Taj Mahal

We set aside the entire day today for a visit to Agra where the Taj is. To get a jump on traffic, we left in our hotel car at 6:30am for the four hour journey. Agra is only 200 kms away which should only take two hours in virtually any other country but in India, it stretches out to a four hour journey over a road that is crowded with bikes, wandering cattle, traffic going the opposite direction, inefficient toll collectors, tractors, pedestrians, and pretty much anything else which can get in the way.

Our driver did some of the best defensive driving we've ever seen along the way as Indian traffic is much more intrusive than anywhere else in the world but we like him more than anything for not trying to haul us into a shop where he could get commission. Upon arrival, it reemphasized that Agra is easily the filthiest city that either of us have ever visited.

The sister hotel of the one we're staying in at New Delhi is located not too far from the East Gate of the Taj complex so we first stopped there for a restroom break and to view the beautiful hotel. The Oberoi Agra is frequently rated as one of the greatest hotels in the world and we certainly agree as it has a beautiful view of the nearby Taj and with complementing architecture.

We traveled as close as possible to the gate from the hotel in a golf cart and were met by hotel security to escort us the remaining distance. Even with the escort, we had to run the gauntlet of hawkers and touts which consistently are a hassle throughout all of India.

Once inside, there are numerous red sandstone buildings which are beautiful in the own right but nothing is as stunning as the Taj. Yes, it is as magnificent as imagined and perhaps more so. We were blessed with a clear day to visit but again it was incredibly hot so we were often in search for shade.

After walking around the structure and grounds, we retraced our path back through the touts and caught the golf cart back to the Oberoi hotel for lunch and a drink. You can't see it in the photo below but the Taj is not too far out the window of the bar area at the Oberoi hotel.


The four hour ride back to Delhi was as rough as the way there but was certainly worth the trip. Seeing the Taj Mahal is one of the great highlights of this trip but we aren't exactly eager to find ourselves in Agra anytime soon again.

Tomorrow afternoon, we're flying to Kathmandu for an undertermined length of time and will finalize the rest of the schedule between India and Europe. If all goes well, we'll stretch out the time in Mauritius, at the expense of Cape Town and Kenya, and use it to visit Reunion and perhaps the Seychelles.

Delhi

First solid day to experience India was a hot one, temps in Delhi were just short of a 100 degrees F and the sun wouldn't quit. However, the benefit of touring Delhi is that the British planners had the foresight to create broad avenues so that with the exception of Old Delhi, the traffic isn't too bad.

We're big believers in that you pay for things on the front end or back end but either way you pay. No other place is that thinking as apparent as in India and we got a hotel car to scoot around the city in to insulate ourselves from the ripoffs and hassles that would otherwise plague our day with standard transport. To quote the exuberant Mr. Toad from Wind in the Willows: "The poetry of motion! The REAL way to travel! The ONLY way to travel!"

First stop was Humayun's Tomb which although a UNESCO heritage monument, was a bit dull for us. Were it not very close to our hotel, we wouldn't have bothered to see it.


Next up was India Gate which is a monument built to commemorate the sacrifices of the 100,000 Indian soliders who died in World War One.

Nearby is the Parliment and Government buildings which are nice to look but aren't worthwhile to stop for. We rounded out the day at the Red Fort but it was rather empty by our standards.

Upon return to the hotel, Shauna spent a very enjoyable two hours at the spa while Ryan got a much needed haircut. The evening was spent at what was acclaimed to be the best restaurant in Asia by one publications and in the top 50 by other publications, Bukhara restaurant in the Sheraton which specializes in northwestern province cusine. It's good but we wouldn't say that it's anything different than a high end Indian restaurant in the US. The gimmick is that customers eat with their hands and luckily we have a Howard Hughes like paranoia and compulsion about hand washing so we could comply.

Pulling out of the restaurant which is located in a primed diplomatic district, we saw some guy going home on an elephant. The city officals are trying to upgrade the city for the 2010 Commonwealth Games and we'd assume that elephants on the road will be banned along with many other things.

India Arrival

Although Ryan claimed that he would never visit India again after his trip here in 2003, we landed late night and are comfortably settled in Delhi. India is certainly the most difficult place to travel in the entire world due to a whole range of issues like crowds, culture, and health but there are some wonderful things to be seen and great people to meet.

