San Fran!
 

So I am heading down to San Francisco before Christmas, can anyone recommend some good things to do and great places to eat?

So far, I plan on doing the Alcatraz tour, walking around fisherman's warf, eating at Wolfgang puck's restaurant and lots-o-shopping!

What else is a must see in San Fran? =)

Thanks!!

Try the desserts at Ghirardelli Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop in Ghirardelli Square.

Not a fancy place, but eat some cheesecake at the Cheesecake factory on top of the Macey's building.

Thanks guys, will add those to my list of to-dos! :)

anything else? i'm going this weekend

is little tokyo worth seeing? maybe thinking of buying some fatlace clothing.

maybe in and out burger?

Skip Fisherman's Wharf. It's a tourist trap with shitty restaurants. Head over to the Ferry Terminal instead and check out the sights and sounds there. The restaurants there aren't so great either though the Oyster place was nice for the novelty of it (seriously though, you could get the same oysters locally).

Go to Anchor and Hope. Get the Baked Uni with Crab.

Go to Ame. Get ... everything.

Skip the Chinese food in san fran. Vancouver's is better.

^
Agreed to the above.

jACE - In'n'Out Burger is not a maybe. It's a MUST! There's one at Fisherman's Wharf. Have an extra burger for me! :D

If it's your first time in San Fran, I would recommend booking ahead and go inside Alcatraz. It's 33$ bucks or something I believe but it's worth it if you are into its history and shit. I enjoyed it a lot honestly.

We stayed at Hotel Kabuki which is in Japantown or whatever..lots of places to eat, etc.

I like San Fran, but driving during Rush Hour is insane (tiny streets,)..but then again, it's like that everywhere.

P.S. If you go to Alcatraz or Fisherman's wharf, mind getting me an Alcatraz frame?? :P They take a picture of you before going to the boat but we forgot to buy a damn frame from the souvenir shop lol

sweet thanks for the tips!

I'm heading to SF this weekend, too :D
2nd time in a year.
I went to Alcatraz last June.
Worth the money to spend a half day trip there, buy advance ticket for sure.
I bought ticket 1 day ahead.

I will check out In & Out Burger in Fisherman's wharf this time around.
I wonder is it still very windy in the Bay area.

^
It's really only windy in the morning and in the evening. Bring a light jacker or windbreaker if you have the room just to be safe.

-I thought Alcatraz was a waste of time. Boring as hell.
-Definitely checkout Cheesecake Factory and In N' Out.
-Stay away from Chinese food in San Francisco, unless you're in Millbrae. There are several chinese restaurants there that are fairly decent.
-Must check out the strip clubs along Mission St. and Castro. Your dollla dolla bill will go a long way. FYI, this area is not the best, so you might feel intimitated and unsafe by some blacks and hispanics. As long as you mind your business, you should be OK. The lap dances cost only $40 ($60 - for touch? negotiate!), and they are probably some of the best lap dances you will ever get. Yes, better than brandi's (infact, brandi's suck)

-MUST CHECKOUT THIS MALL for FOOD COURT FOOD for $10 and under. It's better than alot of restaurants here and in SF. It's not your typical food court food. The Korean dishes there are AWESOME, it even comes with side dishes. Trust me on this. It's located in Downtown called Westfield Center. FYI, they close early, so I recommend going there for lunch.

http://westfield.com/sanfrancisco/

If you are a tourist in San Fran, how can you NOT like Alcatraz? Did you go on the Night Tour or the day tour they had? I went to the night one as I wanted to go during sunset then head back when it's dark. Mind you, night tour has headphones/radio for audio tour. Not sure the Day Tour has that. My Fiancee' enjoyed it a ton and she wasn't into its history much but after telling her more, we both enjoyed the evening.

IMO, nothing beats cruising down the bay on a Sunset as well as going back when all the city is lit up.

Oh, and it's great for photography too with the city on the backdrop. I think they have a boat tour only as well but that's 20$$ or something so might as well pay a bit more and go inside.


And yes, I agree about the food in Westfield. very good food!

