I got the opportunity to visit America once more for a science conference. This time, it is in San Francisco. I took the opportunity to include travelling to Grand Canyon and Los Angeles into the itinerary to complete the whole trip. I have decided to bring my dearie along this time so that we can travel to a far away place together. With its ups and downs, planned and spontaneous itinerary, this trip to America was no short of surprises, fun, excitement, and beautiful pictures with my new camera.
Dearie and I ate instant noodle breakfast in a hotel located in Mongkok, then took the bus towards the airport. We have left very early for the airport because we wanted to be safe. Upon reaching the airport, we realized we have many hours to spare. We sat on the seats and bought some food for a light lunch. Soon, it was time for the short flight to Taipei. Flight was smooth. We did not wait for long before it was time to embark on the long flight to San Francisco. After a smooth eleven hour flight, we landed, still day time, in San Francisco. We queued for hours to get through the customs. Finally, we got our luggage and took the train to the city centre.
While walking towards the hotel, we played safe and bought subway for dinner. After we checked in, we went out for a little walk and do some initial exploration. It was actually a really long day, but most of the time was spent sleeping on the plane.
9 December 2019, San Francisco, Cloudy
Today was the first day of the conference. I woke up early and went out with dearie. We ate breakfast at a local burger place, called Super Duper Burgers. It was average, in my opinion. We then went onward to the conference center where I registered myself. I then bid farewell to dearie, who will explore San Francisco on her own today. I went to check out the posters first, where it was already swarming with people.
After that, I went to listen to a talk by my previous supervisor. As usual, his talks are very insightful, personalized and easy to understand. I did not eat lunch. I spent the time talking to a few students and post-docs. I met dearie later in the day and went around looking for a cheap and nice place for dinner. However, nearly every restaurant was crowded. We settled for a ramen shop, which was decent at best. We bought breakfast for next morning and headed back to the hotel to rest.
10 December 2019, San Francisco, Cloudy and rain.
I had to wake up early today so as to bring posters to my friend Ruby. Ate a simple breakfast in the hotel and left for the conference center. I spent the whole morning in the poster hall talking to people regarding their work, but I find that it is not as productive as I wanted. I then met up with dearie and we traveled to have our lunch at In-n-out burger. Their burgers are much better and we were stuffing our faces to our heart's content. After lunch, we walked towards Lombard Street, the must curvy road ever. Sure, it was curvy, but I was unable to get a nice picture of the curvy road simply because I could not get high enough for a nice vantage point. Drones would be a necessity. We then made our way to Fisherman's Wharf, passing by the cable car u-turn point, which was pretty interesting. Nearby the wharf, we found a decent souvenir shop along the way.
At fisherman's wharf, we noted how expensive the food was. We explored a little bit and found a battleship and submarine used in World War 2. Beside them was a vintage arcade that actually works! Here is a place where we can learn about the culture of the Californians in the past, through their old form of entertainment and iconic figures. We then continued on towards Pier 39. We could hear the sea lions shouting from far away. There were really many of them, all on floating platforms, out of the cold water. I believe they were hugging together to get warmth. We enjoyed some sea views there before going inside the Pier. Here, the main attraction was of course, the large Carousel. In the distance, a poor street performer was waiting for his audience count to be more than zero before he could start to perform anything. We decided to sit down to have a taste of their famous clam chowder. It's actually not that great. I find that sourdough bread does not complement the flavour of the chowder. After at least warming our stomachs, we went out to have a walk again. We walked back to Fisherman's Wharf, but I was reluctant to spend so much money on seafood. It started to rain lightly while we were hunting for a dinner place. We got caught in the rain. We decided to stop by the souvenir shop again to buy some stuff, and then head back to In-n-out burger for dinner, simply because it is that awesome. After dinner, we bought some doughnuts as breakfasts for the next 2 days. Dearie became slightly sick, which made me really worried.
11 December 2019, San Francisco, Rain
It was actually a rather depressing day no matter how hard I tried to stay bright. At least dearie got better. We had the doughnuts for breakfast before going out to a Thai restaurant to warm our bellies with tom yum noodle lunch, comfort food in the rainy day. Our first stop was Baker beach. Since it was cold and rainy, there was nobody there. Dearie took out her umbrella and we started our hike from Baker beach to the Golden Gate bridge. Although it wasn't a pleasant hike, I tried my best to take nice pictures. We finally reached the bridge, but could not see much. We entered the visitor centre and she bought a souvenir. We then took a bus to the Palace of Fine Arts. In the rain, the picture is a little gloomy, but still nice nonetheless.
