98 Degrees and Rising - the Golden Gate Bridge edition
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Published: November 18th 2016
Growing up in Indonesia in the early 1990s, my exciting introduction to the United States was mostly defined by American pop culture. I had heard of a place called San Francisco for the first time from Bob Saget’s cheeky Full House - opening with those pretty colorful houses on a hilly landscape by the ocean. Seemed to be a perfect city for me.
That was followed by MTV's boy band craze. My fascination with this city was reshaped by 98 Degrees’ ‘
">Because of You’ video. The boys were definitely pretty, but my interest was definitely the incredible red bridge in the video. At that point, I set my sights on visiting San Francisco. Someday.
Fast forward to almost twenty years later: I have visited hundreds of cities on six continents. Now, I have the perfect opportunity to set foot in San Francisco for the first time.
Golden Gate Bridge Why is this bridge so captivating? I sit down along the busy bike path by the Bay for a while, just staring. I’m fascinated with the blanket of fog moving through the bridge, and all sort of tourists taking quick selfies. And of course I have to do it
as well (but no duck lips for me).
The best perspective to get the real scale of the bridge is from Fort Point National Historic Site, located right underneath. From the third level of the fortification, the oversize beams are just above your head and they are massive.
I manage, somewhat last minute, to run the Golden Gate Bridge Half Marathon the next morning. The fog is dense when we start at 7 AM. Soon enough, we are soaked - mostly from fog condensation, but also sweat: 13.1 miles is not a short distance. But it is rewarding.
At mile 6, our route starts to climb to the beginning of the bridge. We have to run across it twice, to Sausalito and back to San Francisco. At one point, the bridge seems to disappear mid-cloud. I look down to the chilly water below and shudder. Talk about dark tourism - it's also a favorite place where thousands have ended their lives.
California Academy of Sciences Through some connections, I get into the
California Academy of Sciences for free. So, Charles meets me at the "donor's and guest's" entrance and hands me an ID sticker -
making me an official notable visitor for the day! That's cool because I get the "behind the scenes" tour of the aquarium - from Life Support to Quarantine. What's not to love about this place? The Steinhart Aquarium was designed by world famous architect,
Renzo Piano. It has one of the highest Green Sustainable LEED Platinum Certifications, and it just happens to be the home of the largest coral reef exhibit in the world.
I spend some time in the newly-opened Twilight Zone exhibit. Do I really see three living nautilus? Why yes! I do. What are those flashing lights inside the dark exhibit? Those are the eyes of fish from deep in the ocean. How deep can a scientist dive using a closed circuit rebreather? Answer: 500 feet for 15 minutes bottom time.
Next up: Earthquake! As if an ice cube inside a margarita shaker, I enjoy being shaken in a mock-up of a Victorian house, mimicking the 1906 San Francisco great earthquake. You can even see the Painted Ladies in the background! Hanging plates and cups start to clatter, a painting swings wildly on the wall. I’m glad that this is not the real thing!
Eat on the Cheap! Chinatown, San Francisco I love Asian food and I love to eat. Since so many immigrants from the west have been settling in the San Francisco Bay Area for generations,
Chinatown is perfectly established and is definitely one of the "must-explore" neighborhoods in the city. And if goes without saying that one of the biggest reasons people come here is to eat. You simply must try the food in Chinatown.
But where do you find the cheap, delicious stuff? My find for a great (and cheap) lunch was
Wing Sing Dim Sum - just five bucks - cash only. The lunch special at this restaurant consists of one big scoop of steamed rice, and three side dishes with a choices of protein. Side dishes, you say? Yes, unlike in the west, where protein is king, in many Asian cultures, rice is actually the main dish. The proteins and other items are the sides.
After getting my pile of food from the counter, I walk across the greasy floor to the few open tables in this cramped restaurant to share a table with an older gentleman reading a Chinese newspaper. He looked up and smiled, "Yes,
you may sit down with me. I’m almost done here." - no foreign accent whatsoever.
You know the food is good at a restaurant when it seems like only locals eat there. This was one of those places. The other place to eat worth mentioning is
King of Noodles - it even has the Anthony Bourdain seal of approval. It took me two buses to get here, but it was totally worth it. They make their noodles fresh everyday, and their wonton wide noodle dish with ginger-based broth is definitely one of the best I’ve ever tasted. Total cost? $8.50 - tips included.
Where are you from? I was sorting through used t-shirts at Goodwill, when suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder.
"Excuse me. Are you Chinese or Japanese?" I sigh. Here we go again. I turn around to see a small Chinese lady standing in front of me, smiling. I definitely didn’t expect this non-accented English question to be coming from her.
"Err .. it depends, but I’m neither," I grin. A typical answer I give people for this question.
"Could you please tell me whether this is a music CD
or a DVD?" She’s holding a CD case. Sure, I think I will know of the answer. So I take it from her hand and inspect it. Hmmmm, I think, two happy Asian men dancing on the cover of the case. Everything is written in traditional Chinese. That’s all I know, but I notice something else. Every track seems to be roughly 3 minutes.
"It seems that you have both – it is a music DVD, ma’am," I smile.
"Oh thank you so much. I will definitely get this." She proceeds to explain that she’s now learning Chinese, as she grew up in town speaking English. That’s an interesting story for me.
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