Category Archives: Architecture

Day 593 OUT OF Beijing: Hidden Gems of SF Tourism Tips.

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A close up of the Giant Buddha on the second level of the Hua Zang Si Buddhist Temple.

A close up of the Giant Buddha on the second level of the Hua Zang Si Buddhist Temple.

 

Jill’s site, SF Tourism Tips, is in a never ending process of being updated and improved.  Jill wanted to update her “Hidden Gems” page and so we decided to head into San Francisco for the day.

I really admire Jill’s trait of never being happy with “enough” and always wanting to better her site and the experience for the people that visit it and want to learn more about San Francisco and how to improve their trip to our lovely city.

We went into San Francisco, by Golden Gate Transit from Petaluma, and then walked around the rest of the day.  We did have to catch one bus ($2.25 USD) to the Columbarium in the Richmond District, but otherwise all our travel was on foot and for free.  Since we are car-less, we didn’t have to pay a toll to get into SF ($6 USD on the GG Bridge), parking ($2-3 USD per hour) or deal with worries about car crashes, gas, or tickets.  The cost to get into SF on Golden Gate transit was $10.75 per person.  A very good exchange for comfort, relaxation and 1.75 hours to either talk or check emails as we rode in on a very comfortable and clean bus.

A longer shot of the bridge with the new movable divider on the left.

A longer shot of the bridge with the new movable divider on the left.

This is also part of our frugal living in that we want to see how realistic it is to live car-less and only use mass transit.  We actually really enjoy mass transit and we’ve met some wonderful people who are traveling around the world and living a upwardly mobile vagabond life like we are at the same time.  I also had a great conversation with a bus driver that will be retiring in one year and his hopes to do a ’round-the-world trip right after his job is over.  We talked about where to go, what to see, and I sent him some links on how to get great deals on flights and cruises.  I’m hoping we catch the same bus he drives, again, and we can see how he has progressed on his plans!

Our first stop was the Columbarium and it was magnificent.  It is one grave site in San Francisco that is taking interments and it is kept up beautifully.  Harvey Milk’s memorial is there as is Carlos Santana’s father’s ashes.  There are also many other people, and memorials, that are stunning and touching.  It sounds a bit strange to think of this as a place to visit and enjoy, but it is, and we actually were there during an interment and the family and friends were quite joyous and happy.  If you are interested in seeing it, make sure to call ahead and ask for Emmit to give you a tour.  He has been with the Columbarium for many, many years and knows stories and the history like no one else.  We will have a tour when we go back next time with him to learn more about this amazing structure and final resting place.

We walked over to Pizza Orgasmica and had their lunch special of salad, beer and a pizza for $10.50 each.  It was delicious and utterly filling.  I also was able to check in on one of my favorite apps, Untappd, and add the beers that Jill and I tried for lunch.  It is a fun social app and keeps track of how many beers you’ve had and gives badges for different categories.

Jill's pesto pizza. Yummy!

Jill’s pesto pizza. Yummy!

 

We then headed down to Hua Zang Si Buddhist Temple.  This is a Buddhist Temple in the middle of the Mission District.  That, alone, would make sure it is a hidden gem.  It was originally a Lutheran Church and later became a temple.  We were blown away by the two Buddhas, especially that massive one on the second level, and the friendliness of the monks that were at the temple that day.  Most of them didn’t speak a lot of English but they seemed so happy and content that words weren’t needed to express what they were feeling.  As we walked back outside into the Mission District, we saw this gorgeous mural of Carlos Santana.  The cultures are so different and yet they are side by side.

 

After the temple, we headed down to Southern Pacific Brewery in the SOMA district.  Again, this was all just walking around and seeing the sites so we could experience it as if we were tourists and make sure to give people a “true to life” impression of what they can expect as they cruise around the Streets of San Francisco.  By the way, where are Mike Douglas and Karl Malden when you need them?

Our refreshing beers at Southern Pacific Brewing.

