Day Tripping: Beacon, NY

5 and I were way overdue for a day trip.  It was free admission to DIA: Beacon so we jumped at the excuse to take a trip up there on a crisp fall day. I hadn't been up there since it first opened, and it was definitely a different experience so many years later.  The town of Beacon has developed a lot since then (all I remembered was a desolate town and a sketchy Mexican restaurant we ate at) and we actually ran into some friends on Main Street.  Two minor disappointments:  the Warhols weren't up and it rained during our frantic run to catch the train back into the city.

Oh Vegas, My Vegas!

 

I had the opportunity to visit Sin City for the first time in September.  It's never been high on my list of places to go, as I'm not a huge gambler, strip club frequenter, or Celine Dion fan.  But I do love to eat, and the idea of phenomenal buffets had its allure.

But I was excited when I found out my annual work conference was going to be held in Vegas.  Not only would I get to eat to my heart's content and learn more about clinical research, I was going to give my first big conference talk.  Woo-hoo!  Accompanying me on this adventure were Vickie (of course), Sandy, and Zoo Melanie (also her first time in Vegas).

My shortlist of Vegas activities:

• Eat Buffet
• Bellagio Fountain
• Downtown Vegas (Fremont)
• Sunshine
• Slots

And guess what?  I crossed each and every one of those things and then some. The buffets were pretty great, particularly the Bacchanal Buffet at Caesar's Palace.  It just had a $17M renovation and although the food wasn't life changing, the selection was. Gelato station, made to order dessert crepes, pho/ramen/soba noodle station, little deep fry baskets of everything you could ever want deep fried (a midwestern girl's dream!) and so many meats (brisket, prime rib, pork chops, ribs...) and endless seafood.  It was worth the 90+ minute wait and $39.99!   

We also took a gondola ride at the Venetian, ate French food at the Paris, went to some ridiculous igloo bar and drank out of cups made of ice at the Monte Carlo, and cruised around town in a Benz (at the economy rental rate).  No hookers, no excessive booze, and no excessive gambling losses.  No fun, right? Oh, but it was.  Did I forget to mention we went to see Chippendales? Yes. For reals. I really had high expectations for the dancing.  There was no Magic Mike. And some of them were pretty pathetic in their efforts. Yet, the girls went wild. What was most interesting was that there was no stuffing of money in g-strings.  I mentioned it to my mom and the convo was as follows:

     Fortune: We went to Chippendales and it was weird because they didn't take dollar bills!

     Mom:  Of course they didn't take dollar bills! They want $10s and $20s instead!

     Fortune: Ummm, I meant that they didn't take ANY bills at all, Mom. 

     Mom:  Oh. That is weird.

Riiiiiiight.

Overall I had great time. It is always fun being a tourist and the number of lights in Vegas puts Times Square to shame. It wasn't really how I imagined it to be, but I definitely wasn't disappointed.  If I never go back again, I'm okay with that.  But if I do go back, I would like to eat more buffet and check out the spectacle of the rest of the casinos like we did in Macao.

One last thing to mention:  I totally rocked my talk!  It was at 8:30am on Saturday morning, so I figured the turnout might be sparse.  Turns out, it was standing room only!  I had a bunch of questions from the audience and a lot of positive feedback.  A girl came up to me later that day and told me it was the best talk she had heard at the conference.  That was nice.




Buffet Round 1: Prime Rib, Kobe beef, and fixin's. 
Round 2 was very similar.

 


Crab legs galore!  Not my thing, but the quantity was amazing.

 


 

Howdy, Cowboy! Fremont Street.

Touring like mad in our nation's capitol

It was Cinco's birthday and this year we went down to Washington, DC.  DC was officially founded on July 16, 1790.  George Washington chose the site from land donated by Maryland and Virginia, as it was a compromise between the northern and southern states.

I have been to DC a few times in the past, but I don't think all of the things I saw in those trips combined were equal to what we saw this past weekend.  The beauty of DC is that so many things are free, and a lot of it is walkable.  

There are two main gripes I have about our nation's capitol:  the 10% tax is ridiculous.  I know someone has to pay for the lovely White House lawn and the Smithsonian, but 10%? Geez. Gripe #2 is the DC Metro.  We seemed to always just miss the train, and the next one wouldn't come for another 15+ minutes.  For a city of over half a million, you'd think the weekend public transportation system would be more efficient.  

Here's the breakdown of activities: 

FRIDAY:

• White House (no tour)
• Washington Monument
• Jefferson Memorial
• FDR Memorial
• MLK Memorial
• Bureau of Printing and Engraving (tour)
• Old Post Office and Bell Tower
• Museum of American History
• Texas BBQ birthday dinner
• Drinks with friends in Dupont Circle

SATURDAY:

• National Building Museum (we snuck into the Lego Exhibit)
• National Archives (saw the original Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights)
• Capitol (tour)
• Library of Congress
• Supreme Court (walk by--building was closed)
• Ford Theater (walk by--was closed for a matinee)
• Air & Space Museum
• Arlington National Cemetery (was so exhausted at this point, we took the trolley tour--just looking at the hill the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier sat upon made me want to cry.)
• Dinner on U street with all of my DC friends. And Vickie.

