My Dinner at Bootlegger Inn

Bootlegger Inn is about 5 minutes walk from Hilton Garden Inn, but Rick insisted that he drive me there, Okayyyyyyyyyyyyyy…

He such a sweety, he even walked me into the restaurant and made sure that they have food. Offcourse they have – they are famous for their Italian cuisine and they opens 24/7. There’s also gambling machines.

It is a typical pub restaurant, every corner is dimly lit. I chose clam linguine. Bon appetit

The pasta was superb. but the entre was so so. It's a square chewy bread drenched with olive oil. I can literally sqeeze the oil off, served with some sort of 'tomatowey' dip which was not bad. Serving-wise : huge, infact I noticed later than most food came with huge serving. A hungry pasta lover like me could not finish this dish (maybe I was tired? or it could be that chewy entre?). This cost abt $18 [gave him $20] infact I should give him more (ada cerita)

As I said dimly lit...
taken with flash
Korang nampak kah? hehehehe Dayang Senandung di malam hari!

The Drama Continues....

On the way back from Freemont St. Experience, I thought I will take the lower deck seat. Most tourist will choose the upper decker, so I thought the lower decker might get to see some locals. Ls Vegas locals generally Hispanic speaking people [from my short observation off course - and that limited to The Strip]. One fat black lady she was joining my conversation with another local from time to time. This local - I don't know his name, He is from Cuba, been in the US more than 17 years but his accent is still very strong. He gestured to me as if to say "What's with your covering?" [my tudung]. I said "I am a Muslim". Oh yeah yeah - I know they have a building they go to right? "A mosque?". I know some muslim people go to this building every so and so.. then I asked him if he knows where to get 'halal' food. "What's that" [I decided not to waste my time explaining it].
so I asked him I was told not to eat seafood here, since Vegas is in the midle of the desert, and the seafood arn't fresh and dodgy.
that black lady seemed disturbed with this information.. No way - I know what you mean - like in your country, fresh is near the sea [wha??? she just assumed she know my country] - but I went along - she said even the beed arn't fresh here. They are all frozen, but it's OK..

So 'amigo' where's the nice seafood place. He mentioned The Reel? (or is it The Real?) anyway it sounded something like that. It's West of Flamingo Rd. He boasted the lobsters etc, Food in Vegas arn't expensive, well I think you can have a $78 a steak up on the high end casino or $10 at normal restaurant on the Strip. A lot of buffet style menu. All you can eat for $13 for example - on the casino probably $25-30.

We got talking he was saying that he is selling 'admission' to clubs, offcourse one look at me he knew that I'm not a clubbing sort of person. apparently he made a good money. He only work on commissions (tips) and that night he said he made $240. He also showed the picture of his little daughter (yes very friendly kind of chap).

I said I'm from Australia. I lived in Australia for the pass 7 years. He asked if I have Australian money. I happened to have a 5, a 10 and a 50. 'Yes' I said innocently. May I have a look?
I thought --OK crowded bus...
so I showed him the 5
"I have that" [apparently he collects currencies]
"the Queen???? same Queen?" [obviously he had some quids]
I said yes same Queen of England on Australian money
then a 10 - I said beautiful money - colorful unlike your greenbacks.. have to see the numbers all the time.
then a 50 - I hesitated to give him at first - but what the heck - when he took it - he said "I haven't got this one" then he started to make a run towards the exit..

What did I do????
I screamed! [loud enough to embarrass myself!]
he then sit back on his seat n laughed at me!

cessssss cinabeng! -

I took the 50 back and said that's it show's over.. still laughing.. he said seriously let me have a look at it again - I said give me your money.. so he then gave me his wallet - I made sure he has money in it then I let him look at my 50 again.. he really liked it... at last he said "I give you $20 for your 50"
hahahahahhahaha
I said this money is going up and his money is going to be rubbish soon.. I said I give it to you for $200.

There's another lady with a group from Dallas - we got talking together and I tell you it's a nice friendly chatting.. she obviously know some spanish coz she was talking spanish..

