Or "Welcome!" in English if you like =) Or if Spanish isn't for you!

Edward and I took a day trip on Sunday down south, since he especially flew from U Penn, Philadelphia, we just got to explore Southern California! And even crossing the border into Tijuana, Mexico!

So 2 crazy uniform groups PAL back in the good old RI days took a run early on Sunday morning at 9am to the car rental place (after sifting out a lot of dubious companies the night before), since no public buses were easily available. Was about 5.5km I think, but we were running in our windbreakers, and it's still cold.

After getting the car... we were ready for our little exploration! Of San Diego and Tijuana!

Looming dark clouds will not stop our quest, as we drive down the Pacific Ocean coastline. Edward made a good point that the trees were purposely grown on the freeways to block out the view of the ocean because its beauty and vastness will simply distract drivers and result in accidents. But yet, glimpses of it became more valuable, and more beautiful.

Safety first. Safety first.

On impulse and unplanned (like what's new), we decided to turn into San Juan Capistrano when we saw the directional signs on the freeway, since we read a bit about the Mission in San Juan Capistrano in some of the travel guides.

Mission San Juan Capistrano is now a monument to California's multi-cultural history, embracing its Native American, Spanish, Mexican and European heritage. Originally built as a self sufficient community by Spanish Padres and Indians, the Mission was a center for agriculture, industry, education and religion. And you can even find barracks in the buildings, which goes to show how self-sufficient it was.

The old bells and its time worn paths with historical remains of the stone church were the highlight for me. Not forgetting the serenity and peace amid the 10 acres of lush gardens and cool fountains, cloistered by old adobe walls. We took a lot of pretty pics in the gardens and the stone church too! The Serra Chapel is also magnificant, a very old and traditional church, still having people praying inside in Spanish.

Me at the Mission

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Leaving the Mission behind, it's on with the adventure!

We drove down to University of California, San Diego to check out the UC by the ocean.

Desptie being a Sunday, finding legal parking on campus was no easy task. But after we did, we walked around the school and visited the school bookstore to get some souvenirs *grin*, Edward with his love for college's shotglasses and me, being sick of blue and gold T-shirts that I've been buying, got myself a cool UCSD penant.

Thanks to Photoshop, Edward and I can be in the same picture

We had lunch in the cafe in UCSD, Mexican food of course, since this is a Mexican food day. The interesting thing is that when I placed my order and was asked for my name (something like how Starbucks work), I was surprised to see how they spelt it on the receipt.

"KENITH"!

I wonder if it's my pronounication or what, but Edward thought it's pretty cool (of course, they didn't get his name wrong), and was determined to name his son that. It's like a mix between "Kenneth" and "Keith" and pretty unique. Plus the fact that if you change the "K" to a "Z", it becomes "Zenith". Well done Edward.

Imagine what stories I can tell his son about how he got his name *laughs*

"Hi Kenith, you know, your dad and I were having Mexican food one day..."

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Hitting San Diego, we went on the 59 Mile Scenic Drive, or at least try to, by following the road signs, stopping at the major attractions (or whatever catches our attention). But it's simply the beaches and the ocean. How the great waters curves the land in, making it so postcard-perfect.

Edward is especially excited by the UCSD Institute of Oceanography, wondering if he can do his graduate degree here. The institute, as you can guess, sits just beside the ocean.

Oceanography by name, Surfing school by nature.

More surfers, more oceans, more scenery. Never can get sick of them somehow. Even forgot about the 3 mid-terms next week. hmm. So many nice pics of ocean and scenery that we took, that I don't know which to choose to post up here, and it seems to be getting all cramped with pictures already.. haha.

City in the background, glimmering sea and soft white sand.

So we continued exploring San Diego, and visiting the world famous San Diego zoo. On the way though, we saw a whole lot of people wearing pink in Balboa Park, and got to realise that it was for the Breast Cancer thing, and apparently someone was going to walk/ run/ drive into the park, because literally, the streets leading into Balboa Park was lined with pink. Didn't have time to stop and wonder and wait, and this neatly sums up the problem of driving.

Before it gets too dark, we went to the famous Hotel del Coronado. You got to check out its website to believe how pretty it is.

"Rising from water's edge on the quaint island of Coronado in San Diego , the Hotel del Coronado is considered one of America 's most beautiful beach resorts... A classic historic hotel... an enchanting Victorian atmosphere... beachfront location... quintessential Southern California resort experience... for a romantic retreat, the resort's magical architecture and island setting are perfect".

And indeed, it feels like a Victorian Disneyland resort.. ermm.. if you can imagine that. =p

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Determined to have Mexican food for dinner in Mexico, we hit the roads again heading south.

Crossing the border into Tijuana, Mexico, is an amazing and disappointing experience.

Amazing because there is a structure resembling a checkpoint, but there us no one to check us and our passports. So we just drove on, and wala! We're in Mexico.

Disappointing because we so wanted to have our passports stamped as proof that we entered Mexico. *sulk*

And they say illegal immigration is a problem. I wonder why.

Anyways, entering Mexico is so fun, because suddenly everything just changes. No more the normal shops you see in US, no more orderly traffic lights and clean streets. But so much more happening and lively, people walking the streets, street-side stores vendors hawking after business. It's amazing, the experience is not unlike entering Malaysia crossing the causeway.

We parked and started walking along Revolution Avenue, the main happening street in Tijuana, amazed by the night life (with many bouncers shouting after us with promises of "sexy girls") and the many pharmacy stores. The city of cheap booze, sex and drugs here we come! Wecame across this street vendor selling tacos, whose business is so good that we had to stop and see, and ended up buying a fish taco for 1USD (they accept both peso and dollars in Tijuana, since it's so close to US borders), and it was really good! Everyone around us was like eating one after the other, and the vendor was preparing the tacos with experienced hands. The funny park was that no one seemed to be paying, but just eating! We were the only one who paid when we get out food! Our guess is that since they eat more than 1 tacos usually, they pay up after they finish their share.

Determined to try other food, we restrained from eating more than 1 taco. And we soon found ourselves in a decent looking cafe and had our dinner of tortillas and quesidallism, with a beer. And it's only 11USD in total!

We also spotted this Tequila fair. Imagine. Tequila fair!!!! where you pay 5 bucks and go in and sample all the Tequilas on exhibition there! But being good responsible drivers, we decided not to go in.

After a few hours of exploring the city, we decided to leave Mexico and back to the US. We top up our gas tank (which we later found out was about half the price compared to US) and joined the jam filled with Californian cars back across the border on this Sunday night.

So like Malaysia, we thought.

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We hit back to San Diego to check out the city's night life. Walked the streets and took many pictures of the city. I apologise for the lack of photos from Tijuana onwards cos my camera died and we relied on Edward's camera and the photos have yet to reach me.

Driving back to Irvine was not as exciting as before, because there was nothing to see in the dark. I was falling asleep at the wheel and had to have Edward take over about more than half way through.

We arrived back at our apartment at around.. what.. erm.. 3am? woohoo.

And so I end this long entry, with this meaningful goodbye.