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Showing posts from February, 2014

Live Blog: Trip to California & Mexico, Day 9

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My last full day in Cancun. No trips today but to the beaches. This post also covers Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 3:00 pm CST, Lambert-St. Louis international Airport My flight arrived in St Louis just before 3pm. It's snowing outside and there's a storm warning. My California/Mexico concludes here, as I will be on a business trip in the next two weeks. Thanks for following me in my trip. I'll be blogging about each of my experiences during the trip in the next few days.  See you all at the boarding gates!  12:32 pm CST, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Just landed in MSP-STL a few minutes ago. One more flight to St Louis, aboard an Embraer E175.  7:00 pm PST,  San Francisco International Hostel I got in the hostel just before 7. I just had a few minutes to freshen up. I will be meeting my former colleagues in a Japanese restaurant a few blocks away. After the dinner I went around Market St and downtown SF. I went back to the hostel just befor

Live Blog : Trip to California & Mexico, Day 8

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Day 8 now on my trip to California and Mexico 5:30 pm CST,  Valladolid We made a side trip to a town called Valladolid on our way back. We spent some time in the plaza, where a pageant was going on.  We also tried a local pastry called marasquistas, which is a crunch roll filled with cheese and chocolate. We set out for Cancun after that, and we arrived around 9 pm.  2:30 pm CST, Chichen Itza We arrived in Chichen Itza a little past 2 pm.  After getting our tickets we went inside the archeological site. The most prominent structure there is called El Castillo (The Castle), also known as the Temple of Kukulkan, the feathered serpent god of the Mayans. He is equivalent to Quetzalcoatl to the Aztec. The pyramid is oriented to face west, which during the equinoxes the sun will cast a shadow that gives the impression a snake is going down (or up) from the pyramid.   11:30 am CST, Hacienda  Lorenzo Oxman cenote After settling in we all went down to the cenote, wh

Live Blog: Trip to California & Mexico, Day 6

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Today I went to the outskirts of Mexico City to visit three landmarks. While on the way there I also had the chance to see some parts of the city. I will also post the events for Tuesday here since not much is happening on that day except the trip to the antropological museum and the flight to Cancun. 6:00 pm CST, Aeropuerto Internacional de Cancun We landed right on time. The flight was uneventful. We flew in a Boeing 767-200, and the plane was like a quarter full. They did not serve any snacks on flight except soda and 2 bags of peanuts. After getting my luggage I took a shared shuttle that then brought me to the hostel 1:44 pm CST, Mexico City International Airport I'm at the airport now, waiting for my flight to Cancun later at 4 pm.   11:00am CST 02-25-2014, National Anthropological Museum I went to the National Anthropological Museum right after breakfast and after changing some money. I then took the subway to the museum.  The museum houses

Live Blog: Trip to California & Mexico, Day 5

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The story continues, and in Mexico now. 8:39 am CST 02-24-2014, Mexico City Hostel I had a good night sleep. I actually like this hostel, very spacious and it doesnt feel like you're all crammed like cattle in a pen. There's free breakfast which I'm having now, toast, fruit, marmalade and Chantilly cream. I'm waiting for the bus that will take me to Guadalupe and Teotihuacan.  8:09 pm CST, Centro  Lots of things that happened today but I can only update generally as the WiFi in the hostel is iffy. I went to the Cathedral, the Templo Mayor, the Templo Mayor Museum, and explored Centro all the way to Bellas Artes.   2:10 pm CST, Mexico City Hostel My hostel is within the Zocalo district so very near the Cathedral and the Templo Mayor. I will be exploring the nearby points of interests after I get settled down. 12:30 pm CST, Benito Juarez-Aeropuerto Internacional De Ciudad De Mexico We landed on time and I went through immigration and cust

Live Blog: Trip to California & Mexico, Day 4

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Day 4 on my California and Mexico trip 6:42 am PST, aboard Aero Mexico AM 18 Boarded now, sitting at 20F, a window seat. The plane is a Boeing 737-700. We will be in Mexico in about 4 hours.  It's still foggy outside, hope it won't delay the flight. 5:03 am PST, LAX Terminal 2 Gate 24 We will be boarding any minute now because the flight crew is doing a roll call of people who did not show up. 5:03 am PST, LAX Terminal 2 Gate 24 Finished checking in, got my boarding pass and went through the TSA security checks.  4:15 am PST, LAX Terminal 2 Waiting for the counters to open for check in. 3:42 am PST, aboard SuperShuttle van #547 On our way to LAX. It's foggy this morning.  The driver quipped, "at least we're not dealing with snow. " Always a silver lining. 3:11 am PST, 02-23-2014, Banana Bungalow Hostel I just checked out, now waiting for my shuttle to LAX. 9:01 pm PST, Banana Bungalow Hostel Back at the hostel now.

Live Blog: Trip to California & Mexico, Day 3

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Continuing my live blog for the California Mexico trip. Day 3 now. 11:28 pm PST, Banana Bungalow Hostel I'm too sleepy to give a meaningful update but bottomline, the Lakers won. I was ready to leave by the third quarter but somehow the hometown team got a second wind and was able to defeat the Celtics.  I'm back at the hostel. Had to move to another bed because the one adjacent to mine is being used by a couple. I don't want to be the third wheel, in a way I suppose.  There's a party of sorts going on outside and it will be hard to sleep. As usual, Europeans drinking like the world is running out of beer.  But I gonna turn in now, busy day tomorrow.   6:50 pm PST, Staples Center  Inside the arena now. I stopped by the shops downstairs to buy a Kobe shirt for my brother then went up to my seat. I can see the team is doing warm-ups now. Not sure if Kobe will play though, I hope he will.   6:02 pm PST, Nokia Center. I'm here early for th