Our refreshing beers at Southern Pacific Brewing.

 

This brewery is only about 3 years old and it is inside a very cool tin roof hangar type building.  The beer is good and the food seems to be fairly priced.  We didn’t eat any food while we were there but had a great time talking to the bartender and just digging the atmosphere.  It will be added to a new page Jill is writing about all the different brewpubs in San Francisco.  Did you know there are over 15 at this point with 10 more scheduled to open during 2015?

By the way, this was also the same day we say the Austin Healey and the Tiny Tesla I’ve just posted about.  There is so much to do in San Francisco when you just walk and observe so check out SF Tourism Tips and find out all the newest information for all your San Francisco tips!

Day 588 OUT OF Beijing: Xinhua has Decided that Bacon is the Cause of China’s Pollution!

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Hazardous to all living creatures.

Hazardous to all living creatures.  From the app “Airpocalypse.”

 

Jill and I still have our WeChat accounts and are in contact with our friends back in Beijing.

One of them, Moeava, posted a wonderful article about the pollution in Beijing a day or two ago on WeChat Moments.  I’ve posted the article at the end of this blog.  For those that don’t know, WeChat Moments is sort of like Facebook’s Wall.  However, you can only see what your friends have posted and you can’t see other people’s posts or responses, if they aren’t your friends.   We wouldn’t want too much free speech or chance of an actual conversations between people, now would we?  This might lead to something called a more free society.

Perish the thought!

A side point: They’ve made it a felony, punishable with up to 3 years in jail, to have something you’ve posted re-posted 500 times or more.  This means, if something you post gets enough attention, you can go to jail.  Thankfully, I didn’t have enough readers or reposters of my blog or who knows what might have happened.

As you will see, the Xinhua News Agency, otherwise known as the mouthpiece for the government, stated that people smoking bacon is the actual cause of pollution in China.  Xinhua is famous for putting out false claims and absurd facts.  If anyone should be in jail for lying in a public forum, it is the people that own Xinhua and China Daily.

So, just imagine that smoking causes the insane amount of pollution in China.  Maybe it is just me but almost everyone in the rational world would have guessed it is because of too many cars, too much coal burning power plants, or because they keep using dynamite to blow apart mountain tops.  Why, you ask, do they blow apart these mountains?  So they can have more flat land to build apartment complexes that no one will ever live in.  Not that building massive apartments, all over China, might cause pollution from all the equipment used or the cement made to build the apartments?  Nah.  Nope.  Xinhua News Agency has declared it is because of people smoking bacon.

Another aside: China has over 64 million empty apartments, condos and houses right now.

SIXTY FOUR MILLION EMPTY APARTMENTS, CONDOS AND HOUSES!

If you think the housing market collapse of 2008 was bad, just wait about 3-5 years from now. and see what happens.  I’m not a Negative Nelly but I have a feeling there will be a housing collapse like no one has ever seen.

There is also massive real estate speculation overseas by Chinese investors.  Take a gander around San Francisco and look at the houses that are being bought, in cash, and you will see what I’m talking about.  One of our friends says a house, on her block in SF, just went for 3.2 million dollars a few months ago to a Chinese buyer.  This house is probably about 2,000 square feet and in a nice district but not worth 3.2 million dollars.

The house has sat dead empty with no renters or inhabitants since the investors bought it.

Of course, the tech money that is moving into SF is part of this but it isn’t enough to fuel it to the degree that it is raising prices.  This is also happening in NYC, Boston and Vancouver, Canada.

Back in China, the extreme wealthy, and the developers are building apartment complexes and no one is renting them out.  The owners and developers seem to believe that somehow, miraculously, the apartment prices will continue to rise and then people will rent them out when they are more expensive.

Being that 70 million apartments are empty and no one is even interested in renting them, I can’t imagine these immediately being full in a few years.

