Trip to US!

Hi all!! i haven't been blogging for more than a month!! but now i've changed my template for an all new look!=) hope u like it=p

Here's a long and boring account of how i spent my holiday in the US! namely Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and San Francisco! For those who just wanna look at me, no worries=) u can juz go here to see the photos we took! Alternatively, u can read my account while seeing my photos, for a running commentary! woots! hahah jkjk.. haf fun ppl!=)

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Day 1 & Day 2
Okay the first two days aren't much, mainly flight-time, but anw, I saw my fave perfume Nina Ricci at the Duty-free inside the airport! lol, not that it's much of a surprise, but I guess it's cheaper than usual retail ba. so anyway, I totally chionged as many movies as i could on the plane! =p watched shows like "Employee of the Month", "Gridiron Gang", "Accepted", "Open Season".. All on the way to US! totally movie marathon man=D so shuang=) couldn't sleep la basically, maybe slept like 1hr? during the flight from Japan to LA. So we reached there around 11, but one of the group kena random interview by the US security, so we had to wait nearly 1hr=x But anyway we were still on schedule, so after tt we went to Wyndham Hotel to check-in. By the time we reached it was about 2plus i think, so we quickly checked in, left our stuff in the room, and went out of the hotel to recce the area.

Over here, the buildings are spaced pretty far apart, so pity my poor legs!! Okay, not so bad la, guess i needed the exercise after sitting in the plane for so long. So anw, we went to see the nearby stores like Henry's Supermarket, and went to check out the restaurants. So nice la, we saw the In-n-Out Burger there!=DD So of course I quickly brought my parents there to try the burger=) Mwahaha. Then we went to walk around again, saw a few shops, but nth much la. So around 6plus it was quite dark le, so we went back to near our hotel, to see the restaurants again. Plus i wanted to see whether the internet cafe was cheap (i cant help it!=x). But we couldnt find an appetising enough restaurant, we decided to go to a slightly further place which served Vietnamese food. (my parents missed chinese food already!! on the first day!!!=S) so there was food that was somewhat similiar to chinese food, to make my parents happy enough, and i ate some vietnamese spring rolls (which were abit yucky though=x). after tt we went to henry's supermarket to stock up on some mineral water and fruits. whee i love supermarkets! lol. their cereal isn't bought in boxes but dispenser-style! like press the button and your cereal pours out into your plastic bag. so fun! heh. so yeah, end of first two days=)

Day 3
We're going to Hollywood today! Namely Universal Studios, where they film the movies!! Before that we went to the Walk of Fame, where famous ppl name's are on the floor, and some have their hand and footprints on the concrete! There was the Mann's Chinese Theater as well, which was also where the hand & footprints were. Afterwhich, we went on to Universal Studios! Initially i thought that, eh, juz studios onli ma, got anything to see meh? But seriously, it was vvv nice! Our tour guide, Steven (more on him later), brought us to take the Studio Train Tour around the places where the movies like Fast and the Furious, the Mummy, and Jurassic Park were filmed. We saw the Stages, which are basically gigantic halls whereby they'll build the setting and props for the movies. then we saw various past Stages like a train station, helicopter crash in a city etc. We also saw scenes from War of the Worlds, Jaws.. and saw how they made cars 'fly' in a crash such as in Fast and the Furious. All in all, very interesting, very fun, and sth you must not miss if you ever go there!

One drawback: it was vvv hot there!! In the shade it's pretty cool, but if the sun's shining on you, it's totally scorching hot k!! seriously man. =x=x

Okay, so anw after the train ride, we tried other stuff such as Terminator 2 in 3D (mini introductory show of course), Waterworld Live, Shrek in 4D (the 4th dimension simply refers to the seats moving=p), Jurassic Park rollercoaster, Backdraft Live (where we experienced the heat during a fire, safely of course). Then i ate a Ben & Jerry's icecream cos esp after the Backdraft show i was practically melting le=S

The last show that we went for was FearFactor Live! In my opinion, the pre-show was more enjoyable than the show itself. lol. why? because before the show, this guy went around scaring ppl with a fake tarantula. lolx okay it's not so funny for the victim in question, but heh very amusing for sadists like the rest of us=p and another guy acting as usher, emphasise 'acting', brought a few ppl in, walked them round one section of seats, round and round until everyone else was just tearing with laughter!! hahaha, some of the 'victims' caught on after walking one round, but one group just followed round and round for like more than 3 rounds! totally cried with laughter la! hahah. then the show itself, first was testing who could hang onto a handle in midair for the longest period of time, second was like turning round and round and if you complete the task first u get to eat.. the Fear Factor smoothie! A yummy concoction of rancid fish guts, pig innards (raw of course), complete with sour milk. hmmmm. Last task, was some electric thing which you have to keep turning, but which gets more electricity on it the more you turn it. blah, some guy won it and congrats. fast forward>>after everything, we met up with the rest of the group about 6pm.

