My Travels

Delhi

2012-02-07T21:57:00.000-08:00

After leaving Agra Fort, journeyed another 4 hours to get back to Delhi. We travelled in a triangular route so the road back to Delhi was not the same road leaving Delhi. I did notice more universities along this stretch of highway giving me the impression that this area was more industrially inclined. Most of the universities were engineering or MBAs. ;p

Arrived at Delhi and checked back into the Eros Hotel New Delhi Nehru Place. I was able to see the difference between "upgraded" rooms and "regular" rooms before leaving Delhi. The main things I saw that was missing was the amenities in the room and it was a little smaller in size. I was still glad to be in the hotel as my other friends were staying at a friend's aunt's house. The house was nice but it still lacked adequate hot water and no internet at all. :O One of the reasons might be because her neighborhood is not zoned for residential use but the owners of these lots have all decided that they were going to build houses and get rid of their farms. So all the infrastructure comes at the owner's expense.

The next day, I attended a pre-wedding party at the "farm." The "farm" party is a throwback to the family's beginnings in northern India. It was pretty fancy for a farm party though. It was interesting to see the colorful clothes the men and women wore and to see the dancing rituals.

After the party, I headed out to the Delhi airport to head back home. Of note, one cannot enter the airport unless you are a ticketed passenger. They have lists at each entrance to verify your status as a passenger. On the way back to the States, I flew Lufthansa Airlines even stopping through Frankfurt. Being reminded of my trip to Germany, I compared my experiences this time around. The most notable difference is that 1. business class is alot better to be in on the plane, 2. the aircraft temperature was not as blazing hot as last time, 3. international transfers at Frankfurt is still as painful as domestic to international, and 4. there is amazing cherry cognac chocolates in the duty free shops. I also was able to stop at the Lufthansa Senator Lounge. I really enjoyed the array of food and drink available. They even had an omelette bar in the morning/noodle bar for rest of the day. I stuffed myself before getting on the next flight and was thankful since the airplane food was bland. I also tried to sleep most of the flight so I could ignore that I was in a cramped economy chair.

Agra

2012-02-07T20:51:00.000-08:00

Journeyed east of Jaipur to Agra, it took about 4 hours on the road. On the way to Agra, we made a pit stop at Fatehpuhr Sikri located 45 minutes outside of Agra. A World Heritage site, the palace is very impressive. As long as you can fight your way through the beggars and street hawkers, the interior is quite peaceful. It also helps that you have to pay to get in and I think it keeps most of the populace outside. There are still people trolling inside offering "tours" but one can waive them off easily (at least in comparison to other places in India).

After touring the palace, the group decided to visit the mosque next door. Although a very nice looking mosque, the hordes of beggars and street hawkers inside this mosque should deter your interest. You can't walk in and view the area without constantly being harassed by the local population to either buy a trinket or give money. Unfortunately, the mosque is free to the public and hence the hordes of locals waiting inside. After being chased out, we continued on to Agra and checked into the ITC Mughal, Agra. Part of the luxury collection under the Starwood portfolio, the ITC hotels is actually part of the tobacco conglomerate in India - India Tobacco Company. It is also the "greenest" luxury hotel chain and there were various signs around the hotel claiming it met LEED standards. Whatever your environmental policy is, the hotel is a very nice complex and I wished I had more than a one night stay here. On a clear day, you can see the Taj Mahal from the observation deck at the hotel. It was too foggy to see very clearly when I went but I was heading over there anyways. :)

Went to see the Taj Mahal. It is an amazing structure and I can't imagine the kind of skill and devotion it would take to build such an impressive monument. In the modern age, nothing would take 22 years to build and definitely not to this level of craftmanship.

Afterwards, went to the Agra Fort. Another World Heritage site, the fort is impressive with two marble mosques within the complex. There is a tower where you can see the Taj Mahal at a distance and it still looks impressive from another venue. :)To be honest, after seeing so many forts on this trip, they are beginning to run together for me. It is still interesting to me that the Indians could build so much and yet today are known for things like Tata cars.

Jaipur

2012-01-29T08:25:00.001-08:00

It is a five hour drive to Jaipur from Delhi. Jaipur is home to the famous 'pink city palace' and is the state capital of Rajasthan. There are about 28 states in India with Delhi being the national capital/state. It is also home to many forts and palaces. In the evening, took some pictures of the Water Palace. Didn't linger long as the beggars and hawkers were a little overwhelming. This is my first taste of the local population in touristy areas. The persistence and aggressiveness of both beggars and hawkers leads me to think that people are very determined to eek out some kind of living even if off the hapless tourist.

Checked into the Holiday Inn Jaipur. I usually don't stay in Holiday Inns but my first choice became too expensive and I figured the international locations would be nicer than the domestic locations. The room was nicely furnished and the breakfast was satisfying. I will say that the internet access was slow and unpredictable. If you are going to buy, get the day pass unless you only want to use the internet once in a very short period. In general, I found the internet access in this area of India to be poor even in the big name hotels.

Grabbed dinner at Little Italy. It was good but the Indian take on Italian food was interesting. They really like sauces or put think pasta dishes should be swimming in sauce like curry. Portions are easily shareable here.

Drove through market area and it seemed like the city was bustling with people. They are not up all night like the Asian countries but it was still late enough for those interested in some street shopping.

The next day, went to the Amar Fort. At the fort, you can get elephant rides for $18. The lines were long even at 8 am and I didn't think taking a ride would benefit the elephant's circumstances. The fort is amazing in its architecture and size. I would say that the fort is more impressive than The Great Wall. I just found the structure so detailed and still nestled in the mountain top.

Afterwards, did a quick run through the City Palace before heading out to Agra. The City Palace was interesting because it is mostly pink on the outside and some interesting architecture on the inside.

Delhi - A pit stop

2012-01-28T06:04:00.001-08:00

Had a mixup at the train station in Ludhiana to Delhi but ended up riding for free in the "back of the bus." My advice is to not buy train tickets as a waitlist passenger and always get confirmed best class of service seats. That way, you might get something comparable to the Greyhound bus in terms of comfort.

Checked into the Eros Hotel New Delhi Nehru Place. I didn't want to crowd out my friend as more wedding guests were arriving. It was also nice to be able to get stable power, internet access, and hot water. India is notorious for providing unstable power to residents as my friends have started their own generators during the various brown outs in the few days I have been in the country. The hotel was very nice, found out that Eros is a movie production company. Apparently, Indian companies go into any business that will make them money regardless of industry or specialty.

The next day, hired a driver to head out to Jaipur and Agra. Compared to the train experience, it was a welcome change of transportation. :)

Ludhiana

2012-01-25T02:06:00.001-08:00

Travelled via train north of Delhi to Ludhiana. Upon arrival, we went to a friend's house. Ludhiana appears more suburban than Delhi and the house is more of a compound than a house. :)

I think in the end I preferred northern India as it didn't seem as cramped and teeming with people as the other parts of India I travelled through.

The next day, travelled even further north near the Pakistan border. Went to a town, Amritsar, to visit the Golden Temple. The friend's family is Sikh and the temple is the holiest temple within the religion. On the way to Amritsar, there were two 'adventures.' The first was navigating the highway and experience Indian concept of passing. We even played bumper cars with another vehicle. Luckily, the rented car suffered the only damage and the driver took off immediately.

The second event was the random checkpoints to Amritsar. The state is under military control until elections are over. During this time period, the army is trying to eliminate all individuals from carrying guns to prevent any violent reaction the election. I thought Texas was into personal protection but the Indians take it even further. Once they saw we were foreigners, we usually got waved on since we don't understand the language and be suggested to give the guards bribes. I was told it was common for the guards to want money to continue on your trip.

At the Golden Temple, we were able to practice the rituals that Sikhs do when visiting the temple. We walked around the perimeter and splashed holy water on our feet. We also offered a degh offering to the temple and saw the priests chanting and praying. As part of the offering, the handler always cut the degh, a wheat based pastry, in half and give back half to you. On the way out, you are also given a handful of degh to eat. As a description, degh is like a sweet risotto like food.

On the way back to Ludhiana, stopped at Haveli which is a vegetarian Punjabi restaurant. The family ordered the food so I don't really know what I exactly had. I did recognize naan but that was basically the only thing I could identify. The food was excellent and I didn't miss the lack of meat in the meal.

Once we were back in the city, grabbed some beers at The Brewmaster. It was supposed to be a pub but it was more club like. For $10USD, you could get a three liter beer bong. That's cheap! The finger foods on their menu was also pretty tasty.

The next day, we were going to head back to Delhi. Before getting to the train station, went to the local stores to buy traditional clothes for some of the wedding festivities. Bought a couple of Punjabi outfits even though I needed only one. The outfits we bought were "on rack" but it still requieres a tailor to fit you. It only takes a few hours to alter the outfits. If I had more time, I could have customized the Punjabi outfit and maybe a sari too.

While waiting for our clothes, the friend took us by the village their family was from. They have donated a school in the community and we went to check it out. The experience was interesting to see the dichotomy of developing India versus rural India.

Delhi

2012-01-23T05:53:00.000-08:00

Went out to Delhi for a friend's wedding. Flew on Continental Airlines to get to Delhi through Newark. I haven't flown Continental for many years and the recent merger with United Airlines gave me an opportunity to see what the service is like. My first leg was pleasant, the economy chairs are equipped with power ports and I had an individual TV screen to watch programming at my leisure. Something you don't find on domestic flights with United.

After landing in Newark, checked out the Continental Club. I think the one I walked into was very large. Probably on par with the United Club at SFO. The one thing I noticed was the free well drinks available which is not always offered at the United counterpart. The food options were light - mostly snacks rather than light hor d'oeuvres. At the gate, Continental required everyone to come up to the counter to check visa docs before allowing you to board the plane. I guess it makes the process smoother but seemed unorganized to me.

Once on the plane, I discovered that the seats were cramped, bye bye economy plus seats. Being used to economy plus on United flights I had forgotten what those extra six inches does for you. After 13 hours, I was feeling rather cramped especially since I didn't see much of the stewards after the initial meal service. I will say that the lack of free booze also put a damper on things. Another thing I missed on United. I will say that the meal service catered to the destination as the meals were Indian themed. A good thing since I think 90% of the plane was Indian.

Landed into Delhi late at night and was picked up by the friend to head over to their house. The wedding festivities takes about two weeks but I couldn't stay that long and opted to come in for only one week with the group.

The next day, went by train to Ludhiana to hang out at another friend's house. Not knowing what to expect in the train, I was greeted with a massive scene of people and mass amounts of luggage per group with beggars and stray dogs hanging out on the platforms. People and dogs also had no problems crossing between platforms by cutting across the train tracks. It was a madhouse. Another thing you will find is that there will be a person who will sweep the car when you are in your trip. This person will sweep up the rows and won't move forward unless you bribe him with some rupees to continue forward. Talk about effective extortion. :p

Salt Lake City

2012-01-21T15:50:00.001-08:00

For the holiday weekend, planned a trip to Salt Lake City for some snow. I anticipated that the snow conditions would be fantastic and give me a chance to break in new equipment. Flew out on United Airlines bright and early. Unfortunately, my snowboard didn't make it and I missed the opportunity to try out my board at Canyons Resort. The United Baggage Representative did say that United would pay for my rental charges because of the delayed baggage. I even received two phone calls from them updating me on the status of my luggage. Now I just have to hope I get refunded before my birthday. :p

Unfortunately, my anticipations of powder was dashed as there seems to be a snow drought yeart to date for this winter season in the mountain west. The conditions at Canyon City was poor and I only did a few runs. Even though the lift ticket is free for same day flight arrival, I was too tired to enjoy it with the basic rental from the shop. On the bright side, my rental should be free compliments of United. I was able to pick up my delayed luggage before dinner. The 1K desk called me twice. First, was to let me know when it would be arriving and the second was to confirm I did get my bag. It was nice that they followed up.

A friend had rented a vacation home for the trip but her group fell apart. So I opted to help out and cancel my first night hotel at the Hampton Inn Sandy. Being in a residential neighborhood is certainly different feel but the locale was nice enough. Went out to Pat's BBQ as seen on Diners Dives and Drive Ins.

The group ate family style and shared the meatloaf, ribs, chicken and brisket. It was a big meat fest and the meal was pretty good. The sweet potato pie was better than the bread pudding in my opinion. The neighborhood is industrial and the restaurant is a little hard to find but the interior is rather large and bright. They even have live band in one part of the restaurant.

The next day, headed out to Snowbird Resort. Decided to make it a half day and bought tickets from Arc Snowboard to get discounted lift tickets. A day's pass is less than the half day price at the resort. Unfortunately, the conditions were worse than yesterday and I only did a run before calling it quits. On the bright side, I had a bruges waffle and got my board waxed.

Checked into the Hilton Salt Lake City Airport hotel. Since we were flying the next afternoon and had to return the car rental in the morning, it made sense to stay close to the airport. Of course, a snow system decided to roll in as I'm leaving today. Argh

Before heading home, had breakfast at The Original Pancake House and enjoyed a pecan pancake. Still not as good as my favorite pancake restaurants in LA but tasty enough.

Phoenix

2011-12-18T13:50:00.000-08:00

Ended the year with a trip to Phoenix. Went over for an overnight stay. I originally thought to do a fly in fly out in a day but it ended up being the same cost as an overnight trip with hotel. Flew on United even though US Airways had more flight options. I used credit card miles to finance the ticket so the option was United. The flight also secured me into 1K status on United. It'll be interesting if this status will be a different experience than being a premier executive level next year.

Grabbed a Chrysler 200 from National at the rental car facility. I was hoping that the Mercedes legacy would have impacted their engine design in this car. Alas, the influence has left the company and the car had no oomph. It wines more than a Mazda Miata. On the plus side, the interior is really nice.

Checked into the Aloft Phoenix Airport hotel. This particular brand is designed for the cost minded luxury set - a less expensive version of the W hotels. Comfortable with modern design, internet and bottled water in room is complimentary.

Since my flight was delayed due to mechanical issues, grabbed takeout from Chipotle and called it a night.

The next morning, went out to Matt's Big Breakfast. It is a tiny place and opted to wake up really early to grab breakfast. Lines start forming around 8 am and on and can last up to an hour. For my sunrise breakfast, I ordered the griddle cakes. Still as tasty as before.

For lunch, went to Dick's Hideaway with an acquaintance. With my big breakfast still sitting in my stomach, I ordered the handheld breakfast burrito. I ordered chorizo but I think I should have gotten it with the pork loin.

Later, I dropped by the Old Navy store to wipe out some Groupons I had in hand and accomplish some Xmas shopping. I had thought that Arizona had a lower sales tax than California but it isn't. At 9.33%, I am going to stick with shopping elsewhere.

Before getting to the airport, dropped by Coldstone Creamery to try their hot desserts. The funnel cake dessert they had was ok, I think they made the funnel cake denser so that the ice cream didn't make it mushy. Unfortunately, I was looking for the crisp fried dough I know funnel cakes to be.

Shanghai

2011-11-25T17:36:00.001-08:00

My last international trip for the year. Headed out to China on United Airlines over the holiday week and bring Thanksgiving to the expats in Shanghai. :) I was able to bring in a Honeybaked Ham for the dinner plus boxes of stuffing and instant mashed potatoes with gravy.

On the way from the airport, stopped at a grocery store inside the Portman Ritz Carlton plaza. At least I call it that, there might be an official name that I haven't figured out yet. Grabbed some groceries before hitting the sack for the night.

Unfortunately for me, the holiday week did not mean much of a break from school work so I spent most of my first day in Shanghai researching articles for my paper. Late afternoon/early evening, I went out to the fabric market to order some shirts and jackets. Now that it is winter, I thought it a good time to go order some warmer clothing. Apparently textile costs have gone up since the summer as the vendors were not willing to honor the same prices as my previous visit. The jackets were close to US prices but at least it was tailored. Afterwards, I went to Crystal Jade in Xintiandi for dinner. I still think this is one of the better restaurants in Shanghai.

The next day, I continued researching for my paper. Internet speeds are not the greatest in China and layered with the censorship, it definitely feels like I'm at dial-up mode access at times. When I got back home, it seems that I somehow picked up a Trojan chinese virus so be careful of the popups when on the internet. Took a break during the day and wandered out to get some lunch and money from the ATM to pay for my clothes I ordered. A friend gave me a Shanghai transit card good on all modes of transportation in the city. I went down to the Jian'an temple area and found China Construction Bank. Bank of America has a stake in the bank and I was able to withdraw without paying ATM fees. A word of note, the more money you withdraw the better the exchange rate. So try to take what you need at one time.

Being flushed with cash, Donut King caught my eye on my way to the bank. So I wandered in and looked at the donuts on display. I have to say, I wasn't very impressed with what I saw. The doughnuts didn't look appealing and it seemed expensive for what it was. I decided to take a pass and wandered into the building next door. I don't know the name but it sits on top of the Jing'an stop on line 2 and 7. It looked to be a corporate building with a very extensive food court. I wandered into the food court looking at all my options. Not really knowing what I was looking at and looking at the office workers milling around, I settled on kaya toast from Happy Toast. Went back to the apartment via subway and grabbed a chicken sandwich from KFC. I was curious about KFC since I haven't ever tried but heard that the chicken here was better than the American counterparts...something about less indigestion. I do find their takeaway packaging interesting. It is very common to see drinks in plastic bags and I guess KFC's way of blending in was to make the typical plastic bag with a drink holder compartment.

Later that evening, went out to The Shed. Known as an Australian bar, the grilled chicken drummettes are its specialty plus being a sports bar. I found the chicken ok but I thought the popcorn chicken was really good. I wouldn't be surprised if there was MSG somewhere in the batter though. Afterwards, wandered next door to Kaiba for a last drink. Quieter and less smoky, this Belgium style bar was pretty laid back. It also had the best grilled cheese sandwich. I am not sure what kinds of cheeses but it also had bacon bits in it too. It definitely hit the spot for me since I didn't eat much at The Shed.

The next day was pretty much Thanksgiving at least in China. It wasn't yet T-Day in the US so no football during dinner kind of thing but still observed it on the right day. Went around during the day for some grocery shopping for dinner. Went to the Carrefour in the Renaissance Hotel plaza. At least that's how I looked at it. :) It was interesting to me that the imported milk was in the juice box cartons. It makes sense since it has to travel far. Makes me wonder why the Philippines rely on powdered milk instead of liquid milk. Maybe too high of a price point? Not trusting the domestic product, grabbed some whole milk from Australia. I also discovered my favorite flavor of Lay's potato chips. It was the numb and tasty hot pot flavor. So many incorrect ways to interpret the packaging, the taste was great. I'm going to have to find more to bring back to the States. Luckily, I'll have an empty suitcase handy.

After the errands, grabbed lunch inside a food court in Raffles City Shanghai in Huangpu. A pretty impressive looking mall, I had some fries from a fries only stand and some fried chicken from Carl's Jr. Fried chicken is really popular around here and even a burger joint has to sell it. I had a classmate from my MBA days who works for Carl's Jr HQ and found out the back story to the franchise here in Shanghai. Apparently, the owner frequents LA alot and loves Carl's Jr. He decided to open up three locations in Shanghai. The man definitely has some crazy money.... :) I also found a station that sold red bean fish but it didn't taste as good as in Kyoto. The dough just wasn't as crisp. There was a deluxe Japanese mochi shop and the mochi was good but the fillings were a little too creamy for my taste. The egg tart shop was pretty good and I would have bought more if it weren't for the fact that Thanksgiving dinner was going to be an obscene amount of food. Wandered up to the higher floors and saw BreadTalk bakery. Bought some items for breakfast the next day and bought some gifts in the retail shops nearby. Interestingly, this company also runs Din Tai Fung restaurants and Carl's Jr franchises in Asia.

Turkey in China is not a common bird nor popular. (Imagine that!) Some of the restaurants catering to expats offered a roasted turkey for $100 US. My eyes popped out when I heard the price but even a frozen turkey from the grocery store was the same price. So why not have it cooked? That night, enjoyed an American style Thanksgiving dinner and crammed about a dozen people in a two bedroom apartment. The turkey and ham was a great hit with everyone. Mental note, the plane did squeeze the juices out of the ham. Even though the ham was vacuum sealed, it still leaked some (perhaps it was not that vacuum sealed.) Because it leaked, I think the ham tasted saltier than it should have.

The next day, I decided that I needed to finish my paper so I can enjoy the weekend and spent the day pounding out a topic. I mixed it in with watching some American TV ala Slingbox. For an expat, the Slingbox is a nice device because it allows you to watch your TV anywhere in the world as long as you have internet connection. Not the greatest quality, it was still better than watching Chinese shows. :) And possibly made my writing slower... :) Luckily, there was a lot of leftover food so I didn't starve.

The next day, headed out to the Pudong area to grab some korean chicken wings from Kyochon. I also went back into Carrefour to get some missing ingredients for fried rice for dinner that night. I was sidetracked at the exotic Oreos ie raspberry/blueberry cream and mango/orange cream. Not what I would call appealing combinations, I did buy the raspberry/blueberry Oreos and wafer Oreos. After stocking up on my new favorite Lays flavor, headed over to the Shanghai World Financial Center.

The SFC was intended to be the tallest building but was beat out by a building in Taiwan. Affectionately called the Bottle Opener, there is an observation deck of the very top. It was about $50 US to gain access to all the floors of the observation deck and I would say that if you were in the area, it is a nice view only if the pollution is held back. Even though it was relatively clear, it was difficult to see the outskirts of the city because of the smog. It was mid-afternoon so the view may have been better at night with the city lights. Overall, the atmosphere had this very W hotel/Japanese motif with the slow techno music and the pulsating lights in the elevators.

Afterwards, went back to the fabric market to pick up my tailored clothing. OUtside the building, there are a number of street hawkers trying to get you to buy stuff. Be prepared for the onslaught of both hawkers and beggars.

Later that night, went out to meet some people at a couple of bars. Went to the French Concession area and had an intro drink at Alchemist Cocktail Kitchen to wait for others to join. The Alchemist is the first "molecular gastro-bar" where the drinks were as complex as its prices. Wandered over to the Apothecary when the entire group showed up. Apothecary has a very American modern feel and the drink menu is pretty extensive. I opted for ginger beer because it sounded appealing and something I wouldn't think would have popped up in Shanghai and paired it with some sweet potato fries. The night ended on a high note for me. :)

On my last day in Shanghai, there was a leftover T-day brunch while watching college football. Again, thanks to Slingbox, I was able to watch the game in real time. Afterwards, I hopped onto my flight back to the US.

Orange County

2011-11-25T16:01:00.001-08:00

Decided to spend some time in the Santa Ana/Costa Mesa area for a night. Actually, I had an early morning event the next day and it being on the weekend, I thought it best that I stick around close.

Checked into the Doubletree Santa Ana/Orange County Airport and got my chocolate chip cookie! :)

I opted to grab dinner from Whole Foods. Had a Groupon and decided to spend it before it expired at the deli/hot food buffet section. I grabbed some garlic noodles which was really good and some korean fried chicken. I also had some sushi but it was ok. I've had better packaged sushi elsewhere.

Went out the next morning to grab doughnuts for work. I've always struggled with doughnut shops in Orange County, I always feel that it can be better but yet to find that perfect shop. This morning, I ventured into Luv n Donuts on 1421 W MacArthur Blvd, Santa Ana, CA 92704. It wasn't too bad but still not on my top list. The search continues....

New York City

2011-10-30T20:33:00.000-07:00

Planned a trip to meet a friend while using up some vouchers from United Airlines. I was able to sit on a PS (Premium Service) flight. United has a specific configuration for this Boeing 757 plane and all the seating in all three classes are fairly comfortable, every seat has a power port and there is wireless access available.

Upon arrival, I checked into the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers. The hotel is conveniently located near Times Square. The rooms felt a little worn and the a/c unit was definitely on the old side. I cranked up the heat but it never felt warm in the room. In general, it was an OK experience. I called the front desk about the TV service not working and they said it was due to weather. It seemed they didn't really care much, so much for 100% satisfaction guarantee promise. Maybe this location didn't get the memo. :p I later lost a pair of new boots. It is my fault for leaving the bag unattended but it was right outside the hotel room door as I was going in and out. Ha, I should bring doorstoppers with me so I can prop them open when I need to. :p

I wasn't able to check in immediately and went out to grab some breakfast at David's Bagels at 273 1st Ave, New York, NY 10003. David's is my go to shop for getting my "NY" bagels even though it is a little out of the way. The last time I was here, they had a tired looking store front. This time, they moved up the street and store had a new feel to it.

Afterwards, wandered out the city despite the snowstorm. Wandered over to the Natural Museum near Central Park but didn't stay long. Apparently, a lot of other people decided it was a good idea to go to the museum. Decided to head elsewhere and went to the Sony Plaza. Not only is there a retail store but there is a Discovery Museum inside. It was free to enter but mainly designed for kids. Checked out the retail store to get my adult toy fix after leaving the discovery zone. :)

Headed back to the Sheraton to see if the room was ready and detoured to Patsy's Italian Restaurant for lunch. I mistakenly thought it was Patsy's Pizzeria when googling and found a nice sit down Italian restaurant instead. Ordered the gnocchi and it was good but not enough for me to return. Nice enough restaurant, it's claim to fame is Frank Sinatra loved their food back in the day.

Went back to the Sheraton to freshen up before heading out to Highland Park. It is a popular hangout for USC fans to watch football games and it was a great time watching the game with almost 100% USC fan crowd. Even though the bar was packed, thehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif food service was timely and often. Very good customer service. Another thing I have not seen in any other bar is mini-TVs on the back side of the draft beer dispensers. Not only were there TVs lining every inch of the walls, the mini-TVs let people watch the game without even looking up while drinking. Thumbs up!

The next day, moved to the Hilton Garden Inn New York/Chelsea. A relatively new hotel (three years), it is pretty close to the 1 line. I think I like staying in the Chelsea area rather than Times Square. It just seems closer to the more interesting parts of Manhattan.

Grabbed a light snack at McDonald's before getting into the room. Unlike the Sheraton, the HGI seemed more interested in customer service. They asked for my number so that they could call me when the room was ready. I had some work to do before heading out in the afternoon and killed some time in the business center. Luckily, a room opened up pretty quickly and I was able to settle in before heading out to lunch. The rooms were smaller than the Sheraton but the new furnishings made up for the lack in size.

Went to Dallas BBQ on 261 8th Ave, New York, NY 10011. I had the honey chicken, it is a little on the sweet side and they are liberal with the honey sauce. So be forewarned. It seems like they baked the chicken before frying it making it a little dry. For snacking, grabbed a couple of cupcakes and cheesecake from Billy's Bakery. Afterwards, wandered over to the 9/11 Memorial.

