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[penning-silly-thoughts]

New Years in San Francisco – Day 1

A warm place to spend the winter weekend at

I had been planning something special for New Year’s this time, something that I had not done before in my life. I decided for an end to end solo trip, starting right from planning to execution. I stumbled upon a few places, starting from the nearest cities- Portland, Salem, Eugene (in Oregon) to farther ones like Orlando, Salt Lake City, San Francisco.

Seattle being a cold and rainy city, I wanted someplace that was warm and in addition to that had a good number of things to take a tour of, and that is when I decided to visit Orlando. It had warm temperature and a lot of Disney world kind of places. I did a pretty good research but was confused up until I thought of finalizing San Francisco.

I don’t remember why it hit me, but I am glad I decided on SF!!

Stay on budget at Green Tortoise Hostel

I planned to stay in SF for 3 days and 2 nights. I looked at flight rates- the rates were still pretty cheap. Post that, I searched for available accommodations for the time I’ll be there. I planned to stay in a hostel, for two reasons: to meet new people and to stay in budget.

Green Tortoise was the best-rated hostel on hostelworld.com. It is by Broadway St and Keary St with good proximity to restaurants, fisherman’s wharf, China town, Telegraph Hill and much more.

The only thing that you would need to take care of is that though the hostel had good connectivity to most of the places, it was in a block full of strip clubs. So, if you are uncomfortable with it, choose your stay accordingly.

How to reach the hostel

I landed in SF on 30th Dec at 8:15 am. As suggested by the hostel, I took BART train from airport to Montgomery St. station which was $8.95 and approx. 30-45 minutes ride. Montgomery St station is a 15 min walk to Green Tortoise Hostel. BART was the most convenient option for me but you can also take Amtrak shuttle bus or other shuttle services that are available at the airport for additional 10$.

What to do if you reach before check-in time

I reached Montgomery St station at around 9 and I was thrilled to see the sunny town with tall architecturally beautiful buildings. From there I walked straight to my hostel appreciating the beauty around me. Now, check-in times for hostels are usually 2:00 pm or after that. It was 4:00 pm for Green Tortoise Hostel. I reached the hostel pretty early, but the hostel staff was very accommodating. They considered me for early check-in and suggested that my room would be ready by 1. I kept my bags in the locker room and had some breakfast (they have breakfast till 10:00 am).

What all to see

Coit Tower, Telegraph Hill

After some freshening up, I started towards my first target spot, Coit Tower. It is an uphill climb from Green Tortoise hostel towards Telegraph Hill. It was this place that made me fall in love with San Francisco. There were numerous closely packed pretty little houses on the way towards the tower adorned by the greenery around them. There is a good view of the beach from most of these houses.

The stairs to the tower had names of different people engraved on them signifying their donation to the restoration of the tower. This set of steps is Filbert Street Steps. There is another set of steps, the Greenwich Stairs that you can take to reach the tower.

Inside the tower, you’ll see paintings on each of its walls – also known as Murals. A Mural is a kind of art that is done directly on the wall. These paintings depict different aspects of life in San Fransisco and other parts of California. Some of these painters currently take classes in different art schools in and outside SF.

The tower itself is a 13-floor tall building that gives a 360-degree view of the city. Ticket for going to the top of the tower is $8 for non-SF residents. You can stay on the top of the tower for however much long as you want (of course unless they are closing). I stayed there for around 15 minutes enjoying the beauty of the city underneath and took some pictures. After coming down, I took a small stroll around the tower enjoying the narrow path along the tower walls.

While coming down the tower stairs, I saw an old-aged main selling lovely paintings done by him. I bought myself one of his artworks, a simple yet so beautiful painting of Yosemite Park (partly complete I guess).

General Trivia:

1) Coit tower is 84 years old and stands 210ft tall on the top of Telegraph Hill. It was commissioned by Lillie Hitchcock Coit who left 1/3rd of her fortune to the city as a tribute to the firemen of San Fransisco and her love for the city.

