Chinese New Year 2009

26 Jan 2009

10.00am --Chinatown, LA--

It was the day of Chinese Lunar New Year 2009, and it was Monday, a working day. However, I managed to get a day off and went to experience the first overboard Chinese New Year in my life.
First, I went to Thien Hau Temple in Chinatown LA to pay a respect to the gods and then had a walk around the Chinatown to see how the people here celebrate Chinese New Year. There wasn't really anything special at Chinatown except people were burning firecrackers and having some lion dances. Life continued, shops opened for business...

12.30pm --Hsi Lai Temple--

After visiting Chinatown, we continued our journey to Hsi Lai Temple, which was about 30 min away from Chinatown, LA. When we got here, it was very hard to find a parking because I could see most of the Chinese people were coming towards this place.

We got here just in time for the oriental show held at the middle hall of the temple. For me, the shows were something common that I could always see back in home country, but for people here, they might only get the chance to see it only during Chinese New Year.

What I like was the drums presentation. Being involved in the 24 seasonal drum since secondary school made me enjoy the presentation very much. It was a different kind of Chinese New Year experience I ever had...

Las Vegas

29 Nov 2009 (Day 1)

1.10pm --Chinatown, Las Vegas--

After a buffet at Gold Coast Hotel, we made a stop at the Las Vegas Chinatown Plaza. It was just a normal commercial lot where most of the stuffs on sale are oriental items. However there was a statue of the Chinese mystical tale of a monk's journey to the west. I never thought I can ever find such statue here or anywhere in US.

2.00pm --Las Vegas Blvd--

Then we parked our car at the The Venetian and had a walk around Las Vegas Blvd.
We found ourselves inside The Venetian while searching for our way out to the main street. I felt strange as I didn't remember that the sky was so clear. When I looked up toward the sky, I noticed it wasn't a real sky! It was actually a painting of sky with the affect of light, making the indoor to become an outdoor area.

We passed by the Madame Tussauds wax collection and I managed to take a photo with Daniel Craig and other few celebrities outside the museum for free.
Then we continued our journey around the Las Vegas Blvd toward the New York New York before returning to The Venetian to get our car which was about 5-6 hours later.

11.45pm --Hard Rock Cafe--

After the dinner, we continued our visit around the Hard Rock Cafe, which was located at the other side of the town. It was a tiring day & night...

30 Nov 2009 (Day 2)

11.45pm --Las Vegas Blvd--
It was a fresh new day, and we're ready to explore the rest of Las Vegas which we missed out the day before. We made the first stop at the souvenir stores not very far away from our hotel. I didn't really get souvenirs though, so don't expect any... :)


2.00pm --Mandalay Bay--

Again, we had buffet lunch because most of buffets were cheaper than the normal food in Las Vegas. But we spent a long time queuing for our turn before we were managed to continue our visit to the Mandalay Bay/Four Season Hotel which was located toward the end of Las Vegas Blvd. It was a huge hotel with nice decoration inside. The casino was spacious and classy.

3.00pm --Little Church of the West--

We managed to made another stop at the Little Church of the West, where it was famous for its wedding chapel. It was really a little church, with a nice surrouding making the place a perfect place to hold your wedding.
Me n my wife took the chance to marry again. This time, we were making sure that even our shadow and soul were tied together, forever until the end of time...

4.00pm --Little Church of the West--

Finally, before heading back, we managed to squeeze in some of our time to visit the Las Vegas downtown, which was about 5 min drive away from the busy Las Vegas Blvd. Here you cannot find many high rise hotels or building, but you can still find many casinos and tourist attractions around. The famous place to visit at the downtown is the Fremont street.

5.00pm --Heading back to Lake Forest--
It was already 5.00pm when we started to drive away from Las Vegas. Once we got into the interstate highway, there was a massive jam. Sign was saying "Expect Delay!"... It took us about 3 hours to get to Las Vegas in the morning of the day before, but now it took us 7 hours before gettingn back to Lake Forest. That was the most tiring driving experience I ever had...

A Day at the Sea World

22 Nov 2008

11.00am --Sea World--

After a long time searching for a free parking, we finally arrived at the Sea World. Since we have already purchased our tickets, we walked straight into the park without further delay, hoping to catch the first show of the day, the Dolphin Discovery.

After the show we managed to see the sea lions, penguin, polar bear, beluga whales, etc... Besides the exibits, we managed also to catch the Pets Rule! show, Clyde and Seamore's Risky Rescue show. Both of them were very funny and it is suitable for all ages.

One of the thing I like most and would probably be the most memorable trip I ever had was their big aquarium exhibits. It made me felt like I was actually one of the fish living under the water. It feels very lively and amazing. Below is one of the exibit that I like a lot!

The trip to Sea World wasn't complete without watching the Shamu show, where human and killer whale (Shamu) performing a spectacular show. It was so amazing how they can train a whale to be so obedient and able to give such a great show. There's always a soak zone where Shamu will splash water to the crowd. You will be astonished when you see how strong the whale was able to splash the water as far as 15 rows from the aquarium!

It was so unfortunate that we need to cut our trip short as the weather was getting colder and colder and we were just wearing short pant with a normal T-Shirt. There were still a lot of things that we missed. I think Sea World is one of the best place I ever visited! Definitely one day in the future I will re-visit this place again!

Hollywood -- Beverly Hill

15 Nov 2008

12.00pm --Hollywood Blvd--

Finally, I stepped my foot at the famous Hollywood, where all the super stars were born...
Coming from the east of Hollywood Blvd, we first made a stop at the famous Chinese Theater. There ain't anything special about the place, except the stars on the ground where the famous movie stars signed and stamped their palms or foot. The place was crowded not only with tourists like us, but also people wearing custom of some movie characters, such as Jack Sparrow, Captain America, Hulk, Batman, etc. They were trying to earn some tips when you take picture with them.

The pedestrian walkway along the Hollywood Blvd was another Hollywood's attraction called the Walk of Fame. Many of the famous movie stars have their name on the street. The different between the star on the walkway and the one at the Chinese Theater was they only have a simple name, without any signature or palm/foot stamp.

My wife managed to find the start of Bruce Willis not very far away from the Chinese Theater. I guess the closer they were to the Chinese Theater, the more famous they are.

After the lunch @ Johnny Rockets, we made a stop at the Hollywood shopping center where people were able see the "Hollywood" sign on the hill. Photo taken below shows that the sign was kidda far away from the shopping center.

Then we were also managed to pass a few attractions around Hollywood Blvd such as the the Wax Museum, Ripley's Believe it or Not, etc.

5.00pm --Beverly Hills--

Beverly Hills was located about 15 min drive away from Hollywood. We made a stop around Rodeo Dr. to have a glance at the streets where many of the luxury brands can be found. This place seems to be suitable for those who are fully loaded and love branded stuffs a lot.