7th day is up!

Gosh, how fast time flies..7 days of my 10day break is about to end. Sigh...

Yesterday I went to return the Toyota Corolla at Hertz and picked up a new car at 9am. This time I got a white Chevrolet Malibu hatchback. Not bad, quite big too. with a sunroof as well. Low mileage, probably quite a new car. Then decided to go shopping at Las Americas..hehhe..after Xmas sales bargains. Well, much of the good stuff is gone, but manage to get a top or 2. Still a very big crowd. Was there from 10.30 till 2.30pm before heading for Ranch99 on the way back to get my groceries and got back about 4pm.

My car for the next 1 month. Nice number plate..

Today, just did some household chores - sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom and did the laundry. Just got back from watching a movie with Crystal at Edwards Theatre in Mira Mesa (cinema's here are free seating, so first come first serve). We watched The Chronicles of Narnia : The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Not bad. Used the passes I got for Xmas. There's just so many movies being shown, wonder when I'll have time to watch them all! King Kong, Memoirs of a Geisha, Rumor has it, The Family Stone, Fun with Dick and Jane etc. It was a 2hr 15min show, after that went to have dinner at Pho Hoacali in Black Mountain Road before going to Target to do a bit of shopping. Some stuff is actually 75% off! Crazy..I just bought 2 CD books (fitting 12discs each) for 25cents each :D

There goes 7 days of the break. How fast time flies! Gosh!

Weekend with Grace & Aileen

This is kind of a backdated posting..hahah..

Grace (my friend from Uni) and her sis Aileen were in San Diego for a short weekend from 9th till 11 Dec. Aileen won an all expense payed trip to LA through the Heineken 'Be Cool' contest (lucky!). Grace herself won an 8 day trip to NZ back in 2002, definitely a great graduation present. The luck seems to run in the family huh?

Went to pick them up at the train station downtown (took the amtrak from LA) after work about 7.30pm. Then had Vietnamese food for dinner in West Bernardo Drive (near my office), before heading home.

The next day, woke up at about 7.30 and we left at 8.30 for Old town to take the 1st coach at 9am of the Trolley Tour around San Diego that stops at 9 attractions :

1. Old Town State Park
2. Cruise Ship Terminal
3. Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum
4. Seaport Village
5. Marriot Hotel & Marina
6. Upper Gaslamp & Lower Gaslamp
7. Coronado Island
8. San Diego Zoo
9. Balboa Park (El-Prado and Museums)

It costs about $30 for the tour, where you can hop on and off at any of the above stops. Your trip ends once you get off of the 1st stop you got on. It's a great way to see many of the attractions in the city, but I thought it was pretty hectic and winter approaches, it gets dark by 4.30pm (tour is from 9am-5pm).

So first stop was the Cruise Ship Terminal by San Diego bay. Phoah..the traffic was massive as 3 huge cruise ships just docked to drop off/pick up passengers. We got off, walked around for a bit and took pics at the 'Star Of India' and H.M.S Surprise (used in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World movie, starring Russell Crowe) ships. Then walked to Seaport Village. On the way, saw the Midway Navy Vessel that housed many aircrafts. More pics along the bay and explored Seaport Village a bit. I like this place as it has some nice eateries, shops selling souvenirs, trinklets, Tshirts, decorative ornaments etc by the nice bay. We also had Ben&Jerry's Ice Cream, despite the chilly weather :P Weather was really sunny, but chilly and windy though!

2 of the 3 large cruise ships that docked at the terminal by San Diego Bay. Traffic!

Nice reflection!

Yumm..Ben&Jerry Ice Cream on a chilly day with Grace.

Then hopped onto the trolley at Seaport Village to the Marriot Hotel & Marina. Walked on to Gaslamp Quarter, a historic part of downtown with many Victorian style buidlings, an area popular for fine dining, theatre and entertainment. Explored the area a bit, went to Hard Rock Cafe, before proceeding to Westfield Horton Plaza to browse a bit and get a quick lunch at Panda Express. Then rushed to the pickup point in front of the plaza to go to Coronado Island.

At Horton Plaza. Hey we've got same coloured shirts on :P

With Aileen and Grace at Hard Rock Cafe San Diego

To get to Coronado Island, we need to cross this winding bridge which from afar looked kind of narrow and scary..hahah. Anyway, we crossed from the San Diego Bay onto the island which is famed for the Hotel Del Coronado/The Del, a 100+year old hotel which is easily recognised by it's red cone shaped roof. We bummed at the beach in front of the hotel for a bit, had lunch. So many seagulls flying around. Also caught a glimpse of a blimp advertising for Sanyo in the blue skies above. It was really windy and chilly. Spent about an hour there before rushing back to the pick up point to get to our next stop Balboa Park.

