the one where i fell in love with grand canyon.

can hardly believe it's approaching november soon, and my summer trip was back in june! and with november comes exams. and after exams is youth conference. and after conference is christmas! after a long string of not-so-good events, i'm looking forward to christmas and turning my focus back onto the Lord and remembering what it means to celebrate the birth of Jesus and what christmas means to me this year. (:

ok so here goes. another day rises in las vegas and we headed out to eat some yummy buffet lunch at the Bellagio. very posh hotel with a great buffet lunch to boot.

here are some samples. i had like 5 or 6 rounds. the most i've ever eaten in a buffet. normally 2 rounds of mains and 1 round of dessert and i surrender. but the food was too good here. plus we sat there and chatted and lazed for almost 4 hours. (:










ohmygosh i must say something about their desserts sections. it's really something. huge variety and every one of it is good! ok i'm not that crazy to try everything.

2 satisfied girls. please ignore the tummy.

the sidewalk beside the bellagio fountain. where they shot ocean's 13 and probably 11. ahhh ge*orge cloo*ney.

sights around the vegas strip. just roaming around after a huge meal. yes there's nothing much to do in vegas if you're not a gambler or horny person. just eat and walk and shop.

and go watch cirque du soleil! (: we managed to get tix to watch mystere, one of the 4 cirque shows playing in vegas. the others are ka, zumanity and O. i wanted to watch ka and O, but our schedules clashed. hope they come back to singapore soon. when that happens, please go watch it! mystere is actually the original production and it was jaw-dropping good. i really never seen anything like it. it was visually stunning and the original music was so good. the lights, visual effects and performances and sets and props and costumes just all came together. and this is the only picture i managed to sneak.

after the show we walked somemore.

and i saw the bellagio fountain again. 3rd time. this time at night. so beautiful.

how lucky is ian. haha. me ian and linda posing in a shaky slow synchro flash photo.

the gambling table at mgm grand. this is probably for blackjack.

the next day we got up at a wayyy too unhumanly hour to catch our bus to grand canyon. we joined a one-day tour thing and reporting time was 5.45am. and ian and his friend very cleverly overslept. they rushed down to the meeting place in a cab and thankfully got on the bus in the end. boys.

on the way to the grand canyon! it took us about 4 hours to get there. we passed the nevada/arizona state line. and here is a beautiful huge lake in the middle of nowhere.

crossing hoover dam. yayyy transformers!! (: and hoover dam is really as magnificent as what you see in movies like transformers and the old superman movies.

part of the dam structure blends into the surroundings.

a brunch stopover somewhere in arizona. the middle of nowhere.

good morning arizona!

on the road.

and after a stopover for lunch just outside the grand canyon nat'l park, and a Imax movie on grand canyon... ... we're here!

i still get chills when i see my photos and imagine myself perched at the edge of the cliffs. the feeling of sitting on a bus for 4 hours and then getting off to see this beautiful sight, it's so amazing. i almost want to just linger there till dusk (because that's when the canyon gets SO beautiful) and go stay in one of the little inns overlooking the canyon, and waking up early to catch the sunrise.

and you can this renewed sense of awe of God's creations and just how wonderful He is. i remember being kinda speechless and just thinking to myself how wonderful and lucky i was here seeing these. and witnessing the canvas of God's work over the years. literally.



me and ian. he, being the gentleman, stood on the outside. but i amazed myself by being not afraid of heights. whereas linda was so terrified, but we managed to get her to conquer her fears. haha. (:

so i'm now the one protecting her!

just how amazing this is. i thought this was much more beautiful than niagara falls. it's definitely more spectacular in terms of size and depth and age.

more photos will come soon. right now i'm battling immunology and watching episodes of heroes, grey's anatomy, brothers and sisters, private practice, pushing daisies, big shots and some reruns of the west wing, sex and the city.

and i so need to study. reading my sister's facebook note on tokyo didn't help. ahh i wanna travel!!!