seventy-two hours in d.c.

its tuesday and sixty hours since i arrived in washington d.c.

i wasn't exactly looking forward to this trip, as it was typical of all work trips - touch down, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting, leave for home. but with twelve hours left before i fly twenty odd hours across the pacific home, i must admit that the past sixty hours have been pretty good.

i never knew of any other cherry blossom festival besides that in japan, but apparently, every year the first two weeks of april is national cherry blossom festival here in d.c.. history has it that the festival annually commemorates the 1912 gift to the city of washington of 3,000 cherry trees from mayor yukio ozaki of tokyo to enhance the growing friendship between the usa and japan. i was treated to an explosion of life and color surrounding the jefferson memorial on the tidal basin. with a band playing in the background and people kicking back on the grass amongst the sea of pink and white trees, it was truly a different sight and vibe from the last time i was at the basin in 2000. spent a good half hour soaking in the sun and sights, and suddenly the fatigue from the long flight and long week from before all seemed to disappear. although still camera-less, i did manage to get a picture, thanks to a borrowed camera..so till i get sent the photo, the one i swiped of the national cherry blossom festival website will have to do!

(just received the pic via email so here's the promised piccie!)

the first day of work went by quite quickly...highlight of the day i guess would be the power hour of shopping i managed to squeeze in at the white flint mall. it wasn't a huge mall so with only an hour to spare, i stayed focused and gunned for the gap, h&m, borders and banana republic. would have been great if american eagle outfitters was open and there was a jcrew and aerospostale (yup, all dia's favourite american shops), but it was all good. got some barang on sale so felt quite accomplished, minus a pair of really nice shoes that were still too expensive even on sale at banana republic, and a brown and pink bikini at h&m (told myself i have too many bikinis already although i've now made a mental note to look out for something similar!).

dinner was yummy warm apple crisp at the cheesecake factory. it was a fantastic (and huge) potion of apple stewed in yummy cinnamon, warmed up to the right temperature, with a never-ending layer of delicious crispy nutty crumble topping and two generous scoops of vanilla ice-cream. the cheesecake factory it might have been but this dessert was in the 'some of our specialties' page, i could not refuse! ahh...it was bliss! this definitely makes an entry with three-and-a-half scoopies in my personal makansutra for dessert ")

the cheesecake factory

white flint
11301 rockville pike, north bethesda, MD 20895
(301) 770 0999
www.cheesecakefactory.com

day two's highlight was probably lunch and supermarket shopping at the navy exchange. decided to try the new chicken wrap at mcDonald's and for us$1.29 it was a good alternative to the usual quarter pounder and mcchicken. too bad they weren't serving the brekkie menu or i would have had the biscuits or mcgriddle!

got cheap glucosamine and chocolates from the exchange as well, and it reminded me how much i miss supermarket shopping in the us. so do make it a point to check out at least one supermarket or hypermart like target & walmart where you can pretty much get anything and everything!

that pretty much sums up my sixty odd hours here in d.c.
dinner on day two was korean and managed maybe half a chopstick with regards to dia's makansutra rating so whoever's reading, be patient and a possible review for an outstanding korean joint should be upcoming

akan datang yah?