Hongkong for Business and Pleasure

I was lucky to be in Hongkong again for work. Got to stay at the Mandarin Oriental and it was great.  Loved the room and the Hermes bathroom amenities.

Also had the chance to see my MSCF BFF CC for dinner at Cafe Causette of the hotel.

E joined me and we got to see one of my college BFFs RJW. We had a most delicious breakfast at the Clipper Lounge of the hotel.  Had so much dimsum.

Also had two good meals with E, such as Cafe Angelina, the famous french cafe at IFC.

And this Asian restaurant in Landmark.

Day2 in San Francisco and Last Day in the US

My day started with brunch at Aveline with my friend HF. Just wanted to show you how I got around on my own. E would always be our navigator and I would just follow him but I managed this time.  I did the same for the walk to Embarcadero the day before.

Just wanted to show E that our restaurant of choice (because it's cheap) 6 years ago was still there in the same location.  I even saw our former hotel which was along the same street.

After brunch, I went back to the hotel to do some last minute packing before checking out to meet our friend DR who brought me to several tourist spots where E and I didn't get the chance to go the last time:

Sausalito

Palace of the Arts

Palace of the Arts with DR

Marina

Also had the chance to see friend from Share CE we went to Lands End Point Lobos.

Last Stop: San Francisco

E and I were in San Francisco 6 years ago and I knew then that I will definitely go back. This time around, I'm lucky to get to stay at the Westin St. Francis on Union Square.  I loved the location because it was really close to everything, no need to take any transportation to get to places.

This is the view from our first meeting:

We had lunch at the Greek restaurant Kokkari Estiatorio.  This should be a really popular place as there was a really long line when we left the restaurant.

We were finally free by mid-afternoon!  I went around the shops around the area until it was time to meet my high school friends.

I'm proud to say that I walked all the way, picking up my friend HF in the Financial District and had the opportunity to tour a genuine start-up company with their free coffee, soda and snacks.  Wow! Then we walked together to Embarcadero. We met our friend NN and his family at OSHA Thai in Embarcadero.

3rd Stop: Washington D.C.

We stayed at the very expensive Four Seasons Washington D.C.  Our room was big but I thought it is overpriced. Nothing really special that would justify the price.

But I did have a wonderful time with my good friend from high school VAK. We had a nice time catching up at the Lounge at Bourbon Steak.  The last time I visited her in DC was 7 years ago.  How time flies.

The next morning, our breakfast meeting was held at  Seasons, also located within the hotel.

We had a very busy day travelling from DC to Wilmington, Delaware by train, and then to Philadelphia by car. Good thing I remembered to take out my iPhone to take this souvenir photo while our limo service passed the Washington Monument on our way to Union Station. Unfortunately no photos of Wilmington and Philadelphia...