The Cube

"Break the rules and you go to prison, break the prison rules and you go to Alcatraz"


If you ask me, I'll say the first rule of going to Alcatraz is plan and buy the tickets online early. This is of course to prevent disappointment of not able to secure a ticket (I believe Alcatraz is one of the top attractions in SF), also guaranteed of not to put yourself in the dilemma of not going to Alcatraz or pay cut throat price to touts.


Hmm.. second rule is please be there earlier. Ferries to Alcatraz departs on time. Departure time is printed on the tickets, you'll need to make the ferry prior to the given time but can leave any time as you wish (of course before the last ferry)

Ferries to Alcatraz departs from Pier 33, which is a short walk after by taking F line Street Car or cable car. At the point where we were going to Alcatraz, we thought it could easily be reached by foot. We could, but I'll say allocate more time. We started by strolling from Union Square area, by the time we reached Chinatown, we realised we only have 10 more minutes prior to ferry depature. It doesn't help that it was all uphill from there.


See the tower? That's Coit Tower. The walk from Chinatown brought us passed by the foot of Coit Tower. My heart sank when we reached the end of the road as shown on the map. So near yet so far. From there, it was climbing some flights of staircase and run towards Pier 33. We made it just in time.

Ferry ride from Pier 33 to Alcatraz takes about 15 minutes, with beautiful scenary of Oakland Bay Bridge.


Once reached, there was a short briefing. We joined one of the free talk called "Escape from Alcatraz". Apparently there's a movie called "Escape from Alcatraz", starred Clint Eastwood. I have never heard of the movie, maybe I should give it a go. I've watched "The Rock" though. :P During the briefing, they asked "Has anyone escape from Alcatraz aside from Clint Eastwood?" Haha.


Also, it is said that one could hear the cheering and wine glass toasting during New Year in SF city from Alcatraz, making prisoners' life even more difficult. So near yet so far.


Anyway, here are some pictures of Alcatraz.

Recreation yard

Barracks / Apartments

The following are pictures taken in Cellhouse, while listening to the Cellhouse tour.

Shower area

Dining area

Inside one of the cells

Side note: I don't feel like eating my own cooking :(

Buildings with fire escape staircase located outside of the building as above is a common sight. Dotted all over the city. I like it, I decided that they have a distinct character :D

And the next thing that caught my attention, was these newspaper 'vending machine'. Those that you see all the time on TV. I don't know the exact term to describe them but it works like a vending machine anyway.


Speaking of San Francisco city, here's the city hall. I realise city hall are usually beautiful, eye catchy buildings, everywhere.


And... this statue is opposite City Hall, unfortunately I can't remember the name of the statue.


On the other side of the city - Chinatown with the usual arch .



A man playing er-hu in Chinatown, SF - the largest outside Asia.




Side note: Camera is back home and looking good. Yay!

My first flight with United Airlines, not the most enjoyable flight. Main reason being there was no individual inflight entertainment. Food was less tasty compared to some of the other airlines food. Getting to Sydney Airport wasn't the most smooth sailing, for the first time after more than 2 years, I took the wrong train. = ="

Anyway, fast forward all that. Touching down in SFO, strangely enough it felt very much like Australia. The food court in the airport, the feel of all of it. Hmm.. not quite what I expected. However, once we stepped out into the streets in the city of SF, it no longer resemble Australia. :)


One of the easiest way to get to the city is via BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). We had reserved for a ensuite room near Union Square area. To get there via BART, the station is Powell St. (SF), one way cost $8.10. Return fare was $16.20. It is not any cheaper if you decided to get return ticket or one way. Ticket can be purchased from machines, and you set the amount you want put in your ticket, based on your travel. Sorry, no picture on BART. In my haste, the picture is not clear :(

As we are in the train topic, let me introduce another type of transport - the ever famous cable car.


I confess, all these while I stupidly think that cable car must be those hanging in the air, going from a lower end to a higher end or vice versa. So I was quite surprise to find that this famous transport is referred to as cable car initially. We reached SF on a Saturday and the queue to get on this cable car was very, very long. I read somewhere that the queue to get on a cable car is always long, unless you are game to wake up early to be one of the first passengers. So they said early bird gets the worm. Despite it is a form of transport but considering the long queue and the cost (one way $6), it is not very feasible to use it as a frequent transportation.

