We are a family of 3 (2 Adults and a 5-year-old kid) and we recently toured Dubai. I am sharing my dubai traveling experience here, hoping that it could benefit someone like you in the future.

## 1. Pre Planning the Itinerary
We picked the month of November to visit Dubai, because;
- It's the end of summer, hence the heat is somewhat manageable.
- It's the start of travel season, so less crowd at attractions.
- The hotels were cheaper than the peak season rates.

Once the dates are confirmed, next thing was to shortlist the attractions/places that we wanted to visit and then bookmark the places in Google Maps like below.

![Dubai map](/img/dubai-map.png)

Bookmarking places like this helped us in finding a hotel that is closer or at a good distance from all the places we wanted to see. Since ours is a family trip with a kid, we prioritized places that had less adventure. Here's a list of places that we went.

- Day 1: Warner Bros World | Abu Dhabi _(needs at least 5 hours to enjoy)_
- Day 2: Burj Khalifa / Dubai Mall / Aquarium
- Day 3: Desert Safari _(starts at 2:00 PM in the noon and finishes at 9:00 PM in the night)_
- Day 4: Lego Land
- Day 5: Emirates Mall / Miracle Garden / Global Village _(lot of walking to be done. Better to visit after 4 PM, so stay at the mall till evening)_
- Day 6: View at the Palm / Marina walk / Dubai Garden Glow
- Day 7: Dolphin show / Old Dubai

## 2. Booking flight tickets

We booked flight tickets on Emirates airlines. We bought the tickets first because it is needed to get the Dubai visitor visa. Also, make sure to book as early as possible and plan to travel on non weekend days (Tuesday for example), to get a cheaper flight tickets.

And, if you are planning to visit _Yas Island theme parks_, I'd recommend to either plan it at start of the trip / or end of the trip and directly fly to / fly out of Abu Dhabi in Etihad airlines. This way, you will save on taxi charge / travel time in traveling between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

## 3. Getting a Dubai tourist Visa

Getting the Tourist visa was an online process - no need to visit the Embassy in person. [Just apply online](https://uaevisaonline.ae/eligible-countries/dubai-visa-for-indians/), upload the required documents and your visa will be ready in a day.

The airlines that you booked your flight tickets provides a Visa service for a fee (Emirates does). But I contacted a travel agent in Dubai who helped me to get the visitor visa in one day. The visitor visa is a separate document and not printed on the Passports (unlike the US visas). So I took a print out of the Visa and carried it with me while traveling.

## 4. Booking a Hotel / Stay

When selecting a hotel, I looked for the following criteria:

- _affordable_ - places near the down town area were obviously overpriced. So, I picked a place near the airport and across the Dubai creek, in Wasl district.
- _accessible_ - I planned to use Dubai metro. So I searched for places  that are in walkable distance from a metro station.
- _available_ - I looked for places with south indian restaurants and groceries available nearby. So, I do not need to worry about my breakfast and dinner. Even though the hotel I stayed at provided the continental breakfast, my 5-year-old had his own dietary needs. So, a nearby south Indian hotel was a must for us. This gave us an option to save on the hotel cost, since I could select a room without breakfast option (breakfast was at additional price).

## 5. Flying to Dubai and Immigration

The immigration at Chennai airport was very quick - thanks to the newly opened terminal. There wasn't many questions other than the purpose of visit and duration. The officer checked the documents and then stamped the passport. The rest of the day was non-eventful. Finished security check and waited for our flight to arrive.

Thanks to my kid, we get to board the flight first. Most of the 4-hour journey went in sleeping.

We had a separate queue for passengers with kids at Dubai immigration. The officer did not ask any questions at all - just checked our Visa and passport and let us through. We had one more security check before the baggage claim area.

## 6. Getting a tourist SIM and a mobile data plan

There are two telecom providers in Dubai - Etislat and Du. All tourists are given one free Du sim/passport and a 2GB free data, valid for 24 hours, at the immigration counter. If you wish, you could just purchase a tourist plan from Du and use it.

I personally decided to go with Etislat, since the tourist unlimited data plan seemed to be fine with me. After collecting the baggage, upon exiting to the Metro station, there is an Etislat counter in the airport. I headed to it and got a new connection, that's valid for 30 days. They asked for passport, payment, and I was all set with a new mobile connection within 15 minutes.