Dinner at a Chinese restaurant, den end of the day.

Day 4
Today's another tiring day! But fun=) First we went to Disneyland. We had a 2-Park-Hopper ticket, meaning we could go to Disneyland and California Adventure Park which is juz next to each other. As usual, Steven brought us around first to take the most impt rides. Disneyland's so nice k!! The moment u enter it, it's just like a dream world. I could almost imagine Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) walking out from the shops any moment! We took rides like Pirates of the Carribean, which was really nice. It's not the exciting kind, but the atmosphere is really realistic. We soon came to the conclusion that Disneyland is really not just for kids, but enjoyable for adults as well. The high technology involved is really amazing. In the ride, the sound volume, music, props, and fake people (which were made to look almost real!) made the atmosphere really really cool! Seriously! After this ride we tried many other highlights, one of them being A Bug's Life in 3d. Lol it's super interesting! Like, when one of the bugs gave off a stink bomb, we actually smelt sth! when one of them sneezed, we'd feel water sprinkled onto our faces! and for the finale, we were told to sit and let the 'Honorary Bugs' leave first, we actually felt sth poke us from behind and sth crawling underneath our butt! LOL=D Fun sia=)

Den we went to California Adventure Park! Here were the more exciting rides! First was the not so exciting ones like Soarin' over California, which is really super cool, cos it gives you the illusion that you really are flying over california as if in a flying chair! really super uber cool=D Then the more exciting ones including Hollywood Tower and California Screamin'! Hollywood Tower is like an elevator that you sit in, then they bring you all the way uppppp! then down and down and down like about 3 times. Woots! Fun!!!! At first i was abit scared la, cos acty i dun really like 'vertical' rides cos i'm scared of the weightless feeling, but still, it was funnn!!! Came out shaking a little but still damn exhilarated! wheehee! and we also took California Screamin'! which is a 360deg rollercoaster!! hahaha fun sia!!! at first almost cldnt take cos there was some mechanical fault, but thank gdness it was repaired quickly so whee i took it! fun sia! really really wish i can take it again=x and most imptly, kudos to my dad for taking both with me! lol, sacrificed most of his wits taking it. haahah.

den we got a quick dinner at a snack place cos there were longgg queues everywhere! i got my cheese pretzel and then quickly went to get a spot along the road in Disneyland, where the Parade of Dreams was abt to start! haha acty this parade wasn't much la, juz colourful n all tt, and not alot oso. But of course go there le muz see la=p den after this parade of dreams, we went out for awhile to check out the shops outside. and we saw alot of shops, and even though already 8plus nearing 9, the whole place still super crowded. then finally abt 9, we went back to disneyland around Cinderella's castle, where there'd be fireworks!! so nice k! like totally blew me off (metephorically speaking) lol. The fireworks were really really beautiful and indescribable in words that it deserves. So much better than the short 'boom. boom. boom' of Singapore's fireworks. like, it has shape, style, and a storyline! it integrates disney stories into the show, and a Tinkerbell is even flying around at times! Really really beautiful. After seeing this, it'll be difficult to see a nicer show of firework that tt le. Lolx. Seriously man.=)

So we caught the shuttle bus back to our Wyndham hotel, and poof to sleep.

Day 5
Mwaha! Today is the wonderful day of the start of.. shopping!! Oh, and the last day of the breakfast in Wyndham! lol, it was the same breakfast for the past two days! We went to the Tanger Outlet center that was on the way to Laughlin (a town near las vegas). So on the way to the center, Steven briefed us. Say "Chialat chialat (jialat jialat)" in a gay voice. That's Steven=) No offense though, he's been really gd and we really appreciate it!=D so he advised us to chiong to the shop we wanted most first and we did! nearly everyone chionged to Coach first (incl us) and wheee, seriously take take take sia. my mum and i nearly went mad.. with joy.=) see like onli, take first think later. Oh and dun forget Steven's advice, Buy Now Suffer Later! wahaha! So we bought mostly Coach, then after lunch, we shopped somemore i got a levi's top and another top frm an unknown shop.=) Oh let me elaborate abit on the lunch. It was at America's chinese fast food called Panda Express, and their opinion of chinese food is fried noodle(known as chow mein there, no spelling mistake there) and fried rice! and our sweet & sour pork is known as 'orange chicken'!

