Day 8: San Francisco

The only reason I couldn't wait for Christmas to be over was because I couldn't wait for Boxing Day sales. I have always heard that there would be lots of sales, so I kept my hopes pretty high and couldn't wait to shop since the day before. But to my disappointment, there wasn't really alot of sales? Things were kind of like the same price as before. I wondered if we were shopping at the wrong places. We had a whole day to kill before the flight to Orlando but there wasn't much to shop :< We were also trying to save our money for the premium outlets which we would be going in Orlando! It was a pretty chill day just walking around from morning till night.

Random but this cereal was something I ate daily when I stayed in the hotel. Cereal/granula with raisins never fails. :>

Day 7: San Francisco

Did more sightseeing in San Francisco by visiting the Haight and painted ladies. The Haight is a place full of hippies, showing a very different side of San Francisco. Lots of people smoking weed, lots of graffiti and stuff. Supposed to have some nice vintage shops around as well but a pity it was Christmas and most of the shops are closed. There were also lots of homeless people along the streets on this cold and rainy day. They are actually pretty harmless, not as bad as I thought. I wonder how they survive if most people just ignore them (like me) :/

Stopped for lunch at one of the restaurants, so glad there was something open on Christmas! Had a turkey sandwich since it was Christmas LOL. Visited the painted ladies as well, it is supposed to be a row of Victorian houses with the city skyline in the background. But it was raining and foggy so we couldn't see the beautiful skyline.

Painted Ladies

Turkey & cranberry sandwich :>

Went back to the hotel really early around 4-5pm since most of the shops are not open plus it was raining. I actually fell asleep from 5 to 10pm plus, woke up to bathe and fell asleep again till the next morning. What a boring Christmas! We were supposed to watch some chick flicks together in the hotel but I fell asleep. Somehow the rest didn't watch also. I guess this can be one of the most boring Christmas ever, totally not what I expected it to be. I have always imagined myself to be celebrating Christmas in a big crowd with a huge Christmas tree and Christmas carols playing in the background. Then people would be wishing one another whether you know each other or not, okay stop dreaming. Hope New Year's Eve would be better!

Day 6: San Francisco

We decided to cycle to Golden Gate Bridge! I was quite excited since I never cycled overseas before. Moreover, I haven't exercised for super long so this is going to be a good work out to burn off some calories from the amount of junk I've been eating for the past few months!

Lucky for us, the bike rental store was pretty near our hotel. Walked there and rented bikes. Didn't really want to wear a helmet or buy insurance but since the rest did, I just followed suit. Learnt that it is illegal to cycle on the pedestrian paths in San Francisco so we had to cycle on the roads. Not very sure how cycling rules work in Singapore actually, is it the same? I haven't got to really cycle on the streets of Singapore because I've never gone for a single hall night cycling. Both years I had something on :< Really wanted to try that though. Anyway, it was really cool cycling along the roads! I felt so happy and carefree. The weather was good too so it was super shiok :D

Our first stop was a very popular sourdough bread bakery called Boudin which is near the Fisherman's Wharf. Tried their popular clam chowder soup in the bread bowl but I felt the soup was alright only, a little too salty for my liking. It was also a little fishy, but probably also because they used authentic seafood. Preferred the tomato one though!

Continued cycling after the meal and started to see Golden Gate Bridge from a distance. The route was pretty challenging because there were several hills and slopes. I haven't cycled for soooo long, so I kinda gave up on the slopes and pushed my bike up instead after awhile. LOL. Took more photos as we approached closer to Golden Gate Bridge. That is also when my camera officially died. It hit the rocks while TY was trying to take a pic for me and broke :O I didn't feel angry or sad or anything, because I was really in a good mood due to the good weather and the fact that we are cycling in San Francisco! Nothing can ruin my day haha. (TY, I hope you don't feel bad about it) We cycled on Golden Gate Bridge itself too! It was narrow and sooo crowded, being the impatient me, I just kept ringing my bell to tell people to siam. LOL. Oh well, they won't remember my face anyway :D

After crossing the bridge, we had to cycle to another place where we could catch a ferry back. Apparently 90% of the people would take a ferry back instead of cycling because the slopes are too challenging. It's true. There were several parts that the downslopes were so long and steep that I didn't have to paddle at all for like 2-3 minutes at least. DAMN SHIOK, but also a little scary so I had to constantly hold the brakes or I would fly! I cannot imagine anyone cycling up the slopes in the opposite direction, it would be insane unless they are pros.

Super amazed that the ferry allows people to bring their bikes back as well. I think more than half of the people in the ferry cycled there! Cycled for the last bit to return our bikes and had a good dinner back at the Thai place again. It was quite a horrible experience. The person rejected our TIPS because she say they cannot accept so many coins. Hello it's gratuity and you are rejecting it? So she broke our note for us and took a part of it. Good food but the service sucks.

Anyway, I really love this adventure, I think it's the most exciting and memorable thing I've done in my exchange!

Day 5: San Francisco

Wanted to head out for some sightseeing but it was raining. Decided to shop instead! So it was a whole day of crazy shopping. We decided to break into pairs so we could do Christmas shopping for one another. I always love gift exchanges, I love my presents alot too! Got a bag of chapalang stuff from C and G, and a pair of shoes from TY! Okay actually I picked the shoes myself and she paid for it, she did the same too! Since we 都这么熟了, doesn't really matter! LOL. The gifts from C and G were chapalang because it is super random. There is baking stuff, nail polish, chocolates and body lotion. I really really like those nice smelling hand creams and body lotions, especially so if they come in nice packaging. Got a set of pastel nail polish too! :>

Had lunch in a shopping mall and continued to shop after that! Really a full day of shopping, feels good to be so carefree. This is how a holiday should be like! Have been spending a little too much, need to control and save more for Orlando premium outlets!

Next up: Cycling to Golden Gate Bridge

Day 4: San Francisco

Arrived pretty late at San Francisco after some flight delay and we also took pretty long to figure out how to get from the airport to our hotel. When we finally reached our hotel it was already 5pm plus, the sun has already set!

I was so delighted when I came out from the train station. Our hotel is located right smack in the middle of the shopping district in Union Square. Forever 21 just down the street as H&M just next door. SUPER SHIOK. Finally satisfied some shopping needs. Since it was already pretty late, we had dinner at some Thai eatery which had a long queue. The food was cheap and good! Had a bowl of duck noodles, seriously I haven't had duck meat since I left Singapore, this was pretty satisfying. I still prefer the NTU one though, my fav can B duck noodles!!

After dinner we went wild with shopping. (Y) So so so happy! The only problem is I don't know how I'm going to bring everything home without exceeding the baggage limit :O

On a side note, I finally got the chance to take Southwest Airlines. Heard so much about it because the prof always use that as an example in class for some of the mods back in UNB. It's supposed to be a very successful cheap budget airline! I was surprised when I actually got drinks and snacks on the plane, I thought it was going to be super budget.

My dad just reminded me that I'll be back in a week. :O :O