Tuesday, May 15, 2007

day 2 at anaheim!!
here's where we stayed in anaheim last last weekend. it's funny how we only checked in to the hotel at around midnight (coz we left disneyland at about 11+)!

the other half and i on an orange county bus! it is quite interesting how the public bus transport system works in california. each district independantly maintains/operates a few buses (giving rise to different bus fares for the different bus sub-systems), in addition to those that are managed by los angeles' main bus/rail operator, the metro (which serves all districts). apart from the OC buses, i have sat on the santa monica "big blue buses" and the culver city buses. of the 3, i think the santa monica "big blue buses" are the most comfortable and the most punctual:)

::crystal cathedral::
i got to know about the crystal cathedral when i came across its advertisement on a tourism brochure. i found it quite unusual to see how a church was advertising itself as a tourist attraction - so the other half and i decided to go check it out. it was only after that i realized how famous the crystal cathedral is! i was somewhat disappointed by the sermon though. nevertheless, it was interesting and encouraging to see how sermons held in the crystal cathedral were broadcast in so many countries across europe, the americas and asia - and to hear people from various countries share about how they were saved by Christ after listening to these sermons.

the crystal cathedral (on the left) and its tower of hope (on the right) - exuded sheer grandeur and opulence. it was just amazing! the other half and i were awe-struck. yet at the same time, we felt that such extravagance wasn't quite appropriate for a church. kinda reminded us of cityharvest back home. but seriously, there is probably no basis for comparison!

the entrance of the crystal cathedral

if the exterior of the crystal cathedral doesn't impress u, the interior definitely would!! doesnt it look like an indoor theatre/stadium eh? madness!

look at the giant projection screens and the huge seating capacity! there's also the tinted crystal walls, which only allow some sunlight to penetrate through - thus enabling the maintenance of a very comfortable temperature range within the cathedral:)

i have never seen such enormous church organ pipes before!

even the musicians are dressed to the nines - in suits and bow-ties!!


the surroundings within church grounds and the row of perfectly manicured trees, which delineates the church boundaries.

water fountains and very well-maintained flora and fauna aplenty - in the church's memorial garden

here's a sculpture of job in the memorial garden


more sculptures, depicting various characters and stories from the bible!

the church also provides a buggy service - ferrying people between the cathedral and the carpark/the busstop outside the church! woah.

::anaheim indoor marketplace::
anaheim marketplace claims to be OC's largest swapmart (something like a flea market)! interestingly, the people there were mainly mexicans/hispanics!

there were so many shops there and there were just so many things to see!! however, it did help that the layout of the indoor market was very organized - each shop was labelled in order, according to its row (in alphabets) and column (in numbers). but after a while, a lot of the shops sold the same stuff. doesnt it look (and sound) like mahboonkrong in bangkok?

catering to the crowd - mexican food galore!!

for lunch, i had fish burrito, while the other half enjoyed a beef terriyaki rice set! we also tried a traditional mexican drink called chata - which was the mexican version of milk tea, but we didnt like it, coz of there was a very strong taste of spices!

::newport beach::


newport beach - where the popular tv drama, the OC was filmed!

the beautiful beach - with people happily basking in the sun! but do not be fooled - it was quite chilly actually, coz of the strong winds!

me at the newport pier...

which is also where newport's fire dept/lifeguard hq is located!


lots of seagulls hovering around the US flag atop the tower on the pier..

interesting sign on the ground, along the pier


interesting shops along newport beach - surf shops, and cafes/diners/pubs galore!! oh yes..the people in newport party even during the day! haha. i couldnt resist taking a photo of a newport law firm - i didnt take of the building though, coz it was just a nondescript plain white one


the silhouette of a ship outside the shop looks quite cool! look closer - is it a shadow or mural?

the original plan was to visit newport beach's fashion island, but we realized we didnt have enough time (no thanks to all the confusion caused by the wrong directions given by different busdrivers/passerbys and the low frequency of the buses):( thus, we decided to head back to newport beach area. incidentally, we alighted at triangle square, a small shopping complex at costa mesa (just outside newport beach). to make the best of the situation, we went to explore the place!


waiting for the bus to bring us back to newport beach


back at the newport beach area..
the balboa peninsula (which is part of newport beach) features the world famous surfing spot, "the wedge"!

beautiful waterfront homes in newport beach's very expensive residential areas

the long journey back to home sweet home - we took the metro rail, which runs along cars on the roads! that explains the need for road signs to warn cars to "watch out for trains"..