I said I also know some spanish! they looked at me and I said
"Kiaro uno margarita"
they all laughed! [p.s the boat people thaught me that]
that lady said I have nice spanish pronounciation! oo waaaaaaaaa [kembang semangkuk!]

Missed my dinner

Continuing the story, As The Deuce travel north, the sun is setting. My camera doesn't show this very well, anyway once it's dark, the illuminations on the strip gets really amazing. north part of the strip has many wedding chappels. I even saw a "drive-thru wedding chappel". Most of the people on the bus [especially the top deck] were obviously tourists.. so everybody sort of snap happy and when we saw something funny, somebody will make a remark - Look drive thru wedding??? hahaahahah - everybody will laugh together. The atmosphere was really good - it's like you don't know anybody but you still have something in common.. [touristing the strip].

All of the sudden I saw 3033 - oooops I passed my intended place. I thought I am not that hungry anyway, might as well go all the way to the end and turn back on the same bus and count my way up again. Yeah right...

The driver will sometimes announce the stops. There's also an automatic announcer (computer) that kept on repeating "$2 for a trip or $5 for all day pass" then "Stop requested! move to the exit door until the bus stop- bla bla bla" - apparently if you press the buttons that's was the message "Stop requested"

Then we came to this stop called "Freemont St. Experience". and EVERYBODY got down - oh oh.. I had to get down too. so I went to the driver asked her where can I get the south bound bus. "Go to your right a block and look to left" - Okayyyyyyyyyyyyyy

But when I got down, there's this loud music and laser show on the roof in Freemont St (West side) and the crowds sort of moving towards it.. so you think I would turn the other way round to catch the bus??? nope! I went along..... and Freemont St. Experience was something else.

it kind of remind me a bit of PatPong in Thailand - minus the laser show and open concert. but instead of people luring you into topless bars or sex shows, here is the casinos and clubs. but on the street itself it's pretty touristical.. there's tattoo booth, carricatur drawing, face sculpturing, paintbrushing, and lotsof other types of stalls.. an open concert and other free shows.............

I had a wonderful time in Freemont St. Experience but manage to catch the bus for my last shuttle pickup at Mandalay Bay [phewwwwwwwww]. It took more than 1 hr from Freemont St. Experience back to Mandalay Bay because so many bus stops and people getting up and down the Deuce. So NO dinner - but it was worth it!

Later that night - a local toldme that Freemont St is quite a 'dodgy' place in Vegas. Oooops
Those canopy is called viva vision (largest screen on the planet - it boasts)
24/7 gifts shop? - I think they do close at midnight
Tattoo anybody?
A peep into the casino.
I was a bit anxious to see the no camera sign. apparently you can take 'naughty' pictures with those who thinks they have perfect bodies?

Some kind of show eh?
This steel ball thingy. Three motorbikes went around inside this cage. Shows at 9:15 pm and 11:15 pm. I stayed for the 9:15 pm show.
I'm not sure what's the big deal about those mardi gras beads
Popcorn stall
Night lights and sun catchers
Air Brushing? in action
The end products
I've seen this image somewhere else before? but where??

The Strip - from The Deuce

The hotel has complimentary shuttle services to and from 'The Strip' every hour. The drop point is Mandalay Bay, which is the southest point on the strip. There are double decker buses that run up and down the strip [North-South] and some run east-west to The Strip called The Deuce. $2 for a trip and $5 all day/night pass. Yes Vegas NEVER sleeps. A lot of people especially service industries, they can work at several places. Can be handy because they can alternate who is going to stay home with the kids, day or night. The money??? very good. I was told by one of the instructors that his daughter has a degree in Business Management but she works part time [whilst pursuing her degree] at the casino as a waitress. Her income is about $100,000 a year. So she is not in a hurry to get a "real" job elsewhere.

whoa???

I googled some halal restaurants in Vegas, and I thought I shoud try American Philly Steak, so I have this address 3049 Rokai Steak Express. So might as well take the deuce and get down at 3049. There's hundreds of stops on The Strips so I will be OK if I miss a stop or two.