I didn't realize how narrow the WTC towers were until I saw the reflection pools that replaced the original site. You do have to get admission tickets beforehand and they are fairly strict in the coming and going of people. They scan people entering and leaving the memorial.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Before calling it a day, wandered into Century 21 to do some window shopping. I haven't been in a long time but the place is still crazy busy as ever. Found some good deals before heading to dinner at Patsy's Pizzeria.

On this particular visit, the pizza was not as good as I remembered but the service was excellent. It seems such a hit and miss in the NY restaurant scene of whether or not people pay attention to customers in the dining room. I guess the economy is still strong enough for customer service to take a back seat in the city. For dessert, grabbed some treats at La Bergamote Patisserie to eat in the room. Tasted the pastries from Billy's and Bergamote. The best dessert I had was the pecan caramel cheesecake from Billy's. The cupcakes were too dry and unworthy of finishing. The chocolate desserts from Bergamote wasn't my cup of tea but I'm not a huge chocolate dessert fan.

Dallas

2011-10-14T01:55:00.003-07:00

So, my week ended up in Texas for the weekend. American Airlines did a fire sale to Dallas and I jumped on the promotion. Decided to use this as an opportunity to visit some friends in the city to catch up on old times and deviate from Star Alliance. I don't typically fly American too often and it was interesting to experience a non-frequent flier status. One of the things I noticed is that even choosing seats in economy requires a fee when checking in online. I think that is more specific to American. I usually get on the plane pretty quickly so I wasn't sure what being in group 2 was going to be like. Even though both my flights were full, being in 2 wasn't bad. It is near the middle to back but plenty of space to still stuff your carry-on in the overhead storage. Any later, you'd have trouble finding spots for your carry-on stuff. Dallas Fort Worth airport is a nice airport for American. The terminals were nicely designed unlike the drab LAX version.

Grabbed a very early breakfast at Pete's Cafe at 3610 Belt Line Rd, Carrollton Farmers Branch, TX 75234 after landing. It was down the road from my friend's place and favorite breakfast spot. I had the Pete's Special. For $7, two blueberry pancakes with two eggs and breakfast meat. Not too bad, the cafe was really a tiny hole in the wall kind of place.

After taking a nap, cruised over to Downtown Carollton for a late lunch at Babe's Chicken. The restaurant let's you choose an entree of meat - fried chicken, fried catfish, chicken fried steak, pot roast, and roasted chicken - and all the sides you can eat. No menu, just tell them which one you want. I think there was dessert but I was too full to eat anything else. My friend told me that this was the best fried chicken in town and was featured on the Best Thing I Ever Had Food Network series. The chicken was good but I think there are better elsewhere. The problem for me eating in Texas and the South is that foods tend to be heavily salted which takes away the flavor for me as I hardly salt foods. So if you have salty taste buds, this place would be very good.

I also walked around the downtown Carollton area after lunch. The city appears to be the area in Dallas with all the ethnic influences as I saw plenty of Korean, Vietnamese, and Mexican restaurants and markets along the streets. Visited a throwback candy shop and toy store nearby before calling it a day.

The next morning, grabbed a quick breakfast at Flippin Out Coffee & Crepe. It is a drive thru coffee and crepe shack. There is an outdoor patio in the back if you want to sit and eat. I had the special which was the Spaniard. A chorizo and cheese crepe, it was good. The crepe was more burrito like than crepe. It is a good spot for a quick bite which worked for me as I had to head to the airport afterwards. Had I had more room, I would have tried a dessert crepe as I usually enjoy dessert zeroes more than savory. The place just opened up and was near my friend's place.

La Jolla

2011-10-14T01:55:00.001-07:00

Went down for an overnight stay for work in San Diego. Checked into the Doubletree Golf Resort. The hotel wasn't what I thought it would be but the room was generously sized. The hotel is a bungalow style layout. The hotel's website indicates there is a parking fee but when I checked in, it was complimentary. Makes sense as there isn't a high demand to park in the hotel's area. Not sure if this is routine or not.

Before checking out the next morning, had continental breakfast in the hotel restaurant. If you're looking to have some toast and jam with coffee, it would be fine. I did notice that the locals seem to hang out here as there was a number of regulars inside the restaurant before they went golfing. An okay location, excellent cookie but not someplace I would choose to hang out.

Narita!

2011-10-14T01:54:00.001-07:00

For some reason, I also had a long layover at Narita International Airport. I had about 8 hours and decided to do some quick research in the United Lounge on what to do in Narita. Took a quick shower. I was lucky that most people had not arrived into the international terminal as the lounge was empty. It was packed when I came back in the afternoon and there was a line for the showers.

At the airport, you can store luggage by the day in the arrival lobby. The storage is located near the baggage shipping area. Afterwards, I took the Keisei into Narita which is about 36 minutes by rail from the airport. In Narita, I visited the local temple Naritasan Shinshoji Temple. I found the temple grounds peaceful and really really big. It can take a couple of hours to tour the facilities.

On the way to the temple, I noticed that many restaurants were slicing eels and preparing them for the day. It seems that eel is a really big dish in the town. Grabbed lunch at one of the restaurants; can't say what the name was or where exactly since everything was in Japanese. I don't think Narita sees many non-Japanese tourists in town. A little pricey because of the currency conversion, the lunch was filling and good.

After lunch, I went back on the Keisei to the airport. I did have some difficulty figuring out how to buy my fare at the automated kiosk. After staring at the console, I punched some buttons and hoped it worked out correctly. You do have to pay attention which track goes to the airport at the Narita station but it is small enough not to be too confusing. I was able to get through customs fast enough to do a pit stop back at the United lounge and fly home.

Ho Chi Minh again...

2011-10-14T01:53:00.003-07:00

Arrived into Saigon in the afternoon. I had opted to fly out at midnight and had enough time to go back to my grandma's. Still feeling a little under the weather, my grandma's advice was to have some "medicine." Old school remedies, gotta love those. :)

I didn't really do much as the typhoon rain storms was in full effect in Saigon. Apparently, it has been raining all week almost continuously. I left a request with my grandma for some Vietnamese desserts and she went a little overboard. It also didn't help telling her I could take 25 kg to the US.

Packed up like a mule after dinner and went back to the airport. On my way from the airport, the taxi driver jacked up the price. I think partially because of my aunt's conversation. Luckily, on the way to the airport she avoided talking about money and it was the cheapest taxi fare I had seen. :p

Back to Singapore!

2011-10-14T01:53:00.001-07:00

Came back from KL to begin my travels back to the US. Rolled into the Conrad Centennial Singapore for my final night in Singapore. The second Conrad in Southeast Asia that I have stayed and my experience was reminiscent of my stay in Hong Kong a few years back. A pleasant hotel in the marina area, service was obviously their focus. Yet, I found myself preferring the Hilton Singapore even though the service was better at the Conrad. The lounge was a little small, I was actually asked if I would mind being in the conference room. I guess they get enough business to even have conference rooms integrated into the lounge. The room was nice enough and I always like the little bear and ducky.

Feeling under the weather, I wasn't able to go out but I heard that going out to bars is really really expensive in Singapore. I will have to try a singapore sling next time.

Headed out the next day back to Ho Chi Minh via Vietnam Airlines. An interesting note about the flight. I was told not to have any electronic device on the entire time in the air. I know the drill about turning off devices on take-off and landing but it was a first for me to have someone tell me that it can't be on at all.

Kuala Lumpur

2011-10-07T22:19:00.000-07:00

I was told that Singapore can be done in a few days and I would get bored. I haven't found that to be the case but had planned a one day excursion to KL prior to arriving in Singapore. Found a budget airline to fly, Jetstar based out of Australia. It was nice pleasant enough of an experience. Being on a budget airline, I didn't realize that everything is chargeable even water on the flight. For the price and shortness of flight, I suppose I can suffer through the flight. Landed into Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Not as nice as Singapore but I found it interesting they incorporated a jungle garden in the middle of the arrival hall; it is an outside garden.

Took the airport express rail into KL Stesen Sentral Station. The website shows the stations in a very modern light but the station is still under heavy construction, so it isn't quite like the pictures online. Transition to the subway lines to the Sheraton Imperial Kuala Lumpar. The monorail was closer to the hotel but the station was located outside of Sentral Station which discouraged me from pursuing that option. I would say that KL's transit system seems a bit of a hodgepodge but it is pretty reasonable to use. I only say it is a hodgepodge because it looks like various types of transit is used for the entire system.

When I arrived at the Sheraton, I was upgraded to the Club level room which was nice. I would not advise paying for the benefit as the club lounge access wasn't really worth the price and free internet is available in the public areas. Another important nuance is the club access only gives you internet access only in the lounge, not on the Club floors. Not having made any plans for the day, took the Hop-on Hop-off Bus Tour and saw the major attractions of the city.

Spent some time at the Petronas Twin Towers (the last stop on the Hop-On Hop-Off Bus) having lunch in the food court and finding a cupcakery. I found the mix of modern and muslim traditions interesting. At one point, the towers were the tallest building in the world in the late 90s early 00s. It is still advertised as the tallest "twin" towers in the world. :) Because there are two buildings, the buildings are connected by a skybridge which appears as a popular tourist site. It was closed when I was in town but the weather was pretty cloudy so I don't think I lost out much. By the end of the route, the typhoon rainstorms came in and I opted to stay in for the night at the Sheraton.

The next morning, opted to have breakfast in the hotel restaurant, Essence. It was the best breakfast buffet I've had in a long time, there were six stations of various local foods prepared in small batches. The food was fresh and the staff was super friendly. I think I spent two hours there easily. Luckily, my room rate included breakfast so I don't know how much it typically goes for nor did I stay long enough to try it at dinner or lunch.

Being comatose from breakfast, spent some leisure time in the hotel before heading back to the airport to head back to Singapore. A word of advice, never allow the taxi to haggle with a flat price to destinations. It is always best to meter your fare but they will insist on trying to get the set fare because it is more than the metered fare.

Singapore

2011-10-05T18:10:00.000-07:00

Flew out of Saigon on Vietnam Airlines. It's the second foreign carrier I've flown as part of the Skyteam alliance. Haha, too bad I don't fly Delta much. I also forget that foreign carriers still serve full meals even on short trips unlike the domestic carriers. It's like the 80's all over again for flight travel...

Landed into Changi Airport. I'm once again reminded why everyone has such high opinions of this airport. It really feels like a high end mall that happens to have planes landing through here. The combination of Western chains and local tastes is interesting. I've become a fan of kaya toast and was able to have some at the airport.

Public transportation is really easy in Singapore and took the SMRT to the Hilton Singapore. Located in a central location on Orchard Avenue and near a MRT station, it was nice getting out of the muggy weather. The humidity gets worse as you get closer to the equator. I'm impressed that the body odor smells are minimal. The hotel is next to some major shopping malls. I was happy to see a 24 hour McDonald's next door but disappointed to see that the menu was very average. Across the street, there was a club that was hopping at night, rumors had it that there were a lot of prostitutes that work the club. The hotel was very nice, rooms were comfy and the lounge was pleasant. One word of advice, it seems that the hotels in this area breakfast is often included in the room rate. As a Diamond member, I could have eaten in the lounge or the restaurant. The restaurant was a far better choice because the breakfast buffet options were so varied and things made so fresh it was a waste to go to the continental breakfast in the lounge.

The MRT system is really easy to use and I think the most environmentally friendly. Why? They utilize the reader cards for all transit passes, even the one time use. You pay $1 Singaporean dollar as a deposit and whatever the transit fare is. It is a little cumbersome to buy it one at a time; I do recommend buying a card and putting in a set value if you are planning on being in the city for a little bit. Everything in the city is accessible from the subway. A good thing too because the taxis will take as much as they can from you if you choose to travel by taxi.

Since I was settling in from the late flight, the next day was a late start. Wandered around the city center for a bit and checked out some WWII sites. Singapore was a British colony at one point. The Brits lost Singapore to the Japanese in the 1940s and got it back when WWII ended. It is interesting to see the level of cultural influence the British had in Southeast Asia. Hong Kong I was not suprised because they only gave up control fairly recently, the Singaporeans has retained alot of the influence and is interesting to see the mix of asian and western traditions in this city.

The highlight of the trip was the visit to Fort Canning Park and seeing the Battle Box command center. This is where the British military leadership decided to surrender to the invading Japanese.

The next day, went out to Little India to check out the scene. Little India is like Chinatown in other cities. Lots of markets, trinkets, and jewelry stores. Im not used to seeing so many Indians in a city especially in a designated ethnic area. The ones I've seen are generally westernized but the folks here look and act as if they were recent immigrants. Had some great food at The Banana Leaf restaurant in Little India. Cheap and good, better than the Indian food in Canada. :)

While working around the city, navigating to MRT stations had me passing through some of the malls in the city. The one thing that caught my eye was Famous Amos and Garett's Popcorn. These local American outlets in Singapore surprised me especially Famous Amos. Ironically, I had taken a bag of Famous Amos cookies to snack but the Famous Amos bakeshops sell freshly made cookies by the gram. I will say that Famous Amos cookies taste really good fresh. :)

The next day, wandered over to Sentosa Island. It is Singapore's answer for recreation and entertainment in one place. The island is home to Universal Studios, other theme park like attractions, resorts, and beaches. It is very family oriented area and anyone can find something to do on this island. Didn't really check out the commercial venues but went to look at Ft. Siloso. It is a British fort designed to protect Singapore's harbor back in the day.

The next day, took off for Kuala Lumpur on Jetstar Airlines for an overnight trip.

Saigon

2011-10-05T16:10:00.001-07:00

It isn’t too often that I will hit multiple cities in an international trip but I will be doing so on this particular trip. In some ways, it reminds me of my trip in 2008 but a much shorter timeframe. Headed to Saigon aka Ho Chi Minh City on United Airlines. Direct flights to Saigon are not possible from the States. One usually has to layover somewhere before getting into the country. On this trip, I had to do two stops (SFO and Hong Kong) before getting into the city. Funny thing, United gave me complimentary upgrade on the two short segments so I opted to use points and cash to upgrade the transpacific flight to pass the time comfortably.

The planes were the Boeing 747-400 which is a double decker airplane. On the way over, I was on the main deck. On the return, I was sitting in the upper deck. I would say that it isn’t as convenient as staying in the main deck because of smaller overhead storage and luggage stuff up and down stairs. For those on a window seat in the upper deck, there is a side storage compartment that is quite large, enough to fit a thin suiter luggage. A couple of months ago I mentioned how SFO has made it harder to go from international to domestic terminals. They seem to have figured out a better way to get between the two terminals now.

In Hong Kong International Airport United gate, I think United is trying to coral the Chinese folk to Western queues. Typically, they just yell out the section to sit but the gate here had lines for each section. Also, the gate agents would keep trolling the lines to make sure people were supposed to be in the right spot. Although the number of man power needed far eclipses what any domestic carrier would have on hand at domestic terminals so this must be a location specific demand. And everyone knows Asian people don’t understand queues. :)

Landed in Tan Son Nhat International Airport meeting up with family outside customs. The interesting thing about Vietnam customs is they don't require any paperwork. I can't recall if this is a new procedure but all you show is the visa and that's it. I am not familiar with the city enough to know where my family lives within the city but I do know that it is on the outskirts of the city center. I did debate about checking into an American chain hotel in Saigon but the rates were too rich for my blood. I know the prices are high because of foreign businesses but sometimes I feel that it is way too much given the standard of living in Vietnam. Since I was in the city for only a few days, I stayed with my grandmother. In the past year, we constructed a house for her and I had been told it is nice. Time to check out what modern Vietnamese construction has to offer. I was also a mule to bring over things for her, so I was able to serve a dual purpose on this trip. My uncles designed and constructed the house and incorporated as much of American styles into the house as possible such as every bedroom had its own bathroom and the kitchen was ginormous. My grandmother uses the pantry as a “cooking kitchen” and the large kitchen is only for show... LOL

Spent the day putting around on the back of my uncle’s scooter in Saigon. Headed out early and had breakfast with another uncle and his wife. I’ve met everyone but the uncle last time I was in Saigon so it was good to meet him on this trip. Quiet man, so not much of an opinion. Afterwards, wandered over to Lotte Mart which looks like a Wal-Mart/K-Mart and is a chain from Korea. Big box retailer, the underground parking was interesting. They take pictures of the license plates and gave each person a credit card parking ticket. It seems driving out with a different vehicle is common practice here...and security ensures every person leaving leaves with the vehicle they came in.

Parted ways with the couple and had coffee with my cousin’s wife at Windows. The problem with travelling with family is I never know where I really am. They were married over the summer but I didn’t have a chance to go to the wedding. Since I won’t actually meet her in the States as they are living apart until the visa paperwork is done, I opted to meet the wife while I’m in town.

Afterwards, went out to eat at Nam Giaio on 136/15 D Le Thanh Ton, Dong Khoi Area, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I've eaten here before with my mom, there are a couple of dishes she likes here. It is a hole in the wall kind of place, the scooter parking lot is next to people on plastic stools and tables eating outside. Near the Ben Thanh market, it is just one of those hole in the wall kind of place. I am glad I do not have to navigate these tight quarters myself on the scooter. I had taken pictures with my iPhone but it seems to have lost itself somewhere...stupid Apple product.

The next day, I mostly stayed in due to the rains from the typhoon in the area. Spent the day catching up on homework, football, and homemade lunch before heading out to the airport to catch my flight to Singapore.

Phoenix

2011-09-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

Traveled out to the Valley of the Sun aka Phoenix for a college football game. Decided to make it a road trip and headed out late Friday evening. Since I was coming in late, I opted to stay somewhere relatively cheap without any resort amenities. Checked into the Homewood Suites by Hilton Phoenix-Biltmore hotel. The hotel was a little dated but the room was roomy for the group. The breakfast buffet was passable, I opted to have waffles since the buffet had a self serve waffle maker. I'm never a fan of scrambled eggs buffet style, just always too runny or dry...

Hopped to the Sheraton Desert Oasis Villas hotel the next day. I wanted to hit the pool killing some time before the game in the evening. I didn't realize that this hotel was a timeshare resort. I would call this hotel a medium tier timeshare hotel and the clients tend to be retirees. At least as evidenced by the people in the pool. You can tell that the hotel caters to this group as the bathroom in the room was built for those who needed to sit and shower at the same time. It was an interesting tub/shower enclosure with two shower heads and built in whirlpool/sitting area tub. The room is your typical timeshare style room with kitchenette and small laundry/dryer machine in the closet. There were several pools in the hotel but I opted for the main one as the others seems to be in shade and I wanted to get some sun on. The hotel was nice to stay but I don't think I like staying at timeshare hotels as they have 10 am checkout time. I'm used to being able to stay until noon or later.

Had an early dinner at Pizzeria Bianco before the game. I saw the restaurant on Food Network's Best Thing I Have Ever Ate. It is near the convention center area so parking is a little tough but the garages offer reduced rates if you have a restaurant validation. Ordered the Pizza Rosa and Wiseguy, I actually enjoyed the Wiseguy more than the Rosa. The Rosa was the featured pizza but I give it a thumbs down from Best Thing.

The next morning, grabbed breakfast at Dick's Hideaway. Ordered my usual - carne adovada and eggs. After checking out, headed to Culver's for some frozen custard to snack on the car trip home.

Orange County

2011-09-23T13:52:00.000-07:00

I decided to stay in town near work for work. Checked into the Doubletree by Hilton Santa Ana-Orange County Airport for the evening. Being near the airport, the hotel doesn't offer free parking but the front desk person was nice enough to give me a parking pass gratis. The hotel seems to share with an apartment/retail complex. There are parking but for residents and shoppers. It seems like the weekends are pretty dead for them so parking isn't that big of an issue. The room was pleasant and roomy for my purposes. The breakfast buffet in the restaurant was pretty basic although the servers does not seem to know english much.

For dinner, went down the street to Rubino's Pizza. Ironically, a restaurant called Little Onion was next door. The only reason it caught my eye was that I saw a Living Social deal for it and had thought to myself, what's the likelihood of me being in this area to eat? One never knows! The pizza was adequate for me, the crust was think but the edges lacked a certain crispness that I would have liked to have had. The toppings were done. Verdict - I'd only go back if I had to.

Chicago Mileage Run

2011-08-27T09:53:00.002-07:00

It seems this year I have the potential of hitting 1K status with United Airlines. I've been marginally close once before but didn't care enough to actual reach it. With more international flights in my near future, the benefits of 1K status is more appealing. Top it off with a Chicago promotion of double EQM miles and cheap airfare, the trifecta of a mileage run was born.

Some friends were up for meeting in the middle of the night and met them at Miller's Pub. By the time I arrived, the kitchen was closed and I shared food with them. I will have to try their famous Canadian baby back ribs another time. Nothing major, half tuna salad sandwich and fries. Enough food for me to shake off my hunger and have a few drinks.

Afterwards, I checked into the Hilton Rosemont. I originally thought to rent a car and tool around but found a really good rate which prompted me to stay indoors in the wee hours of the morning and catch a power nap. I will say though that navigating O'Hare to find the airport shuttles is not very intuitive. Trying to stamp out my annoyance, my mood improved upon entering the lobby to find a very modern hotel and spacious hotel room.

Before heading back to the airport, grabbed breakfast in the Library Tavern in the hotel lobby. The hotel was recently renovated and connects to the convention center so the Tavern was definitely designed for people to hang out to drink and eat. The buffet selection was really good. I'm a sucker for good chocolate croissants and eggs benedict. It sounds strange but the english muffins here are thick and chewy which you don't typically find. The English Thomas variety is what you normally see which I'm typically not a fan of.

Got into O'hare Airport and found the security really slow as TSA was implementing the full body scanners. It minimally takes about 15 seconds per person and felt like I was crawling at a snail's pace. Despite the huge number of frequent fliers with United, I felt that the operations should be smoother and efficient when it came to security and boarding processes. It wasn't. C'est la vie.

Really, the only bad part of this trip was TSA. Go figure. :)

Vegas

2011-08-17T22:36:00.000-07:00

Took a semi-road trip to Vegas. I'm reminded how and why I dislike car trips. In the idea of avoiding typical rush hour traffic, I was rewarded with even more traffic and accidents. :(

Checked into the Las Vegas Hilton for a night. Tagged along with a group but opted out of sharing rooms. I'm bouncing around this weekend to work on my loyalty account. While watching the local news, I found out that the hotel was having financial issues. Hope they work it out and get more business. It has always been a reasonable priced hotel for my trips here. On this night, I was given the parlor room. Whenever someone says to me parlor room, I remember the first time I was introduced to that definition and it has always left a bad memory. I'm glad that the Las Vegas Hilton doesn't have the same definition.

The next morning I grabbed an omelette from the buffet. I generally find the desserts average here but enjoyed the coconut cream pie to my surprise.

Checked into the Embassy Suites Convention Center. I don't think I've been here but the front desk welcomed me back. So I guess I must have. Typical layout but this place is really popular with families. Probably because of the suites and cooked to order breakfast.

Went out for a late lunch at PBR Rock Bar & Grill inside Planet Hollwyood hotel and ordered a snack. I don't typically eat pb&j sandwiches but it caught my eye. Darn tasty! Afterwards wandered around the Cosmopolitan hotel. It had a retro modern feel but it felt small. Later that evening, grabbed dinner within the hotel at Holstein's. A gourmet burger restaurant. Split the steakhouse and a spiked drunken monkey milkshake. I found the milkshake pretty good. Overall, I think The Counter or 25 Degrees better.

The next day checked into the Las Vegas Hilton and hung out the pool. Dinner was at Envy inside the Renaissance hotel. I had heard the restaurant was a good steakhouse yet can't attract a crowd. The restaurant easily accommodated the group of 7 without any issue. I ordered the seasonal burger and found it interesting. It was a filet mignon with lobster medallions sandwich and a heaping side of truffle fries. Too full to have dessert, I called it a night. This time my room was a typical deluxe hotel room.

Phoenix

2011-07-12T23:44:00.001-07:00

I've been hankering all year to go to Phoenix. With the unusual cold spell on the West Coast, I was just tired of the chill. So I made a weekend run to my favorite spa/resort, The Boulders. Before checking in, went on a mountain hike at Piestewa Peak. Not a Great Wall jaunt but it was a pretty good workout at 7 am in 90 degree weather.

Having worked up an appetite, drove to Matt's Big Breakfast. The griddle cakes here are really really good, I didn't need any syrup. It was that good by itself. The Pork and Chick entree was very good as well. The entree was a pork chop with some eggs and potatoes. The restaurant is small and there is a line but they restaurant works hard at getting people through quickly yet graciously.

Checked into The Boulders resort and promptly went to the pool to hang out for the rest of the afternoon. After a nice tanning rest, went out to Pizza A Metro for dinner. Ordered the meatballs pizza and linguine carbonara enjoying my meal immensely.

The next day, walked on one of the hotel's trails and viewed the typical Sonoran flora. Cactus began to grow on me as a decorative plant. After my hike, hung out at the Golden Door Spa pool within the resort and enjoyed a pedicure before heading home. All in all, a great trip of food and relaxation!

Shanghai and Beijing

2011-07-06T22:19:00.001-07:00

I'm heading back to China for the second time this year. For this trip, I opted to go business on United Airlines. UA introduced a new route and offered miles bonus which was enough incentive for me to get the business class fare. Since I wasn't able to get upgraded using miles last time, I was motivated to avoid sitting in economy for twelve hours. United had been revamping the business and first class cabins touting the new seats for this route. I like the new amenities like iPod inputs, USB ports, and fancy seat controls. :) My meal was enjoyable but the braised short ribs was a bit on the dry side. Over the years, I have been able to work on my motion sickness and now able to watch movies for a little bit. So I was able to catch up on movies - Battle: Los Angeles, The Lincoln Lawyer, Win Win, Black Swan, Harry Potter:Deathly Hallows. All enjoyable except for Black Swan, good time to catchup on movies and reduce my Netflix cue!

Arrived in the evening into Shanghai Pudong airport and opted to stay in for the night and grabbed McDonald's for dinner. Chicken wings and fried taro pies! Yum.

The next day, grabbed breakfast in the street around the French Concession area before heading to Hongqiao Airport. At this airport in Shanghai, most flights are domestic and was the primary airport that served Shangai before Pudong. I actually like this airport more, just had a more lived in look. If you are a Citibank customer, there is an ATM in the departures area. I've discovered that Bank of America has a reciprocity agreement with China Construction Bank and able to withdraw cash with no fees. I would advise that you withdraw as much as possible as the exchange rates improve with the larger amounts. For example, 300 rmb was an exchange rate of 6.29 versus 1000 rmb was an exchange rate of 6.49. Not a huge difference but something to keep mind. Hopped on a China Eastern flight and was pleasantly surprised with a hot meal for this two hour flight. I've forgotten that foreign carriers provides meals on their domestic flights. Today was also the opening day of the high speed railway from Shanghai to Beijing. I would have liked to take the train but it wasn't apparent when they were going to be opened when the flight was booked. The local papers indicated a one way started at $63 and takes four hours.

