Last Day in SF

April 23, 2012

After the hiking tour of Pt Richmond, I spent the next day in Milpitas, an outlet mall about an hour away from Oakland. CY dropped me off at the mall while she got some errands done. In the mall, it sure didn't look like the US is suffering any economic downturn. I did get myself a couple of things, especially kitchen knives. The discounts in the US are crazy. When I paid up, I got a 20% discount voucher which I used immediately for another purchase which entitled me to another whopping discount voucher and it went on until I realised that cutting boards, pizza cutters, cupcake baking pans and knives were crazy things to lug home, especially when I was going to NYC too. When I got to NYC a few days later, I found the biggest knife on top of my luggage bag when I opened it and a note that my bag had been searched at the airport. Lucky for me a friend had given me a TSA (Transportation Security Administration) approved lock or they would've broken my bag to check the content. Remember to always use a TSA approved lock when travelling in the States, especially if you are stupid enough to have knives in your bag.

CY wanted to go hiking again, this time to the lighthouse in the Marin Headlands. She was going with a tough cookie who just came back from a week of hiking in the Mojave Desert and they were going to scout the area for their next hiking trip. I declined their invitation, seeing that it was a cloudy day with temperatures in the 60s, so CY dropped me off at Sausalito, which is the nearest nice town to the Marin Headlands. But before that, we had breakfast at Montclair Egg Shop in Montclair Village near CY's house.

We both wanted the same thing, Mediterranean Omelet. It was very good and the serving was huge. The apricot jam was homemade and tasted awesome. We could eat the jam for dessert. Where else in the world can you get that for USD9.50? Food prices are the cheapest in the USA. I just watched a Chinese TV program a few days ago where the talk show hosts were complaining about food and house prices in China and asking why everything is so much cheaper in the US. In cities like Beijing, according to the talk host, 2 bulbs of garlic can cost RMB2.50/RM1.25/USD0.40. Ironic, when you think how not long ago China was so poor your mom told you to think of the starving children there when you didn't clean your plate. In fact, I used to tell my kids that too but I think I said Africa, not China.

The public library in Montclair.

That evening, CY drove me for a final tour of the area around UC Berk and we had a nice time looking at some beautiful houses and the views from the hills. Nice to be filthy rich. But I don't know. I keep thinking, what will happen to these houses when The Big One comes?

Despite CY's protest, I bought a TV dinner (USD1!) but she wouldn't let me warm it up. She said it was cheap and bad and I'm not a student anymore but I used to love salisbury steaks, especially the gravy, and I just wanted to taste it again to see if I still love it. I thought of eating it without warming it up but instead I went to bed thinking of it and planned to eat it early the next morning before CY got up but luckily I didn't because I nearly missed my flight to NYC.