West USA

This is West USA
Day 6 – New Jersey/Detroit international airport/Los Angles.

Finally, to the west coast! After a total of 8 hours (including transits) we finally got to Los Angles!

My whole body was jumpy and filled with all the happy emotions I could describe. This was the real climax of the trip for me. First, from now on, it will be a free and easy trip, meaning no need for early wake up calls, no rush, and no time limits! Next, I get to go to two of the greatest theme parks in the world! Disneyland and Universal studios! To me, rides are just nothing, but what is most important is the thrill and entertainment factor.

After we collected our luggage, we headed to our hotel, but on the way, we spotted the mother of all fried chicken restaurants. No, if you think it is KFC, you are wrong, terribly wrong. It is Knott’s Berry Farm. It has the best chicken in the whole world! Unlike other fast food restaurants, Knott’s serve with quality plates, metal forks and spoons, and mugs. The chicken is extra crunchy on the outer skin layer, but it is surprisingly easy to bite and chew on the under side of the skin. The meat is juicy and tender and it has a strange fragrance which no other company has. The chicken is not oily at all. You will not be able to smell or taste the oil, and you can eat as many as you like, and you will not feel the oil! After stopping over for a while, and spending about US$45, we had a take away of 22 pieces of chicken, 3 clam chowders, 1 corn soup, three bottles of special berry jam, and it all cost about US$70. When we got to our hotel at 3.30, we finished it all at 5.00.

Knott’s Berry Farm

Knott’s Berry Farm even had a theme park! It is even the first ever theme park in the United States! But unfortunately, I was not able to go because we did not have time.

Knott’s main business is manufacturing jam. Their jam was very tasty. Unlike some other jam, their Jam was just nice. It was very sweet, but not until your mouth screws up, there was the flavour, rich, but does not overwhelm the sweetness, and the jam was rather easy to spread on your bread.

Here is a short video of Knott's Berry Farm and Its rides. Enjoy!

Day 7 – Los Angles (Anaheim county, Orange county), California

I could not sleep. I was all jumpy. I was about to go to a Disneyland!

Me and dad at the entrance of Disneyland.

The whole day was fun, fun, fun. There were countless rides we have been to, Star Tours, Indiana Jones, Splash Mountain, Thunder Rails, Buzz Lighter Space Rangers, etc., etc. and etc. But the most disappointing was that Space Mountain was closed for repairs. I was flabbergasted. The last time I went to Disneyland (Tokyo), Space Mountain was also closed for repairs. I had a bad tantrum but the other equally thrilling rides made me forget about it.

The only ride I got a picture. Toy Story’s Funfair. (An interactive shooting ride)
Me and dad at ‘a bug’s life’ 4D movie.

Besides rides, Disneyland also provides quality 3D and 4D Movies and behind-the-scene shots of how they made the movies.

And I am extremely pleased with ‘California Screamin’ ride. It was the best of all Disneyland Rides. It has the fastest speed, the highest amount of Gs, and the most number of twirls!

That was a thrilling and entertaining day.

Day 8 – Los Angles (Anaheim county, Hollywood), California

I could not sleep again. Darn it!

Today was the day where I go to the most thrilling and exciting theme park. Universal Studios Hollywood!

All of us at a queue for a show
Me at the Universal Studios Hollywood Entrance

Although this Universal Studios is a little small, but it has some of the most adventurous rides, The Return of the Mummy, Jurassic Park, and the funniest, The Simpsons Ride.

The Return of the Mummy was one of the scariest. Although it was an indoor rollercoaster, it was fast! There were mummies following your cart, mummies trying to grab you from above, scarab bettles 'crawling' into your cart (it was a special effect below the seat and a woman beside me screamed very loudly), and the king mummy sucking you into his pit of doom. I was not scared easily, but this scared me out of soul.

The Jurassic Park

There were not many people around, so I took the liberty of sitting in front! It was so much fun! But to ride this, you must wear a poncho, or you will get drenched.

The Simpsons Ride

If you a Simpsons fan like me, this ride is a must! An all star cast, this is a hilarious ride! You will be laughing and screaming all the way!

Day 9 – Los Angeles/ Tokyo Narita International Airport/ Singapore

The end of tour has always been the most heartbreaking days of my life, to leave behind so many fond and fun memories.

Breakfast pizza?

This is the most interesting of all the food I have eaten in USA. This is sold in the Wolfgang Puck express restaurant in the Los Angles international Airport. This pizza contains all the goodness you need in a healthy breakfast. There are tomato slices, egg, cheese, bacon, ham, and a tinge of mayo. I am a pizza fanatic and I have to say that this is a good pizza.

Well, that concludes my fantastic trip to USA. Where will I go next time? I will have to wait and see!

East USA Part 2

This is East USA Part 2.

Day 2 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania/ Washington D.C.

Isn’t it nice?

After New York, we had a good rest at the HYATT Regency Hotel (Penn’s Landing). We all liked the view of the hotel as it is by a small river. To me, this view provided me with a soothing and relaxing feeling. My dad particularly liked this hotel as he is a harbour pilot and he liked the sea.

Mum and me at the United States Mint

After breakfast, we headed down to the United States Mint (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.) When we got there, my family was first to go in, so, I barged in through the doors of mint. Suddenly, I heard a loud voice calling me, “BOY! YOU COME HERE!!!” I got the shock of my life. I literally jumped when I heard it. When I turned around, I realised it was a security guard. Then I saw my dad grabbing me to a queue. I then found out that I forgot about the security check! I was so embarrassed that I hid my face in my jacket.

