Tag: Dallas

Hawthorne Suites by Wyndham/Love Field Airport – Dallas, Texas

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Before I move onto the confectionery that I bought in Dallas (will be in a future post), I’m going to first post about the hotel Miss Pinky and I stayed at.

First of all, it is in a very good location. It’s located about 25 minutes by car from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and about 10-15 minutes depending on traffic from Dallas Love Field Airport. Not a bad location at all.
Outside Hawthorne Suites

The apartment / suite they gave us was very satisfying!! There were two queen beds as I had requested in a non-smoking apartment. One bed was downstairs (the bed below is the one I slept in) and there was one upstairs, but Miss Pinky asked me not to take a picture until later (when she tidied up!)…


Downstairs bed
So here’s the stairs instead.
The stairs

There were two bathrooms!! Two!! Wow. I feel like I’m in someone’s house. Didn’t take a picture of Miss Pinky’s… She was too busy telling me not to take pictures…

My bathroom area

We had a small kitchen, but I forgot to take a picture of that. It has a microwave. An electric stove with an oven. Kitchen sink. And there was a massive fridge and freezer. You can even make ice in the freezer by pulling the lever up. An ok kitchen, but it needed bigger pots and pans. A toaster is available, as a coffee machine… But there’s no kettle!!


Here’s the desk by the door.
Desk by the door

And here’s the outside near the entrance. There’s a free shuttle service which you would need to notify the reception an hour ahead or the night before, that you need to use it. They only cover a 5-mile radius. So find out where you need to go first!!


Parking area


The shuttle


Bus stop 526 – there is another one further up the road

Food there was not the best I’m afraid even if it is free. I advise to actually go and find food. American breakfast is not my thing. Biscuit, sausages and egg (scrambled or boiled). Waffles you have to make yourself… And they also have cereals! The coffee is the best stuff they’ve got by the way. I think they have a routine of what they serve for dinner every week, like pizza on Monday, pasta on Tuesday, fried chicken on Wednesday. Main dinners are served only on Monday’s to Thursday’s. You will need to find food from Friday to Sunday!! If you like walking I advise to go to Pappy’s or the McDonald’s… It’s about a 15 minute walk to either place! Otherwise take the bus or a get a taxi.


Wi-fi was excellent! But you may have to enter the password from now and then. So remember the password!!

Laundry service – there’s only 2 washing machines and 2 dryers. Washing machine costs US $1.75 and drying costs US $1.50.

Parking is free I think and there’s a small swimming pool plus a tennis court!

So all in all, it was a satisfying stay. The noise level was a little bad. We had some noisy weekend stayers partying, mockingbirds that would not be quiet throughout a few nights (use ear plugs), and you will also get to hear a few toilet flushes from somewhere! all the piping is connected.

Also house-keeping is usually every 2-3 days… So don’t expect a clean apartment after you have been out all day long…

Buses: 404, 526 and 527
Nearest train station: Inwood / Love Field (take the 404 or 526)

Address: 7900 Brookriver Drive, Dallas, TX 75247 United States
Telephone: 1-214-688-1010

Dallas, Texas – Day 14: An almost nightmare journey home

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Friday 19th April – Final, Final Day!!

First we got up early. I had thought we were going to have breakfast at reception, but we didn’t go… That was good because I didn’t really want to eat the food there… We had already booked the shuttle for 9 am that morning, and so we was all ready to go!!

We got to Love Field airport within 10 minutes! Hawthorne Suites is THAT close to the local airport!! We could’ve walked it Miss Pinky  said… ¬,¬” We checked in. Miss Pinky had overweight luggage again. Went through security and sat in the only cafe in the airport where I had a coffee and a not so good tuna salad sandwich and listening to the news about Boston. Miss Pinky had a problem with her luggage, so she had to back to the luggage area. Apparently her padlock was not safe for the flight… How can that be? She flew to Dallas with it on there!!
Inside Dallas Love Field Airport
Suddenly we then heard our flight was cancelled. What?! Not again… This happened when we was in Dublin but that was with BA!! Reason for this flight cancellation: bad weather conditions around Houston. ¬,¬ This isn’t funny!!


