West Coast 2014 Part 2

Hello! Another week has gone by, which means we are one week closer to actual classes. Having completed and passed core, I feel good. It was a completely bizarre experience, having gone through 3 weeks of vigorous philosophy classes with pile upon pile of writing and reading. The next reflection paper I write will be of substance, I promise.

As my friends continue watching Holes, I will finish up this blog post. This is part 2 of the photo diary posted a week ago. Compiled over the second half of the trip, photos below are of San Francisco, Monterey Bay area, Los Angeles and San Diego. Now, I will not launch into a long ramble. So please, commence scrolling.

San Francisco Part 2

After leaving the Palace of Fine Arts, the tour guide brought us to Fisherman's Wharf where we took an hour long boat tour. We had a close up view of the Alcatraz Island and went under the Golden Gate Bridge. It was an informative cruise, as each of us received a narrative headset upon boarding. We came off with freezing fingers and headed for lunch (clam chowder sourdough bread bowl, yum!). Then on, we headed crookedest street on Earth - Lombard.

 Fisherman's Wharf area.

 Do you see it?

 The fog lifted slightly after noon. 

Was lucky enough to get a shot of this part of the bridge not shrouded by fog.

 Alcatraz!

 Oh the calf workout...

Monterey Bay Area

The day after touring San Francisco, we headed to Monterey Bay Area. I enjoyed the trip a lot. The scenery is simply breathtaking! Everywhere you look you see vibrant colors of the sky, sea and flora. The scent of the ocean lingers on you and the sound of the birds and seals are always in the background. Oh, did I mention the cypress trees? All of them are blown into an awkward-almost-topple from the strong winds. We did a quick stopover at the charming town of Carmel, lunched at Cannery Row and went for the 17 mile drive. This area is one that I will definitely come back to.

Fisherman's Wharf.

Best lunch ever!

Bird rock. The place smelled.

The lone cypress. It's 250 years old!

Carmel city centre.

Los Angeles

The city of angels.... We did not really explore Los Angeles in depth. It was a quick evening tour after we reached LA from San Francisco. We covered the Hollywood Boulevard, the Chinese Theatre, Kodak Theatre and the Walt Disney Performing Arts Center before heading to the routine Chinese dinner.

San Diego
It was a gloomy day when we arrived in San Diego. It actually drizzled for an hour while we were there. We took an hour's cruise round San Diego harbor, Coronado Island, the Balboa Park and the Old Town. I would go back to Old Town for the food and the shopping. Wish we had more time!

 San Diego harbor

Balboa Park

So I guess that's it! It was a pleasure travelling around the West Coast. I am absolutely blessed to have this experience. Here's to hoping for another opportunity like this to come by, and when it does, it will be more than 9 days.Well, until next time! 

West Coast 2014 Part 1

Greetings from the U.S. of the A. It's currently 2232 and I am in the middle of watching a South Korean comedy drama flick. The only Asians in the room are my friend from India and myself, and neither of us are fans of Korean drama. Well, good job globalization.

So here I am, after 6 months of application madness and another 6 months of utter wastefulness ("rest"). I never thought that would be here, Soka University of America, 1 University Drive, Aliso Viejo 92656 CA. Before even applying, my mom joked about me actually attending SUA as class 2018. At that time, SUA never even crossed my mind. But yet, after a frenzy of deadlines, essays and tests, here I am.  

Before I headed to college, my family and I took a 9 day trip to a few spots in the West Coast. We hopped from LA to Las Vegas to Arizona to San Francisco and back to LA. It was utter madness trying to see so much with so little time. We went around with Lassen tours, after failing to seek out other agencies. The tour was conducted both in English and Chinese, mainly consisted of Asian tourists and had more Asian food than my family's weekend eat-out choices (ratio of food:days). However, hotels were clean and functional, we saw what we expected to see and price was very reasonable. 

So, allow me present to you a crude, put-together-on-the-dot photo diary of the tour, featuring the first half of it! Enjoy. 

Las Vegas

Getting to Los Angeles was already intense. 7 hours of flight to Incheon, a 12 hour layover (originally 8, but with a 4 hour delay) and then a 12 hour flight to LA. I am just happy that all the luggage arrived intact. The second day after we landed, we headed straight to Sin City, 5 hours on the bus. We took a quick hop-on-hop-off tour option and visited the strip. I honestly do not know what to make of Vegas, because of the very brief sight-seeing session. Getting to see the things we see in movies was fun though.

 Hotel Excalibur, which we stayed in.

 The famous man-made sky of The Venitian.

The square is modeled after an actual section of Venice. It's all pretty cool.

 The only decent picture I took in The Bellagio. 

We watched the water fountain performance after, which I have to kowtow to.

 Paris Hotel!
The roadside cocktails are bomb.

Grand Canyon

Day 3. This time it was another 5 hour drive to the Southern rim of the Grand Canyon. I was blown away by the beauty of it all. It is an immense sight to behold, standing there and taking in the endless view of the canyon. The weather was perfect that day, cloudy with gentle breeze. 

San Francisco Part 1

Day 4, we headed north from Vegas to San Francisco. It took us about 8 hours to reach and I slept more than half the way through. Jet lag started to kick in. We got there in the evening and it was freezing. My family and I were smart enough not to check the weather of each place we were going to visit, bearing the outsider's mindset of "Oh, it's summer. It wouldn't be that cold". But NO, it was THAT cold. I had to put on my parka that had an inner lining when we went for evening strolls. Oh, did I mention that people jog in shorts sans shirts? What a scene. I don't know how they do it, really. Maybe it's time I get into the protein energy drink things.

The next day, we went to the touristy places of San Francisco: City Hall, Twin Peaks, Golden Gate Bridge park, Palace of Fine Arts, Fisherman's Wharf etc. Here are some of the pictures I took. The weather was gloomy in the morning, hence lighting was really bad. I tried. The struggle was real guys.

And........... that is it for Part 1. Till the next time my professor decides to give us a break. Toodles!