8th December, 23:50?

Today I have mainly forgotten to write down exactly what I did in my journal but I shall try to reconstruct roughly what happened. I went down to fisherman's wharf to grab the 12:15 Bay Cruise, with captain Nemo who introduced us to many San Francisco characters. We go to go under the Golden Gate Bridge, see the opposite side of the bay, around Alcatraz and the bay bridge before returning to harbour.

Afterwards I walked along the water front, wonderful weather just enjoying all the sights. There were areas of grass and beach where people were playing football, American football, frisbee etc, everyone seemed jolly happy. My aim was the Exploratorium, which was quite a trek, and the sun was beginning to set, so I went around the Fine Arts Palace, which is a magnificent structure surrounded by a pond/lake, garden etc. I only had about an hour to go in the Exploratorium and I really wish I had more, as it was similar to the Science Museum's launch pad, but about 5 times the size, and amazing in there. Cheung reckoned it was only for kids, but I thought it was awesome, so many different scientific experiments to try, and interesting effects, including one thing that apparently temporarily blinded some part of your eye. I avoided that. Very good though.

I wandered back along Lombard Street to see the sights, and then ended up walking along Polk street and feeling hungry, went into a random Chinese restaurant. I had fried noodles with combination meat, which basically meant all the meat they could find around the kitchen, including octopus, which still makes me feel queasy after Feutaventura. There was a cool waiter in there, who was new to the job, and he asked me if I skated, and I cunningly lied and said a bit. He proceeded to explain that I looked like a skater and in my rather odd way, I was exceedingly chuffed. I probably tipped well, and made my way back, along the crazy hills, to the hostel.

I'm gonna miss my daily chats with Cheung, when I get back after a long day walking. We chat about what we did, give suggestions of where to go, and it's just generally very pleasant. Made a good impression on me about South Koreans, as did the guy in Chicago.