casino voucher

this was a "souvenir" from the casino in reno.. :P it was a voucher i got back from one of those 'penny' slot machines (meaning i could use $0.01 as betting units).. to get this voucher, i put in $2 (cash) in the machine and started playing.. in just 5 mins, i lost $1.98 and could not bet any more... then the machine just printed out this voucher which can be redemned or used on another machine ...

i found this very cool cos it 'forced' me to use my 'winnings' on another machine or go to a counter to cash out the voucher... in that sense, i could not use the voucher in another casino until redemnation..

last time, when i went to las vegas, the winnings were paid in cash... i could just take the cash and walk away ... most probably this method of giving out the winnings will be implemented in singapore for the casinos...

quote of my day!

was missing for a while cos my internet got cut off last week, then my keyboard was spoilt..
was quite pissed with the IBM service tech... postponed the service call then was late this morning..
now just happy to have a full functional laptop.. realised i cannot live without computers...


Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
- Dr. Seuss

life's little things...

strongest dad in the world...
really touching...

bowling.. less than 100.. :(

hehe.. david n wu yao were playing dance dance revolution.. :) (dun kill me for this).. i took this in a bowling place.. i really sucked at bowling liao.. sigh.. those were the days..

think i got generation gap..

icee!!! long long time ago in singapore.. these were sold in cinemas and little corner shops.. i was amazed to find it here still.. it was quite popular in usa cos of the summer weather.. ;)

ps: the flavour was Blue Raspberry...

ktv last sat....

we went to ktv last sat.. sang for 4 hours.. they were really really good.. but think we were very shy.. no one really sang funny songs or wat..

they provided light sticks after 12 am ..

they provided trambourine as well.. cool right... hehe

here is wat i did last summer! :P

this break, i decided that i had to go somewhere for fun.. hence i planned a trip to napa valley, reno & lake tahoe.. so on tue 10am we set off in wu yao's car (the guy in white) to napa!

myself :P old man..

hehe.. wu yao eating coffee donut while driving..

this is napa valley.. wine county of california.. all these little vineyards made california famous as a wine-producing state in the world..

our first wineyard in napa: Chateau Montelena.. it was recommended by a staff from the MFE program.. it was pretty cool place with rustic ambience..

the house cat at the Chateau.. very fat n cute :P

here we were sampling the wines..

the wine won a famous award in france in 1970s.. it was awarded 1st ahead of wines from all over the world and so on..

the jade lake.. this lake belongs to the Chateau when the place was inhabited by a Chinese couple...

the lake got a box with free bread for you to feed the fishes..

us at the jade lake, belongs to the wineyard..

ard 12pm... we went into a pretty cool restaurant for lunch.. this was a sesame-crust tuna salad.. not mine cos my order was just too plain to take a photo..

the 2nd vineyard we visited, "Domaine Carneros"..

hehe all of us.. from left: me, mok (singaporean, going with me to charlotte, same internship), david, li mu (chinese girl, freshgrad from UK), grant (hawaiian-japanese phd), & wu yao

photos of some of the pple on the trip

we ordered two wine tasting packages.. one for sparkling wine (champagne in other words) and for red wine... the person helping us with the sampling was really pro and frenly.. first time i saw wine being poured this way.. the one he pouring was the 'Le Rose' .. pink sparkling wine..

after 1.5 hour drive from napa valley, we reached sacremento (capital city of california).. it was abt 630pm so i suggested dinner here.. (luckily we had dinner here.. we reached reno close to 10pm).. so wu yao brought us to this fantastic jap restuarant! i ordered this special sushi set .. see the sushi n the donburi? very delicious.. from left: tuna donburi, prawn maki, spicy tuna maki.. very worth it.. was telling them that i would open a jap restuarant like this once i get back! the menu was very innovative and hip.. even featured advertisements for other biz in the area.. the owner even let a casino take his photo and used it as the advertisement in the menu.. very entrepreneurial

added: grant, mok and li mu went home after we parted at napa valley.. only 3 of us continued to reno..

wu yao's order: tuna steak! totally fabulous! it has little pieces of raw tuna with steak sauce.. they toasted the outer layer of the tuna with some welding torch i think to give a crispy skin but inside is all raw tuna! n got the very authentic juicy bbq taste..

david's order.. some ebi tempera sushi thingy.. french style of presentation...

the sweet sake with some other green alcholic drink.. very very nice! on the house somemore.. cos wu yao knows the owner of the restaurant... :) will like to go there again if i get the time..

ok.. on the way to reno... the night fell .. n the moon came up.. or crept up! the flow in the middle is the moon right on the horizon.. the car moving too fast to get a good shot..

trying to take another photograph of the moon in the car.. a big truck driving past us on the right.. could not hold my hand still...

finally... after almost 2 hr drive from sacramento, we reached reno! can go n take a bath n stretch myself... seems rather empty at first glance.. not as popular as las vegas... but still it was fun to visit some place new..

our room in reno.. nice huh?! $70 for 3 of us..

reno! n harrah's (our hotel) in the background... this city was nothing compared to las vegas.. but pretty quaint.. nice hotels and casino.. felt safer here.. not so many pple ard ..

our hotel in the afternoon.. david and wu yao were playing one last game of poker..

on our way to lake tahoe.. nice sunny weather!

after an hour drive, we reached lake tahoe.. in these picture i was trying to capture the view of lake tahoe .. but too far and blocked ..

tahoe city.. we were eating ice cream at this roadside ice cream palour.. enjoying the great sun n fresh air.. the city is actually a cluster of shops/restaurants/motels.. so we almost tot it was a small car stop..

lake tahoe! the "lake in the sky"... it is abt 1.6km above sea level.. the biggest lake in US.. very clear water as u can see... too bad i did not have the chance to kayak there.. sob.. reached here too late..

david and wu yao ... very nice weather huh?!

pine cone! never see before in singapore.. at least not so big.. :)

testing out my nature photography skills..

sunset thru the windows of the car.. just had to take this picture.. sort of beautiful melancholy ... going home...

view of the bay area .. end of the road trip..

random rambling

Edgard Varese

"Everyone is born with genius, but most people only keep it a few minutes."

light catcher

got this video of 'light catchers' from gilroy garlic fest!!! very novel.. the stuff were actually metal ornaments, cut and shaped to catch light when spinned... but very expensive.. $30 for a small one.. so i did not buy..

gilroy garlic fest

one fateful morning.. i rented a car.. drove down to gilroy for their annual GARLIC FEST!!! :) tot this would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.. but nothing much leh.. i think it was over-hyped... but ok lah.. i did enjoyed myself driving ard.. :)

the ticket! finally .. after driving for 2hrs.. struck in traffic for an hr i got the ticket!

my lunch.. quite expensive.. 12 bucks.. but got quite a few stuff.. clockwise: mushrooms, garlic sausage sandwiches, chicken stir-fry noodles, garlic bread, prawn in creamy sauce..

this stage was setup for the gilroy idol.. think there was a miss garlic competition right before i arrived..

garlic vanilla ice-cream! famous at the festival.. very faint distinct taste of garlic.. but nice!

one of the food stalls showing how they cooked the chicken stir-fry!

a cooking stage for pple who were interested in garlic cusine.. :P they got a cooking competition before this ..

the amphitheatre at the festival.. some rock music

the stamp i got when i exited from the festival grounds.. GGF=gilroy garlic fest.. was standing in the queue for shuttle bus to the carpark.. yes.. the carpark was really big and far...