We had to change our entire flight plan and had to go to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport… At least we won’t be in Houston Airport. ¬,¬” This flight was going to Newark Airport, then from there we would get our connecting flight to London. We took a taxi from Love Field with another person who was supposed to take the same flight… Unfortunately I think we were cheated with the taxi fare, because the driver forgot to put his meter on, and charged us US $25 each person!!! Huh?!! Blimey! Not taking that taxi ever again! 😛

We checked in AGAIN! Flight to Newark was cancelled AGAIN – so it was another FLIGHT CHANGE AGAIN! How many flight changes do we need?!!! Not impressed UNITED Airlines!!!
At Dallas Fort Worth International Airport


I like this poster!! Reminds me of the courses I have been going on…!!
Miss Pinky then had something to eat. Some sort of Chinese food. Seriously, Dallas doesn’t have the greatest Chinese food I’m afraid… 😦
Miss Pinky had food from here


Doesn’t look like Chinese food… Fusion food maybe?!
It was then time to board the flight. The guy who was calling out for us to board shouted at the flight number rather than the flight time… Confusing!! Before boarding, a lot of people were surrounding the area because this flight was a cancelled flight and then replaced with another flight for a later time. 

We sat in very comfortable seats. It was probably one of the best flights throughout the trip. But the bad thing about this flight are the TV screens, you had to pay to view on this very short flight. I fell asleep for a few seconds with my earphones plugged in. But I couldn’t get back to sleep afterwards because I was hungry! I purchased a Thai Tortilla Wrap for US $7 I think (approx. £5). Yes purchased! No freebies on this flight. What the heck..! We also had TV screens at the back of the seat, but we had to pay to watch a film… So I sat there listening to my music. I think this was a type of flight like easyJet. You had to pay for everything. UNITED flights are not really consistent are they?!! No. They are not!! 
Sky, clouds and plane wing from the first flight back home


My food – it had a lot of vegetables in it!
We landed in Newark 2-3 hours later… I didn’t realise we were going to be in the New York area because I didn’t know where Newark is. But I knew we were heading for the East Coast of America… And I saw the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty from the air! ^_^ Need a closer look in the nearest future!!

As soon as we got off, we headed towards our next gate to see if it was the one we were supposed to be at. It was! Yay!! No flight cancellations there. Then before that, we ate at Wok and Roll, which is in Terminal C around the food court. I had sushi and dumplings. The people there spoke in Cantonese. I was so happy! 😀 I think the guy on the other side was also happy!!
Sushi and dumplings from Wok and Roll!!! Yay!!! Proper food!!! ^_^


Wok and Roll in the back
I was looking at Ben and Jerry’s, and I really wanted ice cream. I think the service in this place wasn’t great but they tried… It’s because I didn’t know what to order…
My chocolate ice cream… I was now satisfied!
Then it was time to fly again. We weren’t seated together for some reason and we hadn’t realise we were in separate seats. There was an empty seat next to me, but the other lady at the end seemed to have hogged that middle seat so I didn’t get Miss Pinky to sit with me… Plus the lady in front of me kept sneezing and coughing too… I think Miss Pinky wasn’t able to maneuver much in her seat unfortunately… but she sat next to a nice person who talked with her… This flight was the best out of all the flights because there was a touchscreen TV screen at the back of the seat, which was free of course! However the food was DISGUSTING!! The chicken I had was overcooked. The vegetables were ok. But unfortunately the rice or pasta that came with it was not cooked long enough. It was practically raw. I left it… Didn’t have the breakfast either… Bleuh.
From the second flight
We finally landed! Thankfully the European queue for passport checks was on the quiet side… And then we went home!! 😀

I have missed London public transport!

End of Day 14.

