San Francisco - the Desi daytrip - part 1
As you all know, San Francisco Bay Area is pretty much the Desi Capital of the West. With the technology industry relying increasingly on the smarts and sweat of Indian engineers, the flood of migrants and visitors from India continues.
One of the interesting phenomena out here is the out of town visitors that all of us get - and the typical places that we take them out to - to show them the sights and sounds of the bay area. While most of these are perennial favorites with any visitors, as usual Desis tend to be more conventional and congregate even more to the most popular of these places.
Today I’m gonna describe one such trip we made recently, on Sunday, December 30, 2007 when my Uncle, Aunt and Cousin were visiting us from Shanghai. My favorite route takes me from Fremont north on 880 then across the Bay Bridge to my first stop at Treasure Island. As many of you would know, the Bay Bridge connects the East Bay (Oakland) to San Francisco. The bridge consists of two spans with the Treasure Island in the middle. There isn’t much to see on Treasure Island itself, but the views of the San Francisco skyline from the island are spectacular. You can see the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, the infamous Alcatraz (remember “The Rock” starring Sean Connery) prison on an island in the middle of the bay, etc. A tip to budding photographers - since San Francisco is to the West of Treasure Island, the best time to take photographs is in the morning with the Sun behind you. In the afternoon, the glare of sunshine makes it difficult to get good pictures of the city skyline. But then, like my cousin - a serious arts student from Shanghai said - “what’s the point of taking perfect pictures? :-)” so the more creative types amongst you might just relish the challenge.
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