La Fête

Hung out with new friends this weekend. I think I'm getting old for this kind of nonstop partying. The celebration was for Minh's medschool acceptance, Lisa's & Tu Anh's belated birthdays, Thoai's paper getting published, us meeting each other, and whatever else we could think of. It's amazing how much more reasons we could find to celebrate under the influence.... of Blood Orange Italian Soda! Isn't that right Tu Anh?

Around noon the girls arrived in Baltimore with what looked like enough food for a whole army. I guess they never thought that two guys would manage to hold a party for seven people!! Well, I think we did quite well, Thoai & me, if I may say so myself. Though the flowers were all him, hehee... don't ever leave me with living plants, they tend to go towards the white light sooner than their normal lifespan. It was a finger food party with nothing from the Coca-Cola nor the Pepsi Company, nor the Frito-Lay. Instead we had Italian Sodas and rosé wine. For food, we ordered a platter of sushi rolls, a shrimp cocktail, mini-quiches, spring rolls, bruschettas, and many more. We were planning to have chocolate-dipped strawberries, but couldn't find the right cocoa so we just bought this chocolate sauce and just have people dip their own strawberries fondue-style. To end the party we had the superfabulous Hazelnut Meringue Cake from Pasta Plus. Yum! With the official drink of Summer: Rosé Champagne.

I guess once the bottle popped, some really fun time began. We watched that Overseas Vietnamese Variety Show a.k.a Paris By Night. No, this is an actual variety show not porn shot with night vision! Got into arguments on whether Vietnamese and Cantonese sound alike ... I know, we're such geeks. Hahaha, since I instigated the whole thing, I guess I'm the father geek.

Annapolis

We went to Annapolis afterwards. The original idea was to kayak and eat loads of crabs. But as we go round and round the harbor area, we couldn't find a single kayak rental place. The only promising lead turned out to be this desolate ship dock. After waiting out the rain that suddenly just fell in the middle of a hot, sunny day, we took the Miss Anne boat tour around the Severn River. Now Tu Anh, I'm still waiting for that cookout party we're supposed to have at your riverfront property!

Off the boat, we wanted some crabs! The ship's captain pointed us to this place called Cantler's. Thanks to Google SMS, we found the address & phone number. The supposedly famous restaurant was located on the other side of the harbor, and we kinda had to drive into these wooded area. I think the Philly peeps thought we were gonna dump them in the river, hehehe.

Cantler's!! We finally made it. That place was packed, seemed like everybody in Maryland was there for crabs. Even the governor was there. Hmpff! I bet he didn't have to wait for an hour and half like we did! Thankfully the wait wasn't too bad due to the creative ways Koreans can amuse themselves. So Lisa taught us about this bip-bidibidip game which was just plain whack! It was basically a game of self-control. There were three poses and as the main player sang bip-bidibidip, he/she'll take a pose and the one watching her had to make a different pose. Sound simple, but it's amazing how your reflex would just follow what's in front of you. I think it's the bip-bidibidip thing that kinda hypnotize you! I think we were too hot and embarassed to play that, except for Minh. And there they went at it to the amusement of us all and a few other groups around us :) Thanks for the entertainment guys!

"Minh! Table for Six!" They finally called. Yay!! So we went in, ordered, groaned while waiting for the food, and became real silent as we cracked and munched on the crabs. We got two dozens of them, which means each of us got four crabs. Crazy. I think I had enough crabs for a while now. I have definitely seen enough crab's insides for my lifetime!

fur nightclub

Time for bed? Of course not! Off we went to freshen up at our respective homes in Baltimore, Laurel, and College Park, then we all met up at my place to leave for the fur nightclub in DC. Woo hoo! I've been meaning to check out this place for some time now but something always happened and the plan never fell through.

I think it is safe to say, that was the best night club I've ever been to in DC. The crowd was a good mix, not too Asian, not too White, and not too Black either. Pretty much everyone was represented there and I didn't notice a single majority group so it was really nice. Everybody was just there to have a good time, no rude people or you know those obnoxious asses that seemed to go to clubs just to get wasted and somehown managed to get into a fight.

