One of my sister’s friends wrote the following:

While foreign tourists would most likely put the Philippines way down their list of places to go to [because of the hostage taking], I think it’s about time we locals help out and explore our own country.

I’m taking this to heart. I will travel to as many place in the Philippines as I can.

Since I was on office arrest [my boss told me not to take long trips until the end of the year], all I could do were weekend getaways or day trips. I decided to go with a day trip for the meantime.

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After our short but fun stay in San Francisco and Los Angeles [as well as Glendale and Pasadena], it was time to say goodbye to California and say hello to Nevada.

We took the bus from LA to Las Vegas. Our first choice was to drive, but I think my mother wanted to try every mode of transportation there is in the US! He he! I booked our trip via GotoBus, which offers really low fares! Imagine, our bus ride cost only $30 per person!

Going from LA to Las Vegas was like going from one end of the pole to another. One minute, all we saw were buildings. Then after a while, all we saw were deserts!

The bus ride took approximately 5 hours, with one stop. It was like 2 hours of buildings and people and then 3 hours of desert and cactuses. The desert seemed to go on and on and on and on! Ang lawak ng US!

Finally, after what seemed like endless desert, we saw some indication of buildings and finally arrived in Las Vegas. My first thought was, how could a place like this exist in the middle of the desert? Well, I guess that the fact that it was located in the center of nowhere makes it a more attractive destination. Here are some facts proving that Las Vegas is one of the favorite spots of tourists:

• Hotel room occupancy rates average 91% annually.
• Southern Nevada (including Primm, Mesquite, and Laughlin, Nevada) has over 142,000 hotel rooms and is growing almost daily. Vegas accounts for 124,000 alone, with nine of the ten largest hotels in the world.
• 851 flights a day deliver over 2.4 million city visitors each month through McCarran Airport, making it the eighth busiest airport in the world.
• Vegas is the fifth most popular foreign travel vacation destination in the world. It’s also the top summer destination in the United States and the top gambling destination in the whole world!
• Over 30 million people visit here annually. Almost one in five are “forced” to come for a convention. Around 100,000 Vegas weddings were held last year!
• There are nearly 1000 taxis, 330 limos & 32 bus routes in the city.
• Over 1.41 million residents call Las Vegas home! (source)

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Do you think I would pass for a celebrity girlfriend?

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Before you react and think that Richard Gutierrez is out of his mind, this picture was actually cropped from the photo below:

Outside Staples Center, May 27, 2010 (after the Lakers-Phoenix game 5)

With all honesty, I really don’t have the hoots for any of our celebrities here. When somebody points out to me, “uy, si ano oh,” referring to a celebrity, I usually look, then reply with just a shrug. Walang excitement kung baga.

So I don’t know why, when my friend told me that he saw Richard Gutierrez in the souvenir shop of Staples Center when we watched game 5 of the Lakers-Phoenix series, I went gaga and told my friends I had to have my picture taken with him [at all costs!]! And this was with shrieks ha! I patiently waited for him at the exit of the souvenir shop!

I honestly don’t know why I got so excited. I am not a fan of his. I don’t even watch any of his shows! I know him only because he’s a popular star here in the Philippines.

The only logical reason I could think of was that it was so exciting to see a kababayan star in a foreign land. It’s like, wow! Of  all places, sa ibang bansa mo pa sya makikita! I mean, makakita lang ako ng kababayan in other countries, I get excited. What more kung artista pa diba? I remember when we were in Rome, and there was news that Ai Ai de las Alas was there too. Baduy man, but I was always on the lookout for her! He! he!

So jologs na kung jologs, I approached Richard and asked him if I could have a picture taken with him.

Richard was very nice and accommodating. He of course agreed and was all smiles for our photo op. As you can see, me and my two friends were ALL smiles! Parang kinikilig pa! Richard chatted with us for a very short while after ["Ganda ng game ano?"] and smiled and waved at us when he saw us leaving the stadium.

