U.S.A Day 8 - 11

San Francisco

If you're going to San Francisco,Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair. If you're going to San Francisco, You're gonna meet some gentle people there....."

So there was a song that goes like this. And indeed SFO was such a scenic and serene place, a vast difference from the rowdy and loud Las Vegas.

We transported like 6 hours from Vegas to San Frans to get to National Yosemite Park. Perhaps it was the long journey that raised our expectations of this scenic place. It tured out to be your every day Yogi bear park - we weren't very impressed.

On to other photos....

Of course, having been to SFO, we had to do all the touristy visits - we went to Stanford University which was regarded with highest accolades in California, saw the majestic Golden Gate bridge which was really just a highway bridge, went to Fisherman Wharf and sailed passed the Alcatraz also known as "The Rock" aka the unescapable prison, took photos with the 7 famous Victorian houses, visited a Danish village and ate a "ahem" danish pie.

And we were done with San Francisco!!! All that in a span of 3 days and it's back to LA!

I apologise for the extremely delayed post. I am suffering from what is called post travel syndrome.

U.S.A. Day 5-7

Las Vegas

The advantage of not following a package tour is that we get to choose what we eat. I had enough of hard and cold bread in budget hotels.

We tried their McDonald's version of Egg Mcmuffin. Only difference is their bread is replaced by biscuit and it was yummylicious!!!

It was a long journey from LA to Las Vegas. Bless the numerous Factory Outlets around to satisfy our shopping craves. I think the hub did a better job than I. We finally arrived at Las Vegas around 4-ish. We were looking forward to meet up with Liv's mom to bring us around but little did we know that this is only the start of our 'misfortunes'.

Of all the 365 days at this particularly small strip, they decided to hold a marathon and closed the roads! The only way to commute was by foot! It took us 3 hours to walk from our hotel to the Venetian! -_-"

 

Imagine 6 hours in total of walking! I think our dinner with pizza and fries are justified. We went back to the hotel and slept like a baby that night.

Woke up at 4am to head to Grand Canyon - one of the 7 wonders of the world. Of course, after 6 hours of walking and less than 6 hours of sleep = very cranky people. The breath-taking sunrise, the captivating view from above, made every deprived hours worth it!

 

 

Las Vegas is like your aveage town in the day and the streets are pretty much empty. The entire city comes alive only at night. We saw the fire fountain at Mirage, witnessed the captivating water fountain show at the Bellagio, people wearing all sorts of costumes on the streets and the amazing architecture of the various 6 star hotels along the strip.

Next stop, San Francisco!

 

U.S.A Day 1 - 4

A friend of mine recently asked "Do you still blog?" And I answered her sheepishly "Nowadays very busy ah. Also don't know what I'm busy with."

Indeed. I have lost the momentum to blog. My kid doesn't need a timeline for me to track his development anymore. I can't put a funny hat on him and make a joke out of it. And so today, I mustered every living energy cell and decided, this is it. I MUST at least blog about USA right?

HAWAII, HONOLULU

Months and months of research finally paid off. I would say this is the best budgetted trip I've planned. We even have enough to do a pit-stop at Hawaii before heading to California.

We arrived in Hawaii around 7am. The weather was heavenly! It was too early to check-in but having been on a flight for the past 22 hours, we really needed to freshen up abit. Thankfully, there was the shower room.

No time was wasted. I quickly ushered Dylan onto their bus trolley and headed off to one of their biggest shopping mall. It took us awhile to get used to their money - they had dimes, pennies, quarters, dollar. Why can't it be more simple?!

And this is me very randomly taking a shot of the renowed Victoria's Secret. Their changing room were so pretty! Everything was pink, fluff, ribbons and lace. Of course must buy something to remember right?

I won't go into details of the shopping. Taxes were relatively lower in Hawaii and hence we unleashed our shopping bugs but at the same time have to practice self constraint as it's only Day 1! How miserable. :(

So after all the shopping, one must also do some sight-seeing right?

First stop - The Polynesian Cultural Centre. This is where we learnt about the various Hawaiian tribes and do the Hawaii dance!

Day 3 - How can one forget about Pearl Harbor especially with all the gruelling we had in our History lessons?!?

It was a very solemn experience. We watched videos, interviews with the survivors and even went on-board on one of the sunken ships. If you asked me, Mr Yamamoto was a very brilliant man, despite being labelled as the cruel man who caused the war. Who would have thought of such a well executed attack plan? He had to do what he was instructed to do and he did it well.

Enough of sight-seeing. We need to explore the food of Hawaii. We discovered The Cheesecake Factory and of course have to try their Hard Rock as well.

One of my MUST DO list was to go diving in Hawaii. It has been 7 years since I took my last dive. After having heard of the raves of Waikiki, I told the hub that I HAVE to do it ONCE. I can only say, I have no regrets. 2 dives - One to a ship wreck 30m down and another was a leisure one. I didn't get to see any phenomenal underwater creatures but it was good to re-live the underwater experience again.

And that sums up Hawaii! :D

The road trip - Part 2

Kuantan was 2 years ago. How time flies. The kids have grown and so did the adults - horizontally.

We almost could not make it as the hub crashed the car for the 2nd time this year. I fear the day I receive the insurance letter premium renewal next year.*shudder*

With a timely stroke of luck and blessings from my parents, we took their car and head off to Malacca with the usual suspects - The Lims and this time, the Tans joined as well.

