There is a small village ( mind it! its a califonia village ! ) where you can park your car. The beach is just ad joining the parking (It closes at six in winters).The beach is huge,clean with golden sands. There is a bistro on the beach. Its not too crowded. Worth a visit. It has a rock formation at the end of the beach can walk upto that if you wish. Dont try the cold pacific ocean! There are also other beaches like Muir Beach. I would suggest follow this road till the END! which is not too far.

Fort Barry: I went there alone at night. Was quite an experience. It is very close to GGB about 5-6 miles i guess. In the night no body is present, winds are cold and all you can hear is swish of flowing winds and lashing waves. Its a place to visit! But safety I donno! you could get mugged alone .I went there against everyone alone to take fotographs in night mode! but the winds ruined them. it was a full moons day.You can see the whole of SFO in night. What a view! I again went there at day time. I guess the day ended there ;)

Day 3: Was Sunny!

The Crooked Street: The crooked street aka the Lombard street is supposed to be the crookedest street in the world. Its is a really pricey piece of real estate which I would not like to buy as people flock there day and night and continously take fotographs with little room for privacy. Plus Parking is really a headache at wierd angles! You get a good view of the blue bay from the top of this street. Neat houses are lined on the side of this street. This street seems to be purposefully made crooked but the angles are for real. Anyways it wont take you more than 15-20 mins to see it! Just park you car 2-3 blocks around the street and take a cable car to the downtown or fishermas wharf.you will save a lot of money in parking plus you get to ride the world famous cable train. The cable train has a one way ticket of $5 or 2-way of $11 quite wierd! People hang from the sides of the train unsafely like in India so gives you a homely feeling. If you get down in between you can forget to pay ! :P ! 3-4 peope operate the cable train ! I know the last man is a brakeman and pulls the brake when the roads r too steep!

The Downtown : The Downtown is awesome like most of the downtown's. It has huge

boulevards and the cable trains operate there to the fisherman's wharf. There is very less of parking space so forget taking your car there! It is lined with shops with famous brands like victoria's secret ( she might just reveal it one day.I am waiting for long! ),Gucci, Prada, Diesel etc. It is a good place to roam around .It also has a huge Macy's store. I have these brands going, everywhere you go!

The Golden Gate Bridge (GGB): This is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of SFO. It has that weird color of road which in background of blue coloured bay looks very striking! You have to take the highway 101 and cross the bridge to the Vista point exit. The Vista point is very crowded! always! and you ll be lucky to find the parking! We were ! The bridge is very beautiful .you can walk only at one side of the bridge the other is strictly for cycles. It is very windy there but it was a good sunny day .You can see Alcatraz island! Walk till the end of the bridge, till other end its about 1.7 miles (4.3Kms).Do Walk! dont commit the mistakes that I did ! View is very good from the centre of the bridge. If your light weight (highly unlike Americans who suffer from gigantassism) do hold the rails! There are other points from where you can clearly see the whole bridge. We have to go to the road for Fort Barry to see the whole bridge! I would suggest get a bike from fisherman's wharf and cycle to the GGB! IT IS A MUST!!!!! if you are fit ! Haan It has a $6 oneway toll so kep change ready!

Day 4: Sunny Again!

San José (Pron. Span. San Hozee ) : It is the silicon valley of the world. Costly place ! It is in south of SFO about 50 miles from it. You ll find tech biggies like Google, Yahoo, Oracle etc and lots and lots of Indians
Mystery spot: We went there in the morning. It is about 20-30 miles from San Jose. It is famous for the weird gravitational anomaly. Some weird stuff. Worth visiting once! For more information visit http://www.mysteryspot.com/. There is a hut at at angle and you feel a bit dizzy due to intense gravitational effect! Illusion of vision is also some stuff. Entry fee $5 parking $5

Santa Cruz: Again a small Cal Village! Amazing beach and a pier. lined with palm trees. The beach is clean and you ll find people dancing and playing ball ! The pier is huge and had is lined with shops and restaurants. You can see Sea Lions down the pier!

Conclusion: This city certainly has something unexplainable! It is the most colorful city in US that I have seen. Clean and good transportation Every thing is seen from everywhere! From Lombard street I could See GGB and alcatraz .From Alcatraz , the streets and GGB . From GGB the streets and Alcatraz!

Mama , I m coming home!!!

