Day 16 , 17 & 18 Washington DC

Met Li wei's friends, Song Yu and Yun Qing at the airport. They are both really close friends from their Hwa Chong days and regularly meet up around the world:) our hotel was really really nice, with the most cosiest and comfortable bed we have had on our trip so far. We spent majority of the 3 days here visiting all the landmarks, capital building, state library, Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson memorials as well As the smithsonian air and space, and natural history museums :) I can safely say that I really learnt alot about USA history, how their founding fathers united the different fractions and declared independence from the British and creating their own country, kinda makes me see the similarities of how our own Singapore is now following in their foot steps, our LKY and Thier Washington were both men of equal caliber and tenacity to have moulded and grow countries from scratch !! As for the exhibits at the museums , I'd let the pictures do the talking but I was really very very very happyto realize my childhood dream of seeing and touching fossils !!! That's another tick off my bucket list :) the most memorable picture would definitely be the one of the double rainbow forming across the sky above the Washington memorial :) it truly made our trip there really really special

Day 15 San Francisco

Today was recovery day so we took things really really slow. Firstly it was a challenge itself to drag our aching bodies out of beds inthe morning and cycle down to return our bikes. We then went shopping at Macy's and marshall, bought some Chinese supplies through Chinatown for our dinner feast. Saw the coit tower and curvy road Of Lombard :) dinner
Was prepared by me, I made like 45 wantons !!! We had a real feast

Day 14 San Francisco

Yesterday was the highlight of our time in the state as we hopped onto bicycles and raced pat the entire northern coastline of San Francisco:) met Yi Hao and Desmond in the morning at the bike shop, man it really felt great to see friends from back home overseas :) our excitement and enthusiasm for biking soon wavered the moment we hit our first steep slope, the first of many to come! We took a scenic route to the golden gate bridge, over here it's great to cycle cause there is a bicycle lane along the main roads so we could zip pass unhindered :) the ride across the golden gate bridge was filled with icy cold winds. Over on the other side of the bridge we took a trip down to Saucilito, a little quiet town by the edge of the sea. We had a picnic lunch of local meals like pasta and potato salad purchased from the local grocery shop :) the ride back was like a physical test as we hadto tackle those steep rolling slopes with latic already hitting our legs!! We rewarded ourselves for our hard days work with a great warm meal at kataya na, which served up the best ramen in town !! After dinner we bid our companions adieu and headed back home to a night of sore thighs and muscle aches

Day 12 & 13 San fran

Day 11 ate buffalo wings,wasn't that nice. Area is very cool and great view of the sea! Apartment is really great dinner was Maggie mee !! Day 13 made breakfast and explored fishermans wharf. Saw
A very interest farmers market with lots if specialty stuff like cheese coffee meats and fish . Had fresh oysters, chelsea gems and pacific blue, creamy and the latter sweet. Pier 39 was bustling with life and had chilling and clam chowder was lun. Sawma museum of old machines like games and fortune telling machines, really college, beside it was a ww2
submamarine and navy vessel. Then colored china town and had Chinese food for dinner

Day 10 & 11 LA

Highlight of day 10 was our helicopter tour of the grand canyon, 11 it was the outlet malls and dinner at Wolfgang puck pizzeria and cuccuni

Day 9 Las Vegas

First day in Vegas. Had a short 1 hour flight from San Diego. Landed safely and while we we were on our bus to the hotel we actually saw a bike accident and even helped the guy? Funny Eh tourist helping locals? Vegas was unlike any place that i'ge ever seen, all the casinos, the drinking and smoking, the open advertising of social escorts and prostitutions. Really was a city of vice! The hotels were really very nice, the interiors of the Bellagio and Venetian were so beautiful!! We wat he's the Blue man group performance and my was it aa treat for the senses, the lights, sounds, vibrations, it was a really really great show which left the audiences on the edge of their seats !! Lots of nice and famous restaurants by chefs like Bobby flay and Wolfgang puck!! At the night the city really lit up and we caught the fabled Ballagio fountain shown which was breath taking! Pic of he day was my photoshopped pic of the Ballagio

Day 8 San Diego

Today was fairly chill, went to check out the beaches and mentioned by the locals. The beach was much much more warmer then the one in LA and the sand was much more fine :) saw lots of dogs at this beach . Other then that the beaches were pretty similar . Had Lunch at his place called buck and they served really nice and authentic Italian food. The portions were huge too!! Family style restaurant had only 2 serving size, small and large. We then headed down to Balboa park for some sight seeing. Soon after was dinner aY he same jap place. It's LV TML and I can't wait !!

Day 7 San Diego

I must say the nights in SD were much warmer them the nights in LA. After a quick breakfast at subway, which I must say was very cheap cause it was like $5 for a foot long? And the cookies were like 60cents a piece!! Spent most of the day at the SD zoo and man was it a disappointment. The enclosures were much too small and the animals were always hiding, and it some vases the animals were alone on display .... What a sad way to see my highlight of my trip crash and burn. We then headed to the pier and man the view there was awesome !! There was a decommisoned air craft carrier which was a musuem by the pier and man was it an awesome sight to behold!