Coronado Bridge

Sanyo blimp in the sunny blue skies

Shadow of 3 girls on the beach

On Coronado Beach

In front of The Del

On the way to the park, one of the drop off point was the San Diego zoo, which we did not get off, as there wasn't any time to explore it anyways. By the time we got to Balboa Park, it was 3.30pm and there was an hour before it gets dark. Just walked around, some pics at the Botanical Building, some museums, fountains before hopping onto the last trolley from Balboa Park back to Old Town at 4.35pm

I like this pic :)

At Balboa Park

California Building Tower and Dome - signature landmark of Balboa Park

Got off and explored Old Town a bit. It's a state historic park, housing some buildings of the cowboy western times and also of Mexican architecture in the 1800's. Some restaurants, souvenir shops, museums, candy/chocolate shops etc were part of the park too. We left at about 6pm and headed straight for dinner at Shien Of Osaka, a Japanese restaurant. But waited quite a while for our meals because of the big crowd. Had chicken teriyaki..big portion...but yummmm :D Got back at 9++, showered, chit chat and watched a bit of tv. I had an early night as I wasn't feeling too good and my throat got a bit sore. Signs and symptoms of getting sick..darn..

Me with Aileen and a pinata at Old Town Historic Park

Dinner at Shien of Osaka

The next day was a full day of shopping! Karen tagged along and we went to Las Americas, the factory outlet mall near the US-Mexico border, about 45 min from here. We got there at about 10am and started going from shop to shop. Bought some stuff, had lunch, continued shopping till about 5.30pm. Managed to get a pic with Mr.Snowman but couldn't wait for the snowfall which was at 7.30pm, so we headed home after a tiring day of shopping..hahah. Decided not to eat out today, but I cooked dinner! hahah..well, picked up a box of the honey bbq chicken from Ralph's on the way back. Cooked a very simple meal, just stir fried sawi, fried eggs and the honey bbq chicken (instant as it's already marinated, just bake or microwave it) with rice. After washing up, just chilled watching tv and chit chatting before going off to bed at almost midnight.

Let's get ready to shop at Las Americas!

With Mr.Snowman..I think his head is a tad too heavy..hahah

Simple home cooked meal :)

Woke up at 6am, had breakfast, got ready and dropped them off downtown at the Santa Fe Train station to get the Amtrack back to LA at 7.15am before rushing off to La Jolla Hilton for SGA. Just in the nick of time as the first session was at 8am! How early is that..well, the weekend was definitely fun..kind of short though. But glad they made it here :)

Happy Hanukkah!

I just got back from a walk around the neighbourhood. Just some 'exercise' in a long time..ahhaha...bright and sunny day, but a lil bit chilly.

Today is Hannukah - the festival of lights celebrated by the Jews. This holiday lasts 8 days and they light up the Menorah, candle stand with 9 candle holders. There is a celebration event at Scripps Ranch, with a musical telling the story of Hannukah as well as a planned snow fall (fake snow, as it doesn't snow in San Diego :P).

Yesterday(26th Dec) was Boxing Day (day after Christmas). Why is it called Boxing Day? Well, I didn't know at first, but seems that it's the day of the opening of church boxes to collect donations for the poor. Anyway, there are usually great sales on this day, where stores open at 7/8am. I decided to join in the shopping crowd, but I only went at about 10am to Westfield North County Fair Mall in Escondido (10min away). Boy, was it difficult to find parking! Well, the crowd was definitely huge as bargains range from anywhere between 25%-75% off. North County Fair mall has anchor stores like Macy's, Nordstrom, JC Penney's and Robinsons&May, along with other shops. Spent a couple of hours there, manage to get a few good buys before heading home at about 4.30pm. Sales continues even after Xmas...so bargain hunters, get your wallets out and prepare to spend, spend, SPEND!

Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad! メリークリスマ! Joyeux Noël!

Merry Christmas everyone! Ho..ho..ho...

It's a pretty quiet one for me here. My parents+granny just got baptised 2 weeks back so this is their first actual Christmas. They had a nice family dinner with my bro, uncle, aunt, cousins and cousin kids. Even my sister and her family will visit them. Wished I was there. I missed out on all the presents! But I did receive quite a few here, mostly from colleagues and some friends, which was really nice :) And to those who sent me cards, thank you very much!

Gifts I got from colleagues and friends here in the US, excluding the pine and santa cup of hersheys..hehhe..now time to unwrap!

