Black Out

no, I'm not talking about Britney's album...

this is the other cake that I was talking about from The Cheesecake Factory.

its called Black Out and its a chocolate cake.

and this picture is doing this cake no justice.... mind you that this cake is HUGE and tall...

see? its that big!

anyway. I got to eat cherries since I came here....

not those pinkish cherries that you find on top of cakes....

BUT FRESH CHERRIES!

and what do they taste like? well its more or less like a miniature plum... where u get ONE seed inside of it... and its a little sourish.




oh and...

chicken eggs are white here... mm hmm!
haha.

and sockets dont have switches...

so you just plug'em right in and use it.... and yank it out when you're done. :D




last but not least...

road signs will tell you to self-groom every once in a while...

i'll be home soon. WAIT FOR ME!

The Cheesecake Factory

Its my last week in Dallas, and I am having mixed feelings about it...

as much as I miss home, I love it here as well... but I guess I'll make the best of it and try to end up here again one day.

so I've not been out much lately, so I don't have much updates for you guys...


anyway I went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner the other day, they're famous for their cheesecake, BUT all the other food taste DAMN good...



yummy! Shepards Pie





Cajun Chicken "Little" - this is damn good!





and one of the many famous cheesecakes.
I forgot what its called...

and honestly speaking, its good, i ate half of it....


haha

I have a picture of another cake of theirs, but I forgot to upload... and I am too lazy to upload now.



anyway, I found loads of videos of the rides from 6 Flags Texas....

enjoy...

The Batman





Mr Freeze




Flashback




The Titan
try to compare the height of the roller coaster with everything around it (from car size and the surrounding tracks)





Superman Tower of Power - on the ride view



off the ride view

enjoy

Malaysian's Guide to America!

So I got this idea some time ago, I wanted to make a VIDEO of this post, but I have SO much to say that I don't think I can edit the video as fast as I can blog it out...

so...

heres my "MALAYSIAN'S GUIDE TO AMERICA!" post, how exciting!!!

in this post I will be telling you guys about stuff that a Malaysian usually wouldn't know about America (unless you watch Star World all day and actually wiki everything up)

well of course after being in America for almost a month and a half, I am knowledgeable enough to share with you guys some interesting trivias

(and I can't guarantee that all my facts are 100% true, so correct me if I am wrong)

disclaimer: NONE of the pictures below are mine/taken by me.

first things first, SLANGS AND TERMS.

and just talking about food alone, you get tones of different terms we don't use in Malaysia

this is what we call biscuit/cookies.
BUT. they only call these COOKIES...

what are BISCUITS for Americans, usually looks something like this...



THESE, are biscuits.

I ate one before, and its slightly crispy... but its soft enough to peel it like bread, then again it don't taste like bread (it taste more dough-y)

it kind of look like what we call BUNS at home, right?... BUT...

what we call a bun (above),
are also known as ROLLS in America :D

... so if that's a roll... then whats a bun?

buns, are usually used for burgers.

mystery solved. and all these confusion is only based on starchy appetizers :D






so I bet you guys know what these are...

yum, Chili...

but, if you're buying chili in America, make sure you tell them you want to buy some PEPPERS.

and the ones that Asians love to eat, are called Chili Peppers (which is the one in the picture above)...

then u get other types of peppers like... green peppers, black peppers, red peppers, bell peppers and so on and so forth (Google them up if you want to know how they look like)

THIS, is Chili

usually made with beef, and its added to hot dogs.... i tasted chili from a can before, its NOT the best tasting chili... but its not too bad either, but I am sure they have better tasting ones.

(btw its NOT spicy at all, don't ask me why is it called chili... it taste almost like spaghetti sauce with beef in it)

these, are SHRIMPS. not prawns...

i searched online to find whats the difference between shrimps and prawns, apparently no difference. but the term shrimps are used here instead...

what we know as brinjals, are known as EGGPLANTS here in America
(those who played Harvest Moon before should know this)

napkins are stuff you use to wipe your mouth when you eat (aka serviette)
it can be either cloth or paper...
and tissues are stuff you use to blow your nose

SO DONT GET IT WRONG!

this is funny,

because no one knows where I want to go... when I tell them I want to go to Ikea (e-kia)

and I am sure you guys heard once or twice before, it is pronounce as Ikea (ai-kee-a)

its a three syllable word instead of a two, and the "I" is pronounce differently.