We left on Sunday and I was lucky enough to have breakfast with Little Cookie, who just happened to be in DC from NC.  I had missed her visit to New York because I was in Taiwan.  It was a really great way to end the trip. 

White House.  We didn't see any snipers, just lots of kids.

The Capitol!

On the trolley at Arlington National Cemetery

Great Hall, Library of Congress

Washington Monument!
It was closed from the earthquake last year.

Air and Space Museum

Breakfast with Little Cookie

Heading South of the Tropic of Cancer

We needed some warmer weather and headed south via high speed rail (think bullet train) to Taiwan's second largest city, Kaohsiung. Kaohsiung is the "harbor capital" of Taiwan, sitting on the west coast along the Taiwan Strait.

Dragon and Tiger Pagodas on Lotus Lake

Taiwanese fortune telling machine

Dream Mall:  Asia's largest shopping mall

Ferris Wheel on the roof of the Dream Mall

Coin operated vehicles

Site of the 2009 World Games

More Taiwanese Eats

Fresh scallion pancake.

Fried pork chop lunch box. 

Hot red bean cake.  The cream filled ones are fantastic too.

Hot pot!

More pics from Macau

Colonial architecture

Ruins of St. Paul's. Built in the 16th century by Jesuits,
it was the largest Catholic church in Asia at the time.
Destroyed by a fire during a typhoon in 1835.

Gondola ride in the Venetian Hotel, Macau.
Ridiculous.

 Roman-themed shopping center at the Macau Fisherman's Wharf,
a complex built in the style of different world seaports.
It was a cool area, but almost all of the store fronts were empty.  

Senado Square

Incense coils at A-Ma Temple

Monte Fort.  Built by the Jesuits in the 16th century,
later served as the first residence of the governors of Macau. 

Macau was handed back to China in December 1999.
In celebration, each  province gave Macau a gift.
This is a woodcarving of the Stork Tower,
gifted by ShanXi province. 

Macau: The Asian Las Vegas

We took a short trip to the gambling Mecca of Asia, Macau. I'd been to Macau once when I was little and way before all of the casinos were built.

Macau was the first and last European colony in Asia. Settled by the Portuguese in the 16th century, Macau didn't fully go back to China until 1986. It has status similar to Hong Kong where it is quite an independent state with its own monetary system (MOP or pataca) and immigration rules (read: no visa required). You can see the centuries of Portuguese influence in some of the architecture and signage. Funny enough, I don't think any of the Chinese people here actually know any Portuguese.

Asians LOVE to gamble and Macau offers dozens of Vegas-esque casinos. Macau has surpassed Vegas in gaming revenue. Crazy, right? I told you Asians love to gamble. The Casino Lisboa is the oldest casino in Macau and has definitely seen better days. My mom says that is where the hookers are. I did not ask where she got that info.

We are staying at the Galaxy Casino complex, in the Japanese hotel. The world's largest rooftop wave pool is here! The bathroom in our room is at least as big, if not bigger, than the rest of the room. The toilet is heated with a very involved bidet system. I tried it, of course, and it wasn't as traumatic as I thought it might be, but it also did not change my life.

Casino Wins: $1
Casino Losses: $50

Galaxy Hotel and Casino

Roof top wave pool and fake beach

Fancy bathroom!  There were blinds along the glass divider. 

Toilet controls

Crystal Lobby

Diamond Fountain

Journey to the East: Eating my way through Taiwan

I survived the 19 hour flight to Taiwan and was rewarded with some of my favorite motherland eats in the first day: steamed buns, Peking duck, and pot stickers. Sadly, scallion pancake man did not have his cart out. It has been very cold and rainy so I really don't blame him. Plus, he's rich--there's a lot of money in a scallion pancake cart, apparently--so he really doesn't need to be out there anyways.

I saw a bunch of relatives including my one surviving great aunt (87 and still kicking), baby cousin Winny and her parents. Winny's dad is a dermatologist with the most fantastic skin. He also notices every single pimple and blemish and gives you tiny cryptically labelled jars of ointments. This time he came at me with a flashlight at the dining room table and pointed out pimples I did not even know I had. Ah, family! Also at their house were Wally and Shawn, their two fluff ball dogs. Wally is the fat one but he was shaved, so it was harder to tell the two apart.

I also lost the fight against jet lag. Around 3pm I was ready to have a meltdown. Napped for 3.5 hours. Back to bed by midnight, and now up at 5am watching Chinese music videos on MTV. And blogging using Mom's spotty bootleg wi-fi.

Today we'll be heading into Taipei and the next day we are off to the Las Vegas of Asia, Macau, to win big!

Peking Duck

Sushi made with the Peking Duck skin

Family

Pot stickers!!!

Wally, the fat one

Shawn