Getting to Washington DC
Getting from San Francisco to Washington DC was quite exhausting, as I woke up at the ass crack of dawn at around 4:30AM to catch a 6:05AM flight to Denver and then Baltimore-Washington International. It didn't help that I only had 3 or 4 hours of sleep the night before, as I was busy cleaning out a year's worth of accumulated junk in the apartment I shared with two guys (one of whom is going to the trip with me). They have all moved out of the apartment many days before, but me being the procrastinator that I am especially when it comes to these things, decided to do it at the very last minute. It also didn't help that I had just come back from Reno the previous day to drive my mother and sisters to watch their favorite singer perform there - what can I say, I'm the stereotypical good Asian guy=D, especially when offered money to drive anyway=P But I really shouldn't be complaining as I really love to travel and the events leading up to the flight were something out of "The Amazing Race" - full of tasks to complete before being able to proceed on to better and exciting things. So because of the situation beforehand, me and my roomate pretty much dozed off on our flight to Denver and BWI.
After getting on the bus from BWI to take us to the Greenbelt metro station, then taking the metro to Columbia Heights station, we have become too tired not from lack of sleep but from more or less eighth-hour starvation endured in flight. The plan was to eat across the Columbia Heights metro station to the Target I remembered seeing when I used google map streetview. However, when we got up to the street level, we saw these doors that led directly to a burger joint called "Five Guys". It was really weird cause with the layout as it was, it seemed like the metro escalator was put up just to lead people to this burger joint. Richard, my roommate, suggested to check it out cause he really didn't want to cross the street to Target. I didn't either as I was too hungry to be choosy, so inside we went to order. I wasn't really impressed with the idea of fries fried in peanut oil stated in the menu, but it was something I've never had and I thought I might as well start trying something new in this new city. I ordered hotdog with fries and the hotdog turned out alright. The fries were very good though! At this time, I have not yet developed my love for this burger joint, as I have not tried their cheeseburger yet. That day would come the following day.
After we finished some Five Guys grub, we immediately proceeded to the hostel, which was quite a walk from the station. We weren't bothered though, as the neighborhood seemed quite charming, very interesting and diverse, miles better than our boring and bland Parkmerced neighborhood in San Francisco. It was actually much nicer than I expected, with the buildings either in stone or brick, not wood or stucco like we have alot back home. Adams Morgan, the neighborhood where our hostel is located, turned out to be the bohemian place correctly described in the hostelworld site. The hostel though was basically nondescript, quite decrepit and the floor would shreak whenever you walk on it. I was greeted by this Asian girl who told me they didn't accept cards as payment, so I had to run downstairs to find the nearest atm, which I promptly found right across the street next to a Starbucks. I was really beginning to like the neighborhood as there's pretty much everything you need within a block's walk - there's a grocery, bank, cafes and restos and a MacDonald's =) After paying the girl with cash, she proceeded to take us to the room where we were gonna be staying. So there we were in our first hostelling experience, being led to this empty, stuffy, tiny room with windows literally nailed shut - in short, a firetrap. But that we thought was alright, as we really didn't know what to compare it to nor did we have any idea what it should be. We really just wanted to lay down on the sqeeking beds and doze off for the following day's sightseeing on foot.
