Half Moon Bay, San Jose, Cupertino, Alameda

We were in US for a family wedding and had planned for 3 weeks holiday which was unfortunately cut short by an onerous US visa process that had added a lot of stress to my holiday. I had to resort to the idea of not getting the visa during the 3 week window and was entertaining the idea of a radical home clean up to use up my time. But luckily the visa came through at the end of the first week and I managed to attend the wedding. Post the festivities, the relatives took us sight seeing. Among the places we visited were San Jose where we went to a Tesla showroom and took numerous photos of Cybertruck (it was not available in Melbourne)

We went to Cupertino and visited the Apple headquarters (right). The architecture is beautiful and modern. Although we could only visit the tourist centre, we can use an iPad to scan a model of the whole place to see it come to life with cars, trees and people. 

There are also free workshops about how to use Apple products. No registrations are required, just rock up on the day. Two of the aunties were interested in iPhone photography and found the course of the day very useful. Indeed, they took hundreds of photos of us during our week stay in California recording all the fond memories of our time together during family meals, the wedding, sight seeing activities especially a tour downtown in San Francisco. 

Despite all the caution I had received about San Francisco, we saw little of the crime and homeless situation.

One time we were driving to Chinatown and saw a tent city on the sidewalk. That was the extent of our exposure to the situation. The rest of the time we were in tourist areas like Pier 39, Lombard St, Chinatown, Palace of Fine Arts (a beautiful place initially built for the World Expo, recreating ancient Roman architecture). All that on the day I stepped out of the plane after a 13 hour flight!

This is a beach in Half Moon Bay. There is a pumpkin festival in this city every year where the largest pumpkin wins a prize. There are many beautiful beaches and scenery and has the quaint cosy feeling of a seaside town. 

There was a fisherman's pier where firshermen sell their day's catch straight from the boat. We did not buy any but got some fish and chips from Barbara's Fish Trap by the seaside instead. Sitting down together, 4 aunties and uncles, 2 cousins and us, it was a jovial time.

4th auntie, her husband and son had come from Canada to attend the wedding and stayed at 6th uncle's house. We had the honours of travelling the furthest from Melbourne for the wedding and stayed in 7th uncle's house. 5th auntie who also lived in Alameda with her family were exempt from hosting anyone because she had a full house. 5, 6 and 7th aunties and uncles lived within a few minutes of each other. On the weekends, they meet up and go walking along the canal (right) or by the bay (we saw a groundhog there!) then replenish all those calories at the closest In and Out Burger joint.

There was previously a naval base in Alameda before it was converted into housing estate. We visited the USS Hornet, which is permanently docked there for use as a museum. The aircraft carrier is a national Historic Landmark. Admission fees are $25 per adult.

So far, we have had the best meals in USA in California. The quality of Cantonese fare in the restaurants are second to none. On the way back from Cupertino, we passed by Fremont and treated the relatives to dinner at Pearl Bay restaurant. We had delicious dishes - duck, pork belly, scallop fried rice, spinach in seafood sauce, fried pork ribs, prawns are only a few I can remember. It was about $450 US for 9 people with doggie bags at the end of the meal.