You should be no stranger to the “The Rock”, with the island being featured in many movies, TV shows, cartoons, books, comics, and video games alike. Located in the San Francisco Bay, The Rock (Alcatraz) is an island about 2.4 km from the shores of downtown San Francisco, California. It was a maximum security prison, a military fortification and prison, together as a federal prison for the Federal Bureau of Prisons until 1963. The island is mainly a tourist attraction now and a National Historic Landmark from 1986. You can catch ferries off Pier 41 to the island, as operated by Alcatraz cruises. They are the main operator for the Hybrid propulsion ferries serving the island and for a $26 online booking, you get a return ferry ride there including entrance to the prison and tours included.

Sunny California! off pier41

alcatraz cruises

Awesome winter weather

You can get to Pier 41 via the Embarcadero or take the Muni trolley called F- Market & Wharves and stop by the warehouses piers by the Coit Tower, you can’t miss the hangar-sized pier-side warehouses where the Alcatraz cruises reside, when in doubt just ask to trolley operator for the nearest stop to Pier 41. The journey across the San Francisco bay to the island will take you about 15-20 minutes, starting off the eastern side of the bay pier areas before heading northwards toward the island. The cruise will offer nice views of the San Francisco skyline from the bay, with several iconic landmarks such as the bay and Golden Gate Bridge in the distance.

giant ship!

San Francisco skyline

bay side marinas

The small island was developed with facilities for the prison, army barracks and a lighthouse until 1963. Today the remains of all the remains are the main prison building and some ruins of the administrative section which was destroyed by the great fire. Upon landing on the island, you will be greeted by the island’s main visitor center which houses the attraction bookshop built into an old army barracks. Much of the signages are preserved here too, including one welcoming the Indians. The island was occupied for more than 19 months by a group of American Indians from San Francisco from November 1969. This was part of a wave of Indian activism across the nation, with public protests through the 1970s. It was thereafter in 1972, where Alcatraz became a national recreation area and a tourist spot in the bay area.

Welcome Indians!

Our guide for the day!

The now-abandoned prison

As with most parks operated by the National Park Services, it is run by public volunteers. Many volunteers from the national parks spend their time here bringing guests around the island, telling the stories of the island as passed from generations. These volunteers are usually retirees who find great passion about the Rock and are very knowledgeable about the island they are on, some even being guides for over 10 years. The guided tour here begins at the arrival area, with each guide taking turns to entertain each ferry load of visitors. Map parks are available at spots around the island by donation, recommend “retail price”, $2. The guided tour is an outdoor one, complete with introduction, history lessons and pop quizzes alike. We passed by several destroyed buildings such as the social hall by the ocean side hill walks, these were destroyed by fire during the Native American occupation.

main prison building

queue/shower areas

audio guides!

The guides will bring you along the broadwalk until you come to the main prison building, where you embark on the 2nd part of the tour inside the main prison building on your own. Here, you will enter the prison shower and changing areas, which is now a queue line and assembly area before entering the internal secure grounds of the prison itself. Here you will be handed a pair of headphones and a narrated audio guide for the audio tour sections inside. Good thing these guides come complimentary with the ferry tickets and is not an optional payable extra.

multi-tiered prison network

designed to keep stuff in!

first hand experiences from inmates themselves

The audio guide itself is well narrated. It guides you on the path to take within the prison grounds, telling you the key areas and the happenings at each corner of the prison. Architecturally-wise, you may find the multi-tier prison walkways here a recognizable famous icon used in my movies as well as computer games which their designs are based loosely upon. Some parts of the audio guide is narrated by previous inmates and wardens of the prison themselves, allowing you to get a first hand experience of the tough life on the rock from both sides. Just like most attraction audio guides, they are digital MP3 players which allow you to rewind, forward or pause as you make your make to the next attraction on the recording.

life on the rock

Catching some sun

San Francisco

The guide brings you to various aspects of the Alcatraz prison life, like how inmates spend their time in the cells, recreation in the prison library, to the large recreational areas where exercise and games are played, complete with their own wide courts and hardened concrete spectator stands. It’s here too on the outdoor where you can enjoy scenic views of the city of San Francisco itself. So near yet so far.

City of San Francisco from the Alcatraz island

The tour also covers many infamous escapes attempted, particular the one by Frank Morris and the Anglin brothers on June 11, 1962, where Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin carried out one of the most well planned and intricate escapes ever devised on a maximum security prison- by escaping to the roof behind the prisoners’ cells in Cell Block B and pedaling a raft across the bay to safety. The 3 are missing presumed dead, though many have a hunch that they made it are still free men till today. Notable too was the tragic Battle of Alcatraz, which was a full-scale riot May 2–4 in 1946, with inmates seizing the prison, the gun cage and killing many prison guards while trying to escape, though they didn’t get off the island either and were later overwhelmed by swat teams.

The prison from the courtyard

Solitary confinement

get me out

Further part of the tour will bring you to the infamous solitary confinement cells, where only the nastiest of hardened criminals get to go behind these double doors without seeing any light of the day. These cells are served by a primary layer cell, a second gate and finally, a covering door which seals out all form of daylight to the cell. So much for being in Jail!

Nice cells

The door to freedom

Out the admin building

The audio guide ends leaves you at the administrative buildings, where you can take your time in exploring. You can check out the visitor waiting areas, inmates meeting and visitation booths, as well as the warden’s office (including the one outdoor which was destroyed in the great fire) and prison control center. Access to these displays here allow you to have a peek into the daily lives and dangers of a typical prison warden here. Here also lies the main prison’s “door to freedom” where freed inmates finally go through before stepping out of the island as a free person, a sight many on the island would love to savor. Photos of notable wardens in charge of the prison and old uniforms of the yesteryear are also on display here.

lets head back to jail

the ktichens

main parade square

Located separate from the administrative and cell blocks are the prison kitchens. These are large prison eating places which are said to be one of the most tense and dangerous places in the prison, with all inmate gangs coming together to eat, complete with cutlery which can be used as potential weapons against anybody. Even the knives in the kitchen have to be accounted for after each meal. Just outside the administrative block and the windows here are vast open spaces overlooking the south eastern side of the island.

