MyDailyRoti is finally in the Big Apple!

As of now, I am sitting on a cosy chair in our hotel room typing and feeling quite satisfied. Started my day off alright though I really wasn't looking forward to another plane flight, I was however very much looking forward to be in Manhattan. Pittsburgh was really cold today, about -3 deg celsius. Just as we were about to reach the airport for our flight, it started snowing a little and then it got heavier while we were abroad the plane. Great, my first experience of snow. =) Had another great breakfast and we were ready for our flight.

Above: This is some nigga shit man. No prob fittin 5 bodies and 6 packs of cocaine in 'ere.

Above: Real prawns, real meaty and real tasty. You still think the dim sum in Ipoh is good?

    Anyway, after a 1 hour flight, we finally landed at JFK International. The weather in New York is better compared to Pittsburgh, cold but not as cold and no snow, yet. Mr B, a family friend came to receive us at the airport and off we went for a Dim Sum lunch in his friend's Caddy Escalade. Bling bling. Anyway, the Dim Sum restaurant is run by a Malaysian and ironically the Dim Sum here is so much better than what we get back in Malaysia, which is really just pathetic shit. 

Above: It's really confusing. Americans really like their gas guzzling V8s, but they really really adore their hybrids as well.

Above: Going on to Manhattan. No stray planes in sight.

    After lunch, got back onto the Caddy and headed for Manhattan. Along the way it was interesting how Mr B told us stories of our ministers and how they spent our tax money on boxes and boxes of designer items everytime they visit the USA, especially you-know-who(Mr B is the chairman of the Malaysian Association here and he accompanies officials from Malaysia during their trips to NY, including our Prime Minister). Checked into our hotel and I had to force my mum to not take her nap so we could get down and stroll along the famed 5th avenue just nearby. 

    Manhattan is really a concrete jungle (Keys, A 2009), packed with skyscrapers and buildings that are made from reinforced steel and concrete rather than dreams. 5th Ave is a famous shopping street, more of a main avenue. It is here where a lot of the flagship fashion stores are located. Louis Vuitton, BCBG, Prada, Abercrombie & Fitch (they have semi nude models in their stores all the time) and my favourite designer store, Bottega Veneta as well. It was also along this avenue that I got my first haul from NYC. Something I had been looking for for a long time and I knew exactly where to look for it and I bought it in an instant. I was also considering to finally buy another pair of raw jeans, APCs but they cost a little bit too much, plus my parents were there. I do feel like killing myself now.

Above: Chrysler Building.

Above: Empire State Building lookin sick.

Above: Kinda like the one back at the Portugese Settlement except in every detail.

    5th Ave is really pretty with all the buildings lined up at the side, including the famed Empire State Building, once the tallest tower in the world. Trump Tower can also be found here, easily spotted as it has the Gucci flagship beside it. Also visited the famed giant Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center. Very niccce place.

Above: Looks shit but tastes the shit man. Just like Ramli burger.

    Finally we walked back to our hotel and along the way brought back some food. I've always believe that street food is the ultimate expression of every food culture. I love street food, street food is so much more authentic compared to some shit like McDonald's and so we bought some Kebab wraps by the roadside. Not very American you might say, but what's American? The US is a melting pot of so many different cultures and they are all represented in the street food found here. The kebab wraps were absolutely fantastic. Just wanna say, I <3 New York (Empire State of Mind playing in the background).

Last Day in Pitt...Day 3

Woke up dizzy in the morning, had a very good, hearty and very redneck breakfast of eggs, sausages, bacon and more eggs.

Above: Maybe I can just stuff these into my sweater for awhile.

Above: The Cathedral of Learning. The second tallest university sturcture in the world and a landmark in Pittsburgh.

    Later, my brother went to get some stuff done at his campus so me and my parents went off for a walk around the surrounding area. The weather today was really really cold, I was the cameraman today, like everyday and for a few times I couldn't feel my hands and couldn't push the buttons on the camera properly. I was also properly pissed to be the cameraman everytime as nobody can really help take decent pictures of me.

Above: Excuse him, he's cold-blooded.

Above: Instead of porn, this used to give me boners when I was 5.

Above: My favourite dinosaur when I was younger, Triceratops. I used to hug a pink one to sleep.

