i spotted vegas 16 miles away the moment we drove over the peak of the desert highway. i was very excited because it was my first time in vegas. we pulled off on las vegas blvd and drove by the casinos. they looked so dull. where are the flashing lights? where are we? what time is it? oh… it was only noon time.
something didnt look right. where’s the cool casinos? and so, i turned on the GPS and looked up the MGM. “please drive the highlighted route.”
jumped back on i-15. it’s the bellagio! the MGM! the Wynn! the mirage! “please take exit on right.” we’re there! got off on tropicana ave and all the cool casinos were there. we turned at the New York New York. woah. major tourists! pulled into the Venetian. hmm… it smelled like a bathroom in the grande shopping area. i thought i was in a horror film with the echoing bellows. what was it? oh… it’s just the fat guy in stripes paddling the gondola in the canal.
so we went outside attempting to walk to another casino. bad idea! the minute i walk outside… i was drenched in sweat! we walked two blocks and i couldnt take it anymore. so i dragged shan back inside. tired and hungry. we went on the hunt for food. we settled in at postrio, a cafe/restaurant by wolfgang puck. ordered a glass of sangria and paulagner hefeweizen. both were rather disappointing. got the spicy grilled lamb pizza and the porcini mushroom ravioli dish. both were yummy. then we finished off our meal with the thirteen layer tiramisu. was it really thirteen layers? you tell me. but before that, let me tell you this… it was yummy!
after that… walked around. went shopping. went to the casino. guess what it looks like? the freakin same as every casino i’ve been to. lolz. so decided not to waste my money and leave. we still had a 4 hour drive ahead of us.
overall experience of vegas was disappointing. maybe we didnt go to the right places. maybe we went at the wrong time of day. who knows.
on the drive to LA… turned on the radio and the weatherman was reporting. “it is currently 105 degrees on the vegas strip. make sure you bring water with you wherever you go. stay inside when possible.” you kidding me??
finally, we get to LA. i was craving chinese food. shan suggested we go to el monte because her friend lives there and she remembered that they had chinese food. ok. stephy, show us to el monte! “please drive the highlighted route.”
woah. i think i was suffering from culture shock or something. after we got into el monte, all of the signs turned to chinese. yummi chinese food. wing’s auto repair. china dragon. peking river. sole so good. wha? sole so good was a foot massage shop! lolz. it just didnt feel right to me. i was not used to all those chinese signs.
we pulled into some plaza with a 99 ranch supermarket. it was PACKED. you know it was heavily populated with asian people when all you see are camrys, accords, civics, corollas, BMWs, benz, and minivans. 8 out of 10 were silver too!!
ate at some bbq eatery. ordered off the “american” menu because we didnt see the chinese menu and both were starving. chive and duck soup. shrimp and eggs on rice. black bean sauce with spareribs on rice. and baby green sprouts with garlic? dou miao? not appetizing at all! msg ftl…!!
anyways. it’s 10:30am PST. which mean it’s 1:30pm on the east coast now. shan is still sleeping. and i’ve been up for 2 hours! since i’m here. i’ll upload pictures to make this a mega thread. =)
this is our family picture the morning before we left. Our daughter Ming took us out to Shangri-La in Belmont for Taiwanese dimsum.
this is us packing. almost done.
this is the back of my trunk. packed to the limit. and yes, that is an ironing board!
this is the front of the car. and yes, that is a snowboard AND a folding table. so ghetto!
my Boston cap almost got us beat up in Albany at Dennys. EVERYONE was staring and grilling me. we made sure to get out of there fast!
this is the american niagara falls. it was an amazing view. we were literally 10 feet away from the water.
this is the chairman mao from shenzhen who treated us to buffalo wild wings! this kid is only 24 and on his way to getting his PhD! what are kids smoking these days?
this is that really weird plaza in chinatown chicago. i have never seen anything like this before.
this is some random native american memorial center in nebraska.
this is the colorado rockie mountains a few minutes outside of denver. it was a truly amazing drive!
this is us at a scenic rest area in between the rockies on i-70w.
where we going? to some place with no name. =)
after 2500 miles in utah, this is how many lives i have taken. shan counted over 100,000!!!
this is the Colorado River in Moab, UT at the Arches National Park. the bridge was opened on May 16, 2008. we walked on it on May 18, 2008.
this is some random picture of some canyon in the Arches National Park.
where to get off?
a picture from las vegas blvd.
shan’s porcini ravoili with roasted pearl onions.
my spicy grilled lamb pizza with chorizo and peppers.
and here is our thirteen layer tiramisu.
this is that chinese plaza in el monte. see… all hondas and toyotas!
here’s that new frozen yogurt place called nubi. didnt have space to try it. http://www.nubiyogurt.com/