trivia: Do you know that movie theaters are all free seatings?

the GOOD thing is, the cinema company can sell out ALL the tickets in the room. (Not like in Malaysia, the first two rows are usually empty - since the buyer gets to choose the seats)

the BAD thing is... for those people with time issues, YOU'LL GET THE FIRST TWO ROWS IN THE CINEMA (serve you right for being late, HAHA!)

oh btw I saw Transformers 2, and it was GREAT! now I need to watch Transformers 1. *blush*

oh, I might be watching Bruno too.

to my Architect friends,

most of the houses (and all of the houses in construction that I've personally seen), are all constructed with timber

UNUSUAL! even the 4 story apartments are made out of mostly timber!!!

do you know you can pay ANYTHING with credit card

you can even use your credit card to pay a $1 bottle of diet coke!

you can even use credit card to pay for your parking, NO JOKE!

random : there are no tolls in the city (except for a few, which you dont even need to use them... and it cost like 40cents)






so some people may have asked me, how is Dallas, Texas like? how are the cowboys and the mechanical bulls there? do everyone lasso each other and go to the rodeo?!

this should be Dallas, Texas to most of you guys...
but...

Dallas is really pretty.

and it is SO well planned I don't even know how to explain it to you in my blog

(note to my family: remind me to explain to you guys how well planned is the city, you'll be amazed how something is so simple is not done in Malaysia)

THIS IS DALLAS!

next on the list,

so now talking about WALMART.

I LOVE Walmart...

there are 2 kinds of Walmarts, one are the normal ones (which are called Neighborhood Walmarts) and the huge ones (which are called SUPERCENTERS!)

haha.

there are no morning or night markets here, so most people go to Walmart to buy their groceries and stuff (there are other grocery retailers here btw)

so if you need your daily groceries, you can go to the neighborhood walmarts.

BUT, my favourite is going to the Supercenters

because they sell EVERYTHING INSIDE. you name it, they sell it...

I was so shocked because they sell everything including, foods, CDs and DVDs, computers, scanners and printers, ipods, bicycles, car tyres, plants, sea shells, clothes and so much more...

and Supercenters are open 24/7.... :D

the only drawback is, Supercenters are slightly further... and the floor often gives out static electricity (which sucks cause everything u touch, you get a small zap)

oh btw, do you know you can also buy your groceries with cheques in Walmart?!




and this is what is fun about America,

everyone has a say here... so no minorities are left behind and stuff...

being a minority here is GREAT, cause everyone is trying to protect you... unlike Bolehland, the minorities are getting kicked around like shits...

and they have anti-Discrimination Acts, thats why you get air stewardess who are old and ugly (sometimes), this is because you cannot descriminate ANYONE here

the only problem is, everyone is afraid of getting sued... so its funny how bosses are forced to promote the minority (even though they suck at their job) just because they are sued for discrimination...



and another thing I like about it here is their cable TV and internet connection, CABLE TV ROCKS...

you get 3 channels just from MTV alone... (and one of them shows nothing but music videos all day)

E! has MORE shows compared to what they're showing in Malaysia...

THS is in a WHOLE different channel...

they have a channel for INTERIOR DESIGNING ALONE...

they have a whole channel for African Americans (haha!)

and SO many more...

and the internet connection here is the jizz.... ITS SO FAST that I think I'll die when i go home.






anyway, I'll add more to the list if i think of anything new....

so until then. see you guys!

PS: as much as I love it here, I am missing home alot!

Fort Worth Botanical Garden

So before I talk about FortWorth, I will show you a picture of one of the many buffets I had.

This picture is from Genghi's Grill

Its a Mongolian Barbecue Buffet, where there's this long counter with different meats (pork, turkey, chicken, beef and etc), vegetable, sauces, and starches (rice, noodle, tortillas and etc.)

and you send to the counter and they will fry it for you and bring it over.

so you get something like in the picture.

the fun thing is there are almost 12 different types of sauces to choose from, and you can mix it ANY WAY you like....

so you can't actually blame the chefs for their bad cooking, you can only blame yourself for bad mixing! (unless it comes to you in charcoal black)


so the picture up there has.... turkey meat, sausages, salary, eggs and some teriyaki sauce or something (can't remember)

and I threw in tons of garlic powder! yay!




anyway, pictures from Forth Worth's Botanical Garden

Don't ask me why I go to so many botanical gardens recently, but its just coincidental. DON'T ASK SO MUCH!

anyway. a little about FortWorth...