I opted for an E-SIM for my new connection. This was because I wanted to have both the Indian SIM and Dubai SIM at the same time, so that I can use Dubai SIM for internet and phone calls, and Indian SIM to receive SMS/OTP messages that will come for the credit card usage/authentication.

Also, WhatsApp calls will not work in Dubai. So, if you plan to use WhatApp calls to talk to relatives back in India, you are out of luck. Either get an international calling plan or use an app Botim to make calls to India.

## 7. Traveling in Dubai using taxi and Metro train

I used Metro trains for most of my traveling. I did not get a Nol card. Instead, I bought tickets every time I needed to travel. Only at Burj Khalifa station, there was a long queue. But in other stations, the ticket counter was usually without queues.  But, if you plan to get a Nol card, you may save a couple of minutes.

For the places that is far from a train station, I used the Taxis and Uber. Taxis are cheaper than Uber and readily available at every metro station exit / popular tourist places. So, it won't be hard to get a Taxi. And, unlike in Chennai / India, the taxi fares are strictly meter/distance based, so you don't need to bargain. Every taxi has the fare amount displayed in a big screen, so you know how much you are going to pay. And, all Taxis accepts credit card payments. In most malls, there's a separate queue for getting the Taxi, and they get crowded in the evening time. So plan accordingly.

## 8. Paying for things in Dubai

Every business accept credit card payments. I enabled international transactions in my Indian credit card before the journey and used the card to make the payments. Since the credit card usage needs OTP authentications, I kept my Indian SIM on my mobile, so I continued to get the OTP messages. I did not need to buy any international roaming from my Indian mobile provides, as there is no charge for receiving SMS message internationally.

That concludes my experience in Dubai as a Indian tourist. Please feel free to share your experience in the comments. And, let me know if I had missed any tip that should be in the above list.

Traveling to Dubai from India as a Tourist - My experience


[Mission peak](http://www.ebparks.org/parks/mission) is one of the popular hiking location near Fremont. Every week, numerous people from in and around bay area, hike this peak. And, I get to do it this Sunday.

![Mission Peak Trail head](https://i.imgur.com/WDLgp00.jpg)

You can reach the peak either from [Ohlone college trail head](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mission+Peak+Ohlone+Trail/@37.527287,-121.9128917,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x808fc6a2fbff6735:0x690d0d4a1536e625!8m2!3d37.5272828!4d-121.910703) or from [Stanford Ave trail head](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mission+Peak+Trail+Head/@37.5043281,-121.9105877,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x808fc67dccda1b0d:0x7231f5f4d748bf62!8m2!3d37.5043239!4d-121.908399). It is recommended to do start the hike from **Ohlone college**, as this location offers plenty of parking, but for a fee though.

![Ohlone college parking lot](https://i.imgur.com/HRV0NQg.jpg)

I parked my car in the multi-story parking structure you see above. It costs **4$** for a full day permit. I started my hike from the Ohlone college trail head at around 6.30 AM. I wanted to start a bit earlier to reach a good vantage point for the sunrise. But, being this my first hike at this location, I didn't know if the path will be lit and good enough to hike in the dark. So I started a bit late and missed most of the sunrise light.

[![Mission peak hiking path from Ohlone college](https://i.imgur.com/gq2gCo6.jpg)](https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Mission+Peak+Ohlone+Trail,+Ysc+Trail,+Fremont,+CA/Mission+Peak+Summit,+Mission+Peak,+Fremont,+CA+94539/@37.5206415,-121.9044796,3569m/am=t/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m24!4m23!1m15!1m1!1s0x808fc6a2fbff6735:0x690d0d4a1536e625!2m2!1d-121.910703!2d37.5272828!3m4!1m2!1d-121.9046482!2d37.5247219!3s0x808fc6a1fcd1369d:0x2cde43427481005a!3m4!1m2!1d-121.8901121!2d37.5180772!3s0x808fc431ef8aaa1f:0xb4b47295c9dcb54d!1m5!1m1!1s0x808fc5ca58b42b7b:0x91d8b97650f75f66!2m2!1d-121.8808302!2d37.5125051!3e2)

The trail is very challenging and you will see it the moment you get past the first gate. If you are hiking in the middle of a sunny day, make sure you bring enough water to drink. Even if you hike before the sun started scorching, it is better to bring enough water because you WILL need it. The trail didn't have many switchbacks but it is steep. But fortunately, the Ohlone college trail provides some shades compared to the Stanford Ave trail. And, people use this trail a lot just because of this.

