Mum asked me on the phone yesterday, whats with the travel writer-esque notes?
Why am I assiduously recording my everyday here? And mailing it to everyone who cares to read?
Well, mostly cos I just really have to have to share what I see and do. I ended up with a phone bill as thick as a notebook when I was in Paris sharing my week there. Figured I'd use better technology this time :) that said, I have stuck my tired feet in a bathtub full of hot water, gotten myself a Corona and ordered a pizza and wondered if this is what life would be like if I did live in America. 'Cos I did briefly consider moving here today when I walked into the Whole Foods store nearby. Whole Foods is like all the content of travel brochure for California - in a retail store. Everything that goes into the making of 'the good life' is sold in this store. Or at least retail in America will actually convince you of that. Cheeses, wines and beers in shelves that are size of large living rooms, flowers bursting with color, strawberries the size of my fist, fresh salmon (and no smell inside the store!), low cal apples (whatever that is!) grilled chicken, gourmet chocolate....sigh! It's a multisensory assault; A see, taste and smell fiesta. To get out from there in under and hour you need to know exactly what you want. Milk? 1% fat or 2%? ....or full fat? Or organic? Soy? Or half and half? Eggs - organic or farm grown? brown or white? large or small!!! 20 kinds of milk, 15 kinds of eggs and countless kinds of beers. I swear I could see my brother rolling down the beer aisles and crying in joy!
Needless to say, I had worked up quite an appetite by the time I left the store. Lunch was a freshly made pizza at the Italian joint next door called uncle Vito's (An original San Francisco pizzeria since 1977, it says on the menu) This tiny li'l place has a corridor that serves as a kitchen cum entrance and an adjoining dining that's seats 10. As you wait to be seated uncle Vito's, daughter or niece or granddaughter, buxom, dark haired and dark eyed, bustles around with tall glasses of coke in her hand and you can watch uncle Vito stuff the calzone with pepperoni, salami, ricotta, mushrooms and mozzarella. A calzone and The mountain (salami, pepperoni, mushroom, bell pepper, onions and sausage) later I was ready to catch some siesta. But it was conference time and off to the Moscone center I went, in a taxi ride straight out of a Hollywood movie.
Hailed down a cab that had overshot us on a one way street and he stuck his head out and yelled, 'I'll be back! I'll be back' it's kinda funny in your head when you are in the land that has Schwarzenegger as governor. ;) he came back at full tilt and said 'welcome to America my friend! And for didn't shut up for the next 7 minutes while he almost never took his feet off the accelerator! S. Uchoa. That was his name. The cops challaning him, the Chinese having the most expensive cars in the city, the hours he worked...we heard it all. He swerved, revved, stuck his head out and told the driver driving a Lexus next to us "nice car man, can I go ahead of you?' while we watched a Chinese man inside the car through tinted glasses draw deeply on a cigar. He crossed a black dude and said 'watts up yo!?', he crossed a Sikh man in a turban and yelled out at him, "Shukran! Shukran!' and when he got no acknowledgement, turns around to tell us, 'Nah! Not a real Hindu!' 'Shukran everyday man! Allah be praised!'
I say this everyday....this really is the land of the crazies!
Moscone Centre.
For a geeky IT shindig, the information security do V is here for had the some of the glitziest booths I've ever seen. I pads to win for a code breaking challenge, fruits in fishbowls for people walking in, BD guys in razor sharp suits, rumpled Indian techies, event managers in dark glasses and chicks who looked like Paris hilton...blondes and titian haired girls in short skirts and sky high heels. Even the FBI had a booth there, the girls seemed to do nothing more than play with a yo yo ball on steroids in front of one of the booths and gather crowds. Smoked zucchini and turkey breast, chicken teriyaki skewers, wine and beer on trays carried by liveried caterers. Some conference this!
Why am I assiduously recording my everyday here? And mailing it to everyone who cares to read?
Well, mostly cos I just really have to have to share what I see and do. I ended up with a phone bill as thick as a notebook when I was in Paris sharing my week there. Figured I'd use better technology this time :) that said, I have stuck my tired feet in a bathtub full of hot water, gotten myself a Corona and ordered a pizza and wondered if this is what life would be like if I did live in America. 'Cos I did briefly consider moving here today when I walked into the Whole Foods store nearby. Whole Foods is like all the content of travel brochure for California - in a retail store. Everything that goes into the making of 'the good life' is sold in this store. Or at least retail in America will actually convince you of that. Cheeses, wines and beers in shelves that are size of large living rooms, flowers bursting with color, strawberries the size of my fist, fresh salmon (and no smell inside the store!), low cal apples (whatever that is!) grilled chicken, gourmet chocolate....sigh! It's a multisensory assault; A see, taste and smell fiesta. To get out from there in under and hour you need to know exactly what you want. Milk? 1% fat or 2%? ....or full fat? Or organic? Soy? Or half and half? Eggs - organic or farm grown? brown or white? large or small!!! 20 kinds of milk, 15 kinds of eggs and countless kinds of beers. I swear I could see my brother rolling down the beer aisles and crying in joy!
Needless to say, I had worked up quite an appetite by the time I left the store. Lunch was a freshly made pizza at the Italian joint next door called uncle Vito's (An original San Francisco pizzeria since 1977, it says on the menu) This tiny li'l place has a corridor that serves as a kitchen cum entrance and an adjoining dining that's seats 10. As you wait to be seated uncle Vito's, daughter or niece or granddaughter, buxom, dark haired and dark eyed, bustles around with tall glasses of coke in her hand and you can watch uncle Vito stuff the calzone with pepperoni, salami, ricotta, mushrooms and mozzarella. A calzone and The mountain (salami, pepperoni, mushroom, bell pepper, onions and sausage) later I was ready to catch some siesta. But it was conference time and off to the Moscone center I went, in a taxi ride straight out of a Hollywood movie.
Hailed down a cab that had overshot us on a one way street and he stuck his head out and yelled, 'I'll be back! I'll be back' it's kinda funny in your head when you are in the land that has Schwarzenegger as governor. ;) he came back at full tilt and said 'welcome to America my friend! And for didn't shut up for the next 7 minutes while he almost never took his feet off the accelerator! S. Uchoa. That was his name. The cops challaning him, the Chinese having the most expensive cars in the city, the hours he worked...we heard it all. He swerved, revved, stuck his head out and told the driver driving a Lexus next to us "nice car man, can I go ahead of you?' while we watched a Chinese man inside the car through tinted glasses draw deeply on a cigar. He crossed a black dude and said 'watts up yo!?', he crossed a Sikh man in a turban and yelled out at him, "Shukran! Shukran!' and when he got no acknowledgement, turns around to tell us, 'Nah! Not a real Hindu!' 'Shukran everyday man! Allah be praised!'
I say this everyday....this really is the land of the crazies!
Moscone Centre.
For a geeky IT shindig, the information security do V is here for had the some of the glitziest booths I've ever seen. I pads to win for a code breaking challenge, fruits in fishbowls for people walking in, BD guys in razor sharp suits, rumpled Indian techies, event managers in dark glasses and chicks who looked like Paris hilton...blondes and titian haired girls in short skirts and sky high heels. Even the FBI had a booth there, the girls seemed to do nothing more than play with a yo yo ball on steroids in front of one of the booths and gather crowds. Smoked zucchini and turkey breast, chicken teriyaki skewers, wine and beer on trays carried by liveried caterers. Some conference this!
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| Huffing and puffing through the streets of Frisco |
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