There’s something about America that I need to bitch before I forgets. Tipping! Everywhere you go make sure you have plenty of small note for tipping. For example our tour to Disneyland and Universal Studio. End of the day when we are back into the tour bus, the tour guide will announce this over the mic, “Please get ready your tipping. Minimum is US$5. I’m making my rounds shortly after this to collect from you.” Wah, I thought we only get rob like this in China. Never know America also like this! KNN.

Toffee apples and Krispy Kreme

Regardless if you are dining, taking a cab, the bell boy that helps you with your luggage, room service…. etc… Can you imagine how much I have to spend on tipping per day? For example when you are dining, the rough calculation of tipping is 15% of your total bill. Let’s do some simple calculation *searching for calculator*. Your bill is $30 x 15% = US$4.50. After conversion, that is about RM15.75 *ding! ding! ding! ding!* Of course you can walk off without tipping. But will you do that?

Stuffed Portobello

You can escape paying tips in restaurants but one thing for sure you can’t escape is “The Mr. Cab Man”. In fact, they ASK you for the tips. Minimum US$5 also. Another RM17.50 *ding! ding!ding! ding!* To Malaysians (x 3.5), this is like broad daylight robbery!

Spicy Buffalo Wings

Finised bitching liao. Sorry if I’ve offended any Amelicans, but really hor, if you come to our country, no need to pay tips wan. The most when you settle your dining bills, leave them those cents and coins for tipping. No one is going to curse behind your back like how we get cursed, “Cheapskates!” Almost makes me wanna shout back, “Baskets!”

This time really finished with my bitching liao *look left, look right for any rotten tomatoes and eggs*

My favourite outlets in Las Vegas is Premium Outlet.

I can’t be sure if this is your ideal shopping place. It all depends on what you are looking for – Coach Bags, French Connections, Ann’s Taylor, Osh Kosh B’gosh, Gap, Guess, Levi’s, etc… I went there 3 times and each time I’ve never fail to leave empty handed.

Let me bitch with you something good about Amelica this time. I love their “Goods Refundable” or “Goods Exchangeable” policy.

I was in Osh Kosh B’gosh. It says on the banner, 4 or more items, you save 50% on store wide item. Therefore, I’ve grab 6 items from the store – 2 normal priced, 3 further reduction and a pair of sandal. After paying, I’ve realized ‘further reduction’ item is not included in the promotion. Which means I’m entitled to 40% off. That is a lot of difference in currency if I were to convert back to Malaysian Ringgit. I walked back to the store, explained that I’ve overlook on the promotion and if they could allow me to pick up another item so that I will get 50% off instead of 40%. I was glad they allowed me! I quickly went and grab a US$10 t-shirt. After working out my new bill, not only I get another piece of t-shirt, I got a refund of US$3 for nothing! See, if you ask you will get.

There’s another similar incident. On a Friday, I bought a Guess watch at 40% off and didn’t notice there’s some scratches on the metal bracelet. The next day I went back for a goods return or an exchanged. Since they are out of stock for the design that I’ve bought, I decided to grab another design albeit higher price. And since it is a Saturday, their watch is at 50% off! Which means, I don’t have to pay the balance and still get some refund!

See! Now you know why I’m such a happy shopper.

Ok. So much bitching for today’s post.

I was told, Americans prefer Puma shoes and I bet, you won’t meet any Malaysian wearing this design of Puma shoe! If you can prove me wrong, at least I’m glad there’s someone other than me is having a sense of good taste 😉

… Go back to read Day 10 in Grand Canyon here

… proceed to read Day 12 Red Rock Canyon here

I was digging thru my archieve for the sake of showing someone *rolling eye* a site where you can paint the map red. Basically they show countries you’ve visited and produce a map of the world with those countries painted in red.

Last year I did one. It looks like this:

Of course I have the privillage to paint another country red. U.S.A. Here I comeeeeeeee!

Wah lau. United States so kwa cheong! Went to 2 States out of 50 States and I’ve got the whole of USA painted in red. Wakakaak…. Percentage increased by another 1% *tehehehe*

Basically these are the country/states that I’ve been too.