Took the airport express subway to the Hilton Beijing Wangfujing. The airport express train is a dedicated subway line that connects with the city's subway system. Fares are 25 rmb for the airport express. A relatively new hotel in Beijing's cultural area, it rivals my stay at the Conrad Tokyo a couple of years ago. I did noticed was minor things, some questionable construction work in the hotel but I attribute that to the Chinese value on quality. With weather delays arriving into Beijing, opted to stay at the hotel and enjoy the executive lounge. Since all was complimentary, the alcohol and food promptly put me to sleep when I got to the room. Prior to arriving, a tour was arranged through the concierge desk for an all day excursion the next day. In comparison with some of the tour operators, the tour package was a relative bargain. For $300, two people can have a private car, guide for the day and admission to the sites in the itinerary.

After grabbing breakfast at the executive lounge, went to meet the guide at promptly 8:30 am and went off to our first stop, Summer Palace. Unfortunately, the weather in Beijing (and Shanghai) has been thunder stormy, overcast, and humid. The tour around the grounds was pleasant but the limited visibility detracted from the experience of seeing the entire facility in all its glory. Funny thing, there are a lot of fly by night vendors on the grounds. They'll buy a season pass and just show up and randomly set up shop to sell souvenirs and corn on the cob. It was actually interesting that no one really monitored that inside.

The next stop was Sacred Way in Ming Tombs. A memorial park for all the Chinese emperors, only stayed in the pathway that lead up to the tombs. On the road was various statues meant to protect the emperors buried on the mountain. The tour could have included a walk through of the burial grounds but The Great Wall was calling.

Arrived at The Great Wall Badaling section. The guide informed us that this section of the wall most represented the wall back in the day. Restored to its original design, I was uber pooped walking one section to a parapet. The guide informed that Chairman Mao had walked one direction on this section and that was why that direction was packed with people as the Chinese wanted to walk the same path. It was also less steep. So being the foreigner, went the more difficult path. Earlier, I mentioned how overcast it was and visibility was limited. For here, it was great that the sun wasn't shining as the humidity and heat was enough for me to make the climb difficult. I would recommend bringing at least one bottle of water and a towel to wipe your sweat when on the wall. Also, the outhouse is near the parapets so be forewarned of the smell potential.

Returned back to the hotel and went to Quanjude restaurant. A known local chain for its Peking duck, I was not overly impressed. Maybe I'm too Americanized but I thought the States offered better. I think partially that the quality of ingredients (in this case the duck) is better in the States. The cooking techniques is probably very good but since the duck was so skinny it didn't taste as good as home. I feel the same way about beef in Vietnam. There are great beef dishes in Vietnamese cuisine but doesn't taste as good in Vietnam. The other thing I noticed was the duck was served with pancakes instead if bao. I like the baos more in Peking duck.s I also tried the duck buns and instantly couldn't eat it. Hard and chewy, it was not what I expected.

Went back to the hotel to enjoy some happy hour back in the executive lounge. I opted to order dessert from room service and enjoyed a lovely vanilla souffle. The room service here is 24 hours.

The next day, wandered over to the Forbidden City after grabbing breakfast. It is a fifteen minute walk from the hotel. The guide from yesterday recommended going first thing in the morning or during the last hour of business hours. She mentioned that the Forbidden City roughly receives 100,000 per day. It was a nice sunny day which made the 2.5 hour excursion feel like 4. Wandered through the palace and remembered the movie, The Last Emperor. The royal living quarters was the most interesting to me as it had some gardens and living quarters you can look at. The actual city is a fortress with huge courtyards.

Tromped back to the hotel to cool down in the indoor pool. The heat and humidity has taken its toll and I was looking forward to some relaxation. The pool is indoors in the hotel and is part of the spa facilities. Probably because it is easier to maintain cleanliness inside rather than having it exposed to the elements. Surprisingly, the pool didn't feel like an indoor pool. Very spacious with high ceilings, the room lacked humidity. I also noticed looking out the windows that a Waldorf Astoria was being built. I guess hotel demand is high enough to warrant another luxury hotel. Will have to check it out next time. :) Since I was using points for this two night hotel stay, I opted to move to the Hilton Beijing on my last night here. Grabbed some pastries from the Library Bar and headed via taxi to the Hilton Beijing.

This Hilton is located more in the business district of the city and next to the US Embassy. I guess if I needed something, I can run to "America." :) I definitely felt welcomed here. There is a dedicated executive tower where I was directed to check in. The front desk is actually a lobby/lounge area for the entire tower. When I walked into the room, there was a bottle of wine and plate of fruit/chocolate waiting for me. I haven't seen this kind of welcome gift since HHonors revamped their program a few years back. Between the wine and free bar in the lounge, I had plenty of alcohol. The mini bar was impressive but I had no need. :) I later forgot my electric toothbrush and I was impressed with the speed and care they put to returning the item to me in Shanghai. No where else can a courier service be done between two major cities for $3.

On a side note, I don't know if this is typical for American based hotel chains but my hotel bill was converted to US dollars instead of in RMB. It isn't a good conversion rate so I would advise to check the bill to make sure it is charged in the currency you want. It isn't clear on the credit slip either so a verbal confirmation is recommended.

Grabbed a late lunch at Din Tai Fung. With so many restaurants advertising roast duck, I was interested in getting something else to eat. Interestingly, at this DTF you can order dumplings half plate (5) or full plate (10). Afterwards, walked back to the hotel and munched on some snacks and drinks before retiring for the night. On a side note, after 7 pm the cafe bakery in the lobby offers sandwiches, salads, and bakery goods for half price. I did go a little crazy and ordered the strawberry charlotte (mousse concoction), nameless other mousse thing with coconut and passionfruit, opera, and a blueberry parfait of some sort. I found the strawberry and the coconut/passion fruit the tastiest. I didn't want to venture outside anymore but I did find it funny to see a sign for Fatburger down the street from the hotel. This location is the only one in mainland China. Had I not had Fatburger for lunch before coming out to China, I might have been tempted to check the place out.

Since the Hilton was somewhat close to the airport, opted to take the taxi instead of subway. The taxi at about 60 rmb (10 for the toll) was pretty reasonable in comparison to public transport.

Returned back to Shanghai in the afternoon without any delays and grabbed dinner at Crystal Jade restaurant in Xintiandi before calling it a night.

The next morning, wandered around the edges of the French Concession and JingAn areas for breakfast. I found 85C bakery and had some sweet toast. This location isn't the same as the one in the States, smaller and less "hip." Also found some sesame balls from local street vendors, picked up a couple of packages of Chinese sausage from a butcher, and some mangoes from a grocer.

Escaped the humidity on the streets of Shanghai and enjoyed some air conditioning back in the apartment. Ventured out again late afternoon for a late lunch at McDonald's and to the Jing'An temple in the French Concession area. I'm not sure why Buddhist temples have larger than building statues built but it was cool to see. There was also smaller rooms on the side to pray in. After burning incense and throwing coins in the metal vase, strolled to another 85C bakery (this one was larger) and went back to the apartment to cool down again.

That evening, went to meet some people for dinner. They suggested Din Tai Fung in the Ritz Carlton plaza and I chuckled to being at this chain restaurant twice in one week while in two of China's cities. They were hoping to show a good dumpling place and didn't realize that it was a Taiwanese chain. Since I have two places to compare, I will say that the Shanghai location does a better job than the Beijing location. It also seemed that the menu was a little bit more extensive than in Beijing. After dinner, ventured to a wine bar, Enoterra, and enjoyed some Reisling wine before calling it a night on my last night in Shanghai.

The next day spent time packing up and ordered in at FCC. A Vietnamese restaurant nearby lodged in a foreign correspondence club. I had my reservations and I was right to have them. For now, I'm going to say that Chinese can't make Vietnamese food.

I left for the Shanghai Pudong airport in the evening and the airport was relatively empty. It would seem that there aren't many flights at 8 pm. I opted to upgrade my seat to first class for the trip home. There aren't many opportunities for me to fly first in international flights and I decided to splurge. :) First class has their own security lines which was nice. I would say though that the Chinese are pretty efficient in getting people through customs and security. In looking at the seat, the controls are fancy. I saw an Ethernet jack and had hoped for Internet on the flight but it wasn't active. Enjoyed the lovely meal offered. Appetizers was a potsticker and quesodilla, pumpkin soup and salad, entree consisted of filet mignon (mashed potatoes was ok) and ice cream. I was kind of surprised the dessert would be ice cream but I guess that is easiest on this kind of flight. I noticed that I was the youngest person and that everyone was old enough to be my parent. I was surprised to see that the single travelers were all women, I would have pegged more men in this section. Of course, everyone was asian. :p

San Francisco

2011-06-13T22:35:00.001-07:00

It was inevitable that I would make a trip to the Bay in June. Why? Because of deals... :)

I was upgraded to First Class on this trip to SF which helped me survive the weather delay conundrums at the airport. With the recent merger of United Airlines and Continental Airlines, SFO has a dedicated terminal and the next to the International terminal. I checked into the Doubletree San Francisco Airport since I was arriving so late into the area, there was no point in traveling in the middle of the night into the city. This particular Doubletree was my first hotel and started me on as a HHonors member. The cookie was the hook. :) Seriously, I think Doubletree could make money as a bakery with this cookie. Spacious accommodations, the room was perfect for what I needed.

Checked into the Grand Hyatt San Francisco the next morning. So here was the cause of the trip, I received a free night coupon from Hyatt to stay in their San Francisco locations but I had only until the end of June. So I squeezed in a trip in my busy June schedule to capitalize on this deal. The hotel is undergoing renovations and the top third of the hotel is closed until the end of summer. So no high floor view but the front desk was very pleasant and my room had a very definite new smell to it. I also dig the key card as a touch responder, no sliding into a door lock to open. High tech! ;) The room definitely had a modern European feel and I liked the over sized bathroom basin.

Wandered into the Haight area and had lunch at Memphis Minnie's. Came in on their first hour of opening and was able to beat the lunch crush, shared a taster sampler which consisted of three meat options and two sides. Opted for the andouille sausage, St. Louis ribs, and beef brisket. All tasty but not the best BBQ by far but definitely for this city. (I still think the South beats anyplace hands down.) A word to the wise, the sides are tiny and in containers the size of typical condiments bowls. The slaw and mac n cheese was good enough but the cornbread muffin could have been better. I wanted to try the fried pies in the menu but it seems that the restaurant was running short on food and didn't have any desserts available from their menu. I was also initially told that the chicken wasn't available but changed at the last minute. I'm not sure if I had arrived later in the day if they would have had their inventory in better shape.

Being denied of some sweets, I headed over to Bi-Rite Creamery. The last time, the lines were too long for me to deal with the ice cream line. I figured I would have a better chance now because the weather was gloomier and brisk enough that people may not want ice cream. When I came up to the creamery, the line was half what I saw last and I ordered the salted caramel and roasted banana ice cream in a cone. In comparison to the soft serve, I think I liked the soft serve version of the salted caramel and the banana was spot on. Not too bananaey.

After doing some work, I ended up hitting the hotel gym late. It was a nice facility as it took up one floor of the hotel (that sounds bigger than it really is) and worked out fine for what I needed. Hyatt has a stay fit program where they'll provide you gym clothes (shoes as well) if you wanted to workout and had nothing on you. I should have looked into that earlier since I had forgotten some shorts and picked one up at Old Navy on Market. No fear, I had a Groupon deal for Old Navy so it still works out in the end. :)

Didn't feel like heading out for dinner and ordered room service. Luckily, the kitchen hours are open late and I was the last order for the night. Ate the chicken al pastor quesadilla and grand marnier creme brulee. Quick service and good for room service although the food didn't seem to agree with me the next day.

Headed out the next morning to Dynamo Donuts in the Mission since I had no free brehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifakfast options at the hotel. Ordered the strawberry earl grey, bread pudding, and maple bacon dougnut. I was thinking of hanging out in the shop to eat my doughnut but the area was a little dark and opted to order a mocha at Bello Coffee & Tea hunkering down for the free wi-fi. Ok, for bacon lovers, the maple bacon doughnut was actually pretty good. I don't normally eat bacon doughnuts often but I would say that they do offer the best version I've tasted at this point. The Food Network has given alot of love to the Doughnut Plant in NYC, I think they would be better off touching base with the the owner of Dynamo Donuts.

Before heading out to lunch, went through the Macy's store for some shopping. I've always liked the store, I'm not sure why but I do feel like it is more of a destination department store. With all the eateries inside and the seven floors of merchandise, one can easily spend the day there. On top of that, I feel that the customer service is the absolute best here. The people definitely hustle to make sure you get what you want.

Afterwards rambled back to the Mission and grabbed a sandwich from Ike's Place. I saw an episode on Man vs. Food and used the Blackboard Eats coupon to try the eatery. It is a tiny takeaway place and the place was bustling even though it was late in the afternoon. I ordered the Hollywood SF Cheesesteak and only realized afterwards that they didn't get my order correctly. So I don't know what kind of sandwich I ate but there was a fried chicken steak inside and it was still very good. I especially liked the Dutch bread, I'm not sure what makes it Dutch but it was a good chewy bun.

For dinner, went to Japantown and ate at 1300 on Fillmore. Another Blackboard Eats deal plus Visa promo. It seems that Visa has been using promotions lately and I wonder if they are seeing less transactions. The dinner was good but not enough for me to come back. It ain't no Georgia Brown's. I will say that the drinks and desserts made the meal worthwhile. The service in the dining room was very good despite the poor showing on the main courses.

Since I am leaving the next morning uber early, checked into the Hilton Garden Inn in Burlingame. Both the Doubletree and this HGI share a shuttle bus with a number of other hotels. I can appreciate the efficiency operationally but I would recommend building the time it will take to get to your hotel or airport when hotels operate this way. I think it took 25 minutes rather than 7 minutes because of the combination shuttle. If you don't want to deal, the Hilton Garden Inn North would be a better option. Ironically, I was dropped off at this one by friends but the shuttle driver was nice enough to drive me to the other. Luckily, he wasn't busy and did me the favor.
SFO used to be a very easy airport if you are a frequent flier. With the merger, they don't have the capacity to handle the crush. Usually a 90 minute buffer to boarding time would easily get you to your gate especially since I was next to the airport and carry-on luggage only. It ended up being a close call during the 'rush hours' of the airport. Very rarely do I see this kind of madness at an airport and hope that this will be managed better in the future. I'm not a fan of United using the international terminal for domestic flights. Inevitably, people are constantly blocking your path to board because they aren't paying attention or confused and they just mill around the attendant.

Of course, ended the trip using my Living Social deal for airport parking at Wally Park. :)

On a side note, women should never wear long skirts to the airport. Apparently, TSA views that as the equivalent of a baggy sweatshirt and will frisk you.

DC and Baltimore

2011-05-31T17:38:00.001-07:00

For the holiday weekend, I'm heading to the capital. I have some flight vouchers and they needed to be used. After bouncing around ideas, found a decent rate to BWI even though it is a holiday weekend and all the unrest in oil-producing countries causing oil to skyrocket in price.

I was going to start my trip well when I was notified of being upgraded to first class. Unfortunately, United Airlines swapped planes which caused a seat shuffle and a loss of capacity when I arrived at the airport. I volunteered (for flight vouchers) to fly to an alternate airport since I already lost my first class seat in the plane swap. At the rate I'm going, I will be flying on subsidy due to airline snafus for awhile. I wonder if there is a record for this. :)

Checked into the Doubletree Crystal City for the night near Reagan National airport. The hotel offers shuttle service to either DCA airport or the Pentagon metro station. It isn't advertised on the website but it does exist. The hotel was buzzing with people surprisingly. I wasn't expecting such activity on this side of the river. The hotel must have alot of young adults as there was a sign announcing appropriate etiquette such as reminding people to walk in the hallways with shoes. I opted for room service for dinner. The menu options are typical but I was really impressed with the speed of their service especially at such a late hour. It doesn't seem much but when you want food it isn't normal for a hotel room service to get food to you in 20 minutes. The burger was good but I don't recommend the bread pudding. I have to add that the bathroom was super efficient. I say that because the shower didn't quite hit the showehead only mode but the pressure was still good despite water flowing from the tub faucet AND the water drained quickly. Seems silly to mention but never underestimate the need for good pressure and drainage in a hotel room. It also seems that Doubletree has switched toiletries to Crabtree&Evelyn or Nuetrogena isn't the preferred vendor. Overall, a very pleasant stay.

After tromping around in Rockville, MD escaping the biker madness in DC, I checked into the Hilton Garden Inn DC Capitol the next day. It is the newest property in the city and thought to check it out. It is also the closest to Union Station which will be convenient for my trip to Baltimore via Amtrak. I have to say that this is the most modern HGI I've been in with a full service branded restaurant. The room was very spacious with convenient amenities like microwave and mini fridge. It also sits next to the New York metro station stop off the red line. I was sad to have forgotten a charger after leaving the hotel but the folks there was able to find it and FedEx back to me.

The next day rambled over to Union Station to take Amtrak up to Baltimore. It has been a very long time since I've been inside the Union Station in DC. I've forgotten how it is a mini mall by itself. If I hadn't already grabbed breakfast at HGI, I would have gotten a croissant from Au Bon Pain. I enjoyed the desk in business class. It let me spread out my electonics for my hour long trip. I also discovered that I prefer Canada Dry versus Schweppes ginger ale. I had ginger ale on the train and found it too much like soda water than gingery.

Before heading to Baltimore, I was searching the transit options in the city. It isn't advertised well but there is a free bus that runs through much of the inner harbor area. Charm City Circulator is the free transit and I was able to get from Penn Station to the harbor. Do not rely on Google as it doesn't seem to incorporate the schedules in their database. The Circulator offers a mobile application for those who'd like to see the bus schedules in real time.

Checked into the Homewood Suites Baltimore. It is an interesting hotel as it shares with the Hilton Garden Inn Baltimore Inner Harbor. Both hotels are in the same building and shares the same lobby and counter. This is the first time I've ever seen this setup. I wonder why they did it this way instead of just making the whole building is one hotel.

I have forgotten how much I like the Homewood brand. The suites were nice and the complimentary dinner is always nice even if I don't use the benefit.

Wandered through the city and failed on getting to a couple of places due to the holidays and business relocation. In roaming the city, I have mixed feelings about Baltimore as a vacation spot. It seems such a tough city and yet they throw this huge retail complex in the inner harbor area. Since I couldn't find the spots I was looking to do, I went back to the hotel and grabbed a bite at Bagby Pizza. They have really really thin crust pizza. I was able to eat a whole small pizza on my own, that's how thin the crust was.

I was too tired from the humidity tromping through Baltimore to do anything but watch TV. Keeping it quiet, I grabbed an early dinner at Roy's. The service here was spot on and I enjoyed watching the kitchen dynamics from the counter. Being in Baltimore, I tried the crabcake and didn't find it appealing. Maybe it was a bad day for me to eat since I wasn't feeling well. I did like my aloha roll so it can't be a seafood thing. In my sleepy stupor, I did check out of the the hotel forgetting my change purse. I never did like 7 am flights!

San Francisco

2011-04-12T17:34:00.000-07:00

Went up to SF for the weekend to visit some friends. I opted to fly out of John Wayne airport since I'm heading to work after I land. The great thing about John Wayne is the ease of getting through the airport, the food outlets are always fast, and the customer service is always pleasant. I was able to get a complimentary upgrade as I was walking into the plane on United Airlines. I am always reminded as the plane takes off the crazy rules in Orange County requiring pilots to gun the planes off the runway.

Checked into the Hilton Financial District. Between the two city Hiltons, I think this property edges out the other because of the proximity to Chinatown and the rooms are bigger.

Grabbed dinner at My Tofu Place in Inner Richmond. Ordered several dishes to eat family style - bibimbap, tofu soup, daeji bulgogi and korean pancake. Overall, a satisfying meal!

After some digesting time, went to Joe's ice cream after talking about visiting BiRite creamery in Mission. I had the rasperry swirl, toasted almond and chocolate peanut butter ice cream. The ice cream was very good especially the chocolate peanut butter.

In the morning, I grabbed breakfast in the hotel. There is some construction happening next to the hotel and the front desk people upgraded my continental to "American" for the possible inconvenience of the construction noise. I would say that if you can get the full american breakfast - basically hot buffet - it is worthwhile. I will add that the continental selection includes some tasty doughnuts. Usually when doughnuts are given, you are eating stale dry ones but this particular time it was of excellent quality.

Met up a friend at the Cherry Blossom festival in J-town. Enjoyed playing catch up and looking at all the food stalls and promotional items. There was an all asian band playing for entertainment. Not overly crowded, it reminded me of a neighborhood block party.

Afterwards, went to Tartine Bakery for an assortment of desserts. I figured it would be great to have for after dinner. I saw the bakery showcased on Food Network and thought it be nice to cruise through the Mission district. Down the street, BiRite Creamery was packed with people. Since the bus stop I needed was nearby, I decided to make a pit stop. There is a creamery sit down and a to go soft serve window. Seeing that the creamery line stretched out to to corner of the street, I went for the soft serve. I really enjoyed the flavors of the day - salted caramel and chocolate. I was worried that it would be too much for me but the flavors melded well as a swirl. I can't say I like BiRite or Joe's since I didn't have ice cream at both places but I enjoyed both very much.

Afterwards, grabbed dinner at King of Thai #2 in inner richmond. I've begun to notice that pumpkin curry is becoming common in menus and ordered the chicken pumpkin curry. The sauce was good but I do prefer dark versus white meat. Pork may have been a better choice for me. I tried the duck fried rice and it is popular for a reason.

The next day, I checked out of the Hilton Garden Inn San Francisco Airport/Burlingame. The hotel now offers beds that can be customized to a person's firmness preference. I didn't mess with the knob on the side of the bed but I thought it was interesting.

Vegas

2011-03-31T17:49:00.000-07:00

Went out to Vegas on a personal errand and took Lux Bus America for the trip. Normally, driving is the cheapest option but the bus is great is you are travelling alone. Pickups are throughout the major areas of Southern California. Caught the bus at the Anaheim location, the parking facilities does charge $5 per day. Almost like airport parking! The bus was your typical tour bus with TVs interspersed throughout and individual sound ports trays and power ports. Beverage, snacks, and restroom facilities too. In some ways, it felt like an airplane but on wheels. The company must attract a lot of tourists as most of the passengers were from Europe, India or Australia. The bus was packed in both directions even though it was a weekday. Maybe I was catching the spring break crowd.

From My Travels

The trip does make one pit stop at the Barstow station. I've occassionally stopped in the area because of Popeye's. I've never walked into the station but it is an interesting place to people watch. The station is a major stop for buses and Greyhound serves as a station. I laughed to myself when I went to the restroom and a woman was in a stall doing her business while talking on the cellphone then walks out of the stall pulling on her shirt covering her belly holding her bag of food with the other hand.

Arrived at Harrah's and decided to buy a day pass on the monorail to get to the Hilton Las Vegas. I've never taken the Las Vegas Monorail. I don't think it ever made sense either because of pricing or alternative modes of transportation. At the moment, the one day pass of $15 was reduced to $12 which made it a better bargain for me. It also helped that the day pass is a 24 hour pass rather than a "day" pass as so many transit passes go by. The rail was comfortable and convenient for my purposes. I may be tempted to use it again even if I have a car when I go back to Las Vegas.

I was in the typical room at the Hilton. At least the type I'm always given, the hotel has been consistently been giving me the north tower between 17th and 21st floors. I can't complain much though since the room was $39. I haven't been to the hotel in awhile and noticed a couple of changes. I think the dancing girls next to the card tables didn't do so well because the area looked like it was being deconstructed. The Fortuna Coffee and Wine Bar expanded to include more seating area.

Grabbed dinner at Lawry's. I've never been to the Las Vegas location given all the other options on the strip. I had a certificate that needed to be used and I decided to spend it here. The restaurant has a very Frank Gehry feel to it and I do wonder who did the architecture. The most modern feeling restaurant that I've been in under the Lawry brand. Since I just had prime rib from the night before at a Lawry's carvery, I ordered the rib eye steak with au gratin potatoes. A lot of fists for me at dinner and I was happy to have done so. The steak was excellent and I really enjoyed the potatoes with my glass of reisling. The desserts rarely appeals to me at Lawry's and I headed over to Aria to visit Jean Phillipe patisserie for a sticky bun and snickers cake. The sticky bun was good and the snickers cake was good. I don't know if I would call it a snickers cake though. It was a chocolate nouse with caramel and nuts in the middle. It was tasty when chocolate cravings hit. Headed back to the monorail at Bally's. In using the monorail, I did go through the Flamingo and Bally's, hotels I haven't been in for quite some time. The Flamingo looked the same and I noticed a TCBY in their food court. I don't see TCBY outside of airports too often. The Bally's reminded me of the Hilton Las Vegas decor for some reason with a decent sized sportsbook area.

To explain how the travel logistics work, I have to take the city center tram from Aria which I caught at Crystal. The mall, by the way, was very empty probably because all the stores are high end. At first, I thought maybe because no one is really around during the week but Vegas was pretty hopping for a Wednesday. No one has told Vegas we are in a recession. :) From Aria, took the tram to Bellagio and then walked to Bally's. A lot of walking but helpful in burning calories.

The next day, I was up early to grab some breakfast at the buffet in the Hilton. I'm not normally in Vegas during the week and found the difference in selection at the buffet good. No carving station, crab legs,ice cream machine, or full dessert selection. It was replaced with grilled pork chops (good), chicken fried steak (a little dry), and fresh waffles (good). For what I was looking for, it was suitable especially since it was free.

Before heading back, I went back to Bellagio to eat at Noodles for lunch. I was looking at a website for cheap eats and saw the posting. I should have known that a restaurant in Bellagio wouldn't be cheap. Although my soya chicken was on the pricey side, the chicken was done well and ther service was quick and gracious. The only thing is that the rice was terrible, reminded me of Uncle Ben's. Afterwards, grabbed a sticky bun from Jean Phillipe patisserrie. I was tempted to get some gelato but stayed with the sticky bun for the ride home.

Mammoth Mountain

2011-03-21T20:21:00.000-07:00

With the heavy rains, ran up to Mammoth Mountain resort to catch some spring snowboarding before the end of the season. It also helped that I had to use a discounted ticket. Took off for Bishop after work because I definitely wouldn't have made it all the way to Mammoth and I didn't want to drive in icy roads on the mountains at 2 am. Stayed at the Super 8 Bishop which is my typical spot to stay while in Bishop. The rooms are clean, serviceable, roomy and comes with a mini-fridge. Drove the final 30 miles to Mammoth the next morning. Before leaving Bishop, grabbed some coffee from Starbucks and doughnuts from the shop next at 905 N Main St, Bishop, CA. The donut shop sells jalapeno ham and cheese croissants and were tasty. Not a combination I normally see in this kind of shop. The actual doughnuts, I could have saved my $2 and not bought any.