    On our walk, we stumbled across the Carnegie Museum of Natural History which houses some of the most extensive dinosaur fossil collections in the US. I've always been fascinated by dinosaurs since I was a young kid. If you give me a piece of paper when I was say, 6 years old, the only thing that I could draw with a pencil that you would have the faintest idea of what I was trying to sketch, was a dinosaur. The closest that I got to seeing a real dino fossil was in China many many years back. I remembered how excited I was and also later, how pissed I felt when I was told that the skeleton was a cast. But here, at the Carnegie Museum, it was real, well, at least 80% of them are real. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to tour the entire museum as my brother had to get stuff done so I went back to the hotel while my parents went to help out.

Above: Fly Beef Noodle.

    One thing I had to try in the US was the Chinese food here. I know Chinese food is aplenty in Malaysia. Hell, I'm Chinese Malaysian and have Chinese food most of the time but I'm always curious as to how people interpret flavours in different places. Mum and dad brought back some Beef Hor Fun and Fried Rice with Roasted Duck. The Hor Fun was alright, somewhat a milder flavour compared to the more strong flavours I usually get in Hong Kong. Fried rice was bland while the roast duck tasted similar to most average tasting roast duck back at home. One similarity with everything here, the portions are huge. One portion can easily feed two of us.

Above: Yank Beer.

   Nothing much to talk about then, dinner with again, very big portions at our hotel. Hit the gym to cure my obesity. Also, I've been having a little bit of a sore throat today, so my parents went to get some beer for me. I just found out the other day on the flight, while trying to get a free beer with my coupon, that in the US, you can only drink when you reach 21. We probably have a similar law back in M'sia but as always, nobody really abides by the law. Things are much different here, you really need to show your ID to get a beer and you better abide by the law. As in the movies, there are probably eyes everywhere and Bruce Willis is probably now on a helicopter heading towards my direction. Anyway, New York tommorow! Until then, goodbye Pittsburgh!

Pittsburgh Day 2

Above: Bomoh?

Above: Some real pizza.

Above: Our haul for the day.

My brother had his orientation programme today and so being me, I stayed back in the hotel to sleep. Later when my parents and brother came back, we went to get supplies for my brother at the Ross Park Mall. Had pizza for lunch, real pizza, thick and good. I also realized there and then, how cheap the items here are. I can actually get the same pair of boots that I'm wearing now for less than half the price I got it for on Ebay and it was here that I got my first haul from Abercrombie & Fitch. I was a big fan of A&F a long time ago, not really now. However, I couldn't pass the opportunity to shop in a real A&F as I have never done that before. The good thing was, it was 40% off storewide. Great! =)

Above: Essentially leftovers wrapped in roti.

    Anyway, we waited more than an hour in the cold for a cab and finally went to get the supplies back to my brother's dorm. Good God, the dorms here are so much nicer than the dorms we get back in Malaysia. Using apartments as a comparison, the dorms here are akin to The Gardens Residences at Midvalley while my dorm at Sunway, which is freaking expensive is comparable to a flat in Kampung Baru.

Above: Starbucks Frappucino for less than RM10.

Above: Big tub of Ben & Jerrys for less than the price of two scoops of Haagen Dazs in Malaysia.

    Later, we were looking for a restaurant near our place. Restaurants are aplenty around the area and we chose to have Mexican food just because you can hardly find any in Malaysia with a decent price. Burritos it was and with fat fillings. Rice, beans, meat, cheese, sour cream, salsa etc. Very filling and quite good. Also got a cup of Dr. Pepper, which tasted like a mixture of Pepsi and cough syrup to go along with the burrito.

    Back in the hotel room for now and will be hitting the gym later. The area around the University of Pittsburgh is real nice. Will take more photos tomorrow. Countdown to New York. 2 more days!

Finally We're in Pittsburgh...

We've just landed in Pittsburgh not long ago and it's quite cold over here, but I'm relieved to have landed cos' I'm just  sick of getting on and off planes and being forced to sit in a confined space for a few hours.

Above: No vege in sight!

Above: You don't like LCCT? Don't complain cos this is the line to the check-in counters.

Above: San Andreas International LA International.

Above: Massive massive LA. Buildings everywhere for miles.

Above: Look, it's a giant cake with white icing!

Above: Pretty mountains.

