Trip Acknowledgements

The Travelers:

Che Ven- For being a reliable navigator who tried hard to keep me and herself awake while we were driving long distance in the middle of the night.

Fenella - For keeping us entertained throughout the trip and her effort to navigate us around in New York City.

Mandy - For tolerating my Winnie the Pooh jokes =P and helping me drive when I absolutely couldn't keep my eyes opened.

Mi Ki - For helping with the accomodation in New York City, for her courage in approaching new people and her keeping us entertained.

Pei Shan - For tolerating my little behaviors and trying to have fun with all of us even when she was not feeling well.

Yunn Hanm - For being the Ms. Map, helping out with map reading and finding us accomodations.

I know you girls did more than just the above mentioned...and I appreciate all of you for trying to keep the group together and avoiding the unnecessary conflicts.

The Rest That Were Involved:

Big Yogi - For making the effort to meet us in Boston and having a great time with us.

Little Yogi - For making the effort to meet us in Boston and having a great time with us.

Qiqi - For showing us around Boston and treating us a huge chocolate fudge cheesecake.

The Hispanic Man - For directing us to where we wanted to be when we were lost in Brooklyn.

Mr and Mrs Lee - For providing us with accomodation, food and advice during our time in New York City.

Christopher - For making the effort to meet us in Philadelphia and having a great time with us.

Cheryl - For making the effort to meet us in Washington DC and getting us tickets for the Holocaust Museum.

Fei - For keeping us in her heart even though she wasn't traveling with us and for coming to shop with us in Albertville.

Leena - For driving down to Albertville to shop with us and showing us the way back to Bemidji.

And all the other people that we have met throughout the trip whether to ask for directions or for a casual conversation. Hmm. Did I miss anyone? I hope not. Let me know if I did, alright?

The trip won't be a success without all of you. Good job everyone! Give yourself a pat on your back =)

May 29, 2006

At about 630pm, we got up and freshened up ourselves. Che Ven and I headed down to the Car Rentals and got the minivan that we reserved the night before. We drove back to the terminal and got the rest of the girls.

Our last stop before going back to Bemidji was the Albertville Premium Outlet Mall. We arrived there at 830am. We thought the stores were opening at 900am. So we waited and waited until one maintenance person came and told us that they only open at 1000am. Dang. And we waited patiently again.

We started shopping once the stores were opened =) At around 1030am or so, we met up with Leena and Fei for drove all the way from Bemidji to shop. Hehe. Well...it was Memorial Day Sale! By the end of the afternoon, all of us got ourselves something. I was supposed to get some stuff for my family back home but as usual, I got more stuff for myself instead =P

We left Albertville at 400pm? Hmm. I don't really remember. But anyways, I followed Leena's car and we went to St Cloud for Chinese buffet. After dinner, we headed back to Bemidji. 2-3 hours later, we arrived. Everyone else in the van was sleeping. As we were heading into downtown, I yelled "Girls, welcome back to Bemidji." And they all woke up and one said, "Already?". Hehe. It definitely felt a little weird to be back.

After I dropped all the girls home, Fenella and I went to the Beltrami County Airport to return the minivan. And yeah...that was the end of our 2 weeks trip to the East Coast.

May 28, 2006

At 930pm, we woke up and packed. We checked out of the hotel at 1100pm and went for a brunch. We hung out til about 100pm and headed down to the Metro Station. That was where we were temporary separated with Yunn Hanm. She was flying to Minneapolis from Dulles International Airport, while the rest of us were flying from Ronald Reagan National Airport. Yunn Hanm was an independent and reliable girl as we began realized throughout the trip. Hence, we had no worries about her traveling alone =)

The six of us arrived at the National Airport 2 hours before our flight time. We sat and chatted. We were all a little reluctant to end our trip. The 2 weeks spent together exploring the East Coast was a gift. We had tons of fun and most importantly we got to know each other a lot better.

We left Washington DC at 500pm and arrived in Minneapolis at 700pm. Seven of us were reunited again. At the airport, we weren't sure where to go. We planned to drive back to Bemidji early next morning. Hence, we had a whole night to spare. We called up a friend in Minneapolis but she wasn't able to take all seven of us in for the night. As such, we all decided to stay in the airport for the night. In fact, the night turned out great. We walked around the airport. We made fun of each other. We chatted. And we definitely had a wonderful time sharing thoughts and feelings about facing the upcoming life realities back in Bemidji.

