Bush wasn't there

The trip from Niagara to DC exhausting as we traveled in the middle of night and I was the co-driver from 12 am til 6.30 in the morning. That's was like the first time I've stayed up in a year or so, with help from Nafis' Red Bull. We arrived at Kak Rod's house approximately 8 am and our level of tiredness was ... well the best way to describe it is what engineers usually use when the value is to big ... yeah infinity. But hearing that Kak Rod already cooked breakfast .. Nasi Goreng I think it was ... made us stay up a lil bit longer. Bile lagi org laki nak makan masakan ibu cam nih isn't it?

Anyhew, after getting to know Kak Rod a lil bit more during breakfast, we decided that it would be best for us to get some sleep since most of us were deprived of any sleep during the trip, excluding Nafis' sister who slept soundly through out the trip. Perhaps she thought that men are the ones who should drive women wherever women want to go. I thought women were the ones who asked for equal treatment?
Then, what the hell is this?? Saje nak emo lebey .. But Akak Nafis did belanje us a couple of times so I guess we all owed her.

After 2 hours of sleep, I was so not in the mood to move around and take pictures, the only mood I had was continuing my sleep. But we had to coz we only have one day in DC. We headed straight towards the Washington Monument. We've been calling it pencil through out the trip. I only learnt its name from Fido, after coming back from the trip. Basically we only went there to take pictures and then we went to the Abraham Lincoln Museum (I think that was the name of the place). Took pictures and moved on.

After that we went to another museum that had IMAX movies. So, we went to see Ant Bully. It wasn't an enjoyable experience as the IMAX 3D thing kind of suck IMO (I learn this IMO shit from Serip). The movie was good, it was just the glasses and the 3D part that disappointed me. I tried wearing the damn glasses but somehow I got a headache just by doing that. Then I tried watching the movie without the glasses, which gave me a bigger headache. Its a 3D movie so on the screen you can see 2 images side by side, at a single time. You'll see a 3D image when you wear the glasses. Since I wasn't comfortable with the glasses, I had to watch the damn thing for like 1 1/2 hours.

We didn't bother going to the thousands of museums that were in DC. I personally have never had any interest in American, world or Malaysian history. I remembered that in high school everytime in history class, I'll be yawning every couple of minutes. I'm an engineer man. Engineers don't give a rats ass about the history. They think about how they want to shape the future. WOW some words of wisdom coming from a wiseass.

Moving on, we went to the White House, not literally. We could only take pictures from outside. I noticed that there were a couple of US soldiers around the White House probably bcoz of the 9/11 attacks. Nak usya2 and amik gambar pon payah so we decided to go to the Capitol of the US. By that time it was already dark, so we only managed a couple of photos from the outside.

So, we went back to Kak Rod's house, hungry and exhausted. Sekali tgk Kak Rod buat masakan ibu lagi for us WOOOWWW syiioookkkkk abis. Beberape lauk plak tuh Kak Rod masak. Syiookkk x ingat. While having dinner, we chatted with Kak Rod and her husband Abg Zali I think his name was. Dan2 tgh mkn anak pompuan Kak Rod pon dtg join borak skali. WOW syiookk abih. Rupe2nye Kak Rod nih boley tahan cool gak tapi suami die jauh lagi cool. Tahap cool die, even though he's 40 years old still boley lepak kedai mamak skali ngan kiteorg. But the funniest thing about him was, if there was a club for all the MCPs in the world, mmg Abg Zali laaa president. Mmg die boley jadik idola aku aaa. Haha Kelakar gile borak ngan die. Anak pompuan die pon boley tahan cool gak siap die citer ade member lesbian die ajak die jadi lesbo. Yg aku x tahan Kak Rod ngan Abg Zali rilek je dengar anak die nih bercerite .. bapak coolnye diorang nih. Nih baru happy family namenye.

The next morning, we knew our flight was at 5.30 pm. So we had to move fast coz NY traffic is like hell for sure. We were ready by 10 and it was breakfast time. Skali Kak Rod buat masakan ibu lagi. This time it was Nasi Goreng campo cokodok. Cokodok tuh syiookk gile sampai pecah perut aku makan. By 11 we already left Kak Rod's house for JFK. Actually DC to NY is like 4 hours but we got into some traffic and by the time we arrived it was already 6 pm. Thank god our flight was delayed from 5.30 to 6.45. We still managed to catch the flight and went straight back home, Minessota that is.

If you want to see more pictures, visit my photoalbum

Niagara

After a couple of awe-inspiring days in NYC, we left the city for Niagara. We arrived at the airport to get our car at around 10 am but somehow National didn't cleaned/vacuumed our car yet. We had to wait there for like 45 minutes under the hot sun. NYC to Niagara is about 8 hours not including stops. So by the looks of it, we would be arriving at 7 if we hadn't stop, but the problem was he had to stop for lunch and gas and going to the loo. At 7 the whole place would be so dark that only we couldn't see anything at all and we would ended up with frustation as that was the only time in our lives that we had the chance to go and watch one of the wonders of the world, the Niagara Falls.

