the west coast trip

as usual i took one million and one pics during my west coast trip. here are just a few of my fav ones..

LA

santa monica beach. heaven!

UCLA..it's alright.. but berkeley is nicer!

hollywood boulevard

walk of fame at hollywood boulevard

the streets of beverly hills smells of...money!

revisiting the universal studios yet again. still fun, because of the company, but not yet as fantastic in terms of rides and sights as compared to orlando's.

i watched the 4D shrek show for a second time and i still enjoyed it!

the hulk!

Yosemite National Park

below was a waterfall, though you cant really tell from this pic.

vernal waterfall. can you see the rainbow? it was lovely! climbing up proved to be a real chore though.

kevin and me

terence and i sitting on a long by the river.
towering mountains dominated the landscape everywhere we drove.

behind me lies the yosemite valley which colorado river runs through. a little hard to tell from the pic though.

the sky was a beautiful shade of blue and violet shortly after the sunset. we were making our way down from the glacier point to the car park in order to rush back to our loft before it turned dark. driving in the dark was scary business in the mountains!

San francisco

berkeley. this is just a small teeny weeny part of the campus. on the whole, it's really a very nice place to study at. i would love to study here! nice weather, good looking tanned people, and happening enough because it's near the city.

the golden gate bridge

skyline of san fran

lombard street, the crookedest street in the world!
the famous sf cable rail and a typical steep slope behind. sf is full of ultra steep slopes! tiring to climb! luckily..we drove most of the time, however, parking was a killer.

famous pier 39 with many many sea lions

Hoover Dam

hoover dam

hoover dam with lake mead behind

grand canyon

grand canyon, it's so huge and far away and still that it looked like a cardboard backdrop. simply..unreal.

it's a conducive place for meditating.

watching the sunset was one of the highlights of the day. except terence kept complaining why he wasnt watching it with his gf instead. zzz.

las vegas

the city that never sleeps! casinos are opened 24 hours. it's a sin city...it's a place for gambling and blatant high class pornography. clubbing is good, lots of pretty girls and hot looking hunks! all is fine except for the horrendous weather. classic desert weather, walking on the streets was equivalent to walking in an oven. and no, it doesnt get any better at night.

the venetian: minature venice

the ceiling is made to look like the sky. it seems like it's day time in the mall all day long!

disney themed hotel

terence, cheryl and i with the fake eiffel tower behind, looking very much like the real one except in terms of scale. it doesnt have the awe-ing factor, unlike the real one. none of the singaporeans seemed impressed by it either!

fake statue of liberty! new york new york casino

we watched the show zumanity at new york new york. the famous circus du soliel, human circus that is. was a good show..adult themed arty farty show about sex.

the skyline of the las vegas strip at night from our hotel window.

heylo everyone,

yes it has been a while.

have been back from the west coast for 2 days already. havent had the time and luxury of updating my blog as there are some screw ups with the internet connection over here in philly. makes me all so glad that i'm finally connected now, briefly anyway. it's a long story.

anyway the west coast went on as much as we've planned for i guess, although things are never as smooth sailing as we would have preferred; there were still the occasional hiccups along the way. LA had the usually hollywood and beverly hills but it was actually all rather boring. i much preferred the santa monica and venice beaches that we went to, over the supposed glitz of the city. next we went on to yosemite national park and spent 2 nights in the lovely loft amidst the wilderness. it was one step closer to mother nature, nothing but trees and waterfalls and lakes and meadows and big rising mountains, boulders and deep valleys. spectacular views really but people like us who are all too accustomed to the blinding city lights. next on the agenda was san francisco. i read in lonely planet that SF is one of the nicest city to live in this world! ordinary at first glance, but on further roaming, i could see why one would fall in love with the city. it has a tinge of nyc: vibrant and bustling with activities, yet not at such a maddening pace as new york. roads are wider, people walk slower and there is more time to breathe. it also has the feel of a beach resort, for the most obvious reasons: SF is near the coast. and i simply addorreee beaches. things are pricey in LA and SF though..the parking fees killed us. can you imagine paying USD$50 in order to park in your OWN hotel?

ok moving on, we flew to las vegas and spent a day at grand canyon, stopped by hoover dam too. hoover dam was where bumblebee was imprisoned in transformers. the last stop was vegas. we clubbed in vegas and it was real happening, but probably cos it was a sat. things quietened down on sunday.

that's things in a summary. lazing around in philly now. updates again.

andre: eh dun have fred perry la......
jas: you alright? WHAT'S UP MANZ??
ck: i've been here long enough liao la, dun want to bother ter any further haha.
sarah i'm coming back next wed morning!! can go MAMBO!!! hehe.

new york city

hey all once again, am currently now using the com in nyu's library. kenneth has an appt and i'm waiting for him to be done, so in order to pass time, i'm taking this opportunity to blog! since terence has to work during the weekdays, i decided to take the bus down from philly to new york myself and spend the couple of days here until thurs. like i've mentioned before, i loooveee new york! it's very..for me. how can i even start explaining..you got to be here to understand what i mean. the city is bustling with activities day in and day out, there are endless things to do and see, everywhere i go, i see something that takes me by surprise. and i'm not referring to the ultra touristy stuff that one would normally do here, i guess you got to stay here in order to discover these hideouts.

had an insightful chat with kenneth last night about staying abroad alone. quoting him, it's only when you're truly alone, then you can discover who you really are. because then, you could be anyone you want, you do not have to pretend, or watch what you say, because no one knows, and no one cares.