This vantage point is home to the old prison lighthouse which is the oldest light station on the U.S. West Coast. What remains today of the lighthouse is is the tall cement tower equipped with a modern beacon. It stood the test of time and abuse for over 50 years, surviving prison breakouts, riots, burning and is the only remaining building after the 1970 fire destroyed the adjacent warden’s house, keepers’ quarters as well as other buildings on the island.

no one makes it out!

cliffhanger!

the rock

The outdoor areas of the island are home to a small nursery and farming area, presumed to be small areas cultivated by the inmates during the time. Here you can grasp the large open spaces which form most of the gathering areas for the inmates as well as a large parade sqaure to boot, which possibly served the army barracks during it’s active days. The Rock is surrounded by many ravines and steep cliffs which dots it’s perimeter complete with the strong smashing tides of the Pacific, no wonder no one ever tries or even make it out alive from here.

cliffside walk

escaping the island

So long Alcatraz!

The sight of the the prison from the lower grounds is a sight to behold itself. The end of the cliff side walk will bring you back to the island dockside and attraction bookstore where you can catch your return departing ferry back every half and hour.

Well, that’s all for my day in jail, cheers and take care!

External link: Alcatraz official website (National parks)

Legion of Honor Museum (Link: Museum website)
The California Palace of the Legion of Honor Museum is a Fine Arts Museum located in Lincoln Park, San Francisco and is the largest public arts institution in the city. The name is used both for the museum collections and for the building in which it is housed. Architecturally, I find the Legion of Honor one of the nicest looking museums in the city, with the exception of the palace of fine arts. The museum grounds and building itself, completed in 1924 is a three-quarters scale imitation of the Palais de la Légion d’Honneur, a palace located on the west bank of the River Seine in Paris, France, thus spotting a rather neoclassical building style which was prominent for buildings in France during that era.

The palace is part of the family of fine arts museums in San Francisco, comprising of this museum as well as it’s sister museum the de Young museum in Golden Gate Park. It’s not surprising to see various advertisement for the displays of both museums featured in either one. The route to the museum is served by a winding stretch of road passing into Lincoln park itself. Public transportation direct to the museum is rather limited here and is only served by Muni bus service 18, which stops by the museum’s carpark area and does a loop back. But there shouldn’t be a problem catching a transfer from a another bus service thereafter.

Legion of honor museum

The thinker in thought

museum main lobby

Regular entrance fee is $11, priced similar to that of the De Young, students and seniors go in cheaper and do have your ID and student passes with you if you intend to utilise the discount. The building sits on the high grounds of the Lincoln Park in the northwest of the city overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge and itself was the gift of Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, wife of the sugar magnate and thoroughbred racehorse owner breeder Adolph B. Spreckels.

Sitting in the heart of the car park is the museum’s fountain flaunting the front of the building. This leads up the grand walkway into the arched entrance where the palace courtyard resides. Home to the courtyard is The Thinker statue, greeting visitors in thought as they enter this portion of the museum’s with the glass pyramid skylight sitting in front of the building’s main entrance.

Legion of Honor Museum courtyard panorama:

The de Young showcases American art from the 17th through the 21st centuries including international contemporary art, textiles and costumes. Despite it’s small size, the museum is pretty well spaced and laid out in my opinion, with very sleek looking galleries with ample lighting and nice finishes to go with the palace like atmosphere.

The museum itself is not large and is rather small in my opinion, it’s largely made out of many small compact galleries all linked together. These galleries are laid out in a straightforward manner, with galleries branching out of the central Gould Theater and ending with dead ends which can be quite a bummer as you have to re-walk the galleries on your way back again. This is unlike most museums which spot continuous looping galleries, with new sights on every connecting room.

SLEEK!

Florence Gould Theater

No bulls here!

More featured art here includes that of the Americas, the Pacific, European and Africa. With the ancient collections dating back as far as 4,000 years. The museum is a family orientated one and a place for both the young and old. On the weekdays, many students and young kids can be seen here getting together with their teachers drawing sculptures in the Florence Gould Theater, which is accessible not far off from the main lobby. There were many panel events for adults too, such as pop quizzes, still-life drawing sessions as well as on-going tours around the museum as part of a scavenger hunt.

nicely set

sculpture and painting collections

love the detail

The museum has a single exhibition ground floor and a subterranean basement. The basement is home to the porcelain gallery, temporary exhibits, gift shop and museum’s cloakroom, where you can deposit large items and bags as they are not allowed in the museum in fear of people knocking displays or ripping paintings by mistake. If depositing valuables in the cloakroom is not an option for you, you can hand carry your bags around the galleries, just keep them off the displays and you will be fine.

The highlighted temporary exhibit then was Japanesque, which showcases ancient methods of making paper, prints and paintings. The display was a favorite with the guests there and though no additional entrance fee is required for the displays, the basement was packed to the brim with queue lines snaking everywhere. Good thing the queue lines run fast. It’s Japanese aesthetic in print, with the exhibits showcasing Japanese Print in the Era of Impressionism, which covers the evolution of the art, including it’s essence and it’s global influences around the world, particularly that inspiring European and American artists alike.

we are done here!

Chinese murals in Lincoln Park

That’s all for the Legion folks!

From the vantage point off the museum’s carpark, you can catch views of most of the surrounding Lincoln Park Golf Course is on the site of a potter’s field called the “Golden Gate Cemetery”. What is iconic of the Legion of honor is the site of museum building itself, situated right up on the head of Lincoln Park, it’s literally a walk in the park. Rather, a scenic park walk, paths serving the Lincoln park comes right up to the alley of the museum, bringing you to a vast coastal sea-side walk offering breathtaking views of the San Francisco bay and Golden Gate Bridge, provided if it is not shrouded in fog that is.

That’s all for the Legion of Honor, it’s an honor visiting such a fine museum.

Now for our next and final stop, lets head into jail!

Golden gate park and de Young Museum
Golden Gate Park in San Francisco is a large 412 hectare rectangular urban park located on the north western part of the city. Comprising mostly public park grounds and lakes, it is over 5km long spanning east to west, about a kilometer north to south in height, bounded by Lincoln Way on the south, Fulton Way on the north and Carl Street on the eastern side. It is about 20% larger than the New York Central Park and is the third most visited public recreational city park in the United States after Central Park itself and the Chicago Lincoln Park.

east end of the golden gate park

Conservatory of flowers

Conservatory front gardens

The Conservatory of Flowers (Link: Conservatory official website)
The park has few major roads serving the innards of the park, one of them being the John F Kenndy Drive. Just off the road on the eastern entrance is The Conservatory of Flowers. The Conservatory is a California Historical site and a San Francisco Designated Landmark as listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the California Register of Historical Places.

