Marcus & Chungjye's visit

5 yrs ago..

Chungjye: "Hey Marcus, seriously, I think we're not ugly at all. Actually we're quite handsome..."

Now..

Chungjye: "Ok, marriadge cost a bomb these days...u need to consider housing, wedding, pleasing ur in-laws..."

Evidently, the desperado 5 yrs ago is now a grown man thinking about how to settle down. Time flies man, but it's always a pleasure to be nostalgic at times and this weekend is one of those times. Marcus, my buddy from my military days, decided that he's sick of Harvard and flew across america to the west coast and hang out with me and chungjye. well, acutally mainly with chungjye. After one night of suffocation in ling's room, both seek refuge at my town berkeley...


Marcus: "So what's the name of this tower?"
Mike: "I think they call it 'The Tower' here."
Marcus: "........"


Ok, so after a really disappointing lunch at this semi HK tea restaurant cum german bar wannabe, we do not know whether to trust the second advice given by the old lady selling newspaper (who decisively referred us to the first restuarant when asked for a "gd place for HK food in the area"...she probably get s commision) to some bakery selling egg tart...well, the egg tart turns out to be absolutely AWESOME! hence the happy faces...marcus is probably puking somewhere after he stuffs himself with 3 big egg tarts..


You really have to wonder how kids these days perceive traditional chinese new yr music...it seems that every tracks on these CDs are backed by a thumbing baseline and beat worthy of a techno chart-topper...


this is taken on our way to palace of fine arts...The slope waiting for us in front is positively SCARY! these slopes in San Fran makes for great car chase scenes in movies..


Behind us, the world-famous prison...hmm..wat's its name again? some alcatraz?


Fortunately for us the clouds start clearing up as we head down to the bay..we actually got a clear view of the whole bridge!


Marcus trying his 16:9 function on his camera..and hence this..


Look at the bottom of the pic, the golden gate bridge looks as if it's built across a big field of green grass instead of over the bay..


The Delta Platoon 1 Elite Section 1 on a recce mission to ,in Lt Ling Chungjye's word, where "the dude from THE ROCK escaped to meet his daughter"


These swans look relaxing..but atually they have a very very small area of space to chill...what a pity...they look really elegant..


Palace: "Yeah dude...I look awesome..."


Palace: "I absolutely RULE!"


We were here 3 yrs ago at this spot..but we can't see anything cos it was soooo hazzy...fast forward 3 yrs and we finally get the shot we wanted..in front of the magnificient Golden Gate..


Question of the day: How long does Tammy take to pose for this pic?


Buddy1 + Buddy2 + Me + kick-ass bridge....


we took a spin down to Alamo Square...another place where me and Tammy visited 3 yrs ago; me singing"...take my hand, and say you'd follow me.."


Chungjye attempting to dig into his "depths" for something...something filthy...


In front of Civic Center...we just happened to pass by this fabulous-looking monument...it's a gd way to end our day at San Fran


A very nice purple sky..


Scary-looking trees line up in front of the civic center..


A final pic in front of the civic center..


Ling: "Hey come back to bed.."
Marcus: "Nooooooooooo"


Who knows what transpire the previous night between these 2 passionate young fellows...hee...


It's been a great time hanging out with my 2 buddies...time changes alot of things...but fortunately something in life stays the same...it's harder and harder to meet new ppl whom you can connect beyond the hi-bye level as you grow older...so it waas great spending time with these 2 "comades", poking fun at each other, talkin abt ridiculous army stories, chatting abt film, school, gf, life as "scholars", career....a great way to end my month-long break...time to go back into the lab and do some real research work the sch's paying me for..hee...