Ugly Americans

The tower

I confess. I did the most touristy thing you could do in town. Yes, I braved the camera toting tourists and walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. This was actually the first time I did it.

It took approximately one hour to walk the 1.7 mile span round trip. Actually it might have taken longer as I often stopped for photos. I would recommend dressing warmly for this walk as it can get very windy up there. There are also plenty of public toilets on each end of the bridge so don't worry about trying not to drink too many fluids.

What struck me most about the bridge was the wonderful red orange coloring against a blue sky. Apparently the color is officially called "international orange". I was also surprised that there weren't too many graffiti scribblings on the bridge considering how many tourists walk across it everyday.

When I was taking the bus home after walking the bridge, there was a gaggle of teenaged girls on the bus. In their fresh-out-of-the-mall perfect little outfits, they looked like fish out of water on the bus. I'm not sure where they came from, but they seemed surprised to see so many Asians eventually board the bus. I highly doubt they were from San Francisco because if that were the case, they would have been used to being around Asians. Anyhow, their behavior got progressively worse. They treated the bus as if it were some sort of zoo and took pictures of themselves on the bus with a backdrop of Asians as if we were wild animals. They kept on gawking, pointing and giggling as the bus ride progressed. It was quite annoying. Then the final straw was when one of the girls suggested taking a picture with all of them using their fingers to pull their eyes into slits to imitate the Asians on board. They all giggled some more as if it were some hugely funny inside joke. They didn't end up doing it though.

How could they be so ignorant to make fun of people that way? The joke wasn't even funny! Perhaps they had never been outside of their plain vanilla suburban homes nor had they ever experienced being in the minority. All I can say is that it's scary that such ignorant people like that are running around. They are the people who give Americans a bad name abroad. They are the ugly Americans.