I also worry about the quality of these places.  Apartments that are just a few years old tend to look like they are 20 years old already.  I’ve been in some of the more expensive apartments (including ones that cost more than $9,000 USD a month) and they already look like they need repairs.  They have problems with hot and cold running water, drainage, and fixtures breaking.  I’m glad I didn’t live in a high rise as I’d be worried about them if an earthquake hits in Beijing.  And earthquakes do hit in Beijing.

There are also malls that sit empty, like the New South China Mall and whole cities that are dead quiet, other than a few thousand people, because there is no need for them.

However, the economic needs of the Chinese government push people to move into cities, to buy things they don’t need, and to spend money they don’t have.

Again, it sounds a lot like what happened in 2008 and I’m thinking that history is going to repeat.  I honestly don’t care who buys what, but I’d like to know that whomever is buying actually has sound currency that won’t evaporate the second it is questioned.  Heck, during our goodbye party, one of our friends couldn’t pay for his drinks because the ATM gave him counterfeit bills.  This was directly out of a Bank of China ATM.  And there is nothing he can do about it.

I hope I’m wrong but I’ve seen too many signs that point to this occurring and relatively soon.  Just be careful with your investments and what you are planning.  We could be in for some tough times ahead.

 

Smoking bacon is the cause of pollution in China.

Smoking bacon is the cause of pollution in China.

 

Day 580 OUT OF Beijing: The Great Purge of 2015.

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Jill and me on the 17th floor looking out over Coit Tower and Alcatraz in the backgroud.

Jill and me on the 17th floor looking out over Coit Tower and Alcatraz in the background.

 

Jill has about 900 friends on Facebook.  I have 2,710.

I had 2.710.  I am now down to just over 1,000.

I decided, last weekend, to do the great purge of 2015.

I’ve been reading a book titled You Are not so smart by David McRaney.

It primarily deals with cognitive distortions and why we think we know or believe something when, in reality, we tend to either be primed by something or we make up reasons to justify our beliefs.

We even make up stories and memories to prove our own beliefs and this can be fairly easily manipulated.

At one point in the book, he writes about how we can only really focus on a certain amount of stories/people at one time and any more than that we lose concentration and the themes of what they are telling us.

Since Jill and I are working on our new site, our books about life and how you want to live it, and how to minimize your things to maximize your life, I wanted to minimize my friends list to have more control over who I interact with each day.

I also set a goal of only being on Facebook for 30 minutes a day for the month of January and seeing how it affected my mood and my ability to reach important goals that we need to get done for our new site to go live and our books to be published.

We need to work on the covers for our books and our bios for them.  They also need more editing and we have a lot of places to visit, people to see, and events to update for our site SF Tourism Tips and we are working with our friend on building the new website which takes time and effort.  We have our logo, which we are still in the design stage but getting close, and it will need concerted effort and not wasted Facebook time.

We are heading off to some museums today to see them and take pictures, update information, and make connections.

Yesterday we went to a local and were shown around it and treated to lunch because our site has brought them business and they were thankful for everything we’ve done.  It was really wonderful to put a person to the page and know that we are making a difference in their business and they see all the hard work Jill has put into it and that they wanted to hear her story, and our story, and how much we had in common.  It was also delicious food and we had excellent wine.

Back to this weekend and The Purge:  I just decided I want to drop people I don’t really connect with or post to my wall.  I just don’t see the need for so many friends if I’m not actually connecting and being “friends” with them.

I still have over 1,000 friends but these are people that I do actually tend to connect with in some way.  They are fellow travelers, or from high school, or salsa dancing, or somewhere else and I think they will be important as Jill and I start our life of being vagabonds and traveling the world.  They will keep me grounded by being able to check in, say hello, and also meet up on our trip around the world.

It is a pretty daunting change to think of moving to another country, after living abroad for the last 1.5 years, but as long as we can spend time seeing our friends and family in the next 6 months, I think it will work itself out quite well.

I’m excited, and nervous, to be taking on this adventure because we will be able to see so many exciting sites and locations around the world.  We will also be able to meet so many new friends.