We had a difficult experience before we left Manila with a taxi and Ryan and Reggie remarked to Shauna that "India is 10x more like that, all day long, in every transaction." It was a benefit to experience it though before coming to India so as to get our guards up and work to avoid similar issues once in India. Thus, we emailed Shauna's brother Jason to arrange, via a US toll free number, transport to the hotel from the airport once we landed in Delhi.

Our hotel was suggested by Shauna's cousin Natalie and it's a wonderful place to stay. Everyone who has traveled at the high end in India has loved it and those who stuck to the low and midrange (like Ryan did previously), tended to hate it. Thus, we're sticking to the highend as the price is still rather reasonable.

Tomorrow we're planning a relaxed day with a spa appointment for Shauna, a cigar for Ryan and a light city tour. If all goes well, the following day should find us at the Taj Mahal which isn't too far away in Agra.

Pagsanjan Falls

Our entire day was occupied with a trip to Pagsanjan Falls which is a three hour drive away. It's not that it's very far from Manila, but the road conditions of construction and heavy traffic drew out the time. Reggie was able to get his friend's car and driver for the trip so it was nice to do it in comfort and style.

It was a beautiful drive through a few different provinces and it was good to give Shauna a taste of provincial life as it is quite different than in the city. Once we arrived in the province of Laguna, it took a while to finally figure out how to get to the falls but we loaded into a canoe at a local hotel where we also had lunch.

All of us were amazed at the stunning scenery, especially the green high canyon walls and numerous waterfalls. The movie Apocalypse Now was largely shot in the area so upon return we'll have to watch it even though the movie is 30 years old.


To get to the falls, it's a one hour boat ride in a canoe which sits extremely low and often takes on water. There are two guides that rowed and would jump in when it was too shallow on rapids which was quite often. Those guys busted their ass to get us to the falls and said that there's 2000 licensed guides in the area but said they're lucky to go once a week without enough tourist demand.

Once we arrived at the falls, we were able to board a bamboo raft which took us directly under the falls. None of us were expecting the full strength of the falls but it was a wonderful experience. The return back to the boat launch is only about 30 minutes so shortly thereafter we were back in congested traffic for the three hour ride back to Manila. Along the return drive, Reggie insisted we stop at different roadside stalls for local treats like rambutan fruit, buco pie, and tamarind candy. The full set of photos is here, click on View Slidshow: http://tinyurl.com/fallsphotos


It's our last night in Manila and we're just going to take it easy and prepare for our trip to Delhi. Our aim was to try and change our flight to spend a couple days again in Singapore, but one of the few restrictions of our ticket is that we can't stop more than once in the same city.

Manila

Our flight had to get diverted to Clark Air Force Base which is 20 minutes flight from Manila due to bad weather and we spent an hour and half on the runway before we could fly to Manila. We arrived in good shape and it is great to be back in the Philippines!!!!!!

The first thing on any visit for Ryan is to get a solid Filipino meal in of adobo, sinigang, garlic rice, and whatever else he can find on the menu. It was interesting during the return meal that the waiter gave us a sample of the sinigang broth and asked us if we'd like it more or less sour, Filipino cuisine if finally going upscale!

Our place of lodging is again at a serviced residence in the Makati business neighborhood and although it's an upscale place for under $200 USD/night, the size of the residence is enormous at over 3000 square feet, much bigger than we need but there was nothing smaller.

The first full day back was begun with an early morning wake up call from our friend Reggie who arrived back in the Philippines at 3am the same day from San Francisco. Ryan met Reggie in a Beijing hostel in 2001 and they've been great friends and travelmates since.

We opted for a slow day and that included a visit to the third largest mall in the world, The Mall of Asia. Reggie's friend was kind enough to lend his car and driver so transport logistics were very easy for us.

After a lazy day catching up with each other, we met Reggie's cousin Lloyd and financee for another Filipino meal in the Ortigas district and called it an early evening after many rounds of beers. Tomorrow morning we have the car and driver again and will head out for a day trip.

Sorry again no photos but tomorrow we promise them!

Headed to Manila

Sorry about the boring post but the past 24 hours we spent in Singapore was just fully relaxing for the first time on the trip. It's so nice to be able to change the flight hours before without any fees or problems. On the return through Singapore, we plan on spending a day or two instead of connecting straight to India. We'd much rather spend time here than there so it's just a matter of how many days to shave off India.

One thing we did in Sinagpore was order omakase at our favorite sushi restaurant. We've always wanted to do it but didn't know what it cost....and let's put it this way, we won't be doing it again for a long time.

