ANASI in Las Vegas
Friday, November 9, 2007
We’re expecting Ed to pick us up today for our trip to Las Vegas so we woke up early and headed to Luisa & Son’s to get some meryenda for the 4 hour trip. Donna bought several empanadas, a boxful of varied flavors of ensaymada and some hopya. When we got home, we ate a little bit and Ed came a while later.
Since this was around noon, traffic on the freeway was still going by pretty fast. There were a lot of cars but most of us are going around 75 mph. We were in communication with the folks coming from San Diego as well as Kong Paing who’s already at his house in Las Vegas. He drove up with Atching Let the night before.
We pulled over by the Barstow Outlets to wait for Pids Rivera who’s driving from San Diego. He’s with Renato Alzadon and his wife Jeanette, who’re visiting from Maryland. Pids, Ed, Cong Paing, RBA (short for Renato B. Alzadon) are all members of ANASI and the Las Vegas trip was going to be a get-together/brainstorming meeting kind of a gathering.
When they arrived, Donna’s empanadas and ensaymada were a welcome treat. It turned out there aren’t too many Filipino stores and restaurants back in Baltimore. After resting up a bit and gassing up, we continued on our trip to Las Vegas. Cong Paing called warning us not to eat on the road since Atching Let prepared a lot of food for us.
When we arrived, dinner was indeed waiting for us – shrimps, chicken, tilapia, chop suey and for dessert we have cassava cake. It’s as if Atching Let was expecting a huge party!
Pids brought his Magic Mike with him so we tried our best impersonations of our favorite singers and/or bands. RBA surprised the heck out of everyone on his prowess at Karaoke! He's not just a great poet but a good singer as well!
After dinner, I took everyone back to the strip. This was RBA and Jeanette’s first trip to Vegas and she was obviously in awe. It’s refreshing to see someone so excited about the place. I imagine for someone who’s never been, Las Vegas can be an exciting place to see for the first time. She’s heard of the various hotels and resort casinos so she said she wanted to see Bellagio first. The weather was great, it was a cool night and since it’s a long weekend, a lot of people are walking around. She was overwhelmed by the dancing fountains reaching up to dizzying heights, swaying and swirling to the beat of the music.
And then it was time to the mighty fury of the Mirage volcano. Since they really didn’t experience Mt. Pinatubo eruption up close, the natural gas induced flames of the faux volcano was just as awesome.
When they felt they’ve had enough for the night, we headed on home. But it wasn’t sleep for the ANASI boys by any means. We talked about life in general and mainly discussed ways on how to save the Capampangan language. RBA suggested a compromise on the 'C' and 'Q' versus 'K' orthography wherein all Capampangan words with 'que' or 'qui' will be replaced by 'k' and all words with 'c' will remain as is. It was the consensus of the group to call it the Alzadon Orthography from now on. Cong Paing brought out a Capampangan magazine called Susi and in it are several Capampangan poems, a few of which he wrote himself. We all got carried away with the lively discourse because it was already 4 a.m. by the time we all turned in!
Saturday, November 10
Ed prepared his usual heavy breakfast of fried rice, daing bangus and other good stuff. They weren’t quite done with the ANASI discussion and I was tasked with taking the girls shopping. So I took them to the other end of the strip towards Las Vegas Outlet Center, formerly Belz Outlet. Atching Let and Jeanette were able to pick up some stuff. Jeanette got a few things to bring back to her boys back in Baltimore. They bought enough things that they didn’t find it necessary to go to the Primm Outlet stores by stateline. I then took them home to find the boys all refreshed from their naps. We had a quick lunch and then Donna and I checked in at Harrah’s. We gave them a tour and they took advantage of the sunlight to take some great pictures of Las Vegas, this time during the day.
That night we took our East Coast tourists to window shop at Caesar’s Forum shops and the Grand Canals of the Venetian.
Below are pictures of Jeanette and Donna with a couple of Caesar's Palace's gladiators.
Cong Paing made a deal with a sketch artist so he can sketch Jeanette for free. He and the Chinese artist sketched each other before he sketched Jeanette though.
Someone has told Jeanette that she must visit Hoover Dam while she’s in Las Vegas so I promised to take them tomorrow.
Sunday, November 11
Cong Paing and Aching Let picked us up from Harrah’s so we can all go to church at the Shrine of the Holy Redeemer. We then had lunch buffet at nearby Luxor. Ed and Pids took care of RBA’s accommodations reservations at the Travelodge because everyone else is leaving by tomorrow. RBA and Jeanette’s flight back to Baltimore won’t be till Wednesday.
It was already almost 4 by the time they got home so it was already dark when we arrived at Hoover Dam. They still enjoyed the immensity of the dam, however. This was my first time to visit it at night. Cong Paing and Ate Let were going back to LA today but he talked her into going with us to Hoover Dam.
On the way back we had dinner at DJ’s Bibingkahan and Jeanette shopped at Goldilock’s across the street. She bought a bunch of ensaymada and other goodies. Like I mentioned above, there aren’t too many Filipino stores and restaurants back from they live.
Cong Paing and Ate Let dropped me off at Harrah’s and then they went home. They decided to leave for LA in the morning.
Monday, November 12
Ed picked us up from Harrah’s. He got there while Donna and I were having breakfast. He and Pids have already assisted RBA and wife in checking in at the Travelodge. He said Cong Paing and Ate Let left at dawn because he has an art student coming and she has a doctor’s appointment I believe.