A Dayz Trip to singapore
28th February 2009
Distance travelled :
Denver- SFO : 1529Km (2:55Hrs)
SFO-Seoul- 9033Km (18Hrs)
Seoul-Singapore 4660Kms (5 Hrs)
singapore- mumbai 3914 kms (5:30 hrs)
total : 19136 Kms (about 35 Hrs flight time )
means : airplane,bus,subways



GooDBye Denver:Now good bye blue skies!!

Strumming throughout month of march the Ozzy Osbourne song ,I was on my way to India from Denver .Had a mixed feeling.Was a bit happy about food, my family V/s less money i ll be getting ( less than $700) and other things u know :) .

As infy would allow a break journey I chose singapore as we get a visitor pass ( mind it not a visa ) with ease, I donno is it because of an indian pasport or a US visa.My journey was really going to be hectic. I was suppose to start by saturday morning 6 AM ( MST) catch a flight to San Fransico and from dere to Singapore.I had a thorugh checkin for my overweight ( about 10 pounds ) baggage for Mumbai.Flight from denver to SFO was around 2:55 mins was a plesant one.I was sitting on a window seat.Two old white couples sat besides me.I thought they would not like me .I thought thier thought train would be of an old school.How wrong I was.Initially they did not speak to me at all or rather I did not speak.Of a sudden the women spoke to me.asked me where I was going I said singapore international travel ( sm bit of show off ) she said grt n commentd that I seem awful lot silent (he he my friends round the world would surely laugh at this) n started chatting they were heading towards kona ( is that the spelling?) in hawaiian islands.it was supposed to have an active volcano.They gussed that i m an indian (well who would not2) n said they had a relative ( m bad in relations ( both of the meanings r true) ) some daughter in law with last name rao .I said grt.the woman suddenly showed me the fotos of her grand daughters one was blond other had black hair. All women are alike in this world :).Felt good to talk to them.The womwan had the bluest eyes i had seen in the world.( I used to think my eyes r black untill pointed by the woman in DMV. One of the scariest eyes i had seen was my friends' corrines' she used to call them blue n believe me it was white with bluish tinge.Reminded me of zee horror show)

SFO- NeXT time Baby:
I reached San francisco in time .All the united flights were on time till now for mee.Was excited

to be in SFO wanted to have a quick trip to the golden gate which BTW was around 20 miles( 30 mins US).but my dreams were shattered by the information booth, the fat old unsympathetic lady told me to stay in the airport , as 5 hours r not enough to go out :( she said u can take a red line train which takes around the airport n its free ( again did she guess I was indian!!!) and gave me a bigg smile . the red line i took, d'uh ,did not mean any thing.Though the airport was huge, i wasnt
impressed much Denver DIA was i guess bigger ( abt
50sq miles) n also has a "conspircy theory" associated with it.you can go to youtube n search it and also the theory nullifying it hehee ( does the m

umbai airport has a conspiracy theory ,donno !!!)
Rest of the time i just talked to friends many of whom were shocked that i m going so early .Also I roamed around checking out some "art" work .I just went through the security check n waited for my flight to singapore
at 12:35 pm (PST) ( these time zones really confuse mee ...will it be lik this i sarted on 28th suddenly over pacific i loose one day???? god knows )

SIA really impressed me.The hostess ohhh got most of them ethinic chinese n tamils i guess were not beautiful as such but "sexy" is the word!! what they made them wear was really amazing.It really brought out unimaginable curves ( fake or real does it really matter?).It was green sarong designed by ( andy warhol???) looks amazing ( hate this objectification of women :D) .Besides that the SIA had really good seating ( one comnplaint, they dont have neck rest n 20hrs flight good lord!!) there were foot rests!! ( united i had to keep my feet to myself as if they dont exist n i m short !)
Thier entertainment module was the best.i couldnt ask for more except fot the crappy head fones i had got one side did not work .Had may of the latest movies
including the slumdog millionaire ( many people cannot pronounce millionaire ).They offered wine, softdrinks juices after every 5 mins.I had ordered hindu meal and luckily got one .besides the hostess' the entertainment module kept me busy for a long time.one thing i observed there were lot of cranky ol ppl around me asking after every 5 mins wen will we reach singapore. the journey was via soeul ( so - el This is how we pronounce it ) was a bit gloomy dere hardly any english even in the transit area i imagined how it would b outside( a signboard showing shop selling "a" watch and "a" choclate) , i got a coffee as the food seemed wierd. got a dollar replaced by 1500 Won2 !!!!the bill has w wierd persons expressionless foto ( i still carry that note to show off )
hmmm do our notes have an expresion ?.went through transit n on the way to singapore 5 hrs flight.My back was in tatters as i had around 20kgs hanging over it.


