Last Friday night started with the latest episode of American Idol Season 8 - and Adam Lambert's performance BLEW US AWAY!!! The rankings based on the Motown Week performance :

1. Adam Lambert - I love love LOVE that he can be both a gothic rocker and an Elvis impersonator
2. Alison Iraheta - doesn't she remind you of Kelly Clarkson?
3. Kris Allen - been quite some time since I saw a guy this cute!
4. Matt Giraud - nice voice, great piano skills, maybe running a little under the radar
5. Danny Gokey - because he sings well and I like his voice, but the Motown performance sucked a bit, like he was trying to be louder than the loud music
6. Anoop Desai - he should sing songs like this all the time, and that IT-nerd aura plus wardrobe is so adorable
7. Lil Rounds - her lungs are huge, but for this round I didn't like the shouting
8. Megan Joy - she's really really pretty, but how I wish she could sing
9. Michael Sarver - I like his sincerity, and he can actually sing, but he's at a disadvantage because the guys this season are strong
10. Scott - I admire his tenacity in hanging on in this competition when he's practically blind (his vision is apparently like "looking thru a straw hole"), but his voice just doesn't cut it for me, although he has absolutely brilliant piano fingers

At this point, I don't know who I'd like to see as the final 2, because I think every one in my top rated 5 have a strong chance of making it.

3 of my faves - Kris Allen, Alison Iraheta and Adam Lambert

And if you still haven't become an Idol addict like me (I have to confess that before this, I've never watched a single episode of Idol before), you should check out Adam's rendition of "Tracks of my tears" on youtube - I guarantee you'll be bowled over. And that song will be running endlessly in your mind, not annoying at all, because it's a beautiful song.

Oh yes, as I started out saying, the weekend started fabulously with American Idol. Spent Saturday morning doing chores, then had tea with friends at Delicious in Bangsar Village II. First time I went to BVII, and I can understand why people like it there - it's a neighbourhood mall, parking is easy and close to the entrances, the shops are not really for browsing but more for actual purchasers, and they have some brands I've never seen before. Nice.

Then we went for dinner with the family at the RSC in Mont Kiara, before returning home to a festive atmosphere - the kids next door were having a lantern festival in honour of Earth Hour 2009. Cool! Many families had switched off their house lights and were having night-strolls around the neighbourhood, adding to the party-like ambience. After sorting out our busted modem (lightning probably struck when we were out), we too joined in to hang around in the dark for an hour - helped by Ikea apple-scented candles, yums.

On Sunday, we started on our tax files. Not that we have much to file. But, the filing and sorting of the various receipts take time :P KF finished packing all his wintry-wear for Beijing, we lazed around the house, had dinner at my parents', then he went off to the airport for his flight.

So, I've been a bachelorette for 2 days. Nice to be pampered at my parents' home, no need to do laundry or wash dishes or clean up after someone or even think of what to eat. But, I love being a wife more - the Cancerian in me needs it to be so ;)

Happy April Fools' tomorrow!

Universal Studios Hollywood

The red curtain opened and the whole group of us walked in - I was clinging hesitantly to KF - and started thru this dark maze of dimly-lit corridors. Chucky lunged at us (I really think Chucky-and-his-stitches is the scariest creature ever), we pushed past hanging body bags (this was gross), got scared by various horror characters, and one of us was even chased all the way out the door! Gosh, it was a BLAST! We ran out of The House of Horrors screaming and laughing. It was a great way to start our day at Universal Studios.

Pat on the head for Chucky for scaring the wits out of me!

Mr Frankenstein, I'm turning blue!

Then we settled down to Shrek 4D. If you've never been to a 4D show (like me), Shrek 4D would be a BLAST! Donkey sneezed snot onto our faces, we galloped along on a runaway wagon, Dragon snored into our hair - it was literally AWESOME.

It's always the fat guys that provide the most fun

Next up was another show : Terminator 2 in 3D. It wasn't merely a 3D screen show - there were real characters caught in a real cross-fire on stage. Suuu-per!

The very pretty Elena (though I think Zeta-Jones is more beautiful) and the too-thin Zorro

We then took the escalators down to the Lower Lot (can those escalators be any longer - they stretched for miles!) - with amazing views of the verdant hills of LA. First thing we saw at the bottom of those mega-long escalators were 2 towering Mummys - so you guessed it, our next ride. We dumped our stuffs into lockers (free for 1st hour, operated with your thumbprint - how cool is that?) and headed straight into Revenge of The Mummy - The Ride.