Got a nice photo frame, leather wallet, toiletries bag, 2 pairs of holiday socks, a mexican restaurant $25 meal voucher, a pair of movie tickets, a red long sleeve holiday shirt and colourful fleece blanket. So happy! Thank you everyone :)

Yesterday I went to Rosarito to have lobster dinner with Crystal and Jenny. Yum..we left late afternoon (takes about 1hr). It was rather sunny and about 75deg F (~25deg C) when we left San Diego, but as we crossed the border, it was rather foggy and chilly. Found a parking spot next to the restaurant, walked around a bit and went for an early dinner at 5. I opted for steak instead, served with baked potato, fresh tortillas, guacamole etc. Definitely a nice meal. Then headed home, expecting the border to be quite packed, but we didn't even have to wait 5 min to cross back into the US as there were NO cars! On the way back to San Diego, we stopped at the Las Americas outlet for over an hour to shop a while before leaving for home again at about 8.30pm.

With Jenny and Crystal in Rosarito, Mexico

Christmas in San Diego

Definitely looked forward to this Xmas/NY break (24th Dec - 2 Jan). So apart from having to do some work at home, hoping to just chill, relax, do some shopping on Boxing Day (26th) and maybe catch some movies. A couple of parties I might go to..we'll see.

Holiday mood!

Just got back from having dinner and a few drinks at Claim Jumper with some colleagues.

At the office, everyone was practically in a holiday mood since the beginning of the week. Today, it's quite apparent that the office had less and less people as they've begin to 'balik kampung' all around the US.

Today, got a really nice gift from my big boss. A $25 meal voucher at Hacienda de Vega, a nice Mexican restaurant in Escondido, which I heard is really good. Hoping to try the food there soon. Well, all the marketing/business planning staff in both HA/HV got one. We decided to get him something on the spot. We took a rather silly pic for his Xmas card, Pomy (our admin lady) went to get a few packs of Gatorade and BBQ Pringles (some of my big boss's fav munchies) and when we presented the present to him, it was accompanied by 'We Wish You A Merry Christmas' song. It was really funny..hahah..

From right most : Kaz, Ty, me, Michael P, Lordita, Pomy, Tyler, Andy and Tish, with our big boss Phil at his desk

See ya!

Today was Karen's last day in SEL. She's heading back to Malaysia due to family commitments after ~ 6 months here. I need to look for a new constant travel companion..ahha..

Our office had arranged a farewell pizza lunch yesterday during the HA seihan meeting. We ordered different varieties of pizza from 'Round Table' and also Caesars salad. Not only that, we presented her with a photo book of San Diego, with everyone's wishes/signature in it. Everyone was sad to see her go but family comes first.

Almost everyone :)

Our big boss Phil's wife, Jan, baked a nice butter cake for the holiday season. Definitely yummy.We had it during morning tea break at our HV seihan meeting today. I dropped Karen off at her apartment during lunch (should have asked her boss for taxi tips..hahaha) and she flies back from San Diego at 6.30pm. Take care and all the best!

Disneyland - The Happiest Place on Earth

Yet another long blog..ehehhe..

Since it was Karen's last weekend in the US (she's going back to Penang for good, due to family commitments), we decided to go to Disneyland yesterday! It's in Anaheim about 1.5hr drive away, towards LA. There are actually 2 Disneylands in the US - 1 in Anaheim, California and the other in Orlando, Florida. Not many people know that though.

Anyway, we started from home about 6.15am and got there at about 7.40am. There was already a long line waiting to get through the fee booth into the parking bay area. Well, that day the park is opened from 8am till midnight and probably because it gets dark by 4.30pm, people came earlier to maximize their time over there. Weather was kind of chilly..

After paying the parking fee of $10, we parked at the Pinocchio parking area. Then we boarded one of the many available trams that dropped us off at Downtown Disney (a shopping area just outside the park). Not only can you go to Disneyland Park but also the Disneyland California Adventure park. We decided only to go to the main Disneyland Park as the other one was more of rides. We then walked over to the ticket counter to get our tickets (unfortunately couldn't get the discounted tickets from the Credit Union as they were sold out), we got into the park at 8.15am.

There is actually 7 areas of the park, starting of with Main Street (the center of the park), Adventureland, New Orleans Square, Critter Country, Fantasyland, Mickey's Toontown and Tomorrowland. As you enter the park, you'll be at Main Street. We were greeted by the Disneyland band and also the characters from Alice in Wonderland.

Alice and company

We then boarded the train on the Disneyland Railroad to New Orleans Square. In this area, most of the buildings have this old, Victorian style buildings. There we went for the Haunted Mansion Holiday ride (based on the movie 'The Nightmare Before Christmas') as well as the Pirates of the Carribean ride.