Romped around the mountain for most of the day, conditions were excellent even though winds were strong and the top half of the mountain was closed. I haven't been to Mammoth all season and they have improved upon the amenities at the resort. At the McCoy station, I had some awesome nutella and banana waffles. It totally hit the spot and is a better option than crepes. They even make sandwiches out of the waffles, this must be a fad as I'm starting to see waffle sandwiches popping up everywhere. After cruising around the mountain, went back down the mountain and went through Bishop. Stopped and grabbed some dinner from Upper Crust at 1180 N Main St, Bishop, CA 93514. I have always enjoyed the chicken wings and the pizza here and make it a point to eat here when I get the chance.

Shanghai

2011-03-08T18:24:00.000-08:00

Travelling to Shanghai and checking out the expat lifestyle. United Airlines is advertising direct flights from LAX to Shanghai but I will have to wait until May. On this trip, I had hoped to upgrade to Business using miles but it wasn’t meant to be. :( At least there was free food and booze to make the time fly faster in Economy. It also helped that I didn't sleep the night before which made me super tired on the plane. Pudong Airport is the airport for Shanghai. From my understanding, it is a relatively new airport due to the growing economies in Shanghai. Went through customs fairly easily and the process was efficient. Free wireless in the airport which is great as long as you want to read email only. With the "great firewall", many popular Western websites can be blocked here. Since I was visiting a corporate expat, a driver picked us up and drove out to the Luwan district staying at Legend Apartments, a popular apartment tower with expats and affluent Shangainese. From what I hear, foreigners aren’t allowed to drive or if they can it is very very expensive. On the road, I noticed a lot of black Buicks and VW Passats were cars of choice for drivers.

On my first day, I wandered in the neighborhood to the French Concession area where street stalls were abundant. I didn't recognize any of the food and randomly bought some things to snack on. Pancake like pastries and baos filled with unknown fillings were very popular. I did wish I knew some Chinese to ask what was inside.

Grabbed lunch at Di Shui Dong on 2/F, 56 Maoming Nan Lu, near Changle Lu. I found it through Smart Shanghai's website. It is Hunan style food and it was ok. Not spicy but nothing out of this world. The dish most talked about, the beef spareribs, was a little on the dry side and I didn't find the dishes that spicy.

In the afternoon, went over to Nanshi district and visited the Fabric Market. With tailor recommendations in hand, I ordered several tailored suit jackets and shirts. They are also able to turn around the clothes in a few days. In comparison to my experience in Hong Kong, quality was better and prices were cheaper.

For dinner, went to Ya Wang Oa Jiou Quian,better known as Duck King to westerners, at 77 Jiangning Lu, near Fengyang Lu. The specialty is Peking duck and I had plenty of it! For the bao in Peking duck, it came in the tortilla style. Next time, I'd opt for the bun version instead. I usually don’t find the tortilla version as appealing. I would also advise that the portions are made for two people unless you order other entrees. This is a local chain in Shanghai and there are five other locations in the city.

The second day, I went out to the Pudong area where most of the major international companies headquarter. While waiting for my friend, I hung out at a Starbucks near to Shanghai GM HQ. This particular location caters to many expat families as I saw moms with kids hanging out here. This particular Starbucks is a two level complex and serves food and drinks in silverware and cups if you eat on the premises. Pretty cool to see people sipping from Starbucks mugs while enjoying their muffins. :) I have a friend in the States who would LOVE this place since Starbucks is his second home. I also found the pastries offered here of better quality than the US version – chocolate raspberry muffin excellent, oat caramel bread pudding tasty, and red bean scone delicious.

Went to KyonChon for lunch and had korean chicken wings. I was first introduced to this chain when I visited New York. It seems that they established a location in the Pudong area, in Thumb Plaza. I visited the Haagen-Daz next door and completely forgot to get my ice cream crispy sandwich. Haagen-Daz doesn't offer it in the States and I will have to get it at another time.

Before heading out to dinner, went out to Carrefour to grab some household supplies. It looks like a Chinese Wal-Mart but the local businesses are still cheaper than this place.  I did notice that most electronics were more expensive than in the US as was appliances. The only thing I saw that was cheaper here was rice cookers. If you ever get a chance to buy them in Asia, I would recommend. A small rice cooker was $10 US versus $20 US in the states. The $20 US version is absolutely inferior to the $10 US chinese version.

Met some other expats at the Skyline Bar & Terrace. Happy hour specials here tend to be a buy one get one free variety around here and my group capitalized on that deal promptly. Excellent lychee martinis here. Afterwards, went to a restaurant where I was told they had excellent braised catfish in spicy oils. I didn't catch the name of the restaurant but if you can read chinese, the name is in the picture above. Food was good but I did find it a little oily. I also noticed that rice in Shanghai tended to be short grain and a little mushy. Before turning in for the night, grabbed a nightcap at Kaiba bar down the street. A very cool bar, they specialized in foreign beers.

On my third day, I went out to Ikea. I have read in newspapers how the Chinese view Ikea as a weird amusement park. I didn’t see it but I did come during unpopular hours. The café was packed though, I’ve never seen so many people wanting to eat Swedish meatballs. For the price, food was cheap.

Afterwards, grabbed lunch at Crystal Jade restaurant at South Block Xintiandi, 2nd Floor - 12A&B, Nanli 6-7 Lane 123 Xinye Road, by Madang Road(in the modern mall at the back of Xintiandi, it is up one flight by escalator). By far, my best meal in Shanghai. Dumplings, pork belly, and garlic pork ribs were the highlights of the meal. Pricey for Shanghai, I would recommend visiting the restaurant and the area is good for people watching. I saw two Ferraris on the streets, very high end stores completely empty with bored salespeople. All the high end malls in Shanghai doesn't seem to be attracting any customers.

Wandered over to the Bund to walk off the many calories consumed at lunch. The river isn’t super clean and the view is hazy from the smog but the view is quite nice.

For dinner, went to Gourmet Café munching on burgers and shakes. Beef in China is very expensive and Australian beef is a common import. The burgers were decent but the spiked milkshakes and martinis are very good. Afterwards, went to the I love Shanghai bar at 2/F, 1788 Xinzha Lu, near Jiaozhou Lu. Free pool, it has a local bar feel with an interesting mix of expats inside.

On my fourth day, grabbed a light snack at McDonald’s before visiting Yu Gardens. Followed the advice of my Frommer’s travel guide and went early in the morning to avoid the crowds. The surrounding streets are a tourist trap with vendors trying to get you to buy watches or camera batteries. Yu Garden is an impressive facility, I would give it a couple of hours to walk through the entire area. If you are interested in shopping in the area, I would say give it a half day. For lunch, went to Tai Thai at Tianzifang, Lane 248 Taikang Lu, near Sinan Lu. The lychee martini was a bit too strong for my taste, the beef salad was excellent, and the duck curry was good (duck was a little tough but the curry sauce was excellent in taste and spiciness).

Went back to the Fabric market to pick up my tailored clothes. I was a bit early for one order and killed some time back in Xintiandi at a Haagen-Daz. I took this opportunity to get my crispy ice cream sandwich. I did notice that afternoon tea is very popular at the local ice cream and coffee places. My eyes popped out at the cost of high tea at Haagen-Daz. Then again, Haagen-Daz internationally is a sit down formal ice creamery place than their US counterparts. I did find it interesting that at every Haagen-Daz, I saw a Coldstone Creamery around the corner. The same with Starbucks and Peet’s.

For my last night, opted to stay in and cook. Visited the local grocery store catering to expats and grabbed some food. American products were really expensive, a bag of Doritos was $6US. YIKES! Coke was the only exception as a bottle of soda was $0.50 US.

The two things I took away from this trip is that:

1. Chinese people really don't care about traffic rules. The pedestrians, scooters, cars, and buses all seem to go when they want without regard to others. I've seen scooters jump onto sidewalks if they are going to be stopped by traffic or even the traffic light. No one stops at a red light if they are turning right which doesn't quite make sense to me. Finally, pedestrians are lucky that the speed limits here are low because they are standing in the middle of the road like Frogger trying to cross the street.

2. Censorship in China is pretty funny. Internet sites are blocked if the government finds out that it can be used as political propoganda. Blogging and discussion boards are pretty much banned, Facebook - don't even think about it. I've been told that movies are routinely edited down if it is too violent. Really, how can anything be too violent for the Chinese? :p

In the Northwest

2011-02-13T23:39:00.000-08:00

So, it seems Hyatt has somehow targeted me for promotions. I received an offer to stay in Seattle, a two night stay for the price of one, in one of their two new properties. It was a great offer and I scheduled a vacation to snowboard and visit family. After landing into Sea-Tac Airport on United Airlines. I found one thing interesting at Sea-Tac,thus airport is very family oriented. Usually, in women's restrooms you'll find vending dispensers for feminine products or over the counter medicine. In this airport, you won't find either but you will find diapers! :) I was able to priceline a rental car from National and picked out a Hyundai Santa Fe. National allows you to pick a car in a category rather than assigning you one and I can see why people like it. A very smooth ride, I'm impressed with the improvements Hyundai has in its car line up. Not too gas guzzly for a SUV (achieved an average of 22 mph over 700 miles), I found the car very comfortable with enough add-ons like USB ports and integrated bluetooth in the steering wheel to make the long drive pleasant.

Since there were two Hyatts, I opted for the Hyatt at Olive 8. A boutique european-style hotel, it has a modern and swanky feel. After walking around Pike Market snacking on doughnuts and chowder, grabbed dinner at Serious Pie. Started off with a mushroom pizza and side of ham hock appetizer then finishing the meal with cannolis. A little out of sync but it worked.

The next day, took off for Crystal Mountain for some snowboarding action. The snow conditions were good but I think that Utah is a better option/location outside of California resorts. I rented some demo boards from the shop. Tried out the Rossignol Diva MagTek which has magne-traction. It helped cut through icier conditions on the mountain. In the afternoon, I switched to the Bataleon Distortia which has a triple board base. I really enjoyed the feel of the board since it had a natural rocking feel when carving down the mountain. That night, grabbed dinner with a cousin at Salty's on Alkie Beach. I greatly enjoyed my steelhead entree and grand marnier cheesecake.

The next day drove down to Portland to visit more cousins. I also ordered a new snowboard taking advantage of the no sales tax in the state. Checked into Hampton Inn Clackamas. Off the beaten path and a homey environment, I appreciated the welcome cookies and happy smile from the front desk. After checking in, went to Yuki Sushi and Sake Bar for dinner. Enjoyed an array of sushi rolls despite the slow service. Afterwards, walked to Mio Gelato at 1517 Northeast Brazee Street, Portland, OR 97212 for some after dinner dessert.

Went to Mt. Hood with my cousins the next day. Found out that a lot of resorts have night skiing in the area and stayed until 6 pm. I wasn't interested but it would have been best to have arrived in the afternoon and left at closing time of 7:30 pm. The snow condition improved in the early evening combined with the snow showers. The cooler temperatures improved the snow quality quite a bit. As I was trying out new gear, the snow conditions were good enough for my purposes. Afterwards, grabbed dinner at Jin Wah at 8001 SE Powell Blvd,Ste D, Portland, OR 97206. Typical Chinese restaurant, it hit the spot after the long cold day of snowboarding. Checked into the Hampton Inn Portland East to prepare for travels home the next day. A little dated and located near Portland airport, I was happy to get a room with a study. The extra space gave me room to re-pack all the snowboard gear before heading back home the next day.

There was some time before the flight to go back to downtown Seattle after dropping off the rental at the airport. Opted to head back to downtown taking the light rail, SoundTransit, and headed back to Pike Market for some last minute food shopping. Easy and convenient for a $5 daily pass, loaded up on some last fresh produce, mainly Jazz apples and naval oranges. I don't know what it is about Washington apples from Seattle but it is the only place where I've been able to eat fresh apples. Maybe they don't put the food wax on them or something, I don't get that scratchy feeling in my throat when I eat the tree fruits from around here. Since it was a Monday, I locked on a deal from Yelp and had chowder from Pike Place Chowder. If you are going to use the promotion from Yelp, place separate orders if you're in a group. The $1 off is per order rather than per item.

Los Angeles

2011-01-29T07:17:00.000-08:00

I'm here for school and opted to stay near campus for the weekend residential. I haven't used points in awhile and used it for this stay. I normally wouldn't but there seems to be a convention and all hotel rates are really expensive in the area. Typically around $100 on the weekends, it was double for this particular weekend. Staying in the Hilton Checkers and it is a roomier stay this time around. I was given a corner room on one of the top floors, the views ain't bad. I really need to start remembering to bring VGA cables with me since hotels are beginning to let you tap into the flat panel TVs. The multi-media port on the credenza would have been nice to watch some DVD movies. I was also surprised to see a welcome snack of petit fours as well as turn down service. I know it sounds strange but I do enjoy having turn down service and have missed it when the hotels starting pulling back these kinds of services.

Grabbed dinner with some classmates at Roy's. Started out with an appetizer of tuna sushi. I really liked the Barramundi entree with the coconut alfredo sauce the last time I was here and I ordered it again. Of course, finished the night off with the chocolate souffle. I do see myself at a Roy's very soon as one of my dinner-mates gave me a $20 coupon since it was expiring very soon and he was taking off for Atlanta.

The next day, I opted to have breakfast at the hotel rather than have the continental breakfast offered at school. I remembered the waffle being good and this time thought to try the french toast. It was good but I think I would have preferred the waffle.

Since I was on my lunch for lunch and dinner, corralled some of my classmates for lunch. For the lunch break, wandered over to Gil's Indian Restaurant which is located inside the Stillwell Hotel. The entrees were good but a little pricey for lunch on a Saturday. The lunch buffet during the week is the best deal.

Before going home for the day, went to Urban Noodle with a classmate for a light dinner. They have a dim sum appetizer menu and noodles entrees. I ordered the sticky rice chicken and shared some chicken wings and pepper chicken noodles. I wouldn't order the sticky rice chicken but the noodles were good.

Nittany Lions!

2011-01-15T08:02:00.000-08:00

Went out to State College, PA to visit a friend. Flew on United through Dulles Airport to State College University Park Airport. With my short layover, I was happy to see that Dulles had an ATT hotspot. Most airports seem to support Boingo or T-Mobile. Being an ATT wireless and DSL customer, it came in handy as I bypassed the internet access fee and surfed the internet while waiting for my little prop plane. Having never been to this part of Pennsylvania, I found State College airport similar to other college town airports. Small but serviceable with people who are super friendly and helpful.

After a quick shower and walking around 30 degree weather, grabbed brunch at The Original Waffle Shop. A three store chain, it is wildly popular with the local college crowd. I had the banana pecan waffle and it was made very well. No soggy parts anywhere, it was all crisp with plenty of nuts. :)

A word of advice, alot of places are cash only in this small town and no major banks are in the area. So bring cash before getting here. Either find a local ATM with reciprocity with your bank. Credit unions and Citibank were the only ATMs I could find that was in the area that I could access.

After that meal, drove around Penn State University and saw some of the campus. Luckily the campus is accessible via roads as the weather didn't invite me to wander around on foot.

Later that night, had dinner at Herwig's Austrian Bistro. I was feeling rather reminiscent of my trip to Munich and thought some Bavarian food would be nice to try. The menu looked very authentic and the german customers in the restaurant was a good sign. I shared the Butcher's Delight which is an assortment platter featuring roast pork, bratwurst, grilled smoked pork (kassler), sausage-of-the-day, sauerkraut and bread dumpling (knödel). So much food and received a razzing from the restaurant folks for not finishing. :)

Afterwards, went to the famed Berkey Creamery at PSU. Of course! I tried the raspberry fudge torte and the flavor was rich with quality and plentiful in size. The prices were so cheap, reminded me of thrifty ice cream prices when I was a kid. They have a big following as they will ship ice cream nationwide....although too pricey for my blood.

The next day, headed out to Hershey and visited the Hershey Story Museum and Chocolate World. I didn't go through the museum but rather looked from the outside. The museum is a two story building with collages of the history of the town and the Hershey family. They also had interactive sessions where you can see where and how chocolate is made. I wandered to the Cafe Zooka and tried the chocolate tasting. If you feel like trying melted chocolate, this is for you. Even sharing, I couldn't finish half of the five shots of chocolate given.

At Chocolate World, it was like Willy Wonka on steroids. There were 3D Movies, trolley tours, chocolate lab and the biggest retail store of Hershey I have ever seen. I did enjoy making my own chocolate bar, I opted for the milk chocolate with toffee, rice krispies, and chocolate chips. The attraction included a personalized cover which I thought was fun to watch happen.

After doing some retail work in the Hershey store, wandered over to Houlihan's for dinner. The restaurant had a "Houston's" feel and the food was good. Went in during happy hour time and was able to get the appetizer salad for $2 and the Fritos Spicy Burger was good. I can't turn down Fritos...finished with two scoops of their homemade ice cream and brownie. In general, the food prices around here have been super reasonable and the food was relatively good even at this chain restaurant.

Headed home the next day. Since I was starting my trip in a small airport, it didn't take long to check my luggage and get onto my plane. At Dulles Airport, I grabbed a takeout order of burger and fries from Five Guys. Primarily an East Coast chain, I've read about the In N Out vs Five Guys comparison and was curious as to what the talk was all about. I will say that I think In N Out is better (and this comes from not being a huge fan of In N Out, there are better burger chains in my opinion). The fries were a little soggy for me and too thick, it just didn't have the crispness I expect from typical fries. The burger was a typical burger but I felt it was a little bland even though I had almost everything on it.

Phoenix

2011-01-09T13:00:00.000-08:00

Came out to Phoenix to visit and didn't realize that the BCS Fiesta Bowl is on the Monday of the weekend I'm in town. It would explain why all the hotels are either booked or have really high rates.

Due to scarcity, stayed at the Hampton Inn in Chandler. I usually don't stay out this way but the price was right. Slightly older and located within a business park, the hotel served its purpose. I was pleasantly surprised to find a fridge which worked out well with taking home leftovers from dinner. The only new thing I noticed was the breakfast. Seems like the waffle makers are becoming popular and they have this batter dispenser which makes it more efficient. You don't have batter sitting out and you don't waste a lot of cups to hold the batter.

Went out to Sierra Bonita Grill for brunch. I had the banana chocolate muffin with my cowboy hash, very yummy. Even swiped some chile verde biscuits from another plate. Apparently, the restaurant is going through some management changes but the food is still yummy.

After a power nap, grabbed dinner at Mastro's in Scottsdale. Not exactly in the center of Scottsdale, this Mastro's seem to be a recent addition and it was jamming. The restaurant was able to seat us early since the reservation was for another 30 minutes. Shared the warm spinach salad (a little too vinegary), chef's cut rib eye, gorgonzola mac n cheese (a little too buttery for me) and creamed corn. The martinis are a little stiff here but generous in portions. Finished dinner with butter cake and chocolate sin cake. I waddled out of there and promptly went to sleep at the hotel.

The next day, moved to the Hampton Inn & Suites Phoenix Airport South. With the game in town, Auburn fans seem to have taken over everywhere and a lot of the hotels are sold out. I was able to find a last minute drop in rates at this location. I've been to this property in the past and have always enjoyed the convenient location. Also works well since my flight is at 6 am the next morning. The hotel has a newer feel and the lobby area is pretty spacious. No fridge here but I didn't really have a need for it. On a side note, this Hampton is one of the few Hamptons that offer a manager reception/happy hour during the week. I'm not sure what is offered but it seems nice if you're here during the week for business.

Cruised through Scottsdale for a brief detour and visited Sprinkles ordering the "The King" (banana cupcake with peanut butter frosting), Red Velvet and Vanilla cupcakes. With the college fans around, I found it cute that the red velvet was "Auburn Red Velvet" and the dark chocolate was "Ducky Chocolate." I have to admit, I don't know where the Duck fans were but I could tell you there were plenty of Auburn fans roaming around.

After some family visits, headed to Tasty Thai on 510 West Broadway, Tempe AZ 85282. From what I can tell, the restaurant just opened last month. The plaza is fairly empty of businesses and the restaurant was empty. Feeling adventurous, ordered the pumpkin curry with chicken. It was delish, I've been on a pumpkin kick lately and I've never seen any Thai restaurant offer a pumpkin curry. The thai ice tea appears freshly made, no powder stuff and not overly sweet.

San Diego

2010-12-13T10:41:00.000-08:00

Decided to do a local non-car trip and catch my first professional football game at the same time. Grabbed a roundtrip ticket on Amtrak and took the Pacific Surfliner down to downtown San Diego. The Orange County stations have free parking and it was a very pleasant trip as I was able to enjoy the scenery or work from my laptop without worrying about traffic or delays.

Stayed at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina, a very lovely facility. The hotel was very active this weekend as there was a major convention in town and weekend travellers. The weather warmed up considerably and was pleasant at 70+ degrees. The facility had fire pits overlooking the marina as well as a couple of pools. The spa was fairly large as well. Not a bad spot to hang out if you're so inclined. After grabbing lunch at Quinn's, a pub in the lobby, wandered out to USS Midway checking out the naval carrier and planes on the ship. It was interesting to find out that the USS Midway was involved in the Vietnam conflict as well as the Gulf crisis. Compared to the naval museums on Hawaii, the USS Midway is very well thought out and you can see the investment made in making this an interactive museum.

Afterwards, had dinner at Mint Downtown Thai. The food was great and 'Thai hot' actually was spicy. I normally find foods not very spicy when the majority of the locals aren't indigenous to the food. I had the red curry with duck and the garlic pepper beef. Both entrees were really good and well-proportioned. The wine list is reasonable and the sticky rice with mango was delicious.

Although I had dessert, I was told I should try Extraordinary Desserts and opted for round two. After enjoying the caramal chocolate lava bun and the salted caramel and vanilla ice cream dish, I was very happy to have duked it out for a second round. :) The place was super packed when we first arrived but it seems like alot of people were waiting for tables or just looking at the glass cases. I wandered in and was able to find spots at the bar which turned out great as the bartender was really nice and knowledgeable.

Having consumed so many calories, wandered back to the gaslamp district to grab a last round of drinks at The Local Eatery and Drinking Hole before turning it in.

The next day, went to Hash House A Go Go for breakfast. After perusing the menu, I opted to share the Tractor Combo with blueberry pecan pancake. Even sharing, the plate was still a quarter there but I left happy. I was able to even fit a couple of bites of the sage chicken breast from someone else's plate and I enjoy the honey batter they use on it.

Took the trolley over to Qualcomm Stadium and watched the beatdown the San Diego Chargers gave to the Kansas City Chiefs. In comparison to the college football stadiums I've been, the stadium was smaller than I'm used to but we still had great views even from the nose bleed sections. The best deal in that stadium is the all you can drink cup, for $11 you can drink as much soda as you want which worked out well as I shared the soda and the cup even allows for three straws so you can figure out who's who.

When the game ended, it took about 90 minutes to get out of the stadium and back to downtown via trolley. I wasn't sure if there was an easier way but I was happy to finally get onto the Amtrak train home. I even saw some fans from the game heading home on the train as well.

All in all, a car-less local vacation was really great. In looking at whether it was worth driving or taking the train, you could probably make the argument that driving is better.

Driving = Gas ($25) + Parking at various spots ($70) = $95

Train = Tickets ($70) + transit/cab ($50) = $120

Yes, the train route was more expensive but it would also mean someone had to be a designated driver and deal with driving around in traffic. For me, the extra $25 was worth not having to deal with it and navigating the city was fine without a car. I probably burned off more calories that way too.... ;p

The other North American national capital

2010-11-12T19:06:00.001-08:00

I've taken off to Ottawa to visit family. Airfares to Canada has really jumped and I opted to use miles to fly on this trip. It has been awhile since I've been on Air Canada and found the experience enjoyable. The planes are outfitted with individual monitors (typical JetBlue planes) with USB and electric outlet ports. It was nice to power up the phones, laptops, and watch personalized movies.

I have to say that I always forget the international standards for passing through security since I tend to remember the American version most and get discombobulated when dealing with the security people. Since Ottawa isn't a typical destination city, I flew through Vancouver en route to Ottawa. The Maple Lounge at LAX was rather small but provided free internet. The Maple Lounge in Vancouver was nice and comfortable but internet was not free. Same provider, different prices. Even more ironic, the airport provides free wireless internet which makes the pay for use internet in the Maple Lounge silly. I do like both airports, both had a modern design to it and seemed rather effecient feeding, entertaining, or moving people along.

On my first day, I had lunch at Siam Bistro. I had the Pad Kee Mao and tasted the Laad Na and Panang Curry. The entrees were good for where I was since Ottawa isn't known for its culinary ethnic foods. Afterwards, dropped by 3 Tarts on 1320 Wellington Street, Ottawa, ON K1Y 3B7 to grab a pecan pie to eat later.

On the last day in Ottawa, I cruised through Costco to buy some Canadian candy like Crunchies aka Violet Crumble. Tried the poutine from the food court, it was ok. I did notice that they had a caramel sundae which I hope will make it to the US versions someday....

Later, had some Indian food for lunch at Indian Express Food & Sweets. I have always found the general quality of indian food better in Canada than in the States, must be higher demand in Canada. :)

Flying back on Air Canada making a layover in Toronto. Toronto airport is always a madhouse, I was glad we were making connections as they had a special area for connections. People who weren't where in lines that snaked out for more than an hour, craziness. At least all the airports have free internet and you can pass the time in line that way....

Day trip to NorCal

2010-11-11T10:28:00.000-08:00

I went up for the day to San Francisco for a baby shower. It has been a relatively good week of travel since I've been in first class for all the flights so far. Yay! Came into the city later than originally planned due to bad weather which will later turn out well for me. Since I missed my ride to the city, I caught the BART to the city using my new Translink card. I do enjoy that mass transit is moving towards plastic cards that can hold cash value. Makes travelling without cash so much easier...

Hung out in downtown for the day and saw some friends. When I headed back to the airport, I was able to volunteer to be bumped off my original flight on United Airlines to a later flight. Garunteed first class seat and $400 in vouchers. So for all the incovenience of the flight delays today, I was happy to get some compensation.

Chicago

2010-11-04T21:32:00.000-07:00

Went to the Windy City fo work, I was able to secure automatic upgrades on United for my trip. A pleasant surprise, I arrived to stay at the Four Points by Sheraton by Midway Airport. A relatively old hotel, it was a pleasant stay with the free wireless internet, nightly water bottle service and the Wall Street Journal newspaper. The WSJ is nice as most hotels only provide USA Today as a reading source.

