Viva Las Vegas! (Part 1 of 2)

I remember the last time I went to Las Vegas (aka Sin City) was when I was 12 years old, I was awed by the colors of Sin City. Fast forward 11 years later, I'm even more impressed at what it has evolved into.

Being the adventurer that I am, I decided to go to Las Vegas, even though it meant going alone. Yes, the sudden sinful urge was ignited maybe because Sin City's sinful magnet pulled me just one state away. So I decided that I would fly there and enjoy a nice weekend breakaway. Its been a long time since I vacationed on my own so I thought this would be great! Or at least I expected it to be...

I consider myself a seasoned traveller, but it has been awhile since I've flown anywhere. I thought I'm already used to the horrible US security checks, but I was definitely not prepared this time. See, because of new threats, passengers can only bring a certain amount of liquids on the airplane. I totally forgot about that! And boy, did I hold up the ONLY security line at the small commuter terminal at San Diego airport. I threw away a new (NEW I tell ya!) bottle of hair wax, a leftover bottle of facewash, toner, a whole tube of sun-lotion and a small bottle of perfume (by Giorgio Armani I TELL YOU!!!).

After passing through security, I felt misserable. Miserable not just because I wasted a tonne of money on those liquids, but also because you could actually hear people cursing me from behind! Gimme a break! OK, I'm a clueless Asian acting very blonde that time... guilty as charged, but I have enough troubles already and nothing you or I can do about it except to say that I was sorry which I did! So just GIVE ME A FREAKIN BREAK AND SHUT THE HELL UP! I sooooooo wanted to smack the guy behind me. Ugh~!!!

On another note, it was the first time I sat on an airplane powered by a propeller. It was quite interesting as this flight was transitting at LAX for a few hours then only to Vegas. My "good" luck gave me a seat with no window! No kidding, of all the window seats on this little plane, mine was the only one without a window! It was very weird I know, that MY seat did not have a hole for a window, but a wall of plastic and it wasn't even an emergency door or anything! Just my luck...

Upon reaching LAX, I felt a little better after realizing that I almost took the wrong transfer bus to the terminal for my next flight. The bus ride was fun though... it ran on the tarmac so you could see planes landing and taking off real close. I was also lucky to see Malaysia Airlines taxi-ing right next to the bus I was on with the 'Visit Malaysia 2007' banner proudly stuck on the fuselage of the plane.

At LAX, everywhere was packed and bustling. However, while waiting to board the plane to my next flight, I was standing behind this guy wearing the nicest pair of jeans I've ever seen! When I did some research on the jeans after my vacation, I found out that it was a pair of Monarchy Jeans. Designer Couture Jeans!!! Hence my addiction for designer jeans was born!

The crowd on the plane to Vegas was a jolly one. People were singing Viva Las Vegas and it just made the whole uneventful fiasco earlier in the day seem nothing as I was GOING TO LAS VEGAS!

After touching down, getting a hotel shuttle was a breeze and I checked into the MGM hotel. Upon entering the lobby area, you knew this place was pretty grand in its old charming way (this hotel has been here for ages and was the biggest hotel in the world once upon a time). Got to my hotel room after a 10 minute walk, yes, from the hotel lobby to my room took 10 minutes to walk! It was that far! But I was contented as the room was really chic~

I jumped into the King sized bed and thought in splendour, I'M IN LAS VEGAS!!!

An Eventful Saturday

So I met up with a friend and he was so kind enough to take me on a tour around San Diego because he was shocked that I've never visited many places even though I lived here for almost 5 months already.

A busy day at Balboa Park

We met at Hillcrest where I parked my car and jumped into his and headed towards Balboa Park where we walked admiring all the artistic buildings and even went to a toy-train museum.

Look at how detailed the settings are for the train models.

It was Shakespear week at Balboa Park, so there were many performances and people in costumes in tune with the event.

Besides the San Diego Zoo, the Botanical Gardens is also located within the vacinity of Balboa Park. You can say that Balboa Park is like the Central Park of San Diego as it is to New York. Difference is that Balboa Park is smaller, has many museums and restaurants in it.

After that we headed to the famous and much hyped about Extraordinary Deserts cafe. One word, Delish!

Being the coffee addict that I am, I had Kona coffee which is Hawaiian coffee and it was really fragrant! Highly recommended for discerning coffee enthusiasts!



