I hv been very fortunate to hv been able to travel to the US a lot...thx to Microsoft. Hence I was very lucky to land in my fav US city SF a lot as well. Just elaborate on some other happenings while i was there. Thr was one year whr we ran for charity. For every Microsofties that registered for the run, MS paid the charity USD1K. So Alex and I signed up to run in a cool, breezy Mediterranean weather type of SF. Little did we know the run was the length of the Golden Gate Bridge and at 5am in the morning...or was it 6?? At that blinking hour, its all the same to me.
I just remembered we had to wake up at 4.30am or something fantastically ridiculous like dat and then board a bus to the bridge. The temp was about 8 degrees or so and windy...it was by the bay for goodness sake!! So here we were freezing our testicles off, waiting for the run to start. We warmed up and off we went. Of coz being in the athletic shape that we were in, we took something like twice the time to get across the bridge. We were so athletic, our goal was NOT to finish last. Wat a low-expectation-having pair of aerodynamic marathon wannabes. Well it was for a good cause and we finished way above expectations, somewhere in the middle. Just to show dat geeks will always be geeks.
We also had seafood clam chowder in sourdough bread together with steamed crabs by the side of the Fisherman's wharf by the street. The world's crooked street, Lombard street was also a novelty and it would be best drive through in a kancil!! But SF's attractions were not only in the city. From SF, I manage to visit 2 superbly beautiful places. The 17-mile drive and Yosemite National Park.
The 17-mile drive is along the Pacific Coast and it takes us through the coastal cities like South Beach, Monterrey and Carmel-at-sea (Clint Eastwood was mayor here once). It also took us through Pebble Beach Golf Club where some of the US masters were played. The view is gorgeous. The city of Carmel was my favourite. Things were expensive since the rich tend to retire there but the town was so quaint with houses that looked like toys. The colour of everything was bright and vibrant. Flowers were bright red or yellow or blue. Buildings all looked it was just painted. Nothing was faded in Carmel. South Beach and Monterrey were bigger and seafood there was just to die for. You may also see seals by the beach though I wouldnt advise going near them.
Yosemite was about a day drive from SF and dat drive was boring! We went through truck stops, biker bars and stretches of wheat fields!!! It was just flat, yellow and BORING! The trip to Yosemite though was super worth it. To get a feel of Yosemite, go watch the movie "Maverick" starring Mel Gibson. There was a part where he was fooling around with his Red Indian friends on a bicycle. That was filmed at Yosemite. I could not even begin to describe in words that will do it justice. For one, the whole place looked like it was painted and arrange by God. Everthing look so unreal to this city slicker. The rivers were crystal clear and cool and the waterfalls simply majestic. Everything was placed just right for it to work. You get the feeling that this was how God intended the world to be when he started out. Deep eh?!!
Another interesting aspect of Southern California is that it is vastly populated by people of Hispanic descent. Now I said I look Malay but to be more precise, I look 3rd world country. I will be mistaken for a local in any ASEAN country. But I was also mistaken for a hispanic guy in SF and LA. People were talking to me in Spanish (I think it is Spanish) very fast and to avoid any arguments, I just almost always nodd and walk away quickly. To make matters worse, I use to travel with another Chindian buddy called Patrick and we look like the Cisco Kid and ...erm....geez I don't freaking remember his sidekick's name @#$%^&. Whatever la.
Next part I will tell you a funny story about Chinatown in SF. There were also more happenings like I took up sky diving. Whoa wat a rush!!! But that's for another day....Comprende amigo?!?!
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