Singapore- Changi Airport- this is what an airport is
i reached in singapore by 1 am .I knew i wanted a room to sleep .there is a transit hotel in the airport it was arount S$60 i.e 40 not too mch...but i m an indian i did whatever to save money
i went to a baggage checkin counter n checked in my baggage i guess $8 for 2 baggages pretty resonable if u have us dollars.there my asian experience started.the woman on the counter was sleeping there were instructions to ring bell she came out sleepy was gentle enough to answer all my queries.i unloaded most of my luggage n just took off the camera n started at the immigration counter.the chinese man at the immigration counter was a bit rude ( asian culture uhh??) told me that i had come to a wrong gate n all the crap but suddenly kept quiet n told me to go to a huge section where we get our pass
stamped...was a tamilian at the counter . i went out but it was just 3 am could not do anything. The information counter would open at 6am so i just lazed around ate at the MacDz (finally i found the fries without the animal fat smell ) after eating i "slept") I roamed around after sleeping .singapore airport "changi" is verry big my feet had already started to give in .One of the best airports i had seen compare it with sahar i guess pune staton is better than sahar airport...freaks.the airport was just a mall converted into airport it had everything one could wish for ( including toilets ,that to not overflowing )
Singapore- going out
finally by six the information counter did open.The lady was really helpful she guided me n took a feed back.I finally decided to go by my self as the free shuttle would come only after 8 am n i would waste my precious 2 hrs.i decided to head for bus stop. i converted my dollars 200 to $333 singapore .they dooo have plastic money with some mans foto.I went to the bus stop .the time table was clearly marked ,mine was route no 36 to the raffles road.It was really hot n humid i really started to sweat like hell.I there met a nicest chinese air hostess.she was really hot n ofcourse short !! i guessed she was airhostess she told me i was to early n everything would b closed ( well she was right in one sense all beautiful airhostesses r always right) we talked for abt half an hr till the bus arived there started my asian hospitality.I was wondering where to put the money n how to take the ticket the bus driver was rude told me to put in money asap n the hostess guided me i told the person that i had to get down at esplande he said yes n never told me.Some american lady told me where to get down .i got down near esplande
by 6:30 i guess still it was just the break of dawn n it was monday.

The Esplanade: Could
i could see tall buildings clean "over signed" roads even by Denver standards. In pune we dont have signs even if there is a dangerous ravine n 100 ppl get killed.
Roads had some zig zag end markings (as shown ) i wonder why it was dere ( to confuse the terrorists?? god knows) I could see the esplande theaters by the bay n was eager to start my real journeythe esplanade theater consists of two domes having spikes or scales of fish .I found it fascinating .good architecture ( as if i understand ) It is supposed to be a center of art.There was

also an open air amphitheater any ways i could not get in as it was too early. i knew i had a long sweaty day ahead of me.the esplanade is along the singapore river there was also a huge giant wheel ( london eye on the similair lines i guess ). people were out to jog i wonder why ppl wake up early ( nearly all of them were chinese)
There quiet a few bridges over that river pretty good architecture ( i pride my self for having keen eye for art ,though ppl will not agree :D) After having thoroughly seen the area i decided to go to merlion
which is just across the bridge .i really donno how to pronounce it.As in french MER- lee- on ( mer is sea and lion is lion ).people could not understand that n it was embarrasing
i guess we say it just like english mer-lion.Any ways i did cross the bridge but could not find the lion...what the hell...i searched for it every where
to my surprise i just remembered what the woman had told me in morn..wat could be the chance of lightning hitting the statue n it being covered in a blue sheet
i guess it was 100% for me then i realised the thing in front of me was "it".It was like going to agra n not seeing Taj mahal or going to mumbai n not seeing dharavi .Anyways what diff does it make to not having seen it. i ll see it on the net :(
Then i decided to move on .I had a map ...but i could see some things i started towards the tall buildings now all i could see was the beauty .The thing with a green dome
what the hell is that i did not know but had seen it in fotozz it had old colonial archetecture .One thing i liked abt singapore was thier supreme court
looked pretty much like a mall hehee ( imagine!!! you are sentenced to lifetime of shopping with human female species ).Singapore is a notoriously clean city.the have banned chewing gums :O .They impose heavy fines for littering.
All i could see there was closed malls in the morning it was abt 9 am .Tall buildings were nt new to me (cuff parade, manhatten anyone!!! ) but certainly the weather was taking its toll i had walked about 10-15 kms ( what the heck google earth is showin clowds F*** ) the path was verry belle along the river with pieces of modern art.I was also amazed to see indian bikes pulsars were pretty common ( had seen one almost after 6 mos).I then decided to head to china town.



