Sunday, May 25, 2008

Grand Trip Update

Right, now that I have gotten all my pictures, I shall attempt to do the impossible of updating my entire trip with a single blog entry. :) Loathe and Behold...


It all started on 24th April 2008 :), I had just completed my last exam for the semester and my gf was due to arrive 4 hrs later.
Gf says Hi!!

Basically rot the whole day after that and just spent the night cuddling to the very cold weather. Following day, I brought her to downtown vancouver to do a little shopping which was ridiculously expensive by America standards and we ended up chilling out in a small Jap sushi place for lunch. =)

I am never a fan of Jap food, but as it is probably the most economical food around town. $10cad for all you can eat buffet! A deal you can't find even in Cheapo Food Sin-GA-Por! There was really nothing much to do after that (Vancouver is boring) and we headed back to my school to enjoy some of the hidden part of the campus (i.e. Spring Blosoms, Nude Beach)


Hee check out the pic above me.. That is one big **** :) (Sze your favourite)... With Dinner time beckoning, I decided to whip up some home cook dishes, and don't you all think I am a good cook! :)

Four eggs do look abit overkill though I must say! But the drumsticks were delicious.


Whistler up next, it was kind of a last minute decision going up there. Having no cheap means of transportation, decided to use up the remaining of my ZipCar (http://www.zipcar.com/) credits and make our way up there on our own. It ended up costing each of us like $12 bucks...so I thought it was quite worth it. My beloved Kaixing and Lynn went with us. Whistler was awesome, my only regret is deciding not to ski as I thought it was glacier skiing more than snow skiing. Gf had a very sad face....



Whistler was the last meaningful attraction during my final days in Vancouver. I was to proceed to Seattle which we had a little scare ....... haha


SEATTLE



There is nothing much to do in Seattle. It is a nice developed city with nice people. But probably due to its close proximity with Canada...... still abit boring la.



Arriving after a 5 hrs bus ride which we NEARLY Missed!




Sharing a footlong subway sandwich $5! I'm a cheapo




Visiting the 1st ever Starbucks Coffee house, in Seattle Pike Market






Deciding to splurge abit on a hearty breakfast... > $20 usd




The first of many outlet malls we went in the US... :) Outlet shopping is fun fun fun!

Next we flew from Seattle to San Francisco to meet up with my mummy and sister..




SAN FRANCISCO



San Francisco is a beautiful city. I was kind of taken aback when I drove into the heartland of SFO. The buildings were so different, the layout were so different. SFO had this vintage, quaint feel about it. It's easily the best part of America (at least the best of all places of America I have visited)





My trusted Dodge Charger! The car had to be big as it had to carry 4 huge suitcases. Although the car was a tad too big for me and mother to drive comfortably, the spacious car did gave all of us enough leg room to wriggle around during our road trips.

Our first stop was Napa Valley. Its a winery area with amazing scenery. Holding a glass of white wine, looking across acres of grassland, in cool breezy weather... thats life!

Sister having a ball with her very expensive $15 wine tasting

The Cable car of SFO... its literally CABLE pulling a car (Tram)... kenna conned by sister. I was still thinking...wah san fran cable car so cheap ah, $5 only! $5 cable car indeed!

Next, we head to Alcartraz Prison. Alcartraz used to be this famous prison that house some of the world's worst criminals (So I was told la). Its an island on in own, about 1 km away from downtown SFO by ferry.

I swear the prison cells look excatly the same as the one film in Prison Break. Even the escape attempt were similar to the storyline of season 1. But yea... kinda errie in there...

After Prison breaking, we did a bit of shopping and CHESSECAKE FACTORY!!!!!!!

It was expensive but it was BIG and GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDD, my oreo cheesecake was the best!

We left San Francisco after 4 days and headed for the famous Yosemite National Park. It was about 5-6 hours drive away from where we were. I had high expectation for Yosemite, especially when I was made to believe that it was comparable to the Canadian Rockies! Hell NO! The place was decent but, as you can see from the pictures, its just waterfalls and waterfalls and waterfalls.

Special mention must be given to this stall. See the China Station at the back drop of the photo, it should be awarded for having the WORLDS SALTIEST DISHES EVER! It so god damn salty, it puts the dead sea to shame!

LOS ANGELES

We took the long costal road down to LA and boy it was worth it. Voted the top 10 costal drive of the world :)

LA is nice... nice beaches... nicer beaches .... nicest beaches!!

Lifeguard CHNG!!!! Feel Safe!

This lifeguard got as yandao as me meh!

DISNEYLAND!!!

LAS VEGAS

Vegas the sin-city. Vegas is amazing I tell you. Never have i gone to a place with so many slots machine. There is a slot machine virtually everywhere indoor. Hotel Lobby, toilet, even inside the aiport terminal.....

The thing that impresses me about vegas is not its Casino, but rather the hotel themes. The people there recreates every possible thing on earth, from Paris Effiel Tower, to Golden Gate Bridge, to the pyramids of Eygpt.

GRAND CANYON

Visiting Vegas........... ONE SHOULD NEVER MISS THE GRANDDDDD DADDY OF ALL!! Grand Canyon is amazing I tell you. I am going to go back there again when I am rich... next time fly HELI-KOP-TER!



The last picture is a slight glimps of Hoover dam that is still under construction I think. Kinda amazing how these people can build a SOLID dam in the middle of the rocks... No LOBANG meh!


CANCUN


Cancun, the destination I looked forward to most. It turned out to be rather dissappointing. Granted the place has probably the best beach in the world (at least the best beach I have seen). Amazing sunset and sunrise. Softest sand!!!.... but that place is ridiculously expensive. We are talking about MEXICO... PESO!!! The cab ride from the aiport to the hotel, which is barely 10 mins away cost us $40 USD ($55 sgd) one way!!! I don't even pay that amount in the states!!! Really kenna tok until chui chui!

Next we read reviews about this wonderful natural theme parks with amazing wildlife, underwater river to snorkle .. blah blah blah... and both of us thought, ok... could be worth the almost $100 USD we paid. nnnnnnnnnnnn tada what did we get... a jungle that is so big, took us 15 mins to get from one place to another. Their so called wildlife is made up of 1 pig-look alike animal, 3 wild boars, 2 jaguars, 3 deers and a couple of ostrich. AND WE PAID $100 USD per person!!!! cry cry cry...

Okayz.. but other than that, I think Cancun is still worth going, just to relax by the beach... sun-tanning with a sip of magaritas :)



NEW YORK


Our final destination was NYC :) ......... We spent one day shopping in the outlet mall, mainly because they have no sales taxes!! I bought kenneth cole bag !!! yay!


2nd day was spent touring downtown manhatten. Big Mistake. It was raining the whole day! The best part was that we booked this open deck bus tour, to bring us around manhatten aka HIPPO Bus tour. Wah lau... spent alot of time just shivering in the cold, looking at random buildings. Did still managed to catch Empire state building, statue of liberty, time square ... etc.



Haha... the last picture I was trying to do a Hiro Nakamura!

We finished our holiday with a trip to Niagara Falls! It took us 7 hrs to drive there and another 7 hrs to drive back... the drive back was horrifying. We drove back in the wee hours of the morning, thinking that the road condition should be pretty decent. In the end, we were caught in this massive FOG at around 2am in the morning. It was so freaking foggy, I couldn't see 1m ahead of me, even with high beam on. No wonder there was barely any cars on the road. They knew better!



THE END!