These are the Strip view from double decker bus.. these pictures doesn't do any justice but hey this is the best I can do... There's only one word to describe The Strip "WOW"

Excalibur Hotel/Casino (most of the big hotels are also casinos and the term hotel/casino are used interchangably. There's a free monorail service from Mandalay Bay-Luxor-Excalibur.
There are several flyovers on The Strip - to cross the road is near impossible without these flyovers. The flyover is pretty good. Most of them has escalators or elevators.
For now I am just staying put on the bus. Lotsof people walking along the strip. A LOT!

Those Palm trees are everywhere.

I thought this is the only reason people go to Vegas - Apparently not. There's a lot of family type activities, shows, parks, etc.
This is Paris, you can go up the tower [Eiffel] if you wish - the best thing is no long queue as in the Eiffel Tower in Paris! There's also Madame Tussauds Wax Museum here (I didn't get down here - still determined on the steak - ya ingat makaaaaannnn saja)
The best shot of Eiffel I get from the bus
Bus stop for The Deuce
The Venetian - complete with the gondolas. you can have a ride on those gondolas for a small fees (but I didn't check it out). I did come here (on different day to lash out on "phantom")

In Vegas

It was almost midnight by the time I crawled into my bed. Bonus points was I was able to sms Hisham all the way. I woke up for fajar the next day, and straight back to bed until almost noon! My whole body was aching, Luckily the breakfast was serve until 12 noon. so I quickly went down for a big breakfast! [For some reason that hotel - Hilton Garden Inn] only serve breakfast and dinner - no lunch.

Weather was beautiful - quite cool and nice. I can see some snow on some of the mountains surrounding the valley. Las Vegas means The meadow in spanish [according to Martin, one of the shuttle drivers].

I have half a day to shake of the jet lag, you think I would just take it easy? -

I knew there's no point to go and see the Canyon by now. The flight will make me more sick. So the only therapy I need was .. retail therapy!

Off I went to "Fashion Outlet" - which was only a block away. window shopping ler, what else... reasonably cheap shoes I saw but trying those shoes would just wasting time. So I just walk around the mall. Huge mall - I don't know how long is the mall but it was very long! miles....

Just bought a couple of shirts [Osh Kosh t-shirt for $5 each] for each of my children, and that's about it.

A view from my hotel room

A view from the hotel restaurant, you can see the mountains with snow on them.

next : The Strip.

I'm the Drama Queen!

OK guys - not really from Cuba - but there was a part of my entry point in LA that I thought - "are they going to send me to Guantanamo Bay??" - no, not really.

Hoorey, hoorey - who enter US without visa???? Yep! I know it was stupid/careless/ignorant.... but I did!

You see, a permanent resident of Australia is as good as an Australian citizen (there's only two things that we, residence, cannot do : vote and jury duty [which are fine by me]) - now I know the third thing - ie residence from Malaysia do NEED a visa to go to US. Only Australian CITIZEN don't have to get US visa. duh!

The travel agents who booked my ticket overlooked it, the custom at Melbourne airport overlooked it [i think as long as I have my aussie resident - I'm AOK], the airline also overlooked it. There's two types of forms - white or green depending on your entry situation. They gave me the green form when I told them I'm a 'Malaysian but Australian residence.'

Touched down in LA about 8:30 am [local time]- I left Launceston at 6:30 am. Flight from Melbourne is at noon. Melbourne to LA was about 15 hrs or so. So you can imagine how tired this old and overweight body felt!

At the check point [customs and immigration] - they took the right index finger's print, then "Look here!" -snap (your tired picture) then he looked at my passport - "where's your visa?"

I have no visa - with all confidence!

oops we have a case.. "you - follow me!".

He took me to this room, I think it's called secondary immigration check or something like that.. then my nightmare began!

They kept on asking me the same question over and over again,

Where are you from?
What are you doing in Australia?
Is this your first time here?
What's your mother's and father's name?
Where do they live?
What's your husband's name?
How many children you have? .. I did offer them my children's name but they weren't interested. [smart ass!] - on and on....

