Work and Travel USA’07 (Reflection)

I sure learnt and experienced alot thought the Work and Travel USA program. Made new friends from different countries, visited quite a number of places, mingled around with Americans and understanding their culture. I find that there are things that we can learn from them, and they should learn somethings from us too. No matter where we go, there is always a normal distribution of good and nasty people and every country has its own problems. There is no place in this world where everything is perfect. However, the biggest lesson of all is to actually realise that the sense of belonging really matters to me. The bottom line is, eventhough America is a beautiful country, Malaysia still suits me better.

So after all these, is it worth it? Well, if you ask me, it's definately worth it. Yes. Every step of the way.

Work and Travel USA’07 (I Wanna Thank.....)

For helping me realize this dream of mine, there is a list of people whom I would like to thank;

• Yeen, our agent from Out of The Box (OOTB) ,who helped us with all the procedures and paperworks.
• Vernie, from Amza Travel, who helped us with the air-tickets eventhough we are not students under Speedwing.

• Aunt Debra and family; who had really taken good care of us, bringing us around during our days in America.
• Aunt Kelly Chiew and her sister, for letting us stay in their house while we were in Manhattan.
• Richard Bull Jr.(Ricky), for being our best friend and for traveling with us.
• Aaron Palkovic, Cindy Kopaskie, Kevin Roosa and Adalid Givan for being such good friends.
• Ralph,Sheila and everyone in 55, Church St. for the nice home we have in Plattekill.
• Doris, for the bike.

• Wei Ni and Poh Ching for being my companies through thick and thin during the 11 weeks.
• Minwei, for helping me financially.
• Suzy, for inspiring me.
• My family, especially my Dad, for supporting me morally and financially.
• And lastly....my dear Jyeying, for missing me, trusting me and waiting for me.

Thank you.

Work and Travel USA’07 (Long Island)

We spent our last day in New York at Long Island, where Aunt Debra's house is. It was a peaceful place with nothing much to do, but still there are a few places for us to visit.

The Montauk Point Lighthouse.
The stairs are really steep and we have to be really careful.
The source of illumination.

Apparently, this is the only picture of all that we took in New York, where Andrew (Aunt Debra's son) actually smiled. And he's with me.Haha~

The Atlantic Ocean.

Then, we went to Georgia beach.

It was windy and the waves are strong.

Eventhough WeiNi's tummy shows in this picture, I still like it very much. I mean I like the picture as a whole, not WeiNi. Somehow it potraits a very free and relaxing feeling.

Then they start leaving their names on the sandy shores.

POH CHING.

Wei Ni.

Well, I'm just not bored enough to do that. A very nice way to end our stay in America.

Work and Travel USA'07 (Manhattan)

Where in the world can you find;

A classic yellow taxi like this?
A glittering McDonald's?
Times Square?

Yes.Manhattan. The city where most American movies and dramas are filmed. One of the most happening cities in the world. And definately the part of New York City that most people would first think of when USA is mentioned. Speaking of Manhattan, there is an endless list of places to be visited. Central Park, the American Museum of Natural History, Times Square, The Empire State Building and many many many more.....

Being in New York, we've toured around Manhattan several times. And we still haven't finish visiting all the places there.

New York Public Library.
Broadway, where Braodway Show is famous for.

The main lobby in the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial.American Museum of Natural History.

Yes, the T-Rex.

Many people asked me is it the museum where the movie "Night at The Museum" is filmed. Yes it is. But only a few corners of the museum is used in that film. This museum is really huge. By the time it closed, we haven't finished looking everything in it yet.

More skeletons of pre-historic animals.

Well, of course, there are many other things to see in this huge museum besides fossils.

Then there is the Rockefeller Center, a complex of 19 commercial buildings, which stretches from the 48th to the 51st street of Manhattan.

If anyone remembers, this statue is seen in one of the "Home Alone" movies. By the way, it is called the Prometheus.

Right opposite the Rockefeller Center is the St Patrick's Cathedral.

The largest Neo-Gothic-style Catholic cathedral in North America.
Way more majestic than The Reformed Dutch Church in Kingston.

And so, it happened that there's a choir form a particular university singing when we visited. We sat down for awhile to enjoy their performance.

The architecture of the building sure creates a very holy atmosphere.

At the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street, is the famous Empire State Building.

King Kong was here.

The inside of it.

After paying USD18 and quequing up for more than an hour, we are on the 89th storey of the building. Seems like the air wasn't any better than Kuala Lumpur.

