Music: Robbin Sparkles - Let's Go To The Mall
Mood: Great!
Random Note: Man, I Hate Washing Toilets
(I love telling people about my vacation. It's like I just keep going back to the states whenever I speak of it! I think I'm going to make that my intro-conversation this coming semester! XD
Do not get me wrong, I'm really glad to be back here in Sydney with my best bud too! ^^)
The rest of my holiday in the states was simply wonderful!I am awed by much of the american cultures (thanks to jeff & hannah), and there is just so much more to see~
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One of the highlights of this trip was about food, good traditional american food. I never had this much to eat in life thus far (I thought my farewell from SG was bad, but man I was so wrong XD)!
We had a lot of opportunities to eat out, and the newly weds really really know how to satisfy tummies! I had been to the following
fast food chains on my entire trip:
- In & Out
- KFC
- Carl's Jnr (Jeff says it's called something else in other states)
- McDonalds
- Taco Bell
- Subway
The best of all of em was definitely KFC! THEY
HAVE BISCUITS AND GRILLED CHICKEN AND MACRONNI & CHEESE!!! And it tasted so good, I have no idea how to put it into words! In & out comes close on second, followed by Subway (there's something about the subway there, it just tasted better!) Hey, I liked them all~ But just wanted to list down what I loved most =)
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Now, sides the fast food, Jeff also brought me to many many other wonderful dining spots! There was Korean BBQ (
this is the win), pho (
vietnamese noodles), baskin robbins (
ICE-CREAM!), this other ICE-CREAM place (
I can't recall the name!), Pizza (
oh-pizza...), Boudin (
clam chowder!), creepes, sushi, Golden crown (
oh I loved that place~), burger joint @ SF (
with really classic layout, you'll know it's just american walkin inside!) and the Irish pub which serves super fish and chips~~~wow...
So much food, all the awesome memories~ Makes me happy just thinking about it...*tears of joy*~ I'm a man of food, and I cannot say I'm really good at anything except a good tongue for identifying great tasting food!
I loved the korean bbq most! Mostly because of the environment, and on top of that, the most delicious bbq meat I had on the trip! It was just MMMM~~~ Hey, I'm not discounting any of the other experiences as being anything less memoriable, because really~ Jeff is just great with food! And he brought me around to try them all, which I am really grateful for!
On a really random but interesting side note, there's
QUICKLY in the states! Can you believe that?? Haha! I thought that thing died off ages ago but apparently it lives and~ oh dear~! XD So amusing lah! Nevertheless, their milk tea tasted like bubble tea, with awesome tapioca balls XD Love those so much~
I also had the priviledge of trying out Eggos (which are waffles) and S'mores, courtesy of Jeff! He made them for me after discovering the shocking truth of "you mean you never tried them before???" Apparently, those are very american food, and they were really nice!
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We went to one of America's national parks, Yosamite! This park holds the "El Capita", which is this huuuuuuugeeee mostly granite mountain. It was beautiful~ Yosamite was also renowned for a large collection of waterfalls within a small area of landscape. I have never seen a real waterfall before in my entire life I think. But wait, that was not all! I had my first hike with my best friend, and was THIS close to the falls! Now that is awesome!
I got this thought while I was up there~ "I've got to make sure I travel while I'm still young!" It came to me when I was approaching the end of the hike trail. I realised how much I am missing out on not visiting new places, including those that really require me to be physically fit. I cannot wait till I am old and shrivelled to do that...^^"
Squirrels are really not as cute as they are potrait in stories =) Hannah was telling me how the 'stupid people' are feeding these wild animals and how that really doesn't help them. Haha! I always imagined squirrels attacking humans one day. Still, there was this squirrel that I'll always remember: so it was humping this rock on my way down, and I shouted "it looks like it is humping the rock". And this other guy whom was also staring at it shouted almost in sync the same line as I did! I mean, come on! How cool is that! XD Never underestimate the power of such moments!
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Coincidentally, my vacation was through America's independance day (it's their national day). 4th of July they called it. It is a time for people to get together and celerbrate with their families, and also a time when malls give discounts and try to clear their stock piles!