1. Los Angeles, United States
2. Las Vegas, United States
3. Oslo, Norway
4. Amsterdam, Netherlands
5. Paris, France
6. Brisbane, Australia
7. Perth, Australia
8. Phuket, Thailand
9. Singapore
10. Seoul, South Korea
11. MALAYSIA!!! wakakakaaaa….

The journey to Grand Canyon is about 5 hours from Las Vegas using the same Freeway again passing thru Hoover Dam. Once again, we are surrounded by dessert. We passed thru a very small town. It’s so small you can count the numbers of shops and houses they have. They look very familiar like the scene from Cars. All this while, I’m crazy head-over-heels on Route 66. I’ve got my Sony T-10 on standby. Finally, not only one but two! I’ve got the Route 66 sign captured!

I know there’s nothing great about the sign. It’s just a sign. But mind you, it’s not an ordinary sign. We are talking about the history of Route 66! And you think it’s easy to capture the sign on camera? Why don’t you try them. Imagine you are in a moving vehicle, say 110km/h and was seated wayyyyyyyy back in a 7 seater vehicle constantly looking out from the window with your head position at 75degree and your neck stretched so long it’s going to put you in the Guinness World of Record for having a neck as long as a giraffe, nose sandwiched on the window and eyes focus far. And when you spoted some sign, you position your camera at the window pane, hold your breath, eyes open up wide, finger on the shutter button and *CLICK*. It’s all over then. The sign now is behind you. If the picture doesn’t turn out right, continue looking out from the window with your head position at 75degree and your neck stretched so long and eyes focus far. And when you spoted some sign, you position your camera at the window pane, hold your breath, eyes open up wide, finger on the shutter button and *CLICK*. The sign now is behind you again. Let’s just continue your sleeping. It’s a long way out there. So now you know la. I was darn happy to snap that 2 pictures!

We stopped at no where at some petrol kiosk for gas and snacks. This is the way leading to the washroom.

So dem chun can die lidat. Washroom is on your left and on the right…..

Icy topped mountain landscape. Fuhyoh, sibeh sui hor.

Each vehicle is charged US$25 for the entrance to Grand Canyon. It is still cheaper than buying a tour which might costs you around US$230. I’ll tell you why later. Pun intended.

The first view that greeted us in Grand Canyon.

We drove to the next observation centre…

Fyi, don’t go during winter as the Canyon will be covered with snows. You see nothing but snow. But I’m sure it has the winter beauty too.

They all looks the same -_- . Lots of walking from one rim to another.

By the time you downloaded your pictures to view on a pc, you will find that the backdrop is almost the same.

Heck! Aunty also have the same pose. So boring! (psst… Aunty’s Guess shirt is only US$10)

It’s so boring can die lidat!

We can’t find the Red Indian settlement 🙁 and by the time we reached the Red Indian museum, they are closed. I feel like crying then.

Bear in mind that Arizona is 1 hour ahead of Nevada. Three hours in Grand Canyon and we see the same shit thing.

There’s nothing more to do or see. Or maybe we don’t know what else to do there. I don’t know. A very little entertainment we got there could be watching cowboy leading a harras of horses back to it’s barn.

The sun set around 5pm. Therefore, the Canyon looks very shadowy. Not pleasant for photography.

We left after that. So, it’s like another 5 hours back to Las Vegas. Gosh, we don’t even have proper breakfast and lunch. All we ate is Krispy Kreme donuts and bread.

If I have the opportunity, I may want to visit Grand Canyon again. This time, no more driving and watching Canyons from the observation centre. I’m going to take a helo and hoovers around the Canyon and cruise on the Colorado river. I want to have the feel of being IN the Canyon and not ABOVE the Canyon no matter how much it will cost me.

If you have been to Grand Canyon, mind telling me your experience?

… go back to read Day 9 with Bill Clinton’s appearance here

... proceed to read Day 11 with lots of bitching here

Have you submit your income tax form to LHDN? The last day of doing so is on April 30, 2007. And if you thought of doing it online using the e-Filing, pssstt…. maybe you should read this.

…. the Queen spent her day on hotel hopping *sigh… It’s not fun at all. I have to be my own photographer 🙁 .

I’ll post up a few photographs to give you some ideas on Las Vegas – The City of Entertainment. I didn’t go far from my hotel. What you see is some attractions near to MGM Grand.

