Weekend

On Saturday, wy and I headed down to Desert Hills Factory Outlets. There were so many stores there, and all are supposedly factory outlets! Ran a few errands for those who asked me to buy stuffs for them. Includes fossil watches, coach bags and gucci pouches etc. Haha. Am on a tight budget here, so didn't dare spend much. But I got a great deal for an Armani Watch which I had been eyeing in Singapore. The price was abt SGD350 and I got it for USD99. Hahaha. The must buys are the fossil watches, some are like 2 for USD 39.99!!!

The location of the factory outlet was abt 90 mins drive from LA, to a place called Cabazon. The drive there was hot too! And the area was nothing but sandy dunes and hills. Nothing but yellow highlands and lowlands. And the stores are right smack in the middle of this. No wonder it's called desert hills. Because it is like a desert!

Halfway through shopping, there was a sandstorm kicking up. Everything looked blustery. Hot air was blowing all around. You can literally feel the warm wind blowing at your face non-stop. And because of the environment, I could feel sand around me. I swear I could taste them in my mouth. The scary part was when I kept hearing the people around me saying the word "typhoon". Haha. Wenyao and I got abit worried seriously. Lucky, nothing happened!

Went to Sizzler for dinner after that. The price is slightly cheaper than Singapore's (I'm not sure if they still have it there though..haha). The salad bar has more than salad, thought I saw fried foods (again!) as well. Hah, but we didn't add on the salad bar cos the mains were more than enough. The people we've met are really friendly, esp restaurants. Maybe it's cos they were working for the tips. Haha.

On Sunday, we headed for Universal Studios. This is the shortest drive ever! 20 mins only. Never been so glad. And can you imagine I'm not even driving. Haha. It's boring to sit in the car!!!

Went through some of the rides and shows. Very interesting. But I guess kids would like it better. Haha. Watched a 4D short screening of Shrek. You can feel the mucus when donkey sneezes. Gross. We also caught a live performance of Fear Factor. They had to drink a smoothie of Cockroaches, worms, pig gluts, sour milk, etc etc. It was eeky just seeing the blender blend them all together! One of the nice parts were when we took the universal tours and the special effects section. I got a glimpse of Wysteria Lane (Desperate Housewives)!!! Haha, too part it was only a small part because the whole set was closed to outsiders. I took pictures with a few characters too, with SPONGEBOB!!! Too bad Patrick wasn't there. Haha. I got a cute spongebob waterbottle. Only kids were carrying that, and the only adults carrying it were the kids' parents. Haha. Think they must be thinking I am overtly childish! But it's so cute!

After Universal Studios, we headed to take a picture of the Hollywood sign. Haha, then we got lost amongst the residential areas at the hills. The roads were so narrow, the car can barely squeeze through! We got into turns and turns and still couldn't get out! Imagine my shock when the GPS said "turn right after 2km". I went like "there's 2km of this narrow roads?!"

Went for a short walk at Hollywood after that. Loads of people basking on the streets. Took a picture with Zorro and sone evil character. Wasn't going to take pics with them. I wanted to take a pic of the whole background, which was Graumann's Chinese Theatre, when Zorro said "Ni Hao" and offered to take a pic with me. They were after tips actually. Haha. But they were a fun bunch of people!

I realised the parking in LA is super expensive. The parking at Hollywood is 10 bucks! 15 mins is 2 bucks and the max is 10. You could acutally park along the streets, but if they weren't available, then it's back to parking at 10-14 bucks per slot! Imagine paying SGD 16-22 bucks for parking in singapore!

We headed to Chop Chop, a chinese restaurant @ Westwood, near the apartment for dinner. Wenyao said the curry chicken he was eating was good. He's so easily satisfied! The curry is jap style, and there was so many clumps of undissolved curry. Haha. On the safer side, I had chicken and mushroom noodles. The soup was good, but there was something wrong with the noodles. They were way too thick and taste funny. Haha, I am so hard to pleased. One thing good, the soy milk taste exactly like Singapore! Wenyao had to gulp down everything so he could take a free refill, altough he was totally full from his rice! Haha. He took me there just so he could drink soy milk!

Now's Monday afternoon at 2pm. Wenyao and the rest are in school. Waiting for him to come back so we can head for lunch then to the beach. Should be going Venice beach, heard it's a great place!

Will be travelling to Las Vegas tomorrow for the next 3 days. Hope it will be as exciting!

