San Francisco, USA

First of all we have a maths lesson. If you start at 5am in Cebu in the Philippines and fly to Manila, then fly to Taiwan then another flight to San Francisco and it takes you 28 hours what day and time do you arrive. Any idea?
The answer is 2.30pm the same day! Our 8th of February was a total of 40.5hours. The longest day ever. As you fly against the rotation of the earths time it literally goes backwards so we went from 8 hours in front of the U.K. to 8 hours behind of the U.K. plus the time we were in transit transversing all those time zones. Thus when we arrived in San Francisco we did not sleep very well as our body clocks were so out of sync for the first 2 nights.

She loves kids really.

  When we departed the plane at San Francisco airport, a rare flash of excitement overcame us as it soon dawned on us everything was more familiar, efficient, English was the primary language and things were easy to decipher. We breezed through immigration and boarded the local BART train to downtown which took about 30 minutes. From the station it was a 15 minute walk to our hostel through some run down streets called Tenderloin which had loads of street bums (homeless) hassling us for money or whatever but surprisingly were very polite and non threatening. All of them however had enough money on them to have a massive weed joint hanging out of their mouth so can't be that bad off. In fact our first impressions of San Fran was that every other person on the street was smoking a joint. It was like it was still the 60's here. Unless you have been to San Fran we can not describe how intense the hills are. We were staying in a nice but funny place in the centre of town called Nob Hill. The climb to our hostel with our 25kg of luggage on our backs was intense to say the least. When we arrived at reception I was hoping a defibrillator was in an easy to obtain location as I was sure either Kathy or myself would be needing it. Basically San Fran is outrageously expensive so we had to plump for the cheapest place (within reason) downtown. But against our expectations the room was good if a little worn at the edges in a classic old grand San Fran block. It had a kitchen, laundry, Internet room and in our room we had a fridge and microwave. (and a massive t.v.) Even in U.S.A. their most budget rooms are equivalent to Asia's best rooms.

Everybody has gone Kung Fu Fighting.

  After unpacking we hit the streets of San Francisco to see if Karl Malden was about and found a booze shop and bought some supplies. Again we were taken aback at the cost of food and booze even compared to U.K. prices. After coming from Asia where everything was peanuts, we quickly realised that our budget was out the window and we had to just go with the flow. Eating out was a no no so we decided it was best to cook back at the hostel where it had an ample kitchen for use.  The only saving grace was that we could pick up a nice bottle of red wine for £3 that would cost £10 plus in England. Also we found out on the news that someone was shot dead on the street just on the next street to the hostel that night so were kind of weary of going out downtown after dark.

Yikes! Look out Roadrunner.

  Next day we cruised the streets of San Fran. First we bought a SIM for the phone. Then we did Union Square then onto China Town. The shops were kooky and the vistas sublime. We then headed to the North Beach area and went up to the Coit tower which afforded remarkable views over the harbour and the rest of San Fran. We had to admit already we loved San Fran. It was clean, friendly, had hardly any traffic and every corner had something beautiful to observe. It was totally agreeable.

Shark sandwich.

   Eventually we ended up at Fisherman's wharf which most tourists do at some point and glanced around the overly touristic set up. The best bit was at the end of pier 39 we watched sea lions argue amongst themselves to get the best positions on the floating wharfs. We then marched further dabbling in curious diversions such as a Zoltar machine identical to the one Tom Hanks made famous in the film Big and a by gone amusement arcade with old machines from our youth such as Space Invaders and PAC man.

Please Zoltar make me big. 

 We became so engrossed of the bombardment of things to look at before we knew it the day was over so we headed back, up the rear end of Nob Hill which was an exhausting climb, ending up eventually back at the hostel. As alcohol was so expensive it felt like prohibition was still in effect so we decided that night life was out of our reach thus down to our friendly liquor store where we had a lesson in American slang from the owner. One thing we did notice when going out at night on our little excursions was the amount of homeless people on the street. You just don't expect it from the richest country in the world.

Captain Dangerous protects Dayglo Man, Ice T and 'Florence and the Machine' from any danger.