It is essentially a wooden greenhouse and botanical garden housing a collection of rare and exotic plants in the Golden Gate Park itself. It was completed in 1878 and remains the oldest building in the whole park. It is also one of the first municipal conservatories constructed in the country, giving it the title as the oldest municipal wooden conservatory remaining in the United States.

A large open lawn flaunts the front of the Conservatory, sadly which is devoid of the iconic flower patches as seen blooming in the summer. Large community planter grounds can be seen on the sides of the Conservatory which is surprisingly busy in mid winter too. Entrance to the Conservatory is a payable $7 and there is free admission on the first Tuesday of every month.

moving on to open plains

The Music Concourse

art show

The Music Concourse
The Music Concourse is an open-air plaza and park within the Golden Gate Park itself. It forms the central grounds for events complete with large open dirt areas decked with Heavily pollarded trees. The venue is popular with the locals for exercise (especially Tai-chi with the large asian population here in the mornings), gatherings and fairs. The concourse sits in between the California Academy of Sciences and Deyoung Museum with the Music Concourse drive running along it’s perimeter.

The concourse was originally built for the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894, where it underwent significant redesigns thereafter to suit it’s new purpose as a venue for public gatherings centered around music performances. The Bandshell, also known as the Spreckels Temple of Music is the main highlight her and is the landmark of the concourse, it was completed in 1900 and is a focal point for musical performances at the park over the last century.

Concourse central fountain

history of the concourse

Taiqi group in the gardens

California academy of sciences (Link: Official academy website)
Moving deeper into the park will bring you to the Music Concourse section of the park, this concourse is home to the sculpture and statue section of the park together with few iconic landmarks and museums. One of the here is the California academy of sciences, Steinhart Aquarium and Morrison Planetarium sitting on the south east side of the concourse.

The California Academy of Sciences, rebuilt in 2008 is among the largest and newest natural history museums in the world. The academy have it’s humble beginnings in the 1853 as a learned society and is a site for education and on-going research in various science fields, namely biology, astronomy and natural history.

The large museum grounds is home to to the Kimball Natural History Museum, featuring an African Hall comprising of largely animals from where else, Africa, a four-story dome emulating a tropical rainforest as well as a Foucault pendulum. The exhibits on display here are frequently rotated and updated to cover a variety of subjects relevant to the place. The astronomy part of the facility is the Morrison Planetarium, devoted to all things astronomically planety and stary. Last but not least is the Steinhart Aquarium, which is completely underground and very much occupies most of the basement area. The facility still carries out a large amount of original research, with exhibits and education becoming significant endeavors of the museum in the twentieth century and beyond.

Spreckels Temple of Music

California academy of sciences

The Roman Gladiator

Several sculptures line the interior of the park, completely complimented with gothic looking looking trees (London plane and Scotch elms). The statues here includes representations of Ludwig von Beethoven, Guiseppe Verdi, Ulysses S. Grant, Junipero Serra as well as a monument dedicated to Francis Scott Key. A Roman Gladiator overlooking the Music Concourse in front of the De young museum commemorates the excavation of the Music Concourse in 1893.

De Young!

modern art

guns parts and bones!

De Young Museum (Link: Official museum site)
Opened in March 24, 1895, the De young Museum is a Fine and contemporary Arts museum decked out brown with an Egyptian style building which spots a seemingly modern architectural design way ahead of it’s time. Located in along the Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive in the park just off the Music Concourse, the museum as an outgrowth of the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894, which kinda mimics the previous year’s Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition which it was blatantly modeled off.

Entry to the museum requires a payable fee of $11 for adults and discounted rates for students and seniors, just remember to bring some ID and a student card for the student rate of $7. Entrance includes access to the museum’s top floor observatory on the Hamon Tower which I will cover later in this post. Now onto the museum collections!

explosion!

traditional

expressionist art

The de Young Museum is home to over a thousand paintings, 800 sculptures, and 3000 decorative arts. The main lobby of the museum’s pretty minimalistic and you start off the galleries right into a modern art gallery featuring rather bizarre blobs of paintings as well as sculpture made out of everyday scrap items. There was even a rather neat looking cathedral compete made out of gun parts, teeth and a spine bone, totally astonishing. The galleries move on to more traditional galleries of glassware and pottery before entering into another international contemporary and expressionist art section. Here you have access to the stair well to the upper floor of the museum and the entrance to the early American art gallery and artifacts.

beauty lies in eyes of the beholder

who yer looking at?

volunteer guides

The early American art on the ground floor comprises mainly of rather interesting looking figurines and tribal pieces from the Indians in the early days. Moreover, the museum offer regular guided tours at specified timings, so it pays to check out these timings at the museum’s reception if you intend to know more about the exhibits covered. These tours are usually conducted by volunteers or the museum staff themselves. The tours may be section specific and may or may not cover the whole museum grounds themselves.

Upper floors

looking down!

Arts of Africa

Besides offering bird eyed views of the lower galleries and the Osher Sculpture Garden, the upstairs is home to more traditional art, particularly Victorian styled paintings and early furniture, with a number of them donated by the residents of San Francisco themselves. Much of the older art archives of the museum can be found up here to, namely art of the Americas, the Pacific with the whole floor devoid of contemporary art. Many of the showcased American art dates back from the 17th through the 21st centuries, comprising mainly of painting, sculpture and furniture. It’s from the overlooking windows of American galleries where you can get an overview of the giant iconic blue paper clip in the outdoor sculpture garden.

dark wood…

fabric displays

main lobby

The arts of Africa is one of the main galleries up here on the upper floor. It’s decked out in a rather dark woody atmosphere to go with tribal displays. Having said that, the galleries spot lots of tribal ware, ranging from boats to tools of the trade to shrunken heads, weapons, wood sculptures and cravings just to name a few. Together with the textiles and costumes gallery, it occupies a major gallery on the upper floors directly accessible via the main stairway from the museum’s ground lobby. This staircase is also where the tour of the museum ends from the upper floor, bringing you right back down to the reception area. The basement of the museum is home to the cloak room which provides complimentary storage of bulk equipment and bags as they are not allowed in the galleries with fear of damage to the displays. The basement’s also home to the special galleries which are usually traveling temporary displays requiring a separate entrance fee.

Finally, a good way to end the trip to the museum is a trip to the Hamon Tower.

Hamon Tower observation deck

surrounding neighborhoods

bird eye’s view

The Hamon Tower is a twisting 44m tall observation tower, sprouting out of the east end of the De Young’s main museum building as viewed from the Music concourse. It is accessbile by lifts and provides a full unobstructed views of the Music concourse, the north bay residential areas of the San Francisco city as well as the Osher Sculpture Garden directly below the tower. It’s not a rather tall tower to begin with, so don’t be expecting overlooking scenic views of the city of San Francisco from here like that offered by the Twin Peaks. The museum’s giftshop is also located up here and sells a range of museum specific gear, as well as aerial maps of the city which will be useful up here.