Day scene…

Bottom left picture – That is Hooters. You get yummilicious food plus yummilicious “view”. Hmm… I wonder how many people actually went there for their “view”, instead of food.

Night scene…

M&M World – You can find all sort of M&M merchandise here; caps, shirts for adult and children, straw, cup, surveniors, Chocolates, etc…. The only thing they don’t have in there is M&M peanut butter (instead of chocolate filling, this one is peanut butter filling). Yea, US have the peanut butter version! Anyhow, I managed to get them from petrol kiosk.

I’m not sure if photography is allow in their store so I secretly snap some pictures using my mobile phone. And talking about lazybug, the pictures is still in my mobile phone. Basically I google the last 2 pics. They have 21 flavours of M&M chocolate there. But aitelyu, to me, all of them taste the same. Cheh!

Beside M&M world, there is also The World of Coca-Cola cum museum where I pick up a miniature bottle of Coca-Cola to be add on to my collections. Darn happy about that!

Ever wonder why people associates Las Vegas with hotels and casinos? Basically, the whole stretch of street is line-up with hotels and every hotel, there is a casino. Their casino is easily access. Nothing compare to the one in Genting Highland. There’s no one checking your I.D. Just walk in, sit down and roll the dice!

Amazingly, you don’t see any kiddos sitting on the slot machines. I bet all parents is paranoid when come to underage gambling, huh. As you can see, I took the pictures during day time. That is why you don’t see any crowd. Like they say, Las Vegas is a town that never sleep. When night falls, the owl started coming out.

I’ll post again pictures around The Strip in my coming post. Currently some pictures got stuck in my other laptop when the motherboard die on me! $_$

And you must be wondering what’s about Bill Clinton?

U.S. former President Bill Clinton was invited as Autodesk keynote speaker for their 2007 OTC Conference. Nothing great about that but I’ve not seen Bill Clinton in real life before. This is how he looks like today ( I mean on March 7, 2007).

He really is on a mission to still change the world for the better. I have nothing against him so please, be nice to him 😉 .

… go back to read Day 8 in Hoover Dam here

... proceed to read Day 10 in Grand Canyon here

Many people heard of this place called Hoover Dam but not many people know the history of it.

History – Before the construction of the dam, the Colorado River Basin periodically overflowed its banks when snow from the Rocky Mountains melted and drained into the river. These floods endangered downstream farming communities. In addition to essential flood control, a dam would make possible the expansion of irrigated farming in the parched region. It would also provide a dependable supply of water for Los Angeles and other Southern California communities. – Snippets from Wikipedia

Hmmm… let me. It’s not easy to write about Hoover Dam cos the only thing they have is water + mountains = dam! After bil saw my digital print he even asked me, “why all rocks wan?” Cos…. it is all rocks!!!! But itelyu, the sceneary is really 100x really beau.ti.ful! Even with some slight different camera angle, it makes the photographs look so different. That’s really amazing.

For example this…

… (please ignore the arrow for the mean time)

Increasing the zoom 2x and taking two steps to my right, I got this…

…

Back to the first picture with the arrow indication, that is the old water marks found on the hills. Can you imagine, long long time ago, without the construction of Hoover Dam, how bad can the flood get.

Water from the overflow river was channel into this big drain (2nd pic) and went in the underground tunnel (1st pic). Please correct me if I’m wrong on this.

This is me, after releasing the zoom and took five steps to my left…

… and another 2 steps to my left…

Sui boh the scenary? That Aunty sui also because she just bought that stretchable shirt from GAP for only US$7!
Every nook and corner makes a good photographic item.

The water is not teh (tea) + susu (milk) = murky like the one we have in Malaysia.

Walking further down along the road to the generator room, we passed by…

Arrow indicating some special effect. Let me show you what I’ve Google. Watch…

Wonder in what situation will the Dam create such a beautiful pulsation. When I was there, all is all quiet and dry. Sui boh?

Hmm…. let see what else ah….

Some random pictures that have no storyline to tell….