Los Angeles - Yosemite

Reached LA on the afternoon of Jul 19 (Sg July 20). The plane ride was rather eventful. Was quite fearful of the 18 hrs flight alone since I'm not exactly a fan of flying. Watched a total of 3 movies, and didn't manage to sleep one bit. No thanks to the baby crying the whole nite through, and the two japanese kids kicking my seat all the way from narita airport to LAX. Gross.

Was checked thoroughly by the LAX custom officers as I was 'checking out' of the airport. Took my whole luggage for checking and asked me a whole bunch of questions. My dad had already gave me a warning before I departed. He said they might think I'm an illegal worker looking for work there. Hahaha.

Saw wenyao for the first time in 5 weeks. Felt he has aged abit. He said it was because of the weather. Haha. His face looked so worn.

Went back to the apartment. The apartment is not bad really, cept that guys don't usually keep it neat. Haha. Puzzling thing was, they did nothing but sit around their laptops the whole time, cept to eat and watch abit of tv. 5 guys in total. Imagine my surprise when I see the laptops around the round table, and each person doing their own stuff, right until their bedtime. I don't even dare to make too much noise. Hah.

Did nothing much when I got to LA. Went around west hollywood and walked abit. Had lunch at this restaurant called Mr. Noodle, serves thai food, and it's quite good. Walked around at Ralph's (supermarket), victoria secrets and urban outfitters. Didn't buy anything though. Some stuffs are freaking expensive! VS was having a sale, but felt abit weird with wy following around in a lingerie store. Hah. Urban outfitters is not cheap either. The store is so similar to forever 21. But the clothes are not bad though.

Set off for Yosemite on the morning of 20th July, at 730am It was a long ride. Poor wenyao had to drive all the way - 5 hrs of driving. The sun was so blazing, I had a sunburn just sitting in the car! Wanted to check in early at our lodging place but they mentioned the earliest was 3pm, so we headed down to Oakhurst for lunch. They actually had KFC buffet here, at USD$ 6.99, and you can eat all you want. Hah. We settled for Carl's Jr instead.

Walked around Oakhurst and headed for Yosemite Park after that. Hiked for about an hour in Mariposa and viewed the Giant Sequoia Trees. They are really really huge! Some of the tree trunks' circumference are big enough for cars to drive through! But seriously, after awhile, the trees just look similar. Opps.

Headed for Glacier Point after that. As we were nearing the area, it started to drizzle. The weather was getting really bad with dark clouds overhead. I got worried and asked wenyao to head back since it was already 3pm and we will be able to check in. He agreed and we headed back towards the direction of Narrow Gauge Inn, which was a 15 mins drive out of the park. As we were driving back, the sky started clearing, and we thought perhaps we could try out luck towards the tunnel view area, which was in the opposite direction of Glacier Point. Halfway towards tunnel view, it started pouring again. On seeing the many cars in front of us proceeding ahead, we followed suit. When we finally reached the tunnel view area, the sky was overcast, and it was raining heavily. We couldn't get out of the car for a photo shoot, because of the rain. In addition, the area was so foggy we couldn't see much either. We headed back towards the Inn, and decided to cover the rest of Yosemite the next day.

Just as we were heading back, the rain got even heavier. Soon, there were loads of crackling sounds on the window. It was then when we realise it was raining ice. The ice was quite big and they were making quite a racket. Then we realised the car wipers weren't working really well. The ice was coming down even more. The roads were just turns after turns! It was so difficult to drive in that weather. Worse was when the inside of the car shield got misty and wenyao couldn't see a thing. I had to wipe the wind shield so he could focus. It was quite scary. haha. Then we switched on the air-condition to full blast so the water wouldn't condense on the inside. It worked. But by then I was shivering so much I couldn't stop. Hah. It was exciting to be caught in the hailstorm though. As we travelled lower, the rain stopped, and we could see abit of snow at the sides of the road. A teeny weeny bit only. But it looked beautiful.

The Inn where we were staying was fantastic! The room was rustic and comfy. Very country feeling. The people were very friendly too. It just seemed like a tiny cottage place. It is really recommended. One thing bad was the price was abit too steep. Perhaps it's because we were there during the peak period. Took a glimpse at the receipt and realised wy paid $170+ on one nite stay. (Everything quoted here is in USD!) I was kinda shocked but at the same time thankful cos he really thought it was money well spent.

We had dinner at the restaurant at the Inn, price is not good either. But there was nowhere else to eat, since the weather was bad, and the drive down Oakhurst will take another 30 mins with no lights at nite. It was fine dining, but we just ate like normal while the other visitors ate like fine-dining practices. Haha. Typical us. We were the only ones in slippers too!

