Day 6 – Thursday, December 9th, 2004
We woke up with a great passion to discover the last bits we could afford of San Francisco for the last day. To start off the day, we laid out our plan: from nine to noon, onto Oakland City Center by BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and then reverse to the southern area of San Francisco – Balboa Park station. After that, go try MUNI – we hadn’t decided where we are about to go yet.
A calm day in OaklandPurchasing the BART tickets was a bitter chore. There was no clear instruction on the ticket vending machine. What confused us most was that to buy a ticket to a specific destination, you didn’t actually select the destination on the screen. We had to check the fare to a particular destination on a printed map, then put our money into the machine as much as the fare goes, multiplied that to two, and the tickets went out. Unlike in Malaysia, the ticketing process for subways and alike was much easier. You don’t necessarily consult a map - just press the designated station, the fare is informed, put your fare, and off you go. Yes, I do think that the Malaysian style is much more user friendly. In Malaysia, you can buy tickets directly to the station salesperson. For BART, you just can’t.
The Oakland City CenterThe BART trains were quite comfortable. The journey to Oakland, crossing the Oakland Bay, took about 15 minutes with several stops. Finally we arrived in the Oakland City Center station. It’s located in a compound, where several shops and restaurants were also located. We took a little walk around and outside the compound. A couple of photographs were taken and we’re on our way back to San Francisco and then to Balboa Park.
Outside the Balboa Park
BART StationThe journey to Balboa Park from Oakland City Center took about 20 – 25 minutes. We were eagerly expecting for a great park to come up with, but we were disappointed – or else we didn’t know enough about its whereabout. When we came out of the Balboa Park station, we’re faced with a freeway and some streets. There’s no park, we thought. After spending 15 minutes just wandering around, we went back to Civic Center station where we started.
The MUNI and the warm local
The warm local and me,
infront of her houseOur next schedule was riding on the MUNI. I don’t know how to describe this mode of transport. It’s a cable car, in my eyes, but it also looked like a bus. It had pantographs above it guiding its way. It also had a track overlaying the streets. It didn’t always stop at stations; when it went out of underground, it stopped on the streets. It also had a flexible connecting hub between cars that would bend if the whole commuter turned. The fare was only a dollar and a few cents for each. The fare lasted for about 2 hours; within that time you’re free to wander anywhere. Luckily we could purchase the tickets by the salesperson in the Civic Center station. Yes, it merged up with BART when it went undergound. The different routes were designated by letters. Because we decided to go to the Golden Gate Park west of San Francisco, we took the N route.
The beautiful
Botanical Garden!We were lucky to meet a good local who assisted us finding our way to Golden Gate Park. She said she lives near the park, and so she decided to let us follow her directions. “I’ll show you how to get to that park. It’s a huge park, 40 blocks away to the coast.” I can’t remember her name, but she was real nice – letting us to go inside her house and gave us a pretty map of the park. “You definitely need a better map,” referring to our unscaled, incomplete map of the park. “Have you entered the typical American house?” she asked. “No, it’s just now that we do it,” I replied. The house was very American like you see in movies. It was comfortable and quite decent and spacious.
The big tree at the entranceThat moment I asked her, “You ask tourists to come to your house?” My father laughed and she giggled. “Now I tell you what, I’m a tour guide, and I guide tourists to this park,” Ah, that’s why. She knows a great deal about the park, I realised. “Because the park is so huge, you can’t have it all in a day. The nearest attraction would be the Botanical Garden and the glasshouse. I suggest that you follow this route.” She drew a trail on the map. “The Botanical Garden is beautiful.”
She took us out, and I asked her if we could have a photo together. Then she told us, “Let me show the entrance to the park. Follow me.” We followed her. It’s only one block away from her house to the park; in fact, we can see the park once we came out of the house. Arriving on the edge of the block, she told, “Look, walk two blocks from here and you’ll find the entrance to Botanical Garden. Now, good luck and have a nice evening!” We thanked her and she went back to her house. We continued the walk as she suggested.
The great park and the end of it all
It's the foggy 'FriscoThe Botanical Garden was, yes, definitely serene and beautiful. It is here that I first met a group of squirrels. They’re cute. They jumped here and there, and would sometimes go your way and rise up their body asking if you’ve got any food for them! There were big trees and lush green grass everywhere. Many types of plantations were showcased. There was also a pond with swans and chairs on the edge. It was a dream park. I haven’t seen all the Golden Gate Park yet, but the Botanical Garden itself was just enough for our limited time.
The SF City HallWe routed our way back past the house we entered, and then waited for MUNI on the side of the street. It took about 15 minutes, waiting for it. We traced our way back to the Civic Center station. The day started to show signs of dawn and it was foggy. Yes, it was cold, too. It would soon be the end of our days here, I thought. We went back to our hotel and packed everything back to their places. Before departing to the airport, we went to the Chronicle Books store in Sony Metreon where I bought a design book. Then I went to the Mosser Hotel where Willem still stayed to meet him for the last time. Unfortunately he was not in his room. So, what could we do? We went back to the hotel walking quite a distance.
After checking all of our bags, we took a cab to the Marriott, because the airport shuttle awaited for us there. We waited for about 15 minutes before the shuttle actually arrived to pick us up. I slept along the way to the airport. It was a tiring week, not because of the hectic activities, but the jetlag! Everytime you wake up in the morning, you still feel sleepy! Arriving in the airport, my mind quickly reminisced back to a couple of days ago where we first arrived here, in the same shuttle compound area. Soon it would be the end of it all…
Arrived in Hong Kong
the next (two) day(s)We lined up our way to the check-in counter, where we met many Filipinos, checked our way in, had dinner, took some videos, took the X-ray chores (where we had to take off our shoes, socks, belts, jackets, and everything metal). There was no immigration procedure; we went direct to the departure lounge. Many of the passengers were, I assumed, immigrant Filipinos going back to their homeland for Christmas and New Year. The clock ticked 23.50pm, 20 minutes before the plane took off. We boarded the plane, and I tried to relax myself in the narrow seat. It would be the last minutes of our wonderful stay here. The 20 hours flights awaited us… and at the end of it all, the heat of Jakarta greeted us back, so very soon.