I like the way the sugar cubes were served. Isn't it cute?

We then decided to go to Old Town San Diego, where the first settlement in San Diego was located. There were alot of Mexican/Spanish influence, not surprising since San Diego is just 20 minutes from the Mexican border. We had Mexican dinner there and called it an eventful Saturday.

Mt. Baden Powell, Elephant's Knees, Mt. Palomar

I'm compiling a few hikes together since my hiking posts never get much feedback... what to do, my hikes are the only interesting things that happen to me in San Diego.

Mt. Baden Powell (April 7th, 2007)

The path was still snowy, and this is one of the most interesting hike because you get to experience a few environments (ie. snow, desert, forest) within one hike.

Me still sleepy before the hike as we woke up around 5am to start our drive to the mountain.

We experienced winter...

... and lush forests on dessert land (hard to understand? You need to see it for yourself)

Shot behind the shot

Gang at the Wally Waldron Limber Pine tree. It's more than 2000 years old!

Our Route up Mt. Baden-Powell

Elephants Knee's (April 14th, 2007)

This is a leisure hike, again, at the Anza-Borrego desert. Elephant's knees was named because of its unique cliff formation in an area which used to be a seabed since we found traces of foscilized shells all over the place. The drive there was as interesting as the hike because we had to use a 4x4 to drive offroad through a Slot Canyon. It was really surreal I tell ya!

A rare sight! The formation of a semi-circle rock wall due to tectonic movements of the earth created this twisted geological wonder!

See those little bumps across the huge mud mountain? Those are the Elephant's knees!

Raindrops preserved in dried mud

Domes of mudhills below from the top of Elephant's Knees.
At the top of Elephant's Knees

We also headed towards the nearby wind caves after descending Elephant's Knees.

Heading towards the windcaves.

The Dessert's sense of scale

"Siesta time is over, you can come up now" =)

This hollow is actually 15 feet above ground. How the heck did I scramble up there???

Ahh... I like me-self in this picture *sounding vain*

Mt. Palomar (April 21st, 2007)
The first hike with an altitude test. The peak is more than 9,000 feet therefore hikers may be subjected to altitude syndromes. For me, I didn't have any problem hiking Mt Palomar though everybody was repeatedly warned of difficulty on this hike. This hike was interesting because there was a snow storm the night before so a huge portion of the hike up was covered in snow. On the descent though, there were no traces of snow as it melted away! Killing two birds with one stone, we made the hike up and down in two very different surroundings.

The gang at the base which was next to the fire station

See the triangle on the sign board. It was supposed to say "YOUR PASS AT WORK". But I guess some really tired and frustrated hiker made it to read "OUR ASS AT WORK"!

Doesn't it look like we're in some fairy wonderland?

Me over the high point

Gang at the top - the Serious shot

Gang at the top - the Irreverent shot

California Hiking & Riding Trails

Heading back to the Anza-Borrego Dessert, you might ask why the hell do my hikes always take place in California's largest state park.

At the trailhead

Everyone tries to keep up as Alex zips past wayyy ahead

At the peak

Me and my funny pose

Kevin and Tracy hang to dear life... smiling!

Some of the wonderful dessert flora

Desolate and empty... the vastness of land is quite humbling.

This hike is definitely one of the hottest, literally!

My Birthday, 2007!

I never really celebrated my birthday full scale before, but this year was pretty close!

My housemates (the best ever!) were so kind enough to celebrate it for me. On March 15th, my actual birthday (I say that because I never exactly celebrate my b'day on the actual day, but on convenient weekends), they put up a small party for me. We had dinner, presents, sang the birthday song, and even CAKE! Gosh, I can't even remember when was the last time I had a birthday cake!

Me, Christy, Matt, Melissa, and good ol' Oliver

It has been too long since I was in the US that I never celebrated anything like I used to back in Malaysia. New Year, I was sleeping... Chinese New Year, watching tv... Birthday, dinner with friends (back at Purdue), but this year I get to change a little bit of all that by igniting the celebration engine!

Not only did I have a sumptious and meaningful dinner, just yesterday (Saturday) they took me to SeaWorld, for an all day paid for event! It was wonderful I tell ya!

At the dolphin show

At the Sea Lion show

In which we were greated by this fatty~!

The Shamu show was SPECTACULAR~!

Orcas (Killer Whales)

The best Housemates in the World!

wait... we're missing Oliver~ :'-(