US OPEN 2006 @ Flushings, NY.








MUSEUM OF MODERN ART(MoMA)

Night out with the housmates( August 29th 2006)







A scene from the Farmer's Market in Davis where you can buy really cheap fresh fruit!

Warning: This is going to be a very long post. After 3 weeks of almost non-stop travelling and with school starting soon, i figured that i might as well update everyone on where i have been.

To get a better idea of the places that i have been to, check out the hyperlinks that i have included. Feel free to drool over the menus of the fabulous restaurants that i've dined at. =D

Travelling alone has its pros and cons. The downside of it is that you have to make all the arrangements on your own and plan your own itiniary.Nobody to rely on. You've got to want to travel so bad to be able to see your plans materialize.

I have yet to be in one place for 2 weeks.

Call me a nomad, itinierant or just a restless young soul. I have been on the move and i like being on the move. I'm very grateful for this opportunity to travel extensively before school begins. The quarter only begins on September 28 and ends on Decemeber 16. 12 weeks of school to be exact. After that, i will be flying back asap because i have another flight to catch to Turkey. =)

Anyway here's an almost day to day update of my travels:


August 29- I flew down from LA to Davis and checked into my apartment. Found it a dirty,dusty and messy. Good thing is, 2 of the 3 messy girls have moved out and my new housemate, Jennifer is a cleanliness freak. More on that later.

August 29-August 30th: Explored Davis. Nothing much to see except open spaces of farming land, and a downtown that reminds me of Greenleaf ave.Not even Holland V or Bukit Timah, but Greenleaf!!!
Played tennis with my housemates on my first afternoon in davis and on the second night, we went clubbing at Froggy's,the most "fun club" in Davis.

The moment i heard that the most popular club in town is called Froggy's, i knew that i shouldn't expect anything like Zouk or MOS. And i was right. Froggy's is a pub with a husband and wife live band that plays tunes like "Sweet Carolyn". Songs that my parents probably danced to when they were dating. As much as the crowd at Froggy's was good fun, i don't see myself clubbing often while i am over here. My housmates are major drinkers though. we have alot of alcohol in the house.

August 31- took a plane down to Philadelphia and stayed overnight in Fairmount, Chamounix Mansion, a very quaint youth hostel.Thanks to some savvy travel advice from Kevyn, i booked a round trip from Sacramento- Philadelphia, and a round train ticket from Philadelphia to New York City.That explains the one night stopover in Philadelphia.Chamounix Mansion and Fairmount Park is the perfect camping site. Even i give it the thumbs up although i am not crazy about camping, hiking or nature.

September 1st- Woke up to a chilly morning in Philly, had a quick breakfast before taking a cab to 30th Street Station to catch my train to Penn Station in Mahatten. I throughly enjoyed my maiden train journey on Amtrak.=)

Met Kevyn at the train station which was on 32nd street and we walked to my cousin's apartment on 52nd street.After dumping my stuff, we headed off to Chinatown for one of the best dim sum lunches i have ever had. My favorite dish( after chicken feet of course) is you tiao covered with a layer of chee chong fun and with a generous serving of the light sauce. MMM.

The hightlight of the day was the trip to FLUSHINGS to catch the US OPEN with Kevyn and Yun( Kev's friend). Some of you would have known by now that i was suppose to catch MARAT SAFIN play that evening! But damm mother nature had plans of her own and all matches for the night got cancelled.=( Well i guess the pictures i took at Flushings and the very expensive US open tshirts i bought for my dad and brother are sufficient memos.=)It was a fun night though i got teased alot by kev and yun. Seems like even men in their late 20s and early 30s never grow out of that lame sense of humour.=|

September 2nd- Brunch with my cousin Tsu Ann at CAFETERIA, a very chic cafe in Chelsea that was featured in Sex and the City. I had the green eggs and ham( poached eggs with pesto, breakfast biscuit and a very generous cut of ham.)Saturday was just as dreary as friday- spent the afternoon shopping for winter necessities at Lohemann's.

September 3rd- Brunch with Tsu Ann, Kevyn,Yun and a whole bunch of graduate students from Columbia at Norma's, another famous brunch place in Parker Meridien Hotel. Had Waffles Za - waffles with strawberry creamcheese and a creme brulee crust topped with berries. =)Once again, i was the youngest at the table.The perks about being the youngest is that you get well taken care of. =)(ok well-fed is more like it).

Afternoon- jogged at central park! central park is on 59th street, perfect cos it's really near my cousin's apartment. Her pad is located 10 streets downtown from Times Square and 10 streets uptown to Central Park. I couldn't have chosen to put up in a better place than hers =)

Dinner was at Gallagher's Steak house, followed by drinks at the Hudson Hotel Bar. The rooftop bar is way more impressive than the loof. Somehow the decor brought to mind illustrations in the childhood book " The Secret Garden".It was a very pretty stary night and of course the company was excellent- Tsu Ann, Kev and Yun. Love hanging out with them!

September 4-6: Visit to Cornell. The bus ride to ithaca was 5hours long, so thank goodness for kevyn's company.=)
Had a pretty good first dinner in Ithaca at a place called Madeline's, followed my dessert at Mate( Ma-tai) cafe. The latter is ran by a christian group called the 12 Kingdoms that claims to be non-dominational. Their dressing reminds me of the puritans and they follow an organic lifestyle. You guys should get the picture. Pretty interesting!They really dress in the puritan style clothing!

Septmeber 5- explored the commons(sort of like the downtown area of ithaca) before my visit to Cornell. Cornell is gorgeous. The people are also very gorgeous. I will upload pictures of the famous gorges when i get back to Davis.