On the curbside of the road, there’s a memorial (1st pic) to remember the many workers who die in the harsh conditions that prevailed during the 5 years construction of the Dam. Guys will always be guys – drinking filtered water from the Dam, “Wah, taste sweet hor”. Can anyone remember the name of the movie where Jackie Chan slide (last pic) down to the Dam?

I’ve warned you. It’s all rock + water = Dam.

We drove further up from the Dam and managed to get a nice bird view on part of the Dam.

pssst…. that’s just some lame excuses to show off myself. Where got birdview! What birdview?! *ngek

Driving from LV to Hoover Dam takes only about 45minutes. If you have a big group of friends, rent a car. That will save you lots. Local tour agent is charging few hundred US$ per person.

Watch this space for the next update as the Hijack King is meeting up Mister Bill Clinton.

… go back to read Day 7 – Overslept and Outlet shopping here

… proceed to read Day 9 with Bill Clinton’s appearance here

For the past 6 days, we are so lack of a good sleep. Most of the days, we need to be up at a terribly early morning. You have to agree with me – there’s too many things to see and do but too little time in hand. Since we have no plan for today, we don’t intend to set the alarm clock and guess what? We woke up at 11:45am!!! We could’ve slept longer if not for the phone call *grrr…. Anyway, glad that phone call came cos we’ve wasted half a day in dreamland *sigh….

Hubby need to run down to the convention hall to register for his conference. Fyi, we are staying in MGM Grand. One of the most posh hotel in Las Vegas, mind you.

Ahem! The cat is out from the bag now. The conference is the one that bring us here. *ngek* Hubby will be attending conference for 5 days. I know I’ll be bored to death.

Hubby: Ah… this one my product. Help me to take picture.

Wifey: Wah, nice view too!

It is freaking cold out there. Around 15C! *brrrrr….

Fashion Outlet is about 45minutes away from MGM Grand. If you are a guest in MGM Grand, they have free shuttle there. That could save you a lot as public transport, especially taxis is not cheap in US. Especially after conversion everything seems to look expensive.

Every outlet we went to, we’ve never fail to leave empty handed. There’s always something to buy. I can’t remember what I’ve bought but found this photo in my memory card.

Pink for Princess – US$24 (RM84), Black & white for Queen – US$29.90 (RM104.65). Cheap eh? I was told the pink ones was selling at RM300 in Malaysia.

I bought a pair of Levi’s jean (baby pink) at US$16. I love the baby pink so much. Frankly telling, I go for clearance item only cos they are throwing price like mad. No point bring back expensive loots, right? I bought another 2 pairs of working slack from Guess? for less than US$16 per piece. Every outlet you go, they have different item on sale and offer different discount. Another big hit is Coach bags. I saw one which is selling at RM800 in Malaysia, in Outlets they are selling at US$98 (RM343). I know of someone who bought 10 Coach bags. *&^%$# I have to help her bring back one of the bag to avoid getting tax at the Malaysian custom *&^%$#.

What’s for dinner?

We had Mexican today. That’s steak and my type of french beans. Love it that way! I don’t understand mexican menu and ended with a steak instead 🙁 . Tasted not bad albeit a bit raw at the centre. Infact, it’s quite raw with blood oozing out. I did not finished that part. Geli-nyeeeeeeeee!

Seabass – This is supposed to be my dishhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! Since hubby don’t take beef, I decided to switch with him. It’s my fault anyway. And I hate man that can’t decide what they want to eat *bluehhhhhhh*

One day, I’m going to try my hand making this…

Nacho dip made from Avocado, some herbs, pepper (cili padi), sun-dried tomatoes, lime juice, some white stuff, and I appreciate if someone could tell me is that salt or sugar? This is very healthy and delicious.

We had dinner with Hubby’s boss, kolig, business partner…. about 7 of us. Everyone had a main meal, 2 bottle of red wine, some beer, juices and 2 serving of nacho chips with the dip. Wanna guess how much this dinner cost us in MGM Grand? US$500 (RM1,750!!!) Luckly boss pay, if not die!

Tomorrow we are going to Hoover Dam. Need to wake up at 7am again!

… go back to read Day 6 where we drove from LA to LV here

… proceed to read Day 8 in Hoover Dam here.