I didn't like it cause I didn't find the history of it interesting and enjoyable. I went with a bunch of guys whom we could've spent our time doing something else. When you are going as a couple, it's a different experience.

I went on the day tour by the way, and we did get headphones.

^fair enough. If you go with a bunch of guys that aren't into it then ya lol.. just hop on the earlier boat back. But I would still recommend to family/friends that visits and try atleast once. The main thing ppl will usually visit for is the Bridge/Ghiardelli/Alcatraz (fisherman's wharf) so might as well go in and try right lol...

Here's a link of their tours in case someone needs it
http://www.alcatrazcruises.com/websi...omparison.aspx

I like San Fran but iit's just too busy for me.. drove around at night once, got lost a little bit and ended up by Oakland Raiders stadium LOL heading to San Jose i believe..damn it's a dark area!! lol got nervous a bit as we were running out of gas and can't find any station lol

Driving on the highway in SF is so dangerous at night, as there's a continuation of traffic coming from the opposite direction, with no streetlights, so it's pitch black, ur travelling much faster than speeds here, so you fall asleep behind the wheel much easier.

On the bright side, they have some pretty damn good diner food down there, so i would do a search on yelp before u head down.

take a windbreaker or a light jacket. lol

SF is WINDY and FOGGY as hell at night. Don't let the weather during the day fool you.

Posting from San Fran!

Couple of things on my mind:
-We took the BART skytrain (weird name, reminds me of bart simpson). That thing is cool! I got go through the various neighbourhoods and on some high spots I got to see some good scenery of the city
-The tour bus drove on the Golden Gate Bridge. Not much time to take photos but I dodged the group and ran to touch and take a view off the Golden Gate Bridge! That thing is such a spectacular sight! Absolutely stunning on a beautiful sunny day! Our forecast was rain but Saturday was blazing sunny!
-Tried In-N-Out burger (must do, like bcrdukes said). We got the burger to go because we had to catch our tour so the food got cold. We couldn't eat it on the Muni (their logo is so creative) trolley. But surprisingly, I could still taste the freshness even though the burger was cold. So it must have been hella tasty if I had eaten it hot. Shit! :( And 3.50 for a cheese burger, you can't lose. Equivalent to a Fatburger for a cheaper cost.
- Checked out other typical touristy stops: Fisherman's warf, pier 39, De Young tower, lombard's windy road, the 7 victorian sisters/houses (as featured in Full House), strolled through Chinatown, drove through University of Berkley (very radical protesting done here; done way more effectively than the protestors in Vancouver), saw the Transamerica pyramid, had ice cream in Sausalito, walked through Castro, checked out San Fran from Twin Peaks (was so awesome at night)
-I ate at the food court at Westfield mall like a member suggested... the food appeared, ok. The prices were within the $8-10 USD range, which is quite pricey for being at a food court. I skipped the typical Asian Food (Korean, Japanese, Chinese) as people said it tastes better in Vancouver and it did look that way. Mind you we ate at a Thai restaurant and it was not bad.. Thai food for some reason is abundant and tastes pretty good. Anyhow back to the food court, I chose to eat Mexican and yes the food was awesome to eat! Enchalada and two hard shell tacos with beans and rice...shit it was soooo good! Better than that Taco Bell and Cancun all-inclusive crap.
-yes, you are all right it is damn windy and cold here. I wore layers and a jacket and was at times freezing cold. Even when we were in the sun. Except for Saucilito thought because that place was hot (something like the winds not blowing through there like other places in SF.
-Walking around you do have to get used to seeing lots of african americans and mexicans. Not so many asians I had once thought b/c I thought SF had the biggest Chinatown in N. America. All the Asians I saw were honestly, around the Westfield mall downtown. Oh and everyone's not used to seeing that many asians cause I get that look I give to ethnicities I rarely see in Vancouver lol.
-According to our Mexican friend, he can really hear my canadian accent when I talk. He said I pronounce IN-N-"AUHT" BURGER rather than IN-N-"OWHT" BURGER. Then I become self-conscious and catch myself saying EH? all the time now!
-In terms of working down here, the economy is not doing that well. From the sounds of it, during the Bush administration, the economy was plummeting downwards fast and really the upper class was benefiting from it all. Obama did help things when he got elected but he only helped to slow the decline of the economy (even with this, he gets a lot of flack from the republicans). Things are still pretty bad for the poor and the unemployed. And america in general is still not as open minded to "diversity" than I would say compared to Canada. In general, I would still say that there's this "conservative" feel to the country.
-Wore my Bay Canada hoodie and it was pretty neat. Got greeted by some people from Winnipeg, some people from windsor, some locals shouted GO Canada! It was nice, for once, to be seen as a Canadian first, rather than as a Chinese person first. Not that I denounce my heritage, but minorities know what I'm talking 'bout ;)
-Cars? I honestly haven't seen some good done-up cars yet. I am gonna check out Fatlace.com and hopefully score some stickers. I plan to maybe meet the owners and drop off a gift of some CANADIAN revscene.net stickers. I also have a Canadian pin just to rub it in that we beat the USA in hockey! hahaha... no but really, no one gives 2 bits about hockey and much about the details of the winter olympics here... they just know that Vancouver held the 2010 Winter Olympics and that the luge guy died (shown on the news)... that's it.
-That's it. Going back home on Monday.