ok then on with our journey! we proceeded to Laughlin, a town on the banks of Colorado River. And by the time we reached, it was nearly nighttime, but we decided to look ard of course, since it supposed to be a mini casino city in itself. We walked ard, and I was looking for my Krispy Kreme shop! it's supposed to be a very well-known donut shop in the US. i saw a 'Krispy Kreme' sign along the street while still on the bus so i was pretty sure tt there was the shop there. unfortunately, after checking out 3 diff hotels, we found it in the third one, BUT it was closed for the day=x on the bright side, it would be open at 6am the next day! lolx. since this would be our only night in Laughlin, i didn't want to miss the chance to try their donuts, so i decided to wake up early to go get it! wheehee.

Day 6
So this morning, i woke up at 5am with my dad, and at 5.45am, we chionged 3 hotels away to get my donuts! when we reached there at 6.05, there was already a relatively long queue! wah, queued abt 15mins den finally got to order. so muz make it worthwhile rite? somemore all the way from singapore mah=p so we order half a dozen assorted donuts plus one original glazed donut. then we chionged back to hotel. then chionged down for the hotel breakfast with all our luggage and stuff since we had to leave immediately after breakfast. (not forgetting the donuts to be consumed later, though i sneaked a few bites of the original. mmhmm. heaven. nv knew donuts could taste so nice.)

After breakfast, we made our way to the Grand Canyon! We were so lucky k! When we went there, it was bright and sunny, though v cold, but it was sunny enough for us to take all our pics! Then, when we were done with our photo-taking and ready to get back onto the bus, it started snowing! like really snowing k!! initally it was light snow, but we were already very excited and taking photos like mad! snow totally rocks!!! then when we made our way down the mountain for lunch, it started snowing heavily! wheehee! i love snow!! so after eating lunch (during which we admired the snowfall outside the window and how the window ledge piled up with snow) guess what? we took more pics!! lolx, as i said, we love snow=) i've experienced snow before, even snowfall, but none as heavy as this! It's really beautiful=)

After all the hoohaa of the snow, we went back to the coach the continued on our journey. we had to backtrack to laughlin so that we could go on to las vegas, so by the time we reached Vegas, it was already evening time. However, our check-in time was later, so our tour guide brought us to see various shows around 'The Strip' @ Las Vegas such as the 'Atlantis' which tells the tale of two feuding siblings, and the musical fountain at the Bellagio which was really, for lack of an even better word, beautiful. And last was the Fremont Experience at Downtown Las Vegas which was not bad. It's basically a light show across the entire ceiling of the place, like a gigantic and extremely long plasma tv. lolx.

then when we were nice and tired, we got back to the hotel and.. slept.

Day 7
Okay, another day of GREAT shopping! the best ever!! First we went to visit Hoover Dam & Lake Mead. Well I dun have much to say abt it la, it's.. well.. a dam.. and a lake. Like ya. hahah. So secondly, Steven brought us to the Premium Factory Outlets in Las Vegas! We went alot madder here as compared to the previous Tanger Outlet center! hahaha. Our first stop was Nike! Here was seriously see, like, take. I bought 3 pairs of shoes! wheehee! and i was considering a fourth! kinda regret not getting though. hehhh. plus i also got a dri-fit top and jacket=) My parents got one pair each too=) Bu zhi bu jue, it became lunchtime so we headed to the food court for lunch. Wasn't anything special, so i koped food from my parents and got a White Chocolate Chip Mocha for myself=) yumm. Our tour coach was supposed to pick us at 1.30pm, giving us about 2 hours to shop and lunch, but luckily we were given the option of going back ourselves since we were free the rest of the day. =) so after lunch, more shopping!!

