Mini Travel Log: Christmas 2013 San Francisco

This year, my Christmas wish of taking city night light pictures of San Francisco came true. I was granted good weather and was very well rested. Without wasting a single minute, I explored the city from day until the city lights up with Christmas lightings at night. Day time was very well spent at California Academy of Sciences at San Francisco Park. If you have not experienced a real earthquake in your lifetime before, this is the place to visit. The earthquake house replicates the 1906 San Francisco earthquake up to a magnitude of 7. After sunset, the city comes to life with beautiful Christmas lightings. If you ask me where to find the most beautiful Christmas tree, I'd say the one at Pier 39 is not bad. From the pier, you can also walk a bit to Embarcadero Ferry Building. Here, you'll be able to see the beautiful Bay Bridge and also the city skyline.

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Mini Travel Log: San Francisco, USA (6)

I spent my Christmas in San Francisco again. But this time with my lovely wife. We rented a car for Christmas shopping and also to explore hidden places in the city. After watching Ken Block's Gymkhana 5 on YouTube, I have always wanted to go up to that hill for the spectacular night view. This year, my Christmas wish came true.

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Breathtaking day/night view of San Francisco

Ken Block's Gymkhana 5 video

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San Francisco Time Lapse

While lazying in my room being a couch potato, I felt pity for my camera as it lays by the side without any action. It would be a waste if I don't do anything with it after I carried the heavy equipment all the way from Singapore. So I propped up the tripod and set the camera up by the window. It turned out to be an interesting result. Here's a time lapse of sunset over San Francisco and the coming of fog taken from Canon 5D Mk2. Credits to Edward Maya for producing such an awesome music used in this video. Title of the song is Love Story.

Mini Travel Log: San Francisco, USA (5)

I've returned again to San Francisco, this time via Hong Kong stopover. Being so familiar with this city already, I decided to sight see via public transport. With just a 2 dollar ticket, you can hop on hop off any MUNI buses to the destination of your choice. The ticket is valid for 2 hours, but most of the time, the bus driver is kind enough to throw in half a day worth when he issues you the ticket. Knowing this will definitely save you tons of money on transport because tourist buses normally cost 30 dollars and above for a day pass. I ventured to the Palace of Fine Arts which has a beautiful surrounding lake and park. I also climbed up the Coit Tower for a beautiful 360 view of San Francisco city on a blue sunny day.

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Mini Travel Log: San Francisco, USA (4)

I had a great Christmas shopping weekend in San Francisco. Just the place to be as the weather was perfect for the whole week. Clear sunny days make walking on the street such a pleasure. Met up with a friend who happened to be there on his job assignment. We drove up to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area where we had a great view of the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge from the peak. Also on this peak, there is an abandoned gun site built in the WW2 but was never used.

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The next day, we drove to Lake Tahoe. The border of California and Nevada lies around this lake. There are many ski resorts around the lake but because there wasn't any snow yet, only a few were open with artificial snow slopes. We went to Heavenly Ski, but made a mistake of not renting ski equipments from the base station, thinking that we can rent uphill. So we were quite disappointed when we got up there to find no ski equipment rentals.

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This will be the last post for the year of 2011. Happy new year to all readers.

Mini Travel Log: San Francisco, USA (3)

Last year, we were colleagues and went out as friends. This year, we were back there as husband and wife and celebrated our honeymoon flight back to the place where it all began; San Francisco. This city serves the best clam chowder in the world. And a testament to that, $11 for the chowder was all it took to win her heart and she agreed to marry me. Hahaha. Chowder aside, it was the wonderful work of God who crossed our paths together in this magical city and through many more miracles; that we are able to be happily married now. While SIA has got their TV ad being shot in this city, we too, had our own mini real life love story here. =D

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SIA Advertisement

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Mini Travel Log: San Francisco, USA (2)

For this trip, let me take you through a trip to the prison on the rock as a prisoner. This rock is famously named the Alcatraz and featured in many popular movies like X-Men, The Rock, and many more. This prison housed many hardcore criminals. Although it is marketed as no one escaped the prison before, prison breaks did happened before and a number of men escaped. Records only showed those who escaped were caught again or killed, but never mentioned those who were unaccounted for. They were presumed missing and died in the cold waters. I think those guys really made it to the mainland considering the close distance from the rock. Lucky bastards.

On this trip also another new beginning and "adventure" began. God really gives you surprises when you least expected it. So peeps out there, remember when you're down, always look up in the sky. The rain clouds will always clear up for a beautiful sky and rainbow at the end of the day. So keep on believing and smiling as good things do come to those who wait.

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Mini Travel Log: San Francisco, USA

If you have watched X-Men: The Last Stand, then you'll remember how the famous Golden Gate Bridge was literally pulled off by Magneto to be used as his personal bridge towards Alcatraz Island. Welcome to San Francisco. This city is featured too many times in many movies and is so internationally well-known. It has become a top international tourist destination. The Golden Gate Bridge itself is an iconic structure that no visitors will leave without seeing it. The Alcatraz island also draws millions of visitors in a year alone. Then there are the famous cable cars/trams weaving around the famous downhill paths towards Fisherman's Wharf and the bay area. The Chinatown is also one of the largest and most densely populated by Chinese in North America. I was very lucky to be there on the weekend and caught a great show of dragon/lion dances. West side of the city has degraded into a ghetto and is not recommended for tourists. Further west is the mostly deserted Japantown, when most Japanese were taken away to the camps during World War 2. Turning south from here is the hippies' town; where many Victorian houses are left to decay while the hippies moved in. Among the thrash are the row of freshly "Painted Ladies"; one of the few restored Victorian houses now becoming a tourist attraction. Sausalito is up north across the Golden Gate Bridge. This place is definitely a place for the rich and famous. Bungalows and luxury cars dot the hills overlooking the scenic bay.

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