Next up - street car


We used these a fair bit, certain stops have a lot of tourists but its cheap and help in getting to places. Cost $2 and good for 90 minutes. The F line Street Cars run pass the touristy places.

Muni Passports are good for unlimited rides on Muni including cable car, does not include BART. The prices are quoted on their website, I'm not sure if they are still uptodate cos we didn't get any. We found that paying as we go with the 90 minutes grace period were more cost effective. That being said, we only took one way of the cable car.

Aside from all that, the waitress who served us during lunch said that the best way to see San Francisco is by foot, of course :)


Side note: I bite the bullet and admit my beloved camera to the shop. Keeping fingers crossed that everything will be alright soon with the cost involved.

Map courtesy of Lonely Planet.

So... I am still in the stage of keeping myself awake later so I stop waking up at 4ish everyday. As to why 4ish.. I have no idea, considering is 10 hours difference. Anyway, the story started when a friend invited me to join her trip to US. A new continent for me. The route as above - flight to San Francisco - Las Vegas (day trip to Grand Canyon) - flight to Washington (transit in Atlanta) - train to New York - back to Sydney via Los Angeles (transit)

Despite it being an 'easy' destination, considering it is an English speaking country and all.. there are some big differences. Or I learned...

1. Tipping/Gratuity - it is already difficult determining if need to tip...
Do you need to tip when you buy something at the counter because they have a tip box but you dont exactly receive a service... or do you tip the concierge who keep your luggage but they didn't carry it up the room...
There are some receipts that gives some suggestion of tipping depending on excellent, great or good service... but I don't think the service is good, do I still tip then?
Ok.. so once you have decided that you should tip, then there's the question of "How much?"
(I can't advise further on this, haven't quite work out this thingy :)

2. Tax - what you see is not what you pay. Be prepared to pay a certain percentage of tax on top of the price shown, this includes food in restaurant, goods in supermarkets. Not only that, the tax percentage is different from state to state, apparently also on the amount spent. At this time it is above 8% in both California and New York, 5% in Washington DC.

3. Pounds vs Kg, Fahrenheit vs Celcius
Luggage limit 50 lbs equivalent to approximate 23 kg

4. Coins denominations
Unlike the usual - it goes as 1 cents (penny), dime (10 cents), quarters (25 cents)

5. Overall - I find people in SF are more friendly, whereas generally New Yorkers including sales assistants are grumpy. So, they say NY is big, fast paced city, hence the unfriendliness, but I find people in Tokyo are still pretty much friendly and nice.

6. It is said that SF and DC are popular places for gays

7. There are cute guys in DC. Even the waiters at where we once had brunch were good looking :P [reality is a very cruel thing, for all I know all the good looking guys I saw maybe gay]

8. Starbucks must be the national coffee place. It's everywhere, at every block and corner! And Starbucks are good locations for free wi-fi :D

9. SF are much laid back, you'll be people wearing jumpers walking about. So me in hoodie and backpack very much blend in. In NY, everybody dressed up much better, in trench coats, nice overcoats. I stuck out like a sore thumb with my backpack... but I stuck to it for the benefit of my shoulder.

10. I might not say this if I am still working in Malaysia but with better spending power, I would say US is a great shopping destination, even for someone like me who doesn't shop a lot.

11. Overall - US is not a cheap country to travel

12. NY is not fun on rainy days.

13. My friend remarked that there isn't enough rubbish bin in NY, though later on I notice there are heaps of rubbish bins along 5th Avenue.

14. People have been saying that food portion in US is very big, and can be shared by 2 person. Hmm... I seem to think it is alright. Makes me wonder if I have been eating wayyyy too much than I should.

15. There's no security check to enter casino in Las Vegas :P


Side note: Umm.. I'm getting sleepy again....

Lake Macquarie is the largest coastal saltwater lake in Australia, at 24km long, four times the size of Sydney Harbour and located between the Central Coast and Newcastle.

It is promoted as a location for aquatic relaxing holiday with activies as cruising on the lake, mountain walks, lakeside dining and shopping.

