Hkg-Frisco

the trip that i am looking most forward to on my roster so far... my first trip to USA, San Francisco, California. this is not including of my stopover at Hong Kong first for a day, which i practically did nothing but roamed the streets a bit, and got stopped by HK police to check my identification. I bet he is thinking that i am an illegal immigrant from China...

my working colleagues are very nice people.. a bit cranky but lots of fun.. Kyan is my supposed mentor and he is really nice, looks like a mama's boy in fact but dun be deceived by his looks. Cecilia is very pretty, looks oddly familiar but i din know where i met her before. She jioed me to go LKF on the way back to HKG.. good idea... cos i haven been there yet despite my numerous visits to HK. Suppose Kyan is gonna come along since he is so havoc, and Debbie is the super crazy one... talk non-stop and 1 super drama-mama.. haha.. nicole is very funny, looks like one of my aunt but younger version lah... Boss is Edwin who took us for a course before, nice and smiley, pretty fatherly also. the other bosses are nice and cheery oso, certainly dispelled any of my fears and apprehension about coming to this flight after a not so good ending on the last flight, nothing to do with my colleagues but more self-doubt on my own abilities.

Excited is the word that i would use for touching down in States, cos heard its a shopping paradise here. Kyan suggested going to Napa Valley or Lake Tahoe, which i totally jumped on the chance immediately. Road Trip out of Frisco city.. plus i get to drive in States since a lot of pple wanna come, cos shops are close on thanskgiving day (Damn it!!) totally wasted 1 day here man.. bad timing... but in the end, everyone overslept, plans cancelled... i decided to explore the city on my own, took a map from the reception den i set off exploring the city, with 95% of the shops closed. i walked to Chinatown thou, bypassing many of the shops that the crew wanted to visit. The Old navy, A/X, LV, Apple just to name a few. most of the shops are open in Chinatown, to my delight. lighting shops are a beauty to watch cos of the designs and ornaments that they have. exquisite and exotic. others are more like tourists gift shops out to cheat tourists' money. saw a few leather jackets at exorbitant prices, all made in China somemore... tsk tsk... passed by Union Square and Washington Square too... saw the Coit Towers, was deciding if i should make the climb to take a look or to proceed to the Bay Bridge, in the end couldnt resist the temptations and i climbed to the top.. freezing there and the view is lo and behold... i never regretted that climb that made me breathless...

The entire view of the city was within view... the financial district, the shopping district, the Bay bridge, the Wharf and the inlet into USA and of course the famous Alcatraz... talking about that, i am proud of my purchase cos i bought 3 tshirts at chinatown for the price of 6USD and i saw the exact tshirts selling at Coit Towers at 16USD each.. hohoho.. shioks...

After that, i took an entirely different route down the towers, hoping that this so called shortcut will save me some time so that i can detour to the ferry terminal and Piers before heading back... luckily, i can read the map quite well... i passed by the famous Broadway too... before heading for the pier where i can take a better view of the bridge.. its really magnifique!!! cant stop taking fotos... but since its getting dark... i had to head back before it gets too dangerous... funny thing is as it gets darker, i see more blacks roaming the streets... haha...

on the way back i decided to hunt for food oso, since i haven eaten the whole day... met 2 elderly ladies who chat with me cos they were a bit lost, they were from Montgomery, but lucky they found their way in a bit and i was able to proceed on... saw a man-made skating rink outside Embarcadero, crowds gathering around to skate in there... so cool...

Carl's Junior it is, despite repeated warnings from Debbie, cos she was just here last week and Carl's Jnr was being robbed at gun point while she is eating in there... scared stiff, she crawled out with other colleagues... i guess she is never go back there again...

wasted day today cos all the plans came undone... but not so wasted cos i did some unplanned exploration... but the wasted thing was that, i din get to cycle on the bay bridge, haven been to the fisherman's wharf, haven taken the tram, haven got my gloves and winter clothing... those were my objectives before i came.. those shall be completed tmr.. minus the cycling i guess... cycling, road trips to lake tahoe and napa valley is on the agenda for the next visit. Cant wait for tmr... going shopping with Kyan and Cecilia...

Will be meeting my sasa Charlotte on the way back to HK and Yiming as well, she is on a biz trip in HK, just found out.. so cool to meet friends overseas... lotsa pple in HK but haven got time and chance to meet them... never mind.. keep it till next time, shall rest well for shopping tmr and breakfast shall be Krispy Kremes at Hilton Hotel. Tts the plan for tmr...

right now? i hear police cars siren roaring downstairs... 2 nights in a row already...