My new tennis racquest

Just bought one Head PCT Ti. Four at Queenway shopping center. The special offer was $159. This same model is being sold at World of Sport at $202 if my memory serves me well. It was a good bargain I must say.

2 days in Seoul, South Korea

pix first, story later :D

2 days in San Francisco

pix first, content to be filled up later

At Austin

I was flying with AA from Ronald Reagan National airport at Washington D.C. to Austin via Dallas. The aircraft was S80 which is bigger than that from Boston Logan International airport to Dulles International airport. It was a pleasant flight. It was a little bit ahead of schedule. I arrived in Austin airport at about 6.30pm local time. My sister, my little princess-Lam and my brother-in-law were there already. It has been more than 3 years since I last saw him and more than 2 years since I last saw my sister and Lam. I was very glad to see them all again. That day I had a very delicious dinner and a very good sleep.

The next day we drove to San Antonio. Texas was hot and very sunny. It took us an hour or so to reach San Antonio. We walked by River Walk, visited The Alamo where the most famous battle of Texas revolution happened in 1836.

My little princess - Lam and myself by the River Walk.


My sis, Lam, and myself in front of The Alamo.


Having dinner


At University of Texas at Austin.


There was a small garden so I was gardener in the mornings and afternoons. It was much of fun!!!

My sis and myself at Capitol complex, Austin, Texas






Inside of the Capitol building, Austin, Texas







[more will be written later]

2 days in Washington D.C.

Outside of White House, D.C.


Lincoln Memorial

Washington Monument
Lincoln Memorial
Washington Monument
Air and Space museum
Dome of the US Capitol Building


In front of US Capitol Building

Entrance ticket to International Spy Museum costs me $18. It was a little bit disappointed as I was expecting much more. Nevertheless, I had a good time there.

2 days in Rhode Island and Massachusetts

Party time - me with 2 lobsters



At Harvard square. Can you see Tibet's flags? Freedom for Tibet!!!


Phong, Harvard, and myself :D
At MIT





Waterfront - Boston. That's is the life style I would want to have.

Public garden - Boston
Phong and me at Public garden, Boston


A lake in Roger William park in Providence, RI


In Brown University campus








Amtrak ticket from New York to Boston South Station (BOS) station. It cost me 62 USD.

At Boston Logan International Airport

3 days in New York city and Philly

30 Apr 2009

About 16 hours later I will be on the flight leaving Singapore for New York, United States. It was a mixed feeling: excitement and worry. It is all because this will be my first trip that is a long both in term of distance and time.

Just read the news about Swine Flu and it is becoming more and more serious. I really hope that it won’t be more serious.

Nevertheless, I am quite ready for my trip. My itinerary for now is the following: New York city – Boston – Washington DC – Austin, Texas. Have bought Amtrak ticket as well as airline tickets. Except in D.C, I will be staying in my friend’s place.

1 May 2009

In the night of 30 Apr, Dan accompanied me to the Changi terminal 3 to see me off. I will be transiting in Frankfurt, Germany airport. The custom officer examined my passport and US visa very carefully. He told me I look different from both photos in my passport and visa. Well, I said it was because of my hair style. He politely asked me to show my Identity card to verify. Everything was fine, anyway.

That night I had a heavy dinner with Dan in a restaurant in Terminal 3. Amazingly, I still finished a not-so-light-supper onboard. The food was fine. I had a good sleep of more than 9 continuous hours before landing to Frankfurt airport, terminal 2. Both terminal 1 and 2 in Frankfurt airport are damn boring. No free internet, no cafeteria. The waiting time was 2 hours.

My flight to New York was half an hour ahead the scheduled timing. It was a pleasant flight. JFK airport is large. I don’t remember exact how many terminals there are but definitely there are more than 10. I was in terminal 4 and below is its corner.