Reggie arrives the following day into Manila so it'll be great to have a local host around. We're staying at another serviced apartment in Manila's Makati district so again it will be nice to have laundry services in our unit.

We'll start putting up photos again and the reason we haven't is that Singapore is so familiar, we haven't thought of taking any.

Yeah I know, not much to report but the next few days should be exciting in Manila. We'll be arriving in style on another Singapore Airlines business class ticket.

So good to be back in Singapore!

If there's a home outside of the US for us, it's Singapore. Besides being home to most of Shauna's extended family, it's very familiar territory as we spent the first few months of the year here. We originally toyed with the idea of becoming residents, but the time just isn't right now to do it the proper way....someday it will happen though.

We loaded up with books as mentioned at the local Borders (including Complications, thanks Kris if you're reading), but hope to delay our flight to the Philippines to spend another day here if possible. Let us put on our arrogant American hats and say that this is the last stop of full civilization (low crime, quality sushi, good selection of wine, high quality clothes shopping, accessible copies of the Financial Times) we'll encounter between here and Europe so we'd like to relax for the first time on our honeymoon an additional day.

The highlight of the visit was to spend the evening at Sydney's restaurant with his wife, mother, kids, brother Dave and cousin Jessica. Even if we weren't related to him we must say that Sydney really got his selections and quality down and we would frequent his restaurant were we fortunate to live in the neighborhood. Mark your calendars since we're having a wedding dinner later this year. Ryan has to buy a barong to wear for the dinner and it seems like Shauna will be dressed in a red (or maybe Pink?) cheongsam.

After dinner we wandered to a local wine cafe and ordered a bottle of one of our top favorites, Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand (approx $30 USD in Chicago). As some of you might know, we visited the Marlborough wine region last year for Shauna's birthday as it's our favorite region in the world. The wine steward revealed that it is also supposedly the favorite wine of Senior Minister Lee Kwan Yew. Whether it is or isn't, everyone should give it a taste as it's delicious!

At our hotel overlooking the historic Raffles Hotel, we're in room 816. There is no room 888 so 8 and (2 X 8) is simply not a coincide for our wedding date!

Singapore

Late night arrival to Singapore but we made it in via a Air China flight which although we sat in business class, felt like United economy. Just a short two night stay before we head to the Philippines, but it aims to be a refreshing one with seeing some familiar faces and most importantly, stocking up on good books at the local Borders which is supposedly the most profitable Borders in the world. It'll be the best bookstore between here and Europe so it's important to get books worthy of our time. Shauna just finished Beijing Time and Ryan breezed through The Unthinkable , Outposts , and just started The Code.

Mass Games in North Korea

Over our North Korea visit we attended two versions of the Mass Games, "Arirang" which we viewed years ago and "Prosper the Motherland" which is so new that we saw the third showing. There really is no performance thats comparable as the Mass Games involves roughly 100,000 floor performers and 20,000 school kids who serve as human pixles in the background. Each week "Arirang" is performed four times and "Prosper the Motherland" is performed twice. The performers don't get paid by the state although it is an honor to take part. Ticket prices range from 40 to 250 or 300 euros and we got the cheapest seats which were fine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_games
A great summary youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBWOEdy_-qM

The Mass Games take part in Pyongyang's May Day Stadium which has the second largest seating capacity in the world at 150,000. Before the performance, the schoolchildren warm up with with various colors and patterns before displaying the names of the schools their section represents. This youtube clip shows part of the warmup:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhKU8dz4ah8

"Arirang" is based upon an old Korean folk song and throughout the Mass Games performance, references to a divided Korea are frequent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arirang

"Prosper the Motherland" is based less upon a story, but more to profile the strengths of North Korea.

The only difference in "Arirang" from the version we saw in 2005 was that military segment was replaced by taekwondo as it better represents a unified Korea. However, the following clip on youtube shows the segment in 2005: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67eBYOBHn1E

Further clips are available on youtube, but they can't fully convey the atmosphere and scale of the performances. We've observed four or five perfomances and continue to be blown away by the perfect discipline and synchronization by all involved. It's hard to imagine the sense of awe that most North Koreans experience upon viewing the Mass Games considering that we've traveled most everywhere, seen or experienced almost everything that could compare, and continue to be amazed.