Music concourse

glassy!

where’s that paper clip again?

Generally, the museum is good for 2-3 hours, which leaves the rest of the day to explore many of the other attractions the Golden gate park has to offer. The Japanese Tea Garden is no exception either.

Japanese Tea Garden (Link: Official website)
The Golden gate Japanese Tea Garden is oldest public Japanese garden in the United States and started out as a temporary exhibit during the World’s Fair (California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894) held at the music concourse. It was not when the brain child of the gardens- Makoto Hagiwara, a Japanese immigrant and gardener who approached John McLaren (superintendent of the Golden Gate Park) with the idea to convert the exhibit into a permanent park.

And so he did, Hagiwara personally oversaw the construction and planting of the Japanese Tea Garden as well as the official caretaker of the gardens from 1895 to 1925. The gardens span about 2.0 hectares in size and is now still a popular feature of Golden Gate Park. The gardens feature many native Japanese and Chinese plants, a teahouse to well, have tea in as well as many Asian sculptures, manicured decorate plants, Koi ponds, all served by laid paths and pond bridges all in a small little spot of tranquility.

Japanese Tea Garden

In Tea Garden

Botanical Gardens

It was through these gardens where the first evidence of fortune cookies in the United States was discovered, through the descendants of Makoto Hagiwara laying claim to introducing the fortune cookie to the United States from Japan. As a tradition, visitors to the garden were served fortune cookies made by a San Francisco bakery, Benkyodo. Even the road by the gardens are named after Hagiwara for his contributions.

Botanical Gardens (Link: Official site)
Not too far off from Hagiwara road is the San Francisco Botanical Garden. Laid out in the 1890s, and formerly known as the Strybing Arboretum, the establishment is a large botanical garden located right here in the heart of the San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. It’s huge, spanning a total of 22.3 hectares complete with ponds, rivers and is home to over 50 thousand individual plants. A nice redwood forest trail resides here with particular focus on Magnolia species plants, together with high elevation palms and cloud forest species from Central America, South America and Southeast Asia just to name afew. The Botanical gardens is also home to the Helen Crocker Russell Library, northern California’s largest horticultural library.

Gardens gardens gardens

rose bushes!

Dutch Windmill!

The park itself is also home to few large lakes, such as the Stow Lake, the Spreckels Lake. The Golden Gate Park Stadium resides here too. Finally, the western end of the golden gate park is home to the Dutch windmill, just off the coastal beach with it’s front facing the Pacific ocean. The windmill is one of the two primarily built here in 1902 (with the other being the Murphy’s Windmill located south of the park) to pump ground water supply to the park. They were shortly replaced by electric pumps and now restored for historical purposes.

That’s all for the Golden Park Park then, lets get a move on to another museum in San Fran.

No visit to San Francisco is complete without a visit to the bay side and the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. My trip there starts off from the northern bay area of the city from the palace of the arts. The area is served by MUNI buses services 28, 76, 43 & 30 from various points around the city, including downtown from union Chinatown and union square (service 30) which I came from. You can get a full listing of bus services from the Muni website itself. Alight the bus at the Richardson North Point area just not too far off from Jefferson beach.

The north point is a large recreational area popular with the locals, with me liking it as a non-touristy spot. It functions as a public beach front, marina and bay side beach walk. My journey there begins at the Crissy Fields across the Marina boulevard by the Yacht marina entrance to the Golden Gate Promenade dirt trail.

The Wind blows!

Golden Gate Promenade

on the Bay Trail

This promenade is essentially a bay trail running along the shoreline by the bay. It’s rather popular with joggers and mountain bikers alike. Do pack on some proper trail shoes as it’s a rather sandy path leading towards the Golden Gate bridge with exits along the sides to the various parks and beaches running alongside it. The place is surprisingly warm, or in other words- not that chilly to hang out in winter, with pretty much the warmer Californian weather mainly to thank. Given that warmer weather, much of the greenery is still retained at the nearby beach side parks and marsh area. Moving along the trail will bring you past the Crissy Field Airplane Hangars running alongside Manson Street.

Beaches

Marsh!

sea birds!

The Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary (save the whales!) also resides here, together with the Warming Hut Bookstore & Cafe which sits in front of the north point wharf. The views of the Golden gate bridge from the bay just gets better with each passing step towards to it. The views from the wharf is no exception either. Here, you can sit back, and enjoy the sea breeze and occasional sea bird flying right into you. You can pretty much look back on the bay coastline which you came from too, as well as changing forward sights of the impending Fort Point towards you.

Marine Drive

Fort Point National Historic Site

More cannons!

The Skyline of the San Francisco can be seen peeking over the horizon from here too. The wharf is a popular fishing spot and there was a handful of 5-6 fishermen on their catch when I was there on a midday. It’s from the end of the wharf here where you can properly appreciate the full Monty of the historical Fort Point sitting right beneath Golden Gate Bridge.

Fort Point (Link: Official website)
Heading along the marine drive, this small road here serves the route towards Fort Point alongside the Battery East hill site. Fort Point National Historic Site completed just before the American Civil War to defend San Francisco Bay against hostile warships. You might be familiar with it being featured in shows such as the Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 thriller television series and The West Wing. Entrance is free and a donation to the national parks is recommended.

However, as the story told, the itself fort never saw battle and throughout the Civil War, artillerymen at fort stood guard against the Confederate raider (CSS Shenandoah) on hearing their plans to invade San Francisco- an enemy that never came after their captain turned around after learning of the war being over. The fort was actually planned for demolition when the golden gate bridge was to be built. It was not after the changes made the chief architect to the bridge design to accommodate the national monument where it was eventually built over the fort itself. This offers a unique view of the golden gate bridge below it. It’s not everyday when you get to see a bridge over and under it, a huge spectacle itself.

ACME gunpowder store

Big Bridge over Big Fort

not an everyday sight!

The fort’s design is plain and simple, with main courtyard being a large open space with a hauling crane for the cannons. And several side indoor coves on the perimeter of the Fort housing cannons and supplies. Much of Cannons on display at Fort Point Empty corridors are found beneath on the lower floors. These indoor coves also serve as internal storage areas housing cannon balls, gunpowder and high caliber rounds. The fort is 4 floors high in total, counting the roof. It’s up here on the roof where you will be treated by nice panoramic views of the bay, flaunted by the Golden Gate bridge. The top of the fort is home to the Fort Point Lighthouse which used to serve the outer bay area, it is now replaced by the Mile Rock Lighthouse.

