The day started off cold and windy, not a very nice feeling to wake up groggily to and realising you have only half an hour to get ready. Anyhow, I did woke up groggily and realised I had only 30 minutes to get ready.
We headed down to Chicago's Chinatown first for lunch, stopping by Starbucks for a kopi break because 2 hours in a car driving along cornfields is not very entertaining. Luckily I had both my Nanos with me. We arrived shortly at Phoenix, a Chinese restaurant in Chicago's Chinatown, where I met Terence Yeo, who's in Illinois right now. What a small world, really. This phrase makes sense only in places as big as the States.
Dim Sum Galore! Siew Mai, Har Gow and Tau Huay!
It's a copper/metal/some alloy statue of Rat, as in the Year of the Rat. It looked a hell lot like the question mark the irritating Black-Eyed Peas kept pasting around the city.
It's funny how everywhere, every country has it's own stereotypical icon of sorts. For example, most Chinatowns you see around Western countries almost ALWAYS have emerald green tiled roofs and red pillars or vice versa, even the most pointless random shelter along the road (just check out the one in the background of the second picture). On the other hand, we (meaning Singaporeans, so that I won't generalise too much) tend to think of American cities as such:
And this was where Chris Gardner (the guy portrayed in The Pursuit of Happyness) went to work:
No I'm kidding. It's just random shots of a glass building.
And here's a "typical" American big city skyline. That's the Sears tower behind I think.
And a typical Greek structure in Greektown in Chicago. See what I mean about stereotype? Why would anyone want to Greek-ise something like that anyway?
After another hour and a half we reached our shopping destination. It's as big as Vivocity, except probably better designed, is outdoors and definitely structurally sound.
Aeropostale! Guess! Nike! Tommy Hilfiger! Banana Republic! J Crew! Salvatore Ferragamo! All at unbelievably low prices! But I spent most of my money on winter wear though. It's really hard for slim people like me to find bottoms that fit, because usually the lowest waist size is 32". I probably need to find discriminating brands like Abercrombie & Fitch or Calvin Klein.
And here is Penang, to which I have to apologise to you guys because I just found out yesterday that IT'S NOT A TOWN OR PLACE! It's just a Malaysian cuisine restaurant which serves average Chinese food (but I never had my expectations high anyway) and chendol which is really, really disgusting.
So there, my photos are up for you photophiles out there. I'll put up a link on the sidebar when I find out how to create the Flickr badge again. Till then!
No comments:
Post a Comment