Chicago's 'The Bean'

One of Chicago's most popular tourist landmark is the ultra-modern, silvery, bean-shaped structure, officially called The Cloud Gate. It is located at the Millenium Park at downtown fronting Chicago's skyline. The picture shows our Chicago hosts Ruby's high school classmates Pearly Unto-Castro, Teresa Luga-Kadusale, and Hope Suasin.

This structure is nothing but amazing. You get near it, and it becomes a huge curved mirror. Look at Chicago's skyline reflected across 'The Bean'.

Inverted House at Niagara

At the Niagara, Toronto side, along the strip, we ecountered this house. The architect was probably drunk when he designed this. The foreman was worse for blindly following the design, hence this result. Seriously, this is an eye-catching landmark. Good idea for tourism. Neat!

Whampoa's boat building

One of the unsual sights in Hongkong is that building in the shape of a huge boat in Whampoa area.
This area was an old shipyard, transformed into a residential area.
Perhaps In honor of its history, a huge boat-building was constructed which is actually a department store.

Orange County Fair

There is a fair at Orange County.
There were a lot of huge animals.
Huge elephants. Huge horses. Huges goats. There was food to savor, too.It was a nice place to have fun with children.
Going to the fair in August 2010 were Macel, Felix, Ruby and Joshua.

Dining at Denny's

Finally, after more than a decade I ate in one of the many Denny's chain of diners in the U.S.
After arriving, from LAX, we were brought by Oning and Sandra Yee for breakfast at Denny's
I have fond memories of Denny's.The first time I came to the U.S. about a decade ago, I had a classmate who really liked to come to Denny's to eat.
So we ended up coming several times in this diner.
That was in Dallas.
Denny's, as I recalled, was an eat-all-you-can affair..But this breakfast we ordered egg, pancakes and sandwich.
I had a feeling of deja vu.
A lot of memories came rushing in my head.

Tuktuk

Tuktuk is the popular three-wheeled public transport rushing, squeezing throught eh congested streets of Bangkok.
Tuktuk is the countrpart of the pedicabs or tricycles in the Philippines.
There are variances though.
The tuk-tuk is right in the front-middle of of the vehicles main car.
So the tuktuk does not have a "side-car".The tutktuk has a reverse gear, triccles don't.
The tuktuk serve a convenient purpose off the main Bangkok streets.
There are the main public transport system like the rail, the taxis.
The rail stations are far from each other.So the tuktuk serves the routes in between.
The tuktuks come zooming in teh streets, sometimes disregarding traffice rules.
If you want to get from one place to another, the tuktuk driver knows it and he will take you "door-to-door".
I had to try driving a tuktuk. I couldn't resist.
The tuktuk is one of my memorable Bangkok expeirence.

Laundry chores

When in the United States, doing your own laundry is one of the chores one can't do without.Nobody will do your laundry except yourself.
There are public laundry shops where you can do your laundry.For instance, if an apartment does not have its own laundry facilities, then laundry will have to be done in a commercial shop.Commercial laundry shops in the U.S. are different from those in the Philippines.
In the Philippines, commercial laundry can be picked up and delivered. All one does is pay.
In the U.S., one does his own laundry.More than a decade ago, the first time I did public laundry, coins were used. One just drops coins into the machine washer/dryer.
The last time I went to a commercial laundry, it was far more automated.The machine washers and driers now use sleek, smarter cards, like ATM.
They automatically compute.You buy the consumable cards.
It automatically deducts for every use.
It would take you at least one hour and a half to do laundry.Its a chore one has to schedule.

Five Guys

Its one of America's famous burger joints.
Five Guys was thrown into the spotlight when one fo its stores was featured on national television when the U.S. President dropped by for a bite.We went to Five Guys in Queens.
We were bropuight their by cousing Kathlynn.
Her papa, Tito Bobong likes Five Guys, she said.It has a distinct environment inside.
Immediately you will notice there are bags of raw, freshly-harvested peanuts for customers to eat.The burger is sumptuous. Liked it.
Although I have since avoided hamburgers, Five Guys Burger was inviting.

Meet Nat

Nat's Thai should ring a bell.It's that restaurant below Wild Card Gym where Manny Pacquiao usually takes his meal during training.
Of course, it serves Thai food.But Thai cuisine, if you remove the chili, is similar to Filipino.Their favorite is that uniquely cooked (fried) chili chicken that is the usual desire among visitors.But there are other equally delicious Thai cuisine, you can choose from. You can grab their menu and you'll be pleseantly surprised the prices are reasonable.Nat is a lady who runs the restaurant.She was very hospitable, you forget she isn't Filipino.
When you visit the Wild Card Gym one of these days it wouldn't be a bad idea to take your meal at Nat's Thai.

Wild Card Gym

It has become a must-visit place for Filpinos.The Wild Card Gym has since become popular since Manny Pacquio has made it his training ground for his boxing fights in the U.S.It is an assuming place, like its owner, training Freddie Roach.
When there are no Manny Pacquiao fights, its relatively quiet.
But when Manny Pacquio trains, it never runs out of mostly Filipino tourists.
I heard Manny Pacquiao's sport shop is about to open. It sells all Manny Pacquiao memorabilia.

The White House

The White House lives up to its name.
Its sparkling white.I must say a visit to the White House premises leaves one in awe.
What went on my mind was that I was looking at the seat of power of the most powerful nation in the world.Decisions made inside this house affects the every other country in the world.When we visited the White House, we thought it was a damper because we weren't allowed to have a front lawn view of the White House. It was off limits. So we left to take a hotdog snack nearby.We asked why, but the security wouldn't say anything except to say that it was going to be opened in a while.When we started to leave the White House premises, suddenly hovering accross the sky was Marine One bearing the United States President.I saw hordes of tourists scampering back to the White House hoping to get a good view of Marine One landing.So in case you visit the White House and its off limits, chances are, its because the U.S. President is either leaving or arriving.
Fronting the White House is the Washington Monument, like a sharpened pencil pointing up the sky, while several other government buildings surround the area, like the Department of Commerce.