A 349 image gallery we took is up on kodakgallery for those interested in each scene, click on View Slideshow: http://tinyurl.com/massgames

798

We were looking for someplace new to go after a rather uneventful day and figured that the 798 art district should be raging around 11pm on a Friday night....it was completely dead with zero going on. Would've been fun to visit during the day and see all the galleries, especially the studio with the exhibit pictured above.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/798_Art_Zone

Greatest Moment on Earth

Adidas is putting out 08 08 08 08 08 shirts "The Greatest Moment on Earth" We're pretty sure they are referring to our wedding.

All that!

Attending our first Olympic event was certainly all that! Our seats were wonderful and the highlight was the mens 400m race which the US swept, besides that it was mostly listening to the Jamaican national anthem all night since they've done so well in track.

The only problem is that due to the crowds, the commute to and from the stadium were longer than we anticipated. Luckily we left the hotel across town 2 hours prior to the beginning because we just made it on time. In the stadium refreshments were insanely cheap, we ordered popcorn, coke zero, water and a beer and it cost less than four USD.

A quick travel tip to share about our fabulous hotel....we're staying at a serviced residence (Fraser's which is one of the best chains) and besides being about the size of our Chicago condo, it has an in-unit washer and dryer which is a tremendous help. The room is roughly $250/night which is great considering the Olympics are going on but room prices are pretty much back to normal throughout the city. Anyone doing long duration travel should stagger a few nights at serviced residences when possible.

We should also note that our blog is blocked or just won't load in China and Korea so we haven't seen it since we left San Francisco. Obviously we can post but for so far we can only see it on our Blackberries. Hope it looks good in a normal browser and let us know if not.

Yes, those North Korea and other photos/stories will be coming. Been keeping very busy with the travels which is a great thing.

We got tickets!

Thanks to the lead of Shauna's friend Pat in Beijing, we picked up tickets via cosport.com to the Track and Field events in the Bird's Nest tonight! We paid approx $175 USD for the tix each and it's a pretty good deal since the face value is approx $120 USD and they're the equivalent of the 50 yard line in football, in the center section. Scalpers generally wanted $300 USD each for these types of seats so it was nice that it worked out this way to get them through an offical ticket agent.

Earlier in the day we visited the US Embassy in Beijing to add pages to our passport. It's always nice to visit an embassy for the right reasons because as US citizens, we really get our moneys worth on occasions we've had to get things done. While we waited approx 30 minutes for the pages to get added, it was interesting to people watch and why others came in. One 20 yearold guy wanted to marry a local Chinese girl, one blue collar guy was looking to apply for a job and another gal came in because she didn't have enough money to buy a ticket home. If we had the chance, we would've stayed longer but they don't let people loiter. Its also one of the rare chances we come across Marines and they never cease to amaze at how badass they are. A new US Embassy is being built and almost fully complete in Beijing, it'll be the second largest in the world for the US at 10 acres in size. I imagine that the Starbucks will also be opened in the new embassy as there is a Starbucks in the one we visited today. On a related note, China recently opened it's new embassy in Washington and is the largest one in the US.

Back in Beijing

Our trip to North Korea was wonderful and we're very grateful for the folks at Koryo Tours who arranged for a broad itinerary. http://www.koryogroup.com/

We've got an immense amount of photos but need to get settled in Beijing first....and it'll be hard to with all the Olympic excitement going on. However, the biggest highlight was to see two versions of the Mass Games which involve 100,000 floor performers and 20-30,000 human pixles in the background.

Check back in a day or two and we should have all the details of the trip up. Hopefully, we'll get tickets to some Olympics as well!!!!!

Getting ready for the next leg

We're flying tomorrow morning on Air Koryo, the North Korean airline, so we had to do some packing. The important thing to take was snacks since options to buy more is pretty much out of the question. Last trip we were fed very well so I'm not worried about not having enough to eat, just having what I'd like to eat on hand as we like Korean food, but just not four solid days worth.
The sun really came out in Beijing today! Clarity was as good as any North American city and you could even see hills in the distance.


We aren't bringing our computers on the next leg so this will be our last dispatch until we come back from the dark side of the moon. Tonight we're having dinner at Red Capital Club which has a 1960s Communist China theme to it. http://www.redcapitalclub.com.cn/club.html I'll probably opt for Deng Xiaoping's favorites at the restaurant as he is largely credited with the market reforms which have driven China.

Beijing Day Two

With the incoming rain, the city cooled down which made it great to walk around. It's so pleasant to go around the city with light traffic and not having the constant smell of exhaust linger. Attending the games continues to be an afterthought and if it happens, it happens but we won't stretch too much for it.