   Next day was a ride in one of the vintage cable cars that ply the city streets. We bought our 7 buck tickets from the booth but when we arrived to ride we found a humongous queue where a tour party had commandeered the rides for the next hour. Not wanting to wait that long we caught a normal bus full of not very normal people, in fact it was full of the cast of one flew over the cuckoo's nest. Kathy was lucky enough to have some crackpot sitting next to her shouting out random numbers and writing them with her Sharpie on a paper bag in a random manner. When I glanced around the bus I thought we had mistakenly caught the Broadmoor express. It was a loony bin but kept me fascinated for the next 20 minutes but as for Kathy, she was not so amused. Arriving at North Beach and with unseasonably high temperatures we hired bikes to explore the Bay region. We scored an amazing deal where the entire cost of the bike hire (which was outrageous) being given to us as credit to spend in their outdoor equipment warehouse. Called Basically Free Bike Hire, they proved true to their word and we stocked up on cold weather warm clothing for our next destination in Las Vegas where the night time temperatures in the desert dip to -1. Ohhh, chilly!

Bridging the gap.

 We then cycled on to the iconic Golden Gate Bridge via some nice beaches where the locals were enjoying the balmy weather. After a nice but windy cycle on the bridge which was amazingly busy with cyclists we headed back into town and ambled about on the bikes taking in San Fran life which consisted of random BBQ's, games of volleyball, boozy music infested gatherings all done in a manner that you would see on any American soap. It was all a bit surreal to see this was how they actually live and it was not just for T.V. It was soooooo glamorous. Everybody was shouting out 'look at me' whether it was over the top gay, black, Chinese or Caucasian, it did not matter. Everybody was ultra friendly and polite. Every shop was like you going around to your best friends and having a chat. Americans are very familiar and upfront supporting massive confidence and egos. We then went onto Lombard street which is that crazy street you may have seen on Films which zig zag's  at tight angles down a steep hill.

Who needs Monte Carlo.

 The climb up there finally finished Kathy off though on the bikes so we returned them to the depot and surprisingly Kathy got a second wind when we passed some shops and she indulged in her favourite pastime.....retail therapy. I don't do shopping, but being the perfect partner, I indulged her whim considering I had made her cycle over some extreme terrain in San Fran which she took on with some gusto. We then headed for the cable cars which we had earlier aborted for the return leg but found it awash with tourists. Luckily after not waiting for very long the conductor shouted out he needed 2 more to ride the outside foot boards standing which Kathy and I, being the daredevils we are decided we could do to jump the queue. Next thing we were rumbling along the mean streets of San Fran hanging off a street car with all the motorists looking at us. The only downside is if you fall off on the corner than it's tough. There is no safety in mind being a turn of the century streetcar so you take your chances. We did and survived with big grins on our faces.  Eventually we did get back to the hostel and out on another evening shopping spree and street bum dodging. Kathy even got wolf whistled from a passing SUV!

The security at this hotel was exemplary (Alcatraz!)

 Next day was an early start to catch the first boat of the day the day to Alcatraz Prison, AKA 'The Rock'. Having a cunning plan to entice Kathy there and lock her in a cell and leave her in the inescapable nightmare of the prison, we arrived and took the guided tour. Unfortunately the cells would not lock being decommissioned back in 1963 so Kathy enjoyed the tour and we both made it back to the mainland. The 'rock' though was an amazing tour and the sight of the rows of cells and the cold wind whistling through the glassless windows made an uncomfortable moral experience. The cells were bleak and this is one place you would not want to be detained in. Back on the safety of the mainland we decided that our next leg to Utah was going to be cold being at such high altitude this time of year so went down a dodgy part of town called the Mission district to buy some cheap cold weather clobber. Trying not to be mowed down by mobility electric wheelchair street bums who somehow managed to swerve around the streets while high on spliff ,we got what we needed and headed back to base to edit the 4375 photos that Kathy had over zealously taken of Alcatraz.
  Job done we headed down to do the laundry and then cooked dinner. While eating we got sucked into a conversation with other travellers which we usually avoid which undoubtedly turns into a boasting competition about the places that you have visited previously which we always win with ease so don't bother. So after listening to how this unheard place in Thailand was' totally awesome' being even better than anything anyone else had ever done in the world before themselves, we made our excuses and left with our £3 bottle of wine which was running low. (but we had another in the bedroom......hurrah.)

There was no holding 'The Psycho' from escaping The Rock.

Next morning the alarm did not go off as we forgot to set it (due to over indulgence in red wine) so got up late which was unfortunate as we had a flight to catch to Las Vegas. A mad rush ensued as we tried to pack and tie up loose ends at the hostel, walk down to the BART stop and luckily made it to Oakland airport on time battling with the infamous all American security checks which was rigourous. Viva Las Vegas!