We’re expecting Ed to pick us up today for our trip to Las Vegas so we woke up early and headed to Luisa & Son’s to get some meryenda for the 4 hour trip. Donna bought several empanadas, a boxful of varied flavors of ensaymada and some hopya. When we got home, we ate a little bit and Ed came a while later.
Since this was around noon, traffic on the freeway was still going by pretty fast. There were a lot of cars but most of us are going around 75 mph. We were in communication with the folks coming from San Diego as well as Kong Paing who’s already at his house in Las Vegas. He drove up with Atching Let the night before.
We pulled over by the Barstow Outlets to wait for Pids Rivera who’s driving from San Diego. He’s with Renato Alzadon and his wife Jeanette, who’re visiting from Maryland. Pids, Ed, Cong Paing, RBA (short for Renato B. Alzadon) are all members of ANASI and the Las Vegas trip was going to be a get-together/brainstorming meeting kind of a gathering.
When they arrived, Donna’s empanadas and ensaymada were a welcome treat. It turned out there aren’t too many Filipino stores and restaurants back in Baltimore. After resting up a bit and gassing up, we continued on our trip to Las Vegas. Cong Paing called warning us not to eat on the road since Atching Let prepared a lot of food for us.
When we arrived, dinner was indeed waiting for us – shrimps, chicken, tilapia, chop suey and for dessert we have cassava cake. It’s as if Atching Let was expecting a huge party!
Pids brought his Magic Mike with him so we tried our best impersonations of our favorite singers and/or bands. RBA surprised the heck out of everyone on his prowess at Karaoke! He's not just a great poet but a good singer as well!
After dinner, I took everyone back to the strip. This was RBA and Jeanette’s first trip to Vegas and she was obviously in awe. It’s refreshing to see someone so excited about the place. I imagine for someone who’s never been, Las Vegas can be an exciting place to see for the first time. She’s heard of the various hotels and resort casinos so she said she wanted to see Bellagio first. The weather was great, it was a cool night and since it’s a long weekend, a lot of people are walking around. She was overwhelmed by the dancing fountains reaching up to dizzying heights, swaying and swirling to the beat of the music.
And then it was time to the mighty fury of the Mirage volcano. Since they really didn’t experience Mt. Pinatubo eruption up close, the natural gas induced flames of the faux volcano was just as awesome.
When they felt they’ve had enough for the night, we headed on home. But it wasn’t sleep for the ANASI boys by any means. We talked about life in general and mainly discussed ways on how to save the Capampangan language. RBA suggested a compromise on the 'C' and 'Q' versus 'K' orthography wherein all Capampangan words with 'que' or 'qui' will be replaced by 'k' and all words with 'c' will remain as is. It was the consensus of the group to call it the Alzadon Orthography from now on. Cong Paing brought out a Capampangan magazine called Susi and in it are several Capampangan poems, a few of which he wrote himself. We all got carried away with the lively discourse because it was already 4 a.m. by the time we all turned in!
Saturday, November 10
Ed prepared his usual heavy breakfast of fried rice, daing bangus and other good stuff. They weren’t quite done with the ANASI discussion and I was tasked with taking the girls shopping. So I took them to the other end of the strip towards Las Vegas Outlet Center, formerly Belz Outlet. Atching Let and Jeanette were able to pick up some stuff. Jeanette got a few things to bring back to her boys back in Baltimore. They bought enough things that they didn’t find it necessary to go to the Primm Outlet stores by stateline. I then took them home to find the boys all refreshed from their naps. We had a quick lunch and then Donna and I checked in at Harrah’s. We gave them a tour and they took advantage of the sunlight to take some great pictures of Las Vegas, this time during the day.
That night we took our East Coast tourists to window shop at Caesar’s Forum shops and the Grand Canals of the Venetian.
Below are pictures of Jeanette and Donna with a couple of Caesar's Palace's gladiators.
Cong Paing made a deal with a sketch artist so he can sketch Jeanette for free. He and the Chinese artist sketched each other before he sketched Jeanette though.
Someone has told Jeanette that she must visit Hoover Dam while she’s in Las Vegas so I promised to take them tomorrow.
Sunday, November 11
Cong Paing and Aching Let picked us up from Harrah’s so we can all go to church at the Shrine of the Holy Redeemer. We then had lunch buffet at nearby Luxor. Ed and Pids took care of RBA’s accommodations reservations at the Travelodge because everyone else is leaving by tomorrow. RBA and Jeanette’s flight back to Baltimore won’t be till Wednesday.
It was already almost 4 by the time they got home so it was already dark when we arrived at Hoover Dam. They still enjoyed the immensity of the dam, however. This was my first time to visit it at night. Cong Paing and Ate Let were going back to LA today but he talked her into going with us to Hoover Dam.
On the way back we had dinner at DJ’s Bibingkahan and Jeanette shopped at Goldilock’s across the street. She bought a bunch of ensaymada and other goodies. Like I mentioned above, there aren’t too many Filipino stores and restaurants back from they live.
Cong Paing and Ate Let dropped me off at Harrah’s and then they went home. They decided to leave for LA in the morning.
Monday, November 12
Ed picked us up from Harrah’s. He got there while Donna and I were having breakfast. He and Pids have already assisted RBA and wife in checking in at the Travelodge. He said Cong Paing and Ate Let left at dawn because he has an art student coming and she has a doctor’s appointment I believe.
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