It is said, you can find chinese in any parts of the world. How true it is. At Canal street, it is the Chinatown of Manhattan.

Has a different kind of feel.

Busy streets.

We ran out of time and it was one of my greatest regret that I didn't get to visit the Statue of Liberty. Anyway, I still got to see it from afar at Pier 17. Many more place to cover but no time as our flight is scheduled on the next midnight. Time to start packing and have a good rest.

Work and Travel USA'07 (Atlantic City)

Situated at New Jersey, it was the only place out of the state of New York that we visited. All thanks to Aunt. Debra, who brought us to China town of Manhattan, we purchased a return ticket to Atlantic City at USD17. The best part is, upon arriving at the bus terminal there, we were given USD25 each! Meaning that not only we get a free ride back and forth to Atlantic City, we get an additional USD8 without doing anything at all! Why on earth do people wanna give out money like this?

Well, apparently, Atlantic City is famous for its boardwalk and casino gambling. In order to attract tourists to come, a USD25 is given as a starting token for betting. However, for people like me, who don't gamble at all, I won USD8 right on the spot. Haha~

This place is a resort community located on Absecon Island on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. That's why it is called Atlantic City.

Trump Plaza. One of the casinos.
The grand entrance for vehicles.
Another entrance from broadwalk.
Caesars.

Roman's style.
Bally's.
Wild-wild west style.
Talk about the interior, it's simply grand.
A huge decorative statue of Julius Caesar.


And fancy restaurants too.


Besides casino's, there's a great beach too.
And broad walk.
As well as an outlet shopping arcade.
With lots of good brands.

Quite a paradise huh~

Work and Travel USA’07 (Woodbury Common Premium Outlets)

Shopping in a foreign place is a must. Why?

Four main reasons for this;

Firstly, in a foreign place, you'll definitely find something that you can't find in your own country.

Secondly, there'll be things much cheaper there than your home country.

Thirdly,to prevent yourself from regretting for not buying.

Lastly,to impress others by buying something they don't get to buy unless they really go there by themselves.

Haha~

So, being a typical tourist, shopping is something that I did. With Ricky, Wei Ni,Poh Ching and Marta, we went to Woodbury Common Premium Outlets to do some shopping on our last day at Plattekill.

Woodbury Common Premium Outlets.
The information kiosk.

Parking lots.
Trees, flowers and benches everywhere. Beautiful.
American Flag Pole.
Soon, it was sunset, and we've spent half a day here.

There are also multi-storey, indoor shopping malls like what we have in Malaysia, but it was the first time I seen an outdoor mall like this. Sure has a different feel.

Bought a lot.

Branded stuffs like Nike, Levi's and Esprit are very cheap over there.

Work and Travel USA’07 (Howe Caverns)

On our way back, it was planned that we visit Howe Caverns. Not really knowing the exact location, except that it is in between Niagara and Plattekill, once again we relied on Tom-tom for directions. On the way, we passed by a very desserted country side. One that will appear in movies as a place for a meteorite to land, and UFO to kidnap peaople.Haha~Kind of creepy though. This time, Tom-tom made a mistake. She did lead us there to the cave. The problem is she led us to the top of the cave, but not the entrance. Anyway, we got things sorted out by ourselves eventually. See, men still beat machines.

Howe Caverns.

Well, it was more like a tunnel actually...a really long one.
The cave wall.

Our tour guide giving us a lecture about the facts and figures as well as the history of the cave.

Our tour in the small cave ends with a boat ride, before we turned around and head back for the starting point of the tour.

Well, seems like we Malaysians finally have something to be proud of this time. We definitely have way better caves in Malaysia than this. I once went to Gua Tempurung. It was not the biggest cave in Malaysia, but it is already many times bigger than tinny-winnie Howe Caverns. Haha~ I'm so damn pround of our Gua Tempurung that I just can't stop promoting it to Ricky.

However, there's still something different between this cave and Gua Tempurung besides the size, that is the temperature. It is cold in there, that's why we were all wearing jackets.

Eventhough the cave itself wasn't impressive at all, the country side view of the area is so beautiful.

The country side-style entrance building.

See what I'm talking about? It is so relaxing.

A ranch.
With lots of cattles.....and bullshits*stinks*.
Look at the bike, I've never seen one like this before.
I purposely wanna spoil this couple shot.Hehe~

We spend a while enjoying the view and relax before we leave this beautiful place.

Us, feeling the gentle breeze.