Then on to Critter Country where we took the 15min cruise on the steamship on Rivers of America. Also saw Tom Sawyer Island, Mark Twin Riverboat and the Columbia Sailing ship on the way. After that, we went to Big Thunder Ranch, where you can take pics with Santa, but the line was really really long. Also saw some reindeers eating grass and drinking water. Didn't see Rudolph though. Is it only at night that the bright red nose is visible? Manage to take a photo with Pluto and this fat bird..ahha..can't remember the character's name. Too bad we couldn't go on Splash mountain, as you'd definitely get wet!

In front of Haunted Mansion - as Halloween and Christmas collide

The Steamship on the Rivers of America

On to Adventureland, checked out Tarzan's Treehouse andtook the Jungle Cruise (kind of fun seeing the animals in their natural habitat). We also went for the Enchanted Tiki Room show. It's one of the oldest shows in the park, dating back to 1959 I think. Nice music too. The lines at the Indiana Jons Adventure ride was really long by the time we got there. Wanted to opt for the fast pass (only available for some rides where you can get a chop for your park ticket to come back and don't have to wait in line at a specific time of the day for that particular ride). However, we didn't wait too long until we got our turn. Definitely thrilling and fun! A Must-Do! One of the very popular rides in the park. After that fun ride, we took a seat at the Aladdin & Jasmine's Story Tale Adventure stage show. Funny!

With Karen and Eeyore..why so sad??

Can you see what this picture is actually made up of? lots of small pics of Disney visitors. Look properly!

Next, Fantasyland! The entrance to this part of the park is none other than - Sleeping Beauty's Castle. It's basically 'the' landmark of the park. Went for the buggy rides - Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio's Daring Journey and Snow White's Scarry Adventures. The line for the Peter Pan's Flight and Mr.Toad's Wild Ride was super duper long that we skipped it and decided to come back later. Took the popular 'Mad Tea Party' ride...you get into those big teacups that spins round and round and you come out dizzy? ahhaa..fun! After that, the Mattehorn Bobsleds.. getting into a bobsled which zooms around the mountain (really fast ride) which was totally awesome! Wanted to take the 'It's a Small World' ride but the line was just...mmm..that's another attractive one. (for most of the rides, we had to wait between 30-40min at least)

Sleeping Beauty's Castle - Gateway to Fantasyland.

It's a Small World - look at the line!

After that, to Mickey's Toontown. Visited Minnie's house and got a pic with her after lining up for quite some time but didn't get a pic with Mickey though as he was elsewhere around the park touring. Just visited Mickey's house..interesting and quaint. Went up to Chip & Dale's treehouse and also boarded Donald's boat.

With the missus - Minnie Mouse

Inside Minnie's kitchen. Care for a cup of tea?

By that time, it was almost 2.45pm. Grabbed a quick burger lunch from Village Haus Restaurant and headed for Main Street. The Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams started at 3pm from 'Main Street' to 'It's a Small World' for a 1/2hr. It hosted our favourite Disney characters, welcoming everyone home in a marvelous once-in-a-lifetime celebration to honor the Happiest Homecoming on Earth. Great music, nicely decorated floats with themes like 'Beauty and the Beast', Little Mermaid, Winnie the Pooh, Pinnochio, Lion King etc. The entire Main Street pavements were super packed with spectators, if you are not there early, you can hardly have a good view.

The Lion King float

Pinocchio float

Celebrating Disneyland's 50th Birthday!

With Dumbo in front of Tomorrowland

After the parade, spent some time exploring Main Street, that had many Disney merchandise shops, with souvenirs, soft toys etc. Also stores selling candy, chocolates, ice-cream, bakeries and cafes. There were also horse-drawn streetcars, horseless carriage, omnibus and fire engine that gives you a one way ride to certain areas around the park. A huge Christmas tree sits in the middle of the Main Street entrance square with extra large gold ornaments.

Before you know it, it was almost 5pm and the 'A Christmas Fantasy' Parade begins. We managed to get a good spot at Main Street but we didn't know that it started at 'It's a Small World' and ended in Main Street. So they were coming from the opposite direction. Anyhow, by the time it started, it was already dark. This 1/2hr traditional holiday parade definitely brought out the magic of the season. Nutcracker soldier band, Aladdin&Jasmine carriage, snowmans, gingerbread mans, Mickey&Minnie, many other Disney characters and the finale - the man himself, Santa Claus! Definitely enjoyed the music too!

The Little Mermaid Float

Cinderella and her Prince Charming lived happily ever after...

There's Santa!

When it finished, we went to try go for the other rides that we missed. Went back to Peter Pan' s flight and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, which we had to wait more than 1/2 hr. The 'It's a Small World' ride was one of the most enjoyable one. We waited almost 1hour for that! But it was definitely worth it. You get into a boat, go through a tunnel into this world of many themes with the song (of which the ride was named after) playing all along.