One observation we couldn't escape was the bad workmanship in many upscale buildings beyond the facade and main showcase area. The consequence of putting up so many buildings so fast is they were often done sloppily and we figure that many will lose their overall luster quickly. Beijing is wonderful because everything is less than a decade old but the buildings will age in dog years.

On our last visit in May we discovered the hippest little street in the world, Nanluogu Xiang which is an old hutong that is filled with little bars, cafes, shops and restaurants. We ate at a wonderful upscale Korean restaurant since we won't be getting tasty food on the North Korean trip. The street got developed in 2006 so it's still new enough that it isn't clogged with too many tourists, just the cool ones like us.

Beijing

I think a lot of people assume Beijing to be a mess during the Olympics and tend to stay away thinking like Yogi Berra, "nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded." On the contrary, it's probably the best time this decade to have visited! The air is relatively clean, everyone is polite, the new projects are all open, and most importantly the traffic flows.

We're staying just a couple blocks away from the northeastern side of the Forbidden City at a Days Inn which is rather new. The location is central for all things in Beijing but the Olympic Green is directly north by about ten subway stops.

Yesterday after arrival, we headed to the cluster of venues at the Olympic Green but couldn't get too close to any of the venues since everything is fenced off until performance time. Outside of the main subway stop nearby, there were scalpers and we went around pricing tickets. For Track and Field at the Bird's Nest, prime tickets are offered at roughly $300 USD each up from $125 USD original price. I don't think we'll go since Shauna isn't interested at all and it's more than I'd like to pay inorder to sit out in unreal humidity. We might head into some events but there isn't anything that interests us much.

Seoul

First let us mention that we do have plenty of photos but there has been a problem with blogger and we can't load them yet. We'll post a workaround shortly.

Our first stop was in Seoul which doesn't have any appealing qualities to it. Lots of traffic clog the city which is entirely paved and full of ugly buildings set amongst hills so I (Ryan) wasn't eager for a return. However, Shauna wanted to go to the DMZ border with North Korea and that was our only purpose to come to Seoul.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Demilitarized_Zone

The area of the DMZ which famously has the border guards staring at each other across an area which doesn't even have a fence is Panmunjeom. We saw the North side together when we first met but wanted to catch the view from the south. My first trip to Seoul a few years ago was over Thanksgiving and Panmunjeom was closed as it was a holiday for the American military advisors so I didn't get to see it. This trip we unfortunately found out that Panmunjeom was also closed the day we could see it due to military exercises.

We did take a trip to the DMZ to see the only thing we could, the Third Incursion Tunnel which was built under the border by the North Koreans. The tour is rather brief but we got to descend into the tunnel and see how they created it with dynamite. Once it was discovered, the North Koreans smeared the granite walls with coal and when questioned called it an old coal mine but scientifically you can't mine coal in granite.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Tunnel_of_Aggression

The real highlight of Seoul was the W hotel we stayed at as it was probably the hippest hotel I've ever seen. Imagine the coolest bar you've ever visited and then imagine staying in it. Photos:
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/whotels/property/photos/index.html?propertyID=1451

Singapore Airlines flight

It’s hard to describe the Singapore Airlines experience in Business Class until experienced. Spacious flat bed seating, superior food that is often found in restaurants, delicious wines, smiling service that is ever present, a large entertainment system, and refreshing bathrooms all made us wonder of the nirvana which might be found in First Class. Can it get any better? This goes far beyond simply being treated like a human on an airplane and even shoots past extravagance to being the closest thing to being treated like royalty. The only downside is that our first flight on the honeymoon will be the one by which all others are measured and based on amenities, will thereafter come up short.

Thanks!

Thanks to all of you that joined us to celebrate our wedding as we were overwhelmed to see our family and friends on our special day! The celebration went too quickly and we certainly wish to meet up for a meal or coffee when we return from our honeymoon with all of you individually. Shauna did a wonderful job planning and organizing everything involved and I hope that everyone could appreciate the subtle details as they were often expressive of Shauna’s wonderful personality. We know it entailed considerable time, expense and distance for you to join us and we are eternally appreciative of all your efforts. I’m looking forward to my role as Shauna’s husband and will always work to be the husband that she deserves, which is a very lofty title. It will require me to be my best everyday in all things but I look forward to it as it’s the greatest joy in the world to see and make her happy.

-Ryan

Thank you to everyone who was present at our wedding in San Francisco! We were very happy to see so many of our family & friends celebrating with us!! Ryan is very sweet and I am so proud that he is my Husband.