We only managed to spent a full day (yesterday) with Sherine as this morning, we are driving down to Las Vegas which is about 4 hours from here. In between, we intend to drop by Barstow for outlet shopping again!!!! Darn excited or what?

A group photo we took outside Sherine in-law’s house.

From left: Hmmm….lady in red sweater looks familiar, Mrs Kokaido, Amelia, Amelia’s relative, Amelia’s niece, Sherine and John. Too bad John’s dad went for a game of golf cos I’m curious to know how does a American-Japanese looks like as Mrs Kokaido has all the typical Japanese look in her.

As we was busy loading luggages into John’s truck, Mrs Kokaido came to me with a box of California strawberries. That’s so kawai!

I was still shock of surprise and I know nuts what Mrs Kokaido is mumbling in Japanese. I reach out to that box of strawberries, bend 90 degree and the only words I know is, “Arigato! Arigato! Kawasaki, Suzuki, Honda, Ninja. Haiiiiiiiiiii.” (:lol: pardon the siaoness) I look at Sherine blankly and she helped me to translate, “She say don’t bring out of California.” Aiyah, she don’t have to remind us that. We finished the whole 1kg of Strawberries in the car.

Those are huge strawberries! How come everything in America is huge? Their fruits, their onion, calla lilies… bla bla. No wonder they are so huge in sizes. I’m not trying to be anal. Just something to babble *ngek.

What’s for breakfast?

IHOP – International House of Pancakes

American had an attitude.

“How do you like your egg? Scramble? Over easy? Over medium? Hard fried? Omelette? Sunny side up?”

I have to look at them with a drop jawwwwwwwwwwwww. Goodness gracious me! Just cook whatever way you like. I don’t even know what is over easy or over medium. I’ll just settle with sunny side up cos the bright colour stand up in photograph 🙂

I ordered tea. Instead of a tea bag, cream & sugar, it came additional with 2 slices of lemon, honey and “half and half”. So what I do is, semua pun I hantam. Don’t want to waste any of them. I over look on “half and half”. I thought it is milk as what it is in Malaysia. After I pour the “half and half” into my tea, it started to form tiny curd. Like baby’s puke. Aiyoh, “half and half” is actually milk and egg. No wonder my tea looks like tau foo fah now. But still taste the same! Won’t die!

Even their pancakes have a choice of dry or wet. The one in the picture is wet. I would prefer the dry round type cos it goes great with their buttermilk syrup *slurrppp*

And why do I mentioned all this? I was told American are very fussy with food. Instead of serving what the cook cook, customer was given a choice. I think too many choices. They are so spoilt with choices!

After breakfast, we went for car shopping!

They called this minivan. But in Malaysia this is called a MPV. I’m worried for Hubby as he has never driven a left-hand-drive car before. I’m worry if he handle the big bulky giant. Even their road direction was totally opposit from ours. We wanted to rent a GPS system which cost us additional $35 but the sales person keep on insist that driving from LA to LV is like eating peanut. We’ll take her words. Let’s see how true is it.

What we need is another briefing from John and off we go to Barstow for shopping!Oh, why a MPV? There’s currently 4 adult (Amelia, relative, Hubby and me) and a child with 8 big and medium luggages!!! We even have to sacrifice one of the seat for a big luggage that couldn’t fit in the boot cos the rest of the luggages almost block the driver’s back view. *sigh…

John lead us onto the highway before he has to turn back again. We hope the next time we are in US, we have more time visiting friends – 2 days in Texas, 2 days in Ohio, 2 days in Seattle, 2 days in Alaska… wow! didn’t know I have so many friends in US.

Scenery along the highway was beautiful.

We wonder why the icy-top mountain keep on following us.

From icy-top mountain, suddenly we are on the dessert!

Still, it was a beautiful landscape. Makes me thinks that Almighty God’s creation is marvellous.

If I’m not mistaken, this is part of the Route 66. See the newly tarred road by Lightning McQueen 😉 ? They have only one road sign on Historic Route 66 and I missed that 🙁 and I never bump into another one again 🙁 🙁 .

Barstow!!!

Hubby bought 2 pieces of working shirt from Van Hausen after much pastering from me cos it is wrinkle free. It’s not easy to get wrinkle free shirt in KayEl or Peejay. Other than hubby, I did not get anything for myself. Yet! Nothing much to hoo-haa of what I bought here.