The boat ride into 'It's a Small World'

Creative, attractive..watch those Mickey ears!

Our last place to explore was Tomorrowland. Like the name, it's mainly futuristic related. But by that time, most of them were closed - like Star Tours (Star Trek themed), Buzz Lightyear Astro busters etc. Anyway, our legs were already killing us that we took the Disneyland Monorail for a short 2 mile ride to Downtown Disney and into Tomorrowland again. Went to see what 'Innoventions' was about and then went for the 3D 'Honey, I shrunk the Audience' show, which was entertaining.

By then it was 9.25pm, time for the 'Remember...Dreams Come True' Fireworks Spectacular. This was a bonus in conjunction with Disneyland's 50th Anniversary. This showcase can be seen from anyway around the park, basically the skies above Disneyland. The dazzling sights, formations, sounds and special effects of the fireworks extravaganza was just spectacular and much to everyone's surprise, it entere with a wintry finale of falling snow! well, it was soap foam blown in every direction, definitely looked like snow though.

As everyone dispersed from Main Street where we watched the fireworks display, we headed back to the trams to our parking area and started the journey home at about 10.30pm, by the time we got back, it was midnight and have to go to work that morning. Monday morning!

Ooooo...

Ahhh.....

I definitely had loads of fun at Disneyland. Being there surely brings out the child/kid in you. There are rides/shows that cater to all ages. As they say, Disneyland is.. definitely... 'The Happiest Place on Earth'!

Full Day

Today, met up with Aunty Pam and Uncle Morse at Ranch99 for yumcha at about 10am. First we went to this Chinese Herb shop in Convoy Street. Karen wanted to get ginseng before she heads home for good this coming Wed. Apparently American ginseng is cheaper than Msia. 1pound is ~ $45 depending on the type. I think it's double the price back home perhaps? Then we went to Jasmine Express which is just opposite for yum cha. Had loads of dimsum, definitely filling. Had a good time chit chatting about their cruise to Mexico and our trip to the East Coast. Then back to Ranch 99 to get my weekly groceries before heading to Costco (near where we live). It's something like Makro where you need a membership card to get in and also to pay. Loads of people shopping around as there's only 1 week left to Christmas. I was surprised getting an early Xmas gift from them..wonder what it is? By the time we got back, it was 2pm.

Then about 5pm, had a dinner session at Chevy's (Mexican restaurant) with our division Japanese expats together with their wives and kids. Total 20 adults, 3 kids, 2 toddlers and 1 infant. This is considered a year end celebration where we had our very own private room and Mexican food buffet. As usual, with Japanese, there's always beer! Kampai! It was nice to get to know their spouses and the kids are just adorable and cute, especially the baby girl :) After dinner and chit chat, we left at 8pm.

Wonder what tomorrow's plans are...mmm....

Party!

After a long week of SGA's, our division had a year end cocktail party at the foyer/patio of La Jolla Hilton on 15 Dec. Event started at 6pm. There were finger food, drinks, a band (consisting of some of our very own staff) and raffles ($50-$100 restaurant vouchers, and the most attractive ones $250-$1000 Sony gift cards). Each staff is allowed to bring a guest.

Basically it was pretty fun as everyone socialized and got the chance to wind down after a long hardworking week. Had some red wine, a 'bloody mary' and just chit chatted with colleagues and cheered on the band as they sung great rock and christmas songs. Our very own Lordita and Shin actually went up to sing karaoke (they've been wanting to do that). We had some pretty entertaining songs sung by some of our staff during the karaoke session.

Too bad I didn't win any of the raffle prizes, by 3 of them ($75 meal voucher, $250 and $500 gift card was won by our own HA and HV colleagues). Woohooo..had fun though ;)

Candid shot with some of my colleagues (Sitting L to R: Lordita, Ty and Russ, Standing L to R: me, Tyler, Michael P (partly hidden), Tony and Phil)

With Bo and Karen

L to R : Karen, Matt, Pomy, Priscilla, Crystal and me

With Carleen and Jennifer..I look a lil red faced huh..hehe..

Deja vu

History repeats itself. My harddisk konked! Died! Kaputt! It happened around the same time last year too. Some Christmas present huh? Sigh...Was out of office most of the week for SGA at La Jolla Hilton. Tragedy struck on Monday when my harddisk just died on me. Really depressing to lose all your stuff..well not all, I did back up my workstuff on the server the previous week. But my personal stuff and all. Sigh..lost about 60 of my East Coast trip pics (the rest mostly have been burnt onto CDR) and some other stuff. Was already planning on sending the notebook in to get the harddisk replaced, but guess it struck a week earlier. Last year, IT managed to save out my data miraculously (After 2 days of trying, was already going to reformat it) but this time, it's a total goner :( I was practically on leave for 2 daysas I had to wait for a spare/loaner to work on. Kind of stressful knowing the amount of work I need to catch up on, but I just spent those days bumming around at home, eating, sleeping and watching telly.

