I finally left LA after six nights, which was enough. Transport to my next destination was organised by Boogie Fever at the hostel, and it was a minibus which offered cheap travel to San Francisco. I was on the bus with a strange, androgynous skinny bloke wearing make-up and with rock star clothes and hair, whose entire body language screamed "junkie"; also a fat guy in his 30's with an actual classic American mullet hairstyle, tied back into an absurd ponytail. They spent the trip having hushed conversations in the back, and left the bus promising to visit each other's mySpace sites. This is a common thing to hear in the States, you pass countless conversations people are having about mySpace.

Anyway, San Francisco started badly. It was hammering down with rain and I couldn't remember the name of the hostel I'd been recommended, so I just got the driver to drop me off at the Hostelling International place downtown. Wow, that was a dull hostel. No alcohol allowed anywhere in the building, full of assorted freaks reading pseudo-intellectual books to make them look interesting. I managed to get one word out of my sole flatmate, and that was "hi" when I first moved in. Apart from that he lay crouched on his bed, back to the room, reading "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. He also kept making bizarre exhalations, like forced sighs. The other book sitting by his bed was a hippy self-help thing called "Breathing: enhance your power and energy" by somebody called Michael Sky.

So I checked out of there the next morning and put my big backpack into storage, vowing not to return there that night. I walked down to the piers, went to the aquarium (definitely getting aquarium fatigue as well now), passed some picket lines outside the Alcatraz tours ("Alcatraz is a landmark, not a Wal-Mart" said one banner) and saw the sea lions that have taken up residence next to Pier 39. Then I booked myself on the next boat to Alcatraz.

The Rock is open to visitors, and there is a guided audio tour available through your own personal headset (with commentary from former inmates and guards). It's fascinating stuff, even if it does completely de-bunk a lot of its own Hollywood myths - on arrival, the Ranger who met us said "you want to see the tunnels from The Rock? They're in MGM Studios in Hollywood".

After that, a quick search on the internet gave me the name of the hostel I should be staying at - the Green Tortoise. It's a fantastic place, even though it's located on Broadway next to lots of strip clubs and specialist DVD shops. It's safe to walk around at night, but there aren't very many good pubs. Instead people can bring their own alcohol into the Ballroom at the hostel, and have a night out at the pub without leaving the front door. There's a pool table, guitars, tablas, a kitchen which offers free coffee, juice, fruit and bagels every morning.

There's a total mix of people staying here too. I've met the most Scots here out of anywhere else I've been, there were seven of us one night. There are the usual backpacker-types, and a few exceptions - one of the Scots revealing that he's in Tayside constabulary, for example. Managed to drink all the remaining Fiji rum, mainly with the policeman, and feeling a bit rough this morning.

While staying here, I cycled over the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a quite misty day, but at least that meant there were fewer people to avoid on the footpath. I had lunch on the other side, but it was a drizzly day so there wasn't much point in exploring further. Also done all the usual tourist things like Lombard Street (the crookedest in the world), been on a cable car, got some cheap food in Chinatown, accidentally wandered down the wrong street with one of the other Scots and ended up in Tenderloin, the ghetto with crack dealers shouting in the street. There are more homeless people here than just about anywhere else I've been, and that includes south-east Asia.

It's a beautiful city, though, and it has a unique feel to the place. That might be more to do with the Green Tortoise's activities - first night it was Beer-Pong, which involved throwing a ping-pong ball into one of your opponent's cups, and they had to drink it. There's also been a couple of pub crawls, so this is one place where you get to know a huge number of people in a very short time. People tend to stay here longer than they intended. When I checked in, the receptionist asked how I'd heard about this place - I said "word of mouth", and she replied "that's what pretty much everyone says".

Oh yeah, free internet access too, and it's proper computers. So, anyway, over a few games of pool yesterday I discovered that Andrew (English) and Felix (German) were going to hire a car and drive through Yosemite to Las Vegas, so I'm joining them in that little adventure, finally leaving the Green Tortoise tomorrow.