Travel Log: A Long Engagement (Day 5-6)

Previous Days (Working Days & San Jose Downtown)

Destination: United States of America

Duration: 16 Days 15 Nights (Feb 24~Mar 11, 2015)

Day 5: An Adventure in Livermore

We were planning to go to Gilroy outlet but our US counterpart suggested us a new outlet in Livermore instead. Apparently the outlet was so new until it was not programmed in our GPS! After losing our way a few times (our GPS led us to a dead-end!!! – El Charro Road! I can remember this DEAD-END until today!!!), we finally found the outlet by pure luck!

Breakfast would not be complete without the Daily Scrambled Egg & Pork Sausage on English Muffin

The ever sweet Californian Orange

Are we Lost?

Drove over Hill & Slope.. 

The Sky is not looking good either...

Let’s just say it was a crazy crazy crazy day. There were lots of brand names there and basically everyone just shopped till drop and we managed to blast a huge hole in our bank account. We were totally helping to boost up the US economy there. I guess we ‘donated’ the most to the Kate Spade outlet where everyone went crazy. Then there were GAP, Banana Republic, Lacoste, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger… *hyperventilating* Gosh I need a drink to claim down…

We are finally here!!!

Let's our Adventure Begins!

Prefer Livermore than Gilroy as it's all in one Building

Which way should we go?

This got us going Crazy!

My friend got the BEST IDEA ever to score a cheap Lacoste t-shirt – a lady polo T cost USD49.90 (if you buy 3 or more) before tax but hey! The kid’s polo had 50% sales!!! OMG!!! Let’s try on the kid’s polo which happened to have size until 16 years old. Thus we ended up with the kid’s polo which cost less than USD30 after tax! *high five*

We basically shopped for the whole day and didn’t even manage to visit all the shops there. There were Prada & Burberry outlet there as well but I was just not ready to pay USD690+tax for a Prada Tote which caught my eyes. I could’ve bought 4 Kate Spade bags with that price! We stopped for a short while for lunch at the foodcourt sharing 4pcs of fried chicken strips with mashed potatoes & Texan grill. DA YUM!!!

Lunch! Fried Chicken Strip, Texan Grill & Mountain of Mashed Potato!

Colleague's Chinese Food

It was really late by the time we arrived at the hotel (after lots of twists & turns in some hill route) thus we took some pictures of our spoils and simply ate yoghurt & cereal for dinner. OMG!! So happy to grab the Kate Spade!!! *Squee* I guess the excitement & jetlag caught up and I actually managed to only fall sleep for 1 hour in the entire night. =(

A Boot-full of Spoils

A Bed-full!!!

Bags from Kate Spade & Kiplings Outlet

Sammy is not impressed...

Day 6: A Window Shopping Day in San Jose

After grabbing breakfast and took some cherry blossom pictures near our office, off we went to Santana Row – one of the more upscale shopping district in San Jose which happened to be next to the Winchester Mystery House which I visited a year ago (link).

The Usual Breakfast

Trying the Oatmeal - basically Tasteless..

Sammy at the Room

Cherry Blosson in San Jose!

Did not manage to see Cherry Blosson in Japan but manage to see them in San Jose!

Apparently there was some running event that day and everyone was wearing their sport gears. The Santana Row looked very European with lots of high-end retail shops which meant ‘for eyes only’. =P What really caught our eyes were the beautiful flowers with vibrant colors along the row. We just couldn’t stop taking picture of that. Guess the locals must be rolling their eyes.. =P

Water Fountain?

Here is Santana Row

A Morning Stroll

We thought this is nice but surprises await us..

The San Jose Run! They even have Massage Zone!

H&M

Palm Tree?

More Flowers! Tulips?

Strolling along - see those people in sports gear?

It's a Beautiful Morning

With Beautiful Flowers!!!

With Beautiful Architecture!

And more Flowers!

Start line for the Run!

Our Favourite

Looks like a Carnival huh?

Let's Pose with the Flowers when the Kids Run starts behind

SR = Santana Row?

More Flowers!

Cherry Blossoms adorning the Cineplex

I guess the main theme today is Flowers?

In front of the Main Piazza

After some window shopping, we continued to Westfield Valley Fair. First thing we saw was the super crowded Apple store – you might think the phone was free with the crowds! We had our lunch at the foodcourt and I was delighted to see Super Duper Burger. I tried that a year ago in San Francisco and was really smitten by it (link). Thus it was a no-brainer to order the cheese burger again – it tasted as great as last time! The beef patty was just so JUICY! YUMMY!!!

Apple Store

The Super Duper Cheese Burger!!!

Someone's Healthier Choice for Lunch

After lunch we basically walked around the mall without any purpose as the price here was more expensive than outlet. Not to mention the conversion rate of MYR->USD was sky high at the moment! We went to Kiplings since our colleague was helping her friend to buy something and was pleasantly surprised when the sales gave us the CNY Monkey Free of Charge!  Lucky!

Since we had nothing to buy, we just wandered and goofed around with some cute soft toys. We went back to the hotel by 3pm since jetlag finally caught up on us – not to mention it was Monday morning in Penang thus we needed to do some work.

