Guest Blogger: DAD Top Lists

It was a family holiday trip that was nearly keeled over by the outbreak of the H1N1 swine flu in Mexico in April. SARS-scarred Singapore upped the disease alert to Orange – which got us in the university very busy rolling out emergency plans in anticipation of hundreds of students returning from their Exchange Programmes in the States …and possibly returning with the virus. It did not help that cases were reported in New York and California.

Everyone had been looking forward to joining Yilin and Dan in the States, and my putting the trip on the back burner because of the urgency in the university was dampening. Ling got more edgy over the uncertainty as the scheduled departure date drew closer…and an ultimatum was literally on her lips! Fortunately, the alert was stepped down some ten days before our fly-out date (18 May) and what followed my resigned “want to go, go lor…” was a pent up rush by Ling to obtain the waiver for US visa, travel insurance, bookings for hotel accommodation etc… Anyway, it was a choice of dying from H1N1 or somebody’s wrath!

So I lived to have this great family holiday that took us to New York City, New Hampshire, Boston, Montreal and Vermont.

Yilin, Dan, Lilin would have blogged on the trip. What I’ll do here is to go for the ‘most’ and the ‘least’…

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...... MOST vibrant?

Broadway, Times Square - giant neon advertisements dwarf and blind all around


Woodbury Common (factory outlet) - great shopping

(Sorry too busy shopping so didn't take photos)

The Aftermath - from FOUR different factory outlets.

Cape Cod seaside town - pink houses, rainbow flags…happy couples

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.... Most charming?

Old Montreal - cobblestone alleys, curios shops, cosy restaurants, horsedrawn carriages


Quay at Newport

Broadwalk at Cape Cod & seafront dining

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.....Most expensive?

[]

$1 postcard from Old Montreal shop (Cartier Square?), when it was 50 cents elsewhere…and even four for $1 further away


Laundromat @ Burlington where a quarter was inserted into the lower dryer…when the clothes were in the upper dryer (imagine the lower dryer spinning without any clothes inside, while in the upper dryer, clothes laid in a wet clump?)

(Editor's Note: Rubbish! This never happened. Don't know where you get such inane ideas from. Your children aren't THAT dumb!)

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....Most entertaining?

PAID: “Mama Mia” at Broadway - great ABBA nostalgia

FREE: Tan & Cho brood, travelling entertainers

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.... Most quaint?

‘On The Hill’ B&B at Burlington

Ye Olde English Inn at Stowe


Rustic wooden shacks, wooden bridges

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.... Most opiangly beautiful?

Entrance of the public library in Brooklyn

Chrysler Building (Manhattan)

Interior of Cheesecake Factory cafe

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.... Most gratifying meals?

Meatloaf at Bartley’s Gourmet Burgers (Cambridge, Massachusetts)

Meatloaf at Cheesecake Factory café (Albany)

Ling’s Hainanese chicken rice, fried rice and wanton soup

***

.....Most shiok! breakfast?

‘On the Hill’ B&B - Vermont berry-yoghurt starter, Vermont jam, Vermont bacon, Vermont air

:D~

Hyatt Place (Boston)- the only place outside Starbucks that provided Starbucks coffee. Coffee in all other lodges sucked.

Breakfast at IHOP

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....Most peaceful?

With anglers by Lake Placid

Sunset by Lake Champlain

Wetland Observation Rest Point (on way to Lake Placid)

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...Single most impressive

The Maple Sugar Works outlet in the Adirondacks - a shop without any person in view… visitor picks his buy, totals up the cost, drops the cash into an open basket, and leaves. A DIY or HYI (Help Yourself to It) place that operates on 101% trust.

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....Most arty-crafty?

‘A Placid Life’ signage at Lake Placid

‘Black Dog’ signage at Newport

Cat & Mouse signage at Central Valley

Giant poster on fishing dock

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....Most irresistible?

Spring flowers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Berries galore

Curios

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.... Most DRAMA?

Red Cliff (SQ inflight movie)
Red Cliff II (SQ inflight movie)

SQ stewardess in tight sarong scrambling to block out faulty pelmet lighting with paper and Post-Its.

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.....Most unusual?

A big Vermonster tub of B& J ice cream for breakfast

Car-boot sale of Asian man

Shops brimming with Christmas deco and gifts

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... Least comfortable

Walk through Central Park (NYC) – too blazing hot and sapping

Soft and saggy beds (except in Boston’s Hyatt Place, Montreal’s Le Square Philip, and Marriot TownPlace Suites) – that got Ling and I sinking into the middle of the bed (not a bad thing).

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... Most precious?

Family bonding - natural division of labour and team work.

Dan, driving and portering in between;

Yilin, navigating and sourcing out best value accommodation;

Lilin, creative ordering of meals and providing comic relief in between;

Yujin, portering in between providing comic relief;

Ling, providing fuel for long drives (fruits, snacks, drinks) and endless flow of hand sanitizer;

and….”Dad, need your card..”. Do I need to say more?

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.... Most dreaded?

When someone coughed or sneezed...

Signing off,