After walking one round around this place, we took a bus back to the hotel for dinner. We stopped by Ghiradelli Square, hoping to find a decent place for dinner. We instead found a nice place for pictures and I took a few lovely portrait pictures for dearie. A staff from Ghiradelli gave us a sampler of their new peppermint bark flavoured chocolate, and dearie was hooked. Soon, we took a bus back to Chinatown, where we had another round of comforting Asian food.
12 December 2019, San Francisco, Cloudy
Breakfast was the same doughnuts. I went to Moscone centre in the morning to look at the posters while dearie travelled to Berkeley to find her friend. I skipped lunch and went to listen to many talks regarding secondary organic aerosols, and I learnt quite a lot from the other experts. I also talked to a few scientists regarding their work. It was nice to interact with them. At some point, I was too hungry, so I went to grab a burrito from Chipotle, and it was quite nice. I organised a small gathering of all the past students of my department, but however, only five people were available, how sad! Nevertheless, we went ahead with the dinner, which turned out to be pleasant because I get to see one of my seniors again. No pictures today, however.
13 December 2019, San Francisco, Cloudy
I woke up early to go and set up my poster. The poster session turned out to be extremely useful. I received a lot of comments and useful feedback. I am very thankful that I did a poster for this AGU when my work is not solid yet. It was a very rewarding morning. Lunch was brought to me by my lovely dearie, and we ate at a park above a building. It was a very heart-warming lunch indeed. After that, I went back to continue with the conference. Dinner was together with my research group at Cheesecake Factory. It was a very light-hearted meal, al-fresco style with some beautiful views of the city.
I was also happy to meet with Danny again, this time with his new girlfriend. The rain came in when we were about to finish eating, forcing us to leave. After dinner, we walked about and shopped for a while before going back to the hotel to rest for tomorrow, which we planned to be a very tiring day.
14 December 2019, San Francisco, Clear
As if magic, the skies cleared up today and we woke up to a clear morning. We ate a simple breakfast in our hotel room and then met up with my colleagues before setting off for Golden Gate bridge. Since it was early, there were not many people. We took many awesome pictures.
Keeping up with the happy mood, we hiked down to Marshall beach, where we got more awesome pictures. I went out alone to a spot near to the water for a different vantage of the bridge, took a picture, and then we headed back to the visitor centre. With many pictures in our cameras, we went back into the downtown area. There, we met up with dearie's friend Katherine, who will travel with us for the rest of the day, but not before a nice brunch. We ate a very local American brunch. Dearie had salmon scrambled eggs while Katherine and I had their famous burger. It was really hearty. After that, we took a cab across the bridge into Marin headlands, where we started the second hike. We started from the side that faces Golden Gate bridge and walked west, towards the sunset. This hike was exceptionally beautiful. In fact, the cover photo for this post was taken here. I really have to thank Katherine for showing us the beautiful views. We ended our hike at the visitor centre nearby. Finding transport out here proved to be difficult because there was no reception on our phones. Luckily, with the help of a hostel, we managed to get wifi, and then a ride to Sausalito. By the time we reached Sausalito, the sun went down. We walked around Sausalito for a while, exploring it whilst trying to find a decent dinner spot. In the end, we took away some pizza and went to see their annual lighted boat festival. This festival is interesting. The locals here will string up their own boats with lights and then drive them around the pier. It was a beautiful sight to behold. It rained slightly, but that did not stop our curious hearts to see how it looks like. We ate the pizza while watching the boats. We knew there was fireworks too, but decided to play safe and chose to take the last ferry back, which was before the fireworks. However, to our surprise, the fireworks started when the ferry was about to leave! We stood on the upper deck of the ferry and enjoyed the fireworks display. Soon, the fireworks ended and the ferry started moving off towards San Francisco. Back in San Francisco, we looked for coffee, but the one that Katherine wanted to introduce to me was closed, so we just left. We sent her to the bus that would take her back to Berkeley before finding our way back to the hotel. What an amazing day it was!
15 December 2019, San Francisco > Las Vegas, Clear
It is time to say goodbye to San Francisco. We woke up early again today to join in a tour group bus. Some of my friends from my department were also with us in this four day group tour. When everyone arrived, the bus started and left San Francisco via the Oakland bridge. The lunch stop was at a chinese buffet. The first one was nice because they had nice fresh prawns and snow crab legs. There was also another stop before heading into Vegas. We slept for most of the eight hour journey towards Las Vegas. We finally arrived at about 7 PM. After checking into the hotel, we went out to explore Las Vegas on our own.