    Anyway, had a very meaty American buffet breakfast at our hotel and left LA at approximately 3.00pm LA time this afternoon for Vegas. Unfortunately we were only in Vegas for a transit. Now as I have mentioned, LA International is really a shit airport, there is nothing much to eat there, nothing much to see. It is kinda like San Andreas International from GTA IV minus the massacres, it's also funny how everybody speaks in the American accent similar to the one in GTA IV.
That aside, Vegas International was more interesting, even though we just spent less than 20 minutes there rushing from gate to gate, there were restaurants all along the way. Also, there are of course slot machines available throughout the airport....c'mon, it's Las Vegas, the Sin City. The 1 hour flight from LA to LV and the 4 hour flight from LV to Pittsburgh were terrible. If you think Air Asia is too budget for you. This is 10x worse. They even budgeted on the air crew. Fat, bald old men with beer bellies and fat old women as flight attendants. It was as if they picked their air crew out of a bin of retired flight attendants. To add to the misery, the plane smelt like a mix of smelly armpits and old man juice. The only nice thing to help me forget about all that was the view from the LA-LV flight. It was amazing, snowcapped mountains and rocky hills, and I never realised how massive LA was until I looked at it from above and believe me LA is humungous.

Above: There's the tower thing, and the glass pyramid thing...get me off this plane!

Above: Something new, slot machines in airport.

   Well, now I'm in my cosy hotel room just near to the University of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh seems like a nice city, pretty architecture and nice riverside views. More updates soon. =)

MyDailyRoti is in L.A.??

In my last post in which I posted about my one night in Dubai (No...not a sex tape), I did mention that I was supposed to be boarding a 14 hour flight to JFK International, NY. However, things got bad at the last  minute when we found out that the flight was fully booked and us, having bought stand-by tickets were unable to board the flight, same for another later flight to NY. So, we decided to change the destination to LA and then buy a ticket to fly to Pittsburgh.

    Finally reached LA after a grueling 16 hour flight and passed immigration at 9am LA time, but then they decided that me and my brother were terrorists and asked us to stay behind for a moment, which I found out was actually going to be 2 hours. Because they wasted so much of our precious time we had to rush from terminal to terminal looking for flights to Pittsburgh but we only managed to buy the last four tickets for Pittsburgh, leaving LA at 3pm tommorow. MyDailyRoti had become MyDailyToast due to frustration.

   As of now, I look like I was punched in the eyes due to exhaustion. I'm also feeling rather unhygienic, haven't taken my bath or brush my teeth for more than 24 hours. Looking forward to visiting NYC soon. Just to add on, I really really hate flying now!

MyDailyRoti is in Dubai!

As of now I am concealed in a safehouse in Dubai with the room number of "911". =) It was an exhausting 6 1/2 hours flight from KL to Dubai, made worse by technical problems with the plane engine causing an extra 2 hour delay which made us spent a total of 8 hours in an Emirates Airlines Boeing 777, my maiden flight on the newer Boeing. A few noisy kids and an arsehole passenger behind me made the trip even more unforgettable by constantly complaining and threatening the flight crew for not providing Middle Eastern food, instead serving croissants.

Above: ice...makes me sleep better.

    Anyway, I was recommended by one of the customers at my workplace, who travels a lot that Emirates Airlines had one of the best on flight entertainment systems, simply dubbed "ice". Of course, remembering the words of the wise man, I had to give it a try and it sure did impress me. So many of the latest movies that I missed last year, I made it up by catching up on flight, making use of the time. I watched a total of three movies: Toy Story 3 (finally), Grown Ups, Dinner for Schmucks and Inception. Of which the latter two I only watched half because I fell asleep in the middle of both movies. Anyhow I will try to review all the movies next time.

Above: Hovering over sands of time.

    ....and finally, touch down at Dubai International Airport, which is not as good as our very own KLIA at 3pm Dubai time =) Met up with sister at airport, went for dinner at Dubai Mall and then went n to visit the world's tallest building, the amazing Burj Khalifa. Being a car nut, Dubai is heaven for me, I can honestly say that 50% of all Mercs here are genuine AMG meat machines and Rolls Royces are a common sight. Great!

    Finally, back to room 911, took a bath and blogging as of right now. Anyway, will go back to the airport soon to catch a flight at 2am Dubai time to JFK Airport, NY. Cheers! Bon Voyage!

Happy New Year to everyone from MyDailyRoti!

2011 had arrived! Best of luck in the new year everybody. Just came back from partying, then mamak and will be leaving for the airport in a few hours for Dubai, then New York 10 hours later. Cheers! =)