We continue our journey to LV after 3 hours of shopping and caught up in a stand-still on the highway.

Who say such a scene only happen in Malaysia? Since we are caught in the stand-still, let me bitch to you what we have on our highway that Amalika don’t.

1. They doesn’t have nice flush toilet. Their toilet is only a small moveable cubicle placed at the curbside and we don’t even see any of them while driving from LA to LV. So make sure you don’t drink too much of water. *ahem.
2. They doesn’t have nice rest area for makan (eat) like the one in Ayer Keroh. We spotted a few fast food kiosk on the opposit side of the highway. Which means, if we can find our exit to the opposit, we can’t get our butt back on our direction. Go figure. Anyway, we are not taking risk. So make sure you have something to munch in the car.
3. They don’t have lamp post on the highway.

Other than the above, what you will like about their highway is…. from LA to LV, there is not a single toll we have to pay. It’s FREEEEEEEEEEEE!

I’m done bitching. The vehicles is still on a stand-still. What can we do?

Aiyah, take photo la. The next time when you are caught in a stand-still, don’t have to bitch, “Ini Malaysia Boleh la. Amalika mana ada macam ni”. Nah! Show you liao. Can keep your mouth shut now.

And so we drive and drive and drive till about 5pm and the sky started to turn dark.

We know we are almost there. It’s really easy driving from LA to LV. It’s a straight highway all the way.

Many people doesn’t know that Las Vegas is on a piece of dessert land. So do I, till the day I stepped foot here. And I know I’m in Las Vegas when I see lots of casino and hotel, billboards with lots of flickering neon lights. It is such a happening place.

Welcome to Las Vegas – The City that Never Sleep.

p/s: It’s Friday night. Do I have to bitch to you how freaking jam is this area?

… go back to read Day 5 here

… proceed to read Day 7 here

After feeling so comfortable staying 2 nights in Lawrence’s Hotel, we have a very heavy heart to check-out. Feel a bit sad and agitated to leave, we have too. We have trouble him too much during our stay. Morning milk and banana, morning chaffeuring, evening chaffeuring, dinner treats, sightseeing, unlimited usage of wi-fi…. you name it, he’ve done it. Oh, don’t worry. We know where to go. I’ll go and trouble another friend. Hakakakaa… So my middle name is “Troublesome” -_-

That’s where I stay for the last 2 days. Why does the grass is always greener at the other side? Even their flowers is more beautiful and bigger than the one in Malaysia. I’m not a fan of calla lily, just someone I know 😉 . I’ve scaled down the pic. In actual, the calla lilies is bigger than the one I’ve seen during ‘her’ wedding 😉 *hint hint*

Every night before we hit the sack, Lawrence will informed us what time we should leaving the house the next day. Usually at 8am. Last night, Lawrence told us to get ready by 7am.

“Huh! Why so early.”

“Better leave early cos by the time you finished taking pictures, it’s almost time.”

😳 I’ve been bugging him to stop at one of the neighbourhood so that I can take a picture of the ORANGE TREE!

Me, first time seeing real ORANGE TREE! Of course I have to act suaku. This is not a mango tree. This is an ORANGE TREE, ok!!! Lawrence took half a day off in the morning so that he could show us around Los Angeles before I meet up with another friend of mine. He’s so kind and humble. We really owe him in kindness.

The Arboretum is his favourite hangout place for his Friday morning jogs with his dog. It is a private botanical garden.

In the park, you can see many peacock walking freely. Of course the male is always a “flasher”!

All the flashings and flashings. Such an exhibitionist! I’m watching out for white peacock as some said, if you spot a white peacock flashing it’s tail, make a wish and it will come true.

IF! only I’m that lucky to spot a white peacock *sigh….

And we move on, passing by some cactus and beds of flowers. The guys is always ahead of me.

And I spotted the….

*smile and nod head like a Geisha* yea, it’s the Sakura aka Cherry Blossom. Isn’t them be.au.ti.ful? Now I can strike Japan off my list of travel. My wish is fulfilled! Yay!

My best picture of now. I’m saving it as my wall paper.