Met up with a friend the first night and went out to Mike Ditka's in the Loop. I haven't been in several years and my friend, who is a local, actually never been. We shared the wedge salad, rib-eye steak, jalapeno hash browns and banana cream pie. The food did not disappoint! And before you think sharing seems wierd, the food portions are large that we were busting out of our stomachs with the food ordered.

The next night, I went to Vivo for a company dinner. The food was rather forgettable and I was happy when the meal ended. The appetizers helped stave off my hunger. Afterwards, went to Boston Blackies for a nightcap before turning it in for the night.

The next day, met up with another friend for dinner. I was thinking of getting pizza but my friend isn't a fan of deep dish pizza. So I went to the closest thing that came to mind, Cosi. My friend was amiable having not experienced the sandwich shop. I greatly enjoyed my fig and brie sandwich (a seasonal item) and the s'mores dessert. My companion also enjoyed the meal, even taking the menu back for lunch purposes. I always get a kick when visiting taking a local to a place they've never been despite living/working in the area. :)

Ocktoberfest!

2010-09-30T16:46:00.000-07:00

Looking to use some hotel certificates in hand, I was prompted with the idea of a trip to Germany. Ocktoberfest seemed like a good idea and blazed off to Munich. A couple of firsts for me on this trip. I've never flown on Lufthansa and never been to Germany which is also the most east I have travelled on this globe.

At LAX, I normally don't fly out of Tom Bradley International terminal and was pleasantly surprised how nice it was inside. I stopped over at the Star Alliance lounge in the terminal and I think it is one of the nicest lounges at LAX. I'm always a sucker for free booze and the food was filling. There was chicken fried rice and ready-made ramen bowls to be had. Definite asian influence around here.... :)

This is also my first time flying on an Airbus 340-600. I'm assuming it is the counterpart to the Boeing 747 planes. The plane overall felt cramp and I'm convinced that Germans must like really warm weather. I'm not prone to being hot too often but the flight was uncomfortably warm where I was sitting at in the plane and planes are usually freezing! It was so warm that the chocolate bars I had with me on my tray table melted inside the packaging without me touching them! The plane isn't equipped with individual vents and the flight attendants didn't seem to know how to get the plane cooler as the whole plane was controlled by one system. When I did go to the restrooms, I did find that the back of the plane was cooler than the front, so if you ever assign yourself a seat, you might want to consider the back of the plane. Another thing was the restrooms were huge (for airplane bathrooms) and it was "downstairs." The restrooms are placed in the lower part of the airplane and you walk down the stairs in the middle of the plane to access them. I did like the service on the flight as I was able to get two free meals and as much alcohol that I could take. They don't give you the little taste bottles, they had the big bottles and poured directly into a cup. Good stuff!

Did a quick layover in Frankfurt Airport before getting into Munich Airport. It took almost an hour to walk from the international terminal to the domestic terminal to catch the connecting flight. I think I walked two miles in the airport, it was that large. I don't know what I was expecting at Frankfurt but it isn't an efficient airport. Surprising since Germans are known for their efficiency, right? The customs was confusing if you were trying to stay in the airport. The Lufthansa Business Lounge was a nice reprieve from all the trampsing around I did in the airport. More free alchohol and I'm not even at my destination yet!

The Munich airport is a lot easier to navigate. Both airports are highly commercialized, so you can definitely do some shopping if you wanted to. To get to the city center, I caught the S-bahn train at the airport. The station is outside of the airport but still connected to the airport. There is a lovely plaza in between the airport entrance and the train station. Audi is a big sponsor as I walked through and saw all the Audi displays. They have a forum museum in the Munich airport plaza. A word to Bank of America customers, they have an agreement with Deutsche Bank and you can withdraw from the ATM fee free. There are a number of the Deutsche Bank ATMS in the city center. (The ATM fee should not be confused with currency conversion fees which ALWAYS applies.)

The public transportation system, MVV, in Munich seems well designed. If travelling in groups, there are ticket passes for up to five adults. If you're travelling with kids, two kids (under 14) counts as one adult. It really is a great deal.

Checked into the Hilton Munich City Hotel and crashed in the Executive Lounge for a little bit before freshening up. This being Ocktoberfest, hotel rooms are scarce (at least in the reasonable price range). I'm glad to be using these certificates as I think the hotel rooms were going for over 400 euros a night! Yikes!! The hotel sits on top of the Rosenheimer Platz station making it easy to navigate the city via public transportation and relatively close to the city center. I also ended up grabbing some appetizers and cocktails in the lobby bar restaurant, Metropolis Bar. I usually find hotel lobby bars a bit pricy and the food bland. In this case, I loved the chicken wings and potato wedges in this place. If I lived in Munich, I would go here for happy hour anytime.

With the time zone difference, I wasn't able to get up and ready until noon the next day. Strolled through the city center and take in the city vibe. A very clean and green city, the weather was really pleasant for October (ranging from 60s in the day and 40s at night). I'm actually surprised to see the Germans bundled up in jackets as I was hot off and on throughout the day. Whenever I strolled into a store, the heat inside was too much for me that I was constantly holding my jacket in my arms and needed to leave to get some fresh air. Grabbed lunch at McDonald's. There is a lot of pork in German food and the local McDonald's menu reflected the German taste. I had to grab a fried apple pie and a McRib. Here in Munich, the McRib is on the permanent menu. My two favorite McDonald items in one spot! I just had to travel 7000 miles to do it. :)

Saw the gardens and architectural buildings in the city after having lunch. I'm really impressed with the design and layout of the city. The combined pedestrian, bicycling and cars in the roadways. I was reminded of Amsterdam except bigger and no canals. It was also cool to see the streets chockful of Mercedes Benz, BMW, Audis, VW and Porsches. And the wagon style seems like a really popular choice here. It was interesting to see such old buildings renovated for today's environment of retail and commercial needs. Also, alot of the Germans were walking around in traditional garb in the city. I was tempted to buy the female version in the local stores for Halloween!

While trampsing around the city near Marien Platz, made a pit stop at Hofbrauhaus. The Vegas location is similar except that it is half the size of the original. It also seemed to be constantly busy, the place was a madhouse and I was able to grab a stein of beer as well as some souvenirs. It was interesting to see how many Americans and Australians were around. The beer wagon cart outside was also interesting to see, the horses even had their own "hats" and "coats".

Came back to the Hilton at the end of the day and grabbed a power nap. Instead of heading out, stayed at the Executive Lounge and hung out with other guests meeting people from Wisconsin, North Carolina, and London! Apparently Americans were showing up full force for Ocktoberfest. :) It was easy to stay in the Lounge for the evening as there were plenty of snacks to eat and an open bar giving little incentive to find the nightlife in Munich.

The next day switched hotels to the Four Points by Sheraton Munchen Olympiapark. With the hotel certificates used up, I decided to use my Starwood points and spend some time at another hotel chain. Unfortunately, the only Starwood property that would let me stay for two nights on points was this one which is further from the city center and is in the Olympic grounds when it was in Munich in 1972. I've never stayed in facilities that once was built for the Olympics so it was interesting to see how the area was designed and how they built the facilities for that time period. The area has been converted to residential housing with some stores and restaurants at the ground floor. The BMW factory plant/museum is also located in the same area. The hotel seems a little small, more in line with what I expect of European hotels and it is a Four Points as well. Certainly different from the Hilton. Wired internet is available for free. For internet lovers, I have found that at both hotels, the internet speed is slower than I'm used to in American hotels.

Spent the afternoon wandering the grounds of Ocktoberfest. It took about 2 hours to just walk around and look at everything. Since I didn't have a tent reservation, I contented myself with watching the throngs of people walking around, drinking and eating. The actual festival reminded me of the LA County Fair meets Magic Mountain with a beer theme. I think that is the closest description I can give for the place. Of some interest, if you buy water bottles to drink, they tack on an euro as a deposit for the bottle. If you go back to the vendor and give them your bottle, they will give you back the euro. A good thing since I was confused how a little 20 oz bottle of water could cost 3.5 euros. Also, at our Four Points hotel, there is a small retail plaza at the ground floor with a supermarket. After buying a liter of water, I found that there was a recycling machine in the back of the store. Bottle redemptions is 0.25 Euro for the big ones and 0.15 Euro for the small ones. That's pretty steep given that I'm used to 10 cent and 5 cent redemptions in the state.

Afterwards, headed back to Marienplatz for souvenir shopping and headed back to the hotel to catch some US college football on the internet. :) I later found out that gummi bears and cuckoo clocks are of German origin.

In the last day, went to the souvenir shop at the Deutsche Museum and then wandered over to the Deutsche Museum Verkehrszentrum to check out all vehicles from back in the day to future vehicles. All the museums are spread throughout the city so be prepared to jump onto the subway to get to another museum. Grabbed a late lunch at Altes Hackerbrau which inside a restored brewery turned hotel, having some schnitzel and roast pork. I'm not a fan of german dumplings but their pork dishes are really good. Afterwards, briefly went to the BMW Museum for some souvenirs. Walked around and saw the latest and greatest BMWs, it was nice and would be tempting if I liked BMWs. Since the plant is next door, this is where people come to pick up their "German-made" BMW to bring back to their home country.

I had dinner at Weisses Brauhaus with some friends who came over to Munich as part of their European vacation. They knew someone who lives in Munich and the restaurant recommendation came from the local person. It was a pleasant surprise to find out friends from the States were in the area and have some beer, more roast pork, and some Zwetschgenbavese (fried plum jam toast dessert thing) before heading back home. I mostly had pork, sausage, and beer in Munich so you can take this with a grain of salt but I will say the food is really good.

Aloha!

2010-09-05T11:22:00.000-07:00

I've headed to Hawaii for some R&R and catch up with some friends on the islands. Splitting my time between Oahu and Big Island, I landed at Oahu first. I checked into the Doubletree Alana Hotel in Waikiki. I haven't been in this hotel for a little bit and they were undergoing renovations while I was here. Probably a very large factor of why my room rate was super reasonable even for a USC football game/Labor Day Weekend.

Upon arrival, I was only able to check into one of the two rooms reserved. I also found out that wireless internet is now free for high status HHonors members at all properties. Very cool! While waiting for my friend, wandered over to Puka Dogs for lunch. The only difference from the Kauai location was that the inside of the buns seemed extra toasted giving it a slight crunch.

After wandering around the International Market Place and Waikiki Beach, my local friend acted as a taxi to get some hawaiian shaved ice from Waiola Market on 2135 Waiola Street, Honolulu, HI 96826-2747 to grab my favorite mango shaved ice!

After checking into the hotel fully, grabbed a late night dinner at Mac 24-7 inside the Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio hotel. I remember that the restaurant was on Man vs. Food and the failed attempt on eating their pancakes. The service was a little slow and the food was ok. My fried chicken was a little too overfried but I enjoyed my cherry lime rickey. It may be best to stick with either breakfast foods and dessert in this place.

The next day spent some time at Waikiki Beach and Ala Moana Mall. Grabbed some lunch from the food court at Chinatown Express. I haven't ever seen flavored sesame balls and tried the sweet potato and coconut sesame balls. It was very tasty, the manapuas were good too. Afterwards, caught the USC UH football game at Aloha Stadium. My friend's husband had worked in the stadium and I was suppose to look at the new TV installed but we were right above it so it wasn't doable. The views surrounding the stadium is really nice, it reminds me of University of Washington's football stadium. Later in the evening, attempting to get some lava flows from local bars we ended up at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and had some ice cream from Lapperts enjoying exotic ice cream flavors.

The next day, we headed out to the Hilton Hawaiian Village to have the breakfast buffet at Rainbow Lanai. I remembered really enjoying the breakfast options there in one of my previous visits and wasn't interested in having the continental breakfast offered at the Doubletree. If you are interested in only toast and cereal, the Doubletree works well. They changed their breakfast options from full breakfast buffet to only toast/dry cereal products. After having breakfast at the Rainbow Lanai, I think I'll opt for local places for breakfast. I would enjoy the breakfast buffet at Rainbow Lanai if it was cheaper and/or the food was better. There is always a certain price point food quality balance and it wasn't there for me at Rainbow Lanai.

After breakfast, headed with some friends to the Dole Plantation and Waimea Bay Beach Park in the North Shore. After a day of activity, grabbed some shrimp plates from Giovanni's Shrimp Truck in Kahuku. I had the spicy shrimp and it was really really spicy. Most people opt for the scampi and I'll have to try next time. Also did a pit stop at Blazin' Steaks Drive In at 45-1118 Kamehameha Highway, Kaneohe, HI 96744-3207. It reminded me to some Vietnamese dishes I've had and found the plate lunches really good. Of coure, I grabbed some fried pies from the local McDonald's. The flavor of the month is taro and it was pretty yummy! At the end of the day, I was taken to Shimazu Store on 330 N School St, Honolulu, HI 96817. My friends swore on the shaved ice because of the amount of shaved ice you get. The XL was literally the size of an adult head. I had the mango which tasted a little artificial but I was told the milk green tea royale was very good. For the price, it definitely is a good value for shaved ice. :) The owner is super nice and asked us how we like the shaved ice and talked about the history of the store. He also mentioned that if the awning is out, they are open even if it is not their normal business hours. Nice!

The next day, headed out to Pearl Harbor visiting the USS Arizona Memorial and USS Missouri battleship. Without much transportation options, I opted to priceline a car rental to see what options were available. I was successful in getting a Pontiac Vibe from Avis for $15! I've been told the car was based on the same frame as the Toyota Matrix. Not sure why the Vibe didn't do so well (it is discontinued) and the Matrix is still selling strong, it was convenient for the remainder of the trip on Oahu. The only drawback was the car rental agency was back at the airport. After grabbing the rental car via bus, left the airport and grabbed a loco moco breakfast at Byron's Drive In at 3297 North Nimitz Highway, Honolulu, HI 96819-190. The kahlua loco moco was pretty tasty, the pork had a bacony taste to it. I've been to the Arizona Memorial in the past but the Missouri was new to me. It was really cool to walk all over the battleship and see how sailors had to live and work on the ship.

As sunset was coming, grabbed a late lunch at Young's Fish Market and had a laulau plate. The pork was really good, I cleaned the plate. Not the easiest to find, it is a definite gem in this neighborhood near the pier in Honolulu. After the late lunch, grabbed malasadas at Leonard's and went to Ala Moana Beach Park to check out the sunset before heading back to the hotel.

Left Waikiki the next day and boarded a flight to Big Island. After grabbing a Ford Focus from Avis, headed to Hilton Waikoloa Village hotel. I thnk this is the first time I've driven a Ford Focus and the experience was pleasant. It seems like the kind of car perfect for a first time car owner or something my siblings would drive. For a basic car, it came with a sunroof, leather seats, and a subwoofer in the trunk! For the entire trip, I averaged about 30+ mpg, not too shabby especially when gas is so high on this island. The Costco was the cheapest gas on this side of the island. (Most of the gas stations in Hilo was roughly the same price, you just have to drive two hours though.) I wasn't able to check into the hotel right away and grabbed some lunch from Island Fish and Chips on 69-250 Waikoloa Beach Drive, Waikoloa, HI 96738-5718.

Afterwards, drove down south to the coffee farms south of Kona and visited Kona Joe. Of the farms visited that afternoon, it was the best tasting one. Very nice facility and the owners are really pleasant. After tooling around, finally checked into the hotel. A pleasant change I've noticed is that Hiltons are now giving the perks for frequent guests to the rooms versus the person. In the past, I would get breakfast coupons for myself and a guest regardless of number of rooms booked. Now, it seems per room. If you ever stay here, there are three towers all connected by either a tram or boat (and feet as well). The ocean tower has the views but it is furthest from the center of action. The Lagoon tower is closest to the bigger pools and activities but you don't get the view. I've only stayed in the ocean tower, so I don't know if the rooms are different.

Of course, any visit to Hawaii isn't complete unless there is a visit to Roy's restaurant. Meandered to the Roy's - Waikoloa Bar and Grill and received excellent service. The entrees came out initially overcooked and they whisked it away replacing them with perfect cooked entrees as well as complimentary salads while we waited again for them to prepare the food.

The next day, took a drive around the island. Grabbed breakfast at Tex Drive In at 45-690 Pakalana St., Highway 19, Honokaa, HI 96727 where they are famed for their malasadas. Personally, they taste like doughnuts rather than malasadas. I will stick with Leonard's on Oahu. I had french toast but wasn't a fan, a little too runny and cinnamon for my taste. It helped to have some portuguese sausage to counter the carb. Continued our way and dropped by Akaka Falls and Onomea Bay. After catching in the natural beauty, headed to Hilo. Automatically went to Big Island Candies to grab my favorite shortbread cookies and Lows International Foods at 222 Kilauea Ave, Hilo, HI 96720 for rainbow bread. Also grabbed some korean chicken wings which were tasty. :)

On the way back to Kona, went by the National Volcano Park to hike/walk around the volcano. Caught some cool trails and drove down to the bottom to see where the lava flowed. At night, the crater lights up really well because it is so dark and I felt like I was watching a scene from Lord of the Rings.

On the last day of the trip, stayed around the hotel since the flight was at 8:30 pm. Cruised through a timeshare presentation in the morning and was tempted to get one but walked away with a turtle toy and some bonus hotel points. Hung out on the lagoon beach checking out the turtles and fish in the lagoon. Also, checked out the dolphins in the Discovery Center. They recently had a baby dolphin birth and it was cute to see a tiny dolphin zipping around.

Vegas!

2010-07-31T15:20:00.000-07:00

I think this is my last trip to Vegas for the year, the rest of the year will be devoted to college football season for my weekends.

Headed to the Las Vegas Hilton for the usual weekend deal of $45/night. The casino marketing folks are getting good at sending out these crazy deals. Summer weekends are filling up the hotel as a parlor room was initially assigned when I checked in. I've stayed at parlor rooms before and they aren't usually pleasant. This particular parlor room was ok, the murphy bed wasn't terrible. The room was really big, at least the size of two normal rooms with a bar area and two full bathrooms. It made me think that this would be a great room for a reception type of party.

Moved to a regular room the next day. Nicer digs and comfortable furnishings. It was a good move. Grabbed breakfast at the Wynn Buffet with some friends. Well, not really grabbed as I was there for two maybe going on three hours. The sushi can be avoided as the rice is a little mushy, otherwise, the food was good. I particularly enjoyed the dessert area - a gelato bar, assortment of pastries (the chocalate croissant and sticky buns are good), and variety of sweets (candy apples, mousses, etc).

Waddled around in the afternoon in The Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian. Made a dent for the American economy and had dinner at Postrio. It has been a year since I last was at the restaurant and the food is still as memorable as before. The menu changes seasonally. In this particular occasion, I had the baby back ribs which were good and the chocolate beignets were awesome. Ordered it twice because the table couldn't get enough of them.

The next day, had breakfast at the Buffet breakfast at the Hilton. The room package came with a pair of free buffets and it helped tide my hunger over for a late brunch with some friends. I ambled over to Imperial Palace and snacked at the Hash House A Go Go. Crazy portions, the flapjacks were good (snagged some banana brown sugar off one plate) and the benedicts are a little scary. The fried chicken is really good and I'm not usually a fan of white meat.

Phoenix

2010-07-03T02:06:00.000-07:00

Back in Arizona, this time it was a road trip. After finding out that it is only a six hour drive, I thought it might be worthwhile to drive out instead of fly especially since $100 airfares seem to have disappeared.

I lucked out in having a car rental because of a fender bender and received a Nissan Altima hybrid from Hertz. Not a bad looking car, I averaged in the mid-30s mpg range, not as good as my own car but better than putting those miles on them. :)

Arrived fairly late and checked into the Hilton Phoenix Airport, the rate was too low to not stay here for one night since it was going to be a short stay. It seems like a nice property with a full size bar/restaurant in the lobby area. Since it is a holiday weekend, the concierge level was closed. The rooms were nice with all the usual amenities. If you are interested in free wireless access, log onto the wireless network from nearby hotels. Hilton charges about $10 per night but some of their competitors are close enough that you can login to their network and it is at no charge. For an airport location, the breakfast buffet offered in the hotel restaurant was very good. I'm not usually a fan of eating buffet scrambled eggs but it was prepared well and made in small enough batches that it wasn't overly wet or dry. I did appreciate the mini waffle makers too! I know it sounds silly but the self-serve waffle makers some hotel restaurants use are not the best way to go for waffles because of the mix or the machine. This particular one was a mini-waffle maker where you could make up to four in the plate producing very crisp and light waffles. Also, it meant I didn't have to throw away half the waffle because it was too much.

After doing some homework and catching some zzz's, headed over to the Arizona Biltmore hotel. Summr rates in Phoenix are really low and a good time to go to really nice hotels for really affordable rates. I initially booked a rock bottom room rate but asked the front desk about the inclusive package which ended up being the better deal. For an extra $90, the resort fees, parking, and $200 food credit plus 30% discount on spa services were part of the package. DONE! Good deal and in a spot where it was going to be hot all weekend long!

The architecture and environment of this hotel very retro, very classic. You can feel the history of the hotel like when Hollywood royalty such as Clark Gable or Frank Sinatra would frequent this location as their home away from home. Enjoyed the afternoon at the pool, even at 3 pm I was still able to catch some UV and enjoy the pool. There are a number of activities going on at the hotel and I keep meaning to do them but fail... :) I am going to miss out on their Disney concert and fireworks show, maybe they'll do it again next year.

Grabbed a couple of drinks at the Wright Bar. Looking at the menu, they claim to be the originator of the tequila sunrise drink. I had the "Original" and it was tasty. Dinner followed at the Wright's restaurant, I found the food slightly salty. Then again, I never salt food so my benchmark may be higher than the average person. The sous chef came out at the end of the dinner to ask how the meal was and I thought that was nice. If anyone is a souffle fan, it is a mainstay in the dessert menu. Hmmmm, souffles....

On the last day, had breakfast at Frank & Albert's with some friends. The restaurant has expanded since I was last here, the menu also changed. Overall, a good experience. I liked the new changes.

After catching some rays in the pool and a pedicure, grabbed lunch at The Cafe in the hotel. They have these awesome cookie bars and probably weighs a pound easily. The sandwiches are pretty good, the hot pressed sandwiches (my fav is the pastrami) or cold (I opted for the chicken salad).

After that, trucked on out of Phoenix and headed west. For any historical war buffs, General Patton's Museum is off the 10 freeway in 30 miles east of Indio. There is a yard next to the museum full of tanks, seemed pretty cool when driving past it.

What?! Vegas again...

2010-06-14T20:29:00.000-07:00

I didn't plan on being in Vegas month after month but it just happened. This time, came out to show some out of town relatives Sin City. I stayed at the Las Vegas Hilton because I can't say no to free food and drinks. :) I only noticed with this trip that the food and drink coupons were no longer limited to a certain time. Before, the free buffets were only for breakfast but now open anytime of the day. Also, the free drinks had to be around happy hour time, now it is useable anytime. I was hoping to arrive at the sweet spot hour where they automatically give you suites but I ended up arriving way later than ideal and I wasn't able to negotiate much at the desk. After a room mixup (they tried to upsell me a suite upgrade and it ended up being occupied already), we were settled in.

Between trying to get homework done and catch a some zzzz's, spent the day checking out the penny slots and Aria. I don't usually gamble at slot machines but ended up doing so while explaining the concept to family. Ironically, I ended up winning $17....not bad for a $5 investment.

The newest resort, Aria is a very swanky hotel. It reminds me of a W on steroids. Trying to park at the hotel was difficult, the entrance isn't easy to figure and the parking strucure is of an odd layout. I would recommend parking at the other hotels and tram it over if you plan on bouncing from Monte Carlo, Bellagio, and Aria. The pool area seemed really nice as seen from the tram.

I did find myself enamored with sticky buns from the Jean Philippe Patisserie in the hotel. A better layout and selection than the Bellagio location, I found most of the items a little pricey. I would recommend getting either the croissants or sticky buns. The chocolates were good but not something I would go out of my way for.

For dinner, went to Benihana's inside the Vegas Hilton. I haven't been in some time and thought it would be appropriate for the company. The biggest Benihana I've ever seen with a very big waterfall in the middle of the restaurant.

Chicago

2010-06-06T20:49:00.001-07:00

Went to Chicago for a weekend getaway. I had heard from a friend that it has been muggy lately and packed accordingly for this weekend. With the new complimentary upgrade program at United, I was able to get into First class enroute to Chicago. I don't know if it is coincidental but I found the meal very good even the bread! The carrot cake was ok though.

Since I arrived so late in the night, opted to stay at the Hilton O'Hare Airport hotel and get some sleep (mostly did homework). It has been sometime since I've stayed at this hotel and remembered it being smaller for some reason. Word to the wise, the breakfast buffet can be passed unless you are looking for very basic items like cereal.

Went into the city the next day and checked into the Conrad Chicago hotel. Situated a little north of the loop, I liked the hotel when I stayed there when it was a Le Meridien hotel. I haven't stayed here since it converted to a Conrad in 2005. It also didn't hurt that I was upgraded to the terrace suite. Nice one bedroom suite with Bose speakers attached to both TVs and radio clock by the bed. Nicely appointed suite accommodations and the balcony was bigger than the room! I was told that it can accommodate 100 people, it looks like a great place to have parties. No neighbors and open terrace = noisy party undisturbed.

I met up with a colleague at the Old Oak Tap. It was a nice restaurant with a great open area seating in the front of the restaurant. I enjoyed the pretzel and drinks. I'm finding myself gravitating towards ginger beer lately.

Afterwards, headed to US Cellular Field and caught a White Sox game against the Cleveland Indians. Nice enough stadium. I had some very tasty italian ice from a Zarlengo's Italian Ice stand.

Since the weather was a little unstable, didn't wander far from the hotel and went to Mother Hubbard's Sports Bar. I had an awesome hot dog, "The Francheezie." Basically a bacon wrapped cheese hot dog. Fun place with lots of TVs everywhere. I even saw a bridal party come in around 1 am, post reception party!

The next day, walked over to Navy Pier. Checked out the various food stands and debated about taking a river cruise. Ignored all the bars and beer gardens throughout the area and headed inside the mall to look for some souvenirs. Eventually wandered over to Lou Malnati's for a deep dish pizza. Unlike the other deep dish institutions, the pizza here is not as large or deep. The other unique feature is that they have a butter crust, so the crust is a little crispy even though it is thick. There was a "gooey" version but we opted for the regular well done style. The hotel had given me a voucher for a free appetizer or dessert and I went for the cookie pizza. I am a fan of BJ's pizookie but Lou's version is the best.

Before heading out to the airport, cruised by the Hampton Inn O'Hare Airport Hotel to kill some time before catching my flight home. The hotel appears to have undergone some internal renovations as it looks way nicer inside than its outside. I know it's silly but I enjoyed the sofa with the rolling foot rests. The little things in life....

