tamarii

I’ll be honest, I didn’t really consider myself a beach kind of person. I mean, I liked the beach, but there wasn’t really anything that particularly attracted me to them.

I’d gone to Laguna Beach to visit Laguna College of Art and Design. The campus was tiny, but so cozy and inviting; definitely applying there.

Afterwards, I hung out along the beach with my relatives; on the way back home, we stopped by Aliso Beach for a quick bathroom break and ended up spending an hour or so there. My cousin pulled out his bike and rode around a bit, I walked along the beach and took pictures. It was late afternoon, the sun hadn’t quite started setting just yet, and the beach was fairly vacant. It certainly wasn’t crowded. I just stood there on the sand, watching the tide rise and fall, feeling the cool salty mist on my face, the wind in my hair, the gentle roar of the ocean…it just felt like everything was right with the world, standing there on that beautiful beach. I had never felt so peaceful in my life.

I personally find Chinatown to be kind of…blah. Nothing super special, but then again, I’m not a tourist. 85% of the times I’ve gone to San Fran I’ve been dragged to Chinatown. The life there is familiar to me. I speak the language, eat the food, and find the rice paddy hats those camera-toting tourists are trying on silly.

However, I guess for tourists it’s a real treat. And there are souvenirs to be bought everywhere you turn. Chinatown is best during festivals, like Chinese New Year and the Moon Festival.

Seeing as how I live about 45 minutes away from SF, I do get to go there pretty often. It’s got this great big city feeling that is so hard to find in the suburbs. Lots of shopping, nice little restaurants here and there. It’s a great escape. Even the hobos here seem happier than elsewhere. (well, some of them anyway)