Fog City

I cannot express how much I love San Francisco in words. Only in feelings. And some feelings you can't put into words. Or maybe you can, but I'm not good at writing or talking about *~love~* or showing any sort of affection.

We hit all the tourist attractions and landmarks in the first few days by various means of transport - Cable cars, BARTs, buses, taxis, rail transits and squeezing an illegal amount of people in a five seater car. Their transport system is so clean, convenient and arrive so frequently here, unlike Sydney's Shitty Rail.

The architecture of the Golden Gate Bridge is so aesthetically pleasing to look at with the contrast of the royal red against clear blue skies. I want to bike along the whole bridge one day rather than walk a few metres in because I didn't want to stray too far from my family. Also the Palace of Fine Arts was under reconstruction two years ago so I finally got to see the inside with statues of people facing in and butts out. Grander things out of the way, I love the houses here. They're like small paper towns built on steep, sloping hills. I would want to live here one day.

The main reason why I love San Francisco so much is because of my family. My aunty and uncle are way too kind and generous while my cousins are people who I can call friends too. By "friend" I mean be bad influences (we taught our cuzzies/habibs how to speak like western Sydney siders, eshays brah) and slack to each other. E.g. when Garland gave me a book on how to make friends and Vivian offered to buy heart chocolates for Valentine's for me because I'll "probably never get one." THANKS, GUYS.

They also gave me a place to settle down and call home. I carried out an ordinary lifestyle here on most days - Get up, go downtown, come home to snack on American junk food, go to the gym (I'll revert back to my potato life when I get back though), eat a tub of Ben & Jerry's straight after, shower, watch YouTube videos and TV series and go to sleep with Tiger waking me up through growls or obsessive licking. A laid back routine with no expectations from real life things.

Pier 39 is another tourist attraction full of unique, colourful shops and performers. There were shops full of barrels of taffy, chocolates that can only be found in San Francisco, the best donuts I've ever had, a shop just for lefties, another shop just for pets, accessories, games and barking sea lions being plank potatoes. There was also a vicious seagull that knocked my sister's ice cream out of her hands and it was the saddest thing I've ever witnessed.

We went on a ferry for a tour around and had a little bit of a history lesson on Alcatraz, the now abandoned prison. We kept running and jumping around the ferry till I got seasick. It was so nice to watch the sunset from the sea and see twinkling lights on buildings in the skyline in the distance.

San Francisco Zoo had so many animals that Australian zoos don't have. (But I think Taronga Zoo is more impressive.) I SAW MY VERY FIRST SQUIRREL AND CHASED IT AROUND THE GRASS. If I had nuts, I would've thrown them at it to lure it so I could maybe pat (or get bitten) by it.

Prairie dogs are the cutest things, ever. Can I sneak one in through customs? Please? Or can I at least hold one the way my uncle chased a chicken around the zoo to carry and hug it?

Japantown was full of [taiko drum rolls] Japanese stuff. There were Japanese food, bookstores, supermarkets, hairdressers and even a shop full of Hello Kitty things. We spent most of our time there taking embarrassing sticker photos that will probably never see daylight. I'm beginning to get used to how friendly and social the workers are.

Before my family departed for their flight (I stayed back an extra fortnight because I have no priorities to go back to at Sydney yet), we celebrated my sister's birthday with food from San Jose and a Ben & Jerry's cake. Tiger was the party animal. We played clip the tail on the dog.

The next fortnight felt much quieter. I got told by a couple of gypsy looking ladies that I have "nice ears" and that one of them dyed their hair jet black and announced, "LOOK I'M ASIAN LIKE YOU." I got woken up by Tiger at least three times a night with a panic attack. I spent a whole bus ride wondering whether this man/woman was a man/woman. I ran straight into a mirror after taking literally one step into this infinite mirror maze. I witnessed the famous Bushman at Fisherman's Wharf scaring unsuspecting passersby. I awkwardly sat in the lounge rooms of distant relatives during Chinese New Year and guiltily accepted red envelopes from them while they kept feeding us with Asian sweets. I forced some down my throat to the point where I started tearing from laughing at how bad they were, but pretended to love it.

I'm leaving in a few days. I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE. LET ME STAY. Maybe I should arrive at the airport late to hold everyone up and extend my time here, even if it's for a few minutes. Or I should arrive so late that they leave without me. Then I'd be too broke to afford a ticket home. Then I'll have to start going college here with my cousins. I just don't want to go home yet.

City Of Sins

Las Vegas. This city never sleeps at night. I can't even begin to describe how much I love this city. It's a completely different vibe and almost feels like a different place when the sun has gone to shine on another continent.