As usual i had to run on my new grounds- so i did the route along the lake as kev's suggestion. the route did present some challenges but it was a workout with a view.

We went Spanish for dinner and had tapas at "Just a taste" followed by desserts at Madeline.

September 6- got back to NYC and had an excellent latin american dinner at Calle Ocho. Latin Americans do mean meat dishes.The meat is so succulent that it's practically peeling off from the bone itself.

September 7- Explored the whole of the Upper East side on my own! Armed with a guide book that listed all the attractions along the upper east side, i did my own walking tour and walked for... 3-4 hours. I can't even remember what i saw off hand. My final destination was of course the Metropolitan Museum of Art. You can find the most ridiculously priced housing on the upper east side and novels like the Great Gatsby were also inspired by the lifestyles of the rich and famous residing in that area.

Caught the Broadway musical Hairspray, starring Haylie Duff on the same evening. The theatre is just next to Tsu Ann's apartment(she stays on broadway).

September 8- Soho day. I got my most expensive haircut at a japanese hair salon my cousin frequents.It's a simple haircut and i really liked how she thinned my hair out. Spent the afternoon people watching and shopping.Bought a pair of shoes at Junos. Their shoes are to die for. I have bought 6 pairs of shoes in the US so far- 3 heels, a pair of loafers(from Juno's),a pair of trackshoes cos mine fell apart and a pair of hardy Clark's shoes for winter.

Tsu Ann and i ordered in Pizza for dinner and we spent the cold evening watching dvds. Very good bonding session. In fact, i think my trip to NYC has been one hell of a bonding session with Kev and Tsu Ann, and it's great to know that i have a friend and cousin in them respectively who really go all out to watch out for me and to share with me their years of experiences(since both of them are more than 5 years older than me), with the expectations that i will learn from their mistakes. I'm definitely blessed to have them in my life.

September 9- Back to Soho!=)

September 10- took a train down to 30th street staion in Philadelphia where Martin picked me up. Went to his apartment to dump my stuff before heading out for a late lunch and a tour of U Penn.

September 11- Did my own walking tour of Philly! I walked all the way from 39th street to 1st street(penn's landing). Philly is really beautiful and a good change from NYC.
Sat in with Martin and friends at their intro to finance class.

September 12- back to Davis.

September 13-15: =( In davis. bored to tears. decided that we had to get out, so the 3 of us, rachel, gabriel and myself made plans to GET OUT. Decided to book a 4 day bus tour to Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Las Vegas.

I felt kinda short changed by the orientation and wished i had spent more time in Philly or even in NYC. International students were expected to arrive by 13 september so that all of us could attend orientation and settle our immigration matters.
Immigration matters was settled in less than 5minutes- all we needed to do was to get our forms and passport zapped and orientation was so disorganized and a waste of time.it was really exasperating. Plus the summer session 2 had only just ended and the UC davis students had a one week break before school begins on september 28.That means the Davis is a dead town until the students return for the fall quarter. =(

September 16- Rachel's aunt, Auntie Katherine drove up from walnut creek to pick us up. We were going to stay at her place until we left for our bus tour on tuesday, september 18. More on the bus tour in another post! And i'll upload pictures when i get back to davis since i am using rachel's laptop now.

Ok here are my some of the photos i took in Philly.
I also realized that when i was in NYC and Philly, i didn't take any pictures with myself in them.And i didn't take pictures with my hosts- Michele(my cousin), Kevyn( host in ithaca/cornell) and Martin(host in Philly/Upenn).
I realized that i am really lazy when it comes to taking pictures.=|





That's New Jersey just across the River Delaware! I love Penn's landing. We( Martin, Zhengyan, Peony and Myself) were walking along Penn's landing in the evening after having fattening Philly Cheesesteaks for dinner and the sunset was breathtaking.It was then when i realized why Philadelphia is also known as the City of Love.









U Penn's Campus wasn't really what i expected. I always thought U Penn is an enclosed campus, but it actually is a city campus. The nice thing about the campus is the juxtaposition of old and new architectural styles.

It's a small world after all.. some small world kiddy ride. i remember taking it with my dad when i was 18. =D


My dream home. Sleeping Beauty's castle.

Space Mountain

Inside Spacemountain. Sort of like a mini rollercoaster in the darkness

On the tarzan trail

Disney's California Adventure Park


A is for Amandae.


This was really good. The Maliboomer. Fantastic view up there ;)


I wish i could go on this ride over and over again!!! The wildest rollercoaster ride.

Nice shady picture.Waiting in line for what turned out to be a disappointing white water raft ride.


Bug Theatre

Amandae Bug

Greetings from california.

The last picture at Disney

This is where i live

The sinful selection at the Chocolate Factory. I stared at it for a good 10minutes before deciding to buy a piece of the no sugar added chocolate coated mashmallow.

My shopping destination for the day.

Dinner at PF Chang's. We were there to celebrate Uncle Bobot's birthday.

The beeper at PF Chang. They have the same device at the cheesecake factory.

At the dinner table. Our spread for the evening included Singapore Street noodles( i have no idea what the local version),Mongolian Beef, Honey glazed shrimp, Fried Rice, Roast duck, Wanton Soup and Chicken lettuce wrap. Yes, it definitely isn't authentic chinese food. But the dinner was great all the same.

Outside the restaurant. Left to Right: Jenny, Me, Evelyn(who is getting married in september) and auntie Jose( Jenny's aunt who comes to visit every thursday).
Back row: Gabriel and Uncle Bobot( Jenny's Uncle)

A quick tour around UCLA