130102, 1535hr, florida time.

hey, i'm back!

actually, i got back yesterday, but been too tired and disoriented to do anything constructive. today's the only day i feel vaguely capable of some coherent sentences. ahem.

we basically spent the last couple of days travelling up north on the road. busch gardens was quite fun, think it's one of those moderately sized theme parks, that's not too overwhelming and yet exciting enough. it's a zoo, actually, but peppered with thrill rides and all that. so it's really a nice mix of education and thrill. i think i like theme parks like this better - just like the way i liked sea world, i think part of the attraction was to learn more about the marine animals, in an interactive fun way. busch garden and sea world are actually sister theme parks - even the trainers for the dolphin shows use the same jokes and punchlines. yawn. hahahha....

the drive up was pretty smooth sailing, tk and i took turns. arriving on campus on friday, to pick up our winter jackets, we went on up north for chicago. haha..this is the long-awaited ending to the florida trip - a feast spree in chicago! the original plan was to have dinner at penang restaurant [this really popular malaysian cuisine restaurant], prata supper at this indian eatery, dim sum breakfast the next day, then head back to campus for the closing lunch at mand wok - our favourite campus chinese restaurant. we only hit a 50% success rate though - prata supper fell through cos we got too bloated on our penang dinner. [i had chicken rice! yum yum yum.] then mand wok lunch fell through, cos we were still full from the dim sum breakfast. eventually we had mand wok for dinner though, so it wasn't a complete abortion of mission. heh.

in all, i think i had a wonderful time on the trip. some disappointments - eg disney christmas experience destroyed by the dreadful weather, camping plans fell though also because of uncooperative weather. but some beautiful experiences too - the beaches [especially the ones at fort walton and fort pickens], key west, sea world and busch garden, water sports misadventures, blah blah blah. i think i have more than enough positive experiences to make up for the disappointments.

nonetheless, i'm glad i'm back. travelling is a tiring business, though it's meant to be a holiday. in exchange for the exciting new places, sometimes my old creaky bed in this old rickety house is more comforting. especially with alvin right by my side. ahh. bliss.