A Peaceful Little Academic Town...(US Trip Recollection, Part IV)

...called Berkley is one of the place me and some colleagues of mine used to frequented when I was in the US (I went there three times, actually). There was this really good ramen restaurant (which, alas, I forgot the name), they served big tasty portions for quite a reasonable price (for US standard, that is). And yes, in all of my three visits there, I ate there.

Some of the houses in Berkeley

The town was a small one indeed, and it had a peaceful vibe about it. It was also home to University of California-Berkeley, so you'd see a lot of young people there who were mostly students. In my first two visits I only came to the intersection where the ramen restaurant was located. I got a better picture of the town on my third visit, where I and the other went for a walk to see the other part of the town, the part where the campus was.

It was just another regular Sunday. Halim and Ken, two of my colleagues, decided to drive there for lunch and took me and Raymund along. Summer was fast approaching, and the sky was blue with little or no hint of cloud. A perfect day, it was. As to be expected when Halim chose to go there for lunch, the ramen restaurant was the definite place of choice. After lunch, we went for a walk down the street where the restaurant was, towards the part of the town where the campus was.

This part of the town was livelier than the part of town where the ramen restaurant was, with a lot of college students walking about here and there. We saw cafes, restaurants, souvenir shops selling UC-Berkeley-related stuff, and a book store where they sold a lot of second-hand books. I bought one myself, a book by Deepak Chopra, something about knowing God. There was also a store selling supposedly Bali handicrafts, but somehow I felt that the merchandise I found there weren't genuine Bali.

The Streets of Berkeley

I like the vibe there, students criss-crossing, students lying down on the grass reading books or talking to their friends, students smoking pot (kidding). The blue sky and the cool weather made the whole atmosphere a bit dreamy. A church bell on top of a high tower was playing a tune that eerily reminded me of one of those dracula movies. If it was night time, it would have probably spooked me. But it was day time, and the weather was perfect.

Around the Campus

If you happen to be around west California, somewhere in the vicinity of San Francisco, you couldn't go wrong in visiting Berkeley. A nice little hamlet with an academical vibe about it (and just a wee hints of pot in the air he he he), you will enjoy the serenity of the place.

(For more photos, please go to this link)