Lonely in USA

[Hoky]

Hey guys, I'm in San Jose, CA (aka Sillicon Valley) for work for a couple of months already and I'm really bored.

I'm looking for fellow Singaporeans who are travelling to either San Francisco or San Jose to go sight-seeing around the bay area over the weekends.
I've a car courtesy of my company and I can drive around to places.

So please drop me a mail or PM and we can arrange something.

 

[ortega]

why not hook up with a local to bring you around

 

[catseye]

Hi hoky,

I can see that you have probably seen most of the sights already one round!

I used to travel to that area (Sunnyvale, Stevens Creek) and up north at Santa Rosa for training .... and I must say you have quite a bit of area to cover before you can get bored .... Carmel, Monterrey, Gilroy, San Fran, and up north to Sausalito, Sonoma, Russian River, Napa......

oh how I wish I could be there again.

Enjoy your stay.

 

[Terence]

Check out some of the local photo forums... they're always organising shoots.

www.fredmiranda.com
www.rangefinderforum.com
www.robgalbraith.com

 

[plsoong]

Hey guys, I'm in San Jose, CA (aka Sillicon Valley) for work for a couple of months already and I'm really bored.

I'm looking for fellow Singaporeans who are travelling to either San Francisco or San Jose to go sight-seeing around the bay area over the weekends.
I've a car courtesy of my company and I can drive around to places.

So please drop me a mail or PM and we can arrange something.

Hey,

i'm going with my partner to LA first followed by SF and then LV from 14th April till 30th for sightseeing and for a tradeshow.

will be great if we can discuss and meetup somehow

cheers

PL

 

[Lenscapes]

got a singaporean photographer friend in SF if you want to hook up with him. they have been there for 2 yrs already.

 

[Deadpoet]

don't we know someone who is n this board from Berkeley? He was active the Canon forum a while back.

 

[Hoky]

Hi hoky,

I can see that you have probably seen most of the sights already one round!

I used to travel to that area (Sunnyvale, Stevens Creek) and up north at Santa Rosa for training .... and I must say you have quite a bit of area to cover before you can get bored .... Carmel, Monterrey, Gilroy, San Fran, and up north to Sausalito, Sonoma, Russian River, Napa......

oh how I wish I could be there again.

Enjoy your stay.

Yah man, I've been to Steven's Creek and Cupertino almost every week. And every now and then I travel to Santa Clara for courses... geez I'm really bored of this place.
Actually I have covered San Frans. in the north, Monterey, Carmel in the south... etc even all the way down to LA. Took my 5 hours drive down and another 5 hours back.. the clouds in the highlands brought my visibility near to zero. Will be another long time before I do such a drive again.

I was thinking of going Yosemite and Lake Tahoe since the snow has melted. But it's really boring to go alone especially it's a long drive. Well, you can take a flight over to SFO and I'll bring you around again... =p

 

[Hoky]

Hey,

i'm going with my partner to LA first followed by SF and then LV from 14th April till 30th for sightseeing and for a tradeshow.

will be great if we can discuss and meetup somehow

cheers

PL

Sure, SF will be fine with me. It's not too far to drive from here.
Just get in touch with me and we can get the details out.

 

[skf]

...
I was thinking of going Yosemite and Lake Tahoe since the snow has melted. But it's really boring to go alone especially it's a long drive. Well, you can take a flight over to SFO and I'll bring you around again... =p

Be careful when driving to these 2 places. The route to Lake Tahoe is long, narrow and winding. But along the way, there are places where you can stop, the view is very beautiful.

To Yosemite, there is one stretch of route that is very zig zag, it is not very long, but it takes more than half hour to go through. This stretch, be very careful. In the past, when I visited Yosemite with my friends (visitor too), we made it a point to leave that stretch in daylight.

Now, the waterfalls in Yosemite would be great, but it is also a long climb. Plan for a full weekend visit there; it would be worth your while. Usually, it is almost impossible to get accomodation in Yosemite, the next best that you can do would be to get accomodation in the city nearest to Yosemite. When night falls, go back to the motel, continue the next morning.

And go more often, it is not everybody that gets a chance to visit. You 'll be surprised, talk to the locals in your office and see how many visited Yosemite, Grand Canyon etc, Other than photogs. :bsmilie: :bigeyes:

==========

There is a waterland (or marshland) reserves in Palo Alto. You can spend a couple of hours there, if you are into bird photography.

==========

Go north of the Golden Gate bridge. look for this place for Point Reeyes National Seashore.. Highway 1 can be very scenic once you get north of the Golden Gate..

==========

The Golden Gate Bridge Park is also a nice place for a weekend; There nice places to shoot there, but get back onto the freeway before the evening jam build ups.