Though the old fort has no military value now, it remains nevertheless a fine example of the mason’s art and is preserved and restored as a national monument. The fort is now protected as the Fort Point National Historic Site and listed in the national Register of Historic Places in 1970 by President Richard Nixonas. It is currently administered by the National Park Service as a unit of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

The Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the gap between the Golden Gate and the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. It is both a vehicular and pedestrian bridge linking San Francisco on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula to Marin County.

Ahoy! San Francicso!

Battery Lancaste

crossing the bridge!

A short walk from Fort Point back along marine drive to the Warming Hut Bookstore & cafe will lead you to a nature hill climb right up to battery park, it won’t be hard to spot the entrance to the climb just behind the cafe grounds. The uphill climb itself is a short few hundred steps, meandering along a mix of dirt trails and concrete pavements. Despite being sandwiched between 2 service roads, the area is a protected nature nesting area for birds and is surprisingly tranquil and devoid of tourists. It’s also up here where you can get nice quiet and breathtaking views of the bridge itself.

The Golden Gate bridge from Marine Drive:

At the top of battery hill is battery park, this is where the bridge’s visitor center, car park and pedestrian entrance to the bridge reside. This park lies on the south side of the bridge and the area is much like a tourist trap with parking space for several tour buses as well as a cafe and souvenir gift shop. It’s here in the park too where the story of the golden gate is told as an engineering achievement for it’s time with various information boards talking about the bridge’s development and construction. The statue of the bridge chief engineer Strauss can be seen at the park, in honor for the building and engineer in-charge for the overall design and construction of the bridge. A 93cm diameter model of the cross-section of the cable, containing about 28 thousand separate wires can be found beside Strauss’s statue.

Battery park:

On a more technical side, the Golden Gate was declared as one of the modern Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The bridge was the longest suspension bridge span in the world in 1937 when it was completed, but now it only stands at the eight longest and the second longest suspension bridge main span in the United States. But you can’t deny that it is easily one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco, let be in the United States.

beauty of the bay

The twin peaks

A bridge conquered!

Having said that the bridge spans 2.7km and bridges the gap between San Francisco and what is now Marin County. Prior to that, ferries were used to transport people and vehicles across the San Francisco Bay from terminals near Fort Point itself. Humorously and almost derp-ly, contrary to the name, the Golden gate bridge is actually a matte shade of red and not golden in anyway, with the exception of the bridge reflecting in the sun.

Thankfully, the bridge is very much open to the public and not closed due to security scares like the bridges in New York. A 30 minute stroll will set you across the whole bridge via the bi-directional pedestrian side walkway on the right (heading north). The left lane is an express land for cyclists while the center road lanes are of course dedicated to vehicular traffic.

That’s all for the Bay side for now, next up, the museums of San Francisco!

The twin peaks (also known as the San Francisco hills) are two high hills standing at an elevation of 281m at the geographic center of San Francisco itself. They are the the second-highest point in San Francisco, after Mount Davidson and is part of the iconic 49-Mile Scenic Drive in San Francisco, with one of the highlights being the views up from the Crestline Drive. The fastest way to the starting base of the twin peaks is from downtown, taking the F-line historical trolleys west-bound for about 20minutes before alighting at the Castro district.

gateway to the twin peaks

The Castro district

loads of rainbow

The Castro district is located by the foot of the twin peaks and the Eureka Valley of San Francisco. It is also the city’s Gay district and is one of America’s first, largest and best-known gay neighborhoods in the world. The place is a Gay melting pot, with a strong LGBT presence, with rainbow pride flags decked on nearly every home and corner of the street. The district’s main bus and trolley stop by the junction is also home to the world’s largest rainbow flag.

The locals here say that the town here is the symbol and source of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activism, going with the American’s dream of free rights and equality for all regardless of gender and orientation. Iconic LGBT events of the capital are held here too. It is indeed a very diverse and yet surprisingly friendly district of the city which you can never see in conservative Asian countries.

climbing up!

head up to 20 street

Up up up!

From here, there are two main ways to get up to the twin peaks, one is by the Muni 37 Corbett bus service which takes you up from the Castro main stop, right up to the Crestline Drive or you can climb up to the hill yourself. Personally I would recommend climbing up on the first go and taking a bus down back to town thereafter. After all, you can’t say you’ve conquered the Twin Peaks if you’ve never scaled it yourself. That and the bragging rights will definitely make you appreciate the views from the top better too.

getting higher!

kerby

intersections!

Guide up the Twin Peaks
The climb up is not that taxing either, and will take about 20-30 minutes depending on your fitness. It’s a fairly straightforward climb through the neighborhood residential areas. I will touch on a small guide on how to get up there on foot, or driving from Castro, with few key intersections to note too. First, start off south bound along Castro Street, you will pass through the commercial area of the district before migrating to a more residential area. Keep going for about 3 streets before hitting the intersection to 20th Street, thereafter head west bound for 2 blocks along Douglass Street before turning left, here you will cut through the intersection of Grand view avenue, which you can use as a location marker

It on this hills where you can also get to appreciate the steep slopes which San Francisco is notorious for, but it’s these hills themselves which gave rise to the iconic stepped terrace houses which we are all familiar with in shows and movies alike. It also pays and interesting note to all the cars parked here too, turning your car steering wheel into the direction of the kerb while parked on the hills is a standard practice here, let be a life saving one too.

Bridge

Rooftop Elementary School

The school

It will be not long where you will reach a busy intersection. This road is Market street, crossing the overhead pedestrian bridge here will bring you on a relatively straight flat road along Cornett avenue before hitting the foothill entrance to the Rooftop Elementary School.

Do not climb up here

Burnett Avenue

high rise residential

Do not climb the stairs with the fancy tiled mosaic entrance, as this brings you right into the school compound itself, with no through road. Instead, make your way left along the foot of the small hill which the school is on, along Burnett avenue, you will pass by many taller residential houses here.

end of hopkins street

flight of steps!

more steps!

Make a right towards Hopkins avenues after about 100 meters, thereafter you will come across several staircases along the road side, going up two of these long flights of stairs will bring you along Vista Lane and finally up onto the Crestline drive, which is the highest residential drive on the hill. The Crestline drive is also where you will catch your sub 30 minutes to hourly bus back down to Castro, tickets cost $2 for ride regardless where you are alighting.