May 27, 2006

We left the hotel at 830am and grabbed some breakfast at McDonalds. We were supposed to meet up with Cheryl at around 1000am at the Metro Station but plans changed due to time contraints, delays etc. So right after breakfast we started our walk through the "historical trail" or whatever you want to call it. Our first stop was the Vietnam and Korean War Memorial. Because of the Memorial Day celebration there were a lot of veterans around town, on their Harley Davidsons, sharing their war stories. It was really sad to see the many names of people that had sacrifice their lives during the wars. The price of peace. As it was written on the memorials, "Freedom is not free."

Our next stop was the World War II Memorial. We managed to meet up with Cheryl there. I had more feelings attached towards the World War II than the Vietnam and Korean War. Simply because my grandparents were part of it and I have heard plenty of stories from my grandmother when I was a child. But anyway, Cheryl got us all tickets for the Holocaust Museum and we headed there right after.

The Holocaust Museum was another disheartening story. The reign of Adolf Hilter and his hatred towards the Jewish community. The genocide of European Jews by the Nazis. You have to visit the museum to truly understand the pain. Words just ain't enough to describe the scene.

After the Holocaust Museum, we visited more Smithsonian Museums - Museum of African Arts, Museum of Natural History and the Air and Space Museum. Our last stop was the U.S Capitol. Everyone was really tired by the time we got there. Some of us were too tired to even make the extra step to get an up close view of the Capitol. Mi Ki wasn't feeling very well by the end of the day. She was having a headache, probably due to the hot and sunny weather. Worst still, we all had to walk a long way back to our hotel.

We arrived at the hotel at about 700pm. We decided to have dinner at the restaurant downstairs called Harry's. It was quite busy and we had wait for a long time for our food. In addition to that, our server was crappy. She wasn't friendly and appeared not to know what she was doing. Our appetizer was served the same time as our entrees and she messed up some of our orders. And guess what? On our check, she added 18% of tips for herself. WTF? I have been a server before and I know how things go. And so, we complained to the manager. The manager on the other hand, was being very attentive to us. In the end, we only left her with whatever she deserved.

Back in the hotel, Mi Ki was recuperating. After we made sure she was alright, we went out for ice cream =)

May 26, 2006

We woke up at 630am in the morning and checked out the hotel at 830am. We then headed down to the bus station to catch the 900am bus to Washington DC. The 2 1/2 hours ride to DC was a bumpy one. Mandy and I had to sit at the last row as the bus was full. Some people were hogging seats with their bags. How inconsiderate!

We arrived in Washington DC at 1130am. We managed to find a hotel using the travel coupons book that we had. At 1200pm, we checked into Hotel Harrington. We had a rather spacious room. Two connected rooms actually, with 2 single beds on each.

After everyone was well rested, we headed to Chinatown for food. Chinatown in DC wasn't that great compared to those in New York and Philadelphia. There weren't as many stores and restaurants around. Hence, we had to settle for some Chinese food that we didn't really enjoy much. As we were walking around town after lunch, it rained. We took a shelter in Starbucks and had a long chat over coffee while waiting for the skies to clear.

We left Starbucks at 600pm. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at Hard Rock Cafe and some other souvenir shops. Right next to one of the souvenir shops was a townhouse with a sign on it's balcony that says, "The House Where Lincoln Died." We didn't manage to visit the house because it was after admission hours. We took a picture and headed back to the hotel.

Later in the evening, we took a walk around town to see Washington DC at night. People say that the view of the monuments by the moonlight was spectacular. They were right. The White House and Washington monument were beautifully illuminated in the dark.

At around 1030pm, we walked back to the hotel. Half of us stopped by at the restaurant downstairs for food while the other half went back to our room. Back in the hotel, I found the air conditioning leaking. We called the maintenance guy be he said he couldn't do anything. We requested for a room change but the hotel was fully booked due to the Memorial Day weekend. We had no choice. We took a waste basket and set it right under the leakage. And so, the dripping serenaded us to bed.

May 25, 2006

We left the hotel at 1000am. Our first stop was the US Coin Mint, which was located a block away from our hotel. No cameras were allowed in the building, so we took turns going in. I was particularly attracted to the section about the state quarters. I started collecting state quarters about 2 years ago. But it was that day at the Mint that I realized that they only released 5 states each year for a period of 10 years (1998-2008). No wonder I could never find the states that I am missing. They are not even released yet! Hehe.

