Washington DC 2009

I first visited the capital of US when I was a junior. Back then, my travel buddy was none other than Abarai Renji Ren Jie (too much of Bleach), and our trip was a cheap but enjoyable one. 3 years after, I revisited this great city, this time with Pei Ying.

Our trip started off not so well, when a traffic jam almost prevented us from reaching the Detroit airport in time. Long story short, we managed to make it because a kind girl saw us and let us hop on her cab. Also, it took more time than expected for us to travel from the Baltimore airport to our Washington DC hotel, as the cab driver screwed up the directions. So it was already 2am-ish when we reached the hotel. Tired and hungry, we went to CVS downstairs and bought some ramen to feed our poor stomachs.

Fortunately, the rest of the trip was alright. Little did our stomachs know that they were about to experience the greatest treat in a while: authentic Malaysian food! We went back to the Penang in Bethesda, and luckily the food there was still great. The Kuey Teow Soup was so so, but the Wat Dan Hor and the roti canai was awesome! Too bad, as usual no photos were taken because the food was gone before we realized it.

Back to the trip - the first 2 days were cloudy, and it even rained heavily at one point that we had to take refuge in the Air and Space Museum (and have lunch at the McD in it). Still, we managed to cover most of the famous attractions in the city.

White House, the side (back? front?) which I did not go 3 years ago.

The National Christmas Tree (yeah, no joke)

Washington Monument

Chinatown Dunkin’ Donuts (funny translation)

View from Washington Monument (bad visibility that day)

Jefferson Memorial in background

Entrance of US Capitol Hill (was under construction when I was there 3 years ago)

 

The Capitol Rotunda

 

Frieze of United States History

Great Hall of Library of Congress

Exterior of Library of Congress (somehow reminded me of Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II in Rome)

East face of United States Capitol

 

West face of United States Capitol

 

Reflecting pool (without the water). People actually walk “in” the pool.

Reflecting pool (view from Lincoln Memorial)

  

Lincoln yang bergaya-nya.

And finally, various shots of my favorite monument in the city:

Shows

10/10 David Copperfield

Venue: Fox Theatre, Detriot

Finally got to see the famed magician live. The magic/illusions were a little bit disappointing though, as I have already seen most of it on tv, and they weren’t all that impressive. I really wanted to see the illusion which he was sawed into half, but unfortunately he didn’t perform it that night. Here is a Youtube clip of what I was talking about:

 

11/21 Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey:Over the Top Circus

Venue: Palace of Auburn Hills, Detroit

Went to the Palace of Auburn Hills for the second time for this circus show (1st time was for an NBA game years ago). Saw some protestors at the entrance protesting against the animal cruelty that the trainers have allegedly committed to train the animals for this show. Well I guess as long as there are people who like us are willing to pay for the show, the cruelty will go on…or maybe not. Can’t people think of a better training method? (wishful thinking)

The show itself was alright, and was definitely more tailored to kids. The 7 motorcycles speeding in a steel globe was quite a scene though, and we were definitely holding our breaths watching that insane stunt. Given the difficulty of this show, one can guess things didn’t always go well, as recorded in the following video (note: this is not what happened in our show):

 

Some photos taken:

 

The Greatest Show on Earth? Hmmm….

 

What a circus…

Tiger show (disappointment because I thought it was Thai girl show…ok lame)

12/5 Disney on Ice

Venue: Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis

I bought front row seats for this event, but didn’t expect them to be so close to the stage. It was actually not a very good idea since if we were to sit a few rows behind, we would actually have a better view as the “elevation” is higher.

The show was enjoyable but not as “magical” as I thought it would be. Guess I have grown out of it after my last Disney World trip.

 

The proximity of our seats to the stage

This is a cool scene that has all the major Disney villains in it

Cheers…

12/12 Moscow Ballet’s Nutcracker

Venue: Fox Theatre, Detroit

I had little idea of what a ballet performance is like before attending this show. After watching this, I wouldn’t say that it is my cup of tea. The music was great (well Tchaikovsky’s work), but the ballet dance was just okay, lacking in both precision or difficulty (at least it seemed like so). Obviously I was missing something. Maybe I should have paid more attention when I was taking my modern dance class a while back…