In a nutshell, the route from Castro to the Twin Peaks summit is as follows in the map I’ve compiled on my trip below:

Hope this map (oriented north upwards) will prove useful for anyone intending to head up to the twin peaks themselves. Now lets finish the climb up to the summit!

Sutro Tower in the distance

figure of 8!

more grassy steps!

The top of the hill is largely undeveloped and access to the summit is served by dirt trails and steps leading up to the top. Up here, you can grasp the vastness of the summit area, well served by the Twin peaks boulevard, which are the circling “figure of 8″ looping roads as pictured.

The best time to be on the twin peaks, as a general rule of thumb when I visit most scenic spots, is just before sunset, so it’s good to ration out over and hour at Castro for the climb and photo taking on the summit before the sun starts setting. The eastern views from the summit offers a breathtaking view of the city of San Francisco, with the ionic Transamerica pyramid, the golden gate bridge and the bay bridge visible in the distance too. You can also catch the San Francisco bay, with it’s shipping routes along side the bay, the mountainous backdrop across forming up the horizon of the view.

breathtaking!

sunset at full force

tout rocks!ext

The summit of Twin Peaks remain mostly undeveloped yet unobstructed views of most San Francisco and the San Francisco Bay. As the sun sets, you can watch the shadow of the peaks slowly rushing over the eastern side of the city like a wave, it’s not long after where the whole city is blanketed by the shadow of the peaks themselves.

San Francisco City on the eastern side:

Soon after the whole city will by transformed into a sea of golden lights at night, with the bay bridge and the golden gate brighly lit on the distance on both extreme left and the right of the city view.

360 degree view off western side of the peaks, overlooking the sunset:

The best way to catch the city and western horizon of the pacific ocean is from the top of the peaks themselves. There is a sub viewing station at the bottom of the northern peak with telescopes and toilet facilities. The twin peaks is also home to the iconic Sutro tower, which sits squarely north of the twin peaks. It is a radio tower and one of the most visible landmark from anywhere in the city of San Francisco. The top of the hill is also home to the city’s many reservoirs and is owned by the San Francisco Fire Department, and supplies water to the Fire Department’s independent HPFS water system for fighting fires. This system was established after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire which razed much of the city then.

view of a different kind!

residential areas

golden sight indeed

Do note that it can sometimes get very foggy up on the twin peaks, going up on a such a day will end up seeing nothing but a sea of white. It is also generally advisable to avoid going up in the mornings. I will strongly recommend to check the weather forecast for fog on your intended day of ascent as foggy weather is surprisingly very common here in the bay area, this also applies for most scenic sights on the bay area too so it pays to do your homework beforehand to avoid any disappointment. A good quick and simple gauge is to get a good look of the Sutro tower on top of the hill from anywhere in the city, if you can clearly see the tower, then it will look the same from the top down- a good day for an ascent.

a major part of the cit

landmark Castro theater

Castro at night

As said, you can head back down the twin peaks from where you came from or catch the sub-hourly bus service 37 back to Castro where you can connect to the F-line trolley or the underground BART there. The district of Castro is nicely lit and is a rather busy place at night too. There are a number of pubs, bars as well as retails outlets selling clothing. Notable landmarks here will include the iconic Castro theater with their rather interestingly humorous titles to the shows they are currently screening.

Ok, that’s all for the twin peaks for now. Cheers!

Cable car museum
The San Francisco cable car system is the world’s last permanently operational manually operated cable car system dating back since the 1800s. The Cable Car Museum is a free museum showcasing this very history which the city is famous for. Situated along Washington Street at 1201 Mason Street just off Chinatown in the Nob Hill neighborhood of San Francisco. Run and managed by the Friends of the Cable Car Museum, the establishment is a working museum, with the museum sharing part of the complex housing the cable car power house.

Washington Street

no engines on board!

the small museum

Housed in the museum section are various historical and explanatory exhibits of the currently active San Francisco cable car system. The top deck of the museum is home to various smaller exhibits and old historical cable cars displays, including old carriages and several examples of interestingly designed old cable cars which look like covered train carriages. San Francisco’s cable car system had came through many years and numerous companies which operate them, each with their own unique cable car designs to boot too. The cable cars displayed includes the Sutter Street Railway which is essentially a grip car No. 46 and trailer No. 54 dating from the 1870s Clay Street Hill Railroad. Also kept here is Grip car 8 which is the only surviving car from the first cable car company.

trolleys ahhoy!

olden day tickets

high speed cable pulls

The museum overlooks the “working areas” of the museum, which includes a workshop, drive wheels, maintenance and storage bay. The museum is essentially a “power house” which is not a power station in any way but is the heart of the cable car system by providing power- not through electrical power but by high speed cable drawing, which gives the cars the unique name “cable cars”.

Well, in fact, most of the museum’s floor area is the power house and dominates most of the building, with the museum only taking a small portion of the building. The large drive wheels which spin the cables can be seen from the museum itself and is part of the city’s subterranean cable network laid out in 1873. The power house area is a live and active car depot, and is not accessible to the public, but you can get vantage views of the work area, workshop and heavy machinery at work from the two overlooking galleries where the balcony where the museum reside.

Some history

Gong!

cable car?

I got to ride the cable car more than 15 years ago back in San Francisco as a kid, but never quite understood how it works without engines or even overhead electrical cables found on most of the mini transport buses. While most people will relate cable cars to cabs suspended by overhead cables as seen serving alpine ski slopes, the cables actually run underground through a very intricate and well laid pulley system. which drives the cables, and the car depot. Descending to the basement of the museum from the entrance will allow you to view the large cavern where the haulage cables are routed out to the street below the junction of Washington and Mason streets.

You can easily pop by the museum when you are around the Chinatown area and spend half an hour or so at the exhibits and museum store. Donations to the Friends of the Cable car museum are appreciated or you can simply make purchases from the museums too.

Palace of fine arts
Not too far off in the Marina District of San Francisco is a monumental structure originally constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition to showcase works of art presented then. This structure residing there now is known as The Palace of Fine Arts.

The palace is one of only a few surviving structures from the Exposition, still situated on its original site. Flaunted by the facade of the palace is a very nicely laid garden and lagoon, complete with it’s very own fountain to boot. No wonder it remains as a popular attraction and photographic sight for tourists and locals alike. It is also a favorite location for weddings and wedding party photographs for couples throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. In fact, the building is so iconic here that a miniature replica of it was built in Disney’s California Adventure.