Day 6 LA

Today we went 6 flags magic mountain !! Omg me and Li wei were dreading this part of the trip so badly!! But after we quadrupled our checks on the sign up sheet, we resigned to our sad fates and spent the night relieving our lives thus far in lieu that it would be our last .... hahaha me and Li wei were just being scardy cats !! Fast forward to queuing up for the ride, somehow I was unnaturally calm and serene while on the queue, i coined it my "Avatar" state and I wet into that state many times that day. The first rode we took was the X2, I didn't knew what to expect from my virgin ride, would i pass out, would I hurl mid way throughthe ride, guess what, after the first ride, I WAS HUNGRY FOR MORE RIDES!! we did superman as well as Tatsu and Goliath and well before the end of the trip I was a roller coaster
Addict !! Dinner was done at a Italian restaurant which retained much of it's
Old look, Stefanos served excellent pizzas and the small size was as big as any large pizza back home !! Talk about size . While waiting for food me and Calvin played one of the old shooting arcade games, it only cost a quarter and it felt like we were in some USA tv series ? We took grey hound to San Diego and man was the experience spooky, we were forced to wait outside the termin cause the bus was late and some creepy guy was like talking to Li wei thinking we were from Vietnam, Japan, china. Scary man !! The scene at the terminal was very like those in the tv series, crowded with peole who had weary looks on their faces . We arrived at our hostel at 2 am the next day and before we knew it we were in dream land faster then u could say roller coaster :)

Day 5 musuems and tours in LA

Today was really chill And easy going cause we were trying to pace ourselves for the fear of running out of things to do!! We went for the Chinese movie theatre tour in the morning, the place really looked and smelt like a theatre out of china! The place sure was rich in history like how many times they hosted the oscars and stuff. Then came the stories behind each concrete slabs in the courtyard. Next we went to madam tussads and had a blast taking photos with all the figurines, they really looked like the real actors!! Did loads of funny poses and cheeky stuff. Lunch as at juicy burger and man those burgers were huge and the fries and come were huge as well!! I had the 1/2lbs burger with montery jack, the patty was so juicy and succulent that midway through my meal the juices was flowing down my arm!! The 3 of us couldn't finish the meal! Wouldnu believe that? We struggled to finish the last few fries and by the end of the meal we were crazily full :p we then took a bus ride down to see the LA Brea tar pits. Really interesting stuff with all the excavations and palentogist stuff around. Finally caught a glimpse of real fossils up close!!!! Next we headed to the automobile museum down the road :) dinner was just a simple plane hotdog which tasted really good :) pic of the day was be the mammoth skeleton

Day 4 Santa Monica and Venice beach

The beach was really vast and big, with raging waves and chilly winds. First
Time I ever felt cold at a beach, had to wear like 2 jackets to stay warm ? We then headed to Santa Monica pier and saw the theme park attractions there. Pretty kiddy and all!! We had lunch at a food court, was kinda nice to ea some rice after 2 days of fast food though it was really hard to eat rice with chop sticks and forks . And guess what the stall we visited was ran by Chinese :p The highlight of the day was possibly us hearing an Asian speak in perfect singlish, it went something like, liddat correct right?
Omg words that Warmed our hearts :) pic of the day, my face book profile pic now

Day 3 LA

First actual day of touring!! Got our mobile cards and booked out buses too :) the service stuff in USA has been real nice to us, courteous and all!! The weathe is awesomely chilly and cold:). Trekked up to Runyon canyon today to see the Hollywood sign followed by a strol down hollywood boulovard to see sights like the Chinese theatre and wax museum :) ampleasent surprise awaited us toward the end of our hike where we scored seats to watch jimmy kimmel live show!! Like how any tourist get to do that !!! Dinner was at In&out, which was highly recommended but the only special thing i felt was the freshness of the freshness of the beef :) today we also had our first encounter with Racism, someone drove past us and shouted at us " you're in the wrong town! ". We also
Wwnt to the supermarket and my god the food there is really really cheap!! Tried cherry cola today and it tasted real funny, kinda like almonds !! The picture of the day is the one at the top of the moutain :)

Day 2 HK/LA

Woke up early to try some local delicacies like the beef porridge, really like the porridge more the the beef cause the broth was really very balanced in taste and saltiness, the beef tasted like the black pepper Zi char from my house, did like it at all ... Next we had great egg tarts and by great I mean like the best I ever had :)!! We then walked rounds around H&M cause there was nothing else to do . We then hadunch at a famous dim sum restaurant !! The dim sum there also out of this world ! Next we for a walk to the peak of the mountain and met an Eng prof who has 5 different degrees Including one in mandarin , he loves Chinese so much that he gave himself a Chinese name which was magic cat !! Dinner was at home where Aunty lay prepared the best of what the hk market had to offer from fresh steamed abalone and scallop to charsiew and roasted pidgeon :) rode a 7 series BMW to the air port and there we were playing to the USA !!

Day 1 HK

Arrived to a chilly Hong Kong early evening :D weather was so much cooler and comfortable as compared to Singapore :D Li Wei's aunty and uncle hosted us to a sumptuous dinner at the Hong Kong Cricket Club, the menu was dimsum consisting of pan fried wanton and XLB , peking duck, ku lou yok, black pepper beef, claypot tofu and seasonal vegetables :D dessert was almond paste with egg whites and egg white souffle with banana :D The HK night scene was amazing, all the lights and sights, the view from the house was the best, therefore the pic of the day is the one from the house :D