The music was good too! But I'm not a big fan of R&B so that might be why I thought it was good because they play different kind of music instead of the usual diet of 50 followed by Eminem followed by DMX and other acronyms & abbreviations where nobody actually sang or no music was actually played except for heavy bass and some guy talking. The reggae period was a bit much though, I give you that. But all in all, we had a really good time. I think Minh had a really, really good time especially towards the last hour when all her shots finally got in her head. Hahaha. I'm still contemplating whether we should put the pictures of us in discriminating poses here. Perhaps not, I still wanna be friends with these people. Hmm maybe just one.

So we partied until the club closed which was around four, I think. A mandatory stop at Plato's Diner for some post-dancing snack and we went home.

Live Life Like a Rock Star

My cell rang early in the morning, oh I meant early in the day since we got in at early in the morning already. It was Thoai.
"Good Morning!"
*Grumble*Grumble*"Hmmmh? Mornin'"
"I got into an accident last night."
"WHAT?"
"I hit a car and my car's at the lot now."
"WHAT?"
So apparently as they drove back, Thoai hit a parked car just a few blocks from home. No, no, it was not a DUI, more like sleepiness added to bizarre Baltimore traffic. So in Balto right, you must never take the leftmost lane or rightmost, because you never know if in the next block they would suddenly decide that lane is parking area when it is not in the block before. This would sound normal if they didn't do it like every 5 blocks. "A Rock Star Night" according to Thoai. You go out, you party, you slam your car. Where are the PEOPLE mag people?

It's cool down time in hot 100F DC now. After circling the Chinatown gate for like 20 times, we decided to park at a lot. I thought it was gonna be expensive, but turned out the weekend rate was only like 5 bucks a day or something. Hahaha, I should have listened to those out-of-towners. Sorry guys, but don't you just love my cafe mocha hot hot song? Which... was Japanese thank you, not Indonesian.

So we walked around the Metro Center - Chinatown area for awhile. Benetton, H&M, Urban, and all that. We had lunch at that little noodle shop on 6th & H Streets. The best place for Chinese noodle soups. They make their own noodle and you can even see them as they make it at the front of the store behind large windows.

What a great weekend. Now I'm deadbeat. Time for sleep. Shoo!

Key West

We're going back to Miami today to fly back the next day. We could have stayed for another night here and drive straight to the airport on Tuesday but we didn't want to cut it too close. We did the the city yesteday, so we're doing the beaches today.


The hotel concierge told us that the best beach in the area would be the Fort Zachary State Park in the southern part of the city. And yup, it was a nice one. We definitely had more fun here than at the Miami beach. The sand wasn't as smooth as in Miami but that only made the water clearer. We could even see small tropical fishes swimming by near the rock formations. We spent hours there. I definitely worked on a tan, and some carcinogenic sunburn.

I totally loved the atmosphere, it was so nice. People were so relaxed. There were a lot of families but thankfully no crying babies :p As I was just lying around in the sun, I saw this cute kid. He was looking for shells I suspect, but he was so intent in his search. So serious. Everytime the water recedes after the wave crashed, he'd be scrutinizing the sand for something.

There was one thing that kinda disturbed me though. Right next to us, there was this couple that could only be called, white trash. Add sunburn to the already leathery skin due to smoke, plus beer bellies, you get two very unattractive people. It was interesting to see how you can actually see the effects of all the bad habits that they are doing at that very moment. They must've been lying the sun for hours without any sun protection, hence the orange skin. The leathery skin proved to be cause by their chainsmoking while they keep gulping on cans of beer at this beach that supposed to be alcohol-free. The things that people do to themselves!

Fort Lauderdale

We decided to drive straight to Fort Lauderdale instead of staying overnight in Miami. We figured it would be easier the following day to go to the airport since FLL is only 15 minutes away from downtown Fort Lauderdale. So we walked around Las Olas again and had a small dinner before we went to the hotel.

« Beep » « Beep » Shower, and we dashed to the airport to catch Harry's flight at 11AM. *Sigh* I hate when vacation ends.