The part that makes me nervous is being away from family and friends in case something negative happens and not being able to help or be there in time.

This is the trade off one makes when they are an expatriate.

 

You see things others may never see but you miss things you wish you were there for.

Day 574 OUT OF Beijing: San Francisco City Hall For The Holidays.

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The man was holding his date's head so she could take a picture with shaking from the cold.

The man was holding his date’s head so she could take a picture with shaking from the cold.

Jill and I needed to take some pictures of City Hall for our website, SF Tourism Tips.

We went down a few days ago and were reminded why we love San Francisco.

You could say, without question, that we left our heart here and have found it again.

The City Hall is so beautiful and lit up so nicely that it took our breath away.

Of course, it could also be the incredible winds we had lately that blew over trees and cut people’s power but I think it is more likely the beauty of San Francisco.

It definitely was much colder in Beijing and it is nice to walk around in a windbreaker or a fleece sweatshirt and be warm.  No need for massive jackets, gloves, scarves and definitely no need for air quality masks since the air quality here is fantastic.

We cannot explain how amazing it is to have fresh air, every day, and not take it for granted.

Almost everyone in the USA would take it for granted, as we did, before we lived in Beijing.

I also don’t think anyone that hasn’t lived in a polluted city won’t be able to realize what it is like, even if I explain it, because it is such an overwhelming and all-important feature of your life each and every day.

There were days when we wouldn’t leave our apartment because it was so bad and we could barely see apartments 1 block away.  It is like San Francisco fog but your eyes start to tear up, you feel your throat tighten up, and you are lethargic for no logical reason other than the air is not breathable.

If Jill or I had babies, there is no way we’d raise them in Beijing.  I’d be afraid for their health and their lungs being born into that toxic mess.

One doctor stated that living in Beijing is equal to smoking 1/6 of a cigarette a day because of the pollution.  I would have to think it is more equal to smoking a full cigarette a day when the air quality gets bad enough.

Suffice to say, we are unbelievably happy we are home.

 

Day 571 OUT OF Beijing: Christmas Morning above the Castro.

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The view from one of the houses we are staying at over the Castro District.

The view from one of the houses we are staying at over the Castro District.

 

Jill and I have been house sitting, at two different houses, for the past week.

One house has a gorgeous little Italian Greyhound named Dante and a very cute tabby named Goya.

The other house has two super cute kitties named Buzz and Coco.

We walk Dante everyday and most days we walk him twice.

We also go check on Buzz and Coco when we walk Dante and he seems to enjoy hanging outside the house and checking out everything in that part of the Castro District.

It is nice because the houses are only about 15 minutes walking distance from each other and we are able to meander through Corona Heights Park and a few staircases and back alleys.

It is also quiet and calm here and the exact opposite of the constant hustle and bustle of Beijing.

We can not express how different it is actually.

It is like going from Manhattan on steroids to a town of 400 people in Nebraska.

Coincidentally, in about 4 months, we will be living in a town of 400 people in Nebraska as we will stay with Jill’s parents, Bill and Emma, for a month or two.  They live in Cedar Rapids and she wants to catch up with them and introduce me to my soon to be father and mother in law.  The wedding is probably gonna happen in 2016 so there is no rush but it will be nice to meet each other’s parents, other than on Skype, since we haven’t been able to yet.  This is what happens when you meet someone 8 days before you leave for China and then ask them to marry you in Turkey.  It’s an expat life for us!

On this trip around the USA, we will also see our friend Christopher Rubin and his family down in LA and spend a week in Cancun with Jill’s sister’s family in Cancun.  After that we will head to Galisteo, NM to hang with my mom and step-dad for a few weeks before heading to Costa Rica or some place in Latin America to start looking for a long term residence as we build our websites and businesses.  It is one of the true wonders of the internet age that we can work “anywhere” and strive.  We plan to teach others to be able to do the same once our new website is up and running in a month or two.  We love the vagabond life and what it affords to us.

