San Francisco - Third Day

I decided to explore the Golden Gate Bridge on my own that day. It wasn't that easy to find the right "bus stop" in SF. I walked around for almost half an hour using google map on my iphone but then decided to go back to hotel and ask the staff. One staff told me to walk to geary st and take number 38 express. Then change bus at park presidio to number 28. 

I was able to get to geary st easily since i have been walking a lot these past 2 days around union square. I got in to bus No. 38, and took out my 2 dollars bill for the fare. However, the machine wasn't working, so, the driver just asked me to sit down. In US, a single trip bus fare will allow us to travel for 2 hours, meaning that after we paid 2 bucks, the bus driver will issue us a transfer slip so that we can use it to travel or transfer to another bus within the time frame. I paid and got my transfer slip when I hopped on bus number 28. When I saw the slip, it allowed me to travel until 4 pm. Not sure why, it was for 4 hours, instead of 2 hours for that day. 

Anyway, Yeayyy... 
Here are some pictures that I took from Golden Gate Vista point. 

The sky was clear. It's just beautiful. I am glad that i made a trip there. Eventhough I was on my own, I met a lot of nice people who always offer to take a picture of me. I remember one lady from switzerland, after knowing that I am indonesian, she started saying "apa kabar", which means how are you. She worked in yogyakarta before. Haha...

I spent 30-45 minutes there taking picture. Then I took bus back. Thinking that the bus number 28 will bring me back to the same place. But , i think i was wrong. Luckily, i have google map on my phone. I stopped at Lombard street. I then took bus number 30. Then on my way, i see the street name "north point", that street name seems familiar, then i checked if the bus will bring me to pier 39. Yes, "north point" reminded me about pier 39. Coincidentally, it will stop at one stop which is quite close to pier 39 (about 10-15 mins walk). Yeayyyy, i should make my trip worth. I stopped and then walked to pier 39. Of course with the help of google map in hand. 

On my way to pier 39, i passed by fisherman wharft. I covered almost all places that I want to go that day.

It was 2 plus in the afternoon when I reached pier 39, and this was what I saw. Yes, Ben and Jerry! I know I definitely have to get one. I was super hungry at that time. 

My next stop was Pier Market Seafood restaurant. Clam chowder soup in sourdough bowl bread is a must try when you are at Pier 39. It's very filling. I like the soup, but I didn't finish the bread though. 

I walked around pier 39 then decided to go back to hotel. It was 3:50 pm when I saw a bus that I planned to take passed by. I missed it! The next bus came at 4:05 pm, and my bus ticket expired at 4 pm, so, eventually I paid another 2 bucks for that single trip. I spent a total of 4 dollars for my transport on that day. If I compared to the fare that I was planning to pay (USD34.99) for the one day trip of hop-on hop-off bus fare, I saved about 30 bucks. Haha...

On the way back, I stopped by 7-eleven to pick up stuff that I have bought online from amazon. It's very interesting and convenient that they have few amazon lockers around, so that when we travel, we can actually ship the item to the locker, and they will send us a password to open up the locker.     

I rushed back to my hotel, and took a rest for a bit, then got ready for a dinner meeting with my ex boss. She was my academic professor during my graduate school in Iowa. It was really nice catching up with her. After dinner, we went to a reception held by Iowa state University. I met few professors and a lot of old friends there. I haven't seen them for more than 4 years since I graduated.  

Multinational (left to right): American, Taiwanese, Korean, Indonesian, Srilankan.

Turmeric Fried Chicken - Ayam Goreng Kuning

A Ingredients:

4 cloves of shallot

3 cloves of garlic

4 cm turmeric 

1 cm ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

B Ingredients:

3 slices of lime leaves

2 slices of daun salam (Bay leaves)

500 ml water

2 pieces of chicken thigh 

2 pieces of chicken wing

Procedure:

1. Blend "A ingredients" using an electric blender. You may add one tablespoon of water to make it easier to blend.

2. Stir fry the blended ingredient, then put in the chicken, add water until it's enough to cover the chicken. Boil the chicken. I didn't boil it for long enough, and ended up that the taste didn't go in to the chicken. I will try again. 

3. Heat up oil, then fry the chicken. 

San Francisco - Second Day

My meeting wouldn't start until 3 pm on that day. So, I decided to walk around and explore San Francisco eventhough I have been there in 2006 for the same conference. I started my morning with a cup of soy hot chocolate. My stomach has difficulty to digest lactose in milk, so, soy milk would be safer for me. Do you see the size of their donuts? Probably, it's hard to judge from the picture, but, It's huge. Of course I would not eat such high sugar food to ruin my healthy diet.

I thought of taking a public transport to Chinatown. While I was struggling to find out whether any bus will go to chinatown from union square, a lady came to me, and told me that I should walk further down for a bus to chinatown. After telling me the way, she asked for money. I should have probably given her a dollar, but I didn't. I was being very careful since I was travelling alone at such a big city where a lot of homeless people are around. I said sorry, and then walked away.

Then, I checked my google map. It seemed that chinatown is just about 15 minutes walking distance from union square. I decided to walk then.    

If I am not mistaken I only bought fortune cookies there. I remember that my dad likes it. In the states, if we go to any chinese restaurant, they will always give fortune cookies at the end of our meal. Somehow, we can only find this chinese culture in the US. Haha...    