After some pictures, we had our dinner in Shake Shack. It was an uneventful day dedicated to travelling to Las Vegas. We had a good rest in a nice hotel, Park MGM hotel.
16 December 2019, Las Vegas > Page, Clear
We got on the tour bus and left Vegas early in the morning because it is going to be another long travel before we actually reach the Canyon. Our first stop is at an IMAX theatre in Tusayan, screening a rather old video regarding the history and significance of Grand Canyon. It was not that great. Lunch was at the same place, before the show was screened. The interesting thing for us is the fallen snow outside of the theatre. We took a few nice pictures with the snow. After that, the bus took us to Grand Canyon south rim, where we took some awesome pictures. Since it was winter, it was pretty cold. After we are done with south rim, we went back to the bus for a snowy drive towards the east rim. I find that the east rim is nicer, because there is a watchtower, and we can actually see Colorado river from the east rim.
Dearie and I took many pictures with the fallen snow. She was really happy that she got to see snow here. The sun soon set. With less and less light, available, we made our way back to the bus, which took us to our dinner spot. Dinner was another chinese buffet place. The style was very similar to the one from the day before, minus the seafood. After dinner, the bus took us to Page, where we stayed in Best Western Page hotel.
17 December 2019, Page > Las Vegas, Clear
This day was perhaps the best day in this US trip. We woke up really early again, but it was worth it. The first stop was Horseshoe bend since it was nearby. It required us to walk for about 15 minutes from the nearest car park. When I was almost there, the excitement overtook the cold. I ran towards the viewing point, and man, it was stunning. The horseshoe bend is huge, too large for my wide angle lens even. I could not capture the sides of the canyon.
One amazing thing is that we reached the place right before sunrise. We saw how the mountains in the horizon slowly got lit up by the sun. The lit area slowly creeps towards us. It was beautiful in real life, but I found the lit area to be a distraction in my picture composition. The next place on the list is the Lower Antelope Canyon tour. This place is simply breath-taking. The remarkable beauty of nature. Sedimentary rocks carved out by wind and water form this amazing landform.
Our lovely Nevajo guide took many pictures for us. In the tour, there was one low rock, so I told dearie to be careful of her head, only to realize later that she can walk right under the rock, just nice, without hitting her head! Perhaps being short has its advantages after all. The amazing morning did not end after this tour! Next, we went for the Lake Powell/Antelope Canyon tour. This was also another extremely beautiful tour. The water in the lake is melt water from nearby mountains, meaning it is a freshwater lake. The lake is a still, clear blue. The sky was also blue. Antelope Island was reddish. Together, it makes for an amazing boat tour.
What an amazing morning it was! Lunch was the Chinese buffet again. At this point in time, we were really sick of those cooked-in-bulk food. We then began the long journey back to Vegas. In Vegas, we went out by ourselves again to explore, round 2, but we were really tired. We had Taco Bell for dinner before we went to catch the fountain and light show at Fountains of Bellagio. We walked around and explored the famous casinos. The design of some of the casinos were the same as the ones in Macau, since they were made under the same 'brand'. Soon, we were overcame by fatigue and have to go back to rest.
18 December 2019, Las Vegas > Los Angeles, Cloudy
We woke up early in the morning again. I bought peppermint mocha and enjoyed it with dearie before we went up the bus. The first stop is the Ethel M chocolate factory and the cactus garden beside it. We first took some pictures in the cactus garden. This cactus garden is also the home of native species of some Nevada cacti.
We then went into the chocolate factory. There was a nice guy giving out fresh chocolate samples. They were nice, but were priced out of our range, so we did not buy any. The bus then took us to a brunch place. It is going to be the chinese buffet again, and by this time, we were really sick of that food, so we decided not to do it, and instead, we walked elsewhere to find Wendy's. After brunch, the bus took us to Barstow, where we did our first Outlet shopping spree. It was productive for dearie. She bought quite a number of Kipling bags and wallets. The next leg of the bus trip felt extremely long. The bus was supposed to take us to Los Angeles airport, but it waited for very long in Los Angeles downtown. When we finally reached the airport, we were really hungry. After some exploration, I found a dinner spot in the airport and the six of us ate our dinner. Dearie and I had rice bowl. After that, we tried to find the pick-up point of the shuttle bus to Hilton hotel. Since the traffic was very bad, the bus took quite a while before it finally arrived. We finally checked into Hilton hotel. Dearie, Ruby and I went out to get Carl's Junior burger for supper before finally settling down to rest.