So, Jill and I wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Wonderful Kwanzaa and any other holiday or pagan ritual that you subscribe to.  Here’s a little view from the second house we are house sitting and of the Castro District.  Just another gorgeous Christmas in San Francisco.  And not wisp of smog anywhere in sight.  So glad we are home.  Whatever, and wherever, home is.

 

Day 567 OUT OF Beijing: Grace Cathedral Videos

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Jill and I think beauty of Grace Cathedral speaks for itself.

To give you another perspective on it, we’d decided to post some videos.  We will be using some of them on our business site, SF Tourism Tips.

Enjoy them and the fact that I’ve now written 567 blog posts over 567 days.

I find it pretty cool that I haven’t missed a day and that the numbers line up as 567.

It is the small things that make me happy.

And large things like Grace Cathedral.

 

 

 

Day 566 OUT OF Beijing: Merry Christmas and Grace Cathedral.

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Grace Cathedral in all its glory.

Grace Cathedral in all its glory.

 

Jill and I love Grace Cathedral.

It is probably the most beautiful Cathedral in San Francisco and it is located on the top of Nob Hill.

It has an amazing view out towards the bay and also back towards Daly City and out towards Ocean Beach.

It has been built out, as needed, through the years and yet the style has never changed.

It is a gothic cathedral and the acoustics are fantastic.

We also needed new pictures for our website and business, SF Tourism Tips.

It just so happened that the Rainbow World Fund Tree of Hope has been located at Grace Cathedral the last two years and we were able to see it this year.

It was located at City Hall last year, but we were both in China and were not able to see it, so it was nice to see it in such a magnificent location this time.

It is based on the 1000 origami cranes that were made by a Japanese survivor of Hiroshima in the belief that if she made 1000 of them she’d be cured of cancer.  She died about 300 cranes short but the legend lives on and this tree is a symbol of that hope.

I actually visited Hiroshima in 1997 and was taken by the Peace Plaza and how many thousands of origami cranes were there.  It was a magical place and it is dedicated to world peace as they have seen the worst humanity could ever do to itself.

This tree has another part of it’s own story that is quite incredible: “The wishes are then printed and folded into origami cranes by a diverse team of volunteers, including members of San Francisco’s LGBT and Japanese American communities, survivors of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, local children, and life-­‐sentence prisoners from San Quentin.  The origami “crane wishes”are then placed on the tree.”  From Grace’s Cathedral’s website.

Jill and I walked around and took a lot of pictures, enjoyed the scenery, and just sat in silence for quite a while.

We really loved looking at the amazing streamers that hung down from the ceiling and probably were over 100 feet in length.  I tried to find out what the represent but was unable to at this time.  I’ll have to ask a docent next time I go.

 

 

Day 565 OUT OF Beijing: Mornings in San Francisco.

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A cable car making a stop on Nob Hill.

A cable car making a stop on Nob Hill.

 

Jill and I went to meet some of my co-workers for lunch this morning.

We had forgotten, after 1.5 years in Beijing, how gorgeous San Francisco is each and every day.

The Christmas tree at The Fairmont Hotel.

The Christmas tree at The Fairmont Hotel.

Especially today.

It was a balmy day and we didn’t even need jackets or sweaters.

It was a short sleeve day on December 22nd.

Just amazing.

We had a wonderful lunch with my co-workers and then decided to just walk around and breathe in the clean air and take in the sites.

It is really hard to explain how luckily we feel to be out of Beijing and free of the pollution, the crowds and the constant pressure of living under regime that we were always worried about in regards to our own safety.

It was interesting, to ride the buses and walk the streets of San Francisco, and see how many homeless, and mentally ill, are out and about.

Christmas at the Fairmont Hotel

Christmas at the Fairmont Hotel

We almost never saw any mentally ill, and only a few homeless, out in Beijing.

This is probably because the government wouldn’t allow them to be out and made sure they were not in public view but I’m not sure.  Just my guess from what I’ve seen their government do to people they don’t want seen or heard from over the last 1.5 years.

