Perhaps I should call it a Book, City and Wine Country Tour. I had a book talk on The Doctor Who Was Followed by Ghosts at the San Francisco Main Library and the Chinatown library as well as an interview with Talk Tonight KTSF Channel 26.
Day 1. My wife and I arrived in San Francisco on Aug 15, a day before my presentation at the San Francisco Main Library. It wasn’t until much later that I realized that Aug 15 was Chinese lunar July 15, the Ghost Festival. Talk about Ghosts! I have never believed in coincidences.
After settling into the hotel, we walked to the Fisherman’s Wharf. At the Wharf, we mingled with the tourists to watch street performers and shop for souvenirs. It was a nice, warm afternoon. We were tempted by the sights and smells of the cooked crab shops lining the street, but there was no place to sit and enjoy them, so we had to pass.
Fisherman’s Wharf
By early evening, the legendary fog rolled in with amazing speed. The temperature suddenly dropped. So we spent about an hour hunting for winter jackets. It turned out that we were not alone. Many tourists were surprised by the sudden cold weather. The shopkeepers were probably laughing. They must have sold hundreds of jackets that evening.
After an early supper at the Wharf, we took a stroll along the water. Looking across the Wharf, there sat the infamous Alcatraz, shrouded in mist, taking on a ghostly appearance. We were quite satisfied look at it from this distance, not any closer. Then we walked to Pier 39 to see the sea lions sleeping on docks or playing their territorial games – pushing the new comers into the water. In the square there was the Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant. I often imitate Bubba from Forest Gump: “there’s pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. Th-that’s about it.”
Day 2. My presentation at the San Francisco Main Library at the Civic Center was at 2:00 pm. So in the morning, we went to explore Chinatown. Impression of Chinatown center: locals with grocery bags, tourists with cameras pointing in all directions, produce stalls, herb stores, restaurants, pagoda-style roofs, red lanterns, flags and banners, the dragon-adorned street lamps, a demonstrator with mixed messages…
Chinatown
My host Doris at the Main Library is a very nice lady and very detail oriented. Before my presentation, she had already done so much publicity work and so many articles about the book had appeared in the local papers like San Francisco Chronicle and World Journal. Many Chinese attendants regretted that there was no Chinese version of the book yet. I explained that because it contains many forbidden topics, it can’t be published in China right now.
I did the presentation in English and Chinese. Juggling two languages was challenging. I have never done that before. Even though I have done many presentations and interviews, I am still not very good at speeches. I am more interested in what the audience has to say. The audience is always willing to interact with me. Because the title of the book is The Doctor Who Was Followed by Ghosts, one elderly lady asked me to tell more ghosts stories from the book. Even though my mother had told me some strange and ghostly stories, I explained to her, the title is more symbolic, because during Mao’s era, millions of innocent people died of injustice and their ghosts are still not consoled today. However, if some people prefer to take it literally, it is fine by me. I have never seen a ghost myself but I did hear ghost stories from people I know and trust.
I was a little distracted by the elderly lady’s question. A nice lady from the audience came to my rescue. She had read the book beforehand and had many kind words to say. What surprised me was how many details she remembered about the story. Unlike some similar books, she commented, my mother’s story is very objective, a matter of fact. I said that that was the way my mother had told the story to me. She also said that my mother was a very strong-willed.
There were a couple of Chinese people who also had the idea of writing memoirs, but they were afraid of causing trouble with the Chinese government. Just imagine! Even though they live in the West they are still fearful of persecution for just writing a book. I can definitely relate.
It was a very successful event. More than forty people attended.
Day 3. My presentation at the Chinatown branch library was at 2:30, so we have the whole morning to look around. So we headed to Lombard Street, “the crookedest street in the world” because of its eight sharp turns on a 40-degree slope. Some say, it is only the second crookedest street in the world, the first one is Wall Street. Well, you probably heard that one before. It wasn’t easy to climb the steep hill to see it. We don’t complain anymore about the hills in Vancouver after that.
The Chinatown branch library is a very old building with an elegant façade. My host Sally, a very nice and gentle girl, was running up and down the whole time to make sure everything went smoothly. Everything went well except for when my computer froze so the slideshow was interrupted for a while. Some people in the audience suspected there could be ghosts in this old building interfering with the computer. A young girl from the audience came to my rescue. This was the second time that I was saved by a young girl. The first time was when I was doing a presentation at the Coquitlam Library in Vancouver. That was embarrassing, but I was so thankful to them. Other than the computer glitch, the event went very well. It was such a mixed crowd of forty pleasant people. Several people stayed behind afterward and we chatted. I was somewhat relieved after the two presentations.
Library Book Talk
Day 4. My interview with the Talk Tonight KTSF26 host May was at 8:30 in the evening, so we have a whole day to explore the city. So we took a city bus tour. First stop was Golden Gate Bridge. I was surely taken by the majestic structure. But I was so busy taking pictures that I didn’t take a very good look at it. It was only when we boarded the bus and were leaving the Bridge and when “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” started to play, that I was suddenly overwhelmed by such a sad feeling for no apparent reason.
Then we went through the beautiful Golden Gate Park that was supposedly planted by an eccentric gardener (in my mind Stanley Park is bigger), the well decorated gay community Castro area, Civic Center where the Main Library and City Hall are located, Union Square that makes the ladies on the bus want to jump out of the windows and go shopping, (S)Nob Hill where the rich live, and of course the Wharf.
At supper time we decided to try the Stinking Rose restaurant which is famous for its garlic. Even their ceilings are decorated with garlic cloves. The foods are infused with garlic – garlic crab, garlic mussels, garlic ice cream, garlic Martini. Th-that’s about it. The roasted garlic was so good to eat with bread and I completely forgot that I shouldn’t have eaten garlic because I had a TV interview a couple of hours later. So before the show, I brushed my teeth, rinsed my mouth with mouth wash, then on the way there, I chewed gum and hoped nobody would notice anything. Anyway, the interview went very well. May is a very good host and asked some tough questions.
Day 5. I finally could relax after the business was done. So we took a Napa Wine Tour. We are not big drinkers, but just want to see the beautiful wine country. After some wine tasting, it was as if everybody had known each other for a long time. People were pretty happy on the tour. At Sonoma, one Italian tourist almost missed the bus. He showed up just before we were going to leave without him. The tour guide talked tough about the rules but I guess he didn’t really have the heart to leave him there. “What’s the difference between a tourist and a hitchhiker?” he said to us. “A few seconds!”
Napa Wine Country
On this trip, everywhere we went, we met so many nice people. Like the song goes: “If you’re going to San Francisco, You’re gonna meet some gentle people there.” It was such an unforgettable experience.