We were strapped in and sped off, and boy, was the ride fast. We reached one part where there were tonnes of those cave insects crawling on the walls (they even have effects where you can literally feel the insects crawl past your legs - gross!) and then the car went into downhill reverse - at full speed! Whoa - AWESOME.

I don't remember what's this guy's name

Then, Jurassic Park - The Ride. It started off great, nice and slow in a raft, winding through the Jurassic Park (can even take pictures, but we didn't), the music really gave the feel like you were in the actual set. Then, our raft plunged down an 84-foot waterfall! So yes, we got a bit wet, but it was a BLAST!

After those thrilling rides, we went in to the Special Effects Stages. This was educational, entertaining and magical - like a "making of". It consists of 3 sets. At the 1st set (Virtual Studio), we watched how audience volunteers could be virtually incorporated into movies - don't know how to describe this - you gotta see it to understand. At the 2nd set (Universal's Creature Factory), we watched how someone in the audience with strapped on mechanism could operate the actions of a huge big robot werewolf just by moving his own arms. The 3rd set (The Sound Lab) was where we learnt how special effects sounds were injected into a silent movie - and it was all done by the audience volunteers and recorded on the spot, replayed for us to hear - how AWESOME is that? The hosts did an amazing job of interacting with the audience and I left amazed at the magical wonders of movie-making.

We wandered back up the long escalators to the Upper Lot to grab a bite for lunch, then went on the Studio Tour. I was excited about this, because I knew I'd see Wisteria Lane (for the uninitiated, that's the road where the Desperate Housewives live). Now this attraction had a really long line - we queued for maybe about half an hour or slightly more. But, oh boy, was it AWESOME! (Yes, that is the catchword for the day).


We were driven through the working backlots of Universal Studios and it was the best bus ride I've ever had in my entire life!

The bridge collapsed when our bus was on it!

The set of cowboy towns

Then the bus had to wade through a flood

Grinch-land!

The Desperate Housewives were actually ON SET when we were there!

Susan's house (Teri Hatcher)

Mike's house (I think)

Then, an earthquake happened (which is why the picture is blur and shaky)

The War of the Worlds' set

Psycho-killer moving a dead body

Psycho-killer wants to kill the whole bus of witnesses!

Our final ride was on The Simpsons Ride - something like the Genting Motion Master, but about a thousand times better, rather similar to a roller coaster ride. The waiting was tedious - and at one point we almost wanted to leave already - but gee, this ride sure was a surprise, in a good way. Definitely deserved to be voted the "World's Best New Attraction in 2008".




And our final show was the very wet Waterworld. Remember that movie? Well, I don't, because I've never watched it, but I do believe the set should be rather similar to that of the movie. I was amazed at the actors' physical abilities, it was almost like a movie set come to life - actually, what am I talking about, it IS a movie set come to life!


It was about an hour before we had to get back on the bus, so we went out to Universal Citywalk to get the prerequisite Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood tee. There were loads of shops at the Citywalk with the latest hits blaring on speakers - very American, very Hollywood, I loved it! The day at Universal City was a great way to end our tour of LA. Next destination, San Francisco!

The original Disneyland

Now who needs an introduction to Disneyland?

Located in Anaheim, California (near, or is it in, Los Angeles), it's the first Disneyland in the whole world - opened 2 years before Malaysia got her independence, and is apparently the only theme park to be designed, built, opened and operated by Walt Disney.

With Walt Disney and the famous fairytale castle

So, the day started, with lots of built-up anticipation because this was my first Disneyland trip (nope, never been to the HK one) and I'd heard so many stories of the Japan one being so fabulous.

By 9.30am, we were at the gates to Disneyland Park, there was no queue to enter and it was a smooth entrance - which was a little odd, to me, because it was a Saturday, albeit the last day of the low season. Armed with a map and a show schedule (very important tools to maximize your time), we started our day.

We entered at Main Street USA - where there's a City Hall (a kind of concierge to ask questions). There's also a Main Street Square - where at 5pm, they raise the flags, sing the national anthem, and ask members of the public who served in the National Forces to stand out and be recognized - very patriotic event.