After the Mint, we headed down to the Visitors Center to grab more brochures. We wanted to visit the Hersheys Town but we found out that it was 2 hours drive away. We had no transportation and hence we couldn't make it there =(

The walk around the Philadelphia town is like a walk around Malacca, a historical state in Malaysia. Malacca has its Fort A Famosa, Hang Tuah's grave, Portugese Square etc; while Philadelphia has its Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Ben Franklin's grave, Washington Square etc. The one thing that is significantly different is the security check. We had to go thru various stages of security checks when visiting the historical places in Philadelphia. Just the same amount of security we had to go thru at the airport.

After a walk through Philly's historical trail, we headed a few blocks south to South Street. South Street in Philadelphia is kinda like Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Lots of people and fashion. Kinda like Kuala Lumpur's Jalan Bukit Bintang I supposed? =)

At about 600pm, we headed up north to Chinatown. While waiting for Chris to come meet us for dinner, we found a Chinese dessert store and ate our first tau foo fah (beancurd) in the States. It was heavenly. At 700pm, we had dinner with Chris at Penang, the Malaysian Cuisine Restaurant, same restaurant we went to in Boston. We had a great time catching up and enjoying our home food. After dinner, we walked to the bus station and about our tickets to Washington DC. We headed back to the hotel right after that.

May 24, 2006

We woke up early in the morning and started packing. We made a huge mess at the Lee house. We left the house at 1100am. Mrs. Lee appeared to be a little teary as she was sending us off. Mr. Lee accompanied us to the bus station in Chinatown. We arrived in Chinatown about 1200pm. We walked around Chinatown with our heavy luggages. Che Ven and I went to an online cafe to look for hotels in Philadelphia. We haven't heard anything from Christopher.

After an unsuccessful hotel search online, we rested at near the Confucian building, the tallest building in Chinatown. Some of us went and got pastries and bubble teas for lunch. We boarded the bus to Philadelphia at 200pm. We were heavy hearted to leave NYC and to bid goodbye to Mr. Lee. Even though he may be a naggy old man, he has helped us a lot during the whole NYC trip.

We arrived at Philadelphia 2 hours later. While the rest of the girls took a break at the bus station, Mi Ki, Fenella, Pei Shan and I walked around the town to look for hotels. We stopped at the visitors' center and picked up maps and info brochures. We got tired of walking but we couldn't find any great deals on hotels. Back in the station, Yunn Hanm found a hotel coupon from a brochure we picked up somewhere along our trip. It was for Holiday Inn. Once again, 7 of us bunked into a room. We checked in at 700pm and went out for Chinese food at 800pm. We strolled around town after that. We got back to the hotel at 1000pm. The best thing we liked about this hotel is that the complimentary internet use. With that, we managed to get hold of Christopher.

May 23, 2006

We left the house at 930am and took a train to the Harlem area. Harlem is famous for its high crime rate. It is the so called Black area. I don't mean to be racist. This is just what I heard. Mr. Lee advised us no to go there but we, the risky adventurers decided to go ahead and explore. Hehe.

We didn't do much at Harlem. The town was rather busy. The people there looked a little scary. Some were rude - Pei Shan got elbowed because she was blocking someone's way. We walked around the town and stopped for a while at the Apollo Theatre, one of the oldest theatre in NYC, if I am not mistaken. The theatre stages a lot of famous Black American performers. That day's journey was rather aimless. We had a rough list of places we wanted to visit but we didn't have an organized schedule. Also, Che Ven, Yunn Hanm and I decided to take a break from the map that afternoon. We had Fenella and Mi Ki to show us the way, which apparently wasn't a very good idea. Haha. Both the girls were just so cartoon :P "Erm..this way or that way?" I looked at Che Ven and said, "Probably it's time for us to take our map out." And we did.

Our next stop was Columbia University, followed by SOHO and the flat iron building. We spent a few minutes at each location and took some photos. There weren't anything extra interesting. Our last stop for the day was Chinatown. A big hooray! I know it may be kinda weird. I know we should probably be experiencing more of the American stuff while we are traveling in the States. But we love our culture, especially the food! We were so Asian-food-deprived in Bemidji, so here we are, satisfying our gratification.