-Shauna

Trip begins

We're exicted to get the honeymoon going and are waiting to board our Singapore Airlines flight. Thanks for coming out to the wedding!!!!! We had a wonderful time and were overjoyed with celebrating with everyone.

SF visit info

For those coming out to SF, some brief tips and suggestions. Most importantly bring some warm clothes as the city gets chilly sometimes during the day but almost always at night. Mark Twain famously joked that "the coldest winter he ever experienced was the summer in San Francisco" so make sure to bring a coat.
http://www.wunderground.com/US/CA/San_Francisco.html

Public transport is ok but not great. The BART is the train system and it's both dirty and expensive. Taxis are also dirty, expensive and often difficult to get due to anticompetitive regulations. SF is a great place to see on foot so bring comfortable shoes as well. Renting a car is not advisable unless absolutely necessary due to difficult roads, hills and ultra expensive parking.

Those who like to exercise should bring running shoes in order to run along the Embarcadero which lies on the edge of the Bay and is a wonderful way to spend part of the day. Those who don't want to run should still visit the Ferry Building for it's wonderful food and drink marketplace.
http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/

As it is the height of summer tourist season, if you wish to visit any of the hotspots it's advisable to do so as early in the day as possible.

Alcatraz gets booked up days in advance so those wishing to go need to make a reservation for a ticket. http://www.alcatrazcruises.com/ The tours from Alcatraz leave from Fisherman's Wharf which is a mundane tourist trap but is worthwhile to try and find "Bush Man" who hides behind bushes and scares people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Famous_Bushman

The Golden Gate can be enjoyed by walking over it but can be difficult to park around so perhaps best to get transport to/from. There is a great view of SF from across the bridge.
http://goldengatebridge.org/bikesbridge/bikes.php

Not too far across the Golden Gate is Muir Woods which is the closest place to see the Redwoods. http://www.nps.gov/muwo/

The crookedest street in the world is Lombard Street and can be walked down as well as driven down. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lombard_Street_(San_Francisco)

Chinatown is still functional for the local Chinese but I can't offer any suggestions. There is a fortune cookie factory I've heard is good to visit though.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/golden-gate-fortune-cookies-san-francisco

Coit Tower is worth heading up and generally doesn't get too big of a line. Night or day is good to check out the view but I'd say day is better.
http://www.sftravel.com/coit-tower-san-francisco.html

Best view is from Twin Peaks but it requires a car.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Peaks,_San_Francisco,_California

North Beach is the Italian neighborhood which is on the border of the Financial district and Chinatown. It's a great place to hang out but is pretty touristy so some of the restaurants aren't good. I like a place owned by Francis Ford Coppola called Cafe Zeotrope for a glass of wine and a pizza. http://www.cafecoppola.com/cafezoetrope/ Nearby Cafe Triste is a good old style cafe http://www.caffetrieste.com/pages/locations.html and for alcohol, I'm a fan of Tosca http://www.yelp.com/biz/tosca-cafe-san-francisco

One of our favorite places to drink is the Redwood Room at the Clift Hotel. Shauna's favorite drink is their lychee martini with extra lychees but the place gets really crowded on the weekend nights. Besides the drinks, I'm a big fan of their video murals. Upscale dress code.
http://www.clifthotel.com/clift_hotel_redwood_room.asp

Union Square anchors a central part of the city and has various retail surrounding it. Nearby on Market Street, the Westfield mall is great and has a wonderful food court in the basement. Our favorite SF restaurant is in the mall, Straits Cafe which serves Singaporean food. http://www.straitsrestaurants.com/index.php?section=11 The oldest restaurant in the city isn't too far either, Tadich Grill which we've enjoyed on occasion. http://www.yelp.com/biz/tadich-grill-san-francisco

Shauna lives across the street from the Giants ballpark and there are games on Saturday night at 6 and Sunday afternoon at 1pm. It's worth dropping into the neighborhood as plenty of places to eat and drink are around.

I'm not much of a fan of the Marina neighborhood (Union Street, etc..) but there are lots of boutiques and places to eat. Fillmore Street is more my style and also hosts lots of places to eat and shop.

An old SF place that's nice to visit is Swans Oyster Depot for shellfish but there'll be a wait.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/swan-oyster-depot-san-francisco

The food isn't all that but the ocean view is wonderful from the Cliff House.
http://www.cliffhouse.com/

There's a lot more to see in the city but that's all I can think of at the moment.