South Beach

According to most guidebooks, SoBe owes its comeback to a German photographer who found out just how nice the sunrise is there. Naturally, I planned to see it. So I asked the hotel manager the night before, "What time is sunrise tomorrow?" I wasn't sure he would know, so I expected him to look for the newspaper or at least a slight hesitation remembering the day's sunrise. But no, he immediately responded, "Seven AM." I was a bit unsure, but I did ask him, I didn't want to be those people who ask for things but doubt the people they asked.

« Beep » « Beep » My cell woke me up at 6:50 AM. I waited for a few minutes to see if my travelmates were joining me. [6:57] I guess not. So I went out and I had to blink a few times as my eyes tried to get adjusted to the LIGHT! What the hell? The sun had definitely risen for at least an hour! I knew 7AM couldn't be when the sun rises in the summer! Oh well, the day was cloudy anyway so it wasn't like I would've been able to see the sun rose in the horizon. But I decided to go to the beach still. It was nice and quiet. Ask anyone who knows me and they'll tell you that I love big bustling cities, but beaches? I like 'em quiet and idyllic. There were a few people jogging, one early swimmer, and this group of youngsters at the lifeguard post. Seemed like the spent the night there... very nostalgic. Hahaha.. I talk like I grew up in Santa Monica while Bandung is actually in the mountains. So I sat there and kinda soak up the atmosphere. I think that was the moment when I felt, "Aaahh... I'm on vacation!"

About a half-hour later I went back to the hotel for breakfast and after we checked-out, we headed for the beach. The day was definitely getting hot. It was obvious why Summer is Miami's low season. The air was so humid and clouds filled the sky. Not the most comfortable weather to be in. Luckily our hotel was only a block away from the beach so we only had to endure it for a bit before we can jump into the Atlantic waters. We swam & lied around in the sun for about an hour before we got hungry and went looking for food.

David's Cafe had good things said about the Cuban eatery, so we walked to 11th Street. Hmm... turns out they were renovating, but they have a branch a few blocks up north at Lincoln Road Mall. We didn't feel like trekking all the way up, so we stopped by Española Way to see this crêperie, but Harry was not in the mood for crêpes that day. Realizing there were no other decent, cheap restaurant in the area that was open at noon, we walked up to the other David's Cafe. Well, it was well worth it, I finally got my Cuban Sandwich and my cafecito.. yay! I don't know what is it with these Cuban restaurants in Miami, but they really need to invest on decoration. David's Cafe looked like a blue-walled room with tables and chairs. Period. It looked like a makeshift dining hall with autographed pictures of Latin celebrities on the blue wall. Well, as long as the food was good.

Key West

I know it's geeky, but as I drove along the Busway on Route 1, I can't help thinking that this is the same road that would take me home in Maryland. One day, I'm gonna do a Route 1 tour, from Key West up to Bangor, Maine. That should be fine... hmmm, maybe I can write a book, hahaha. Yeah... I do a lot of wishful thinkings.

After what seemed like days we finally got to the final stretch before the southernmost point of the States, the Seven-Mile Bridge. As we drove on the newly constructed bridge, the original was just a few hundred feet to our north. Made from steel instead of concrete like the new one, the abandoned bridge looked desolate yet seemed like it handled the natural elements quite well. Of course it was rusty, but considering how old it was, I'm amazed the structure still exists at all.

Benvenidos à Cayo Hueso! Also known as, Key West. There are plenty of theories regarding the name but there's one I like best: A false Anglo-Spanish cognate of the word Cayo Hueso which translates literally to Bone Island. Legend has it that human bones were found when the first explorers came to the island.

After checking-in, we went to the Old Town area, to Mallory Square. We LOVED Key West instantly. The square is an open area right by the sea where at sundown street performers show their stuff (think flame throwers instead of watercolor names in quasi-Chinese writing) and street art vendors dotted the plaza, plus lemonade & conch fritters stall galore. It was really fun watching the performances, while gulping on home-made lemonades and stuffing ourselves with conch fritters. Jane and I were eyeing this cheese plates made from flattened liquor bottles but at thirty bucks a pop, it was a bit overpriced, we think. So we devised a psychologically-sound strategy to get the lady lower the price for us. The plan was for us to hover around, act mildly interested while trying to look friendly and wait until the stand is quiet before making the offer. Well, we finally got the lady by herself but she was one tough seller, so we ended up skipping the artwork. I don't know about Jane but I'm not that dissapointed actually, I'm a total impulse shopper :)

Oh, another great activity at Mallory Square was watching the sun sets behind this leafy island while ships crosses the horizon. It was really nice, rayon-verte nice.