So after spending two days in San Francisco and catching up with my family in America (OUTDOOR ICE SKATING RINK WITH FAKE SNOW AT UNION SQUARE ESHAYS), we got up at 6am to begin our tour to Las Vegas. Those few days were such a fun bonding experience with my families.

The road trip there was long and exhausting, even though we were mostly sitting and napping on the same spot for an entire day, only getting up to stop by a few stores in the middle of nowhere to stretch our legs. I loved how our tour guide told us to not buy food for our first stop because it'd be a really short break, but my uncle, aunty and dad all came back one by one with bags of food. Rebellion must run in the family.

Our first landmark was Badwater Basin in Death Valley, which is a very cold desert that consists of a lot of salt. Apparently it is the lowest point in North America, which is 282ft (86m) below sea level.

That night, we stayed at a small inn before leaving at the crack of dawn, back on the road to Las Vegas again. We stopped at Zabriskie Point, which is another part of Death Valley. The soft pastel colours of the landscape was just so unique and bare of anything.

It was a crazy few hours when we finally arrived at Vegas. Do you know how easy it is for minors to "accidentally" slip coins into the slot machines, bash a few buttons then pull the lever? Each uniquely themed hotel has a large casino in it so it's easy for anyone to gamble. Our hotel, Excalibur, was a GODDAMN CASTLE WITH FLAMING TORCHES, KNIGHT ARMOURIES AND FLEUR DI LIS SYMBOLS LINING THE CORRIDORS. Yeah, cool story, bro. It actually has (displays of) dragons and shit.

We visited a majority of the hotels and casinos to watch the shows and displays they put on at intervals. The highlights would be the indoor canal and fake sky at the Venetian hotel, which reminded me of the Great Hall in Hogwarts, the Fountains of Bellagio and Freemont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas.

My absolute favourite song, It's Time by Imagine Dragons, was blasted across blocks so how could I not love the vibe downtown? I was surprised by the amount of people with signs protesting to legalise marijuana, which was more than the amount of prostitutes I saw.

Imagine your drowsy self waking up to views that sparkles and twinkles at 6am because that was what I got.

The Grand Canyon was our next stop. I didn't realise it was in Arizona and that we were in a completely different time zone as well. I feel so small minded not knowing my geography. It is like the "real" America here with the Native Americans and their tipis. There's only one way I can describe it - It really was grand.

We decided to take a helicopter around the Grand Canyon. It's like you're on a very loud magic carpet hovering in mid air, which is the point of it, but I still found it a cool experience. We also went on a little boat on the Colorado River, which was pretty amazing. There were these Chinese old men TAKING PHOTOS OF US AND VLOGGING OR WHATEVER AND THEY WERE LIKE, "DIS IS MA QURLS." HEY MAN, I AIN'T NERBODY'S GURL. *sassy z snaps*

The Grand Canyon Skywalk's glass floor allowed us to see over a kilometre down the canyon, which was enough to make me want to just lie there whimpering and worm across the whole thing. There wasn't a time limit on how long we could stay, but there is only so long we can amuse ourselves with our "gnome shoes" (the brown cloths that covered our shoes so we don't damage the glass floor). WE AIN'T LEAVING TILL WE GET OUR MONEY'S WORTH.

We went back to Vegas, with a short stop at Hoover Dam, and explored the Vegas night life ourselves. I've lost track of the amount of buffets we've had so far in America.

The next day, we moved to Planet Hollywood hotel. I screwed up my ankle there because I was that person running and twirling around 23 floors of the hotel in my pyjamas at 12am and jumping in fast elevators because gravity is fun. For some reason, the highest floor can't be entered by elevator. Every time I push the button, it takes us back down to the tenth floor. IS THIS SOME KIND OF GRINGOTTS SORCERY?

The last three days of our time here, we mainly shopped, bought a junk load of souvenirs and tried to go as many hotels and casinos as we could along the Las Vegas Strip. It was like all the major cities and landmarks all on one street, but on a smaller scale. The interiors were all so creative and unique.

Vegas is definitely for the nocturnals and those who'd love having music follow them from indoors to sidewalks.

City Of Angels

I'm chasing health rather than chasing fortune and fame in Los Angeles. What horrible timing to get sick. I've been getting more acquainted to every restroom within a 100 metre proximity than anything else here.

The first thing I noticed when we arrived at our hotel (just minutes away from the major theme parks) was how the air smelt like an ice skating rink because it was so cold. I loved it. The second thing I noticed and definitely not used to is how intimate waiters and waitresses are. They would have a little welcome speech, introduce their names and constantly ask if you need anything else. Their kindness made me uncomfortable. What am I supposed to respond with?! It feels too intimate to thank them using their names so instead, I stared blankly back, being the well mannered person I am. Tipping also made me feel self conscious because we didn't know whether we were under tipping them and being judged as the stereotypical cheap Asian. I also couldn't get over the amount of hypebeasts and people who think they have swag, which makes me want to burn their snapbacks.