We headed to see other stores, like Liz Claiborne, where me and my mum bought 3 polo tees and a tshirt. then, we went to Armani Exchange where i tried on one of their jeans=) and juz for the sake of the brand name, i got a tee to show off as well! lolx ahhaha. well u cant blame a girl for being materialistic every once in a while=) oh and we went to Fossil!! one of my fave brands=) I got myself two watches there! heeee. I shld've gotten a third!=x kinda regret that too=x lolx. but oh well. and guess what?? by this time, it was already nearing 5pm! lolx. and we still weren't done with shopping. however, we were kinda guilty cos my dad didnt have much to do and he really wanted to bring us to see the hotels cum casinos in Vegas, plus we had a show to catch. so we teared our eyes (and hearts) away frm the place and made our way to the taxi stand.

back in town, our first stop was our hotel rm so tt we could dump our loot=p we had to catch a show called 'Jubilee' tt we bought tix for, so we had to meet Steven at 6.30pm. after grabbing a light bite nearby, we met him, and then took a taxi to the Bally Hotel. (we had to share cab with the most irritating couple. acty it was the husband who was irritating la. ergh, the first time i met him at the pre-departure briefing, he said:"我什么都没有，就是钱很多" walao!!!! crap sia. somemore is depending on his rich wife de, and sit at home do nothing. still can say liddat! plus his wife so rich oso quite humble. irritating guy sia. ergh.)

okay then we finally reached the place and were seated. Basically Jubilee's a topless cabaret show, gotta be 18yrs and above de. I was asked for my passport (as usual la. cant help it if i look young rite? lol. might as well look on the bright side. btw, nearly everyone in my tour group thought i was in lower sec! ahh) the show was pretty nice, and the props were great. of course there's all the boobs and butt lor. lolx, and i was happily munching away at my chips as well. hahah, while my parents nearly dozed off. but it was pretty interesting la (not the boobs and butt fyi) esp this grp of guys who were very funny=D (typing it here simply doesn't do it justice so too bad for ya)

after Jubilee, my family went ard to see the various hotels.. like the Venetian, which is Venice-themed, so it has a river (man-made of course) flowing through the first floor, plus boats u can sit in while the rower serenades you! (u can view my photos to get a clearer idea) We then went to Wynn hotel, the newest & biggest hotel in Las Vegas for dinner. The chinese restaurant there is supposed to be very good as even stars go there to eat. so we went there, and met some of our tour grp ppl, who said they met some hk actor! lol argh too bad we missed it=x but anw, the food was pretty gd so we had a nice dinner=)

by then, my mum and i were totally slpy le, so when my dad suggested going to take a look at more hotels, we nearly died. naturally we didnt go la=p 2 against 1 mah. hee.

Day 8
Woke up early in the morning to catch a 8.25am domestic flight to Oakland, near San Francisco. So we had to be there by 6.25am to clear Security and everything, then we had our breakfast inside Check-in. We ate burritos at some mexican cafe! which was MUCH nicer than the thus far standard fare of eggs, ham and bacon.

Flight was delayed to 9am, so we juz talked among the group.. got this chinese couple from indonesia who's pretty cute=) like, he's cute and she's pretty so they make quite a cute couple=) so envious ah! hahaha, and they were v nice to everyone also la.. plus he's quite well-off i think, aww, what more to ask for?=pp okay i digress, so we got on the plane. mwaha, i was fast, so the moment i saw someone go to the boarding queue, i immediately chionged to queue behind them, cos this system dun haf allocated seats de. muz get gd seats ma, so tt alighting tt time easier. heh=p

we reached Oakland! then we got onto a coach, and as tension within me mounted further.. we approached san fran!! hahaha civilisation as last!! hahaha. let me explain, LA was more country-like, as the buildings were spaced further apart and pace of life there was slower. Las Vegas is in the middle of a desert plus being packed with just casinos doesn't make for much other recreation and activities. Therefore.. civilisation awaited in San Francisco! wheehee. It's a pretty small city, with just 2million+ people, and it's buildings are all pretty packed. Just what i'm used to=)

Steven brought us around San Francisco on an orientation tour. First was to Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf, where he gave us 1hr to walk around. I got a Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough icecream for myself! then we walked around the wharf and took a look at some of the shops. then we went for the 'New' Bay Cruise, where they bring us right underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, then back round Alcatraz so we could get a closer look at the island. (mwaha i've been on it!)

after the cruise, Steven then brought us to the Golden Gate Bridge itself, where we could walk on it, see the gift shop and all tt. for me wasn't much la, since it's like basically a bridge right? and seeing it for the second time is like.. okay. so i went to the gift shop(which was closed the last time i went with TJChoir) to press a few pennies to pass time. In case u're wondering what's pressing pennies, it's basically this machine tt u can put in money for it to literally press your penny into a special souvenir, which in this case was a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge.