Since Texas is twice the size of Malaysia, you can't help it but to have the state divided into a few towns/city or whatever they call it

Dallas is one of it, Fort Worth is another (45 mins drive from Dallas)....

and the airport is located in the middle of both towns :D that's why the airport is called DFW Airport.


anyway, its around 42 degrees everyday since the end of June, the days are SO long... and the sun wont set until 9pm at night.

and sad to say, its getting more and more humid.

so the botanical garden was pretty, its just that it was SO hot that I was drowning in my own sweat!


I didn't even have the mood to pose for the camera, it was just, horrible.


NOW SHUT UP AND LOOK AT THE PRETTY PICTURES, along with some witty captions!

trivia: I went to the garden a day before I went to the Six Flags Theme Park

Pretty garden, HORRIBLE WEATHER!





... aiks, got nothing witty to say here.





oh, I love the colour of the wilting flowers with the fresh green leaves
so artsy!





I was infront of a huge hole in a tree
God knows whats inside...
I was SCARED that something's going to jump out and eat me





pretty white leaves
its just like winter, but its SUMMER INSTEAD!





I like how the plant looks like its kind of frozen...
BUT ITS NOT, ITS FREAKING 42DEGREES! haha





a pretty version of the Hibiscus.

the Japanese garden (located inside the botanical garden)
entrance fee is $3

Its free to walk around the entire garden, just that this Japanese Garden requires an entrance fee... I know it might sound "ew" to you, but the Japanese Garden is SO pretty.


trivia: The Botanical Garden in Dallas is around $7 a person, i think O_O

I LOOK HORRIBLE!
and its not because of the squinting face I made!





The fishes in the Japanese Garden
I swear the fishes looked like its bigger than the girl.





watefall.





pwetty!





Bambooooo....





Picturesque




I like this.

can you see a tint of pink on the edge of the leaf? pretty.

hmm.





KAKTUSSSS!

anyway,

The flowers are almost the same like the ones you can find the Dallas Botanical Garden, so I am only showing you pictures that I've not posted.

I love both gardens, its both very pretty... so I can't say much. but if you want me to compare Bukit Jalil Park with the botanical gardens here, I can tell you that Bukit Jalil got nothing on Dallas/Fort Worth




Anyway, one last picture (and DO answer the question)....

hmm... do they?! haha

DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A GARDENER, AND I DO NOT LOOK AT FLOWERS AS A HOBBY!

Six Flags Over Texas

I WENT TO 6 FLAGS YESTERDAY! hoho...

and I went to Fort Worth Botanical Garden the day earlier (I have some picture, but I will update that soon)

oh btw its like 107degree (42 Celsius)


anyway i love 6 Flags, it makes all the rides in Sunway Lagoon and Genting Highland like kiddy rides.

The Titan.

the Titan is about 75 meters high and it has a max vertical angle of 65degree... (thats scary!)

and it has a max gforce of 4.5, and i swear, when it entered the loop part (see picture), i can feel my head sinking into my shoulders.

its THAT fast and that scary. i love it.



the second ride we rode was called Runaway Mountain, which is completely in darkness, and it has a height of 20 meter (which is scary too)

Tony Hawk's Big spin.

the roller coaster spins on its own

imagine sitting on the rotating cups, but instead its running down a steel track!

its really fun, but it gets a little bit dizzy after the ride.

The Batman

this does not go to crazy heights, but it takes alot of crazy spins. its like the whole coaster is nothing but corkscrews and loops.

and the fun thing is ur legs get to dangle while they throw you around :D

sat on the flashback.

they pull u backwards (as seen in pictures) and they let you go... and u will go through a series of loops...

and then you'll end up to the other side of the track (as seen in pictures)

then it goes backwards. HAHA!

then this is the Mrs Freeze ride.

its like the bigger faster version of Flashback. but instead of pulling you backward and letting you go, they launch you out of the station from zero to 70km/h in three seconds (and it will eventually reach to a max speed of 110km/h)

it is 73m in height, and it goes to a 90degree vertical stop before going backwards (unlike flashback, it only stops at an angle)

I LOVE THIS RIDE THE MOST! SO SCARY!

and then the Superman Tower of Power

its just like the selero space shot. the only difference is... IT SHOOTS YOU UP to a height of 74m almost instantly.