Headed out to Yosemite Park early next morning, after the complimentary breakfast at the Inn. The weather was amazingly good. Thank God for that, if not it would be a totally wasted trip for me. (This is the second visit for wenyao already.) First stop was Washburn Point. We didn't plan on stopping there, as we were heading for Glacier Point instead. But the view was so amazing we had to stop. Then we headed down to Glacier Point. The view was spectacular. I could see one-quart of the whole yosemite (the guide said that!). Saw Half dome, north dome, yosemite falls etc. It's amazing how the rocks were form over the years to become such a sight. (Shall post pics soon!)

Next we headed to the tunnel view area again, and we could see El Capitian from there. Wenyao said this was from a huge rock, but I wasn't quite sure, since all looked like one huge rock to me! Haha. Then we headed down to the valley, and stopped along the way for pictures. Went pass the camping sites at Curry Village. There were visitors cycling around. It's just like a chalet in the woods. So many people there. All with their own foods and tents. We took a turn and and wanted to head back to LA. Passed by this place called Yosemite Fall. Wenyao was asking if I wanted to take a walk, which I refused cos I thought it was a long hike to the area. (I am totally lazy during this trip!) Then I saw the falls from the car and immediately called for wenyao to take a walk. If I had missed it I think I would totally regret it! (But how to regret if I dunno about it in the first place? Hahaha). Anyways, this walk down to Yosemite Falls was truly the one moment that made the whole trip to Yosemite fulfilling. Since I had done so many sightseeing, which after awhile they all looked the same. And all see no touch makes Zee really bored. Haha.

Yosemite Falls is the tallest waterfall in the whole of US, and the 5th tallest in the world. I walked to the lower part of the fall. The higher part takes 6-8 hours of hike! Could see the whole waterfall from the bottom. The water just drop down from the top, and the view was spectacular against the blue sky. I even waddled down the water. So many kids there and I'm the only adult! Haha. Wenyao was wearing shoes so he didn't go down into the water until I pestered him for it. It was so nice of him since he was afraid the water will spoil the camera. Haha. So he thought he'll stay on dry land. So thankful I was wearing crocs. The sandals are practically made-ready for yosemite!! I wore them into the stream! Didn't have to take them out at all! It was good for hikes too, since it was non-slip! Hah!

After Yosemite we headed back, and had lunch at Fresno, Tulare. Realised the whole area was inhabited by hispanics! Hah, feel abit weird also. The fast food restaurant (we had Jack in the Box) had quite abit of flies. Being the eccentric me, I couldn't really concentrate on the food. Anyways was quite sick of eating fast food, everyone here eat fried stuff!!! Gross. I will be so fat when I come back!

Slept so much for the whole journey back and I felt so bad since I wasn't driving at all. And wenyao had to drive so much! Love him for that! I did catch some view on the way back. The sun was super hot, I got burned on the way back again. Pui! Saw many ranches and they reminded me of where Clark from Smallville lived! Haha.

Back in LA at about 8pm. So tired. The guys went to Las Vegas for one nite and wenyao and I are doing laundry and watching tv. It feels weird to see him busying around the house. He does the laundry and washing for them!!! Like a house husband. Haha. Maybe he's more ready than I am.

Anxiety

Have you ever had the feeling when anxiety hits you and you found yourself unable to breathe?

I get that at times, only thing is my mind starts thinking haywire thoughts, I get tensed and I find myself gasping for air. Sometimes it's accompanied by the pukish feeling, a regurgitation of whatever you just ate. Or perhaps it's not physical damage.

Perhaps it's mental, perhaps it's just the cause of bad experiences.

Gross.

Geek attack

Went to this shop @ Raffles Place which was like a factory outlet store. Loads of brands there and at very affordable prices.

Was trying out the Ed Hardy Trucker Caps when the sales guy commented I should buy the pink one (which I did..haha). He said it looks more my style, clubbing and sort. My colleague went like "she's not a clubber". Haa, and I gave him an innocent smile.

And exclaimed, my greatest hobby is actually reading. Hahaha.

Aftermath: Was so happy that I bought the cap back, and saw one of the colleagues on the way. She asked why I was so happy and I said cos I bought that. She had a look at it, and had a grave expression on her face. She decided not to wreck my enthusiasm but I persisted. And she said these caps were all over the Taiwan Street Market. Burnt!

And btw I think she didn't know the brand well also. Not to blame....haha. I shall wear it's authenticity out! It's the man that maketh the cap!