San Francisco: Episode 1
Nancy Zhou transferred in this year. When I first saw her, I didn’t think much of her other than I thought she was pretty and she seemed nice. We did not talk a lot at first, but gradually, I realized she was actually much cooler and much more like me than I thought.
December 13th, we took the school-provided shuttle to San Francisco. I had nothing on my mind on what I wanted to do. We arrived in the city very early, around 9 am. It was fucking freezing. I was shivering while trying to talk and I felt like a popsicle.
Our friend Sebastian was with us for the bus ride to Chinatown. We wanted to go eat something delicious. The bus ride was extremely bumpy and just as cold as the outside. I had lots of fun, though. As soon as we reached Chinatown, Nancy started talking about how much she loves the city and how she wants to live here. I agreed with her, because it really was that beautiful. Beautiful enough to convince you to live there. We walked through Chinatown and Nancy asked me to take some candids. As we learned that day, I am not very good at candid photography although I like to take photos.
Nancy wanted to go to the fortune cookie factory that IShowSpeed visited. So we did that. Sadly, it was overpriced (as everything in this beautiful city is). Afterwards, we walked around trying to find something to eat. We ended up at a noodle shop where I got braised beef noodles and she got rice paper noodles (Cheung fun, I believe? Nancy, please correct me if I’m wrong). It was delicious. She called her mom while we were there. Sebastian went next door and got crispy pork and said that it tasted like chorizo. There was a small bakery right next door to the noodle place. I got a custard bun and it was so delicious. That is definitely going on my recommendations list.
We left Chinatown around 11. We walked by some Israeli propaganda, as everyone in San Francisco does every single day. We walked back through Chinatown before getting on the bus to downtown San Francisco, or the “FiDi” as Nancy would say (I’m sure other people say that but I had just never heard it). I never knew what she was talking about until I learned we were in the Financial District. We walked around trying to find a HeyTea that was very misleading on the Maps. We got to look at MoMA from afar. Then, we got our HeyTea. I got the Grape boom? Or whatever it is called. I did not finish it as I felt like I was going to die. Bathrooms are very limited in San Francisco. We ended up in a Hilton nearby, and luckily, the front desk ladies were very kind and we got to use the lovely bathroom. 10/10 bathroom.
We went to Japantown. There was a matcha place and sushi place Nancy wanted to go to, but I believe they were too far across town. There was a matcha place inside the Japantown mall. I went to my favorite crepe place to get a delicious crepe. I was very happy.
Nancy had a cousin in San Francisco that offered to take us out for dinner. We agreed and ventured towards Alamo Square Park (the very famous park noted for its view of the Painted Ladies, which Nancy brought up).We headed towards the park but not before stopping in the Gayborhood to get photos taken at a popular vintage filmstrip place. The pictures were cute and Nancy’s were extra beautiful.
Alamo Square Park. We saw a group of girls and I offered to take pictures for them. I hope they liked them. They also took a picture on Nancy’s camera of us.
It was around now that Nancy pointed out the Painted Ladies and said something about the “12 Painted Ladies”. This is a crucial detail. We met with her cousin a few minutes later. Nancy started talking about her 12 Painted Ladies. For the rest of the evening, he would make fun of her mentioning the “23 Painted Ladies” or the “65 Painted Ladies”. We sat on a bench before coming up with a plan for dinner as our time was very limited now.
We headed back towards Japantown in an Uber. We went to Daeho, a restaurant that I later learned was very popular. It was relatively early so we got a table without many issues. We got galbijjim (as expected) and ate a delicious meal. Then, we started heading back to where the shuttle dropped us off. And then we left at 6 pm. Such a short day.
Here is the list of everything we accomplished.
Boycott Waymo
Didn’t spend any unnecessary money
Hung out with her cousin
Got 15,000 steps
Fought a lot
Made up a lot
Ate really good food
Contributed to the community
Made friends with the locals
Drank a lot of coconut water
Saw propaganda
Went to the fortune cookie museum that IShowSpeed visited
This post is so short because our day was so short. But I would say that this was probably Top 10 days of the school year ever. Although we did argue over the stupidest stuff, we somehow still had a very enjoyable trip. Bickering with Nancy sometimes feels like arguing with a sibling. We can’t stay hating each other afterwards, but in the moment, it feels very important. But looking back at the trip 5 months ago, I realize it wasn’t that deep and we had no reason to argue. I guess the limited time (only 9 hours in the big city?) was too much pressure.
Stay tuned for Episode 2 though.
Nancy, I hope you read this and remember all our joy. Let’s go see the 502 Painted Ladies again sometime soon.
I can finally give you some proper recommendations.
Rice Roll Express (1131 Stockton St, San Francisco, CA 94133)
> Very delicious noodles, cheap and quick. Very rare for SF.
Wing Sing Dim Sum (1125 Stockton St, San Francisco, CA 94133)
> VERY cheap and absolutely so delicious pastries. Order quick and leave your money on the counter and go. SO yummy.
Belly Good Cafe & Crepes (1737 Post St #393, San Francisco, CA 94115)
> Since the very first time I came to Japantown in middle school, I’ve been getting crepes from this place. Really delicious and relatively cheap.
Maruwa Seicha (1737 Post St #368, San Francisco, CA 94115)
> I normally feel nothing for chain brands of matcha, but Maruwa Seicha is actually pretty good quality matcha and not crazy expensive. But remember it’s still SF.
Somewhere in Chinatown