la bodeguita del medio

I had dinner at La Bodeguita del medio with my Spanish class, so few people showed up. I had yummy paella and seafood ceviche. I have been watching Law & Order Special Victims Unit DVDs. I try to stay up late to watch Southpark in the evening, I so love that show, so funny.

Chinese restaurant

I met up with Kristine at a Chinese restaurant in Millbrae on El Camino Real. It was good to see her since it has been only a month since I visited her in Dallas. She was busy touring around San Francisco, she found a last minute travel deal on United Airlines.

missed Kristine

My friend Kristine is visiting the San Francisco area from Dallas. I have been trying to meet up with her but either I cancel or she cancels. I was suppose to meet her on Sunday but I was so tired that I slept most of the day because of jet-lag. I was suppose to meet her yesterday for dinner but that didn't work because she scheduled a dinner with her brother in law. I will try to meet her today before she gets on her flight back to Dallas. This Wednesday is my last day of class for Beginning Spanish. I will not take another Spanish class for next quarter, it is to expensive, I feel like I can't even speak a little of Spanish. The Spanish class will be in a Cajun and Caribbean restaurant called La Bodeguita del Medio on California Ave. in Palo Alto.

new phones at work

When I came back to work, I have a new black Nortel Networks phone. It has an LED to notify me if I have a voice message. I rarely get phone calls at work. Before with the old phones, I had to pick up the phone to hear if the ring tones repeated several times to hear if I have a voice message.

Singapore trip

I met up with Val and Yaya. It was so good to see them. I have not seen Val in like 5 years. I have not seen Yaya in two weeks. I so miss hanging out with them. I went with Christine to Malaysia and Singapore. We had dinner at the food court, I think it was in Wisma. The food was yummy especially the soup, roti prata, and noodles. After dinner, Christine and I went to the Night Safari, we took the tram to go around the park, and walked a little bit on the trail. I was so tired that I slept a little towards the end of the tram ride.

The next day, we met up with Val to go to Tam Po Po at Liang Court basement near the Clarke Quay area, I have always wanted to go there since Val mentions the restaurant on her blog. The tonkatsu was good. After lunch, we went to Botanical Gardens, the orchids were so beautiful, we went to the National Orchid garden to go to the VIP section. Then we went over to Val's house and had ube ice cream. Then we went to the Esplanade Theatre which looks like two big durians. We shopped around the citilink mall/Raffles area. For dinner, we went to the Raffles Hotel to eat at Empire Cafe, and then later went to an American restaurant for tiramisu in a cup size.

The following day, we took the MRT to the Sri Mariamman Hindu temple in Chinatown which is similar to the other Hindu temple we visited in Kuala Lumpur. I so like the roof of the temple, so amazing. Then we walked to the Thian Hock Keng Temple (Heavenly Happiness Temple) still in Chinatown area, then we took the MRT to the Bugis station to go to Arab St. for the Sultan Mosque, we could not go inside because people were praying, and if we wanted to go inside, we would have to wait for a couple of hours to let inside. Then we took a bus to Holland Village for a hair cut at Clinique De Esteque, which the hair stylists Jimmy does amazing hair cut, he layered and thinned by thick hair. We met up for dinner at Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao at Scott's shopping center for yummy shanghai pork dumpling, it is one of the best that I tried, Val knows all the great restaurants in Singapore. After dinner, we had dessert at Yami yogurt, then we went to the Japanese bookstore called Kinokuniya on the 4th floor of Takashimaya.

On our last day, we had brunch at Crystal Jade at Takashimaya for yummy porridge. Then we headed to the airport. I so like the Singapore airport, free local phone calls, free internet, and free movies.

For pictures of the Singapore trip: check out this link. Thanks Val for the pictures:
http://photos.sbc.yahoo.com/riza_bravo

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia trip

I stayed at the Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur, next to the Petronas Twin Towers which I visited the next morning by making reservations first, I have wanted to see one of the tallest buildings in the world ever since Amazing Race showed the episode of the teams racing in Kuala Lumpur. I also went to the Sri Mahamariaman Hindu temple, I like the roof of this temple of the people figures. After that, I went to the National Museum, an in sight to the different cultures living in Malyasia. I went to another temple called Thean Hou Buddhist temple which contains 3 giant Buddha statues, the ceiling is colorful with small Buddha statues. The next day, I went to the National Monument of the WWII, it looks similar to the Veterans monument of the war because the designer was an American. Afterwards, we went to the one of the tallest communication towers called Kuala Lumpur Menara. I had lunch at Gonbei Japanese restaurant at Starhill shopping area, the restaurant had an upside down V shaped bamboo entrance. I had dinner at Madam Kwans at Kuala Lumpur City Centre mall for a taste of the local food. The next day, I had dinner at Overseas Chinese restaurant. Malaysia is known for pewter (tin and another material combined), looks like steel. I didn't buy any pewter. I had a relaxing time thankful for Mrs. Yew (Christine's mom's friend) for showing us around. I didn't have to worry about transportation. She is so great.

i'm back

I came back Saturday evening. I got a call from my cousins, Kito and Boni to go out. We went to Fanny & Alexander (it was so cold last night), King of Clubs (gay bar in Mountain View), Tinder's Damn (another gay bar in Santa Clara), and then for IHOP for the munchies. I was so tried that I didn't wake up until 3pm today, then I took a lot of naps in between. Now I am so awake. Thank you so much Val for putting up the Sinagpore pics on my blogs spot, it must of took a while for the pictures to upload.