![Switchback in mission peak hiking train](https://i.imgur.com/cL6FVlS.jpg)

Once you get past the second gate, you will start ascending on the mountain and you get to see awesome views of the bay area. Make sure to be there during the golden hours to get a glimpse of the bay area basking in the morning sun rays.

![Onlooking bay area from mission peak trail](https://i.imgur.com/JGEryGj.jpg)

As you continue to hike, you will be presented with awesome views of greeny mountains. In some places you can see the cattle hiked up to top of the mountais and grazing. And you will see yourself, panting left and right just for half of an hour of walk in the taril and you will feel ashamed. You will learn to get past this!! :)

![Ranch on the way to mission peak](https://i.imgur.com/zDPXuZo.jpg)

![Greeny mountains](https://i.imgur.com/yIC4rIS.jpg)

It may take upto 4 to 5 hours for an average hiker to complete the entire hike. But at the end, you will feel the mission accomplished or peaked or whatever! :)


Hiking Mission Peak


For a long weekend, one usually plans to visit national parks or other famous attractions. But the intelligent one knows to avoid such places, because he knew that he won't get parking. So, I knew better to avoid Yosemite park for this memorial day long weekend.

Instead, I went on a drive through [**CA 130**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_130), a state highway that runs between San Jose and Mount Hamilton.

[![CA-130 Trip](http://i.imgur.com/K9IS0eP.png)](https://veerasundar.com/route-planner/)

I started my journey from my home at Fremont and instead of 680, I drove via Sunol, Calaveras road. I started early in the morning hoping for some sunrise photos, but unfortunately I couldn't find a better spot at Calaveras road.

However I continued my drive up the Quimby road to get to CA 130. I did not expect Quimby road to be challenging, but to my surprise, the road was winding and narrow. I almost lost my control in one of the hairpin curve. From that point, I started driving very slowly even in the straighter part of the road.

After reaching CA 130, the road became little wider, but still it was only two lane. Even though the road was winding, the curves were easily drivable. I took couple of breaks here and there while taking photos.

[![Mt Hamilton Road](http://i.imgur.com/NOaCrrG.jpg)](http://i.imgur.com/NOaCrrG.jpg)

## Lick Observatory

As I started very early, when I reached the [Lick Observatory at Mount Hamilton](https://mthamilton.ucolick.org/), I was the only peron there. So I had the whole parking lot to park my car. :)

[![Lick Observatory Parking](http://i.imgur.com/l4YKY5m.jpg)](http://i.imgur.com/l4YKY5m.jpg)

The observatory was not open at 8 in the morning though. I wasn't disappointed either, as visiting the observatory wasn't my plan. But even from the outside, one could get a good a view of the Santa Clara valley and the road leading to the Mount Hamilton.

[![View from Lick Observatory](http://i.imgur.com/bu1osDX.jpg)](http://i.imgur.com/bu1osDX.jpg)

By the time I started from the observatory, there was only two other people came there, one in motor bike and the other person in a bike. So, it's good to have a early start, to enjoy the nature without the crowd.

From the observatory, I continued to drive through CA 130. I saw some signboard warnings that there are no gas station or auto services for next 40 miles. My car had around half tank of gasoline, so I didn't worry much.

## Del Puerto Canyon Road

From Mount Hamilton, CA 130 goes through a remote and lightly populated forest. I could hardy see any signs of civilization (except the road that I was driving on). From time to time, I see some ranches and cattle, but zero humans until I reached the point where CA 130 meets the Mines road. At the road junction, there was a shop. My assumption is that the shop is the only social place that the locale use.

From that junction, I turned to the **Del Puerto Canyon Road** which goes to Patterson. The canyon road is again a isolated area, with very few humans in sight. However, the scenery was beautiful and breathtaking. I managed to find a spot to pull over my car and took couple of photos. Here's the best one from the lot.

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    <img
      src="https://drscdn.500px.org/photo/155941195/m%3D900/78573f1e993789e6fb2bed63adedcba7"
      alt="Clear sky and clear mountains by Veera Sundar on 500px.com"
    />
  </p>
</div>

After reaching Patterson, I stopped for a coffee break at Starbucks and headed my way back to home (via I5 and 101). The whole drive tough only around 6 hours. I will be going back soon on the same route, especially to the Del Puerto Canyon, to take some of the photos that I missed.


A travelogue about the driving from Fremont to Patterson via Mount Hamilton.