The Bay Area is huge, unlike Vancouver, Asians are all over the place, some in SF, mostly in suburbs, because SF is not the most desirable place to live, most of the rich lives in the suburbs like Hillsborough, Millbrae, etc. Those areas are where the asians are usually at, they usually don't go to The City unless they need to. So yeah, it's nothing like Vancouver where all the asian hotties are centralized in just a few areas. Most of America is like that.

Yes, travelling throughout US, you really do get the feeling that you're seen as a minority and that you definitely don't get the same level as respect as we get here in Vancouver, it gets worse as you travel to mid-west/southwestern states as the population of asians gets very slim. That's when you might even experience some racism.

-ok went to do the afternoon Alcatraz tour and it was worth the money imo. The view from alcatraz was just stunning. Took member's advice and saw the discovery channel video right before the last ferry left. Everything was down to the wire, so don't waste time! e.g. taking forever at the souvenir shop or taking a million photos. I believe if you take the early morning ferry, then you can take your time as the last ferry leaves at 4:30pm or so.
-Ate the sourdough bread chowder at Boudin's. Mmmmmm it was good.
-went to fatlace shop about 30mins before closing. Picked up 2 shirts and bought some stickers. Dropped off some revscene stickers to them and told them about rs and Canada. One of the guys had this image of a red uniformed mountie giving us V.I.'s. lol. Fatlace/hellaflush/illest originated from San Fran so it's a definite tourist stop for the import enthusiast.
-ate dinner at The Stinking Rose. Basically the restaurant had garlic themed everything! It tastes better than it sounds! They have autographs from Al Pacino, Mike Myers, and few other celebrities. Bill came to be $160 USD though.
-Yawn, heading back to Bellingham tomorrow a.m. then back to Vancity. Back in time to prep for the rs spring meet!
-And about the racism, yes it exists everywhere. Some people are super nice and some are downright ignorant. White, black, mexican, etc. But I think as long as you as an asian can speak up and openly express your opinions out loud without fear, it helps to counter the stereotypes. I spoke up quite loudly (I am used to speaking to big crowds of strangers in Canada) on numerous public occasions and either it shocked people (asians are submissive) or they laugh and accept that I can be tongue-in-cheek right back at them :)

if you have any time left in san fran, try and visit nopa or commis, and if ur looking for something amazing go to coi!

Can anybody help out with good pho places in SF?

Ah, pho in San Fran.

I went to a pho place in the Tenderloin District (Downtown SF) and it was in a pretty rough part of town. It was "okay" at best. Not the worst, yet, not the greatest. Do a quick search on Google for pho or Vietnamese restaurants in San Fran to get a better idea of what's still around.

Vietnamese restaurants dont tend to stick around in SF for some reason. :\