China town - ready for some cheap action??
the lady had told me that the china town is one of the places to go.i went to the bus stand there i searched for bus going to china town even though everything was clear (me being dumb) i did not understand as i thought chinatown was just a name given to a very large area.I did take a help of a chinese old woman she was exteremely friendly .unfortunately she did not understand me neither did i ,she told me ( i guess) to go to otherside of road n catch bus dere oddly
she was insisting on crossing the road by jumping the fence!!! i donno why (sensing a plot there i just walked away, never trust a chinese...u rember
indi-chini bhai-bhai,,,what crap our leaders teach us instead of accepting the humiliating defeat) but by some fluke i found a subway .It was much clearer
all the lines were straight with good maps.I got my self $18 whole day pass ( 10 dollars as a deposit for the proximity card ya the transport is pretty hightech)
one can use this pass also for bus we just have to keep it over the detector n it makes noise (of course as u ppl mite have guessed BEEP) this pass was totally worth it
as the subway was air conditioned I felt really good.i would certainly vote its transport as one of the best in the world .(LA i found was better n cheaper than this ) As i reached china town i found again one mall but it was chinese one .My frnd tushar would surely b happy to see this hi class mall ( sarcasm alert!!) felt pretty sleazy all over some wierd food .eating that would have surely made me throw up wierd smell,wierd looking meat, wierd looking ppl.The mall sold all
the fakes thats why my fotography was met with some stiff resistance.Adidas nike, puma u name it!! .I was even attacked by a chopstick :O but could not trace who did that ( i suspect the female in left!!)
that was enough china town for me. i decided to head to little india.It was 11:30 AM

Little india:Cheapest action!!!
I took the subway to little india ( the subway has names in chinese,tamil n english).PPl in the subwere ok types some babes with short shorts :D
Little india was more like chennai ( i have never been therer but can guess )all same indian stuff smells of masalas,gold marts, veg n non veg restaurants
i guess they would be worse than in states where all the hotels claim they have recieved awards .but the place was much colour ful.It reminded me of "dongri" in mumbai...my father used to take me dere when i was small n whined less.There was also a temple which i did not visit.Overall the place was much dirtier ,no prizes for guessing ( singapore has around 70% ethenic chinese and 7% tamilians )
There was also a market pretty much like indian markets but with foulest of smells.with amazing names lke "maya mohan ".Seemed to be famous served biryani n other indian stuff though you could see lot of chinese faces.There was also a 7-11 store i got water from dere .I found more indian brands here
LML vespa hehee .Over all not much to see here.It was 1o clk plus i decided to head for orchard street.the shopping district.


Orchard street: Buy buy till u die
I reached there also by subway.Was full of big malls ,bigger than i had ever seen bigger than in US with same old brands GAP, guess etc
also haute cotoure brands like gucci,YSL,channel which are out of chaddi.It also has a huge electronics market saw 103" television ( ohh i wish i could buy that !!)
It did not excite me much as it was the same stuff and i knwe i would not buy anything
I had plans to see it everything .It was almost 2 o clk.but my feet were giving in .This happened for the first time in my life that my feet brought me down.this could be because of weather
the weather had become clowdy but it was green enough.they had installed amazingly huge glass sheets asart forms that really looked good besides the legs
i tried to see it all but the same stuff ept repeating.of cource the food looked good but i did not have courage to try it ( i really admire anthony bourdain)
malls after malls but i guess things were cheaper than in US god knows i knew onlyone thing i did not want to buy anthing.i roamed as much as i could. till 4
i decided it was time to head back.I took the subway to changi airport,


post-Experience:
As much as i had seen singapore it was pretty ok i guess ,nightlife could be good here.The esplanade would surely look beautiful in the night. Though the weather is really bad.
A flight form india to singapore could cost any where around 22k surely one can find cheaper flights.I did not visit sentosa may b next time.Its a good place for shopoholics and food lovers ( not on the indian scale)
i did like to roam alone, first time i did it .to explore something unknown is really good feels great.to see different culture is simply grt.learnt many things like chinese ppl have bad english,good legs, i am made for indian food,i cant just keep on walking,asians ( including r us) are not too friendly....rest is to forget!!!

i would really like to visit central asia and iran lets see if my luck permits it.now head home n plan for ladakh!!

adinathy@yahoo.com