The side entrance

Palace of the arts fountains

Exploratorium

Exploratorium science museum
Not too far off from the palace is The Exploratorium. It is an informal education center and museum with over 400 participatory exhibits, most of them remarkably made on-site in the museum itself well that mixes science and art. Founded in 1969 by physicist and educator Frank Oppenheimer, the place treats you to a variety of sensory experiences within the museum grounds itself. Bringing the exhibits to you in a variety of ways through physical displays, webcasts, websites and events, allowing an alternative and interactive way to explore and understand the world around you. In all it is pretty much a place for family and kids alike.

Notably, the museum received the National Science Board 2011 Public Service Science Award for its contributions to public understanding of science and engineering in 2011 and is regarded as one of the most prestigious national honors in science given to an organization.

Next up, up the Twin peaks and Castro.

Trip date 8th to 17th January 2011

It had been nearly 15 years since I last set foot in one of my most favorite cities in the world, San Francisco. My journey there across the Atlantic begins with my departure from Heathrow London on United with my travel group towards San Francisco international airport. After some minor delays with a 1 hour extended stay before taking off we are up in the air across the Atlantic towards San Francisco International. The United in-flight entertainment system is really basic with a few delectable channels (no video on demand) But the cabin crew made up for it with an excellent in flight service.

cozy hotel for the night

UN plaza and fountains

chugging along downtown

Had a Californian friend pick us up from the airport where he gave me a lift through evening peak hour traffic to the hotel, where we came into terms with the horrible mobile data services brought to you no other than AT&T. Impressions of the hotel (Aida hotel) was very good though. Despite all the bad reviews it got from booking.com where I made my reservation from.

It’s an old budget hotel with very friendly staff, despite the place spotting an old smell constantly looming on the carpets. But it goes away after getting used to it. I guess having stayed in worst backpacker inns make this a walk in the park, unless 5 star comfort is what you are after. The hotel receptionist was exceptionally helpful too, especially on the time when I accidentally locked myself out of my room while using the shared toilets. Anyway, any hotel which serves donuts (their incarnation of continental breakfast) with free flow of tea and coffee 24hours a day goes in my book.

good ol’ San Francisco!

San Fran city hall

The San Fran Buddha

Okay, enough of the hotel for now, lets get on with it. The hotel I stayed is by the union square area, which is well served by the BART transport, F-line trolleys and a short 10 minute walk to the Powell line and shopping district. San Francisco is a rather safe city to be in, despite the number of Hobos all around the streets at night. While most tourists shun these Hobos with outright paranoia as a freak of nature. These guys are a nice for a chat or two on the streets and they are generally not shunned by the public and locals as a whole. I’ve seen few walking right into a Burger king asking for water and ice in a cup and the manager there filled their cups with no questions asked. In the chills of winter they can be seen pushing push carts all round town finding stuff off the streets and huddling close to the exhaust vents of building ventilation systems.

Powell and Civic Plaza Area
My first night there was pretty much integrating myself with the city and getting some supplies and groceries for the week. Public transport around the city uses the contactless Clipper card which you can obtain from nearby convenience stores, particularly WallGreens, as well as picking up some groceries altogether. in addition, you can also obtain them from the vending machines from any major BART stations, like the nearby Powell station in my case.

civic center statues

Westin St Francis

powell

Food was quite a no brainier, especially when it comes to noms- fast food. From Subway outlets, McDonalds, to Wendys, Burger king for dinner, you name it, I guess its more fast food to come these days, after all this is America. The San Francisco City hall looks rather excellent at night for photographic shots, you should check that out before exploring the areas out of town. Walking from the Powell streets up to the Union square will bring you to one of the main shopping areas of the city. Union square is also usually home to a public ice skating rink throughout the festive season.

Surprisingly the streets are surprisingly safe despite the rowdy environment and hoods on some streets. But I guess looking like a gangster myself helps abit- bit too good when people, especially locals start to turn to you asking for directions especially interesting ones on where get smokes and booze in town. I Guess maybe because I look quite a thug myself, with a higher chance of people thinking I would mug people on the streets rather than the other way around.

Union Square Ice skating

historical trollery line

Chinatown!

I guess the large Asian population here in the city has something to do with it, everyone here from all ethic origins are all on equal grounds here, Asian, Black or White, and I am surprised to say, San Francisco is still one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world. I blended well in the town so well that after a mere few hours upon my arrival, I get foreigners and even tourists coming over to me asking or directions, one guy even came up to me asking me for directions to the nearest liquor store, to purchase drinks and smokes. Go figure!

Chinatown
My third day in the city was spent exploring the Japan and Chinatown part of the city. China town is situated right beside the financial district and is within walking distance from the Powell and Union square area. Just look for the Chinese arch just off Grant street and that’s just the start of it!

The Chinatown buzz

Busy markets

Transamerica Pyramid

This Chinatown is big, but not that big like the one in New York. But like all Chinatowns this one is all buzzing, particularly in the mornings where the stores are just opening and the marketplace crawling with shoppers and grocery bargain hunters. You will see a good mix of American Chinese as well as Caucasians shopping around here for good buys on fruit, vegetables and various produce.

It’s here too, where I recommend you should try the authentic Chinese and Hongkong cuisines. And the food here, particularly the roast duck and wanton noodles do taste like the ones in Singapore and Hongkong alike, complete with fortune cookies to boot. An economical lunch with fried rice and 2 sides for only $4. The iconic TransAmerica pyramid is located here too, just off the Chinatown Portsmouth Square park, which is full of people doing Tai-chi in the mornings too.

Pier 39
Taking the Muni service 30 from Chinatown will bring you right to Fisherman’s Wharf. There is a very strong emphasis on green transport, even all the buses here are electric (running off overhead rails) or at most electric hybird. Pier 39 is located at the edge of the Fisherman’s Wharf district (near the North Beach) and the Embarcadero. The area is also accessible via the historic F Market trolley streetcars.