Look at the mirror reflection in the lake. Good thing Lawrence spotted this cos I’m too engrossed picking on hubby perfecting my macro shots of the flowers.

Hmm…. very calm water isn’t it? Let me do some photoshop.

Can you spot the difference? Which one do you like best?

We went in deeper thru the woods. Again the guys is ahead of me.

Somewhere in the woods, there’s squirrels dashing here and there searhing for food or munching food on the trees.

I think U.S have many wierd wierd thing that amazed me and I have to blog about it. For example their trees compare to ours (in Malaysia). Our trees consist of branches, trunk, roots and leaves and maybe a little flower here or there. Their tree is ….

… full of white gigantic flowers and…

…. no leaves at all!

That’s not all about it. Some tree has….

… no flowers or leaves but full of branches or whatever you call them. Look so scary isn’t it.

The rest of the park is nothing much interesting and I have to save bandwidth *sigh…

Don’t know how true is it. I was told that American don’t save much for retirement. They spent every pennies they have in expensive hobbies like owning a RV aka caravan.

This is a RV’s Park. You pay a some fees for space rental and park your RV here during your stay/holiday. Destress yourself with a cuppa coffee or a glass of wine while enjoying fresh breezy air and the view is PRICELESS!

One of them belongs to Lawrence. *envy!!!*

Let’s bid farewell to Lawrence. Thank you so much for the warm hospitality you shower us during our stay and sorry to trouble you for every knick-knack like buying stamps, etc…. I shall not forget what you’ve done for us and let’s say, now I’ve already count you as a good friend in Los Angeles. [The next time I dial his number this is what I will get – “nombor yang anda dial tiada di dalam perkhidmatan. Terima Kasih. (The number you’ve dialed is not in service)]

At 11am, we met up with Sherine and hubby, John. Sherine is a friend from Malaysia who married John a American-Japanese. You won’t believe how they met each other. But aitelyu, cyber love does happen! We had dim sum in Chinatown. No picture for that as I have to retain my image *ahem*. Need to warm up first ma. Lawrence is different. He’s a closer buddy to me and he know I’m a hardcore blogger. Dim Sum restaurant in LA is so happening and the variety is much much more delicious than ours. But I still like my lormaikai in foil bowl and not lotus leaf.

Another friend of ours, Amelia who flew in from Malaysia about the same time with me was with us. I’ll skip the intro since you will read about her in my later post. She’s a shopping geek. I love shopping!!! Which women doesn’t like shopping!!!

U.S. is famous of Outlets – places where they sell branded item at slashed down prices.

This is where we grab our first item. Hubby pick up a Levi’s jean at only US$13! Guna calculator kali tiga point lima!!!! Can’t remember what other item I bought. But not much. I have another week in LV and intend to do more outlets shopping. weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…..

Thereafter, we went and have buffet dinner.

There’s something about shrimp in LA. They are so huge!!! And so fresh!!! And so juicy!!! Good thing they don’t steam it. I hate steam prawn. I love shell less prawn!!! And I love it the way it is in the picture above. *slurppp*

That’s John, Sherine and Amelia is in blue shirt.

Again, this is my first time eating Alaska Snow Crab. Soft shell. All you need is your fork to prick (??? whatever) open the shell or bend it and break it. Something about snow crab. They discard the body cos it is empty. You only eat the claw and leg.

Soon we retired to Sherine and John’s house. The moment we open the door, we was greeted by this small flurry cute looking creature. Everyone say Hi to Yober!

He’s such a good kisser compare to hubby *duck from pots and pans*. I scoop him up and he start to lick me on my neck then my ear. And I think he loves my ear cos he won’t stop licking and licking my ear. Make me sexcited only -_-. This is what the Aunty looks that I won’t put up in my blog. Good thing I have Yober to distract attention *giggle* I think I need a hair wash 🙁 .

Tomorrow is another early day for us. Rise at 7am cos we need to drive down to Las Vegas. zzzzz…..

… go back to read Day 4 in Disneyland here

… proceed to read Day 6 – Journey from LA to LV here

Early rise and shine. We had breakfast at Mr Baguette.

