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Tuesday, August 11, 2009

To dad: Day 1 @ Phoenix

As much as we can, if we're not immensely tired and when we have internet connection, we'll try to update you on our daily activities I guess.

let us tell you how today went. we were planning to go to the river and do the activity of 'tubing' (saltrivertubing.com), which is going slowly down the river on a float. but we could only go there by taking a cab. so we took the train right to the end of the line, which is the nearest to go to the river, we estimated. and then we called the cab from there. they told us they'd arrive in about 20 minutes but in the end, it was like 40 minutes. we nearly wanted to leave when the taxi wasn't arriving in the last minute but it did. and it seems he tried to cheat us by tampering with the meter. that's what mum suspected as she saw him holding and pressing something and she said the meter figures jumped. i thought it was really strange too as the meter was running super fast like you wouldn't believe it. as fast as those machines at the arcade or like, jackpot machine or something. anyway, the rate was $3/mile (there was a poster of the rates posted on the dashboard) but it seemed more than that. and we were in a suspicious mood as the hotel receptionist told us it was $2/mile. When we were in the cab and saw the meter price skyrocketing, we asked the driver to give us an estimate of how much it will be to go to the river and he said about $60plus and above (and he didn't seem sure of the direction even after he called the place, and many people had already told us it was out of the way), so we decided to go to the city area instead, to the Heard museum (largest display of native american arts and culture). It took like, about 20 minutes to travel to the museum. All the time in the cab we were wondering if he was taking the longer route on the highway, and voicing our trepedition in chinese (mummy can speak chinese in times of need you know). and then the last 5 minutes, around the time when we saw the meter go past the $40 mark(and we were voicing out in chinese about the crazy price), mum asked the driver how long more till we were there. The driver said '3 minutes' and then he suddenly turned out of the highway. And then after 3 minutes, mum said she wanted to just stop at a nearby shopping mall even though the driver told us we'll be there in a minute. And then I argued a bit with mum and said let's just continue ahead to the museum and she just shouted 'NO!' It was super loud in the cab. Mum was really thirsty at that time becase we had waited around very long for the cab and she is a water buffalo i tell you. And the city is very very hot. So anyway, after she shouted, there was like, a minute of silence in the cab. Then i said, "let's just go to the museum, we're here already." so we got to the museum and the meter was $51. then the cab driver told us he could just pay $40 as he would go by the $2/mile rate which we asked him about while on the way. So anyway, we went in the museum and immediately looked around to buy drinks. The only place was a cafe (which looked like a restaurant) which only opened at 11am, and it was 10.30am. Mum kept saying she didn't want to eat at a restaurant and pay tips so we walked out of the museum. and then it seemed no shops were outside, it was like we were in a private neighbourhood. then she started walking away from me very fast while i was looking at the map in the guidebook and i just followed behind after her and kept quiet, knowing she was angry and ready to quarrel with me any moment. we walked for about 5 minutes plus and then asked a local where was the nearest shopping mall or supermarket or something. They said it was about 3 blocks away, and took some time to get there. then i told mum why don't we go back to the museum's cafe since it was about the same distance, and i really wanted to visit the museum and since we got all the way here from that $40 taxi fare. and she finally agreed. so we walked all the way back and it so happened it was exactly 11am, so we were the first customers at the cafe. We had chicken salad for lunch and then went in the museum. We spent about 2 hours there. then we wanted to go downtown and the shopping center area and whenever we walked outside, it was SUPER HOT. It's impossible to walk comfortably for about 10 minutes. We took the metro train (like MRT) to downtown and found our way to the Arizona center shopping area under the hot sun. Whenever we're outside walking around and not indoors in Phoenix, the weather is really torturous. I think even Singapore's weather is more bearable than this. the AZ centre was disappointing. too little shops and run-down. So after browsing around for a while, we crossed the road to check out this old church which i read in the guidebook. took pictures inside, quite beautiful. and then walked back to the metro because we were feeling too darn hot to do anything. My original plan for our itinerary was to walk around the city and check out some buildings, but it's really impossible. the weather is SUPER HOT and mum is really a water buffalo, she is thristy every 10 minutes. seriously, no joke. and she was carrying one of my bags which had food and shoes inside so i felt really bad, she really seemed to be suffering. She said she wanted to just go back to the hotel and relax so I said ok lor. before we went back, we stopped at subway to buy drinks because there were seriously no supermarkets around at all. if we wanted to find one, we had to walk there for some distance (a local told us). It seemed not only is Phoenix superhot, it's unfriendly as everywhere a person has to walk. What's more is that throughout the day when we asked anyone for directions, they were not locals. And the city is really quiet, it seemed like it's a public holiday or something (but we found out because the locals are hiding out from the heat while we 2 clowns are walking around in the afternoon) , but it's not. the city doesn't impress us both at all. so we took the train back. back at the hotel room, i called around trying to book transport and accommodation for flagstaff tomorrow. i was finally able to book a private room at a hostel in flagstaff. it was the last room. it's so funny, i shall tell you more next time. I nearly booked at a motel but the line suddenly got cut off so i tried the hostel again (i had tried 2 times before but no one answered), and got the room. then i told mum that actually i wanted to visit the botanical gardens here at phoenix then she agreed to go. we asked the front deak for directions and a hotel driver standing there said he could take us there for 'free' but that we could tip him as well. It took about 10 mins plus for the journey there and we paid him $10. We hung out at the gardens for close to an hour and managed to catch the sunset :) then we walked out just as it was getting dark and walked along the highway to find the 'city', where it was busy and where there were shops. the first alive place we came across (after passing all these car shops) was a petrol shop. we bought drinks and ice-cream there and asked for directions to the metro again from a couple of locals. the locals said it was quite far, 5 miles. and then while talking to one of the locals, he said he could give us a ride to our hotel as it was on his way, to the airport. i was against it and tell mum let's go now and walk to the metro. then the local told us he was a taxi driver and was refueling his car which we saw was true. then we asked how much he charged. then he said $10. mum asked how about $5. he agreed (he wanted to give us a free ride at first, remember?) so it wasn't strange. he sent us back to our hotel. he was from africa and has been here for 4 years. he told us he is working hard to support his 5 siblings who are all college graduates. he was a really nice and sincere guy. we got safely to our airport and settled in, having the korean cup noodles again for dinner (even though we weren't hungry) and talking about our strang day in Phoenix. haha. you could say we learned a lot of things from today. just one day and you learn a lot. (we also learned there are generally certain types of people who take the train, single tattooed men, old men, homeless people, and who are in the streets wandering in the daytime as well, so we must always keep and eye out and be wary of them)

is this update good enough for you? and you didn't go to work today? feeling unwell? mum says don't fall sick, you can only fall sick when she's there then she'll fall sick with you and you both can go for vacation together.

Reply back your comments. thanks.

PS: I'm just on google maps now and found out the biggest joke of the day is that the distance from the Mesa train station (where we first got off today) to the river is just 0.4 miles different that from the station to the Heard museum. wtf.

take care,
Mum (sleeping now cuz my email is too long) and yuen hee.

Uni is a reader.
4:10 PM