The USA has problems, no question, but we are free and happy compared to what we lived under in Beijing.

We don’t take it lightly how lucky we are to have been born in the USA and the choices that gives us in our lives.

 

 

Day 563 OUT OF Beijing: Greece Comes to San Francisco!

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Our first drink at Palia Kameni.

Our first drink at Palia Kameni.

 

Jill and I spent a few nights in little town of Fira on the island of Santorini, Greece after we got engaged.

We had been to Mykonos, Naxos and Paros and were worried Santorini would be too crowded and expensive.

Imagine our surprise when it was actually about the same price as the lesser known islands and not crowded at all.

We walked around Fira and found this amazing bar named Palia Kameni Cocktail Bar.

It was facing towards the caldera and where the sun would set later that night.

We decided to sit down, have a drink and hang out.

One of the waiters, from the UK, talked to us for a bit and seemed like a nice guy.

After our drinks came, the owner, Vassilias came up to talk to us as the waiter told him we had just come from China and were engaged.

We talked for about 1-2 hours and discussed how he came to own this bar at such a young age (he was 28 years old), how to live the life we want to live, and how to achieve financial freedom as soon as possible to be able to travel and see the world.

Vassilias told us that he took the bar over from his dad and he is slowly making changes. One of the changes was to pay his staff enough that he, and they, could shut down for the 6 month winter break, and be able to live without fear of running out of money.  For Vassilias, that also includes going to visit his girlfriend, Soneth, who is a speech therapist in San Francisco and Los Angeles this winter.  We told him that we will be back in SF and wanted to meet up with him.  He agreed and we came back the next night to watch the sunset again.

We just got back to SF on December 15th and Vassilias told us he was leaving on the 20th for LA and we decided to meet up at the Squat and Gobble in the Castro Area.  We had a wonderful time talking and figuring out future plans and how we can support each other as he builds his business and we build ours.

It is everything we love about owning our own business, being able to travel, and living a life that is less structured and more independent.

It is not for everyone, but there is no way we want to live any other way, at least not at this point in our lives.

I’ve include pictures taken from his restaurant in Fira.  If you ever go to Santorini, please say hello to him and enjoy the sunset from there.  It is life changing.

 

Day 561 OUT OF Beijing: Seeing the San Francisco Sites.

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The credit card christmas tree.

The credit card Christmas tree.

 

Jill owns her own website SF Tourism Tips.

Running a San Francisco tourism and travel website from Beijing for a year and a half is a tremendous achievement.

Overall, she’s done an amazing job and didn’t miss a step.

She did ask a few friends for pictures and to help with information, but overall, she’s been a champion!

The site has been doing well and continues to grow each day.  It really is something amazing to behold since we are both going to use this site as a building block for our future travels and life.

We plan to hang out in the USA for about 9 months and then take off to parts semi-unknown.

Our goal the day we arrived in SF was to get pictures and reacquaint ourselves with the city.

We are house-sitting for our friends in the Castro District and decided to walk down Divisadero Street to start our day.

We walked by a wonderful Christmas display and then got a nice tea to help us wake up.

Walking by the Victorians made us feel right at home.

We also saw a guy with a gorgeous dog.  We did love the dogs in Beijing and thought we’d go through doggie withdrawal when we arrived.  No chance.  They are everywhere!

The owner is a real estate agent and we talked about the changes and what has happened.  He’s lived here for 20 years and has seen an amazing amount of change in the Western Addition and all over SF.  His dog, Fenway, was so cute and friendly.  We talked for about 30 minutes before we headed off to have lunch and take more pictures.

We ended up taking a lot of pictures of the murals around Valencia and Mission since Jill needed updates for her site and we both just wanted to cruise around and enjoy the spectacle.

The weather was gorgeous and the sun gave us wonderful light to take the pictures.

It could not have been a better day to start our re-adventure back home by the bay.