Pier side walk

street performers

Pier 39

Walking along Fisheman’s wharf is like a walk back in time, lots of old retro store line the street complete with street stores and performers alike. It’s not long where you will reach Pier 39, one of the wharf area main attractions. Pier 39 was developed by entrepreneur Warren Simmons in 1978 and is a shopping center and popular tourist attraction built on a pier in San Francisco, California. The pier is home to a variety of rather interesting shops and restaurants often with a theme to go with the wharf or pier theme. There is even a left hand store and a huge Willy Wonka candy store to boot, with possibly the largest collection of sweets I’ve ever seen.

famous pier 39

The pier views

marina by the pier

Do remember to redeem a free goodie bag at the visitor center when you are there, using the coupon from the official San Francisco pier 39 guide. On the entertainment side, the pier also spots a cool mirror maze, a video arcade, street performances, virtual 3D rides and a cinema. Taking center stage in the main atrium of the pier is a two-story carousel is one of the pier’s more dominant features. This carousel is located towards the end of the pier and is not directly visible from the street. Generally the pier is good place for food and light shopping. It offers a family-oriented fun and entertainment area making this a popular tourist location for families with kids. And the clam chowder here is a must try!

Chowder!

famous clam chowder!

outdoor dining

The pier offers some really good views at the end viewing deck. The Alcatraz pretty much flaunts the view from the end of the pier, with Angel Island, the Golden Gate and Bay Bridge on the flanks. The western side decks offer views of lazy California sea lions all decked out on docks of the Pier 39 marina. The marina is also home to the floating Forbes Island restaurant and is too the operating pier of the Blue & Gold Fleet’s bay cruises.

Besides having an awesome Ben and Jerry’s ice cream store, the area just outside the pier is an interpretive center for the Marine Mammal Center, otherwise known as the Aquarium of the Bay as well as the location of the San Francisco Hard Rock Cafe.

Fisherman’s Wharf
Heading out of the pier will bring you back onto the alley ways of the Fisherman’s Wharf. The wharf is essentially a neighborhood and yet, another popular tourist attraction. It stretches and encompasses mainly the northern waterfront area of the city from Ghirardelli Square/Van Ness Avenue east to Pier 35 on Kearny Street. The place being a tourist hotspot has it’s own wax museum, and loads of souvenir stores to boot too, beside the large variety of dining outlets here, including Johnny Rockets, a personal favorite.

Obama was here too!

wharf near sunset

more candy!

Cable Car ride
For $5 a pop, you can board the cable cars along fisherman wharf on the Powell-Mason or the Powell-Hyde line to the union square, depending on your location on the Fisherman’s wharf. The Powell-Hyde lines starts west on the Wharf and runs to Aquatic Park, at the edge of Fisherman’s Wharf, and the Powell-Mason cable car line runs a few blocks away south. If you are going on multiple trips, it’s advisable to get a multiple use a CityPASS or a one day Muni travel pass, you cannot use your Muni Clipper yet on the Cable car as of early 2011.

Moreover, the historical F Market streetcar also runs through the area, good for $2 and are running works of history too, having been running for almost more than a hundred years. The F line brings you east wards along the pier sides to the Embarcadero towards the civic plaza too.

Lombard Street
Going on the Powell-Hyde line will bring you along and the top hill of the iconic Lombard Street, otherwise known as the “World’s crookest street”.

Fisherman’s Wharf

world’s most crooked street

windy!

It is an east-west street famous for having a steep, one-block section that consists of eight tight hairpin turns connecting the Presidio Boulevard (west end) inside the Presidio and runs east through the Cow Hollow neighborhood and ending at the Embarcadero.

whee cable car downhill!

quick adrenaline thrill

hang on for dear life

You can choose to walk to Lombard street from the Wharf area and catch the cable car thereafter. The walk to Lombard is about 5 blocks through multiple steep uphills, which San Francisco is popular for. For me, the cable car is more of a novelty item to travel as it’s expensive to go on and does not serve many areas of the city well, well at least not as good as the bus lines which cover more ground.

But nothing beats riding on the cable car hanging on the edge, well literally, blazing through the streets up and down the hills with no safety lines or belts with an occasional head-chopper or a truck along side the road to potentially rip your head or arm off the cable car. It’s on the cable cars with the operators too where you get to understand more of the workings of his engine-less vehicle, which does locomotion by hooking itself to underground cables on the inclines. You can visit the Cable car museum at Washington Street just off Chinatown to know more about these historical vehicles in motion.

I will be covering the cable car museum in my museums blog post of the city in my next article of my bay visit by navigating the links below, with both the De young and Legion of honor as the other museums of interest.

That’s all for main city sights for now, next up, the some notable museums of San Francisco!

Gong xi fa cai! What other better way to welcome the year of the rabbit than a back to back Chinese new year feast for 5 consecutive days? And I thought last year’s 3 day steamboat affair was good. I guess it’s get better this year knowing where are all the parties are.

Before Chinese new year, (1st Feb) Day 1. We gathered our juniors and few invited guests to have a taste of tossing the traditional yusheng. Yes it was a mass yusheng event all right in college. Most of the yusheng ingredients were bought off local supermarkets in towns, with the exception of the sauces and crispy crackers brought in from Singapore by my junior. Surprisingly tossing the yusheng is still an exclusive Singaporean and Malaysian get-together traditional before the lunar new year- something even my Chinese and Taiwanese friends do not know or practice either. Our yusheng appetite is followed by a get together Formal in the college dining hall!

Steam boat gathering

Yusheng Day!

Cheers!

Day 2 of the celebrations, which is the actual new year’s day eve saw a reunion steamboat dinner at Pembroke college common room. Hosted by our “uncle” Justin, a follow Malaysian known for his awesome dinner parties. He never fail to surprise us again this year with the variety of food, all simmering in various rice cooker “steamboats” (we even had halal and non-halal pots). There were a 30 odd attendee and many new faces from the juniors, not to mention old friends from other colleges.

Day 3 saw myself being invited by my dorm mate John for a steamboat dinner at Emmanuel college with his bible study friends. We tossed yusheng again before settling down on food for the evening. We even had special Bakgua porkfloss buns, and I never thought I could ever have a go at these delicacies all the way form home right here in the UK.

Day 4 was my only low key day, and a much needed breather from all the massive calorie loading from the previous nights. It was Pasta night in my kitchen with my block mates, our only non-chinese day and man was the pasta good! :3

My 5th and last day of my Chinese new year celebration saw a massive gathering of friends in college for a steamboat in the J-block kitchens, which can accommodate big cookouts for 20 or more people at a go. I saw myself going for so many steamboat dinners in other colleges but of course no other better way to end it with my fellow college mates. This last one is memorable as I made the iconic Wanton for the steamboat, which was kinda like an experiment. To my surprise everyone loved it, even I can’t believe it myself! Kudos going out to my aunt and mum who taught me how to make them as a kid.

That’s all for now, I hope your Lunar new year was just as eventful. Happy Chinese New Year. Cheers!

Check out the Chinese new year 2011 photo gallery.