Pointers for staying in Dallas:
1. Have US money changed at any high street exchange place from your home country… It’s hard to find an exchange place in town
2. Purchase a weekly ticket for US $25 (£16). You can sit on DART buses and trains. A regional pass can take you to Fort Worth. Regional day pass costs US $10 (£6.50)
3. Bring sun block and after-sun cream
4. Be smart and dress appropriately for the hot weather
5. Always have change for the laundry
6. Walk as much as possible even when there’s no pavements (sidewalks). Be aware of the way American’s drive and how you should cross the road.
7. Find your local supermarket as soon as you land 😀
8. Take a direct flight… No transfers…!!! 
9. Go to Fort Worth, it’s worth it ¬,¬” … sorry for the pun 😀
10. Remember that there is tax on top of the original price shown on the price tags… Terrible! Even the British have got this one right. Put the total on the price tag!! Makes shopping easier. 😛 (I don’t like working out my taxes!)
11. If you are from London, people around town will ask you about the London Olympics 2012! ¬,¬ I didn’t do much except that I worked throughout the period, and I didn’t have tickets even though I tried to purchase some without success!! It was a bad turnout for some events and the ticketing was badly managed… But traffic was brilliant! No one around… Oh yeah, I forgot to mention I did see the Olympic Torch in Stratford…
HAVE FUN IN DALLAS!!

Dallas, Texas – Day 13: Bored

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Thursday 18th April

Not much happened on this day even though it was our last full day in Dallas… It was pretty much a boring day of packing, laundry and sitting around…

When I did my laundry, which took me a while… I forgot to press the start button for the dryer… Wasted a dollar!! Klutz!! 🙂 Actually wasted a couple of dollars because I thought I bought washing powder. But I didn’t. It was one of those bounce fragrance things you put in the dryer… I think reception may have thought I was a trouble-maker… Heheheh ¬,¬”” Whoopsie!!

We suddenly went out for a walk around Inwood. Miss Pinky had a cold and she wanted to try out some fried chicken from Church’s Chicken but it was closed due to a power failure, so we were destined to eat food from Jack In The Box… Yuck!! The breakfast stuff actually looked horrible… it’s served all day. Miss Pinky’s pancakes were ok… She liked hers.
Pancakes, sausage and eggs from Jack in the Box
But my waffle sandwich… Bleuh!! Hash brown was ok though…
My breakfast from Jack in the Box
My geeky rating for breakfast food at Jack in the Box: 2/5

And here’s just a last minute walkabout picture…
Inwood

Dallas, Texas – Day 12: Fort Worth, Stockyards, Drinking and UNO

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Wednesday 17th April

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Blimey! Why didn’t we decide to come to Fort Worth earlier?! I have no idea why. Miss Pinky had actually wanted to go on a Medieval Times night out on this day… ¬_¬”” Is she serious? We came all the way to Dallas to go on a Medieval night? I think she knew I didn’t want to go… But thankfully when we went to get more information about the TRE trains she suddenly changed her mind. Yay!!

Started early! Yay to that too!! ^_^

We took the bus to train station as usual (I felt so familiar with the Inwood area that I almost thought I was living there!). We hadn’t realise that you could actually purchase a regional pass on the bus as well as at the station which we didn’t know. Thanks to the driver we actually saved US $2.50!! 😀 A regional pass takes you through to Dallas International Airport. You can also use it on DART trains and buses.

We stopped at Victory Station and changed for the TRE train, which is the black line. We didn’t know which end to get on at…And some of the people there didn’t know either… Strange. One thing that’s really different in Dallas is that they hardly have any train staff at the stop. You really have to rely on the public and some bus drivers (not all).
Victory Station


TRE train
The journey takes about 35-40 minutes to get to ITC Fort Worth Station, which is the main tourist site! Not bad.
TRE means Trinity Railway Express
Then we took a bus. We asked the driver to tell us where to get off in Downtown, but she was too busy talking… And we ended up far, far away… So we got on another bus back thanks to the driver who stopped the other bus in front. But Miss Pinky saw a cowboy like town, so we stopped off and told the driver we’ll go back into town later…

The place we stopped at is called Stockyards! It’s like a tourist part about cowboys and ranches. This is what Miss Pinky had really wanted to see throughout the whole journey! We should’ve done some research earlier… Too busy with our working and home lives though!! ¬,¬””
An art gallery in Stockyards


A street in Stockyards


A Saloon not a Salon!


