Duration: 12 Days 11 Nights (Feb 23~Mar
05, 2016)
Day 10: A Detour to Fisherman’s
Wharf
Today would be the last day of
the training thus I checked out early from Plaza Suites after eating my
breakfast. Fun fact – I actually discovered making sandwich of scrambled egg +
sausage was delicious on my last day of breakfast. *facepalm* After checkout, I
threw all my luggage into the car boot which happened to be missing a baggage
compartment cover and exposed my luggage to whoever walked pass the car. This
would also pose as a major problem later in my trip today.
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| Last Breakfast in Santa Clara |
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| Something Cute in Office |
Lunch was provided during the
training and it was sandwiches again – I got the chicken breast sandwich and
Portello mushroom to try out together with some chips. The chicken breast
sandwich was actually nicer than it looked as there was crispy bacon inside
whereas the mushroom was juicy.
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| Chicken Sandiwch & Mushroom Sandwich |
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| Potato Chip |
This would be our last day of
training and my flight would leave SFO at midnight today. Thus after training,
I drove straight to San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf as a detour before boarding
my flight at midnight. Since my stupid Hertz (N)everLost GPS was crazy, so
ended up in constant confusion all the way to San Francisco. The traffic was
really heavy as well which also contributed to the stupid GPS never-ending
recalculating! UGH! Neverlost? It should be called EVERlost!
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| Driving to San Francisco! |
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| Traffic Jam while approaching San Francisco! *facepalm* |
I finally reached the Embarcadero
and saw the Pier 27 parking area. This was actually a good place to park IF
there is no cruise docking. Unfortunately for me, there would be a cruise and
there was a sign saying all cars should be cleared by 6pm. UGH! I have no
choice but to get to another parking area. Since I parked at the Longshoreman public
parking lot at 400 North Point Street before (link), I’d decided to go there
since I would be semi-familiar with it. The weekday parking rate is USD20 per
day and I paid and displayed the ticket on my car’s dashboard. Remember I mentioned my car boot’s baggage compartment cover was missing? I ended up have to drag my luggage all the way from the car to the luggage storage at Pier 39 for fear that it might get broke in since it was just SO OBVIOUS! *sigh*
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| Having a Tug-a-war with my luggage! |
It was around a
10mins walk from parking to Pier 39 and I almost killed myself by dragging the
luggage up the stairs to 1st floor for the “California Welcome
Center” since I couldn’t find the lift initially. They charged USD5 per luggage
for storage and the center closed at 7pm on a Thursday.
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| The Fisherman's Wharf Sign was the 1st thing i saw when walking to the Embarcadero... |
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| Still a long way! |
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| Are we there yet?! |
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| Finally! |
After storing my luggage, it was
finally time to explore Pier 39. I’d been there before in my previous trips but
this was definitely the 1st time I put more time into it. There were
shops, Alcatraz & Golden Gate Bridge further out but I was simply chilling
there… taking my own sweet time to take pictures, visit Hard Rock and walked
further to Pier 45.
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| Sammy at Pier 39 with Coit Tower at the back! |
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| Gorgeous Flowers! |
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| This is actually a "Photo Spot" |
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| With a Heart, Pier 39 Flags & Alcatraz at the back |
Pier 45 was a Historical theme
pier where one could visit a World War 2 Submarine! However, I didn’t see
anyone going in there thus I didn’t continue with the visit as well. I guess a
picture is suffice. =P There was also “Musee Mecanique” – an Antique Coin
Operated Arcade there featuring tons of brilliant mechanical creations. When a
quarter was entered, the mechanism would start and the whole arcade in that
machine went alive! You wouldn’t believe how detail those machines are!
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| Some Street Performance |
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| Red & White Fleet |
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| Pier 45 |
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| The Submarine |
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| Cool huh? |
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| This is the coolest Museum EVER! |
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| Now this is Creepy! |
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| A Quarter will buy you a show in these finely made machine! |
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| Imagine everything is moving |
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| Everything is made of Toothpick! |
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| Look at how detail it is! |
I was quite hungry by that time
and decided to walk to Ghirardelli Square for the World Famous Hot Fudge
Sundae. It really did not disappoint! It was really yummy but I think it was
definitely for sharing since the portion was huge. The sundae cost USD12.39
with tax.
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| Continue on the Embarcadero |
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| It was actually where we had our team building back in 2012..(link) |
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| Another old spot during team building in Sales Conference 2012 |
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| The San Francisco Cable Car |
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| The Ghirardelli Square! |
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| It's time for CHOCOLATE!!! |
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| So many choices! |
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| Keep Calm & Have some Chocolate! |
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| Ghirardelli World Famous Hot Fudge Sundae! |
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| So excited!!! Look at how HUGE it is! |
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| Process of making the Ghirardelli Chocolate |
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| It's a shopping mall too... |
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| With the Water Fountain in front of the Square |
I slowly walked back to Pier 39
and there it was the famous Boudin Sourdough Bakery. Some website once said
Boudin was a must-try when one is in San Francisco. Thus there I was – savoring
their clam chowder in sourdough bread bowl. The chowder was quite salty for me
but I loved the sourdough. This cost USD10.10 with tax.