I must add that all these questions were asked in an 'OK' manner - I mean they were not rude or aggressive. I never think that they would somehow send me to Guantanamo... [hence Cuba in the last post] but I was super tired, super hungry and super smelly [aiyyo!]

funny thing was most of the officers there were first generation Americans you might say. The two officers who sat in front of me were phillippinos, the first officer who took me to this room was Puerto Rican, there were at least two other phillipinos, a couple of them have eastern european names. The female officer who finger printed me [all fingers and palms!] she's chinese. Another female officer looks hispanic, on and on.

At first they look so serious, you-have-no-visa-we-have-to-deport- you kind of attitude. no friendly faces. But he did offered me a bottle of water. I said 'maraming selamat' which means thanks very much in tagalog - Aikkkkkkkk???

you see I used to have a lot of phillippino compadre on the boat. They have a peculiar accent. Then the two started to warmed up to me. Now I see the smiling faces and they even talked about their medical problem to me - ha! The officer who was helping me, preparing my case for his superior, walked with a limp. he has severe gout problems and on medications. I even advised him what not to eat! [ces! macam bagus]

to cut the story short - after 6 hours - I was free to go - I was told that they are going to fine the airline. fine by me! All this time there's a chap - from Quantas ('the supervisor') kept coming to tell them that he had rebook me on the later flight to Vegas etc.. please try to hurry up. since it's the decision from 'higher authority' all we can do was wait...... and wait.... and wait! for the fax! finally the fax arrive - Yes they let me enter [surprise surprise!] - not really, apparently they seldom refuse entry to anybody no matter how bad is the case. In my case it's an honest stupid mistake.. so I knew I will be OK.

So I quickly proceed to the domestic flight terminal - offcourse all the flights are gone! the earliest flight would be the next day morning. aiyyo. Not giving up I went to check on Qantas desk, she then redirected me to Qantas international. "go and talk to supervisor, his name is Wasim".. so off I went.

International Qantas, no supervisor, Wasim had long gone, there will be another supervisor later at 5 pm. It was about 3 pm then. At that moment, the earliest flight they can book was at 10:45 pm! what????? so I asked him to book it anyway and I went checking on other means to get to Vegas - I heard bus and super shuttle from the first Qantas desk - she said Qantas will look after me since it's their mistake [partly] that I was stranded there...

There's this guy at the information counter- he doesn't look at you when he talks to you - only glancing once in a while - he reminds me so much of Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman [where Pacino plays a blind vet.] "oohh super shuttle is thousands of dollars - ofcourse the airline won't pay, bus? have to go down town about 1 hr from here then take another bus to Las Vegas, your best bet is to fly out...bla bla bla" he has an eatern european accent.

OK - so I went up stairs for some food. I wasn't that hungry anymore but I know I have to eat something. I had some sushi and an ice cream. Then I saw a malay family, they are from singapore just 'makan angin' to Disneyland.. wow .. 5 kids mind you! apparently the husband works for airport and they got cheap tickets overseas. Alhamdulillah for that - talking and talking all I knew it's 5 pm and it's time to check on Qantas supervisor.

Went down stairs and asked for the supervisor [again] - they said the supervisor is a bit late, she will be here in 2-3 minutes. So I waited and waited .... 5 minutes elapsed... 30 minutes!

so I went and asked again.. for some unknown reason, I suddenly felt so sorry for myself, here I am miles away, tired and dirty and they didn't even inform me that the supervisor had been there for at least for the past half an hour!.. so I approached her.. she asked

"Are you alright?" [I must looked horrible??]

