Destination: United States of America
Duration: 16 Days 15 Nights (Feb 24~Mar 11, 2015)
Day 1: A Long Tuesday
As life would have it, a last minute decision from the
top on Chinese New Year’s Eve for us to fly to US once CNY holiday is over -
What a rushed trip! The trip started on a bad note when Cathay Pacific online
check in system broke down on our reservation. We queued for more than an hour
at the Cathay Pacific counter just to get the check-in done. UGH!!!
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| Sammy is bored when waiting |
We finally boarded the PEN-HK flight with minutes to
spare. Breakfast of the day was either seafood noodle or the normal continental
breakfast fare of egg & sausage. There was no menu shown to the passengers.
The verdict – the seafood noodle was extremely soggy and oily! Yucks! I guess
when in doubt, it’s better to go for the western breakfast. =)
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| Soggy Noodle.. Yucks! |
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| Western Breakfast |
We arrived in Hong Kong for few hours transit and that
was when another bad note hit (cue somber
tune). The handle of my beloved Radley oversized tote which happened to be
with me for less than 3 months BROKE! *Gasp in horror* Could the day be getting
any worse? Think of the bright side, this might be a great excuse for me to
grab some new bags from US! *sshhhhh*
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| Oh no!!!! |
Since we had some time to kill, we ended up at the
foodcourt to try the highly recommended ‘char siew pao’ (BBQ pork bun) from our
colleagues. Well, it was quite salty and I ended up gulping down tons of water
to compensate for that. =P
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| Char Siew Pao at HKIA |
We finally got on the HK-SFO flight and this time there
was a menu available. I had the ‘chef recommended’ pork chop in tomato sauce
with egg fried rice and loved the pork which was really tender and delicious
with the tomato sauce. Oh did I mention the stewardess tended to serve big
glass of wine as well? Oh, there was this heavenly Banana & Cream Haagen
Dazs ice cream too! *sigh in contentment*
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| A Menu is much Appreciated |
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| Sammy enjoying some Refreshment & a Big O' Glass of White Wine |
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| Pork Chop in Tomato Sauce & HAAGEN DAZS!!! |
After some on & off dozing, I simply did not have the
appetite when the dinner (or should we say breakfast?) was served. I chose the
fish and simply picked through it eventhough it tasted quite nice - didn’t
really appreciate the dessert of red bean mousse cake though. The plane finally touched down on Tuesday
10.15am (Yes, we gain a day! It was still Tuesday! The same day we took off
from Penang) and we took a shuttle to Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriot San
Jose. Did you know that airport shuttle actually charged cheaper if you were
traveling in a group? It was USD45 for the 1st person and USD10 for
the subsequent travelers.
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| Dinner/Breakfast Fish |
Our room was not ready when we reached the place at
around 1pm+. We took the car rental (Hyundai Sonata) from San Jose airport and
drove to the Great Mall since our rooms were not ready until
3pm. Great Mall in San Jose was basically an smaller scale outlet mall with
lots of famous brands such as Michael Kors, Coach, Banana Republic etc..
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| Our Ride for 2 weeks |
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| The Great Mall from afar |
We ended up doing some ‘food hunting’ at the
foodcourt. One lesson to learn when dining at USA – the portion was
humongous!!! It’s better to share within 2 people if you were small eater. We learned
the lesson HARD this time when we ordered separately. I had the so-called
‘small’ set of Chicken Philly and was beyond stuffed after finishing the
sandwich. I ended up packing the fries for dinner. I must say the sandwich did
taste really yummy with lots of cheese. =P
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| Foodcourt in Great Mall |
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| Chicken Philly with Fries |
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| Chinese Meal with Brocolli, Chicken and Fried Rice |
We did some walking in the mall but we were simply too
zoned out to really do any shopping. We drove back to the hotel for check-in
and simply called it a day (after some con-calls!).. a super long Tuesday!
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| Finally Checked In... |
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| It's time for Bed! |
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| Simple Bathroom |
Next Days (Work, Shop, Eat Repeat)