When arriving I approached by a person if I want to take his transportation. I saw his ID in his lanyard that made him like an officer; however, I knew he is not. Taxi fare from JFK to Manhattan is more than 55 bucks so I wanted to take Super Shuttle bus service. I went to Ground Transportation service counter and the queue was damn long. Only after about half an hour, I could speak to the officer. The bad thing was that I need to wait for about 45 minutes and it would cost 23 dollars. I thought it would be damn boring to be here for 45 minutes so I decided to take the subway to my friend’s house. I took AirTrain from terminal 4 to the station where I could take the subway. It then took me about 1 and half an hour to reach my friend’s place. That trip cost me 7 dollars. Both the track and train are old. However, I could sit comfortably as the train was not crowded.

My friend – Phong is living in a peaceful yet accessible area. I was glad to see him again. We have not met for about 3 years since he left Singapore for States. That day he brought me to Wall Street, Clinton castle, Ground Zero. The scenery was beautiful. We also went to Google office where my friend is working for. The office is very huge. We had dinner in a American-style Vietnamese restaurant in China town area. I order a bun-rieu. It was delicious. After dinner, we went to a cafe that has a live rock music. The music was fabulous. We were home past mid night.

The next day 2 more friends of mine joined us. They came to New York from other states. We visited Metropolitan museum. I was told this museum is one of the biggest ones in United States. It was really big.

We had lunch in a Japanese restaurant in downtown. A picture of two super super cute baby girls from a table nearby.

Central park.


Times square
U Penn in Philly

Columbia Uni in the City of New York

Grand Central terminal


Statue of liberty



In United Nation building

20 Apr 2009
Apply for visa to enter South Korea

I am given a free stopover at Seoul and thought of visiting one of my old classmate in high school. I checked with a travel agent and he told me I am required a visa but noted that I should double check that. I did some research online and found out that I am not required a visa

http://www.koreaembassyusa.org/ it reads

* Making a transit in the Republic of Korea

A transit traveler may be granted visa-free entry to the Republic of Korea as long as he/she possesses a confirmed onward flight ticket for departure within 30 days after entering the Republic of Korea, in addition to having no record of criminal offence in the five countries listed below, and falls under either of the following two categories:

(1) If he/she has a visa or re-entry permit for U.S., Japan, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand (five countries) and is traveling to any of these countries through the Republic of Korea; OR

(2) If he/she is traveling from any one of the five countries mentioned above and his/her final destination is not the Republic of Korea.

I am in category (2). However, to be sure I called its embassy in Singapore and the officer told me I am required to apply for a visa. I must admit that she was very kind and did not mind waiting for me to write down the website address while she read it to me and instructed me how to find the visa application webpage.
I visited the website http://sgp.mofat.go.kr/eng/as/sgp/visiting/visas/index.jsp and prepared the documents below:

• Visa application form (downloaded it here http://www.mofat.go.kr/english/visa/images/res/visakorean.pdf)
• Passport
• Bank statement (copies and original)
• Emlpoyer's letter
  
• IC card (copy and original)
• Itinerary

I went to Consular Section this morning. It is located in a small room on 5th floor in GoldBell tower. It is just next to Newton MRT station (exit A).





It has 2 counters and it looks cozy. The visa application forms are available and its layout is a bit different from the form I downloaded from internet. But it does not matter. My queue number was 39 and it did not take me long to hand in my visa application. The officer greeted me with a polite smile. After I handed in documents he said to me "Chao em" (meaning Hello in Vietnamese). I was a bit unprepared for that and only be able to say "Chao anh" (meaning Hello in Vietnamese) after about 2 seconds. I have to admit that he is very polite and professional. The counter he is in is on the right in the picture below.


He examined my visa application carefully and especially the bank statement. In the copy of bank statement, he highlighted all the entries that came from salary transaction. It looked smooth I was thinking. I even prepared $48 (in cash) for the visa submission fee. However, after examining the itinerary he told me I was not required to obtain a visa! It was a sweet news! Well, tomorrow I am going to get a re-issued ticket so that I could stay in Seoul for few days.

Few more pictures taken from Consular Section.