On our second day in Los Angeles, we went to the supposed happiest place on Earth - Disneyland! It was my second time there, so I don't think it could ever live up to my first time, two years ago, as nothing came as a surprise or new experience for me. A lot of the good rides I remembered were closed as well. And my day consisted of a lot of intense, sharp stomach pains and running to the restrooms to chuck a vom vom or bom bom every 15-60 minutes.

We took lots of photos with characters and got "their" autographs in between rides. We also impulse bought 437891 toys (which I already regret) that won't fit in our luggages and souvenir pennies.

I think my favourite land/world in Disneyland is Toontown. The little fictional based stores there made you feel like you've been thrown into a cartoon show. I couldn't even tell whether the sky and hills were real or not at first.

The third day was spent at California Adventure Park. A must here is the Radiator Springs Racers ride, even if it means you have to wait in line for two hours, it's definitely worth it. The ferris wheel at Pier Paradise is a must too. Don't take the normal cages though, take the cages that swings violently as the wheel turns until you scream yourself hoarse. It was the craziest thing - I felt like our cage was going to be thrown into the sea below and my internal organs were being flung inside my rib cage as much as I was inside that cage.

I wasn't allowed to eat (due to being fully sick brah), but holy, the warm, creamy Mickey Mouse shaped pretzels were so good. Or maybe everything just tastes infinitely better if you're told not to eat for 24 hours and there's just something about being told you're not allowed to do something that makes you want to do that something more.

We finished the day with a water light show. It was so amazing! All I remember was a bunch of projected lights of Disney characters into the water and the water doing fancy things to reenact a few scenes from Disney movies. It was better than any hallucinogen I can imagine.

We went to Universal Studios on our fourth day. Again, there wasn't much that came as a surprise to me because I've been there before, but that doesn't change how nerve racking it was to line up and know what kind of horror and sharp turning corners await. Most of the rides here are virtual rides so the effects were really cool and felt real like how Sideshow Bob was trying to chase and murder us through Springfield.

We also had a studio tour to see some of the actual sets of movies, props and how some effects were done in films.

Adjacent to Universal Studios was Universal City Walk. It was made to look like a mini Hollywood. Personally, I liked it there more than the real Hollywood, which we went right after.

Like the last time I came to Hollywood, I immediately ran in search for the Harry Potter trio's prints in the cement. That's the only thing there I liked. Along the whole boulevard was just people trying to lure tourists in buying their goods, people handing out flyers and homeless people asking for money for every tour bus that unloads another round of tourists.

I think one of the best moments of our time here in Los Angeles was to convince mum and dad to yolo and go on rides when they would normally just stand back and hold onto our belongings like a hat stand and poorly attempt to snap (blurry) photos of us on the ride. Another would be our taxi driver who drove us around the few days we were there. He reminds me of Ranjit from How I Met Your Mother. He was just so friendly and fun to talk to.

NEXT STOP, SAN FRANCISCO.

Maroubra

The perfect way to start a year? All nighter then drive through the quiet city at dawn towards the beach to watch the sun rise with a group of your closest people. Did I just describe the perfect date? My friends are too romantic and symbolic for their own good. Especially Desiree who made it her mission to kiss everyone.

Sadly, we couldn't really see the sun rise because it was too cloudy and overcast. We could just see everything get brighter and brighter. We also shared our New Year's resolutions. Yep, my friends are definitely corny. Happy 2013!

Featherdale

If I ever fail university or life in general, I am going to be a zoo keeper. Even if it means I'm scooping poop all day while squawking and hooting at birds in an attempt to communicate with my equals. Featherdale Wildlife Park is the closest Australian animal experience you can get in Sydney and is definitely worth the visit.

I upgraded to an iPhone 5 recently so I haven't a case for it yet. Instead, I use a sandwich bag to cushion the fall in case I drop my phone. I was laughed at the entire day but whatever, safety always makes people look ridiculous. Life jackets make you look fat. Safety goggles make you look dorky. Helmets make you look like you have a tumour. Anyway, the point of this is that a goat tried to eat my phone. JUST BECAUSE MY PHONE WAS IN A SANDWICH BAG, IT DOES NOT MAKE IT A SANDWICH.

We crashed Elaine's place after and ate all her food, watched movies and took endless photos of our distorted faces on Photo Booth. Perfect way to end the day.