When first planned, it was meant to be an overnight stay in Lake Macquarie. Somehow, the accommodation were rather pricey. So we canned the thought of staying overnight. Till now I am not totally sure if we actually gone to the right place (I mean where all the activities are) but it doesn't seem very tempting. We were quite relieved that we didn't book for a night's stay.

As said, I am not totally sure if we were at the hype touristy location , in fact I don't exactly have any cool pictures of Lake Macquarie. :P May I should've asked my colleague, heard she has a holiday home in Lake Macquarie.

Trip to Lake Macquarie was not successful, hence to make the drive a little more worth it, we popped by Newcastle. I had memory of being rather sleepy at that time, not too sure why but.. anyway..


Newcastle is also famous for its beaches, and can be reached by Cityrail.


I believe there are quite a few tours to Hunter Valley departs from Newcastle. Don't take my word for it, cos I have not been to Hunter Valley :P

Back to Newcastle being famous for its beaches, there were a lot of people doing paragliding when we were there.




We walked to the end, near to the waters... I remember it was a rather long walk.




And we saw big vessel with some tug boats...



Side note: Yay for AI fish curry... ^_^

One of the short breaks idea given in NSW Short Breaks book from the VisitNSW holiday planners is Hawkesbury River. And no, I did not undertake so many breaks in short duration of time, this was a while back but feel that I haven't been blogging much on Sydney, and this current place where I call home at the moment deserved more mention.

So, while lazing on the couch, with Detective Conan anime running, a mug of coffee, I looked up on some picture folders filed away and found a couple of places that I could write about.

First up - Hawkesbury River.

The introduction given in the holiday planner as this is location an hour's drive north-west of Sydney. From the early 1790s, the farms of the Hawkesbury River Valley were crucial to the colony's early survival. The remaining of the introduction, you can read from the link itself.

I remembered the day we were there was gloomy, and it rained. Not a brilliant day for a day out. From memory, at least to me, there wasn't much to do. More of those rest & relax holidays, perhaps with a cruise and wine in hand sort of break.

By the way, Hawkesbury River can be reached by train, with the station name of the same - Hawkesbury River.


We didn't go on any cruise, just wandering about. In fact, we didn't stay very long.
Anyway, here's some pictures... with gloomy weather :P






Side note: I caved in and bought the bag :P

I'm so slack lately. Sometimes to the extend that I'll do my groceries after work on Friday night, and nua hibernate over the weekend. On rare occasions, I'll drag myself out for the sun. Last Saturday, was one of the rare occasions that I dragged myself out... to the North Sydney Market. It so happened that one of my classmates in Japanese class mentioned that she is manning a stall in the North Sydney Market regularly and we could pop by to visit. I used to visit the North Sydney Market, which was a stone throw away from where I used to live, now... I frequent the Kirribilli Market :P

North Sydney Market is located at Miller Street, next to the Stanton Library, every 2nd Saturday of the month, from 9am to 3pm. I thought I'll walk a bit... to absorb some Vitamin D.


I thought the gate looks nice... if I'm not wrong, the building is a church.

Roundabout at Milsons Point

Bridge connecting city to North Shore

First sign of spring? Doubt it though... still very much in winter

Graffiti at one of the back lane leading up to North Sydney

North Sydney Market in operation

Tempted... but didn't get any

Sri Lanka dishes - 4 vege dishes at $7, 4 vege dishes+1 meat (choice of chicken or mutton on the day I was there) at $8. The lady even offered to refill before I take the pictures, but I told her it's alright :P


Glutton me also bought a piece of the finger food ($3, though I'm not sure if all were priced the same) to munch when walkabout.

Back to dropping by to say Hi to my friend... I can't seem to locate her stall. Haha. When I saw her a couple of days ago, she described the neighbouring stalls and guess what, I remembered all of them, but somehow didn't see her. I must be mata sepet = ="

Walking away from the market... there's a red phone booth where I spent a lot of 50 cents and phone cards calling mom.

Buildings opposite the market, thought the contrast colour looks nice

... and drumroll... here's the building where I used to stay.. for at least 6 months.




Side note: Am tempted to get this bag in stone colour. :P