April 27, 2008 American time
After that unremarkable night- to say the least- in Travelodge (Read: Never go back there ever.), we had to wake up at 3 freaking o' clock because we were to leave for the Yosemite in Nevada Mountain at 4am. It was actually worth it because of all the natural beauty and goodness but the bad night we had at that inn reminiscent of the one in No Country For Old Men (I can sense Anton Chigurh already) gave all of us a bad mood. Not only was that not in the itinerary, the hotel we were supposed to stay in was the best thing that ever happened in the trip, and boy couldn't we have checked in in a better night.
But before checking in in that Sheraton in San Jose, we had a trip around San Francisco. We hopped in on a cruise going underneath the famous Golden Gate Bridge and went past the infamous Alcatraz State Prison. After that, we went to the gift shop in Fisherman's Wharf then went around the entire city going through the gay street of Castro and the wide streets of the Market up to the Twin Peaks where one could get a bird's eye view of the entire overpopulated city. It's the best city we've been so far though things can get a bit too uniform regarding the architecture of the houses, but I digress.
We got to see City Hall and take pictures of the sunset in Treasure Island and went to see a part of Chinatown to eat, yet again, some Chinese food. That was the second best thing of the day, delicious Chinese food in a restaurant called China House. And like in the Joy Luck Club, many denizens of San Francisco, not only Chinatown, are pretty much Chinese.
Everyone couldn't wait to get to the Sheraton to get actual rest and the wait was also worth it. However, we had a few visitors and some unexpected guests...
The first to come were my mother's aunt, uncle, their child and her African-American fiancee. I had to listen to 3 conversations at one time, but I'm not complaining. The next 2 visitors were pretty unexpected and last-minute and they were my sister's classmate and his mom. They invited us to go to this arcade and we had no choice but to go despite my desire to sleep by then. Still, the trip to the arcade was enjoyable and I won 1000 tickets the first time in a roulette thingy. But that's not something to brag about unless it's actual money. Of course, you have to go to Vegas for that. We claimed 8 cups and a stupid toy snake with the 2,456 tickets we earned and went back.
April 28, 2008
We were to have breakfast in Chinatown, or rather, a lot of dimsum. And though I expected that we were to do that first, our unintelligible bilingual tour guide said we had to climb up a steep mountain to see this majestic garden where cars pass by. The hunger made me uninterested in this, but it was actually a pretty and unique idea to put a curving garden around a steep road. Buses were prohibited to get there which is why we had to walk our freezing limbs up to series of very steep hills.
And finally, we got to that dimsum restaurant. Yeah, the dimsum was delicious especially the beef balls. I don't remember the name of that restaurant, but their tagline is "the best dimsum in Chinatown".
After that, it was bye-bye San Francisco. Awwww...
Well, it was a damned long trip back to L.A. that's bound for today, and we're finally nearing our hotel. We had to have lunch in Burger King at 2:30pm but I didn't really care.
4:08PM
It could've been merienda time, but everyone would probably still feel those trans-fats in their stomachs and the grease in their throats. The next bathroom break would probably be the restroom inside the bus, but who would want to pee while a vehicle is moving and bouncing and "kneeling"?
Still, I'm kind of psyched to be going back to that old Lincoln Plaza Hotel in the Chinese community in Monterey Park for some reason, because I miss the Sheraton already. It was the kind of hotel where you'd feel very relaxed yet you know in the back of your mind that you saved a bundle of cash. If we were to stay in the San Francisco Sheraton instead of the San Jose Sheraton, we would've probably had more or less the same luxurious rooms for a hundred twenty five more. That's because the cost of living nowadays in San Francisco is very high with buying your own small lot costing almost 48 million pesos! Tomorrow, however, we go to the newer California Disneyland called California Adventure then we go straight to the airport after that so I'll keep you posted when I reach the Hong Kong airport.
Track Air Force 2
2 years ago
Speaking of the mall, it was a wonderful little pseudo-neighborhood that also had fake clouds!
We obviously ran out of breath because of this wonderful sight, which, the tour guide noted, cost 200 million US dollars! It was really huge as well, and was riddled with malls and performers. As well as a long river with gondolas and singing gondola... rowers.
By this time, my grandmother was already tired of walking, therefore she stayed in the bus with my ah-pe and ah-so.
And this ended the Macau trip. We went back to the ferry port, and sailed 43 minutes back to Kowloon and ate a light dinner (because we were still full from lunch... and it was already 6 by then!) in the same restaurant we ate the last time we went to Hong Kong.
The MTR of Disneyland is a pretty different one from the others, though, because it was practically a separate train (we went down a station with a so-called "Exchange route" or something) and waited for it to climb up the mountain to Lantau island, and eventually, the Disneyland station.
This is basically the entrance when you actually get in the gate.
While this is the trademark Sleeping Beauty castle in the Disney Pictures title cards.
In Honda's Autopia, me and my brother rode a yellow car and it was pretty bumpy because he'd turn whenever we already crossed the curve. But moving on...
So we ate some more instant fastfood Chinese cuisine in an ironic Medieval stall.
And while we were eating, the High School Musical float, which was very much avidly advertised in our local papers and Disney channel commercials, were singing Bop To The Top... And it was agonizing not only because many, many people were still drawn to the thing and shouting, but because it was really, really repetitive. Initially, I thought that the dancers were lip-synching, then themselves saying "Wildcats, let's go!" and shit like that, but they were really singing the song live in both English and Cantonese versions. But it was surprising to hear that the English was also very clearly sung, so we saw the float and it was also full of Filipinos.
And though the show proper was really entertaining, and the production value very high, the most entertaining part of the show, in my opinion, was the part when we heard all the Disney characters speak in Cantonese. Not that we're a discriminating bunch of people, but it just took us in surprise. I mean, Mickey Mouse first chuckled with his signature chuckle and suddenly, in his native American voice, suddenly spoke Cantonese! If you watch it yourself, you'll probably be able to relate with me. Still, there were English subtitles on the right side (there was a LED display) and the songs weren't butchered at least.
This is Tarzan's treehouse.
There were elephant's galore!
This picture makes me wonder what the "Pirates of the Carribean" ride is like.
This was the part where we got 
An Israeli family rode in this red jeep to start the proceedings. And in between the proceedings, my dad ordered this 3D crystal thingy with their (dad and mom) faces engraved in it. But the showpiece inside it- the Sleeping Beauty castle- was also pretty enchanting, but guess how much it costs.
It had the average theme park parade music on, and it changed whenever a character besides Mickey Mouse and his gang went on.
The marching band that accompanied the inflated Mickey Mouse were obviously Filipino, like many of the other performers present. And if you want a closer look...
See?
This woman from the Toy Story float was probably the only one who interacted with the crowd.
Finally, the last float.
But the huge crowd followed.
And when we went inside this little office, an effeminate man, who was probably the assistant of the actual lawyer, presided over the preliminary ceremony.
Posts