A few hours late we got hungry and after walking through the main nightlife area, Duval Street, we couldn't find any restaurants we would want to eat at so I checked the guidebook and we decided to go to Mangia, Mangia, an Italian restaurant a few blocks northeast of the Old Town. Well the walk was definitely worth it and it wasn't a bad walk either. The restaurant was located in the residential area so we passed all these summer homes. We had fun planning our retirement and which Bahamas-style two-storey vacation house we'd build.

We finally got to the restaurant about twenty minutes later, just a few minutes before they closed, but the place was packed! It was a really nice restaurant with really good food and really, really nice atmosphere. We got the window table overlooking the street. What a perfect way to end the day.

Fort Lauderdale

Instead of flying into MIA, we opted for the budget-friendlier FLL. I expected Fort Lauderdale to be a tiny city with nobody but old folks and perhaps a handful of sunbathers looking for a quieter scene. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong, it turns out that Fort Lauderdale would be able to stand on its own as a vacation spot. Yes, it doesn't have any of Miami's glitz and glam but what it has is a sense of familiarity. This city-by-the-sea is populated by vacationers instead of tourists, so the atmosphere is more laidback and people look like they're here to relax instead of to show off their freshly lipo-ed tummies.

But don't get me wrong, the city is not dead by all means after dark. The local shops and restaurants that line up Las Olas Boulevard is a welcome respite from the regular fares that USA, Inc. offers. Well, okay, granted, there was the Cheesecake Factory there but that's it.

The next morning, when our vacation officially started, we made a pit stop at Urban Brew, this little cafe at the newly-revitalized downtown area called Himmarshee. We were actually looking for a cafe called Two Street Garage, but apparently a change of management/owner lead the name change. I loved the coffee and the Aztec-industrial décor was a nice touch albeit it did kinda remind me a bit - just a little bit - of Chipotles.

South Beach

After noon, we drove down to Miami, passing multiple malls and strip malls. From the upscale ones like Bal Harbor to Linens-n-Things. I guess there's no escaping American Capitalism. At around four we got to Ocean Drive. Oh my, South Beach was such a change after the idyllic Fort Lauderdale. The street was literally packed with people and we got stuck in a bonafide traffic jam there. A vacation indeed. I don't know what the big deal was about. I didn't see much hot girls or guys around and the beaches are not better than Fort Lauderdale's, if not worse because it was so packed.

We decided to wait until tomorrow for the beach since we didn't feel like going out in the heat at that moment. So, we went to Miami City to see what's it about and boy, now that was a dissapointment. The big let down. The city was practically a ghost town. Then we went to Calle Ocho which supposedly was the heart of Little Havana. No argument about that, the place was definitely Cuban but I expected more alley than asphalt. If Calle Ocho was the heart of Little Havana then Cubans-in-Exile have very cold hearts indeed. The place was desolate and I didn't feel any warmth that I had expected something Cuban. I felt like I'm in Chino instead of Miami. But luckily, the fabled restaurant Versailles was as good as everyone said it would be. Though if they could change the décor from Chinese Resto chic to something Latin, that would be great!

I guess it's a combination of things, but nothing seemed to go right in Miami. Another dissapointment was our hotel, the Parisian. Well, I guess we got what we paid for? A hundred bucks for a bathroom with a hole in the wall, carpeting that looked like it has witnessed the last five presidents, pillows that was hardly were thick enough for a cihuahua to lay on, and the ultimate extra: blonde hair on the sheet.

Luckily Lincoln Street Mall saved the day from a total dissapointment. Later that night we decided to walk around. At first we planned to go to Ocean Drive but I don't know why but that place kinda put us off. So we ended up going to Lincoln Street, a 5-block open-space, pedestrian mall with Isamu Noguchi concrete & water artworks all over it. Me gusta mucho. And the crowd was nice too, what I expected from Miami. I guess this is where the real Miamians hang? I still need to verify that... hehehe, I need to amped up my Miami connections.