The Solero Space shot...

Height, 185ft
Speed, 67km/h

Superman Tower of Power

Height, 325ft
Speed, 89km/h
with a varying G-Force of -1 to 4

and sad to say I had to sit this twice, the first time I sat on it, the whole thing stopped at the top for almost 10minute at least

so they allowed us to cut in line to ride it again.

:S

it was scary.

to those who sat on Solero Space Shot, remember how they always bring you up there and wait for at least 10 seconds before dropping you? we were waiting for almost 5 minute before it slowly brought us down (and it took 10 minutes to decend)

scary being up there. hated it... but the view was.... crazy. haha

Texas Giant

painful! its too shaky, i guess you cant be too perfect with a timber constructed coaster.

it is a VERY fast coaster, reaches to a max height of 44m and a max speed of 100km/h...




and we have 6 more thrill rides we never got to sit on (according to their websites) - and i thought we rode it all...

and looking at Genting's website, their so-called "thrill" rides are pathetic!

I cant believe they call the "Spinner" ride a thrill ride. geeze...


6 Flags rides listed here
Genting rides listed here

you do the comparison!


pictures today were not taken by Awsek, apparently they are so scared of people loosing stuff and suing the company, they dont even allow you to leave ur slippers behind (they make u sit on ur slippers)

thank god i didn't bring Awsek, cause they will not let you ride if you carry anything bigger than what your pocket can hold.

read more about facts about 6 Flags Over Texas HERE!

Viva Las Vegas

HELLO YOUNGINS!!!

Yes I just came back from my 4 days trip to Las Vegas.

You cannot imagine the number of shows that is currently showing in Vegas, they have shows from Cher, Blue Man Group, David Copperfield, Cirque Du Soleil, and MORE!

and BEYONCE IS HAVING A CONCERT IN VEGAS TOO!!! eish.


so a little bit about Vegas, everything is on this "little" road, which is Las Vegas Blvd or also known as "The Strip".

all the hotels, casinos, theaters, restaurants and what nots are all located on this particular strip.... theres absolutely nothing to see outside this road (except for alot of shrubs and rocks).

the strip is 6.1km long, and it took us an hour just by walking from one end to the other end (WITHOUT walking into any shops).

every hotel is so huge!

it IS VERRRRYYYY tiring walking back and forth the strip (not to mention you need to visit the shops inside too!!)



Vegas is not a night time city, walking on that strip in the afternoon can give u a bad sunburn (i am 2 tones darker now btw).

so what do u do in the daytime? well you can gamble, the slot machines are EVERYWHERE

they even put slot machines in the airport's arrival/departure gates (sick)

but they are smart too, you know how you MUST arrive the gate about an hour prior to the flight? the slot machines really kills the time (or ur wallet).



anyway, remember how i told you the Botanical Garden post contains alot of pictures? THIS POST CONTAINS ALLOOTT MORE (53 pictures to be exact)



okay, so a little bit more facts about The Strip, each hotel kindda have a theme of their own, and you can guess it from the name of the hotel (well it applies to most of the hotels, i must add, not all)

We stayed in a hotel called Circus Circus, with a circus theme (duh!)


there are hotels with names like...

Treasure Island - Pirate theme
Luxor - Pyramids theme
Sahara - Desert/Morocco theme
Excalibur - Castle/Knight theme
Paris Las Vegas - French theme
Venitian - Venice theme
Palazzo - Renaissance theme
Caesars Palace - Roman theme
New York New York - New York theme (I said New York 3 times in a sentence!)

and hotels without any theme in particulars includes....

The MGM Grand, Mirage, Bellagio, Flamingo, Encore, Wynn and all the other shits...

(btw Beyonce is performing in Encore)


so enough talking, pictures time!

This is inside of Encore Hotel.
I think they tired to make it like some "4 Seasons Hotel-ish" interior.




but still very pretty
note that this is INSIDE the hotel itself.

oh did I mention that almost every hotel have a chapel of their own? haha, so yuck!

the interiors of... i cant remember what hotel, maybe its Wynn hotel.





Fashion Mall. everything clothes inside, VERY BIG!
Well you can do this in the day time if you're not planning on walking the Strip.