2) The other two famous hills in SF other than the Telegraph hill, are the Russian Hill and Nob Hill.

Muir Woods and Sausalito Tour

After coming down from the Telegraph Hill, I first went to my hostel and checked into my room and headed for my next spot. I had pre-booked an “Afternoon half day tour to Muir Woods and Sausalito” via Viator in partnership with Gray Line of San Francisco. The tour was to begin at 2:00 pm and it was already 1:30 pm. I rushed to the Gray Line‘s office. I decided to stop by a cafe, Cafe La Taza near their office to get some sandwich and coffee. Apparently, this cafe has a good rating on Yelp, but my experience of both food and beverage was really bad. This makes to my list of places to not eat in San Francisco.

SF streets are really busy on weekends because of which the tour bus was late by half an hour. It arrived at 2:30 and all the people in the group got settled in and we started off crossing some of the very famous streets of San Francisco, like Lombard St., Pacific Heights (also known as Billionaire’s row), and the guide telling us about some historical facts about the city. Muir woods is approximately 16 miles from the main city across the famous Golden Gate Bridge. We reached the forest around 3:30 and had 90 minutes to take a stroll in the woods.

THE WOODS

Muir woods had one of the most spectacular views. These are the giant redwood trees that have their roots intertwined which helps to hold together the soil against winds or floods. There are 2 to 3 trails in the woods, you can take whichever you prefer. All of these go through the whole forest. The best part about Muir was that the area was so dense and yet so quiet.

Small Tip: There’s a cafe as you enter the Muir woods and washrooms just beside it, outside of which you’ll see a huge queue on a busy day. Better to use washrooms that are just outside the entrance.

KEY FACT – there is no phone network in and around Muir Woods. You’ll have to travel around 2/2.5 miles till you get the network back.

The exciting part

After spending an hour and a half in the woods, I came out to realize that my bus has left. It was already getting dark, the main office had closed and all other people were slowly leaving. With zero network connectivity, I could not make a call to either the tour company or any other person that I might know. Throwing away the idea to walk till I get a network, I hitch-hiked with a family back to San Fransisco.

Dinner at New Woey Loy Goey

By this time, I was literally starving, so I looked for the best oriental restaurants that would be near my hostel. I found this top-rated Chinese restaurant, Chong Qing Xiao Mian and booked a cab from Pier 39(where the family dropped me) to the restaurant. There was a long queue outside the restaurant and it was already 6. I had planned to reach the hostel by 8 to get a good night’s sleep for an early beginning the next day. So I wandered a bit and stopped at “New Woey Loy Goey“, another Chinese Restaurant. It was full too, but since I was alone I managed to get a seat at the bar. I ordered Vegetarian Chowmein and though the quantity was huge, I did not like the taste of it very much. But it was good enough to satisfy my hunger. Oh Oh, and there was free Chinese green tea served as a welcome drink.

After finishing the dinner, I walked to my hostel. On my way, I crossed a group of Chinese people singing and dancing to authentic Chinese music. I stood there listening to them for a while and then continued on my way back to the hostel.

I dozed off within few minutes after reaching the hostel.

[penning-silly-thoughts]

A weekend getaway to Leavenworth!!

On a random day before Christmas, I was talking to a friend about places near Seattle to visit during this time of the year. We ended up discussing about this place Leavenworth, a small village, around 2-hour drive from Seattle on a clear day. I came back home and did some research on this place and other attractions near it before finalizing the plan. It was one of the top recommended places to visit near Seattle to enjoy Christmas decorations. Everything planned and we set on our road trip on 17th December around 11am in morning from Seattle. Glad the weather was clear that day. It was sunny in Seattle and one could see green trees and clear hills all along till we reached North Bend. It was all snowy till we reached Cle Elum, which was again sunny and green. On our way, we crossed a beautiful Wenatchee river, originating from Wenatchee lake and passing Leavenworth. At our final destination, Leavenworth there were green trees with bits of snow. Temperature was also not too low ~ 2 degrees in Celsius. 