We walked quickly past the rows of shops at Main Street USA (knowing we'd return later to shop for souvenirs) and headed for our first ride.

We rode on most of the rides we wanted to, especially those marked with "Physical Consideration". Started with the Indiana Jones Adventure in Adventureland - which was pretty cool, bumping our way along in a 4WD roller coaster. Then the guys went onto Splash Mountain (yeah, you guessed it, this ride gets you wet) in Critter Country while we girls went next door to The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh. It was a superbly mild ride - "buzz on in, honeybees", just journeying through Pooh's house, a very bright and happy ride. Came off the ride and took pictures with Pooh - oh that was a happy point of the day.

I've got a cuddly picture with Pooh, too!

We also rode on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Frontierland - which was fun and a ride I'd go on again, and Pirates of the Caribbean at New Orleans Square - which was also very fun, especially to see Jack Sparrow popping up everywhere. And entered the Haunted Mansion - which was pretty cool and not very scary - but I won't spoil it for the rest of you who haven't ridden on it (apparently the Japan one is similar, don't know if there's one in HK).

In Fantasyland, we queued up pretty long for Matterhorn Bobsleds - of which now I can't really remember what's the ride about, except that it involves a little bit of water and it seemed like a very thrilling ride but actually wasn't so.

"it's a small world" - new and improved

My parents had said "it's a small world" was fun - so we joined the queue for that. It's a family ride, showing all cultures of the world in one mild boat ride, with the "it's a small world, after all" tune playing over and over again. Brings you back to kindergarten days, it does.

And occasionally, the big clock outside the "it's a small world" ride chimes, and little toy soldiers and other characters from the ride will come out and dance - like a cuckoo clock show - quite entertaining.

Fantasyland is apparently filled with many kid-friendly rides (actually, every Disney ride is very kid-friendly). We went on Pinocchio's Daring Journey (the names are very kwa chiong) and Snow White's Scary Adventures. I guess if you brought an inquisitive little kid, you'd have to spend the whole day after the rides explaining these fairytales all over again.

Tomorrowland had "futuristic" rides. Autopia was a go-kart that is very similar to the antique-car ride in Genting - not very fun. But Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters was pretty cool. It's an interactive ride - 2 people in one "pod" which can be steered to turn round and round, and each person has a hand gun to shoot at various targets along the ride. And the pod has individual screens showing the player's score. A computer-game ride - pretty cool!

We also went for "Honey I shrunk the audience" - a 3D movie. And queued up for the Space Mountain ride which was not bad - apparently one of the best rides in Disneyland. You can see us in that Disney-taken photo (we snapped that picture on the screen).

And of course, how could we not enter Sleeping Beauty's Castle? We did the walk-thru there - a new attraction. But it was rather crowded, and at times I felt claustrophobic. Definitely don't do this if you're scared of dark enclosed spaces filled with people.

Sleeping Beauty's Castle is pretty in the day and the night - fireworks would have been perfect!

We also took the Disneyland Railroad for one round of the park - the ride was not merely a ride, it brought us through tunnels where you can see dinosaurs and I forgot what else. We didn't expect those extras, so it was nice to rest our feet and be surprised.

Entrance tickets to Disneyland Park cost $69, or $94 to include entrance to Disney's California Adventure Park - located right opposite Disneyland Park. Unfortunately, our tour did not allocate (or purchase) entrance tickets for us into the California Adventure Park, which is apparently where most of the thrilling rides are - not that I want to be flung upside down, but Disneyland Park did feel a little too, urm, young. Very safe for kids, definitely. Though I also doubt I'd be able to finish all the rides in both parks in 1 day. A 2-day park hopper ticket costs $143.

However, the lack of a Character Parade or a Fireworks show in Disneyland really disappointed me. Disneyland Park did not live up to its promise of "The Happiest Place On Earth" - not for me, at least. But, I have to admit it was fun being a kid for a day.

Minnie is prettier than on-screen!

And after a rather tiring day of pounding the pavements at Disneyland, we had dinner at Tony Roma's - the world famous pork ribs - yums!

I cleaned the whole plate up by myself, I did!

Grand Canyon West & Hoover Dam

The grandest place I saw on this trip. And a big tick of my must-do list. The Grand Canyon was beautiful!

