San Jose Digs

Stayed up 'til the early hours of Friday waiting for 5Kim to take Mark and Me to the train/bus station for the bus ride to Seattle (and subsequent train ride to California). Thanks to rushed packing on my part I ended up leaving my shades, SIM card and video camera but brought the vidcam accessories. Extra weight I don't need. Border crossing was routine.

After an exhausting 25-hour train ride (only because it took awhile to find a comfortable sleeping position on those 2 seats in coach) I arrive at San Jose 1 hour 45 minutes late. Emark disembarked one stop earlier at Oakland. Amtrak didnt' even apologize. There to greet me at the station was Dulcie and (to my surprise) her husband Mark, a native of Vietnam who moved to the US when he was nine, though his accent could pass him off as Vietnamese with a Southern twang. For lunch they took me to Jollibee, with it's $4.99 Chicken Joy Meal (well, it was served with mashed potatoes, more rice and a bottomless beverage). After lunch we headed for (and crossed half of) the Golden Gate Bridge. Maybe it was the searing heat, but I wasn't that impressed with it. Dulcie and Mark seemed surprised that I wasn't taking more pictures. Next stop, the Exploratorium, where they filmed the scene between Sean Connery and Claire Forlani in The Rock. (Turns out there's no bench in the center spot where they sat.) Lots of people having their wedding pictures taken there, though.

Next up was Fishermans' Wharf and Pier 39, where I saw sea lions, shops and shops and shops (probably should've brought the vidcam), and bought a new pair of shades ($7.99 + tax) for myself and 2 bracelets for Rachelle ($10). We then headed for Coit Tower, a lookout point to see the downtown San Francisco and the Bay Bridge. We probably would've seen more had we actually climed the tower but none of us wanted to pay the $3.75 fee. Last stop of the day was Chinatown, where after some window-shopping we ate at a (what else) Chinese restaurant once visited by the likes of Jackie Chan, Nicholas Cage and Emeril Lagasse. Mark ordered enough food to feed (IMO) 5 people. I was stuffed and was getting a migraine from all the walking we did. Trooper that I was I didn't let on about it.

Now I'm typing this on Dulcie's roomate Eloisa's (aka Balut) computer. After checking my email (12:03am), I find that a couple of my Ebay auctions got bids, and it closes in a couple of hours. Eloisa and Dulcie (and 3rd roomate Joel) have a couple of friends over and are currently watching an F4 concert (is there no escaping these dorks?) on VCD. I just had 2 glasses of Corona beer with lemon, and I feel fine.