24 Hours in Oakland

My sister wanted to see a Kpop concert in Oakland so we did a quick overnight trip. I spent a month in Oakland in my fourth year of medical school when I did an away rotation. I decidedly very quickly I didn't want to live in Oakland and crossed that off my residency match list. I've been back to Oakland a few times since then. The city has come a long way and the food scene is rapidly catching up to SF. 

Here's how we spent 24 hours in Oakland. 

Our hotel was in the city center which was a great location. It's next to the train station, Chinatown, and Lake Merritt. After dropping off our bags at the hotel, we walked down to Jack London Square. It was a cute area with lots of restaurants and great water views. 

We walked through Chinatown on the way back. We picked up a few pastries from a traditional Chinese bakery. 

We had an early dinner at Battambang, a Cambodian restaurant. This is my first Cambodian restaurant! It was really tasty. I would describe Cambodian food as similar to Thai but less spicy. 

We had a quick coffee stop to caffeinate before the concert. Sana'a is a Yemeni coffee shop. This is my first Yemeni coffee. I liked mine but my sister didn't like hers. I tasted cinnamon and cardamom. The chocolate pistachio baklava was crazy good.  

We went Baekhyun's concert at the Oakland Arena. He is a member of the Kpop boy band EXO. According to my sister EXO debuted at the same time as BTS and in the beginning, EXO was more popular than BTS. EXO is on a hiatus currently so it's members are doing solo projects. I learned all of this ten minutes before the concert. 😅

The concert was acceptable. I don't mean that in a bad way. It's a low key concert. Everything was on a smaller scale. But the energy was still high because the fans were bringing it. 

We had a later flight the next day so we spent the morning at the Gardens at Lake Merritt. It's a lovely garden! There are different areas with themes. I loved the Bonsai Garden the most. 

We walked around Lake Merritt on the way back. It was beautiful day for a walk. 

We had lunch at Golden Lotus which is a Vegan Vietnamese restaurant. Everything was so good! The waitress recommended her favorites. I would stay in this area again just to eat at this restaurant again. 

A quick stroll through downtown on the way back to the hotel. I thought the architecture was really cool! 

It was fun quick trip! I would be happy to go back to Oakland anytime. The food is amazing. The train system was so convenient. We took the train the airport and to the concert. We walked everywhere else. Oakland is a great alternative to SF.