9 June 2008 - Day 1

Changi Airport T3 (Singapore) to Narita Airport (Tokyo):
Excitedly, all of us boarded the plane UA804 (Boeing 777) that was to send us to Narita Airport where we would make a transit to another plane bound for our destination - San Francisco. Overall, the plane ride was alright, with a slight complain of the cramped leg room we had on that plane. The ride being 7 hours long was hence, quite uncomfortable as I had to keep shifting my legs around. The food was quite alright, which was a pleasant surprise, as I had previous incidents with horrible airplane food.
We had no time to walk around Narita Airport as we only an hour to spare, and the transit security checkpoint was quite a long wait.

Narita Airport (Tokyo) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO):
At Narita Airport, we transited to another aircraft UA838 (Boeing 747). This plane, as it was an older model unlike the first aircraft, did not had a personal in-flight entertainment system LCD display. But the leg room on the Economy Plus seats were much more generous. The food was also quite good on this plane, though some of my group mates disagree. We arrived at San Francisco at around 9am local time.

San Francisco International Airport to The Tech Museum:
We boarded a bus that took us directly to the Tech Museum located in San Jose. There were many exhibits on display and all of them were divided into 10 sections with 5 each on the Lower and Upper Level respectively. I found the museum to be quite entertaining as it was very interactive as visitors were issued a ticket with a barcode that we could use to play with the different exhibits around the place.
As compared to a old fashioned, boring museum, this keeps visitors intrigued throughout their whole experience in this museum. Also, the staff were very friendly especially with Carl.

After walking through the exhibitions, we had lunch at the cafe at Ground Level. The food proportion was huge! My team member could not even finish a children's meal! It was also interesting to see that they made their french fries together with the skin attached. It not only enhances the taste, it also provides much more nutrients and fibre.

Since it was free and easy till 2:30pm local time, my group together with Paul walked around the neighborhood in San Jose, where we met a friendly San Jose police officer on a stallion in a very sceneric pathway with a very beautiful blossom of pink flowers. What went even interesting was that he stopped to take photos and joked with us. What a cool cop!
Also, nearby to this "park", there was a mini water fountain display where children were enjoying themselves in it; which added on to the scenic view.

Tech Museum to Golden Gate Bridge:
Along the way, most fell asleep due to the jet lag taking effect on our bodies (me included). When we arrived, we were awed by the majestic sights of this bridge. Though it was slightly chilly at around 16.6°C, there were many tourist, like us, walking on the bridge to experience the sights and sounds of this die-die-must-try place. It was quite a busy bridge as there were quite a number of cars that passes through here. Also, there were quite a number of cyclist around. The scenery is awesome and it can't really be described here, you'll have to try it for yourself.

Golden Gate Bridge to New Sum Hong Kong Restaurant
From the Golden Gate Bridge, we proceed to have our dinner at New Sun Hong Kong Restaurant which is located in Chinatown. The food, I have to say, is FANTASTIC! Unfortunately, the burgers we had at Tech Museum were quite fulling, and we did not quite finish the food, but we did a take away for the remaining food to be enjoyed at the hotel. :P
After dinner, we went to a supermarket at the street just behind the restaurant to grab some necessities such as drinking water.

En-route to Comfort Inn, we passed by Union Square where all the branded merchants were next to each other. Surely a shopping haven for branded goods? We also passed by the convention hall for WWDC '08 (for those uninitiated, it's Worldwide Developers Conference by Apple). I wished I was in there to hear the release of USD$199 3G iPhone though. Oh well, we'll be visiting Apple on Friday anyway. =)

On a sidenote, I noticed that on the trip around San Jose, many shops and buildings proudly hang up the US Flag on flagpoles. It would be wonderful to see sights like these back home.

Han Yang
Ngee Ann Polytechnic