About Alcatraz, Clam chowder and Pixar...

I had tons of fun on this trip to San Fran, just being on my own, taking in the sights and sounds of this lovely city. Will break it up into various highlights of my trip for ease of reading...

Weather: the temp was btw 10-15 deg and it was cool until the wind started blowing, leaving my face frozen. thank god for LAYERING, the thing that saved my life. had to buy gloves from Walgreens so tat my fingers will not suffer from frostbite and fall off.

Outside a beautiful church on one of my 'exploration' days

The amazing view from my room at the W hotel

Work: had a great time meeting the rest of the International Press, and had much laughs over dinner and wine. Met all sorts of people, with all sorts of different accents. It was great.

Pixar: the key to why i am even in SF. i am one of the lucky priviledged few who got to visit the Pixar Animation Studios, the place where we found Nemo, where Monsters roamed and the Toys came out to play. It was beeeeautiful. We were all bowled over by the amazing amenities and just the overall grandeur of the place. We wanted to stay to work there. It was an eye-opener indeed.

Pixar Animation Studios. Oh yeah...

Me and Dash!

p/s: did you know that Pixar has a free flow cereal bar for their employees! it has like at least 25 different kinds of cereals! how cool is that!

Fine Dining: one thing good about the trip was being able to enjoy life at another company's expense. ha. i was treated like a queen for the first part of the trip. the great accommodation at the W hotel, the amazing meals we had which includes 4 course dinners. Loved it. another thing is the endless supply of wine, and drinks that were provided, cos obviously, the ang mohs drink at anytime of the day, before dinner, during dinner, after dinner etc. Erm, then the stark contrast of lousy food sets in when i'm on my own, then it was MACS n BK to the rescue... ha.

Shopping: i stayed 2 blocks away from the heart of the shopping district, Union Square. If not for the exchange rate, i would have bought, bought and bought. I loved H&M and surprisingly Forever 21, which had 4 levels! Even Levi's had 4 levels of jeans, it was crazy! I spent a whole lot of time at these places and of course, Victoria's Secrets and just bought (and signed) away. I am officially pretty broke.

At the heart of Union Sq

The view of Union Sq (ha taken from the 7th story of MACY'S)

Alcatraz: this is the one tourist attraction that i would never regret visiting. it is so damn cool. the island had this really creepy feel to it, dreary, cold and depressing. but then, that is what made it so exciting, walking down the hallways of the ex-inmates, listening to their stories of failed escapes. it was scarily cool, just to be in the same place as man who committed heinous crimes like Scarface and the Birdman...

the ROCK

Me in cell

At Golden Gate Bridge

At the Fisherman's Wharf

Clam Chowder: imagine u're freezing ur ass off after wearing at least 4 layers, with the wind blowing constantly at ur face, and then u finally get to go indoors to a bowl of piping hot CLAM CHOWDER. it was heavenly. the chunks of potatoes, the smooth creamy soup and of course, the bread bowl... yummmmm.

simply delicious!

Last but not least, can you believe who i saw? its BRANGELINA in wax!

All in all, it was a great trip. A lil scary being alone at first, got lost for the first 10 mins of my arrival, and then finally discovered the beauty of the grid system and for some time, i could even get around without a map!

Only complaints are of lack of good cheap food and of course the fact that i hate flying. 17 hours is too damn long.

well, well, my first "overseas assignment" and hopefully more to come...

now, i'll jus look forward to HK in June! Yay!