I said "No, I'm not actuall.....uaaarghhhhhhh my voice failed me and I started to cry like a bloody baby - uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

covering my face - I felt like an IDIOT!

but I just couldn't get out of this crying baby loop - and I kept on saying sorry sorry...

aiyyooooooooooooooo

She said "you are tired - you cry honey! don't be sorry, I'll sort this out for you"

I felt more n more like an idiot! cessssssssssssss

She said I had a choice - a hotel in LA and fly out to Vegas the next morning or 9 pm flight.
9 pm flight thank you [I was keen to end my journey - ie get it done and over with thank you]
then she said she's going to buy me dinner - I said no thanks - I'm fine really - now I feel like an idiot - it was my weakest moment then but I am fine now..

anyway she gave me a phone card and made me promise to call her after I checked in etc. she even found somebody to go with me to the domestic terminal - just to make sure I'll get there alright.... - anyway I decline further assistance and off I went by myself ----- to terminal 7 [united airlines].

checking in: to go through the custom check point, you have to take off your shoes [harum! kakakakaka - let them smell my stinking feet!] then because of my 'tudung', "female assistance please! contour!" - she then frisked my body. mmm paranoid nation (I thought)...

but from then on ----- I met beautiful beautiful american people. only at the check points you think what an asshole of a country...

LA airport [from terminal 7]. About sunset time, I just did salat at the corridor. LA airport is one hugeeeeeeeee place - from one terminal to another seemed like endless. there's a shuttle bus that goes round and round the airport. I thought LA airport would be more classier than that... what a dump! I can even smell urine at various spots. I just can't believe it is LA.

Back From Cuba!

Saja ja nak bagi suspeng.... jeng jeng jeng..
Yes dah selamat sampai

From small mouths...

Mum : (Grrrrr) Who break the glass???
Aladdin : Not Meeeee
Mum : Orion ??
Orion : I can't remember

Next 'best' thing to do in Hobart...

Fish and Chips by the Wharf, You think we'll get the best ever fish and chips here? In my humble opinion... nope. Having said that, I haven't tried every single fish and chips shop here, so who knows..... to me the best fish and chips is in Bellerive [which is not far from Hobart - on the Eastern Shore], but we'll go there some day okay. Not all fish and chips are halal [WHAAAT!!??]

Apparently a lot of chips are sprayed with beef tallow [fats] - is it why they are so yummy? I think becaue traditionally chips are cooked in lard. Euwwwwww. That's why you always have to ask.

We had ours at Fish Frenzy. Their chips are thick fat chips and they serve in the paper cone wrapper err thingy. Sadly the fish are not all that fresh. Ashamed really because looking at the location, you can't get any closer to the sea. We had a 'fish frenzy' [two crumb fish, scallops and calamari + chips] and 1 shark attack [1 piece of battered flake + chips] , $16+$7 = $23 [what a ripper - my kedekut mind boggled]

But the view worth every dollah.....

We took an outside table, and it was overlooking this gorgeous scenery. There's a warning sign, "Do not feed the bird for your own and the bird's health". But those seagulls can be dangerous sometimes. [almost as vicious as the monkeys at Penang's Botanical Garden.. ok ok slight exageration here :-)] ...vicious birds they are! wa cakap lu]

...and this cool 'ships' were 'parked' [can ship park? maybe moored?] just at the side

But the sails were all rolled down.. Where's Captain Jack Sparrow?

Kids kept on standing on that ledge, kuuuuuus semangat! GET DOWN!!!!

Let's go sailing! anybody??? - must put it in my "must do" list. errr maybe not - with my past experience on the boat! but then Farid, you could lose some weight! hmm nice try...

Lady Nelson events it's called. Can you see the smaller pic of the lady in all her glory?

From salamanca Market towards Fish Frenzy, YES you see correct!
I don't know what is this red thing doing here.. :-)

Salamanca Market

I am convinced that salamanca Market is the best market Tasmania has to offer. Having said that, I haven't been to 'Penguin Market' yet. Salamanca is in Hobart. Evandale market is probably the most popular market up north.

The work of art here are mind blowing, hopefully next time if I come here again, I will take more pictures of those arty stuffs. This time I am travelling with a cocktail of anti-depressant and pain killers and two super active, supa hewoes! [I'm not kidding about the anti-depressant!]. Apparently it is also good as muscle relaxer.