Driving through CA-130


It is my sixth time that I am visiting Unites States and have been to San Francisco several times on each of my trip. Somehow, the **Golden Gate Park** was never in my destination. But last week, I managed to spend a Sunday, hiking in the beautiful Golden Gate park that lie amidst the bustling city.

As usual, I started very early in the morning to catch the first Caltrain from Hillsdale to San Francisco. My initial plan was to roam around the market streets and China town and take lots of photographs. Here's a photo that I took from the Pier 14. You can see some of the well known landmarks here: **The Transamerica Pyramid, Ferry Building and the Market street skylines**.

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  <p>
    <img
      src="https://drscdn.500px.org/photo/103356807/m%3D900/51817fc13d6f2de088df237a885148ff"
      alt="Photograph San Francisco Skyline by Veera Sundar on 500px"
    />
  </p>
  <a href="https://500px.com/photo/103356807/san-francisco-skyline-by-veera-sundar">
    San Francisco Skyline by Veera Sundar on 500px
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Unfortunately, it turned out to be a very sunny day and the light was very harsh as you can see in the above photo. So I changed my plan to visit the Golden gate park and return to the market street in the evening for the sunset.

As a popular opinion, The best way to explore a city is to walk. If the city is too big to walk, then the second best way is the public transits, in my opinion. So, I bought a day pass from the **SFO Railway museum** which is located just opposite to the Ferry building. It costs $17 (as of April-2015) and you can use it to board all Muni transport (Buses, Rail and Cable car). I boarded a bus from the Market Street to Golden Gate park which took around 50 mins to reach.

I started my hike from the north east corner of the Golden Gate park. My first stop is the **Conservatory of Flowers** center, a domed building that houses flowers and plants from around the world. You need to buy tickets to get in. Photography is allowed and no extra fee for the cameras. I went in and managed to get couple of good photos.

The light was low since its a closed structure but in some places, the light was well diffused due to the see-through roof that was made to let in enough light for the plants to survive. Here's a nice bokeh I took inside that building.

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    <img
      src="https://drscdn.500px.org/photo/104017473/m%3D900/54864362adb3a6ba7199ed8ec5d8672e"
      alt="Photograph Backlit leaf bokeh by Veera Sundar on 500px"
    />
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  <a href="https://500px.com/photo/104017473/backlit-leaf-bokeh-by-veera-sundar">
    Backlit leaf bokeh by Veera Sundar on 500px
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After spending half an hour in the conservatory, I got out and continued my hiking towards the western end of the park. Given it was Sunday, the park was flocking with crowd of people. But once you take the off route and go inside the park, you should find some lone time.

An hour of hiking led me to the **Botanical Garden**. Again, you need to get a ticket to get in. At the entrance, they asked me whether I was living in San Francisco or not. I guess, it was free entrance for a San Francisco citizen. Otherwise, need to get $7 ticket. Photography is allowed and no additional fee for cameras (I believe charging extra for cameras is only followed in India, because I hardly see this custom in any of the US attracttions).

Since it's the start of the Spring time, the garden was filled with colorful flowers everywhere. Here are couple of photographs that I took in the botanical garden.

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    <img
      src="https://drscdn.500px.org/photo/103321579/m%3D900/807d715d23904f0465b5b8c17666d5ce"
      alt="Photograph Crazy how nature make dat by Veera Sundar on 500px"
    />
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  <a href="https://500px.com/photo/103321579/crazy-how-nature-make-dat-by-veera-sundar">
    Crazy how nature make dat by Veera Sundar on 500px
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This one is my favorite. Took this under a shade of a tree. The sunlight was only falling on the flower and rest of the areas were dark. Loved the result.

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  <p>
    <img
      src="https://drscdn.500px.org/photo/103418285/m%3D900/1d7203e803b5f05429b09acd1811b99a"
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  <a href="https://500px.com/photo/103418285/flower-in-the-sunshine-by-veera-sundar">
    Flower in the sunshine by Veera Sundar on 500px
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A Black rose,

<div class="pixels-photo">
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    <img
      src="https://drscdn.500px.org/photo/104025339/m%3D900/b8b49d6715eb57d4b59dba25f220534c"
      alt="Photograph Black rose by Veera Sundar on 500px"
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  <a href="https://500px.com/photo/104025339/black-rose-by-veera-sundar">
    Black rose by Veera Sundar on 500px
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After spending almost all the afternoon, I was totally exhausted. So had to cancel my plans to return to market streets for the sunset. Took the train to catch my 7'O clock Caltrain. While returning, managed to take this one:

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    <img
      src="https://drscdn.500px.org/photo/103609479/m%3D900/26a49f927372940ed0bf23f79278a0b0"
      alt="Photograph Windows by Veera Sundar on 500px"
    />
  </p>
  <a href="https://500px.com/photo/103609479/windows-by-veera-sundar">
    Windows by Veera Sundar on 500px
  </a>
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Wasn't that impressive when I shot this in color but after converting this to monochrome, it has become a beauty.