We visited 2 families on that day: one was hannah and jeff's church pastor's home, the other was hannah's cousin tiffany and brian's place! There was again, lots and lots of food! BBQ, stews, cakes...(oh cakessss...mmmm~)
I also met lots of people along the way, and it was really fun! I'm glad that I had the opportunity to be introduced to many others as "Jeff and hannah's friend" =) I mean it wouldn't had been possible if I didn't even got to know them right ^^? Man...good times~
It was a load of awesome fun with the games at tiffany's place! Gosh they had an AIR HOCKEY machine! I loved those since I was a kid. Also, I will always remember how water bomb is such an awesome tradition, together with the story of "Jeff and his wedding band"~ XD
We made it back by dark to enjoy some home-style fireworks! I cannot remember when was the last time I actually "played" with fire~ It was like, super old school! I loved the whole light up and shiny experience, and it was fun watching the neighbours set off "illegals" as well XD People in the states are so lucky~ they can play fireworks!!! And all we ever got was...oh my tian...XD
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Did I mentioned that I had been inside a Victorian Secret store? Muahahaha! XDXD
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I got to visit San Francisco's Fisherman's Warf @ Pier 39 on one occasion! The 2 hour drive down to SF was really fun, and I think it was the first time we were on a long road that I actually did not fall asleep both ways.
There was the all famous Alcatraz (also known as "The rock"), many shops, and the penny arcade! I didn't get to move around more in SF due to time constraints, but it was really fun at the bay! I tell you, the shops at the warf were so fun~
I was most intrigued by this music-box shop, and there was this little device that you could wind and make it play certain parts of songs. I loved the "it's a small world" one most. You can ask me why in person. XD
There were street performers all over the place, and it was just such a new sight for myself. I had never been to a place with that many street performers, and they actually seemed pretty professional about it. Or should I say, the performers seemed to take pride in their job, and it was just interesting you know? ^^
Now I'm wondering if they would ever get themselves a couple of samurai swords for the den...ever. XD
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I had the opportunity to play on the Wii while I was there! I tell you, you must have the hannah introduction to the Wii before you can fall in love with it! She was like "oh you MUST try this out"~
And I did. Now I'm left here on another continent feeling so jealous XD Haha! Kidding kidding, but I will work towards getting one here!
The Wii is really awesome for parties, and you can really just enjoy it as a whole group! I loved the Raving rabbits games, and I am still very awed by how the system works. Mind you that this is probably my first and best encounter with a next generation console (excluding didi's PS3, which I got to see him play MGS on)! So fun lah~~~~! Love the screaming.
I learned that the PS3 is one of the best blu-ray players in the market! Had my first blu-ray movie on this trip, and boy it was beautiful! Enchanted rox! XD More importantly, Jeff also showed me a couple of movies on this trip! Office space ("I'm gonna have to ask you to..." and "FLAIR!") and Batman the movie (the very very first one with all the "WHAM!" and "BAM!") were my favourite! I cannot stress how funny they were, and I was just laughing so hard~
In exchange, I got them 3 seasons of How I Met Your Mother (finally!) I'm glad that they liked the show!~
I also had a chance to play LAN PARTY at their place! Diablo 2 for the win, and wow...I got a chance to have LAN PARTY! LAN PARTY!!!! I missed those so much...KT & cousins! You guys are being missed as I speak of this~ Man...*a little loss for words*
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Well I guess I've pretty much summed up most of the experience for this trip! If you'll ask "that's all?", I would say "Coz not!". That's because there is really just so much more to it...things inside my heart that I do not know how to express fully~ (probably never gonna get sick of trying though XD)
I guess my best friend and her husband really taught me how to enjoy a good vacation. I felt really loved on the trip, like you know, as though I am back home with my cousins and family? Like when I was still in school with hannah and my best friends during secondary school? At some point in time, I lost that feeling...but wow...this trip really opened up my heart and made me feel so much alive again!
As I had told hannah, I look forward to meeting them again in the near future. I mean it pal...I'm gonna work hard towards that! =) Once again, thank you for the most wonderful experience ever on one of your most important occassion in life! ^^
(Please refer to FB for the photos, as Australia's internet limits my abilities to upload without consequences. I will make use of any other opportunity to upload whenever possible, so stay tuned!)
Ah Jon
