Thanksgiving

Alright! Second one! In contrast to the first trip, this one is planned way in advance. The initial plan was to visit Uncle Robert in DC for Thanksgiving. And then I told Zaim about it. And he wanted to spend time in DC too. Then he wanted to go shopping for Black Friday TOO. Alas, we decided to do both, which, is sad for me for Rassyid and I would love to spend more time in DC. So on Tuesday, we took the bus from Pittsburgh at 2 am. We arrived around 8.40 am. Diana called, saying she had arrived earlier than scheduled (we should have arrived first!) So the three of us met and walked from the Greyhound station to Union Station. There we met Uncle Robert who took us to America, the restaurant. He gave us a tour of the place before it opens. Then the tour 'moved' to the McDonald's in the station where we had breakfast. Found out that the rest will arrive late so the three of us went on a DC tour on our own.

We walked to the Smithsonian museum. First we went to the natural museum, then the Smithsonian Institution and then the American History museum. I wanted to go to the Holocaust museum but we did not have enough time for that so we just walked back to the station. Lils called to say they were running late too. After all of us were there, we went to have lunch at America. Uncle Robert was so nice. We had a lovely lunch with a lovelier desert!

Then it was time for Jiamin to give us a free tour of DC. We took the metro from the Union to GWU. Jiamin showed us around her campus and it was really cool that GWU is in walking distance to the White House, World Bank, and IMF. It's especially cool that Jiamin's doing PS too. From there we put our stuff at her place and walked to the White House, Washington Monument, and Lincoln Memorial. It was night (reminded me of our night walk through NYC) so the pictures were not so good but oh wells, it was the bonding time that matters - gossip! And soon we were all tired.

At first we wanted to have dinner somewhere near GWU but the place was closed so we took the metro again to MALAYSIA KOPITIAM, where Aunty Sally works. My lord the food was so nice! I only had roti canai but man, it is always nice to have Malaysian food when you're abroad, more so with nice company! When the restaurant closed, we separated as Rassyid, Diana, and I went over to Uncle Robert's place and the rest heading either to Jiamin's dorm or a hotel.

There, after taking a bath, Rassyid and I chatted with Uncle Robert, Aunty Sally, and Andrew. It was close to 1 am that we slept in Adeline's room with Diana. It was so good to sleep after sleeping in a bus and touring DC nonstop. The next morning we woke up to the smell of laksa! How much better can this get, eh? We ate and soon enough Diana came down and then Zahid called to say he's at the metro station. Uncle Robert went to pick him up and all of us had (original, Malaysian, spicy!) laksa, and rendang and rice... Oh, the point is that we were so full and happy!

After taking a few pictures, we had to say goodbye to everyone and Uncle Robert took us to the Dulles Air and Space Museum. Diana was happy because that's where Night at the Museum was shot; Zahid was happy because he once wanted to be a pilot; and I am happy because that's where Sam found the Decepticon Jetfire in Transformers 2 (Rassyid's just happy to be with me :p)! We walked around the museum for almost 2 and a half hour. We also went on a simulator but it was not that fun. Next, Uncle Robert took us to the Asian market where Diana was the happiest one to get her Old Town coffee and biscuits. After that off we went to the Iwo Jima memorial. But on the way, Uncle Robert took a wrong turn and because of that, we passed the Pentagon! So cool. At the memorial we took quick snaps and then we had to send Diana to her bus stop. Later Uncle Robert took us to the Greyhound station where we finally said goodbye :(

Our bus left exactly at 5.30 pm and headed to NYC. Both Diana and the rest of us were supposed to arrive at 10pm but she arrived earlier - again. So, Zahid, Rassyid, and I, ran 8 streets down towards 34th street where our bus to Woodbury was already waiting. We called Jiamin, Zaim, and Lils, and we boarded the bus.

We arrived at Woodbury around 12 am. Yes, a.m. people, and after another full day of DC tour. We split up and shop shop shop! I thought it would take only, like, 3 hours for me to shop (so that I can spend the rest of the nigh sleeping), but who knows there were so many stores to check out! Not only that, the lines were so long and the queues at the cashier were just as long! At the end, Rassyid and I finished our shopping at around 5.15 am. Yes, a.m. All of us took the bus back to NYC and arrived around 6.40 am.

Because of the cold weather, we bid farewell there on the streets of NYC and Rassyid and I went to the Greyhound station to exchange our ticket to the earliest time available. Thus exactly at 8.30 am we left for Pittsburgh. But because the bus went through so many transits, it took us TWELVE hours to reach Pittsburgh. I swear, I'm not taking anymore buses in the USA. By the time I turn 21 next year, it's just going to be cars for me, all the way to San Francisco. But the good side is that we got to walk around Philadelphia for 30 minutes. It was sufficient enough to buy stuff at the Hard Rock Cafe there.

-C-