Meet: Kiwi the Parakeet

Someone wanted to know what my birds looked like. I snapped the green parakeet when she landed on my sofa. I'll get a picture of my blue one later.

LA: 2010 LA Times Festival of Books

I made my annual trip to the local, ginormous book fair that is the LA Times Festival of Books (at UCLA). Here, I am seated in front of the (turned off) fountain and Royce Hall.

Happy Easter!

My cousin and his wife invited us over to their place for Easter for a massive party they were throwing. They served traditional Filipino food complete with lechon (roasted pig). After they stuck an apple in the mouth, I couldn't resist taking a photo. There was an earthquake that day, but I don't think it seemed to faze the kids jumping in the bounce house, hitting the pinata, or finding the Easter eggs.

Travel: Montréal (Part 2) & Québec City

A good friend (JF) let me crash his place for 12 days in Montréal, with a weekend in Quebec City, just so I could see snow :).

Itinerary highlights (in no particular order):

• Big, fluffy snowflakes
• Poutine
• Sledding & racing
• Domaine Pinnacle ice cider
• Mount Royal
• Fairmount Bagels
• Montréal en lumière
• Beef bourguignon
• Observatoire de la Capitale
• Sucre à la crème
• Vieux-Québec (actually, all of the city)
  
• Cheese
• Old Montréal
• Crêpes
• Parliament
• Ferry ride
• French onion soup
• Montmorency Falls
• Éclairs
• Metro
• Chinatown
• Maple syrup
• Ride from Montréal to Québec City
• Les Rôtisseries St-Hubert
• Clubbing
• Tim Hortons
• SAQs
• Fancy pizza
• Innuit ice statues
• Bond Lounge
• And, of course, BACON!

I can't believe I actually shot this without a tripod.

Travel: Hawaii (Oahu)

My brother and I spontaneously booked a trip to Oahu to celebrate his birthday, after he found a deal online.
Itinerary:

• Day 1: We left LAX >> HNL early in the morning, and thanks to the time difference, we arrived in Oahu at around noon. We opted not to rent a car, so we had a shuttle drive us to the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel. Famished, we went downstairs to the adjacent restaurant, Lulu's, where we had ocean view seats and delicious ahi poke. We then strolled along the beach from our hotel toward the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, seeing places like the Kuhio Beach Park, Duke Kahanamoku Statue, and the Hawaii Army Museum (on the way back).
• Day 2: The vacation package we booked included a free breakfast the next morning during orientation. We had our pictures taken with "local Hawaiians" who looked remarkably Filipino. They even asked us if we were Filipino. Afterward, we had to buy two umbrellas at an ABC Store, as it had started to rain as we were walking back to our hotel. We waited until after the rain stopped to walk from our hotel to Diamond Head State Monument. My brother didn't quite make it all the way to the summit, but I did, and I was able to take panoramic shots. After returning to the hotel, we met up with my brother's old college roommate and went to Duke's for drinks.
• Day 3: In the morning, we walked to and from Eggs N' Things. There was quite a long wait at the restaurant. Fortunately, it is across the street from the post office and I was able to drop off postcards before getting seated. Afterward, we decided to check out Sans Souci Beach Park which did not live up to the picture in our Lonely Planet book. lol. That afternoon, we were picked up by a bus to attend a luau. The show was okay -- nothing I hadn't really seen before (hula dancers, fire dancers, etc). The food was better than average. I was sorely disappointed by the pig though. I guess, I was expecting something to be better than the roasted pig in Philippine cuisine (lechon). Oh well. At least, I got a shell necklace and a kiss on the cheek by a cute, Hawaiian guy.
• Day 4: We had breakfast at Lulu's again, before taking a shuttle back to the airport and returning home.

Travel: Las Vegas (Trump)

B, G, and I went to Las Vegas and stayed at the Trump. This was our first time staying at this hotel and we were fairly pleased. The fact that it did not have a casino was, quite literally, a breath of fresh air. The room's jacuzzi tub is enormous! It was a bit annoying getting to the Strip though, as we had to walk a block or so to the Wynn (the nearest casino). They do run a regular bus, but it's much faster walking it, if you want to stay in the middle of the Strip. The Fashion Show Mall is practically across the street from the Trump, which was convenient for me, since I shop during every trip to Vegas. There is a restaurant downstairs, but we ended up ordering room service one morning. I was treated as I expected I would be at a 5-star hotel/condo. The internet usage fee was included in the resort fee that they charge. The most annoying thing is that there is a mandatory car valet service (no self parking), so getting the car was a bit of a hassle each time. Other than those minor issues, I would probably stay here again in the future if I had to.
Other itinerary highlights: we saw the Blue Man Group perform. It's great, if you're into black lights and strobe lights.

Travel: San Diego

Spending time in San Diego for Christmas. Wishing everyone that I didn't mail a card to a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!