==========

If you can have a superlong weekend (4 days or take leave to make it a week) you can do an itinerary like this
Day 1 - Drive all the way to Las Vegas, reaching there about mid late afternoon. Spend the night there, take a walking shoot along the main street, can take more than few hours to and fro.

Day 2 - morning - drive towards Grand Canyon, stopping at Hoover Dam on the way, reaching Grand Canyon about mid afternoon. Spend 1 or 2 nights there if you can. You can do both sunset and sunrise in Grand Canyon. Other times of the day, panoramic shots of the Grand Canyon is flat as the lighting is not ideal.

Check out mid late morning - drive towards LA. These are the places you can do in that vicinity
Disneyland (1 day - 'cos the queues for the rides, not that it is that huge.)
Universal Studios (1/2 to 1 day)
San Diego - Zoo, Sea World, Wild Animal Park - more than a day to cover all three). San Diego is about 1 hour 's drive away from LA..

Do your planning ahead, book your accomodation in advance, it is cheaper.

==========

Have fun

 

[dRebelXT]

Take your camera, go out and meet peoples lor.

 

[catseye]

Be careful when driving to these 2 places. The route to Lake Tahoe is long, narrow and winding. But along the way, there are places where you can stop, the view is very beautiful.

To Yosemite, there is one stretch of route that is very zig zag, it is not very long, but it takes more than half hour to go through. This stretch, be very careful. In the past, when I visited Yosemite with my friends (visitor too), we made it a point to leave that stretch in daylight.

Now, the waterfalls in Yosemite would be great, but it is also a long climb. Plan for a full weekend visit there; it would be worth your while. Usually, it is almost impossible to get accomodation in Yosemite, the next best that you can do would be to get accomodation in the city nearest to Yosemite. When night falls, go back to the motel, continue the next morning.

And go more often, it is not everybody that gets a chance to visit. You 'll be surprised, talk to the locals in your office and see how many visited Yosemite, Grand Canyon etc, Other than photogs. :bsmilie: :bigeyes:

==========

There is a waterland (or marshland) reserves in Palo Alto. You can spend a couple of hours there, if you are into bird photography.

==========

Go north of the Golden Gate bridge. look for this place for Point Reeyes National Seashore.. Highway 1 can be very scenic once you get north of the Golden Gate..

==========

The Golden Gate Bridge Park is also a nice place for a weekend; There nice places to shoot there, but get back onto the freeway before the evening jam build ups.

==========

If you can have a superlong weekend (4 days or take leave to make it a week) you can do an itinerary like this
Day 1 - Drive all the way to Las Vegas, reaching there about mid late afternoon. Spend the night there, take a walking shoot along the main street, can take more than few hours to and fro.

Day 2 - morning - drive towards Grand Canyon, stopping at Hoover Dam on the way, reaching Grand Canyon about mid afternoon. Spend 1 or 2 nights there if you can. You can do both sunset and sunrise in Grand Canyon. Other times of the day, panoramic shots of the Grand Canyon is flat as the lighting is not ideal.

Check out mid late morning - drive towards LA. These are the places you can do in that vicinity
Disneyland (1 day - 'cos the queues for the rides, not that it is that huge.)
Universal Studios (1/2 to 1 day)
San Diego - Zoo, Sea World, Wild Animal Park - more than a day to cover all three). San Diego is about 1 hour 's drive away from LA..

Do your planning ahead, book your accomodation in advance, it is cheaper.

==========

Have fun

just did the LV to Hoover Dam to Grand Canyon leg .... wow, what a long drive from Hoover Dam to Grand Canyon, but it was worth every minute of it once you arrive at the destination!

Have posted my newbie pixs in my APAD thread and even more in my photoblog.

 

[catseye]

Yah man, I've been to Steven's Creek and Cupertino almost every week. And every now and then I travel to Santa Clara for courses... geez I'm really bored of this place.
Actually I have covered San Frans. in the north, Monterey, Carmel in the south... etc even all the way down to LA. Took my 5 hours drive down and another 5 hours back.. the clouds in the highlands brought my visibility near to zero. Will be another long time before I do such a drive again.

I was thinking of going Yosemite and Lake Tahoe since the snow has melted. But it's really boring to go alone especially it's a long drive. Well, you can take a flight over to SFO and I'll bring you around again... =p

Hoky,

How about the wine country in the north? I remembered once travelling all the way to Napa Valley, ride the wine train and do wine tasting and another time driving along the very picturesque Russian River to Highway 1.

Cheers.

 

[ericp]

I agree with Ortega ... you're there in a new, interesting place, with new friends to make and get to know, new photographic communities to join, and you're asking to meet up with people from back home ?

I'm not being critical of your choices, but I just feel that it's opportunity that could potentially be wasted. When I was in uni overseas, I saw many sticking to their national or ethnic groups, and felt it was a shame that they did not mix more with the "locals".