Inside the Mint, there was a hallway, full of history about coins, about how they were first thought of, how they were first made, etc and etc. Opposite it were many weird and strange gizmos and coins. After the hallway, came the production of the present US coins. There were many windows that showed how the present coins were made. When the video on the side screen was played, the children and I were watching those valuable pieces of metal dropping one by one from the conveyer belt to the basket. For me, I was staring at it because I am ‘money faced’.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed take photos inside the mint. Otherwise I could show you all the interesting and cool stuff inside.

“Super” Mario (The orange guy in front) leading the group to the Independence Hall

Mum and me at the Liberty Bell

The Independence Hall of America, the place where the declaration of independence was signed. The red brick building, built between 1732 and 1753, was commissioned by the Pennsylvania colonial legislature and it was initially inhabited by the colonial government of Pennsylvania as their State House. Two smaller buildings adjoin Independence Hall: Old City Hall to the east, and the Congress Hall to the west. I felt very honoured to be able to be there as it is a place of rich history and a place where about 200 years ago, gave freedom to a country.

Soon, we were back on the bus again and sat for about 3 hours to Washington D.C. Do you know what does D.C. stand for? Some of you might know that it stands for District of Columbia. Why Columbia? Because that was where Christopher Columbus first step foot on America, and lands that were named after the femine version of the discoverer's name.

Washington Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Jefferson Memorial

Vietnam War Memorial

White House

Wow! So many memorials and attractions! At D.C., there are not only memorials but also many museums too! Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take picture inside the museum. This day has been very fruitful, exciting, and enriching, but, this has also been the most unforgettable as I have seen so many historical sites.

Day 3 – Harrisburg, Pennsylvania/ Corning, New York/ Niagara, New York

Do you like chocolate? Well, my whole family is crazy about chocolate. And we went mad when we got to HERSHEY CHOCOLATE FACTORY!!!

Hershey Chocolate factory

Me and our friendly bus driver at the factory food court.

We loved the chocolate so much, that we bought over US$160 of chocolate! Yum! And we still have one months’ supply of chocolate!

Mum at the entrance of the Corning Museum of glass.

Then, we headed to corning tor the museum of glass. Inside, there were many different types of exhibits of glass. Who knew, that such and ordinary thing like glass, could be so fascinating! Have you ever seen bendable glass? Well, the glass was so thin, it could bend!

Although I could not get the picture of the bendable glass, I was still able to get you a few other photos.

Some machinery to make glass cutlery

The “mystic” wheel

The tower of (600) glass bowls

The glass Christmas tree

Niagara at night

Finally for the day, we ended of with a night experience of the Niagara Falls. It was a magnificent view, with Toronto, Canada on the opposite side.

Day 4 – Niagara, New York/ Boston, New York

All of us at the Falls

Niagara in the day

Well, not much to see for today, besides the Niagara Falls, the time was mostly spent on travelling to Boston. In Niagara, most of the things here are called “rainbow”. I am not too sure myself why, but maybe it is due to the “rainbow” effect the waterfall has when light passes through it.

Day 5 – Boston, New York

Today, we went to 2 of the most prestigious Universities in the world. Harvard and M.I.T.

Me and dad at the Harvard University Library

Do you now that the statue of John Havard in the University, is not John Harvard! In the past, no one knew how John Harvard looked like. So, they took a french scholar and used it for the sculpture. I wanted to show you a video I had taken there about the sclupture and in it, Mario speaks English and Chinese, but, unfortunately, the video format is uncompatable with blogger.M.I.T. Main building entrance.

After going to these institutions, I have aspired to work harder and set a target to get into either one of these great places, so that I can maximize my potential and have a good future. What a great experience for the East of the States. What would the West bring me? Again, that is all for now, see you again some day!

East USA Part 1

For this trip, I will split it up into three posts, East USA Part 1, East USA Part 2, and West USA.

This is East USA Part 1

Day 1 - Singapore/Tokyo Narita/Minneapolis, USA/New Jersey

It started on the night of 26th November 2008. Our luggage was all packed and ready to go. It was an extremely joyful day for me as I was about to go to America.

The suspense and excitement was killing me. I had to wait all day just to get into the plane. Furthermore, we had to make 2 transits (Tokyo, Narita and U.S.A. Minneapolis) just to get there! Counting only the time we took to reach there, it was about 27 hours!!! After the gruelling torture, we finally arrived there at New Jersey.

(Mario and Me)

The next morning, we met our tour guide “Super” Mario. He was a very entertaining and humorous Italian, with a lot of information about the places and attractions we have been to. He can speak about 7 different languages, Itatiano,English, Chinese, Spanish, French, German and Japanese.

(Mum and Dad at Times Square)

(Me and Mum at U.N.building)




(Me at wall street)

On the first day we toured New York City and Manhattan. Lucky for us, we were there on Thanksgiving Day! Which means less traffic, and more time, but that also means less stalls and restaurants open. We saw the Statue of Liberty (but we never went onto the island), Times Square, Rockefeller Centre (we went to the Times square and Rockefeller Centre the night before through a night tour, and we saw a big Christmas tree!), United Nations building, Wall Street, and most importantly, the Empire state building.

(A scenary from the Empire State Building)

The Empire State building was our last stop for the day. We had a great time there. We got up to the 86 storey, open-air viewing balcony. From there, we could see the whole of New York, the ground zero (Twin Towers), Chinatown, The Statue of Liberty, everything!

Alright, that is it for today. There is part 2 coming up in a few days time. Bye!