the appealing aspect of staying away from home: absolutely no burdens and no responsibilities. no strings, no family, no friends, nobody that you hate, nobody that has hurt you, nobody that you've hurt, nobody that you've dated..nothing nothing. you can stand on the streets and scream and run around like a mad person and no one would care.

maybe that's why i love travelling so much..it's called escapism.

but dont everyone have to return to their roots..someday or another?

onto less serious stuff, we spent hours walking around nyu area, eating, drinking this verrrry delicious milk shake, bought some chocolates, and then drinking this verrrry yummy lychee margarita again at this pub with cute jap bartenders haha. watched ratatouille, a pretty cute show, then we went to a chinese ktv pub and sang. haha so strange to be singing chinese songs here.

on other note, ny is cool..but the new yorkers walk very fast and with an air of self importance, as if they're rushing to close a million dollar deal. arent as friendly as the americans in florida, where life is much slower and more about fun and fun. must be the influence of the numerous theme parks there, gives people the impression that you're living in disneyworld even when you're out of it. pardon me for the haphazard way which i'm blogging now, just rattling off random thoughts that come to my mind.

ok this is more for myself, to let me keep track of what i've been doing. time is seriously flying over here! in no time i'll be heading back to sg.

aug
4 sat: arrival in nyc - watched phantom of opera, clubbed
5 sun: nyc - statue of liberty etc
6 mon - 7 tues: philly
8 wed: orlando, florida - disneyworld
9 thurs: orlando florida - universal studios
10 fri: orlando, florida - premium outlets; back to philly - party!
11 sat: washington dc
12 sun: atlantic city
13 mon - 16 thurs: nyc
--
17 fri - 20 mon: LA
21 tues -24 fri: san franciso
25 sat - 27 mon: las vegas
28 tues - 31 fri: nyc? philly?

sept
1 sat - 3 mon: niagara falls, toronto, montreal
3 mon: homee......

and this is it....

america

hey dearest all!

yes yes i'm still alive! after disappearing from my blog for a week, i'm back! the past week has been filled with hectic travelling, so much so that at nights i'm often too exhausted out from the activities of the day to blog. the last weekend was spent in new york, mon and tues in philly, wed to fri in orlando, florida where i visited DISNEYLAND and the universal studios!!! and as for today, we made a day trip to washington dc. as terence said, i've been a real lucky girl. the florida trip wouldnt have materialised if i hadnt met ernie, who was able to give me free passes to all the theme parks. the tickets would have cost a bomb otherwise!

we caught phantom of the opera on broadway shortly after i touched down at nyc. it was a good musical, unfortunately i was too jet lagged to truly appreciate it. ended up drifting in and out of dreamland during the show. damnn! new york is happening! the scene in new york is colourful. it's crowded and vibrant, there are skyscrapers everywhere, the new yorkers dress up well and for some reason all of them look good. i kept seeing limousines everywhere i go too, it's strange, not so much for ferraris though. i remembered seeing a lot of them in london. hah. we went clubbing on sat night and it was gooood! shucks, being in manhatten reminded me of sex and the city.

after new york, philly thus fails in comparison haha. it's lesser scale in every way...and there really isnt much attractions to visit. terence stays around the area where Upenn is. Upenn is nice! there are plenty of nus students here too, and i've come to enjoy and appreciate their company much.. i havent been here long, but a part of me already feels like staying here with them! oh well but then again it is only the first week.

i spent 3 days in orlando with ernie. the first day at disneyworld, where i visited 3/4 theme parks. fantastical experience. it's like reliving my childhood dream all over again! seeing all the disney characters.. walking into the theme park, it felt like i was being transported into the setting from a fairy tale story book.. everything looked so colourful and perfect and magical. everyone is laughing and happy. it's so unbelievably pretty that sometimes its existence felt unreal. we went to universal studios too, but i prefer disney. after all i'm not very into rides...but really these parks are so much more than just thrill rides... went to the florida premium outlets too, spent a BOMB MANZ! the branded stuff like polo, guess, coach, tommy hilfiger are so much cheaper here that i really cannot resist buying them! and that's how you will get your long awaited pressie, andre teo!

washington dc is a pretty boring place to be honest hhaa. nothing to play, just courts and monuments and buildings to wah and ooh and take photos and tell people you've been there. it was freaking hot today, as always and i'm so terribly burnt.

all in all, i'm enjoying my stay here tremendously! europe is without any doubts more beautiful, whereas america is more about fun and play. the americans are definitely less uptight, and so somehow it feels more carefree to be here.

ah the connection here is loooousy. cant upload the pics! grr. till the next time then. :) take care all..got to sleep now..got to wake up early tmr to go atlantic city!

to the land of freedom i gooo!

farewell!

release

i'm leaving tmr. 21 hours later, i'll be on the plane to new york.

i cant differentiate how i'm feeling now. it's sorrow, yet it's relief. a little indifference; it doesnt seem to have sink into me that 44 hours later, i'll be on the other side of the globe, in another time zone altogether.

today was a happy happy day really. i received a job offer which i am considering. i met up with teresa, zhao qi and jasmine and we had a great time catching up. i had a fabulous dinner with jenny and co celebrating her bday and drinks thereafter.

my bestest rgs pals! from the left: the lawyer zhaoqi, the scientist jas, the doc teresa and finally...me the..urps..bummer by choice, and soon to be marketeer!

however, all this while, a tiny voice in my head kept whispering to me: i'm leaving tmr.

just a month, not exactly a very long time, but long enough to put a temporary full stop to the dramas in my life right now, and begin a brand new chapter.

a high day, ending on a low note.

release.