We may not have seen some famous stars in Hollywood, but the NBA night made up for it! At least, I had a small brush with the world of showbiz!

Leaving San Francisco was bittersweet for me, as always. First, I had such a fun time with my cousins there, cousins I rarely get to see. Second, I felt that the time we spent there was kulang pa. And third, absurd as it may sound, I would miss the weather. But leaving meant we were arriving at another destination! Exciting!

San Francisco from the sky: very organized!

Los Angeles was the next place in our itinerary. I must admit that this one city I could go without visiting, after all, it is too touristy for me. But at the end, I had to admit that I had tons of fun in LA too. Lesson: never judge a place until you’ve been there!

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The latest Powerbooks sale has me reading this:

(only PhP75!)

What a fascinating book!

Now, the million-dollar question is, when am I going to actually be there?

Haaaay, nangarap na naman ng gising. He he!

Before we move on to LA, I would like to make special mention of a small city nearby.

Glendale is a small, beautiful community outside of LA. What Glendale is to LA is like what Paranaque is to Makati, not just in terms of distance, but also structurally. If LA is full of buildings, malls, and yuppies, Glendale is like a homey city.

We didn’t get to go around Glendale that much, but I truly enjoyed one of their “parks/malls”: Americana (which reminded me so much of Alabang Town Center).

View from the top: A park surrounded by stores…some of them high end!

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I liked the place because it wasn’t your conventional mall. Para syang park na mall. The place was relaxing, and pwedeng tambay lang.

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There was spacious lawn of green, green grass. We spent an hour sitting on the grass and watching people who pass by.

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And the flowers, wow talaga! In full bloom! Ang gaganda! [The big brown building in the backdrop is Barnes & Noble, the US's version of National Bookstore.]

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There was also a fountain in the middle. Malaki-laki na sya for a place like this.

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There was this “Oscar’s trophy–looking” statue in the middle [I just don't know it's significance]…seemingly guarding the park.

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There are also fountains shows every afternoon/evening. Although not as great as those in Bellagio, nakakatuwa pa din siempre! The kids loved these shows! After all, who doesn’t like fountains coming alive?

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A cute vintage ice cream truck by the side…

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Americana’s version of a cable car!

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The cars look more nicer than those in SFO. And on top of that, the ride is free! Ride all you can ito!

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The friendly conductor also served as the tour guide, welcoming us and pointing to stores as we went around.

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It was a short ride, after all, Americana is a small place. Yet it was so fun to go around!

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These cars are disable friendly…wheelchairs can be loaded. Here, the trip is near its end as the train passes by the fountain.

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At the end of the ride, the conductor let the kids ring the bell [it's like the "toot" of a train]. Here, Wendy is actually pulling the string to signal the car’s arrival.

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So there, if you are in the LA area and have the time and want to go somewhere relaxing, try going to Americana [and Glendale].

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Related posts:

US diary: part 1: San Francisco, CA

US diary part 3: Los Angeles, CA

US diary: part 4: Las Vegas, NV

When Wendy found out that she had to be absent from school for 1 week when we went to the United States, she cried. But here’s what my aunt [the one who came with us] told her:

Wendy, don’t be sad. Do you know that what you will experience in our trip, you will NEVER experience reading books and being in a classroom? And what you will learn in 3 weeks in the United States, you will not learn in 1 year of school.

My point exactly.

[Not the one Wendy being absent of course--I'm glad she hasn't told me yet, "Mama, I'm quitting school to travel the world!--but the experience and learning aspect.]

If this series of posts on my trip to the United States will be anything like my Europe series, then prepare yourself for long stories [and perhaps boredom along the way]. But then I know you’ll be taking the trip with me also, as we did together when we traveled to Europe together.