The Grand Canyon National Park is located in Arizona and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Because it's such a huge national park with many entrances, we only covered the West Rim, also known as the Hualapai Reservation, where the infamous (but I feel is thoroughly over-rated and definitely over-priced) Grand Canyon Skywalk is located.

We left Vegas at 8am after a super huge buffet breakfast at the Monte Carlo Hotel (can you imagine, steak for breakfast?). We drove first to Hoover Dam, about 45 minutes drive from Vegas.

Hoover Dam is apparently "one of the greatest engineering works in history". Wikipedia says that "there is enough concrete in the dam to pave a 2-lane highway from San Francisco to New York" and that's saying something, because that's a minimum 5-hour flight one-way!

A result of the Hoover Dam is the very tranquil Lake Mead, blue and nice. Hoover Dam is located at the border of Nevada (Vegas) and Arizona. So there are 2 clocks on the bridge there, depicting a time difference of one hour for Nevada-time and Arizona-time.

We only drove across the Dam, didn't get down to tour it properly. Probably because it costs quite a bit - $8 for Visitor Center admission, $30 for a Dam tour, and $11 for a power plant tour. KF was a bit frustrated because we didn't get to stop properly at the Dam, and instead we rushed off to Grand Canyon.

The drive from the Dam to Grand Canyon West Airport (the visitor welcome center to Grand Canyon West) took more than 2 hours, also because we got held up due to roadworks. From the Airport, we had to take an internal bus (because private buses are not allowed in the park) to bumpity-bump our way in to the Skywalk, which took another hour of rough bus ride (about 21 miles of unpaved road), past many joshua trees - which are apparently unique to the park.

The tour guide says that the West Rim is more "natural" and less commercialised compared to other parts of the Grand Canyon. And it appears to be true. There are no bars to stop you from falling off the many cliffs into the bottom far far below.

First, we arrived at Eagle Point, home to the Grand Canyon Skywalk and a Native American Village. We dropped everything we had including cellphones and cameras into lockers, passed a metal detector, put on some kind of "shoe cover" on our shoes and entered the Skywalk.

The Skywalk looks bigger in pictures and truthfully, is not much of an experience. It was opened in 2007, is made of glass, apparently many strong thick layers, a horse-shoe shape and is 3 times higher / taller than the KLCC Twin Towers (4,000 feet above the Colorado River). You get to look down to the canyon far far below (but I wasn't scared, so I think it'll be okay even for people scared of heights). Some people were taking "official" photographs (these photos can only be taken by their people, you can't take your own, and you have to buy them for $100 when you get off the bridge). We didn't take any - refusing to be water fish - I mean, come on, $100 for photos on the not-too-impressive Skywalk?

We hurried off the Skywalk, past the souvenir shop (which unfortunately had not-very-nice fridge magnets so I didn't get any), and went out into the open to take our own amazing photos at those unmarked and unenclosed cliff borders.

At one corner in the amphitheatre, there was a Native American performance as well, by a Red Indian's wife who sings enchantingly - apparently an award winner in the Native American-equivalent of the Grammys. I liked this part of the trip, because it provided glimpses into Native American culture, and culture's not something we get much of during a tour to the U.S. because after all, American culture has been invading every part of the world through our tvs and radios that it's no longer considered "culture", if you know what I'm rambling on about. So, I soaked up whatever little bit of "real" culture I could get.

From Eagle Point, we took another shuttle bus that ferried us to Guano Point, where we had cafeteria-style Hualapai buffet food overlooking the Grand Canyon and Colorado River. This was a pretty great experience, because the view here was even better than that at the Skywalk. And it was refreshing to eat out in the open and not be cooped up in some stuffy restaurant. We gobbled our food and hiked around taking more pictures, always taking care not to step on any loose rock at the edge of the cliff :P Too bad time passed so fast, as we then had to shuttle it back to the Skywalk area to take another bumpity-bump shuttle back to the Airport area and board our own bus back to Vegas.

Cost (which was included in our tour, but for those who'd like to know) :

• Legacy Package (this is the basic package that all visitors must purchase which includes entrance to all Grand Canyon West attractions and free hop-on-off shuttle bus between points) : $29.95 + 7% tax + $8 impact fee + $3 fuel charge
• Skywalk tour : $29.95 per person (no personal cameras allowed)
• Meal options : $11.95 per person (not allowed to bring your own food into the park)
• If you drive your own vehicle, there are further charges incurred.