We knew that if we didn't do something only a miracle would get us there in time. So, Nafis being the 'Speed Freak' that he is, took the responsibility of driving our compact car as fast as he could. One could call him man of the day as he got us just as the sun was about to set. We were so busy taking pictures of the first part of the falls that we didn't realized there was a bigger one that lies ahead. It was the one that made people stare at it with awe, the reason why people were so eager to see how immense Niagara Falls is.

It was me who saw there was another, of God's creations that was so ravishingly stunning it left us staring at it; speechless. It was huge. It was like the ocean and the water flowed toward one end and went downward in a rapid descent by the force of gravity. It was so amazing how gigantic the waterfall was. Unfortunately it was already dark and we tried taking pictures but every single one of them didn't turn out good. We could only buy postcards.

We were really disappointed and hungry and as we were going out of the waterfall area we found a Muslim stall that sold Halal food. They had chicken shawarma, kebabs and everything you can think of. We hadn't had any chicken for the last couple of days. It was the perfect cure to our sorrow. We left Niagara with a mixture of sadness and satisfaction; the chicken was awesome man. It was another 9 hours to DC.

You can see my other photos at Niagara photo album

NYC trip

Before kicking off, I would like to give my deepest appreciation to the dudes from Minnesota for giving me a amicable welcome especially Napis, Esyam and Kolid. Even though I offered to cooked dinner, Napis refused to let me do so and he was the one who prepared dinner for me and the gang. Esyam well .. he taught me how to enjoy life to the fullest .. by hitting the spot you know whut I'm saying .. UHUUUKKK!! Kolid hmm .. even though he was reluctant to send me to the bus station he still let me sleep in his room and that's good enough for me.

I've been wanting to go to New York since last spring but some how I didn't have the chance to do so. I have covered the other parts of the States; California, Florida, the Midwest and the Yellowstone National Park. New York was the only place left for me to go. Meon's initial group was already full for one car. I was frustrated .. well kind of because I had nobody to turn to. Everybody else either already went to NY or prefered to go back home. I forgot how but I sort of heard from Esyam himself that he and Nafis were planning on a trip to NY. It was just a plan, wasn't confirmed until 2 weeks before we flew to NY. Anyhew, I went to Minneapolis alone in a Greyhound and spent a couple of days hanging out with Esyam, Nafis and Kolid.

On the 21st, Esyam, Nafis, Nafis' sister and me flew to NY. We spent about 4 days there and it was 4 memorable ones. We started our journey at Times Square. It was phuqin' busy with people moving to and fro, street performers and those who sell paintings by the street. There were many shops selling those cheap I heart NY tees. And at night the streets were lit up by the bright and colorful lights of every building around us. It was magical. It was just like when I was in Piccadilly Circus, London, the atmosphere was certainly 'happening'.

We also went to see the Statue of Liberty. We did go to Liberty Island but unfortunately after 9/11 they didn't allow anyone to go up. So, we only managed to take pics from down below. After that we covered the NBC studios. Sadly, Conan O'Brien wasn't there. I was hoping to see him as I wanted him to do the Donald Trump impression just for me haha. Yeah right. I ain't that stupid.

Next, it was the Madison Square Garden. What shocked me was that MSG consists of an indoor theatre, stadium and basketball court. It was like having Stadium Bukit Jalil inside a building. Our bad luck continued as Mariah Carey performed the night before we arrived. That's really phuqed up. Seriously guys, you could call me gay or whuteva but Mariah Carey is the queen of RnB. C'mon aaa! I would've gone to the damn concert.

We went to the Empire State Building at night and we could still see the whole city coz the shining lights were representing each building there. We also went to CNN and the United Nations. Nevermind the boring tour guide who made me yawn every 5 seconds, what suprised me was that at the start of the tour there was real Tepak Sirih. It said it was donated by the Malaysian Government. I was so phuqin proud man. Even though aku nih poser Melayu je, ade gak aa bangge warghwarghwargh.

But the most unforgettable moment was we went to see broadway. It was the Lion King and it was awesome. I'm not a theatre kind of dude coz I think it's a bit gayish but that play was really, really good. Honestly. Well I understood the play coz I've seen the movie before. But the songs and the performance were so great that I didn't fall asleep. I actually enjoyed watching it. It wasn't gay at all. To watch a kid so young but so rich in talent just amazed me. Everybody in that show knew what his/her character was about that it absorped me into the play. I felt as though I was in the play myself.


more pictures at my photo album