19 December 2019, Los Angeles, Clear
We were really very lucky with the weather because every time we want to go out, it would be clear and sunny. We had Carl's junior burger for breakfast and then took lyft to Griffith's Observatory. Upon arrival, we saw the legendary Hollywood sign on a hill. That lifted up our spirits. We took pictures with the hill as a back drop, very touristy in style. We spent a long time at the observatory, exploring both the interior and the exterior. It was kinda like a museum where we learn a few things about astrology and physics. It was also possible to have a look at the telescope. In the end, we had our lunch there. We just had a very simple mac and cheese with brussel sprouts. Dearie somehow liked it a lot. We then took a lyft down the hill to Hollywood walk of fame for a quick stop. The streets were really crowded. There are a few people who dressed up as characters from Avengers and will try to take pictures with you, for tips, of course. We took some pictures of the stars on the floor before taking lyft again to Santa Monica beach to catch the sunset.
The sunset here was indeed royal. We spent quite some time here at the Santa Monica Pier, enjoying the beautiful moment. Dearie tried to take a time lapse, but it did not go well. Also, she said that those one-line horizon photos are not great. I actually thought they were fine, but oh well. When the sun went down, we went to have a quick look at the fair. It is just like Pier 39 in San Francisco, except bigger, complete with a roller coaster and a ferris wheel. We walked a bit to find a Thai place for dinner. It was really worth the walk. The waitress was very nice, and their tom yum was really good, even nicer than the one we had at San Francisco, so the dinner really made us very happy. Having our stomachs filled with warm soup, we went back into the cold to wait for a bus that will take us back to Hilton hotel, thus ending our simple Los Angeles exploration day.
20 December 2019, Los Angeles > Taipei, Clear
The last day of our trip in the US was spent mostly shopping at Outlet for things that cost cheaper in the US. After checking out and depositing our luggages at the hotel, we took lyft to Citadel Outlets, where we had our brunch. This driver was nice and kept chatting with me. At Outlets, we shopped for about two hours before deciding we were too tired, so we grabbed coffee and continued shopping. Dearie bought more bags from Kipling, and some wallets from Coach and Kate Spade. They were all heavily discounted, so hopefully, they were good buys.
When even the Outlet itself is a present box, it probably means that it is a present for the buyers too. When the sun was about to set, we took a lyft to a Walmart along the way in hopes of sending post cards and buying more cheap stuff. In the end, it did not work out. We bought subway there for dinner and continued back to the hotel. Thankfully, we were able to get stamps from the gift shop in the hotel, enabling us to send our post cards! We tried so hard to find solutions, when in reality it was actually simpler than we thought. After we took back our luggage, we waited for the shuttle bus to the airport. Although the trip to the airport was really short, the whole journey of trying to get to the airport took us one whole hour. We spent about 40 minutes waiting for the bus, which then sent us to a state of panic. Thankfully, we still arrived at the airport on time for our flight. We rushed to check in, and realized that we still have a little bit of time for souvenir shopping. There was even a flight delay. But soon, we were on our way back to Hong Kong, transiting at Taiwan first. Dinner was served very late. We were so sleepy that we didn't bother to order any extra alcohol.
22 December 2019, Taipei > Hong Kong, Clear
The long flight back to Taiwan also meant that 21st December basically vanished, so I decided not to write anything for that day. I however decided to include this day because there was still something to share. Since the flight from Los Angeles was delayed, we became late for the next flight to Hong Kong. It was past boarding time when we got off the plane, so we thought we would just be assigned to the next flight. However, the staff on the ground told us to run to the next flight, it was waiting for us. So, we went through some quick security scans and ran towards our next flight. It was super tiring for us. The EVA air staff changed at every leg of the run, but we had to run the entire route. Fortunately for the girls, there was an airport buggy that took them to the gate. When we boarded the gate, to our surprise, it was mostly empty.
After the plane took off, we ordered some strong liquor to cool off our nerves. Soon, we landed back in Hong Kong. When we collected our luggage, dearie noticed that my luggage sustained a lot of damages, and the wheel almost came off. We later found out that my friends' luggages were damaged to different extents as well, and concluded that the damage must have been sustained at Los Angeles airport when everything was in a rush. I wonder if that was what the delay was about. Anyway, this finally concludes our two week long trip of Southwestern America. Coming up next pretty soon is Australia, where I will attend a friend's wedding while travelling with dearie. Until the next trip!