after that, to our hotel in Civic Center!! We stayed in Holiday Inn, Civic Center, which was not bad, pretty near Union Square, the town area. Steven also gave us an option to join him for a walk to Union Square so that we could orientate, but my family declined=pp cos i wanted to go find my bead shops in that area, and anw i'd been there before=) plus i had my map, so what could go wrong?=)

so i brought my parents to go find my shops, but unluckily, they were both closed!! operating hours were over=( so i led them to Union Square on Market st. instead lor. and i found my previous hotel as well!=DD turned out my previous hotel and my current hotel were pretty close! wheehee=) so once i saw my prev hotel, i became instantly familiar with the area=D I brought my parents into the hotel to take a look at the interior, and where we once rehearsed, where we ate our breakfast, and even where we had our first briefing!=) then i walked us to Union Square, where we then took the Cable Car to Fisherman's Wharf! and i realised it costs US$5.00! (and i took it for free before=pp)

at fisherman's wharf, we had dinner at a restaurant with a few other tour grp members we met on the cable car. it was yummy! We ordered a lobster combination, consisting of a half lobster, half crab, with prawns and shrimp=) plus a lobster bisque, and a clam chowder in sourdough breadbowl! wah liddat hor, enuf for all three of us le k! not juz enuf but quite full k. after dinner we walked off some of the calories, den hopped onto an electric tram back to our hotel.

Day 9
Our last day!!=((((( So muz make full use of it! and I was the tour guide for the day!=D In the morning, I wanted to bring them to Lombard street, and it juz so happened that a few others wanted to go too! so we decided to go tgt taking the cable car, but it suddenly rained! so we decided to take taxi instead! so we experienced driving down k!=) somemore total taxi fare ended up cheaper than a cable car ride for all 3 of us=) quite fun lar, my mum was like so happy over the sakura trees lol.

after seeing lombard street, my family separated from the rest and i brought them to fisherman's wharf for breakfast! we found a cafe called "Denny's" that i've been wanting to try, so we settled on breakfast there. waited quite long, but still worth it=) the pancakes so nice! really warm and fluffy de, nt like normal McDonald's hotcakes haha.

kk back to hotel, where we did our impt 'businesses' and i planned the rest of the day=) we headed to the bead shops i found yesterday, where i spent a vvv long time selecting what i wanted! haha the place i went to was super colourful and staff initially looked like weirdos and kinda scared me but they were actually really nice, and they even keep cats in the place! spent a few hrs there=)

then lunch at Macy's! i brought them to the basement where i introduced to them the Spaghettini, and i ordered my macaroni and cheese! yumm=) unfortunately didn't order the herbed fries, aww.. ahahha=p then my dad lingered in the basement while me and my mum chionged upstairs to shop! haha shop here shop there, but didn't get that much la, wanted to get a dress de, but dun haf sth tt looks nice on me=x so we each got a pair of pants lor.. haha.. i found a black pants with gold deco! hee=D

(ps. time passes so quickly when shopping!!!)

after a while we got tired of macy's, so after getting some of the chocs frm there, we left the place.. and found Victoria's Secret! heeee! (those who dunno abt it.. tsktsk) whee i love the lingerie there!! hehhh. shant elaborate much here, but the place so cool k, the changing rooms even have a button inside to press when u need help! LOL. my dad waited for us for nearly 3hrs!!! *guilty* but we still hadn't gone to the second floor to check it out! but too bad la, too long le, so gotta go lor.=x after tt we went to Levi's=) cos i wanted to find sth that i saw in Singapore, but
they dont have it! but i managed to find a pair of jeans la so not w/o gains=pp

finally we went for dinner, at this restaurant called John's Grill, which is supposed to be quite popular in san fran. we shared two of their most popular meals, which were both totally delish!!=DD ate up every last bit of it!

then we took the electric tram back.. and it was the end of our last day..=x

Day 10 & Day 11
on the flights back to singapore, i didn't chiong as many movies as before, but still managed to catch "Barnyard". oh and we were v lucky! my family managed to get the seats in the front of the section! as in, you know where the large screen tv is? we were in that row at the side! so we got lots of leg space!=D like totally can stretch out de=) wheehee!

hmm.. back in singapore, luckily we touched-down about 1am, so it wouldn't be as hot as in daytime. even so, it was so hot and humid!!=( oh well, will get used to it. i miss US already!!

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okay ppl! end of story! haha i promise to blog soon=) and tag k?=p