11 Dec 2010 Miami Beach

The Miami Beach stretches for about 10 miles, which is around 16km. The weather was nice, sunny, 22 Celsius at 9am. So, we grabbed the golden opportunity to walk down the beach barefooted.

We checked out at 11am, then, walked up north to a nearby park before we caved in to the exhaustion of having a big backpack strapping on our shoulders and clumsy winter clothes clinging to our arms at 26 Celsius. We took a bus down to South Miami Beach, in the hope of having a dainty lunch before we set out for the airport. Alas, we picked the wrong restaurant. Though the seafood I had was fresh, juicy and nice, there lacked choices of beverages. The restaurant only serves coffee and canned drinks. Huh... it's kind of a big let down to not having fresh fruit juices by the seaside. When we foot the bill, it was noted that 18% gratituity was already included. Arghh...... to me, it's like a robbery in broad daylight.

Lunch: $35

We headed to the Miami International Airport at 2pm. Our 5:30pm flight to Chicago O'hare Airport was delayed to 7:30pm. When our Boeing 757 touched down at Chicago, it was snowing heavily. From a sunny 26 Celsius mode, my mood turned sullen at the black-and-white-chilly-freezingly-cold scene. A sense of helplessness and sadness swept through me. The last time I had such a feeling was on 1 Jan 2009 when I reached Chicago O'hare from London Heathrow.

Tired. Hungry. All eateries in the airport were closed at 9:30pm. We opted to take a taxi instead of the 2-hour blue-line train and #8 bus. To add salt to injury, the taxi driver barked at hubby when we paid $40.75, the exact number shown on the taxi meter. He called hubby an "ass hole".

This tipping culture is something I don't understand. I thought tips is something one give due to an outstanding service received.

Case #1:

Restaurant that serves only coffee and canned drinks adds the 18% gratituity to the dining bill. Furthermore, the waitress didn't even know what was the soup of the day. As a customer, I am upset with the limited choices of beverages and I don't think the service provided was good. Still, I was compelled to pay 18% more, as the so-called tips.

Case #2:

Hubby had to direct the taxi driver to our destination, so, the driver was just providing a normal service in which I think the taxi fare had covered his service. Out of what basis could he bark at his customers for not giving tips? To me, he needs to know the Chicago area street map before he is qualified to ask for a tips.

A student didn't study well for his exam. He got 70 marks.

1. In case #1 above, the student is entitled to get 83 marks automatically.
2. In case #2 above, the student barks at his teacher for not giving him 83 marks.

Spending of the day for 2:

Transport: $50

Food: $45

10 Dec 2010, Key West

Key West is 207km southwest of Miami, Florida and 170km northeastern of Havana, Cuba. Cayo Hueso (spanish pronunciation as kayo weso) is the original Spanish name of Key West island. It literally means "bone key". It is said that the island was littered with the remains of bones.

We signed up for a 1-day Key West tour at $75/person. Hotel pick-up at 6:30am, start the journey from Miami downtown at 8am, reach Key West at 11am. The 3-hour bus ride took us about 256 km driving distance down south across 34 islands and 42 bridges.

Witnessing the sun rising from the horizon of the Atlantic ocean while waiting for tourmates to aboard the bus.

Our tour guide, Peter.

On the way, we passed by Everglades wetlands.

Travelling down the 7-mile bridge, it seems as though we're heading to the open sea.

Oh, no! A broken bridge?!

Key Lime Pie is the specialty dish of Key West. Previously, I tasted it in a bakery, I didn't like it. Now, I taste it again at the place of origin. Still, I don't like it. It's like eating dish detergent flavoured cake.

Museum of Art and History

Hubby marvelled at the naked women at the Art Gallery.

Shopping down Duval Street.

Catching a spiderman playing a sitar by the roadside.

There are many shops selling sandals.

I'm particularly attracted to this brand: Kai-Kai.

Wearing Kai-Kai to go kai-kai.

Key West is a very small island. From the north of the island where we were dropped of, we walked 13 blocks towards south and we ended up at the south of the island.

Key West is a rather rocky island. People don't come here for the beaches. Nonetheless, there are a few stretches of sandy beaches.

Showing off my 4-month belly.

No diving sign.

Southern-most point of the continental of US, looking at the Mexican Gulf.

From the southern-most point of the US, highway #1 began with mile-zero and it leads up north to Canada.