With that, my Sunday was over. But need to go back to the Market Street and China town. May be another weekend.


A day at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco


This post was supposed to be written couple of weeks back. But, thanks to my laziness, it had to wait for this long to get published.

Anyways, here's a (pretty old) news - two months back, I bought an Yamaha FZS. Ever since, the weekends have become the time for bike rides. So far, I have rode my Yamaha to an less known village near Tada, Mahabalipuram, Ennore, Poondi and almost all the places inside Chennai. But none satisfied my passion for a long journey.

So, I eyed the East Coast Road (ECR) - the bikers paradise. ECR starts at Chennai and runs till Tuticorin, covering a total of 690 Kilometres, along the coast of Bay of Bengal. It's a scenic, well maintained roadway with comparatively less traffic. So, I decided to bike the entire stretch in one day.

On a windy Friday morning, the alarm went off at 4'O clock. In another one hour, I was all set to ride and pulled my Yamaha into the road. The morning was so chill, thanks to the December fog, and it even drizzling a bit. I didn't had a coat or hand gloves. So, the moment I started riding the bike, the chill wind made me to shiver. For a moment I thought, "Should I continue or should I go back to my room and get under the warm covers?".

On second thought, moments like these are unavoidable and I had to learn to cope with them if I ever want to go for a long ride. So, continued along the Old Mahablipuram road which joins the ECR near Mahabalipuram.

My plan was to ride only the ECR, take bypass road wherever possible, never enter into any cities (those are for some other time), and reach Rameshwaram town in the evening for the sunset.

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The ride was mostly uneventful, except that I nearly missed hitting a cow, and lost my way near Karaikkal and ran over a snake which was taking a nap in the middle of the road (apparently, snakes don't know traffic rules). All the time, I was maintaining an average speed of 65~70 KMph.

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But, by the time I reached near Ramanathapuram around 5.30 in the evening, I realized that I couldn't make it to Rameshwaram for sunset. The light was already going down. So, I had to stop at a place called _Sambai_ to take some sunset photos.

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After the short photo shoot, I continued along the ECR towards Rameshwaram (which is not on the ECR route) with the plan to stay there in the night and be at Pamban bridge for the sun rise. When I reached Rameshwaram by 7.30 PM, I was dead tired and badly wanted to take a room and hit the bed. But my day wasn't ended yet.

Almost all the hotels I enquired for a room, responded with the same answer "No rooms available", even though there are plenty of rooms free. It was not even a season time, I guess. But then, in one of the hotel, they said, they don't give rooms to single as per the police order. I thought, I can't go back and get married just to get a room in this island. So, I rode back to Ramanathapuram (50 KMs away) and got a room in the first hotel I saw.

The next day, again 4'O clock in the morning, checked out from the hotel (those hotel boys must be hating me for waking them up so early) and started riding back to Rameshwaram.

By 5.30 AM, I was at Pamban bridge. It was still dark and windy. The sun was not out yet. That day there was a cyclone warning at Pamban, so the sea wind was at its full force.

I stood there. Before me, was the dark and fierce sea and the longest Pamban bridge that connects the Rameshwaram island to the main land India. The chillness, the wind, the sound of a never ending waves, and the feeling that you are standing over the sea, the vibration of the bridge - it's all a magical experience. It's totally worth for the day long journey it took to reach the place.

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But unfortunately, it was all cloudy and there wasn't any sun rise that I was hoping for. Anyways, once the light came out, took lots of Photos. I was even lucky that a train was going in the Pamban tracks.

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After a hour long photo shoot, started my journy back in ECR, and continued along the route towards Tuticorin. I went till Sayalgudi and had to take a diversion from ECR to reach my home town from there.

Overall, it's a once in a life time experience and I'm hoping to do it again if I ever get a chance. Anybody in? :)


Biking the East Coast Road


It's my first trip to United States (or to any foreign country for that matter) and I was kinda excited to be here. Having spent the first three weekends in my hotel room and haven't got a chance to take out my Nikon, I was eagerly waiting for an outing.