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| Walking pass See's Candies |
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| Spy Shop?! Seriously? |
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| Back to the Fisherman's Wharf sign |
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| A Madam Tussauds Wax Museum! Didn't go in though |
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| Let's eat instead! LOL!!! |
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| The Famous Boudin in Fisherman's Wharf! |
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| Look at all the Sourdough! |
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| Clam Chowder in Sourdough Bowl! |
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| Enjoying my bowl of chowder inside the Boudin Cafe |
I had to be back in time to Pier
39 for my luggage before 7pm so I went back again to Pier 39 – this time taking
night time pictures. Nighttime in Pier 39 did look completely different from
earlier with all the lights.
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| Sky is getting dark.. on the way back to Pier 39! |
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| Pier 39 at night |
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| Bubba Gump is everywhere! |
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| It does have its Charm when it's not crowded.. :) |
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| A Carousel |
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| The CRAWL! |
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| A Heart in Pier 39 |
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| Alcatraz in the Dark |
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| Nighttime View of the Restaurant |
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| What a nice view! |
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| Nightview of Coit Tower from afar |
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| A Zoom in |
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| Goodbye Pier 39 |
I finally tugged my luggage
slowly to my car to continue my journey to the airport with my EVERlost GPS. Btw, there was actually a nearer parking garage - Pier 39 Garage was just across Pier 39 but it cost USD9/hour. No thanks! =P There
were lots of traffic lights along the Embarcadero and I was actually quite
thankful for the red light since it gave me the chance to take pictures of the
bay bridge at night – it was a pretty sight to behold! =P
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| On the way back to Parking Lot |
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| A Landmark at the Parking Lot |
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| Ross is just opposite the Longshoreman's parking garage but i'm too lazy to go in there with luggage and all |
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| Gorgeous Night View at The Embarcadero |
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| Traffic light? It's time for Picture! |
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| The Bay Bridge looks like millions of diamonds blinking on top at night |
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| AT&T Park |
After about an hour of driving
with EVERlost GPS, I finally reached SFO in one piece! Mind you! The GPS would
tell me to go straight in a highway for 40 miles, it ‘bing’ed that I was on the
right way, then 5 mins later told me to make a U-turn in the straight highway!
WTF!!! I really wanted to smash it so badly! I told the Hertz employee about
this crazy GPS when I returned the car but I didn’t think they believed me
though… UGH!
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| Missing the Luggage Compartment Cover! UGH! |
When I dropped my luggage at the
SQ counter, I was given a voucher for some free sample stuff. However, it
turned out to be a fraud as the free sample was only given out during the day.
*roll eyes*
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| Sammy was ready for some free sample but it was not available! :( |
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| Our Plane |
Day 11-12: Long Flight Home
The SQ plane seemed to be quite
new with a bigger entertainment screen, even the control panel was in smart
phone concept. One might watched movies on the big screen & switch the
control panel in flight path mode. Cool!
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| Bigger & Clearer! |
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| With a Smart-phone type controller! |
Anyway, I was in aisle seat due
to some miracle as aisle seat was full when I checked in online. Thankfully
after I persistently checked the availability online every few hours, I finally
got the aisle seat! Another best part? No one was sitting in the middle seat –
only another guy sitting at the window seat there. =)
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| Sammy is happy that no one sits beside us |
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| Enjoying some white wine! |
For supper, I chose the sweet
& sour fish set which was nice. Since this was a midnight flight, I quickly
dozed off after the meal for more than 8 hours! By the time I woke up, there
were still many hours to go though. =( I saw some people requesting cup noodle
from the flight attendants but I ended up with a chicken sandwich. The sandwich
was not good though and there were no potato chips available. *pout*
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| Sweet & Sour Fish Set |
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| Chicken Sandwich |
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| It's not good! :( |
I went through some movies before
breakfast was served. I chose the Chinese dim sum set which included shrimp
dumpling (Har Kao), meat dumpling (Siew Mai) & carrot cake. I liked the
shrimp & meat dumpling but the carrot cake was basically tasteless.
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| Dim Sum Set |
The plane finally landed at Hong
Kong for a short layover with a change of crew. This time the flight from HK to
Singapore was full. They were serving another set of breakfast again and I chose
the pork rice vermicelli which happened to be a good choice as it was really
yummy. =P
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| Kids entertainment area at HKIA! |
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| Pork Rice Vermicelli Set! YUMMY! |
After reaching Singapore, I had
to make another transit back to Penang with Silkair. It was time to utilize my
SQ transit voucher of SGD20!
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| Fully utilize the SGD20 transit voucher! This cost SGD0.90. =P |
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| Is it legal to have the cockpit door open during boarding? =P |
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| Thai Tuna Set |
I finally reached Penang on a
Saturday late afternoon – which was around a total of 24 hours of flight +
transit! Why can’t they make plane fly faster? =P
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| ROCK ON!! |
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