Apparently the entire Grand Canyon West belongs to the Hualapai tribe. This area is solely built and developed by this tribe, and represents the dreams and future incomes for the survival of this tribe - which is why we see many tribal people running the facilities around the park. The Hualapai tribe's sole source of income is through tourism, which may explain the exorbitant fees charged. However, some articles say that even so, the Hualapai are not earning much from the Grand Canyon West, which annually hosts about 200,000 visitors.

I loved the Grand Canyon. It was majestic and raw and completely awesome. If I have the chance, I'd go there again. And next time, maybe take a helicopter tour between the canyon and a boat ride on the Colorado River.

There are a million other photos we took (KF took quite a lot of amazing pics - and yes Nat, got my face in it wan). Wait patiently for them la yah.

Vegas, baby!

A friend told me before I left, that I'd love Vegas. I was skeptical - imagining it to be another Genting or Macau. Boy was I wrong. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED VEGAS!

We arrived in the evening, and was whisked off to "downtown Vegas" to watch the "biggest screen in the world" on Fremont Street.

The Fremont Street Experience was fun, to say the least. While waiting for the Viva Vision show to start, we walked under this huge canopy which housed souvenir shops and casinos and strip bars and casinos and strip bars and casinos and strip bars (you get the picture). There were little stalls selling all kinds of knick-knacks. And in the middle of it, there was a free concert stage. It was like a street party!

At Fremont Street - and that's the large canopy screen overhead

At 8 pm, the lights on the street dimmed and the Viva Vision show started - sponsored by LG. The entire canopy overhead (and I do mean the ENTIRE canopy which is about 4-blocks-of-shops long - or the size of about 5 football fields) lit up with moving images and it was one long LG advertisement, in story-line of course. It was fun to watch, with a good sound system to back it up, and trying to figure how on earth could a canopy be filled with millions of little LED lights that show such clear images. Only in America ... or maybe, only in Vegas - where things are supposed to be in-your-face.

The tour then brought us back to the infamous Strip to visit the hotels in Vegas - which sounded odd to me, but apparently the Vegas hotels are an attraction in itself.

The Venetian hotel was pretty amazing, and it managed to pretty accurately mimic St Mark's Square and the Venetian gondolas in a rather small area. But the thing I was impressed with was the sky. It was already 9pm at night outside, but when we entered this area, it looked like it was 7am in the morning! The sky was blue and filled with clouds, a string quartet was playing in a corner, many people were fine-dining with white tablecloths and all, gondolas were gliding on the superbly clean river (this was the thing that was most unlike the actual Venice) and of course, there were tourists like us who were trying to ruin the atmosphere with our photo-taking :)

In Venice! In Vegas! At 9pm at night! Or day?!

The Caesars Palace was also Italian in nature, with an entire shopping complex built to mimic the shopping streets of Rome, complete with a Trevi fountain. But the whole thing felt rather contrived to me, because I've been to the real Rome! And shopping for Louis Vuitton in Vegas didn't interest me :P

The best experience that night was the Bellagio fountains. It was the most romantic thing ever. And I realized then that no photo can ever replace the actual experience (I had that thought constantly throughout the US trip because there were indeed so many experiences I couldn't frame in photos). It is a musical fountain show on a huge lake, with the best dancing waters I've ever seen and a great sound system. The song was "Time to say goodbye" by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli - and boy, was it a great performance. If I could, I'd watch the Bellagio fountains every day of my life. It was a beautiful beautiful performance. (I think someone probably youtube-d it, but again, nothing beats actually being there!).

The most romantic fountain show in the world

And if you're wondering why Bellagio sounds so familiar, it's because it was the casino featured in the George Clooney-Brad Pitt movie Ocean's 11.

Oh, and if you're ever in Vegas and would like to catch a show, Jubilee! is the one to go for. It has a cast of maybe about a 100 stunning costumed dancers (some acts of which are by beautiful topless dancers, so preferably no kids) on million-dollar sets (the Titanic act was quite cool), and it cost us about $35 per person (having ripped 50% discount vouchers off one of those what-to-do-in-Vegas books lying around the concierge - and that is something you MUST remember to do when in US). The show was almost 2 hours, held in Bally hotel, and was a magnificent display of all the glitzy showgirls that Vegas is famous for. A truly classic Vegas experience.