Vancouver

2010-05-19T14:32:00.000-07:00

I'm here for a couple of days for family reasons. I was put into First Class on a United flight and wasn't sure if it was because they had room or that I requested a wheelchair. In any case, it was a pleasant experience particularly for my companion. I also found the snack box amusing and it was sufficient for my needs. Too bad, I can't get the return flight in the same class! ;p

As this is my first time travelling with special needs, it was interesting going through the airports escorted about even through customs. I don't know if it was faster than walking around but it certainly was interesting the routes they take you through the airport.

Grabbed a Nissan Versa from Avis after landing. I haven't driven one in awhile and I think it has somewhat improved in handling. The mileage remains undetermined since I can't figure out liters to gallons to miles per gallon....

I checked into the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown hotel. I haven't been in a few years but I find the hotel appealing. It is attached to a huge asian mall (Crystal Mall), I haven't figured out if paying for parking is a necessity. I was put in a corner suite on a high floor and the views are pretty nice since the mountains still have snow on them.

The weather is a little dreary and opted to spend the afternoon at the Crystal Mall which is where the hotel is attached. After realizing I needed money, I went to the bank in the mall and then wandered next door to Han Ju Tofu Hot Pot on 4500 Kingsway, #1218, Burnaby, BC V5H2A9. It isn't an extensive menu but the food was good and reasonably priced. I had the Korean BBQ bowl which was tasty and a red bean soup dessert. Afterwards, wandered around the mall and found a Beard Papa's. I hadn't been to one in awhile and grabbed a dulce de leche which I think is relatively new. This location must have a high turnover as the puff pastry was delish! Also eyed the roasted pork at the various BBQ delis in the mall, mental check to try out tomorrow.

I did wander up to the executive lounge at the Hilton in the evening. I was surprised to see that alcohol isn't included in the lounge amenities. Normally, the international locations include them. The food selection was substantial (compared to US locations), a salmon entree appears to be a staple in the evening menu.

The next day, wandered over to the Granville Island Public Market. Looked at all the arts and crafts stores as well as checked out the local produce. Everything seemed pretty fresh! I've come to realize that I like Vancouver alot more than Seattle although both cities have similar characteristics. It just seems better north. I enjoyed a corn chowder soup in a cup (covered with some puff pastry) from A La Mode Pie Cafe and sushi from one of the food court restaurants in the Market. I was pleasantly surprised about the quality and taste of the sushi as it was one of those prepackaged deals. Did some shopping and helped out the Canadian economy as well.

Afterwards, drove to Stanley Park but didn't stay long. Just drove along the paths around the park as the weather was getting slightly worse but it was a nice drive along the edges of the islet.

Went back to Crystal Mall to find some items to take home. Failing that, grabbed some dumplings from Wang's Shangai Noodle. It was pretty tasty and cheap! I think I like it more than Din Tai Fung. :O Later, drove to the Metropolis mall but didn't find anything appealing despite the huge selection of stores.

Vegas

2010-05-16T21:24:00.000-07:00

First trip to Vegas for 2010. I chose to stay at the Las Vegas Hilton from a promotional email they sent. Those things actually work time to time and I was able to snag the $60/night room rate which included a couple of free drinks and breakfast buffets. There were also an assortment of coupons for the various eateries in the hotel but I didn't utilize them.

When we first arrived, we decided to grab a late night snack at the HofBrauhaus. I've actually never went and have seen the restaurant many times while in Vegas. It reminded me of a smaller versin of the Alpine Village in Torrance or Old World in Hungtington Beach. The food seemed ok to me and I don't recommend any of the desserts. I had a very good glass of reisling though!

Afterwards, checked into the hotel. I've come to the conclusion that any room that requires you to go to the "Central Tower" elevators is bound to be a dissappointment. The room was very worn and could use some TLC. It was decently sized and easily accommodated the group. Wandered over to the Hooters Casino after settling in. The hotel had a very old feeling to it, similar to Circus Circus. Not something I would return to in a hurry. After a drink, decided to go back to the Hilton.

The next day was spent at the pool. At this point, I realized that the online pool cabana option is the way to go. From my recollection, the cabana is about $60 for the day online when you first make your hotel reservation. In person, it was $100 - $120. I believe the cabanas come with 20 non-alcholic drinks. As there was a large group, a cabana was justifiable. Unfortunately, all of them were reserved and we were able to enjoy the pool area regardless. :)

Grabbed an early dinner at Grimaldi's. I found this ironic since I was just in NYC a week prior. I was curious if eating here in Vegas would be the same experience as in Brooklyn. In my opinion, I think the Brooklyn location is the best. Unlike my experience in Phoenix, this location served the pizza as it should be and was crispy throughout. I still found it slightly lacking since the pepperoni wasn't quite the same. Despite some food errors, the customer service was excellent and the pizza was very good. I was even able to get a deal! They had a promotion going on where if you bought a gift card for $100 you get a bonus $20. Perfect for this particular outing due to the number of people in the group. Afterwards, wandered over to Nielsen's Frozen Custard and enjoyed my vanilla custard with toffee almonds. The toppings are of generous portions.... ;0

That night, people were interested in seeing a cabaret show and opted to go to the Sin City Bad Girls revue at the Hilton. I had some reservations given my prior experience of Jubilee at Bally's and was pleasantly surprised that it was good. Afterwards, wandered over to Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill in Harrah's. Not a bad place if you're interested in listening to some country music. When the live band isn't playing, they also play some mainstream music as well. Ironically, we bumped into the lead singers from Sin City Bad Girls revue and ended up having a friendly conversation when they recognized us when we walked past them. (After the show, they took pictures with the audience and we were even "interviewed" about the show.) Down to earth, they were fun to hang out with and found out how the show started. The people we met is an actual band that used to play in the Hilton in the early evenings and became so popular that they were asked to do nightly shows with the condition that it was a caberet show. And the rest is history.... Definitely would recommend if you're looking for this kind of show.

New York City

2010-05-08T08:28:00.000-07:00

A somewhat impromptu trip, I was incentivized by United Airline's cheap fare and discount coupon expiring to head out to the east coast. So here I am this weekend, out to enjoy some good eats and see some friends in the city. Arrived rather late and was able to crash at a friend's place in Brooklyn. Nearing midnight, she was able to take us to a local bar that still served food. Bar Tabac is sort of french gastropub. I had an assortment of brochettes from the bistro bites section of the menu and the brochettes were very good. My favorite was the lamb kebab, excellently prepared. On a side note, the bar takes only cash or Amex....not sure why only Amex but c'est la vie. My friend also introduced me to panache - a half sprite and Stella Artois beer combination. Good stuff.

Took off for the city the next day and checked into the Hampton Inn Manhattan Chelsea. The hotel has been around for a little bit. As expected, the hallways and lobby felt a little small but the room was comfortable. Easy subway access to either the F or the 1-2-3 line, it is a good spot for my purposes. The staff was very courteous and professional, the front desk woman remembered my name every time I saw her. I like it when the hotel staff knows your name when you approach them. :) Since my room was on the top floor of the hotel, I was afforded the view of rooftops and saw a water tower which reminded me of an episode of Dirty Jobs.

Before getting to the hotel, I made a pit stop at Doughnut Plant. After watching Bobby Flay challenge the owner of the Doughnut Plant, I thought to try especially since it was a stop off the subway line. I've had people talk about doughnuts from various "institutions" in cities and I've not been impressed in comparison to the local shops in LA. After a 30 minute wait (the media blitz has worked well for them), I bought various flavors - strawberry glazed, blackout cake doughnut, tres leches cake doughnut, creme brulee, and a peanut butter with blackberry jam doughnut. I would say the yeast doughnuts had a certain chewy texture to it that I don't expect in doughnuts but the flavors were fresh. The cake doughnuts were good, not sure about the yeast versions which usually are my kind of doughnut. Good but not something I would go out of my way for in the future.

Decided to grab something more filling later and went to BonChon Chicken. Having gone to one before, I was expecting the same layout and experience. The chicken wings were tasty and the simple restaurant layout was easy to sit down and eat. After talking to the staff, I found out that the one I went to last year decided to go independent and ditch their Korean franchise. I might go back to Mad for Chicken (formerly known as BonChon) to see if it is the same or different than before.

Took a power nap early evening and headed out to Patsy's in Chelsea. One of the best NY style pizza chains in the city, I always look forward to ordering pepperoni pizza. I usually dislike eating pepperoni but it is always crispy like bacon here. Not the deli like consistency you mostly find with other pizza makers.

Afterwards, headed to East of Eigth for a drink and a Grand Marnier flan. The flan was a perfect consistency, could have done without the Grand Marnier in my opinion.

The next day, headed out to the Statue of Liberty. Decided to check out it out since the weather report indicated that it would be a nice day and didn't have much planned. I will say that getting to and from Liberty Island will take most of your day. The level of security they have can rival airports and the speed of which they process people will rival the DMV. Since I didn't plan a month in advance, the only tickets available was the ferry to the island as well as access to the pedestal of the statue. For those that don't climb on a stairmaster often, there are LOTS of steps inside the statue. Walking up to the pedestal top was 156 steps, doable but it can wear you out. I think there were elevators but I opted to get my excercise in.

Trekked to Harlem to have some bbq at Dinosaur BBQ because of Diners Dives and Drive Ins. Hoping Guy Fieri won't lead me wrong! As it was Mother's Day, the place was packed to the gills and was able to be seated after an hour. I would advise to head for the bar area and stalk the eaters there to sit down faster. If you don't, someone else will snag the open seat. The BBQ was really good - brisket and ribs were excellent. I'm not usually a fan of tomato based bbq sauces but these were tasty. An interesting side dish I've never seen in BBQ restaurants is fried rice. Not really asian style, it was still tasty and was a nice balance to the ribs I was busy chomping on. Finished it off with a chocolate ice box pie slice and it hit the spot. Luckily, I had a Black Board's code and was able to get 30% off my meal too!!

Afterwards, headed to the airport hotel - Hampton Inn JFK Airport. I decided it was better to stay by the airport since I had a 6:30 am flight the next morning and taking the subway from the city is a pain at 4 am. I did make a pit stop at H&H Bagel to take home. My usual bagel shop was too out of the way and I decided to try another. Verdict? Should have gone out of my way... ;p The bagel is good but not as good as the other. For those places that rank best NY bagels, eh.

The hotel seems a bit older. I have to say, the customer service was somewhat lacking. Either it was the timing of the night or the relative crowds the staff was dealing with, it was an average experience. The room was fairly spacious especially in comparison with the Manhattan counterpart. The only plus in my opinion.

San Francisco

2010-04-22T22:47:00.000-07:00

I'm in the Bay area for a conference, looking forward to seeing old colleauges and meeting new ones. After some hunting around, I decided to stay in the Fisherman's Wharf area. I usually like being in this area during the work week as it isn't as crowded as the downtown area and there is a 24 hour fitness gym within walking distance of the Hilton Fisherman's Wharf hotel. I also like coming to this hotel because they tend to treat me a little better than the others, maybe because they don't get as many HHonors members. Also, the internet provider here is AT&T. Normally not a big deal but I am an AT&T internet customer and can access the internet without charge. Always a plus to not pay additional money for internet. I was given a junior suite and it is rather comfy and large. The only odd thing about the room is that it is a little dark as there is only one window and it is rather small for the size of the room. The continental breakfast offered is satisfying, all I needed was a bagel and smoked salmon. Although not close to the Bart, there are several bus lines that run by the hotel which makes it an easy place to stay even though I need to be in downtown.

I grabbed dinner with a friend at Oola restaurant. From their website, they seem focused on organic meats and cheeses. Located south of market, it was an intimate restaurant and I was pleasantly surprised that there was a loft space for additional dining space. Since I had some snacks at an event right before dinner plus sweet potato fries at the Urban Tavern, I wasn't starving. So we ordered several appetizers and drinks and it was large enough in servings to satisfy. I ordered the corn soup and shared the baby back ribs and fries. For dessert, the chocolate caramel cake totally hit the spot and the watermelon martini wasn't too bad either.

The next night, grabbed dinner with another friend and friend's friend at 5A5 Steak Lounge. Again, I went to an event function at the Ferry Building and wasn't super hungry after snacking on the tasty h'or devours and desserts. The caterer for the Ferry Building, Paula LeDuc Fine catering, is awesome. They had these "snicker" bites that I found completely irresistible and took a handful with me when I left!

Strolled to the restaurant afterwards and I wasn't sure what to expect. Ordered a lychee martini (super yummy) and split a buffalo filet and truffle fries with my friend. The meat was excellent! The fries were really good (I generally prefer crispier fries but these were still very good especially with the srirachi aioli sauce). For dessert, shared matcha dougnuts and sticky toffee bread pudding. The matcha flavor made me think of Kyoto and I wasn't sure what to expect of the doughnuts. Both desserts were excellent, I liked that the doughnuts came with doughnut holes! :) A very pleasant dining experience!

As the weekend is approaching, I moved to the Hilton Union Square. Also, it helped that the hotel rates dropped!! Checked the night before and the room rate went down $60! I was able to check in early and the front desk even granted my request for a junior suite. The room is fairly spacious, I think the walk in closet could fit a twin bed inside. ;p

The conference is being hosted at this hotel and the meals here have been very good. I'm now convinced that hotel food can be good if the host is willing to spend money. I've been in this hotel for other events and the food wasn't ever memorable until this particular conference.

Being done with the conference, I'm on my own and opted to stay elsewhere. I moved to the Hilton San Francisco Financial District. I can't remember if my last time at this hotel was for work but I do remember being here for a work event. The room was nice, seemed to have business travelers in mind when designing the room. The hotel is right next to Chinatown and there is a heavy asian influence within the hotel's design. Another perk is that the hotel offers private car airport service for a flat rate of $45. On a side note, for those interested in Giants' game, the concierge does have a connection and has tickets available.

Being that it was an abnormally nice weekend in SF, headed towards Coit Tower. The views were spectacular and for the $5 fare, I took my time at the top. After strolling up to see the Coit Tower, wandered into Nob Hill for dinner at Ti Piacera. I opted for a pizza from the appetizer menu since I wasn't hungry. It was good, an average tasting pizza with sausage and onions. Afterwards, wandered over to Chai-Yo Sweets & Treats on 1335 Polk Street since I wasn't in the mood for italian desserts. I had the red sticky rice from this Thai sweet shop and it hit the spot!

I have yet to try the breakfast buffet in this hotel and will have to on another visit since I went to the Golden Star Vietnamese Restaurant across the street for a late breakfast. Located on 11 Walter U Lum Place, I was told that it was one of the better Vietnamese pho shops in SF. Of course, I had to see this for myself as I've not had many good experiences with Vietnamese food in this city. It is tough to compare to Westminster in Orange County but this restaurant was good. The pho was tasty, could have been more flavorful but I would visit again to eat.

Since this was my last day in SF and the weather was cooperating, I headed to AT&T Park to catch a game where the Giants were playing against the Cardinals.

Los Angeles

2010-04-18T17:01:00.001-07:00

I had a wedding to attend to this weekend and decided to stay closer to the venue since I was part of the bridal party. After running around Friday afternoon for the rehearsal, checked into the Hilton Checkers in Downtown LA. I've always wondered about the hotel as I usually don't have a reason to stay overnight. The hotel itself has a very boutique feel to it with the boutique pricing too! ;) The room was tastely decorated although it did feel a little cramped. I saw this cool audio box thing by the TV, it looked like you could plug in stuff and have it displayed on the flat screen TV. Didn't try but it looked cool. Parking in downtown is always difficult but I wouldn't recommend parking at the hotel, they charge $40/night. Yikes! Street parking is available overnight but you have to be willing to walk a couple of blocks and find a metered space.

I was also able to check out the Kyoto Grand Hotel and Garden since the ceremony was at this hotel. I've hung out in their roof garden in the summers when they host beer gardens but never ventured into the actual hotel. A very nice hotel - the rooms were modern and tastefully decorated, definite asian influence. It was nice that the hotel let us have a room for the day as a changing room, I guess if you spend enough money they can spare it. :p I was told that reviews of the hotel were poor but I don't see any reason for it as my friend had opted to stay at the Miyako Hotel instead.

Since the reception was going to be in San Gabriel at the New Capital Seafood restaurant at 140 West Valley Boulevard, San Gabriel, CA 91776, I decided to stay close by to allow myself the luxury of enjoying the festivities without worrying about driving home afterwards! I checked into the Doubletree Rosemead and headed to the reception. The rooms did remind me of a Hilton Garden Inn but the rest of the facility was nice especially the Doubletree cookies!The Doubletree seems particularly popular with the local hispanic community as they had signs warning guests of a quincenarra that was going to happen that night. Also, the breakfast buffet had a very latin influence with potatoes and chorizo, tamales, etc. All in all, a pleasant experience especially after attending the reception!

Washington DC

2010-03-21T22:23:00.000-07:00

It seems ironic that I'm delayed home on this vacation trip. One of the main reasons of going to Puerto Rico was that I had a voucher from United Airlines from a previous vacation and now I'm going to get another one. :) Due to mechanical problems, arrived into Dulles Airport too late to catch any other flight towards the West Coast. Upon landing, the steward handed out little cards directing me to a website to choose my goodwill compensation. I was notified via email that I was rerouted to the next day's flights, customer service informed me that checked luggage will remain at the airport, and was handed hotel and meal vouchers. The hotel voucher was good at the Hyatt Dulles Airport. I forgot to grab the United toiletry bag before leaving the airport. Luckily, the hotel already has toothpaste as part of the toiletries and the front desk had a toothbrush. The room was spacious and modern with some tech amenities, I haven't come across a Hyatt that isn't nice.

I was able to get on my flights without issue. Having to lay over at SFO, I was able to redeem my meal voucher at Yankee Pier. The crab cakes eggs benedict hit the spot after the long flight subsidized by the $15 meal voucher. :)

Puerto Rico

2010-03-17T19:42:00.001-07:00

Spending a week on the enchanted island. Arrived in the evening and checked into the Doubletree San Juan in the Ocean Park area. It seemed relatively new, I think there were some literature that referred to the location as a Best Western in its previous life. It looks recently renovated and the location is convenient. The room was nice, it was interesting that the room was a psuedo double. In other words, a double/queen bed was in the room but the murphy bed would make the room a two bedded room if you pulled it down. I think I should have asked for a king room when checking in but it wasn't a big deal. The bathroom was designed in a way that I've always wanted for my own at home. It was nice to see it in real life and made me think of redesigning my own back home. The hotel was attached to a residential complex and sits across a 24 hour supermarket. The lobby restaurant bar, Michael's Bistro, has very tasty appetizers and the breakfast items were good. Then again, there were only three menu items for breakfast, it would be sad that they couldn't do those items very well. I enjoyed the pork carnitas and croquettes for my afternoon snack and pancakes for breakfast. I would recommend going to Under the Trees restaurant, had a pleasant breakfast there one morning and I think a better deal than Michael's especially if you have a breakfast voucher. I was pleasantly surprised and would recommend hanging out there if you were in the mood. The hotel is an easy 3 block walk to the beaches which was relatively empty and nice. The waves can be a little strong in this part of the island. On the
bright side, the front desk gave us cookies upon our departure! Yummy!!

Grabbed dinner at Bebo's Cafe at Calle Loiza esq. Del Parque 1600, Condado, San Juan 00911 which was around the corner to the Doubletree. I had the mofongo stuffed with fried pork and a very tasty coconut flan. A family style restaurant, it was a good meal. Not quite a hole in the wall, will have to continue hunting for a cash only place....

After getting over the jet lag and time zone difference, moved closer to Old San Juan and checked into the Conrad San Juan Condado Plaza. It seems that the Conrad brand recently purchased this hotel as it has been in operation since the 60s and there wasn't a Conrad when I was in Puerto Rico back in 2004. The hotel bartender mentioned that it has been a Conrad for a couple of years and I think it shows. When I checked into the hotel, they didn't seem to know all the ins and outs and I had to request my breakfast coupons. Larger accommodations than the Doubletree, the hotel had a very modern chic feel. The rooms were nice and the ocean view couldn't be beat. I generally don't care about vistas but it was nice to wake up and see only blue out the window/balcony. I really liked the L shaped couch in the corner, another home idea for myself.... ;) The bathroom doubled as a bathroom and closet/mini fridge area. It sounds weird but it worked. The area near the Conrad appears to be undergoing some type of gentrification as there were new construction mixed with abandoned buildings. It's a good thing the hotel is self-sustaining in entertainment and food!

Had dinner at the hotel, Pikayo. It was an amazing dinner and I would highly recommend going to this restaurant. I'm not usually a fan of eating at hotels but this one was fantastic. Started with pork belly sliders, then moved onto a red snapper entree and finished off with a chocolate souffle. (The double cut pork chop was very tasty as well.) There was also an amazing honey butter that went with the very chewy crusty french bread. I think I flagged the bread boy at least five times during the meal. Service was impeccable although they seemed to forget that a bill should have come at the end of the meal. Maybe it was my cue. :)

Tromped around Old San Juan. Visited the fort surrounding the old city, Castillo San Felipe del Morro. Pretty massive construction, it is always interesting what people have had to build to protect themselves back in the day. Apparently, it took 50 years to build and has canon ports EVERYWHERE! :) The fort has a castle and a "fort" where both structures are about a mile apart along the coastline.

Went through the old city afterwards, grabbed the free trolley and had a late lunch at Cafe Manolin Old San Juan. Not quite a hole in the wall, it seems a fairly local spot with counter seats in the restaurant. Ordered the carne frita and flan queso. I've come to realize that Puerto Ricans call flan "flan queso" perhaps because their flan has cream cheese which makes it creamier and thicker. I've made flans for years and never realized that cream cheese makes it creamier without the extra sweetness that condensed milk brings. Another Puerto Rican thing to eat is the mallorca. I haven't tried a mallorca yet but haven't really gotten to the point of wanting to eat one even when passing La Bombenera known for the pastries.

Booked a rental car from Avis for the rest of the trip. Tromped around the El Yunque Nationl Forest and the car was convenient to get to the Embassy Suites El Darado Beach and Golf Resort, about 20 miles west of San Juan. Getting out of San Juan wasn't bad, the traffic wasn't as terrible as the reviews/locals talked about. Hiked around the rainforest for a couple of hours, opted to do a minor trail as well as visit the La Mina Falls instead of travelling to the very top. Didn't really go to the peak because that would require four hours and the park closes its road gates at 6 pm. Not wanting to chance being stuck in a rainforest overnight, the shorter trails were more suitable. It was a pretty good hike and the falls were fun to look at. I don't know why people are enamored with swimming (really, actually sitting in a pool of water) under falls when there is an ocean within 10 miles. C'est la vie.

I opted to move outside the San Juan area to get a resort feel for this vacation. The other hotels were closer to the metro areas and, though close to the beach, was small due to their locations and population density. Eventually got into the Embassy Suites and made it in time for the Manager's reception. Most of the basic amenities are typical at the Embassy Suites like the Manager's reception and cook-to-order breakfasts. The differential for this property is that it sits inside a golf development, you actually drive through a security point and then drive through what looks to be as vacation homes before coming up on the hotel. The Manager's Reception is also all you can drink open bar (liquor, wine and beer) which is not typical. The rooms are the typical configuration and I found them suitable. The room was equipped with LCD TVs which was nice. I've seen some reviews saying the rooms were worn but I don't think so. The oceanview is pretty nice as well. :) The resort charge here includes the use of the tennis courts, wireless access, and two bottles of water per day. The pool here is very large, about three pools linked to each other and then a protected beach beyond the pools. By far, the nicest of the beaches visited because of the size of the area and the quality of the sand. It also seems that alot of locals vacation here as I didn't see as many mainlanders in this hotel.

Before heading out to the airport, went to the Cathedral of Rum AKA the Casa Bacardi, the largest Bacardi factory facility. The tour is free and gives two drink tickets. A great way of getting some free alcohol and see some interesting facts about Bacardi. I opted to purchase the Reserve Limited edition since it is only available in Puerto Rico. I was able to persuade the manager to sell a bottle for half price. The "full price" bottles come with a certificate and engraving. I asked about the ones that had mistakes on the engraving and the manager said that they would sell them for half off. After talking to him some, he was willing to give a normal bottle for that price. No matter what, ended up with a bottle of Reserved for half price and leaving quite happy with Bacardi and the gift store manager. I totally recommend to visit if you ever get a chance. Also, it is the only place that I was able to find rum cake.

All in all, a better experience and impression of Puerto Rico in this trip.

Pasadena

2010-03-08T11:55:00.000-08:00

Not exactly an out of town trip but headed towards Pasadena for the weekend for a bridal shower/bachelorette.

I was going to overnight in Pasadena, I decided to take the MTA light rail into the city and be carless for the weekend. With my handy TAP card, I meandered my way north taking a combination of local city bus and MTA gold line. I checked into the Pasadena Hilton which was conveniently located near the Del Mar station and the Paseo Colorado Plaza. I was upgraded to an accessible suite, it made the suite feel even larger! The decor inside was a mixture of modern and craftsman style. The lobby looked recently done and the rooms were convenient. One might say that the room could have been updated but I thought it was suitable and the TVs were LCDs. Luckily, the suite had adjoining rooms and the group was able to make it feel like a very large apartment. Perfect for our purposes!!

Also, I was pleasantly suprised at the level of customer service at this hotel. Everyone made effort to greet me and resolve any potential questions I might have had, even the Starbucks guy gave me a greeting. Although no executive lounge, the hotel did offer me free breakfast at their lobby restaurant and the food was suprisingly good. I didn't have to pay for an upcharge for the hot buffet foods!

As part of the day, I went to Burke Williams for a treatment. The appointment process was relatively painless if you only go through the spa directly and not talk to their corporate headquarters. I would not recommend doing a group reservation with their "coordinators" as they are hopelessly confused or out of touch. For the amount of clients they have, they need a bigger space. I received the Parafango treatment and it was a relaxing time. I would recommend it again but combine it with a massage as well.

Afterwards, had dinner at Roy's. I opted for the Prix Fixe as I was tempted by the Dynamite Salmon entree. At the last minute, I stayed with my typical dessert choice of the hot molten lava cake. The other option was a warm strawberry guava tart. In my opinion, Roy's lava cake is the best thing on the dessert menu but the tart did give the cake a run for its money. I was sorely tempted to ask the restaurant to give me the tart for takeout!

Afterwards, cruised through Bodega Wine Bar in the Paseo Colorado Plaza. Suprisingly full of women, the bar was nice if you're looking for an intimate bar and want some wine. We moved on to Bar Celona down the street which was much more livelier.

Mammoth Mountain

2010-02-28T23:08:00.001-08:00

This *might be my last trip to Mammoth for this snow season. I grabbed a couple of people to head up for a very short trip up to Mammoth given the amount of snow this past week. With such short notice, I was able to book a room at the Motel 6 Mammoth Lakes. Since we only stayed in the room for five hours to sleep, I don't have much to say about the place. It is a rather large facility and reminded me of an older apartment building. The rooms were serviceable and cozy. It is always a hit and miss regarding toiletries in these types of lodgings - soap yes shampoo no.