Been working hard the past 2 days..catching up on things. Using the loaner one now, wonder when will my own notebook complete the harddisk replacement. Important meetings etc next week..definitely need something to work on.

My 6 day East Coast Tour (NY, Philedalphia, Washington D.C., Niagara Falls, Boston)

The busy week has passed. Today just went to get groceries, cleaned the apartment, did the laundry and bummed around. Did some work too though :P

Hardly 2 days after getting back from Malaysia (20 Nov), I went for a 6 day trip to the East Coast from 23-28 Nov, over Thanksgiving weekend - covering 3 of the oldest cities in the East Coast - New York, Philedalphia and Boston. Had to take the opportunity of the holidays as US does not have as many public holidays or celebrations like back home :P Stayed back pretty late on Tuesday to settle as much stuff prior to the holidays (Thanksgiving was 24th Nov, and the company was off from 24th till 27th Nov). Got home about 9.30 and packed (last min..haha) but couldn't really sleep, probably because of the jetlag. So I only took a nap at 2.30am! Woke up about 4am and prepared breakfast, lunch and soon it was time to go.

Note : About tour packages in the US, a travel agent will help you book flight tickets and book the ground tour (conducted by another company). Meals and entrance fees are not included - Entrance tickets are of course bought in bulk by the agency and some meals maybe arranged, but all payed separately. Daily tips ~$5 (varies) needs to be payed to the tour guide and driver too.

* going to be a really long blog...bear with me..haha

Day 1

Left home with Karen at about 5am on 23rd Nov Wed to San Diego Lindbergh Airport (about 30min drive). Dropped off the car at Hertz and took the shuttle to the Terminal. After checking in, had about 1.5hours to kill before the flight (7.30am). So got some much needed shuteyes. After boarding, more sleep as the flight on American Airlines took 5hours. Boy, wind was so strong and the Boeing 757 plane was bouncing so much that it made me sick. No meals were served , so you either had to bring your own or purchase them (sandwiches $5, snack box $3) on the plane. They showed 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' on the plane, but you either had to use your own earphones or purchase one for $2. Already watched it on the flight back from KL, so I got my much needed sleep.

Arrived at JFK Airport in New York at about 3.30pm (East Coast is ahead by 3hours compared to West Coast), collected our luggage and waited for the tour guide to come get us. Weather was a lot colder than San Diego, about 20 deg F (7 deg C). Boy, was traffic outside really crazy. Many people were rushing home for Thanksgiving dinner that it was so so jammed and many flights were really full. Our tour guide Anessa finally came at about 5pm and we walked over to the bus. There were a few families, some couples and a few girls in pairs that were on the same tour.

People on the tour flew out from many parts of the US - LA, Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Florida etc. Then we headed for our hotel for the night - Sheraton Newark Airport in New Jersey. We had to cross the bridge and got some really nice night views of New York. It was already dark (5.30pm), by the time we left and as traffic was really heavy, we reached our hotel at about 7.30pm. Checked in, showered, had dinner (Chinese take out) and zzzzz.

Day2

Woke up at 7.30am and met our tourguide at the lobby at 8.30am. Met 2 girls - Hope and Val (from Taiwan) but working and residing in Dallas, Texas. They were also on the 6day trip. Some were on 5, 6, 8 day trips and some were going up to Canada too. Met another girl, Dan Dan from Beijing, who is on training with Qualcomm in San Diego. These 3 were those we kind of stuck with throughout the trip. Once everyone was rounded up, we boarded the bus with our luggage (had to check into different hotels every night as we moved from 1 state to another). First stop was Chinatown for breakfast. We had dimsum, which was pretty good. Left at 9.30 and headed for downtown New York City. First stop was Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange. Had some quick pics before heading to Ground Zero, the site of the former World Trade Center that was bombed on Sept 11, 01. It's just vast, with nothing left amidst other tall buildings. People still left flowers and lit candles in front of the fence surrounding the entire area.

At Ground Zero (L to R : Dan Dan, Val, Hope, Karen and me)

Traffic was pretty crazy. Many of the roads were cordoned off due to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade (a lady apparently got hurt as one of the floats, M&M one it seems, got stuck to a tree and some how fell on her). Apart from that, you also see a lot of the famous NYC yellow taxi cab drivers showing off their skills on the road. Definitely one heck of a driver they are.

