Over the weekend, I followed the uni's Campus Life to Lake Tahoe. You could go there in Summer for hiking, or in Winter for skiing. It's early Spring now, but there's still snow.

First sight of snow from the bus! The air surprisingly isn't that cold until sundown.
I think it would be a pretty fun place to live if you have kids. Bring them skiing or hiking over the weekend, I wouldn't complain about the lack of shopping malls.
Being in the city so much it's easy to forget how awesome America's nature looks like in real life.
Where we were staying was very conveniently right next to the ski lifts.
The shopping square. We arrived here in the evening, so it was just time to wander around for the rest of the day. Hoards of tourists and overpriced merchandise, but there's a fun relaxed atmosphere in the air.
Someone said on the other bus that there was supposed to be a storm forecasted for the evening, which I thought would be really fun and a guarantee for fresh snow the next day, but the sky was completely cloudless. Sunset on the mountains still looks good though.
Where we stayed was a group of 2 bedroom cabins, pretty well equipped.
The kitchen literally has everything except a chopping board, so us girls who were shopping together earlier decided not to eat out but instead buy some ready meals at the supermarket and have it at home.
Which is much more fun, a more private place to exchange gossip all we want(wine helps to loosen tongues, yes it does), plus it was much cheaper than eating out, of course.
Originally I was signed up to share a cabin with 3 other guys so I thought it would be a little less awkward for me if I bunked in with these 2 girls. The other room in the cabin is supposed to house 2 other guys, which was still ok. 1 room for 3 people is a little crammed, but it's just temporary.
So, ok, the next day, and we are all equipped with our ski or snowboarding stuff and on the gondola.
Lake Tahoe is best appreciated at a height. Look at that blue colour! In the summer you could go boating on it. Perhaps I should return then.
Boards go outside the gondolas. I've tried skiing before, so it's boarding for me today. Most of the uni folk took the boarding option as well, so you can see there's a definite trend going on.
Boarding lessons. Ok, not quite, we're just hanging around and introducing ourselves here, but it's a good photo opportunity when everyone's sitting still.
Allentine's going to be my boarding buddy today.
On top of that beginner's slope and ready to go down.
At the end of the day I managed to get down the slope pretty well, but for sure there are lots of bruises from earlier on. Kind of makes you want to keep going for more lessons. Man, there's something really masochistic about learning a new sport.
There's Jane in the ski class. As she pointed out, it's not as easy to carry around so many separate items of equipment; 4 compared to just that 1 board if you are snowboarding.
Back in the resort's lounge. Looks so cosy. But we're not done yet, time to go over to the lake before the sun sets.
I think most of the uni folk forgot about the lake, what with being tired out by skiing all day and being occupied by the pizza party after that, but it was worth it to go down to the lakeside in the increasingly cold weather to see the view.
The resort had a game room, which made us very happy. Too bad we had to pay to use it, but that was alright. None of us were very good players, but on the other hand our lack of skill made for plenty of laughs.
Angel giving it some style.
And so is Lokesh.
There was a foosball table as well, a treat for me.
Later on some other people who were staying at the resort decided to join in. But other than them, I suppose the rest of the uni were having fun at the swimming pool, so we pretty much had the game room to ourselves.

Some retro arcade games as well.
Another pic of the lounge, All we need is a snowstorm outside, some jazz music and hot tea.
The next morning I decided I could not miss going to the heated pool, so I sneaked out while everyone else were still passed out from all the activities yesterday. Look at the steam! There's snow on the ground. Too bad not everyone knew about the pools so they didn't bring their swimming gear.
And now it's time to get back to SF. That was a really short trip on hindsight, traveling 2 days and only staying for 1. That's a really nice board in the lobby though. If only I was a better boarder. And had frequent access to ski slopes.
One last parting picture, the container lifting mechanisms at the SF port. This is back in the city and you can see it anytime you pass by the Bay Bridge. But I still find them endearing, they look like a herd of deer coming down to the water for a drink.

