San Francisco, reminds me so much of Hong Kong. A cross btw Hk and european cities. Tall buildings near the street, like Hong Kong, but architecture are more European. It is a city and I think I'm a city girl cos I really like cities. Feel much more comfortable in a place with high rise buildings next to each other and public transport and jams. Ok not the jams. Ah, I like pple walking on the streets.

San Francisco was cold. Much colder than what I expected. San Jose is OK temperature, cool. In the day, don't need to wear jackets. San Francisco is just 1h drive from San Jose and it's so cold. I was shivering in my jacket. If I had know that it was so cold, I'll bring a scarf. Walking near Union square, that's like the Orchard Road of SF, the shops have very nice decor. Tanya borrowed a jacket from Macy's. OK, not borrow, bought, but she intends to refund the jacket soon. Everything here can be refunded with the receipt. That's why the clearance items are always so cheap. They're all returned items. Haha.

Went Fisherman's Wharf to eat. Clam chowder in sourbread bowl and calamari. The clam chowder was really good. Calamari also. Sourbread is too sour for my liking. Oh yeah, we took the cable car to Fisherman's Wharf. The cable car is cool. Too bad I didn't get a chance to hang on the edge of the car. Must be really cool and cold. Queued really long, like an hour for the cable car. The cable car U-turned on human power. The conductors have to actually push the car. Back to Fisherman's Wharf, it's afternoon, so the fog was clearing and the sun came out, so it's a lot warmer. But the wind was still chilly. Wanted to go Alcatraz, supposedly the unbreakable prison. But it's so popular that the tickets for ferries to Alcatraz are all sold out for the day and the next day. So we looked at Alcatraz from the shore. Alcatraz is an island by the way. Saw the sea lions lazing in the sun, sea gulls flying sideways cos the wind was so strong. I want to be a sea gull too. I want to FLY. Anyway we lazed around in the sun for a while behind some rock that blocked the wind. So comfy that I wanted to fall asleep. Then we queued for cable car again to Chinatown.

Oh there are many buskers around. They're really good. Some are dressed in strange costumes, like there was a guy wearing a dalmatians suit holding a dalmatian. Another guy dressed in silver and painted his face, hair, hands silver too. The musicians are good too. Many panflute players.

Chinatown. It's so Hong Kong. There are 点心 stores, they even sell 菠萝包。There are hanging 招牌 everywhere, but no neon lights. The streets are crowded, there are even shops selling 咸鱼. Shop owners speak in Cantonese before English and Mandarin, so the place looks, sounds, smells and feels like Hong Kong. But shops close very very early. We had dinner in Chinatown, 煮炒 (very good food), and the shops were all closed by the time we finished eating.

You know you're in US when:
1. everybody uses cards and not cash (discount cards, credit cards, discount tags, blah)
2. advertisements online are suddenly relevant (cingular, t-mobile..)
3. e-banking is more common than going to the bank