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Arriving in a new country always leaves me palpitating. After all, it’s like a whole new world. Much like when I first stepped in to European soil, I was like a giddy child when our plane landed in San Francisco. My father kidded me, “Oh, humalik ka na sa lupa ng Amerika.” Even if my father would conclude at the end of the trip that the places looked the same [and I'd like to think he was just being sarcastic], with the exception daw of the Grand Canyon, I thought otherwise. Each place we visited was unique in its own way, each having its own charm.

San Francisco was our Ellis Island for this trip. I remember it was not too busy when we arrived, and we were almost the only ones going through immigration. I was a bit worried about this part of the trip because of the stories of some friends [na pinahirapan daw sila ng immigration officers]. But it turned out there was nothing to worry about…we went through in a breeze. Hmmmm…was it perhaps because my mother was in a wheelchair, or because my aunt, who is a nun, was with us? But they were not with us in line, kami lang ni Wendy! So I would like to think of it as more of God’s hand working! Anyway, on we went, ready to face the Land of Milk and Honey [at least for us Filipinos].

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Hello world! I’m back! We landed in the Philippines last Saturday, and thank God, no jet lag for me. I had to work right away!

My luggage and things were in disarray for days, and it took me long to organize my things! Not to mention my mind in still in vacation mode! For a time, I refused to believe that vacation was over! He he!

I could honestly say that the United States is a beautiful place. Yes, the country may seem overrated [especially that most Filipinos look up to Pinoys who live in the US], but truth is, it is really a place worth visiting . It certainly boasts of some wonderful and beautiful places.

Thank God, I was able to visit most of the items on my list, except for Central Park [it was raining in New York when we planned to go to the Central Park; bummer!], Hershey Park, and The White House [our limited time constrained me from going to Washington, DC; next time!].

Fortunately, there were many other more things I saw and experienced [some unexpected]:

• The shockingly cold weather of San Francisco! I didn’t expect it to be that cold… It was Europe + 10% of the coldness + WIND!

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• I was able to drive in a foreign land! Yay! [I so wanted to try in Bangkok, especially that it was right-hand driving there, but Thailand does not honor our license.] I was also able to experience pumping my own gas!

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• I tasted the best cheese roll in the world, care of Porto’s. Grabe sa sarap! Anyone in LA will know this.

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• I watched an NBA game live [game 5 of the Lakers-Suns Western finals series; yes, the buzzer-beater game] and saw Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash in flesh. This experience was surreal, promise!

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• In addition to Princeton, I set foot in Stanford. Beautiful! [I made Wendy choose between Stanford and Princeton, she chose Stanford. $280,000 lang naman ang tuition per year, so no pressure diba?]

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• I walked in the rain in Times Square, feeling like a true New Yorker!

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These are just some of my wonderful experiences and some of the beautiful places in the United States, and I’m so excited to share them with you. But that would have to wait, for those would be another series of posts.

For now, I leave you with one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen in my life.

These were taken at 36,000 feet above ground, as we were cruising over southern Alaska.

The snow-capped mountains of Alaska are a sight to behold! I didn’t get sawa staring at them.

Amazing ano? Truly one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve seen.

While almost everyone has been somewhere this summer, I haven’t been anywhere [save for Batangas a few weeks ago]. I’m not whining though, because the fact is, my summer is just starting!

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It’s not really on my list of places to go to, but if it’s with family (and your parents are are going to shoulder most of the expenses), why not? I’m not stupid to turn down the opportunity.

So for the next weeks, if all plans push through [hopefully], I’ll be meeting the following:

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(Click picture for source)

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I must admit that before planning this trip, I was ignorant on US geography, as in! Wala talaga akong alam. But now, I’ve learned a lot, like distinguishing between the East and West coast (end to end pala ang California at New York?). Pwede na! He he!

We’ll be leaving tomorrow. So see you all when I get back!

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PS, Guys, please pray for a safe trip for us. I’ve been watching Air Crash Investigation the past few days [it's one of my favorite shows on National Geographic], and I certainly don’t want us to be featured on that show! Thanks!