Tromped out in the morning to enjoy the excellent snow conditions on the mountain. On our way back, I visited Upper Crust for the first time this season and missed our usual waitress. The food continued to be as good as memory served but don't eat the tiramisu. If you get a chance, grab the coupon from their website to save 10%.

DC

2010-02-05T14:51:00.000-08:00

"This posting is out of sync as I forgot to put this up before the Mammoth posting..."

Went to DC on a lark, visited some friends and family. Since it was a short weekend trip (bolted out of Santa Barbara to catch my redeye flight), didn't really expect to do much. I was lucky enough to get free transport between Dulles and the capitol area with a pit stop at a family acquaintance home. Walked around the Mall area and visited the National Museum of American History , cruised past the National World War II Memorial and the Washington Monument.

Although it was late January in DC, the weather was fantastic. A very brisk 60 degrees made the sightseeing manageable and the crowds were not overwhelming. Bunked down at the Capital Hilton. The hotel was undergoing some renovations and most of the upper floors were under construction. The room I was given smelled musty and hopefully that will be resolved once the remodeling is done.

The next day, strolled over to Old Ebbitt Grill and enjoyed a fantastic brunch. Afterwards, wandered over to the National Air and Space Museum: Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. It was nice to see all the planes and made me think of the Transformers 2 movie!

Mammoth Mountain

2010-02-01T22:34:00.000-08:00

With the recent storms in California, I decided to make a day trek up to Mammoth and check out the snow conditions. Left late in the evening towards Mammoth and was planning on making an overnight stay in Bishop. Unfortunately, I was too tired to get past Lone Pine. After stopping at several lodging facilities in town, the Dow Villa Motel was our best option at $55 for the night. The front desk person was willing to give me 10% discount after some chit chat and it being almost midnight. The room was spartan but very functional. If I had to stay in Lone Pine, I would be willing to stay here again.

Headed up to Mammoth mountain the next day, stopping in Bishop for some snowboard repairs. Had a blast snowboarding even though the snow was a bit packed and not enough powder for my taste.

After leaving the mountain, stopped in Bishop again to eat some bread and crunch cake from at Erick Shat's Bakery for the road trip home.

Santa Barbara

2010-01-22T09:06:00.000-08:00

It isn't too often that I can travel within California on the Amtrak. I've been going once a month to Santa Barbara for work and have enjoyed travelling via train. Seats are comfy, electric ports readily available, and a wireless card makes the travel easy and productive. I'm working on my motion sickness and trying to get myself use to working on moving vehicles. On the bright side, I think I can use my laptop on trains and planes for about an hour before getting woozy.

Being without a car, I rely on my colleagues to take me around the area for lunch. I was taken to South Coast Deli for lunch one time. I'm usually not a fan of sandwiches (except Vietnamese, of course) because it seems to be the catch all option for lunch for most people. I was pleasantly suprised at the quality and tastiness of the sandwich at South Coast Deli. Easy and quick, not a bad option if you're cruising through SB.

Kauai

2009-12-26T18:05:00.000-08:00

Over in Hawaii for the holidays, a nice change of scenery from the winter on the mainland. I found a really good hotel/car package at the Hilton KauaiBeach Resort and decided to stay here for a week. I've only been to Kauai a couple of times in my visits to the islands and this will be the first time I'm staying only on this island. I ended up driving the Dodge Caliber from Dollar Rental Company. Not a very exciting car but ended up being useful on this trip. It is wagon-like plus it is built for a road trip with the can holder space in the glove compartment, the auxiliary jack on the radio, and a two prong electric plug for all your electronic needs.

Within a week of arrival, I received an email stating that the the resort wasn't going to remain a Hilton after Dec 31, 2009 and becoming the Kauai Beach Resort. I guess the next time I'm staying in Kauai, it'll have to be a Starwood property. There were some reservations about going to the hotel given the transition and online reviews but the property was very nice, a little dated but I still liked the ambience and the people were super friendly. There are several pools and whirlpools as well as beach access. Parking was easy despite the daily $12 fee. On the bright side, the "resort" fee was no longer in effect and the hotel offered free internet access. The only shortcoming during the stay was the miserly maid service. For whatever reason, housekeeping did not want to give us much toiletries unless it was absolutely gone.

Since it was Christmas Day, we headed over to Duke's Canoe Club at the Marriott Kauai. I haven't always been impressed with the Duke restaurants but the meal was a pleasant surprise. I had the Opah Duke style and a bit of the hula pie (basically a mud pie).

The next day, we went north and had breakfast at the Ono Family Restaurant in Kapaa (4-1292 Kuhio Hwy, Kapaa, HI 96746). I greatly enjoyed my Tropical Shorty, a shortstack of macadamia nut and banana hotcakes. Of course, no trip to Hawaii is complete without going to McDonald's and getting fried pies!! Visited the Kilauea Lighthouse as well as some of the beaches in the north. It was a very pleasant ride and the day was gorgeous. Later that evening, we decided to eat at Hamura Saimin Stand at 2956 Kress St, Lihue, HI 96766. The saimin was very filling and the prices are extremely reasonable. They also serve shaved ice and have an awesome lilikoi chiffon pie.

Our next day adventure, we ventured southwest towards Waimea Canyon. I've never been to the Grand Canyon but I can't imagine that the Grand Canyon is more interesting to look at compared to Waimea Canyon. After travelling through the various lookout points in the area, we went to Waimea to do some shopping. Picked up some Aunty Lilikoi products and a slice of lilikoi chiffon pie from the factory and tourist items from local shops. (Hamura's pie was better.) Grabbed a quick plate lunch from the locol L&L and had some shaved ice from JoJo's at Mile Marker 23 Kaumualii Highway, Waimea, HI 96796. Not as good as the shaved ice shops in Oahu, it was still a tasty treat at the end of the day. The one variant is that the ice cream flavor option included macadamia nut ice cream which is vanilla ice cream with nuts.

The next morning we tried to get malasadas from Hanalima Baking at 4495 Puhi Rd, Lihue, HI 96766 but walked away with spam musubi and some turnovers. We will try again tomorrow... But the spam musubi was very tasty! Went out to Poipu to see the Sprouting Horn and made pit stops at the Kauai Kookie Company Factory and other shops to pick up souvenirs. Had lunch at Puka Dog in the Poipu Shopping Village. I had the volcano dog with coconut relish, I know it doesn't sound quite right but it was awesome! (Came back two days later and had the volcano dog with mango relish, delish!)

Later that day, we went to Roy's in the same shopping village and did dinner tapas style with a mix of appetizers and some entrees. Most of the menu items can be found in any Roy's restaurant except for the "Imu Roasted Hawaiian King Moi" which is served whole, salt baked and incredibly tasty. Of course, we had the chocoloate souffle cake, pineapple upside down cake, and the white chocolate creme brulee. I added in the Dow's port and it went down very nice. :)

The next day, grabbed the malasadas from Hanalima Baking. Not the best malasadas, it was somewhat forgettable. Ventured out to Hanalei to do some river kayaking. Rented our kayaks from Kauai Kayaks, the river was pretty calm and easy to kayak through. After getting dunked and flipping the kayak twice, ventured back into town and had a very late lunch at the pool bar. It seems that the hotel only serves during the day at the pool and the restaurant only opens in the evenings. Suprisingly, the chicken wings were very yummy and the cheesy fries had nacho cheese on top of them. My favorite kind of cheese on top of fries! Even though slightly pricey, it hit the spot for me. Afterwards, we went to Kukui Grove to check out the Verizon store since one of the phones were not completely saved in the kayak trip. There is a Costco, Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Kmart next to the Grove. The Costco is a great place to stock up on bulk Hawaiian items and the Wal-Mart has several souvenir items that are cheaper than the local tourist shops.

On our last day of our trip, we set out on a 4x4 backcountry tour of Kauai with Aloha Kauai Tours. Being part of a large group, the operator gave us a 10% discount. The tour was pretty fun, extremely bumpy and the guide was pretty entertaining. Along the tour, saw some movie sites, toured through old sugarcane plantations, and saw some nice beaches. Not expecting any snacks, I was pleasantly surprised that the guide pulled out a cooler when we were at the beach and gave us some drinks and snacks.

Had a pre-NYE dinner at Hukilau Lanai in the Kauai Coast Resort. I had the Sweet Potato Ravioli which was very yummy and the Opakapa was done well as well as the desserts of which the creme brulee was my favorite (there were several options - the mocha cheesecake, creme brulee, and lava cake). I've been having lava flows most of the week and this place did it very well!

Happy New Year!!

PS. I had issues with Hawaiian Airlines on the way back to the mainland. Had to do a short stop in Honolulu and they weren't the easiest people to contend with especially because I was under the impression that there were some reciprocity agreements with United Airlines. Although unhappy at the airport (ended up paying $62 in luggage fees), I was later reimbursed by United even though they weren't obligated to do so. Super fantastic!

Arizona

2009-11-04T00:24:00.000-08:00

I've flown into Phoenix for work and extending the stay to watch the 'SC game. I flew on United and noticed that the LAX United terminal has some new eateries. When 9/11 hit, United's terminal 8 lost so much business that the concession closed down. It seems business must have picked up because there are new eateries such as Karl Straus and Gordon Biersch. I'm happy to see that there are more options now!

Flew into Phoenix, picked up my rental and headed to Tucson. I opted to rent from Thrifty and got a Subaru Impreza. My first time driving a Subaru sedan, it was a pleasant experience. Nice amount of power for a compact car but the trunk space was a little odd. Got into Tucson late and checked into the Hampton Inn Tucson North. The hotel seems to run some random raffle as I was left a bag of goodies because I was the "guest of the day." I got a little hungry and looked around for some eating options. Apparently, alot of restaurants close at 9 pm and I was out of luck unless I opted for fast food. Found a Sonic Drive-In and enjoyed my sandwich, tater tots, and strawberry limeade (Of course!!!).

Spent the day tooling around the University of Arizona. I always forget how very big their student center is and how very corporate food courty it feels with all the eateries both "independent" and popular fast food chains and service providers. Then again, I think the University is one of the biggest things in town.

Got into Phoenix in the evening and checked into the Hampton Inn Phoenix Airport North. The facility is about 8 years old per the front desk people but they underwent renovations about three years ago. If Hampton Inns can be full service, this facility is the closest it can come to it. The lobby is fairly spacious with a large gift shop/pantry, the dining area is huge with flat screen TV, the pool area included a jacuzzi, and the room layout isn't your typical design. I even got a welcome call after checking in. I wouldn't be suprised if it used to be another brand and became part of the Hampton Inn chain.

Couldn't decide what to do for dinner and finally settled on eating Indian. Ordered food for pick up at the Flavors of India restaurant and picked up chicken vindaloo. Wasn't sure what to expect and was pleasantly suprised at how tasty everything was and the quantity of food in the order.

Went to ASU the next day ands scoped out the campus as I was going to be cruising through again on Saturday. A very relaxed atmosphere probably because it was 90 degrees today! They certainly seem to have alot of corporate sponsorship. I was talking to an employee and she said that the University gives their employees a 75% discount on tuition for dependents or a minor fee for employees to take classes. Maybe I should consider a job in Arizona!

Moved to the Hampton Inn Phoenix/Mesa. A slightly older feel to this Hampton, the front desk person said the hotel has been around for 20 years but underwent some room renovations a couple years back. Not too shabby, decent room size. I liked the personal touch in the bathroom with the towel origami! And the piece of chocolate helped too!!

Didn't have much luck on being decisive about dinner and ended up ordering Indian again from the Guru Palace. This time around, decided on the goat masala. It wasn't bad, a little chewy. It could have used some more time slow cooking.

Since I was done with the work portion of my trip, returned my rental car and picked up my personal rental car from Avis. Got a Kia Rio which is a very different car from the Subarau. I found it interesting that the car comes equipped with Sirius satellite radio, USB port, auxillory port but no power door locks which has to be manually locked at each door instead of a key turn switch.

Checked into the Hampton Inn & Suites Tempe. I've probably stayed here in the past, I just can't remember when. The facility feels like an apartment complex instead of hotel since there are several buildings on the property and the rooms appear to be all suites. Cozy and comfortable, I feel like I'm living in an apartment instead of at a hotel.

Went out to eat at Arcadia Tavern. Lot of wood and dark paneling, the restaurant bar was a good spot for a light night meal. Had the Arcadia Fries, essentially loaded fries, and split a prime rib sandwich. All in all, not a healthy meal but a very tasty one! They had $3 Dos Equis pint special running all day that found its way to the table... ;)

After barely surviving the ASU game, stayed at the Hampton Inn Phoenix Midtown before leaving for home. I've stayed here in the past and the Hampton was as expected. Had brunch the next day at Dick's Hideaway. Enjoyed the southwestern style/cuisine, I really liked the Carne Adovada entree and would have swapped it for the Eggs Benedict in front of me.

Eugene

2009-11-01T00:43:00.000-07:00

My first foray into Oregon outside of Portland. I'm here for the 'SC game against the Oregon Ducks. Got into the Eugene airport, surprisingly large for its location and locale. I'm staying on the outskirts of downtown at the Hampton Inn Eugene. It feels relatively new because of the decor and design. The room is rather spacious, two double beds and room for a couch/loveseat area.

I didn't see much of the school but Autzen stadium is fairly nice, reminds me of Stanford's stadium. The concession areas seem to have gotten a nice remodeling as everything looked fairly new. I was told by a Ducks alum that they expanded the stadium and increased its capacity to fit 54,000 plus.

There doesn't seem much to Eugene. Compared to other college towns, Eugene has a higher edge than South Bend, Indiana in my opinion. There doesn't seem to be much going on and the selection of eateries suggest limited palate of tastes. Makes sense since the average age of the Oregon alumni who go to football games seems like 50. I assume there isn't much of an industry outside of the University and farms for this area. Before the game, ducked into McMenamin's near the stadium to get out of the rain and grab some grub. Decent fare, nothing spectactular but solid food. Later, went to another restaurant owned by the same people, High Street Brewery & Cafe. It appears this particular company owns several restaurants and hotels in the Northwest area as I came across another eatery near the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History. Killed some time at the Museum before heading to the airport. Being at a loss for something to do in Eugene, drove around the area and took in the natural landscape. The scenery in this part of the state is really pretty.

Amazingly (;p), all flights out of Eugene were sold out and I ended up waiting at the airport for a couple of hours. Luckily, the city of Eugene offers free wireless internet within their city buildings. Free internet for one hour, the webportal is slightly misleading in not letting you know that you have access unless you open a new browser entirely.

San Diego

2009-10-13T20:34:00.001-07:00

I've headed down to San Diego for a couple of days on work events. Cruised through the University of San Diego and thought it a very nice laid back campus. I think this is the first time I've been at USD and the campus reminds me of the University of Redlands except for the weather difference.

I stayed at the Doubletree Hotel San Diego Downtown. With several teleconference call meetings the next morning before my work event, I thought it best to stay in San Diego. The hotel appears to have gone through recent renovations and has a warm interior design. The lobby and restaurant has an open feel and I wouldn't have minded hanging out there. The complimentary wireless internet helped as well. I decided I would opt for street parking instead of the hotel garage. If you're willng to walk a couple of blocks, this part of downtown San Diego is manageable for parking. The gaslamp district is not too far but far enough. I think since Little Italy is nearby, there are more residential people in the immediate area.

Went to a nearby wine bar restaurant, Enoteca Style, for dinner. Primarily a wine bar with limited food menu consisting of either salads or paninis, it hit the perfect spot for me. I wasn't in the mood for a heavy dinner and the Beech Panini (chicken panini) was super yummy. Very large portions, I had an average taste glass of Prosecco wine with it. Fairly reasonable in terms of price and the ambience was very nice. It seemed that the owner was the only one working as both bartender and waiter, so the service was a little slow in the beginning. I didn't have enough room for dessert but the options looked appealing. (I know, a surpise!!)

I visited UC San Diego and I'm always suprised how large the campus is and wonder if it is the largest UC campus. The one amenity I really like from this campus is that they allow people to access their wireless internet as a courtesy for non-UC students/personnel. I moved to another hotel due to a lower rate found and stayed at the Hampton Inn San Diego Downtown. I basically moved seven blocks west of the Doubletree which also landed me next to the train tracks that runs through San Diego, the MTS. If you want to be next to the MTS, this is a great hotel but be forewarned you will very clearly hear the trains every time. The Hampton also looks relatively new and is almost across the street from San Diego bay. I ended up with a suite with a separate living room which was also handicap accessible. The room ended up being super spacious - wider doors, accessible bathrooms, etc. As mentioned earlier, the train noise can be loud and I saw that the bedstand had complimentary ear plugs to offset the noise.

I ended the night with some gelato from Pappalecco. I ended up eating my lunch for dinner and wanted something sweet. Ignoring the pack of snacks I brought, I headed out for a brief 20 minute walk to get some air and spend some money in San Diego. ;p The gelato was tasty, all the flavors were labelled in italian but I basicall got strawberry, chocolate chip and banana in a waffle cone. At first the cone tasted stale but got better as I went down the cone, not sure how that happens.

I've finally seen San Diego State University, my first time here. I've had friends who really enjoyed their time here and it does seem like a small private university in comparison to the other CSU campuses. Seemed like a nice intimate campus to have studied here, people seemed friendlier around here. If you're ever on campus, they make the tastiest coffee cake ever.

San Francisco

2009-10-05T13:56:00.001-07:00

I'm in San Francisco for an extended weekend visiting some friends and going to the 'SC vs. Cal game. Decided to drive up instead of flying and check out the fuel efficiency of my car - averaged 37 to 38 mpg.

Since I was driving into the city so late, I stayed at the Homewood Suites SFO North for a quick sleep. Fairly convenient to SFO and freeway accessible, the hotel suited my needs. I got a queen studio and it was fairly comfortable and roomy. The hot breakfast buffet and free Internet/business center helped out.

The next day, met up with an old friend in Japan town at Sophie's crepes at 1581 Webster St # 275, San Francisco, CA 94115-3658. Very tasty crepes, made to eat with your hands. Mostly the sweet variety, the texture and thinness was appropriate for the scoop of ice cream and mixed fruits inside. To help with keeping the crepe "dry", they spread Nutella first so that the fruit and ice cream doesn't make the crepe smushy.

Moved hotels and stayed at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square. A familiar hotel to me, they have changed some things. The executive lounge is gone and replaced with the lobby restaurant, Urban Tavern. I don't think they do evening h'or deouvres anymore but the restaurant is nicely done. My only comment is that the area where they host the breakfast, there are parts of the dining area where you can tell it used to be a conference/ball room.

Came back after the football game and had a late night dinner at Pearl's Burgers at 708 Post St(between Jones St & Leavenworth St), San Francisco, CA 94109. The burgers were huge and the shakes are pretty good. I would recommend buying the mini versions as they equate to what normal size burgers in other eateries. I got the Spicy Sly and the sauce was really good. The actual hamburger patty was good, not fabolous but I'd still come back. As typical of most things in SF, not cheap either but they do accept credit cards.

The next day, had a light lunch in Chinatown and ate at Grant Place Restaurant. Trolled around Chinatown looking for spicy salt pork chop and meandered into this dim sum restaurant. I've come to think that SF really doesn't have much of a Chinese heritage and cruising through Japan town makes me think SF is more Japanese than Chinesey. The dim sum was ok and the spicy salt pork was good. I don't recommend the red bean sesame balls as there was too much rice flour. Otherwise, a serviceable meal and they seemed attentive enough for a Chinese restaurant.

Spent the day hanging out my good friend doing some errands. Had crepes again at Sophie's and later did some wine tasting from BevMo! They were having a buy one get another one for 5 cents sale. So I did my duty and had some sparkling wine to help in the decision making process for a wine at my friend's wedding.

Went to Richmond for some shopping. Had lunch at Pho Garden and the pho was good. Walked in reading the aricles they had posted on their window. I didn't participate in their pho challenge, a 2 lb pho bowl. I think I like the Richmond area for Asian food more than the city area. The food seems to taste better in this area or it could be just me.

Flying back home with US Airways. I normally don't fly on US Airways out of SFO and found the flights pleasant. The planes felt new and the seats were very comfortable. Had a layover in Vegas and I think this is the first time I've actually had to sit in the Vegas airport for a flight home. Usually don't layover in Vegas, not a bad airport to hang out in with the free wireless internet and assortment of food and entertainment.

Seattle

2009-09-19T01:05:00.000-07:00

Jetted up here for the weekend to catch 'SC play against the Huskies. Since I was arriving so late into Seattle, I chose to stay near the airport so that I can take the light rail into downtown in the morning and not spend the middle of the night trying to find the hotel in the city. Luckily, I chose the Hampton Inn Seattle/South Center conveniently located next to the Tukwila Metrolink station. From my understanding, the light rail is relatively new to Seattle. For $2.50, who can beat that price to get into downtown Seattle with no traffic? The Hampton seems relatively new especially because the window coverings isn't your typical curtains but a cellular shade. The airport shuttle runs 24 hours and will pick up when you call them. If you're ever leaving out of the United terminal, you will always be at Island 1.

Took the shuttle to the Tukwila Sound Transit Station. The light rail looks really nice and clean. There was about five people by the ticketing machines to help people figure out how to purchase their fares and direct traffic. I've never seen so many people to help out, I can only surmise that the newness of the rail required that number of personnel.

Moved to the Hilton Seattle in downtown Seattle. This is my first time in the Hilton as my previous visits has always landed me at other hotels. Since I was checking in early, I didn't get my original room assignment and opted to take a corner room. In this case, the corner room meant it was smaller than the typical room on the same floor. Nicely decorated and pleasantly comfortable despite the small size of the room. There is free internet in the lobby and lounge, so it wasn't a big issue for me as I hung out at the lounge at off times. Didn't experience the breakfast or complimentary evening snacks as I was out and about in Seattle, I'll have to try on another trip. The bartender did tell me that the restaurant and room service wasn't worth getting unless it was a last resort for food.

Went to UW campus and have to say that the campus is fairly picturesque. Even the stadium was nice with the lakes as a backdrop. I managed to leave downtown Seattle 30 minutes before game time and was able to get to the Husky Stadium, park on UW campus, walked to the stadium, bought some tix and sat in my seats just as the teams were running onto the field. Despite losing the game, the stadium itself was an easy place to get to as well as good seat viewability even at the nosebleed level. A word of advice, carry lots of cash as the concession stands don't take credit cards. They do have good chowder available, the dogs are ok.

My friend had an annual pass to the Space Needle and we decided to drop in before heading out to dinner. I was able to catch a couple of birdeye views of buildings I recognized. The Hampton Inn Seattle and Homewood Suites Seattle Downtown brought back my memories of my last trip to Seattle, saw my friend's apartment building and even the Husky Stadium in the distance.

Had dinner at Marakesh Moroccan Restaurant. I've had better moroccan food but it was probably very good by Seattle standards and reasonably priced. I had the rabbit, was cooked a little too long. My friend had the lamb, that was right on. There was this phyllo ground chicken appetizer that was super tasty and the lentil soup was very good. Otherwise, an adequate meal.

The next day, I met up with another friend for breakfast in the Queen Anne area. One of the older nieghborhoods in Seattle, it was cool to see traditional victorian homes in this hilly area. We ate at the 5 Spot and had very tasty banana pancakes with coconut rum syrup. My friend told me that the restaurant goes through themes and this particular month it was Puerto Rican.

I later went to some upstairs bar restaurant in the Market Place with another friend who lived nearby but I can't remember the name. I only had a seafood chowder since I was still full at breakfast and is no one's loss if I can't remember the name. The one thing I really appreciate about the Market Place is that you can buy unwaxed apples AND the apples are nice and crisp. Must be the cooler climate! Being it was a Sunday afternoon, was able to see the Market Place chock full of vendors and was almost tempted to buy this glass bowl. Luckily for my wallet, I was flying and trying to bring that home would have been difficult.

Spent the afternoon shopping in the downtown area. After getting tired of walking around, my friend picked me up and took me to the "internatonal district" slash Chinatown. Ate at the Green Leaf Vietnamese Restaurant because of Yelp. I do not share in the 4 star consensus as I've had better rice dishes. My friend's Hu Tieu was good so maybe it is more of a soup restaurant. I think I would have been better off eating Chinese in that area and looked for Vietnamese food elsewhere.

I opted to fly home really early Monday morning and decided to move back to the airport area and ensure I don't miss my flight in the morning! Staying at the Hilton Garden Inn Seattle/Renton. The HGI is a little out of the way when it comes to airport location but you can't beat that there is room service, small bar, and mini fridge in the room. It actually was the cheapest Hilton property near the airport beating out the Hampton Inn I stayed earlier. The people were really nice, the front desk even tracked me down when someone called the hotel to talk to me. The room is the largest I've been so far in the trip, ironic huh? The only drawback is that they don't have 24 hour shuttle service.

New York and Boston

2009-09-16T22:41:00.000-07:00

It is my birthday weekend and I couldn't head out to Columbus, OH to watch 'SC play against the Buckeyes. So I opted to fly to the East Coast and catch a couple of baseball games and visit some friends. Did a whirlwind sports day in New York, arrived at 7 am and took a power nap. Went to Yankee Stadium to watch the Yanks/Orioles game and see the new stadium in all its glory. Afterwards, we went to this Korean BBQ chicken place called Bon Chon Chicken. There are several locations and we visited the one at 314 Fifth Avenue (32nd Street), second floor. Not the easiest to find as the door is very undescript. The best fried chicken ever and they had good sushi rolls. I'm definitely going back to LA and look up the locations and have more of this tasty meal. We went on to dessert and I had the best cream puffs from Choux Factory. There are several in the city and we went to Midtown East location at 865 1st Ave(between 48th St & 49th St).

Spent the rest of the night watching the football game and boarded a 3 am train to Boston via Amtrak. While in Boston, we stayed at the Hampton Inn Boston/Cambridge. The hotel was undergoing renovations but it was still a comfortable stay. Conveniently located across the street from the Lechmere station.

Walked around the city and saw various historical sites and enjoyed the historical feel of the city. Caught a Red Sox game and immensely enjoyed the stadium with its simplicity and tasty stadium food. By far, the most enjoyable stadium food I've had.

Also, visited the USS Constitution and walked around the oldest warship in the US fleet.

I did try to visit a restaurant that I really enjoyed in a previous visit. The Green Street Grill in Cambridge on 280 Green Street. Unfortunately, the restaurant was only open for dinner and I didn't have time for a meal. Slightly funky Carribean style food, I will have to come back again for their goat curry.