As soon as we entered Leavenworth, we could see all the lights and decorations which was much talked about this place. The streets were full of people just wandering around and looking for the best shops and eateries to try. There were so many cars looking for a spot to park since most of the parking areas were full by this time. We actually had to go till the end of Icicle road to find a place to park. 

Small tip: Try to reach a little early to find a good parking spot and spend the entire evening going around the tiny shops and cafes in the village.

We were so excited to see all the decorations and performances on that tiny strip, we decided to take a round first and then get some dinner later. There was a small tent where a musical group of Mill Creek was performing Christmas carols. Oh!! how pleasing it was to my ears and eyes. I am really very fond of Christmas carols and didn’t want it to end. 

When it got over, we moved further ahead, and found a small place for wine tasting. I had a friend who is extremely fond of wine. Leavenworth, being rich in vineyards, was all the more reason to try wine available here. We went inside this tiny shop, “Hard Row to Hoe”, and tried their classic red and white wines. Wine tasting there costs you 12$ per person, but if you buy a bottle of wine, the tasting charges are waived off. And I was lucky to have this friend of mine, because he bought a bottle, we were not charged for wine tasting. Yayyy!!!!

Now, it’s been more than 5 hours since we had lunch, we were hungry and cold by this time, but all the restaurants either had a waiting list or a big queue outside. We got our name noted down in 4 restaurants and just waited for a call back. And I swear we were so happy when we got a call from a pizza place, “Sulla Vita” in just half an hour. We rushed to the restraint took our seats and cozied up in its warmth. We ordered two pizzas, Margherita and Funghi, pesto pasta. I also ordered a hot chocolate, and one of my friends ordered bear. Do remember to keep your id cards handy, because soft copies won’t work :). We were so full after the wholesome dinner at Sulla Vita and decided to head back to our hotel in Wenatchee.

We had planned for a 2 day, 1 night trip. We booked a hotel in Wenatchee, since all the hotels in Leavenworth were already full by the time we did our booking. Drive to the hotel was approximately 45 minutes from Leavenworth. We had booked Cedars Inn and it was a good budget hotel with indoor pool and sauna. It’s a good deal if you don’t find a place in Leavenworth. There was a 7*11 store and a casino right outside the hotel, whichever interests you 😉

Next morning, we woke up around 8, had breakfast (included in the booking) and continued our journey to Lake Chelan, the largest natural lake in Washington. On our way, we crossed so many scenic views, the snow-filled mountains and the clear skies - so much perfection. 

We reached Lake Chelan State Park and stayed there by the lake for an hour. We spent time enjoying the quiet and taking pictures of the beautiful view in front of us.

After spending time at Lake Chelan, we continued on our way back to Seattle. We stopped at Tin Lilly for lunch in Chelan city. It was the only place we found open on a Sunday. Food was good and serving was huge. 

After having a satisfying lunch, we set back on our way and by this time it had started raining. It was a little to difficult to drive back. We reached Seattle around 7pm. Our trip came to an end and we were happy to have spent such a good time in a beautiful place that 2 days seemed like a week. We are glad we made it 😁

[penning-silly-thoughts]

A Narrow Escape!!