The entrance fee to the light house is $10/person and entrance fee to the residential house of Earnest Hemingway is $12/person. Of course, cheapskate like us just snap photos outside. Hemingway's father-in-law bought this house for $ 8,000 back then. It was presented as Hemingway's wedding gift. Now, you couldn't even get it for $800,000.

It's time for lunch and we bumped into this meow-meow restaurant. I like the ambience of this cozy-little-cottage-styled eatery. We kept looking out for cats while having lunch here, but find a pet cock and 2 hens instead.

Later, I found out from Wikipedia that Earnest Hemingway owned a 6-toed cat, also called a polydactyl cat.

Lobster salad. Yum...yum...

Tuna sandwich ordered by Hubby is very dry.
It's actually a tuna patty sandwiched between breads, not the real slice of tuna.

We strolled around the rich neighbourhood after lunch. In this little island, we noticed that there are some very dilapidated houses. There's a stark contrast between the rich and the poor between the 13 blocks.

This is the winter house of the president.
It reminds me of the 避暑山庄 of the emperors in China.

We had plenty of time to kill in Key West because we didn't participate in any of the water activities, such as snorkeling, parasailing, boating and kayaking. To me, engaging in water activities at this 20-ish Celsius temperature was deemed cold. I clung to my jacket all the time. The turquiose and cystal clear water was no doubt very tempting, but the desire to change into a bathing suit was daunted by the cold wind.

At 3pm, we were basking in the afternoon sun, waiting to witness the magnificent sunset at 5:30pm. We waived to the passengers onboard a cruise ship to bid them farewell as the ship slowly departed the dock.

We tried the Conch fritters. Conch is pronounced as "konk", it's a type of seafood, a type of 海螺. Key West island is also known as the Conch island. In 1982, it declared independence from the US and announced the island as the Conch Republic. However, this self-declared republic has never been formally recognized worldwide.

Arts performance at Mallory Square.

Sunset at Mallory Square.

We began our journey back to Miami at 5:45pm. We reached our hotel at 9:30pm. Well, one $-) thing about travelling in the US is, you have to pay a 15% tips to the bus driver and the tour guide at the end of the trip. We paid willingly as we have had a smooth and safe ride.

Spending of the day for 2:

Key West 1-day Tour: $172

Food: $63

Miscellaneous: $10

9 Dec 2010, Bayside Market

Woke up to find it raining and windy. We stayed in Days Inn Ocean Front, which is situated in a not-so happening street. However, I like the location as there are grocery stores around the corner. Furthermore, microwave is provided in the hotel room.

So, we "ting" our leftovers in the microwave and that was our breakfast. Then, we began our first exploratory day on foot and by bus. We bought a 1-day pass at $5/person. Since it's raining, we visited the Bayside Market first, then only we strolled along the happening streets at Miami South Beach.

It took an hour of bus ride to reach the Bayside Market. By the time we reached there, it had ceased raining.

Lunch: $17

In the food court at the Bayside Market, I was delighted to find a fish-like fish. It's kind of difficult to find a whole fish on a dining table in the US. Without doubt, I ordered this snapper. What they did was to grill the fish dry-dry on butter+garlic powder+cheese+seasoning. Though it's kind of "wasted", it's still delicious.

We had our fishy lunch at the food court that overlooks the pier.

After lunch, we took a bus to South Miami Beach. We took the wrong bus, ending up we had to walk a few streets to the shopping district, Lincoln Mall. However, we enjoyed the architecture of the colourful houses. With coconut trees around, I find the place very similar to Penang; with palm trees around, it has the ambiance of the Middle East.

Interesting Christmas setting, with palm trees and pine trees.

I thought Lincoln Mall is a mall. Well, it's not. The pedestrian street with rows of shop houses on both sides of the street is the Lincoln Mall. It's akin to the 南京步行街 in Shanghai.

This boutique is decorated with hundreds of real sewing-machines. At the centre of the shop, there is a huge antique textile machine.

At the end of the day, both of us were too tired to dine in a restaurant. We ta-pao "economy rice" from a grocery store. The yellow rice, spiced with unknown herbs, was very tasty. The "beef curry with potato" turned out to be stew beef in tomato sauce.

Spending of the day for 2:

• Transport: $ 10
• Food: $41
• Internet: $1