From chinatown, I walked back to union square and walked around Westfield mall. There is a ghirardelli cafe. They serve coffee, hot chocolate, and ice cream. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to try their ice cream. But, of course I won't miss their hot chocolate. It was delicious!

In the afternoon, I was at the meeting, looking at poster presentations held on that day, and I met one of my ex colleagues/ex classmates from Iowa State University. We still recognize each other. She is a Srilankan girl, called Umai, and she looks great with her long hair. She said I looked younger now, hahaha, what a nice compliment. Or I guess it's because of the pressure that all graduate students may have, therefore we looked more stressful at that time.

I was planning to visit pier 39 in the evening after my meeting. But, it was really a coincident that I met a good friend (also used to be my colleague at ISU). I never expect that I could see here there. She is a taiwanese girl (Janine) who is now working at Germany. We hardly contact each other after I graduated. Then, she told me that she is meeting another friend of us, Manuela. We ended up having a Japanese food nearby. 

It's a "surprise day" for me!

San Francisco - First Day

I arrived at SF airport at 11:45 am, earlier than the scheduled time. Queue was pretty long at the immigration. I think it took me about 1.5 -2 hours to get out from the airport.

I decided to get a sim card from the airport. It costs me 69 USD plus tax for an 8 day lycamobile. It's good for 3G and 500 minutes local call. 

Then I proceeded to level 3 for shared van trip to my hotel. I reserved a super shuttle, which costs 16 usd pertrip. 

Arrived at Parc 55 hotel at union square around 2 plus. The checked in procedure went really well. I met a nice receptionist who offered me a big corner room after having a short conversation. Her friendliness reminded me about life and culture in the states. Their service is unquestionable, and I simply respect their straight forward culture. 

In the room, I saw a note saying that day-light saving will be over the next day, meaning that on sunday of Nov 3rd, we will have 25 hours. What a lucky day for me, after such a long flight, I have one more hour to rest. Haha...

After did some stretching exercise, I took a nice shower, then went to the conference venue to get my meeting pass @ Hilton hotel where is located just less than 5 minutes walk from Parc 55. Then, I walked around the SF downtown. 

I had a cup of godiva hot dark chocolate. The price is not cheap (USD5), but, it was really good.  

P.S. Please stay tune for my next post!   

Health Benefits of Turmeric

People who have had gastric/heartburn before, would probably know that, gastric will usually hit us if we have stress or irregular eating time. About 2 months ago, I was hit with pretty bad heartburn. It was so bad that I had to give up eating hot/chili sauce. Red chili padi  happens to be my main dish for my lunch, and of course I have to stop eating it. Even my colleagues were surprised about it. Sometimes, they will tease me and ask whether I want some chili. Sure..., I can have some now! Haha...

The reason why I am writing now is to share with you a home remedy which has helped me with my gastric.  That's turmeric boiled in water. I got the information from my mom. Then, coincidentally, a colleague told me that her Indonesian maid likes to make the similar drink if any of her kids are sick. Her maid said that the drink can be used as antibiotic. This information really makes me curious about the real fact about turmeric. Of course, I won't simply believe what I have heard. So, I did some literature search about turmeric. Surprisingly, it is true that not only turmeric has a powerful antibiotic property, but also it has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties which would be helpful in several medical conditions. You may find more information about it from this website. Now, I see the connection between what I have heard from my mom and also from my colleague.

Here is the recipe:
a thumb size of turmeric root
7 cloves
2-3 cups of water

Procedure:
Peel the skin of turmeric root, then either cut into small pieces or smash it, then boil with water and cloves for about 10-15 minutes.

The turmeric boiled water is ready for you to consume. Just drink the water!
I had it for about 1 week, it eased my heartburn. Then I stopped, but, I guess it takes some times to cure my weak digestive system. After having a meal with chili, it came back again. So, I got another packet of turmeric roots from supermarket, and prepared similar drink. I had it for another week. It seems that it's getting so much better now. I start having chili again, and as far as for now, it's pretty ok.

By the way, besides the turmeric drink, I went to see a Chinese doctor at Ma Kuang Clementi branch. I believe the chinese medicine has helped me as well. But, I can tell you that, everytime after the turmeric drink, I could feel a direct relief for my heartburn.

P.S. If you have gastric/heartburn, please try to avoid chili, pepper, milk, glutinous rice, and all other kind of food that is hard to digest.

2013 Taiwan Trip Video - Updated

My version

Usman's Version

“We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindness there is at last one which makes the heart run over. ”Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Sixth Day in Taiwan (1/5)

Our flight was at 3:25 pm that day. That morning, after a quick breakfast from 7-eleven, we all did last minute shopping. Most of us bought pineapple cake from li yi cake shop (李仪饼店) at taipei main station. I bought their pineapple cake (Feng Li Shu 鳳梨酥) and Taro cake (Yu Tou su芋頭酥). I bought their tai yang bing for my colleague because her sons love it. But, when I tried, I think I prefer the one that we bought in nantou. Oh yeah, I met one sales lady at the store who wasn't so friendly. I guess she probably had a bad day, haha...

We booked 2 cars to go to the airport, since we had a lot of stuff. We engaged the same transport company that we used for our Jiufen trip. It was a last minute decision though. I called them early in the morning and luckily, we managed to get cars. The boss charged us NT$2000 for one 9-person car and one small car.

That was pretty much what we did in Taiwan. It was fun! I hope you enjoy reading my blog.

P.S. Stay tuned for my next post...