Best ever Baguette I’ve tasted! Fresh made baguette with ham topped with pickle carrot and raddish. One day, I’ll try my hand pickle the carrot and raddish to be sandwich in sandwiches. It’s totally heaven and makes your sandwich crunchy. The baguette is so good that we pack another one to be eaten in Disneyland. Weeeeeeeeee….. Disneyland! Another tour that we booked at US$75 (RM263!).

The park is very big. From the car park we have to take a shuttle/tram to the park and the crowd the unbearable! Long queue waiting for the tram and even longer queue at the security check point before entering the park.

Hmmm… let me see where should I head first. Something that I like. I know I have a date with Mickey. I’m all excited for it. Toontown is for kiddies.

The song of “It’s a small world afterall… It’s a small world afteralll…” has been playing over and over again like a broken record. It started to annoyed me. *grrr…. Then I saw Minnie Mouse.

ooOOoo… her house is so nice. Life-sized & 3D furnitures. Everything in there looks so real but it’s not movable. Except for the fridge, the door is flexible so the kids is trying to steal some cheese from Minnie. Bad! I can’t resist the letter box. They are so cute. Wish I have one for my house.

I search high and low for Mickey Mouse. He’s no where in sight. I thought we have a date? Where is he? I’m so mad at him, I feel like eating him for lunch.

He is so delicious! His skin is very chocolatey and his filling is so cold, creamy and hard! Something good to savour during the Spring’s weather. Now I’m missing a good cup of hot teh tarik kau (milk tea) to wash that down. *sigh…

Oh, the human in Goofy’s costume is breathing/panting so loudly. I can even hear him. Pity him. He must’ve feel very exhausted hugging people *Pun intended*.

Something very unusual from the others. Chipsmunk in their tree house.

Very extraordinary especially the leaves. They look so real.

Are you bored yet? How can you get bored! Let me show you the Queen in the her castle with her Princesses and Prince *cough*

See how be.au.ti.ful they are! Those are just the Princesses helpers. Can you imagine how beautiful is Cinderella? I bet they looks like what you see in the fairy tale books.

“Where Happily Ever After Happens Everyday” – I love that quote. Some visitors take the effort to dress up their girls in princess dress. They look so lovely and I think angmoh babies are the cutest baby in the whole wide world. I miss my own Princesses too 🙁

Are you bored yet? Cos I am! Other than those kiddies thing that you saw just now, it is only 20% of what they have in the park. I have not touch on the rides for the grown-ups like “Pirate of the Carribean”, “Indiana Jones”, haunted house, etc…. “Back to Future”…. oops! Sorry, “Back to Future” is in Universal Studio. lol They are all marvellous rides! If I were to blog on the whole Park, I think there will be Part 2, Part 3 or maybe Part 4. Hmmm….

This is my first time seeing Tulips! They are so lovely. I’ve not seen all those flowers in my life before. They are so unique with 2 shades of colours. Oh, they have some giant cactus too. Let me squeeze in another picture for that.

They have a parade at 8pm but our tour bus is leaving the park at 5pm. That’s the disadvantage of being in a tour group.

If my memory still serve me, this is Tony Roma’s. They claimed that they served the best spare rib in American. Well, anyone can claim that, right? The truth is, not only they served the best spare ribs, they even have the best and most scene of patronage licking their fingers! I thought only Malaysian does that? Makes me crave for TGIF’s spare ribs *slurp*. Fyi, that’s lime margarita *slurp, slurp*

Go back to read Day 3 in Universal Studio here

Proceed to read Day 5 here

I was in Pangkor Island. After the 2nd wave hit some fisherman’s house, I jumped to the thought that Tsunami is here again. I jumped in a jeep that looks like the one driven by Indiana Jones. We drove the jeep so fast and the road was so bumpy. Then I woke up.

I think I can tell this dream.

1) Why was it in Pangkor Island? That’s my mother’s hometown. We just visited my maternal Grandma during CNY.

2) It’s was raining so heavily this morning. No wonder I dreamt of Tsunami. Today is the 2nd day flood occured in Klang Valley.

3) And why is it Indiana Jones’s jeep?

I’m in the mid of putting Disneyland photos in collages and have drained all my thoughts and energy doing it. Now I’m getting nightmare!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So scary!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Going back to my corner continue doing what I’m supposed to do. Thank you very much 😐