Saturday was the Chinese New Year street fair in Chinatown. The parade was supposed to start at 5pm (strange, that's after sundown- either they want to have lots of lights on their floats or they're waiting for people to be back from school and work, I guess). I went earlier to have a look at the stalls.
On Grant Avenue- the most touristy street in Chinatown. I was hoping to find lots of street food and traditional artwork for sale, I even made sure I had a slightly empty stomach to bring with me, but there wasn't a single food stall there (ok, except the kettle corn and candy apple stalls, but that doesn't do) Instead there were lots of boring stalls such as big companies giving away free reusable bags or having lucky draws, casinos companies having mini lotteries and some free health checkups. I kind of suspect they are catering to the notion that a lot of Chinatown residents will be older people who are kiasu about getting free stuff. But really, we need some joyful CNY atmosphere in here. Even if the parade is so late that it's pass Chap Goh Meh.
There's a lion dance school near the parade route, so we can see the performers getting ready. This is how they hold the dragon suit;like a Chuppa Chup stand.
Here they are getting the lion suit on. It's a little strange and fun to see Caucasians and African Americans taking part in the parade too.
And here they are going to the parade starting point.It's going to get difficult to shoot good pictures in the dark later.
So nevermind about the absence of good stalls at the fair, Chinatown has lots of traditional chap fan shops and bakeries around, so I just got my dinner there.
And then the parade starts. These are screen captures from some videos I took, a little easier to get sharper pictures.
The parade was pretty good actually, lots of colourful processions, plenty of lion and dragon dances by professional troupes and schoolkids-some made their own costumes, which was cute. And lots of good brass bands too.


The procession was about 3 hours long. It was getting pretty cold by then and I was getting stiff having to stand in the jostling crowd carrying a heavy bag (I found the Chinatown library and a big bounty of books and cds I like while waiting for the parade to start) but they had firecrackers right at the end, which made the wait worth it.
I haven't seen those traditional strings of firecrackers before(a string of 1000 firecrackers, I heard someone mention), so I was a bit scared of how loud it would be. They dangled the string from a crane so that it was in the middle of the street. Then you have to compromise the best place to stand, somewhere between the back crowds pushing you to the front because they want to see clearer, and the front crowd pushing backwards because they don't want to get burnt. And of course it has to be lit by the mayor of SF. That was a fun way to end the night, along with the super long dragon they saved for the very end of the parade.

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I have some food pics, so here they go.
Nasi Pattaya. Wonder if it really came from Pattaya? It's fried rice in an omelette. I added mayo, tomato sauce and cilantro on top, mostly because I had to finish them before they died in my fridge, but it tasted good that way with the extra toppings.
Cucur Badak. Sweet potato balls coated with sesame seeds and deep fried. Similarly I wonder where the name came from, because it makes me think of a rhinoceros being poked.
Imam bayildi. Deep fried eggplants stuffed with vegetables which is roasted. It's a Turkish dish that translates as 'the imam fainted', supposedly because the dish was so good, although there are other less flattering theories about why he would have fainted

Awhile back, I read this book- 1001 foods you must taste before you die

It was a fun read; each food has it's own half page column with a picture, background information and description of what it tastes like. The taste description doesn't help you much since it's so hard to describe tastes exactly (although if you've tried those food you'll probably think "oh yeah, that's right"). And also eating for real is nicer than just reading, but it's good to whet your appetite and curiosity first. It's compiled by an international panel of food journalists, so it's fun to leaf through especially if you want to try something new and are or will be in a foreign country. Unlike other books they don't just list freakshow food like fried bugs or organs you never even knew existed, but instead offer up a more mature selection like fruits unique to a country or notable artisan cheeses from different parts of the world. It also helps you identify food you've seen before but don't know what they are called, maybe because you can't read the foreign language sign.
And then there's all that nice to know trivia that you can spring on your friends when bored. Like this shellfish that is abundant around these parts- the geoduck (pronounced gooey-duck), the biggest and most long lived shellfish of them all, and so called 'penis of the sea'. Talking about suggestive looking edibles, there's also the coco de mer, which looks like a woman's ass.
Another interesting fact- cranberries are harvested by flooding the area they grow in. Pretty neat.
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Yesterday, I also found this fun dessert- cake pops.Looks like a promising party food. Here's a recipe

All pics gleaned from Google