Well, we then headed for the Empire State Building. Went up to the 86th storey and views were simply fantastic. 360 degree views of New York City, simply breathtaking. Definitely cold as strong winds were blowing, but it was sunny. Brrrr...then had a quick lunch of Burger King before heading out for the Manhattan Harbour Cruise, sailing from Pier 83. This was about 2 hours. Went around Manhattan, had some nice views of NYC from the ferry, passed Ellis Island and saw the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island. Nice :) Again, it was really cold and windy, so had to bundle up. But then again, it was sunny. So, appreciated the good weather.

Great views of NYC from the Empire State Building

Cruise of Manhattan

After that,at about 3pm, we were dropped off at Rockefeller Center. This is an art deco marvel, consisting of 19 commercial buildings along the famous Fifth Avenue till the Seventh. This place houses the studios of NBC, Radio City and the Today Show. Also has the famous skating ring and the huge Christmas tree .Then we walked to Fifth Avenue which was the place for boutiques of exclusive brands in fashion - Gucci, Prada, LV etc. By then, it started to rain (fortunately not heavy). By then, it was already dark.

Next stop was Times Square, a famous shopping and entertainment district in the Big Apple. It's like Shibuya in Tokyo and Piccadily Circus in London. Tall buildings with huge lighted up billboards. Also in the area was the famous 'Broadway', too bad there wasn't time to catch a show. Mamma Mia, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Lion King, Blue Man etc were on show. There were quite a few shopping malls, theatres, restaurants and well known hotels in the area too. Once it's dark, the entire area is lit up by those giant billboards...just great! Had a quick dinner of McD and it was time to leave for the hotel. We arrived at Hyatt Regency Philedalphia at Penn's Landing along the Delaware River at about 9pm for the night.

Christmas atmosphere at Rockefeller's Center

Times Square/Broadway NYC

Day 3
Started Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving) at 8.30am as we headed to see the Liberty Bell and visit Independence Hall in Philedalphia. Liberty Bell was rung in 1776 as the Declaration of Independence was read. We also visited Independence Hall, built in 1732, which is namely the birthplace of the United States as it is here whereby the Declaration of Independence was adopted and Constitutions were debated.

In front of Independence Hall in Philedalphia

Then we headed for Washington D.C. which is the capital of the United States. First, we went for lunch, which was a 6 course Chinese meal arranged by the agency. Definitely had a good meal. Then first stop was Old Congress, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument. The surrounding of D.C. is nice and relaxing, unlike the hustle and bustle of NYC. After walking around and some quick pics, we headed for the Korean and Vietnam War Memorial. The place was packed with people, with many of them being WW2 veterans. There were walls with names of those who perished, also statues of soldiers around the park.

White House in Washington D.C. (tight security)

5 of us again at the Vietnam Memorial Park

Washington Memorial (I like this pic!)

About 4pm, we headed for Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. The main attraction was the Blue Hope diamond, the biggest in the world. After spending 1.5hours there till it closed at 5.30pm, we departed for the same Chinese restaurant, for a 6 course dinner. Yumm..then it's off to our hotel Radisson Philedalphia North East for the night.

*there are usually great bargains offered during Black Friday. Americans usually take this chance to do their Christmas shopping. People actually queue up outside the mall even before they open (most places have 5-11am specials), braving the cold weather. Some actually camp outside to get a good spot in line to the store too!

Day 4

Started off at about 7.30am, headed for the Hershey Chocolate Factory in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which was about 1.5hours away, driving through Baltimore. After some quick pics outside the factory, we took the 15min Chocholate Tour Ride of the fascinating process of making Hershey chocholates. Then went to the Market place - loads of chocolates, souvenirs and merchandise for purchase. They were having some specials as with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up. They also had the 3D show, Trolley Tour around the facility and Factory Works Experience but we had to leave after an hour.

Being cheesy in front of Hershey's Chocolate Factory..haha

At 10am, we headed for Corning, also another 1.5hours away, which was where the famous Corning Glass Museum and Factory is. Corning ware? Anyway, as we entered the city limits, we saw snow on the ground. Everywhere in fact. Meaning it's a lot colder in Corning. As we approached the museum, we were greeted with a superb view of trees and ground covered in pure white snow. We rushed into the museum to catch the Hot Glass show at 2.30pm. It was a live demonstration on the art of making glass products (the glass master made a nice jug). Very interesting and hot (as we were near the boiling ovens) process. Surprisingly one of the American narrator spoke superb Mandarin, having lived in Taiwan for over 20 years. The market place also had many specials as with Thanksgiving and Christmas. Saw aunties loading up their baskets and carts with Corningware and fibre glass Xmas ornaments.