Wynn and Encore hotels are like siamese twins.





and I saw a TRUMP TOWER! hoho!





:D





In the Venitian, btw THIS IS INDOOR!





and this guy is REALLY GOOD.
(I dont have to tell you that he's a real human right?)

the next picture is for Jamie.

remember David and Goliath? THEY HAVE A STORE THERE!
I wanted to buy you something from there but its a little pricey for everything
(the tshirts are $30 a piece - which is almost RM100 a tshirt!)

on the balcony of the Venetian

and as you can see... its so Venice.





oh this is pretty. haha.





I met Whoopi Goldberg...
nah its just a wax statue of her.





:S





The Mirage (I see this hotel in videos/movies all the time)





The famous CAESARS PALACE!!!
(you're looking at the entire complex of Caesars palace, its big)





woops. back in 1950s.





Paris Las Vegas





Casinos and Gamblers EVERYWHERE.

not only do they have alot of slot machines,

THEY HAVE REALLY BIG ONES TOO!





damn I cant remember where I took this.





wall of lights, and i photoshopped the beaming effect. haha.










New York New York!





The Strip or Las Vegas Boulevard.





:D





Treasure Island Hotel.

well all of that happened on the 1st day of my trip to Las Vegas. the 2nd day was dedicated to the GRAND CANYON...

it was a 5 hours drive to the canyon, and another 5 hours back... and we spent less than 2 hours at the canyon.

was it worth it? I can say so... its definitely worth it.




you thought the view from Lookout Point is breath taking? the grand canyon will literally drive you insane with the amazing view.

and its no surprise why its one of the 7th Natural wonders of the world.

the journey there was long, BUT the bus driver was really entertaining and telling us alot of interesting facts about Las Vegas

the 5 hour drive included a 15 min stop at Hoover Dam (google for more images)

they building a bridge here, really amazing (cause its so big)





this is the water-filled side of the dam...
and you should see the view on the other side of the dam

it is SOOOOOOOO DEEP and it is scary as hell.

the reason why we cant stop ON the dam itself... it is because Osama listed a few places that he wanted to bomb, and one of it was Hoover Dam... so no buses can stop nearby the dam.

so we took pictures from a small lookout point.

continueing the journey...

finally arriving at THE GRAND CANYON.

ooooo.... ahhh....
I guess you cant tell how big is the Grand Canyon from this picture.

pay a close attention to the next few pictures, see the size of the canyon compared to A NORMAL HUMAN HEIGHT. (that should help you a little bit better)

but all i can say is, they dont call it a Grand Canyon for nothing.

can you see how small the people are?





that is me, next to the grand canyon.

heres a funny story, theres this lady who told her new husband to wait at the Grand Cayon, and she brought her old husband up...

she asked the old husband to pose for a picture, and the new husband rushes in to push him down the canyon....

scary huh? and apparently the most recent death in the canyon was a little girl who tripped and fell inside. hmm...

can you see me?! haha





yup. thats how big it is.

journey back home.

3rd day in Vegas.

I SAW A CURVED ESCALATOR IN THE FORUM SHOP
(its Caesars Palace's shopping mall)




hoho, i rode on one too! nyehehe.





Gucci!





Red Bull Gives you Wiiinnnnngggsssss....

we snuck into Caesars Palace's pool, and you want to know how pretty it is? (well you have no choice anyway, I'm still going to tell you)

they made it so much like Mt Olympia, where all the Gods come out to relax.
haha.

we went for Wynn hotel's buffet dinner... their buffet starts at 330pm! HAHA

we went there around 430 thinking that its still early, and you know what? its already full by that time...

no, you cant eat those!

and after dinner, we passed by this hotel called the Bellagio. and they have this 9-acred man made lake infront of the hotel...

and they have the dancing fountain thing as well, synchronizing with pretty songs too.

watch more on youtube here.

Luxor hotel.

we couldnt finish the strip on the first night, so we manage to finish walking all the way till the end, which is Luxor hotel....

:D





oh, and a picture of our hotel... well, part of the hotel.




ANYWAY. we didnt get to go to alot of places on the 4th day, cause I woke up quite late and we had to check out and all those shit immediately after that....

so no pictures from 4th day.





so how can i conclude my trip to Vegas?


I sure had...


haha.

PS: Happy Fathers Day, Di!