Author: F C

What did I learn about San Francisco? It isn’t really a big city — P– and I hit virtually all of the neighborhoods (with the notable exception of Embarcadero/Financial District) on a 3 day $15 Muni pass. That included a half day at Alcatraz and walking over the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset. The free tourist map has a convenient checklist of tourist things to do — there were like only 15 things on the list, and we actually did most of them without even looking at the list. If you are going just to see sights, you can max out the place pretty easily. But that’s really not what the city is about.

San Francisco is an expensive city. It’s even more expensive than New York. However, the food is fresher and the seafood is more amazing. Value shopping is key. We paid $5 for sundaes at Ghirardelli Square and felt ripped off for getting only 6 oz of ice cream. However, we paid $26 for the omakase (chef’s selection) at Sushi on North Beach, and we got a 10 course meal. Gourmet Chinese food was excellent, but wasn’t value for money. However dim sum at Four Seas and Chinese pasteries at Gum Man Bakery (both Grant Avenue institutions) were incredible values. We ditched a $65 Napa tour and instead walked to Marin over the Golden Gate Bridge for $zero (not counting the transit pass). We bought wines at Safeway (10% off for a six-pack, and I joined their shopper’s club to get 2 for 1 discounts — we picked up a Modavi Private Reserve Merlot 2001 that YC and I saw being made the last time I was there — it took about 30 minutes of breathing, but afterwards, it was a fantastic wine) and chocolates at Walgreens ($2-5 cheaper than at the company store) and saved a bundle. We picked up Beach Blanket Babylon tickets for half price at the Tix Bay Area booth at Union Square, which when we told Bob the consierge gave us a totally dumbfounded look — apparently it was as if we got half price tickets to The Producers or something.

Sometimes, though, you just have to do things regardless of cost. You’re going to go to Alcatraz at least once for $15. Staying near Union Square was such a convenience it didn’t matter that it was $95 a night. Buying Girl Scout cookies from cute Japanese brownies will make you cough up $3.50. I’ve taken a new fondness for Red Bull (we snagged a 6 pack from the film festival after-party as they were a sponsor — it’s the perfect jet lag solution).

SF can be a lonely city, especially when we couldn’t get into Cafe du Nord (maxed out their capacity), and ended up missing the last tram back to downtown (froze our butts out on the median for 45 minutes for the next bus). Or when we got up for a Sunday morning flight and the BART wasn’t running and had to blow $35 for a cab. It can be a lonely city when you’re in a crowded theater and don’t know exactly how you got there, or why you eating Bento boxes in the middle of such a national landmark. There are many sidewalks where you are the solitary pedestrians, even when the street is busy. However, it encourages people to cling, especially since rents are so high that people have 4 or 5 roommates.

I made my quota of bumping into people I know unexpectedly. Risa I know from the film festival in New York and NYU. She’s such an over-achiever! MinJung is more funny, more sincere, more huggable in person than even on her website (maybe it was the liquor talking).

Of course the biggest thing that I learned was how great a travelling companion P– is. She’s good at getting the trains running on time, figuring what the hell happened to my cap or my cell phone for the 30th time, or making command decisions on cabs or public transport. Her Chinese is a gazillion times better than mine, so she bails me out when the need arises. She can make her entire wardrobe, six bottles of wine, a box of Chinese pasteries and more fit into a small red pullman, smaller than mine. She’s incredibly comforting when you’re in the middle of nowhere. And of course, that huge travel pillow that she carried, which we named “pseudo-Shelly” in honor of her sister’s beagle.

At one point I had thought about living there, though I don’t see how I would anymore. Nevertheless, I do share the intense joy for the city that Beach Blanket Babylon emits, and we intend to make the SF Asian American Film Festival a regular pilgrimage. Just stay away from the chocolate!

I’m having a fine time in San Francisco. Saw Beach Blanket Bablyon yesterday — it was worth every penny. It’s the world’s longest running variety show. The official “plot” is Snow White searches around the world to find her Prince Charming, and encounters a variety of different celebrity impersonators. However, it’s more than that, in an incredibly inexplicable way. And it’s done with a lot of big hats, some going 3 or more stories in height. Afterwards, went to Sushi at North Beach. Katsu, the owner, served us the omakase, and scored like 4 major home runs with the dishes. The next day, we walked the Golden Gate Bridge, saw a series of Asian gay themed movie shorts at the Castro Theatre for the SFAAIFF (really interesting, beautiful theater), bought bento boxes (fantastic) and bought a dozen more of those dan tats to bring home.

The mixed review is Ton Kiang, the Hakka Chinese restaurant that I really wanted to go to. The Cantonese waiter kept pushing the tamer, expensive dishes, and I was insisting on having the real stuff. Didn’t turn out so good. Let me qualify that — it was excellent Chinese food, just it wasn’t authentic Hakka dishes. However, I made small talk with the manager, Richard, who was really cool, and he said that the people here don’t really want to try the real stuff, like stuffed bitter melon, stewed beef tripe or “steamed bacon with mustard greens”. He insisted that we try him again and he’ll make sure to get us the real stuff.

We’re flying out at 8 am; we’re going to take a taxi to SFO in a few hours because the BART doesn’t run in the morning. SSW, I have fresh dan tat’s waiting if you’re willing to come out on Sunday night!

Haven’t written in a while — major problems at work, so I’ve been pulling all-nighters. However, I managed to be able to start my mini-vacation with P– on Thursday to San Francisco. We flew out of JFK to SFO and got in at 10 AM. We’re staying at a hotel near Union Square. We managed to pull of going to Fisherman’s Wharf and eat the mandatory Dungeness crab (the best place is the nondiscript place at #2 Fisherman’s Wharf that has the rattiness folding chairs but the best crab subs and whole crab at their sidewalk stand. Got cable car passes which worked great. Walgreens is our savior from tourist trap hell (their souveniors are cheaper, and their Ghirardelli chocolates are cheaper than even the ones sold at Ghirardelli Square). We walked to Ghirardelli Square, saw a few art galleries, had overpriced sundaes at Ghirardelli — we checked and found out that the cups held only 6 ozs! Saw Hero at the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival, finally met Min Jung, gorged food at the Asian Art Museum and went home to conk out. Got to the Alcatraz boat in time by taking a taxi in the morning. Had dim sum in Chinatown at Four Seas (founded 1960 — recommended) and bought Chinese pasteries at a bakery on Grant Avenue that I forgot the name of, just that it is north of Old St. Mary’s Church, but was the biggest, most delicious dan tat’s (egg custard tarts) that I’ve ever seen. Tonight we have half priced tickets to Beach Blanket Babylon and going to the Film Festival’s event at Cafe du Nord. OK, more detail tomorrow — have to find the theater….