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I have had occasion to go to San Francisco a few times, basically due to work related travel. The first time, I got a chance to travel on a type of tram (a cable car running on the ground). Lots of fun and very enjoyable. Later, on different occasions, I got the chance to see some more sights in the city (tourist places, not the night life / clubbing culture). San Francisco has an incredible reputation as a very liberal city, with a very mixed population (it is apparently the first city in the US where the white population is now less than 50%). Plus, it has pretty good weather; visitors not from Iceland don’t freeze to death in the winter in San Francisco, unlike many other cities in the US :-).
So, as I mentioned, I got a chance to travel to San Francisco in the month of December. I like weather with a nip in the air, and that was exactly what I got. The first few days were spent in San Jose doing the usual company related drudgery, and then the first weekend came. There were a group of us, and we decided to spend a bit of money (although you can use a combination of the usual bus / BART / Caltrain stuff) and hire a cab that will take us out for a period of around 8 hours through the city and nearby places (imagine hearing from your friends again and again about the scenic Pacific Highway !).
The cab arrived sharp at 9 in the morning, and off we went. Given that we were somewhat of a novice to the whole area, we asked the cab guy to take us around a few of the places (of course, we did mention a few of the places we knew about such as - Golden Gate Bridge, Pacific Highway, Fisherman’s Wharf, Alcatraz). Off we went first to the Golden Gate Bridge (wikipedia) and then the highway beyond that. The Golden Gate Bridge is a mighty structure, worthy of admiring, and wondering how much time and effort went into building such a structure.

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When I heard the word ‘Canada’, all that I would think about was Toronto, Vancouver, snow, polar bears, eskimos, native americans and skyscrapers. And that was pretty much it. That was over a year ago. Now here I am, relating to you about my experience in the country I call home. After I got married more than a year ago, I joined my husband Kannan in Saskatoon, the capital city of Saskatchewan, an agricultural province of Canada. My intention here is not to portray Canada as a tourist destination. My emphasis is on the journey rather than the destination. I chose not to describe my trip to Toronto this summer for a good reason, which I hope every one would be able to appreciate once they read this.

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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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This is part 2 of my previous blog on the same place. You can read that by clicking here : Sin City and More

This is how it looks with those neon signs and a happening night life.

Other than gambling, Vegas is famous for alcoholic beverages. Yes- beer, whiskey, rum, gin are easily available at shops. It is comparatively cheaper than other places and you will see people walking down the street with a mug of foaming beer in their hands.
Vegas is also a smoker’s haven. All the casinos and hotels are open to smoke, so you can smoke while you play. People buy a glass of beer take one ash tray and sits on the slot machine smoking and drinking and loosing and winning money. A cigarette pack will cost you around $5 from a shop and a beer in casino is around $5 a glass inside a casino.

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