In Chinatown, we had economic rice - white rice, 3 dishes for only USD3.00. What a great deal! Eating economic rice reminds me of my college years in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Also, in the restaurant, there was a bakery section. All kinds of Asian pastries sitting right in front of our eyes saying "Eat me..eat me." Drools.

After our lunch, we went on separate ways. We went shopping around Chinatown, got more souvenirs and some groceries as we planned to cook for the Lee Family later that night. We got back to the house at around 530pm. The rest of the girls started cooking while I took a nap :P Later in the evening, Yogi called and said that he will be going back to Bemidji the next week, before heading back to Malaysia for a break. I was really excited that I will be able to see him again =)

May 22, 2006

We left home at 900am and took a train across the Brooklyn Bridge to the south of Manhattan. We stopped at the South Ferry Station and took a ferry to Staten Island to take a closer look at the Statue of Liberty. The statue stood there majestically. Right after we arrived at Staten Island, we took the next available ferry and headed back to Manhattan. We then took a walk around Wall Street, visited the old Trinity/St Paul church and NYSE.

Our next stop was Ground Zero, the place where the World Trade Center Twin Towers once stand. The place invoked a solemn feeling and that gave me goosebumps. As I looked at the cross that stands by the construction site, my tears fell as I felt the pain of those who lost their loved ones during the September 11, 2001 attack. Sigh =(

We headed up north, back to Times Square at about 130pm. We arrived at the TKTS booth a little before 200pm and started queuing up for broadway tickets. Even though the booth opens only at 300pm, there was already a long queue. Never in my life have I done anything close to this. To our delight, the booth opened 1/2 hour earlier that day and we managed to get seven 800pm Phantom of the Opera's show tickets for $59.25 each.

We had about 4 hours or so to kill before the show. We walked around Times Square and spent a lot of time choosing and buying souvenirs. We left Times Square at 500pm and went to the Empire State Building and the Rockefeller Center. We didn't do much at both the places. We merely took some pictures and headed back to Times Square for dinner.

800pm was the highlight of our day. There was a long line in front of the Majestic theatre where Phantom was showing. The theatre was beautiful, just like those we see in the movies. And now, we are experiencing it real life! The show lasted for 2 1/2 hours. Everything about it was beautiful. I love the songs, the costumes, the sound effects etc. I really want to see it again!!

After the show, we took a stroll around Times Square to admire its night view before we headed back to Brooklyn.

May 21, 2006

We left the house at 1000am and headed up to 42nd Street, Times Square in Manhattan. We tried looking to 50% off broadway tickets at the TKTS booth by the Mariott Hotel. However, it was Phantom's off day. Some girls suggested that we could watch other shows. But I insisted on watching the Phantom the very next evening. Phantom is my dream!!!

After the slight disappointment, we took a walk around Times Square. I enjoyed the crowd and looking at the happenings around the colorful city. I love being in big cities because of anonymity. A while later, we went to the Grand Central Station. The architecture was amazingly beautiful. From there, we took a bus to the United Nations. At the UN, we took our pictures and made them into stamps. We spent plenty of time in the UN's post office, buying souvenirs and sending postcards to our families and friends. FYI: The stamps are only valid for use in the UN building, no where else in the United States.

We got out of the UN building at about 400pm or so. Then we visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Entrance fee was a free will donation since it was 1/2 hour before the museum closes. After the museum, we took a walk at Central Park. The park was huge and the scenery was pretty. We were trying to look for the Alice in Wonderland statue and we spent about an hour looking for it because we got lost in the park.

Late in the evening, we took the train and headed down to Chinatown for dinner. We had preserved egg porridge, noodles and rice. We also shared a rice dumpling. I haven't had a rice dumpling for a long time. FYI: I was born on the Dumpling Festival Day, according to the Chinese Lunar calendar. Before we left the restaurant, we bought a crepe looking dessert, kinda like you-tiao/you cha kueh. The cashier then asked if we are from Malaysia. Apparently he came from the North of Peninsula Malaysia. As we chatted happily, he gave us another crepe for free =)

After dinner, we took the train back to Brooklyn. Back in the house, Mr. Lee asked about our day and shared more information about NYC. There are just too much to see in NYC. Hence, we thought of extending another day in NYC and cutting down a day in Washington DC.