So, we planned a trip to San Francisco, which is close to San Jose and can be reachable by public commute. Including myself, there were five guys in the group. Our main aim was to go to Golden gate bridge (and of course, to take lots and lots of photos!).

On a sunny Saturday morning, as decided to start at 7:30, we started at 9. I didn't have any jacket with me and I was getting severe warnings from folks who had already visited SFO that I'm going to freeze to an ice. At first I didn't believe any of those warnings (typical software engineer who ignores all the warnings!) mainly because the sun was out and shining like a'¦ sun (duh!) in San Jose and I hoped even SFO would be having same climate.

We went to the Karina rail station and boarded the Mountain View train. From there our plan was to catch the Cal train to SFO. It took almost an hour to reach Mountain view and we had around 20 minutes of waiting time before the Cal train comes. It was 10 in the morning but still it felt like the mid day. Who cares to wear jacket in this heat?

![mountain view][1]
Mountain view station

At 10.20, the Cal train reached mountain view. We got into it and went to the upper deck of it. Train wasn't crowded at all. All this time, I was just wondering again and again at how well the public commute system works well. There was automated ticket vending machines, clean platforms, trains reaching the station at correct time, patient driver who waits till the last passenger get in/out of the train, prompt station name announcements and the list goes on..

[1]: https://veerasundar.com/img/2011/10/mountain-view.jpg "mountain-view"

While you were reading the above paragraph, our Cal train reached San Francisco. When we stepped out of the Cal train in SFO, it was 11:30 am. We walked out of the train station and directly opposite to the station there were several buses waiting. We got into one after making sure that the bus goes to Pier 39.

Unfortunately, the bus we took was not taking the direct route to Pier 39. It was going around almost all the places in SFO and we got a cheap city tour for 2 bucks. On the way, we saw a group of old men, riding the bicycles in the middle of the road - naked! And, I said to myself 'WELCOME to AMERICA!'.

After an hour or so, we finally reached our spot - Pier 39. It's the host of several tourist attractions, including an aquarium, ferry ride, wax museum and sea food hotels.

![pier 39][2]
Entering Pier 39

After reaching Pier 39, I was slightly started to feel the chill, but still I was hopeful that I wouldn't need a jacket. We decided to go in a ferry that takes us below the Golden gate bridge and around the Alcatraz island (remember [The Rock][3]) for $25. We bought the tickets and had to wait for thirty minutes before the ferry starts. And my Nikon didn't fail to capture the surroundings in the mean time.

[2]: https://veerasundar.com/img/2011/10/pier39-entrance.jpg "pier39-entrance"
[3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rock_(film) "The Rock"

![][4]
boats at Pier 39

And then started the ferry ride. The moment we left the shore, the climate immediately turned from mild cold to 'Ëœdamn, it's cold!'. For the first time, I felt I should have carried a jacket.

[4]: https://veerasundar.com/img/2011/10/boats-pier39.jpg "boats-pier39"

Anyway, the ferry ride was so awesome. When we reached the bottom of Golden Gate bridge, everyone on the ferry were shivering like a dunkards but never missed to photograph the gigantic structure in front of them.

[![][6]][6]
Golden gate surrounded by the fog

In the ferry they were narrating the history of San Francisco and the mystery of the Alcatraz prison. I hardly get to listen to that, thanks to the fog and the noise out there. Anyway, we returned back to shore after an hour of ferry ride.

[]: https://veerasundar.com/img/2011/10/golden-gate.jpg

![][6]
Foggie skylines of San Francisco

Our next plan was to take the city tour in a double decker bus. This tour would take us around the streets of San Francisco till the Golden Gate bridge and will return to Pier 39.

[6]: https://veerasundar.com/img/2011/10/fogfie-skyline.jpg "Foggie skylines of San Francisco"

Taking a bus ride in San Francisco is exciting mainly because of roads of SFO. Wanna know why? Just look below and you'll understand.

![][7]
roads in San Francisco

Finally we reached the Golden gate bridge (again) and accomplished our mission by posing for a group photo (thanks to the foreigner who took this one!)

[7]: https://veerasundar.com/img/2011/10/bumby-roads.jpg "bumby-roads"

![][8]
Mission accomplished

[8]: https://veerasundar.com/img/2011/10/group-gate.jpg "group-gate"


#travel (6)