Gurgaon being a place where you do not generally get a house without a broker involved, you are almost always accompanied by an agent(broker) for visiting the flats. So there I was traveling with one such broker for house hunting on the evening of 15 December, 2016. We had already seen 2 houses and when we were about to leave for the next place, this person parked his car outside a society and went to pee. I wonder if it was not so common for guys to pee publicly, how would they have survived. So anyways I was already perplexed at his action of leaving someone in dark in his car and go for peeing :/. I got more concerned when he took more than the normal expected time while I kept waiting for him to get done with whatever he went to do. Many thoughts crossed my mind: 1) It is ok. He must have really needed to pee 2) Should I leave and run, may be he is upto something 3) It is too dark till another 1km, will I be able to manage 4) Ways of saving myself from different things that could have happened While I was lost in my thoughts, I opened the my bag’s zip and got hold of pepper spray that I always carry around (Just incase there is an emergency). The broker came back from a 5 minute pee and then we started off for the next flat. So there I was sitting on the front seat with seat belt on and just thinking... There was a mild traffic jam where he had to stop the car momentarily. It is then when I realized there was something fishy going on the seat next to me. I didn’t turn my head completely towards him, but looking from the corner of my eye I was sure this person was masturbating. That was one of the creepiest and scariest moments. So now I knew what this guy was doing but didn’t want him to know that I knew. There was a sudden rush of ideas that crossed my mind in those 4-5 secs. Since I had put on seat belt, getting out of the car would take some time and taking out pepper spray and spraying it on that person could backfire, what if I fail to spray it at the right time and in the right way. What to do now?? Since we were stuck in jam, I took a quick decision, took off the belt, opened the door and started running as fast as I could.  And I am glad I was able to understand what was happening beside me and save myself what could have been a nightmare. One thing that I realized at that moment was that sex education is really really important. It won’t just promote safe sex but will also help little girls who fail to make sense of what is happening near them, around them and may be to them. So as a parent, friend, sister, brother or any other relationship, help younger ones know about what sex is, what masturbation is and teach them ways to help themselves when required. Make them comfortable so that they are able to share what might be happening with them with ease and without any shame or guilt, because when everyone starts standing up for the right thing, then only we can progress as a society :)

[penning-silly-thoughts]

Desperate Times Desperate Measures :(

So I found this coupon through an app where I was getting salon services for 1/3rd of the actual price. Very excitedly I bought the coupon at once and went to salon the next day. When I was done and making the payment to the manager, he started telling me about all other deals available. I was pretty curious to know about these deals and continued asking him questions on till when will the deal be on, etc. It is then when he told me about the status of his salon. He told me, “We are not getting enough customers and that is why we are providing so many deals. It would be great if you refer your friends as well”.

At that moment I realized, it was not a one of the many regular schemes that the salon owner started to impress and attract customers, it was just something he felt was required at the moment to keep the salon going. Now from the looks of the place, one would never know that it is going into loss, but it is hard to judge the actual situation from outer appearances I guess.

This person had to provide the services at such a low price, because he needed some customers and some money to continue in the race. As they say nothing comes free of cost and if it does there must be a reason behind it :)

[penning-silly-thoughts]

Who needs pampering when you can pamper yourself!!!

This morning when I woke up, I scrolled through the messages in my phone. Hurrayy!!, my account has been credited with this month’s salary. I had already become broke because I squandered all of my last month’s salary, the value of which you realize in the last few days of the month, when you really want to buy something but your bank balance doesn’t allow.

I completed my normal routine morning tasks and opened up my laptop to check on the latest social media sites’ updates. While I was doing that, it came to my mind, why not buy dumbbells. It is really awesome imagining yourself doing early morning exercises(aerobics more specifically). The first thing I did was to clear up all the payments required(rent and other charges), and continued to look for more online shopping items to appease myself. Didn’t shop though, going through the items was refreshing enough ;)

Since yesterday night, I was pruritic to have a chocolate. There was a message on my phone from some grocery shopping app saying they’ll give us an extra chocolate hamper with every order on the occasion of Rakshabandhan. There is never a time when you cannot do some grocery shopping. So yes, I did and got myself some handful of chocolates which were good enough to make me all joyous.

It is very easy to find happiness and satisfaction in little things, like making up your bed, cooking your favorite food, dancing to your favorite music, taking good care of your body and alike that can help you to have a beautiful and contented life!!

[penning-silly-thoughts]

Friends For Life

You can’t choose your enemies most of the time, be careful while choosing your friends :)

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Completing each other

Best is the relationship when you make up for the missing qualities of the other person :)

[penning-silly-thoughts]

Being Motivated

There is a possibility to learn from every person.