We stopped over at JB for the famous bak kut teh for breakkie before the long drive.

Arrived around 1-ish and we were famished! Nancy's Kitchen was highly recommended by one of my colleague who frequently visited Malacca.

 

 

  

 

The kids of course enjoyed each other's company. Jayden is a water kid, he needs to at least have a dip in the pool, despite the rainy season.

I can so understand why we can complete Malacca in 3D2N. There weren't much tourist attractions to begin with. But the beauty of travelling with a group is that we get to explore the places together, unravelling hidden food gems - every meal is a fiesta!

Thanks for the awesome company Lims and Tans! Let's do Part 3, 4 & 5 soon! ;)

In less than 100 hours

When I was young, the ideal beach vacation as distorted by the media was Hawaii. The land of "Aloha" and super chio dancing ladies in straw skirts. Of course now, we all know that there are other ideal beachs around the world.

However, it is still one's dream to visit the beautiful island - at least one of your top 100 places to visit before you die. 不是吗?

And so, we decided to go on this escapade to end 2012 on a sweet note. I want to be like the lady below, soaking in clear blue water, sipping what it looks like pineapple juice. To top off the cherry, if I can have her body as well. Just kidding.

Can't wait!

Eat, play, shop

Yes, this was basically what we mainly did on our recent trip. Ever since I visited Hong Kong last summer, it has become a yearly ritual to come to this shopping haven and sweep everything off their sales. Of course this time, there was a little tweak in the itinerary.

The son came along. After having combed 4 Club Meds for the past consecutive years, we decided we should break away from the beach vacation and introduce the boy the other side of the world. Also to see if he can sit through longer flights - Bless the inflight entertainment and iPad!!

Off to HONG KONG!!!





And so we arrived at our hotel - Regal Hong Kong at Causeway Bay. For once, we acted like responsible tourists and even bought an Octopus card for Jayden.
Since we arrived in the early afternoon, we decided to visit the Peak on a weekday to avoid the crazy crowd we encountered a year ago.
The Peak

Guess who took this photo for us? :)

 
We monkeyed around, took photos at breath-taking Hong Kong. Had our dinner at the infamous Bubba Gump (no photos as I edited it and it didn't save somehow) before hitting the sack. We had to perserve energy for the big tour the following day.

Day 2 - Hong Kong Disneyland

It drizzled in the morning and we were lamenting if we should still head to Disneyland. We wanted to avoid the weekend crowd. But it appears, everyday looked like a holiday at Disneyland.
Filling our stomachs with yummylicious dim sum before the long walk.
I ordered every single item that was recommended. People usually go to the one at Mongkok where you usually queue like crazy for an hour before you get a seat. Having an impatient kid with us, we decided to pay a slight premium for our comfort level and went to their IFC branch instead. Turned out not a bad decision, no queue, food was just as good. :)

  Our photographer for the day aka the Son asked us to say "Cheese", hug each other and smile. :) 
 As usual, the hub and the son had no impatience to wait for the Finale, much to my disappointment. And so we went to the City of Lights.  
Day 3 & 4 - Shopping Time!

The next 2 days were saved solely for venturing good food and appease my shopping hunger. I can see that the kiddo is not complaining either as he sets on a quest to hunt for his Cars Disney collection at EVERY Toys R Us outlet. We combed almost all of them and he never left one empty handed. *hears wallet crying*

 When one comes to Hong Kong, one must eat breakfast the Hong Kong style way. :)    
As you can see, we left the country satisfied with beautiful memories created, another inch to the waistline and an empty wallet. We almost had no HKD to have lunch at the airport! Hur hur.

Feb is all about foodie trips

So this is where we went at the start of Feb for a quick getaway. The last time we went to Bangkok, it was in 2006. 6 YEARS AGO... *gasp*

So to "re-live" the moment, we decided to go back to Siam Novotel, where we stayed then. But this time, we took the premier club room. What is the difference?

You get a kinky see-through bathroom!!! A touch of a switch, you can see the room from inside the toilet!

It's pure raw honey!!! You cut the honeycomb with your knife and you get pure awesomeness honey for your waffles/pancakes!!!

Very random photo of myself. Just want to show the sharpness of my normal digital camera. Hehehehe....

And the eating fest begins!!!!!

This is a very random shot but I assure you it was no easy task. Especially with a 慢三排 hubby, we failed to take a decent photo with the water fountain until like xxxxx-th time.

Tom yum goong - Checked

Pad Thai - Checked

Mango Sticky Rice - Checked

EQUALS VERY SATISFIED ME!!! :D

I am ashamed to witness that 50% of the time and photos, my mouth is open.... Heh. Not a very nice sight but who can resists good drool-worthy food at drop-pants price!!! Of course, other than eating, eating and more eating, we also did what every tourists would do - massages, combing The Platinum Mall, Chatuchak, making tailor shirts, joining the Naraya frenzy.

There were also 2 significant things that happened twice when we were overseas. While we were in Bangkok, we had an offer to our house, the buyer was so eager, they came to our house the moment we touched down!!! Count our blessings, we sold our place with a reasonably good offer. :)

Perhaps that explains the severe shopping damage below...