One of the entrances to the market

Plant Stall. Buildings behind the market are famous for convict built, still can see their handy marks. each brick [or rather sand stone, has different patterns]

Fascinated with froggy in the tin bucket [can't see the frog in this pic]
kookaburras n rusty ducks, kids seemed stuck at this stall - one old lady dok melayan diorang
jumpa big penguin!
From another entrance
Hmong Vegetables Stalls - Malaysian Students will buy their greens here [I would have thought.. sebab..???]

Sebab ada... KANGKUNG! can you guess where is the kangkung in this pic? yummmm kangkung goreng belacan! [but I didn't buy any]

So... there you have it - Best Cure for ALL illnesses --- window shopping! [incorrigible.. I heard someone says]

LONG BREA/k

Salam again....
No update for last week because this pain in the neck I am having! I had this throbbing headache (only left side of me head), normally the best remedy is zzzZZZZZ. But this time, boxes of disprins [I even got the chewable ones, and they are quite nice - in taste] won't cure it. Since my impending US trip, Hisham said - go get your head checked or US trip is OFF.

Recently at work, somebody decided that we should do patient audits every month. The two radiation oncologists will present several cases whatever a 1 hour time slot permitted. Physicists normally had llittle or no contact and no knowledge of patients. But this audit was really an eye opener for me at least. We have one case of brain tumor of 9 mm mass which is dead lucky for the patient. Normally the time they discovered that they had tumour it is already quite big. Anyway this particular lady was lucky because she had a seizure episode. Hence the check.

OK back to my head story, this headache is bugging me, it's not that acute but I can't ignore it. So everyday Cameron will ask me - How's the head? still no good - should go n get it check - what if '9 mm'. You see sometimes ignorance is a bliss. I know I should attend such audits!

so after 10 days whinging about it, I went and saw my GP. She had a look, and decided it's a muscular thingy. Euwwwwwww no wonder I feel a bit stiff on my neck. So she gave me two days sick leave, some muscle relaxants and a pain killer. She also refer me to a massage therapist.

I feel a lot better now - so much to tell but so little time before my trip to Las Vegas. Sooooooo I hope my camera is behaving (sometimes when I turned it ON, the lense won't come out?? - did anybody has the same experience?).

next post: What's the best cure for headache???? (besides painkillers offcourse)

Salam Serojas..

Untuk kawang kawang St. Georgeous ku - selamat datang ke blog ku..
Cerita tak bergambar sebab belum catch up with technology lagi.. insyAllah soon. Nak kena mintak tolong si Cameron [my officemate kat sebelah ni] tolong install sebab dia ada administrator's privilege!

Please bear with my rojak language!

Ita - bukan nak gi UK - but US, soon - insyaAllah 15th March ni - seminggu saja. Not so looking forward to. My head still not right. Been having headache since last monday week [more than a week now] only the left side of the back of my head. some sort of pressure pain? throbbing? but not so acute [yer lah still boleh update blog kan]

Don't ask me if I'm pregnant! - not possible at the moment - so if my head still playing up by 15th March, trip to Vegas is definitely OFF.

Tosey-
To Hafizah - try jangan tak try

Saturday - pi rumah Lydia - makan makan - tosei tak ferment lagi - so dia tapau - the next day - the tosei came out beautifully...

style lydia ni lagi senang - guna blender biasa tu jer dia kata

wokey?
1 cawan urud daal [beli yg telah dibuang kulit tu]
3 cawan beras [biasa - no need par boil par boil tu semua]
1 camca teh fenugreek [halba?] - utk color
3 camca besar nasik

rendam beras n urud daal tu - say pagi before pi kijer -
balik malam tu boleh blend. make sure urud dal tu halus- texturenya macam 'foam'.. blend beras + fenugreek+ nasik - peh tu campur aduk kesemuanya...
texture tu pekat macam pancake punya kepekatan

next day baru tambah garam...

fermentation tu - should be naturally from urud dal [no need yeast no need bicarb soda]
bila dah ferment --- canai kan atas hot pan [macam pan cake tu]

masa nak masak tu - kalau pekat sgt boleh tambah air. kalau masih konpius - pi ler kedai mamak tengok camna kepekatan tosei dia - hahahahah

sodap dimakan ngan kari or coconut chutney