USA Trip Day 12 - 15 Sep 2014 - LA Hotel (Stay on Main / Hotel Cecil)

Oh Heat Wave! Why you no go away! Why must you visit LA, while we were there only for a short 4 days?!  The lack of air-con in our room made it worse! We kept taking a shower when the heat got too much for us too handle. 

Initially, the room I booked didn't even have an attached bathroom.  I realized it when I read the confirmation email. So immediately I cancelled my booking and made a new reservation for a room with private bathroom, for extra charge.  Thank god I did that. Otherwise, I can't imagine how bad our stay could have become. Can I just share a bit about our hotel / hostel?

Stay On Main (Old Name: Hotel Cecil)

+ Great location downtown (convenient to buy food and take public transport)
+ Affordable rates
+ Grand lobby
+ Free iMac in the lobby

- Can be scary location too with homeless, the city's worst drug addicts and most destitute citizens, typical of DTLA 
- Foreboding past with haunted stories and murder cases (Mister wisely kept this history from me and only told me after we checked out.  Otherwise, I don't think I could have lasted all 5 days there)
- NO AIR-CONDITIONING
- Horrible drainage in our private bathroom
- Rooms are not sound-proof, so if your neighbors are night owls, good luck to you
- Extremely noisy with police sirens

USA Trip Day 11 - 14 Sep 2014 - Sightseeing & Shopping in Vegas

Since we toured a great deal of distance on foot the previous day, we were exhausted and woke up late.  We checked out, left luggages at the reception and took an airport shuttle bus from our hotel, to pick up our rental Nissan around 10 am.  

Our first stop (after getting some drinks and bread from a mart) was the renowned "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign. Did you know that it is a self-sustaining neon sign with its own solar panel?

A prefect example of the golden age of neon signs 

USA Trip Day 10 - 13 Sep 2014 - Grand Canyon Day Tour

Being one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, Grand Canyon has been in our bucket list for a long time. Since we were already so close to Arizona, we decided to visit this 227-miles long, up to 18-miles wide and over 1-mile deep canyon.  It was awe-inspiring to witness 2 billion years of the Earth's geological history, represented as neat layers of the canyon in this nature park. 

USA Trip Day 9 - 12 Sep 2014 - Vegas Baby!

As soon as we landed in the Vegas airport, we were amused to find slot machines in the waiting area, next to the boarding gates.  

No question about it. This is indeed Vegas!