CUTE!!!

Kokokai!!!

I want one!!!

Lots of Legos!

A Blurry Picture of Westfield Entrance

Dinner was at Chipotle in front of Fairfield which served Mexican fast food. We ordered the crispy taco with chicken and were impressed by the marinated chicken. Thus this ended our 1^st shopaholic weekend in San Jose after some late night con-calls on Sunday night. 

Crispy Tacos with Lots of Lettuce!

The Chicken was well-marinated...

Next Days (Boring Working Weeks with FOODsss)

Travel Log: A Long Engagement (Day 2-4)

Previous Day (A Long Tuesday for Transit)

Destination: United States of America

Duration: 16 Days 15 Nights (Feb 24~Mar 11, 2015)

Day 2 – 3: Work, Shop, Eat & Repeat

Breakfast in Fairfield Inn & Suites was really simple, everyday there would be scrambled egg, pork sausage, cold hardboiled egg, pastry, bread, cereal, milk, yoghurt, fruit platter, oats, DIY waffle, juices, coffee & tea. Yes, basically I’d listed out all of that in one go. It might sound a handful but imagine eating that for 2 weeks… how it got boring…

Our 1^st breakfast at Fairfield Inn & Suites was actually one of the ‘special occasions’ where omelet was served. We learned that it was actually a luxury soon enough. One thing we loved the breakfast was the orange – guess Californian Sunkist was the best! After a while, we simply found a favourite from the bunch and start making Egg & Pork Sausage with English Muffin for breakfast. =)

Omelete, Hardboiled Egg, Salsas & Yoghurt

English Muffin, Pork Sausage, Scrambled Egg, Fruits and the only day we got Bacon in 2 weeks stay!

Our 1^st lunch in office was at the cafeteria where we ordered the turkey and ham sandwich with tons of potato chips. Again, we shared the sandwich and chips since the portion were huge. There was also generous spread of avocado puree inside the sandwich too.

The Giant Plate of Sandwich & Chips!

Look at how THICK this is!

We left the office quite late and simply went to eat dinner at the diner right in front of Fairfield – NYPD aka New York Pizza & Dog. We ordered a pizza with pesto sauce as base to share among ourselves to share the FAT… However, we were doomed when we noticed there were free cookies in Fairfield lounge! Yum!

Lots of Condiments

Our Pizza

Free Cookie from Fairfield Inn & Suites

On the 2^nd day, we started to stock up the cereal, milk & yoghurt from Breakfast and brought them to office as lunch to save some $$. Well, I loved the blueberry whole grain flakes!

Lunch: Cereal, Milk + Yoghurt = ALL PROCESSED FOOD!

Different Kinds of Cereal

We left the office at around 7pm+ and drove to a nearby Target to grab some stuff. Apparently that area was full of restaurants and other shops such as Marshalls. We had our dinner at Panda Express – the beef broccoli and the fried prawns were really yummy.

Panda Express Meal! Please do SHARE!!!

Target

Day 4: Back to Sunnyvale & Friday Night Out

After morning in San Jose office, we drove to Sunnyvale office to have meetings and met some old colleagues. Lunch was at a Mexican Diner across the office and we ordered the steak burrito. The best part? They provided us big basket of tortilla chips with zesty salsas! Gosh, we basically stuffed our face nonstop on those chips! It was really THAT GOOD until it completely overshadowed the burrito!

See the Breakfast Pattern now? English Muffin, Egg & Pork Sausage - Basically Sausage McMuffin with Egg!

Lunch at Mexican Restaurnat at Sunnyvale

The Scrumpcious Tortilla Chips with Salsas!!!

The Overshadowed Burrito.. Oops!

Greenery at Sunnyvale

It was a Friday night thus we took the VTA light rail right across Fairfield to get to San Jose downtown (Metro/Airport Station-> Santa Clara Station - USD2 per way). We took a walk to San Pedro Square before walking past St Joseph Cathedral & San Jose Museum of Art to get to the Plaza de Cesar Chavez. Unfortunately the sky was getting dark thus the pictures did not turn up well on the landmark of San Jose. The place was simply not as lively like the last time i was there during Christmas season (link).

Some Refreshment from Fairfield before going Downtown

Fruits, Hot & Cold Beverages

Ticket Machine for VTA Light Rail

Waiting for our Train!

Arriving at Downtown San Jose!

We are at the Right Place!

San Pedro Square for Nightlife!

San Pedro Square Market

Something Cute at the outside...

St Joseph Cathedral at Night

San Jose Museum of Art at Night

Circle of Palms at Night!

Walking around the Historical District

We ended up going back to hotel and drove to Target again for dinner. We had the Hawaiian style dinner with BBQ chicken and it was really tender and delicious!!! How come the chicken in US is so tender? We simply loved it! After dinner, we went to Marshall to grab some cheap items – it’s one of the best places for cheap designer items!

The Hot Chili Sauce is AWESOME!!!

The BBQ Chicken is equally AWESOME!!! YUM!!!

The Restaurant

Next Days (A Shopaholic's Weekend)