Vegas

2009-08-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

Post MBA Vegas trip with some friends and classmates from grad school. After some last minute changes, we headed out in style in a Dodge Caravan Flex. Although not a pretty minivan, it was super comfy inside and very spacious. The very back row had seats that would recline, a very useful feature for those in the back that wanted to sleep. I dig that the windows roll down on the sliding doors, what automakers will think up next?! The only thing I could think of that would be nice is if the middle seats could swivel 90 degrees, it would make conversations in the minivan easier to have.

Rolled into the Las Vegas Hilton around midnight and was able to upgrade to the Resort level rooms after some minor issues at check-in. The rooms were not as big as the last time I was in this type of room but the free internet, water, and lounge access made up the size. It was also convenient that the rooms were connecting, I didn't think hotel rooms would make double rooms connecting.

Besides the usual breakfast buffet at the Hilton, we had dinner at a Thai restaurant, Ping Pong. I think the name was what drew me to try the restaurant. Very slow service, wasn't sure what was going on in the kitchen as we were one of only 3 tables in the whole restaurant and I could see a line out the door for all the takeout customers. I don't know if I'd come back or try finding another Thai place next time in Vegas. People were reminiscing the korean restaurant from a previous trip.

I visited the newest Steve Wynn's hotel, Encore. The hotel, from what I saw, reminded me of the Wynn Macau. Very similar color schemes and layout. Went to XS and was very suprised to see the very long long looooonnnng line. Luckily, the club has a capacity of 7,000 and we were able to get in after 40 minutes of waiting.

Phoenix

2009-07-02T23:41:00.000-07:00

I'm beginning to visit Phoenix as often as I visited Vegas in my early 20s. I learned that one of my favorite spa resorts became part of the Hilton brand. The Boulders Resort also has the famed Golden Doors Spa within its complex. In hearing that they've become part of the Hilton property, I decided I'd come back and try the hotel and enjoy some spa treatment this holiday weekend. I haven't been to this resort for over six years and wanted to see if it was as I last remembered. The complex has an assortment of lodgings ranging from 'casitas' to 'villas.' In previous stays, I've been at a bungalow casita on the golf course. In this stay, I'm in a casita on the second floor of a building, located near the lodge and main pool - very spacious and sufficient. The balcony view of the area doesn't look like I'm in the desert, lots of trees and cactuses with a mountain backdrop.

After walking around and visiting the spa for my treatment, I've found that I was comparing my current experiences to my memories. The major things were the same, facilities, people, etc. The little things are slightly different, the staff is excellent but there aren't as attentive as my previous experience. Overall, I still enjoy my stay and the spa treatment.

Visited some people and had brunch at the Sierra Bonita Grill. I had the Southwestern Benedict, very tasty. Instead of an English Muffin, it was a green chile biscuit. On the side, instead of the usual potatoe compliment, I received a root vegetable hash. It doesn't sound appealing but it was very tasty. I cleaned my plate clean. For those who know me, it isn't very usual for me to actually finish my meals in restaurants.

For dinner, visited a restaurant in North Scottsdale. Sol Y Sombra is a Spanish tapas lounge restaurant. Modern decor, the food was very good especially the spicy potatoes and the bar serves stiff drinks. As typical of most tapas restaurants, I wasn't enthused with the dessert items and decided to try some at the hotel. I like my sweets but I also want to enjoy them!!! Suprising to find restaurants in the outskirts of Phoenix, it was an enjoyable experience and happy to discover.

On top of that, I came across Grimaldi's pizzeria. The same pizzeria from Brooklyn, New York! It seems that some of the family members settled in the area and making a run of creating a local chain in the Phoenix area according to one reviewer. I ordered a large pizza with meatballs, pepperoni, and garlic. The pizza was good but not quite the same as the original in Brooklyn. My NY friend was wrong, pizza crust does not require water directly from NYC. Unfortunately, the execution wasn't completely right, the mozzarella weren't slices and there were too much sauce making the middle of the pizza soggy. Since dinner was late, didn't catch any fireworks but watched a YouTube video on the phone to replicate the mood!!

Although fun, today seemed unfortunate as I just found out that Steve McNair was found dead today. It doesn't seem like a good year for celebrities. RIP Ed McMahon, David Carradine, Farah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Steve McNair. Somewhat fitting that I saw Public Enemies at the Harkins Theater. I visited the Cine Capri which looks like the closest thing to IMAX theaters without it being called IMAX.

Before heading home, I ate brunch at The Cheesecake Factory. I can honestly say that this is the first time in my life where I've walked into a Cheesecake Factory restaurant and was seated immediately with plenty of tables to spare. I guess the economy has really hit home. Who'd have thought that at noon on a Sunday, the restaurant would be only half full?

Amsterdam!!

2009-06-21T21:01:00.001-07:00

Now that I'm done with school, I grabbed a week from my employer to take a small vacation/reward for myself. With only a week, Amsterdam was the location that best suited my time constraints and locale to visit.

I stayed at two different hotels in Amsterdam, the Hilton Amsterdam and the Hotel Pulitzer. The reason for the two locations were time and money. I stayed at the Hilton the first two nights because I wanted to ensure I got a stay for my status but European hotels are not the cheapest lodgings. The rate did drop 25% from the first time I booked the room until two days before arrival. The hotel was very nice and I always look forward to international Hiltons, the executive lounges are usually much much more nicer than the US counterparts. I was not disappointed as I had my first 'Dutch' breakfast. The afternoon cocktails were nice as well with unlimited access to hard liquor and tasty snacks. The room was fairly spacious as well. The hotel was located a bit south of the museum area of Amsterdam and seems to be placed in a rather affluent neighborhood.

The second hotel, Hotel Pulitzer, is a luxury collection of the Starwood brand. I used the cash and points option to secure lodging for the rest of the week and to offset the Hilton Amsterdam expense. I have to admit that the Starwood option of using a combination of points and cash to stay at hotels is very convenient. The Hotel Pulitzer is a collection of restored 17th and 18th century canal houses. As such, the facilities aren't the largest but the rooms were well decorated and tasteful. This is the first time I've ever been in a hotel where the floors are hardwood. Since we didn't have a complimentary breakfast, I did strike out more often to eat and found some interesting places to dine.

It didn't help that the days were 16 hours long, sleeping in took a whole new meaning. I slept alot during this trip (I wonder if it was the coffeeshops I visited?). Even though I'd roll out around noon or 1 pm, I still had time to do plenty of day activities and night activities because the sun didn't set until 9 or 10 pm. On top of that, most of the restaurants didn't shut down until around midnight. People just are out and about at all times despite it being a small city.

I had one specific goal in coming to Amsterdam and was able to accomplish it within the first couple of days. This city is very bike friendly, to the point where whole families would be on one bicycle. On a previous trip to Amsterdam, I had purchased saddle bags for my own bicycle. Upon coming back to the States, I've found that the ones I bought in Amsterdam is not sold anywhere in American stores. On this trip, I promised myself I would buy enough for my friends/family members so that they can have one when we go biking. They are that handy!!!

After doing the Heineken brewery tour, I have a newfound appreciation for the beer. I remembered never really liking Heineken beer before but after the tour and having them serve beer, I found that it was a likeable beer. Or maybe I just need good memories to associate the beer to drink often. After going through the museum, I truly appreciated how global the brand is, I even learned something new! The "e's" in Heinekin are "smiling e's" to relay the enjoyment people have when consuming Heinekin. I like the fact that the company is still controlled by the original founding family and that it is continuing on with the third generation currently. You don't see that too often these days. (I know, the b-school influence is still strong.)

Also went by the Van Gogh museum and take in some culture. From the outside, the museum is very large but they really dedicated one floor to Van Gogh. I did find out how much of a struggling artist he was in his time and I found that I liked other Impressionist painters more. Still an interesting place. Plus there is a liquor museum across the street. Didn't go but I did consider it!

While visiting the key areas of Amsterdam, my cuisine options ranged from Indonesian to Middle Eastern to Dutch. I had the traditional Dutch waffle which is somewhat close to what I'm used to in America but denser and "crunchier" at Sara's Pancake House. If that makes any sense. I also came to appreciate stroopwafles (crunchy crispy waffles caramel sandwiches). I've had them in America but these were better. I also noticed that there were alot of middle eastern eateries that were takeout places. Apparently alot of Turks reside in the city and they've made their food as common as Mexican or Chinese in America. I had schwarmas twice and both times were really good. I also enjoyed my favorite Frito products aimed for the Dutch audience.

I also had a taste of Indonesian food (another common ethnic cuisine) and found the food enjoyable. Close to Indian food in its curry aspect, the food is also distinctive in its own right. I also had Indian food on my trip and it was very tasty as well. I was really interested in eating these types of foods as it isn't as plentiful in the US in terms of quality and quantity. To cap off my experience, I also had a croquette from Van Dobben, this eatery is renowned for its croquettes which is listed on the Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel's cafe menu as "Von Dobben" croquettes.

I was given a room at the Sheraton Amsterdam Airport by United Airlines when they cancelled my flight back to the US and made everyone stay overnight to try again the next morning. As I've never been cancelled to the point where I'm required to stay overnight somewhere, this is my first experience. I have to say that it wasn't a bad deal when all was said and done. After getting over the inconvenience of the whole incident, I came to realize I could have been worse off. United secured everyone a room at the Sheraton which was located within the airport complex. The facilities were very nice and modern. They also secured us conference style meals for dinner and breakfast. No meal vouchers here! It seems that the hotel is equipped with dealing with flight cancellations as they worked fairly efficiently to check in a plane load of people within an hour. As I had to access the internet at this point given that I was going to miss several Monday morning meetings for work, I broke down and paid the 19 euros for internet access. Unlike the US, internet access isn't very cheap in hotels and I was happy to have an iPhone with me to access wireless hotspots to get most of my internet fix.

Lake Arrowhead

2009-06-21T20:54:00.000-07:00

So I'm up in Lake Arrowhead for the last piece of academic work required for my graduate program. I'm staying at the UCLA Conference Center in Lake Arrowhead. Although I've lived in LA most of my life, I have never ventured to this area despite it being about 90 minutes from my home. I don't usually go to mountains unless there is snow on them!

The conference center was pretty nice. I roomed with another classmate of mine and we stayed in a 'condolet.' A two story townhouse style with one bedroom/bath downstairs and the secondary bedroom/bath in a loft style. I stayed downstairs and the bedroom came with a door. Unfortunately, for my roommate, I tended to come in late at night and it is quite easy to hear if you were staying in the loft bedroom.

Most of the residential meals were pretty good particularly the desserts. I would have explored the rest of the facility if it weren't for the residential. From what I could see, they had a pretty impressive pool/jacuzzi and tennis/basketball courts. Some of my classmates took advantage of the large swaths of grass covered land to play football or wiffle ball. The weather was pretty mild, most of the week was slightly overcast. The lows were in the 40's, definitely not summer weather!

I only ventured off-site once, in pursuit of beverages and snacks at the local Vons. It seemed the center of town concentrated itself around the downtown area and it looked nice. People seemed friendly enough, I'm sure it was very obvious that I was an outsider.

Minneapolis

2009-05-22T23:57:00.001-07:00

Another wedding weekend, I've travelled to Minnesota. A first for me, never been to the state even as a layover at the airport. I'm staying at the Hotel Minneapolis, it was a bank that was in existence in the 50s now converted to a hotel. Very cool decor and architecture.

Got in super late and the valet knew who I was, I guess there aren't many people checking in at 1 am. He was nice enough to ask me if I was hungry and gave me a menu to Pizza Luce. The pizza I ordered was awesome and they don't close until 3:30 am on Fridays and Saturdays. Good deal!
Zahtar in the Life Time Fitness Club is only open to their members. It is a very interesting club and very large, any club with indoor tennis courts is huge.
After the wedding, I was invited to eat with the family for Sunday brunch. Interestingly, the restaurant was inside an athletic club. The restaurant wasn't prepared for the number of people in the group. The eggs benedict had english muffins that was so hard, that drenching in gravy would barely make a dent in softening the bread. I had Challah French Toast and it was done well. The restaurant's theme is healthy mediteranean fusion, I must presume then the potatoes I got was boiled for healthy purposes. Overall, the decor was nice but I wasn't impressed.

I didn't realize that Minnesota is home to Target and Best Buy. As I was driving around Minneapolis, I couldn't help but notice the quantity of Target stores. I visited a Best Buy store to get some camera accessories and saw almost the original Best Buy store. The store associate told me it is probably the second or third store and I am amazed at the difference between what they started at and what they are in California.

I later went to the Mall of America, the place was ginormous. The mall is rather impressive in size and number of shops are varied enough that one wouldn't be bored shopping. The amusement park was well laid out within the mall. I don't know if I could normally shop at a mall that size but it is definitely something to be seen.

I had dinner at the hotel restaurant, Max. I had the duck entree and it was very tasty. I was not expecting the leg and thigh of the duck, but it was still good. Although I'm a fan of dark meat, I prefer duck breast. Go figure...

The next day, I caught a Twins game before jumping on a plane back to LA. The Twins share a stadium with the Vikings. This is the first time I've ever been in an indoor baseball game. It was pretty interesting, I'm so used to sitting in the sun while watching the game. I almost felt like I was watching a basketball game instead of baseball. I also won a free T-shirt from one of those cannon shooters. I felt that it was an omen since I made eye contact with the mascot shooting the T-shirts despite me being probably more than 100 feet above.

All in all a very interesting firsts in this trip - 1) being in Minnesota, 2) Mall of America, 3) indoor sports stadium, and 4) enjoying my Hyundai Elantra rental. I didn't have much expectation but opted for the car once I saw that I was going to be given a gold Ford Focus. The USB port was the deciding factor in asking the rental company to give me the Elantra instead of the Focus. Surprisingly, the car came with a sunroof and had pretty good mileage (about 25ish mpg city/highway driving combined). If you're looking for a reasonable car with decent handling/driving, I would recommend the Elantra. :O

Portland

2009-05-22T23:30:00.000-07:00

My family and I have gone up to Portland and we stayed Portland Hilton and Executive Tower because a cousin of mine was getting married. The LA family was going to be housed in someone's house but ended up bunking with me at the hotel. I booked three rooms, a first for me! In the short time we were there, we walked around downtown Portland. Didn't get to see much but got a little hungry. After shopping at the Banana Republic, one of the sales associates recommended going to the square (across the street) and order a cheesesteak from the food carts stationed. I think the name is Pete's Cheesesteak or something like it. You can't miss it as they are the only one of three food carts in the station. The burgers seem very popular given the number of "local" customers ordering them. Although a little dubious, it was actually really good and, arguably, better than the ones in Philly.

My previous visits to Portland was usually in the fall and the weather tended to be miserable. This time around, the weather was really nice and I realized that Portland wasn't as dreary as I thought. Or maybe I should only visit when they get sunshine.

San Francisco

2009-04-03T17:05:00.000-07:00

I'm in San Francisco for some fun. My brother decided to go to the Web 2.0 conference and I found a cheap one way to SF and then take a leisurely drive back to LA at the end of the weekend. This time around I'm staying at a friend's place and give some company. I better enjoy these last minute trips before working again!

With no plans or agenda in mind, this "long" weekend will be about tooling around the city and enjoying the good weather. Amazingly, it is sunny and the days are warm enough to walk around with a long sleeve shirt. Once the sun sets, it is pretty brisk with the cold wind around here.

Our group went to Tataki on the first night. As their website states, the first sustainable sushi restaurant. As such, the menu varies seasonally. It was a very good dinner, the rolls we ordered were fresh and very tasty as well as being reasonably priced. My two favorite dish presentations were the extinguisher and spicy tempura rolls. One came with real fire - I think they used some type of special burning salts - and the other came with a very pretty flame drawn with hot sauce and soy sauce. The desserts didn't fit my taste although the red bean used was quality similar to what I tasted in Kyoto.

On our way to the conference, we decided to stop off at Haight and Ashbury and find some crepes. Our original destination was Japantown but it was easier to stay on one line and get some food real quick. We stopped at the Squat and Gobble. Enjoyed some decent crepes. The highlight was the rice krispy treats. It wasn't any kind of rice krispy treat I've ever had. The bottom layer was a graham crust then layered with marshmellow creme and caramel and then topped with rice krispy. The whole thing was then drizzled with chocolate, caramel, and chocolate chips. Super delish.

On the second night, I treated my friend, who kindly lent her apartment for lodging, to Michael Mina in the Westin St. Francis in lieu of paying for her lawyering advice. I once had an opportunity to eat at one his restaurants in at the St. Regis Monarch Beach but our group wasn't interested at the time. The restaurant doesn't allow individualized ordering, everything is a seasonal set menu. The bar/lounge area offers dishes a la carte. I chose to eat the prix fixe menu instead of the tasting menus. Apparently, the entire table has to get the tasting menu or it won't work and I wasn't sure if I wanted to eat the same exact thing as my companion.

The amuse bouche was very good, I can't remember what was given but I do know there was a sushi component. The first course was good but not as impressive as the pasta I had in Phoenix. I was served a trio of pasta - fettucine with rabbit, ravioli with duck leg (the least favorite), and oriechette. The second course was beef, I was scared off from tha lamb by the waiter because he said that most lamb served is a "dumb downed version." Wasn't sure what that really meant so I went with beef. Afterwards, I'm not sure if I was better off with the lamb or squab. The beef was a trio of braised beef, filet mignon, and rib eye. The braised beef was my least favorite and I couldn't finish the dish. The final course (I love the dessert part) was a root beer float and chocolate cookies. The cookies were the best part of the meal!! The root beer float was a little odd because it was slushy and the ice cream was root beer flavored which I found a bit much on top of the root beer slush. In the end, I had a good time with my friend but I woudn't recommend coming to the restaurant. I'd be willing to try the lounge area but I can think of better ways to spend my money even with the Michelin rating.

Spent most of Saturday tooling around the city, visiting Ferry's Plaza and the farmer's market, Fisherman's Wharf having some chowder at the Fisherman's Grotto, irish coffees at the Buena Vista, and Ghirardelli chocolate sundaes. I had intended to eat at Town's End but was too stuffed and pushed it off for Sunday brunch.

My brothers had friends coming into town to enjoy the night out and I rented a room at the SF Hilton. The hotel has significantly changed since last I stayed. They've eliminated the lobby restaurants and replaced them with convention rooms and added a bar accessible to the street. The City View restaurant/bar is no longer open to the public. That is a shame as I enjoyed the view from the top of the hotel. The Urban Tavern was a good addition to the hotel, I very much enjoyed my kiwi martini.

Before heading out of SF, I had brunch with some friends at Town's End. The brunch was fantastic. I had blueberry pancakes, very big yet flaky and crisp. I had a bite of someone's waffle which was also ginormous and was flaky and crisp. All in all, a very good meal and a good way to end my visit to SF.

Phoenix

2009-03-28T22:37:00.001-07:00

I'm capping my spring break by being in Phoenix. Althouth LA is warming up, Phoenix is warmer. It is a quick overnight stay in Phoenix which works out as I'm also sick. :( Got a mustang from Avis, feeling pretty righteous especially since I was originally given an Impala that reeked of smoke.

I seem to be hitting a string of sports related events with Vegas and March Madness and now Phoenix and spring training. Caught a game between the Dodgers and White Sox at the spring training complex at Camelback Ranch. It was really cool, very nice facilities similar to the Giants Stadium in SF yet very intimate feeling. I think the stadium could only accommodate about 15,000 people. Definitely NOT Dodger stadium size. ;p

Budweiser seems to have been a sponsor as I saw the Clydesdale horses. I remember the first time I've seen these horses and they are super cool looking. It is like the Great Dane of horses. The horses were pulling the typical red fire wagon with a Dalmation sitting on top.

Given the relative short stay, I'm at a Hampton Inn this time around near St. Joseph's hospital. I'm on the fourth floor and the level has really high ceilings. The room feels really large because of it. In general, the typical Hampton experience. Part of me suspects this Hampton does well due to the proximity to the hospitals and I'm sure they get alot of business from people who are visiting patients at the hospital.

Took an afternoon evening nap and had a late start looking for dinner options. Since it was 9 pm, did a quick search and came upon Pizza A Metro at 2336 W Thomas Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85015. It is a local Italian restaurant/pizzeria. Located in a Circle K plaza, I had the most amazing pasta and pizza. They had a wood fire pizza oven and the pizza crust was chewy and crispy. The linguine carbonara was excellent. I let the pasta sit in the sauce for a couple of minutes (it was also hella hot) and the pasta soaked up the remaining sauce on the plate. The proscuitto was right on. For dessert, the tiramisu is the classic traditional style. The kahlua taste was just right and the ladyfingers were moist. The prices were very reasonable as our meal came to $48 (including tax and tip) for two beers, two entrees, and a dessert. Definitely getting value for your dollar at Pizza A Metro.

Spring Break = Vegas

2009-03-23T17:58:00.000-07:00

I'm back at the Las Vegas Hilton with a group of family friends and classmates. I was lucky enough to book a ridiculous rate of $80/night with drink and food specials while it being the first weekend of March Madness. As an added bonus, USC was in the tourney and made it past the first round. The hotel had cancelled my reservation or so they say. Personally, I think they were oversold and was trying to clean out their reservations. Luckily, I didn't have to throw a fit as they quickly honored the reservation.

Because of the last minute pile-up of people, it was a cozy room of seven (the second night) in my room. There was some creativity involved but we managed to all fit and work around the space. Or maybe it is a testament to the size of the hotel room. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get upgraded to the "resort" level room but it worked out in the end. The difference I could see between the resort level and the deluxe room was the toiletries (there was conditioner for the "better" room) as well as additional space and free internet.

On the first night, we had dinner at the Crown and Anchor Pub near UNLV. I didn't get to try the bread pudding but the food was pretty good. They also had alot of beers on tap. Definitely recommend! On the second night, we had dinner at Jin Mee Korean B.B.Q. Restaurant on 953 E Sahara Avenue #E9. It was a little hidden in the plaza but well worth the look. Our group of sixteen easily sat down and we had the "all you can eat" dinner. The available selection of meat was good. I liked the spicy pork, marinated beef, and short ribs. Staples of any korean bbq restaurant. The $18 per person price was also very nice.

Last trip to June for the snow season?

2009-03-09T08:12:00.001-07:00

It snowed about five feet during the weekdays in June. I decided to have a run up to the mountin, it is definitely the only one in the month of March as I'm busy for the rest of the month and possibly snow season. My brother rallied a group and the six of us trooped up to June Mountain. Luckily, the June Lake Motel had a room we could all easily split. I booked a room with one queen, two twins, and a full working kitchen. Half of the group had never been and was impressed with the quality of accommodations given the price. The snow quality was good, packed and groomed snow. I would have preferred more powder but the snow stopped on Friday and we loat the chance to be boarding on the "next" sunny day of fresh snow.

A word of advice when driving up the 395, there are alot of sherriffs and CHPs in Inyo County. My poor sister got two speeding tickets within 40 minutes of each other.

Las Vegas

2009-03-02T08:49:00.000-08:00

First trip of the year to Vegas. Here for some personal business and decided to stay at the Las Vegas Hilton.
I think the LV Hilton had a high occupancy rate for the weekend because NASCAR was in town. On top of that, my rate was a screaming $55/night. How can you beat those prices? The combination proved helpful as I was given an upgrade to the "Resorts Club" level. The room comes with a HP printer and free internet. Ideal for those who'd like to print out directions or there for some work. It is becoming standard that hotel rooms come with plasma/LCD TVs so I won't mention it. :D Overall, a very spacious room and easy to entertain a goup of five people if you wanted. It was very nicely decorated with a view of the Wynn golf course and had an oversized oval bath tub in the bathroom. The toiletries were a different sort than I'm used to seeing at Hilton hotels. Not sure if they are the same soap but in a different bottle. When I checked out, I asked the Front Desk person how I can be upgraded again. She was very nice and told me it depended on room occupancy and the timing of my check in. The later the better apparently. I think combined with my Hilton status, I have greater opportunities to get to this room. Good thing to know as I'm coming back in a month.

It was a pretty tame weekend, didn't do much gambling. I guess I'm getting old these days, just stuck with drinking and eating. I've determined that I like the buffet at the Las Vegas Hilton. Not so much for grandness but simplicity and reasonable prices. It also helps that I get it for free. :) They have alot of grilled meats in the buffet, I would say that the chicken (fried and bbq) is a good choice. The steak was a little tough depending on when you grabbed it. The prime rib and beef ribs were good (I was suprised about the beef ribs). Of course, since it is the weekend, champagne brunch was the theme and the champagne was palatable. A pleasant surprise since free house booze typically isn't good and requires massive amounts of orange juice to compensate.

My most memorable meal was at Postrio. Another Wolfgang Puck restaurant in Vegas, there are two total (Vegas and San Francisco). I didn't have much expectations for the restaurant because of my experience with his "cafe" restaurants but wanted to eat at one of his signature restaurants to see what the deal was all about. I've never been to Spago in Beverly Hills so this is my first experience with his cuisine at this level. I must admit, I was very impressed. After meandering through the Venetian Canal Shoppes, we came across the restaurant in St. Mark's Square. The outside of the restaurant is the cafe version where you sit in the "outside." The dining room is inside and the decor is very modern and dark. I had the roasted duck, it was cooked to perfection. The skin was crispy and light like a true Chinese roast duck. It came with an Asian slaw that was also very good and complemented the duck very well. A note of warning for those with peanut allergies, the restaurant uses peanut oil to fry. I believe you can ask for a substitute oil for most entrees. For dessert I also had the raspberry souffle, it was very good. A little too tart for my taste and parts of the souffle was a tad chewy but it was still a very good experience overall.

June Mountain again!!

2009-02-14T21:56:00.001-08:00

Another weather system rolled in again and the call of the snow was too hard to resist. Given that it is a three day holiday weekend, my group stayed in Bishop this time around. I decided to book the cheapest room I could find and it was the Super 8. Never stayed at one. I also found out it is part of the Wyndham resorts portfolio. The motel is nice for what is offered. Room was very spacious even with double beds, four people would comfortably fit with their snowboard gear.

We ate at Upper Crust. It turned out to be a great choice. Situated next to the Vons where it sells pretty cheap gas (and diesel too) and Cliff Bars, if any where in stock. Our meal was simple, chicken wings and pizza. Both were delicious and the service was very friendly and comfortable. A definite stop whenever we go through here again.

Mad dash to June Mountain

2009-02-11T10:20:00.000-08:00

Winter storms arrived late this winter and I was unexpectedly given an opportunity to get in some boarding. Went up with my brother and drove through rain and snow to find the mountain blissfully calm and completely covered in powder. It was a quick in and out trip and we stayed at the June Lake Motel. This time around, only a two full bed room with a microwave in the bathroom area. Not as nice as the first time around but sufficient for our breakfast of ramen in the morning. :D

The conditions at June was super fabulous and am looking forward to coming back again the following weekend.