singapore tan po po

waiting at Singapore airport

I am waiting at the Singapore airport for my connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur. This airport has free internet stations, free local phone calls, and koi ponds. San Francisco airport should add free internet stations similar to Singapore airport.

kayaking

I will go kayaking at Moss Landing in between Santa Cruz and Monterey. Later tonight, I will leave for Malaysia and Singapore.

getting ready

I am packing for Malaysia and Singapore. I will be leaving Saturday night 11/19 and I will return Saturday night 11/26. I watched Harry Potter Goblet of Fire early this morning, and it was an okay movie. The movie left out some parts from the book. I am watching DVD of Law & Order Special Victims Unit season 5.

tipping point

I read the book Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. I liked the book. I am going to Wang's for lunch. Tonight, I am going to watch Harry Potter Goblet of Fire at 12:20am. I need to stand in line at least an hour early.

maru ichi

I am going to Maru ichi for Japanese noodles for lunch. Last night, I had dinner at my friend's house, she cooked veggies such as spinach and eggplant.

yo yo sushi

I plan to have lunch at Yo Yo Sushi today. I have been addicted to watching Law & Order Special Victims Unit.

my LA trip

When I arrived on Friday night, I went to Starbucks and Old Spaghetti Factory on Sunset Blvd close to my hotel, the Hollywood Metropolitan Hotel, I am not going to stay in that hotel again, it just seemed dirty. On Saturday, I went to Golden Dragon for dim sum, I ate a lot, and I was so full that I could not even eat dinner, and then I watched my cousin's play Sweetest Hangover which I loved, then I went to a gay bar called the Abby, but there were a lot of straight people there too. The Abby was so crowded, I got bumped left and right. The bathroom lines were so long, the men's line was longer than the woman's line. Of course, I had a hard time talking and hearing because the music was so loud. I only had one drink, my favorite Madori Sour, and I already felt a bit dizzy, so that was a sign for me to stop drinking. Both of my cousins got so drunk that I ended up driving back to the hotel. My cousins were so out of control. Good thing my other cousin was sober. On Sunday, I just went to my cousin's apartment and left for the airport late morning.

sweetest hangover

I watched my cousin's play Sweetest Hangover which he wrote, it was a great play, some of the scenes were sexually explicit, it was well written and the actors/actresses and director did a great job. I can't wait to read his next play.

Los Angeles

I will be leaving for Los Angeles in 5 hours. I will be visting my cousin Boni with my other cousins to watch his play called Sweetest Hangover, that he wrote at USC. He named his characters after the alcohol drinks. I will be in Los Angeles for three days during that time I will be eating dim sum and eating out a lot. Happy Veterans Day!

spanish class

Last night in Spanish class only a few people showed up, the professor said that the students are playing hokey. I have to leave work early today to go to the Filipino consulate with my mom because she will be taking her oath for dual citizenship.

amazing race

I watched Amazing Race last night, and it seems that most of the places they are going to are in the States, the teams only went outside of the country to Costa Rica and Panama. The producers should have the teams travel to other countries, it is not so exciting if they stay in the States.

Election Day

I went to work early this morning because I could not go to sleep after I woke up at 4:15am. So now that I am at work, I have been yawning a lot. Today is Election Day, I mailed off my absentee ballot weeks ago.

airport again

I dropped off my friend YY at the San Francisco airport. I went to the airport twice this week. I will be going to the airport again on Friday because I will be going to Los Angeles for the weekend to watch my cousin's play. YY will be in Singapore for a couple of years because her fiance lives there. She will be working for Cerner. Last night, I had dinner again at Go Go Cafe in San Francisco, and then I went to Starbucks at San Ramon to meet YY's friend.

Half Moon Bay

I just dropped off my aunt at the airport because she will be visiting Singapore for a week, she is going there for an interview for a research assistant position. My dad measured my sugar level and it is 68, I am so relieved that it is in the normal range level. I will be going to Half Moon Bay soon. Yesterday in San Francisco, I also visited the Cliff House, I saw a lot of surfers waiting for the waves while the sun was setting, it was a spectacular view.

jarhead

I watched the movie Jarhead, it was an okay movie, it talked about the troops in Dessert Storm guarding the oil fields. I am going to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and possibly to the De Young Museum. Aftewards, I plan to go to Go Go Cafe in the Sunset area of San Francisco.

consulate

Last night, I went to Scott's Seafood for dinner since the appetizers are half off the original price. I went to Tapioca Express for lunch. Today, I have to drive my mom to San Francisco since she wants to go to the Philippine Consulate there, it is close to Union Square.

Milpitas

I have to drive to Milpitas near the Great Mall in the morning to pick up my cousin because she is getting her car fixed. Later on, I will have dinner at Tapioca Express with my cousins. Tonight is Alias which has been boring for the past episodes.

Mongolian Beef

Yesterday, I had lunch at Mongolian Beef in downtown Mountain View. Today, I had lunch at Le Boulanger in Mountain View. No wonder my jeans are getting so tight, I hate it when it feels skin tight. When I was taking a shower this morning, I accidently squirted shampoo in my eye, when I opened the top cap of the shampoo bottle, the shampoo flew in my right eye, it was stinging so bad that I could not put on my contact lenses, now my eye feels better.

trick or treat

I had only three trick or treaters come to my house. I was upstairs when my dad gave the candy so I didn't get a chance to see the costumes.