Winter wonderland outside Corning Glass Museum

Before we left for Niagara Falls, couldn't resist the chance to play in the snow. Made snowballs and had snowball fights with Karen, Hope and Val. Cold...

Arrived into Niagara Falls at night around 8pm. It was freezing outside. Temperature was down to about 10deg F (1deg C). Snow was all around. We made our way to the Visitors Center then out to the actual site. You can hear the sound of waters flowing and there were rainbow lights shining on them. From the American side, you can look across into Canada. Many skyscrappers. Some casino and hotels as well as the CNN tower. Apparently they said that views of the falls from the Canada side is better..mm..well, we then checked into our hotel - Quality Inn, with a strategic location being just few min drive away from the Falls. But we didn't unpack and settled in for the night straight away. Me, Karen, Hope and Val braved the cold and walk 1 mile to check out the Senega Casino. Tried our luck on the slot machines, but no luck :P Had petty snowball fights on the way back again..hahah..by the time we got back it was 11pm.

Day 5
We woke up in the cold and chill at Niagara Falls. As our hotel was just 5 minutes from the site, we left at about 8.30amEverything was white, covered with snow. Strong waters were gushing down. Just breathtaking. Canada's side is definitely muchmore visible, though it was a bit foggy that morning. There are 2 sides to the waterfall - Horseshoe Falls (the large part) and American Falls (the smaller part). We also got to see the CNN Tower from American Falls.

The great Niagara Falls..see the powerful gushing flow of water

As we had about 2hours to spend here, we had some fun with snow fights with some people on the same bus. 4 girls against 2 guys..hahaha..definitely enjoyed it. 4 of us also attempted to build a snowman. Less than perfect though. Hahha..We gave it a pair of eyes, a mouth, 2 hands, a beanie, scarf and Alfred added a cigarette too :P But no name..ehheh..

Running away after attacking Alfred with snowballs..what fun!

Then we headed for Boston, which was 5hours away. We stopped for lunch - Burger King (I won't be eating fastfood for a long time after this!). As it's Sunday and most people were heading back for work on Monday, traffic was pretty heavy. It rained a bit too. By the time we got into Boston, it was about 8pm. Stopped at Chinatown's Jumbo Restaurant for a lobster dinner.Boston is famous for lobsters and it certainly didn't disappoint us. Lobster was the appetizer, then again a 6 course Chinese dinner. Ahh..a good hearty meal.

Really red lobsters..famous delicacy of Boston

Day 6
We started the day at 8.30am whereby we headed for Harvard University in Cambridge. This world famous university is wellknown for it's law school, amongst others. Walked around the large grounds of mostly Victorian style red buildings and also around Harvard Square. Then went to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, better known as M.I.T. Also walked around the surroundings up till the Harvard Bridge between Massachusetts Avenue of Boston and of Cambridge over Charles River.

At Harvard University grounds in Cambridge

We then headed for downtown Boston. Went to Quincy Market, a market square which had many stalls selling souvenirs, clothing. It even housed the 'Cheers' bar from the 80's sitcom 'Cheers'. It also has a foodcourt with a large variety of delicacies - Chinese, Italian, French, American, Indian..whatever you can imagine. Mouth watering..ehhe..After lunch, walked around the area that had boutiques of many uptown brands. At about 12.30pm, we headed for Bolyston Square. This is the last stop before we ourselves headed to the Boston Airport. We made our way to Boston Common Park first which was pretty nice. Fall colours are apparent all over, as we head into winter. Then walked back to explore Bolyston Square as well.

Quincy Market..nice for shopping

Boston Common Park

Bolyston Square in downtown Boston.

Sadly the trip came to an end and at about 2.30pm, we left for the airport. Karen and myself were flying back to San Diego, Hope and Val were flying back to Dallas, Texas. After checking in we bid goodbye to them both and went through security checks (in the US, you need to remove your jackets, bags and shoes before going through the scanner), we hadanother 2 hours to kill before our flight at 5.15pm. But plane was delayed by an hour because of bad weather. In the plane, Isat next to an old lady who kind of looks like in her 70's, but in fact was 95years old! Chit chatted with her for about an hour into the flight before I dozed off.

We got into San Diego at about 9pm, went to Hertz to collect the car (I requestedfor a compact car - Hyundai Accent/Ford Focus, but they gave me a minivan/MPV Toyota Sienna. Boy was it huge for a smallperson like me to drive..ahhahha..but it was not bad. By the time we reached home, it was 10.30pm.

Definitely an enjoyable, interesting but tiring trip. It is by far, my most expensive expenditure in the US, at this point. But definitely worthwhile and I'm glad I made it for this trip :)