Woohoo!! Stockyards!!
Miss Pinky and I got to sit on a bull for 5 bucks each too! The bull was a sweet male bull. Thankfully he didn’t go beserk on me. (^_^)v
Sit on a bull for US $5


The bull we sat on… CUTE! ^_^


Cute bull


The other bull

Inside the tourist centre bit
It was time for lunch and we had it at Riscky’s Bar.B.Q. I did not like the food one bit. It was disgusting stuff for me!! 😦 I threw a Miss Pinky, and did not eat all my food… That’s so not like me to do so!!! I always eat my food even if it looks disgusting. But I think it was because we sat outside, there were flies, and the plate was massive.
Stockyards shopping area


Outside Riscky’s
First off was my horrible fried gherkins. I really didn’t know they were going to be put into batter. It was so salty I squirted a lot of ketchup over it. Probably ate one-fifth of this! Yeek!! 😦
Salty fried gherkins
We decided to have the US $14 (approx. £9) meal with 2 meats, fries and whatever came with it! But the waitress tried to convince us to take the 3 meats for an extra dollar. I should have stuck with 2 meats. Miss Pinky convinced me to take the beef ribs for her to try out. And they were massive! Didn’t like the seasoning unfortunately. Enjoyed the fried catfish and battered prawns… and the coleslaw was ok…

Miss Pinky had 3 meats too, but had to take some of it away. She had smoked catfish, pork ribs and beef brisket!

There was so much on the plate. Didn’t like it. Didn’t finish it. Plus we found it was not the service we had liked…

My geeky rating on Riscky’s (for my part): 1/5… Miss Pinky would probably rate this a 3/5 … Yeek.

Website: http://www.risckys.com/

Afterwards we looked around Stockyards. 
Howdy!!


Woody (^_^)v


OOOOO… Looks creepy!!


A cow with lipstick 😀


Are you bored cowboy?


Painting of two famous stars from a film… can’t remember the name of the film!
Website for Stockyards: http://www.fortworthstockyards.org/

And then finally we took the bus back to Downtown. We had a good look around Downtown.

On the day we were there they were preparing for a festival which was starting the next day. So there were a lot of tents set up. Unfortunately we didn’t go. But I’m sure it was fun over there!! 😀
Music stage


abc news8 van ^_^


J.F. Kennedy statue


Fort Worth Arts Festival flag


Painting of bulls on the back of one building – cool!!
We sat in two bars and had a few drinks (I had diet cokes and a gin and tonic) before moving on. 
Miss Pinky’s beer from the first bar


Samuel Adams – the second bar we went into


This was all hand made in Samuel Adams!
We then took another bus back to the station to find out when the last train was. And so I took some pics of the station area…
An old train on display


Inside Fort Worth Station


A memorial wall for black slavery
Then we took another bus back into Downtown again. This time we got off the right stop, but before we got off, there were many cones on the road. The people that had put them there didn’t even bother to move them out of the way when cars were passing by. We saw a lady get out of her car just to move one. Our bus driver then decided to knock those cones over (from passenger’s encouragement)! Hahahahah. I would have done the same thing. The cones were there because of the festival I think! 
The guys in front didn’t bother to move the cones!!!!
I even took a pic of the cone – Miss Pinky was trying to pull it out from under the bus ¬,¬””… Passengers must have thought we were was crazy… But they don’t know I blog! Hah!
The cone that got stuck underneath the bus XD
We found a lounge bar afterwards and had a cocktail. I had a “pretty” cocktail glass according to Miss Pinky… I guess I have style even though I don’t know what I’m drinking.
A raspberry cocktail
And Miss Pinky had this. 😀
I can’t remember what was in this 
Then we moved on to find food! We did not want steak, hamburgers, pizza or ribs… So we needed to find Italian, Japanese or Indian. It was my choice this time to find somewhere to eat… And then I saw a lady at the window. She was eating pasta at this place called UNO. I wanted pasta. I was deprived of carbs!! :S
Outside UNO


There were a lot of empty tables that night


Pretty lighting!
I had the Rattlesnake Pasta (the large plate, because I was hungry) and Miss Pinky had the Lobster and Shrimp Scampi without the shrimp (the small plate)… Mine was bloody good and spicy. It had a good amount of pasta and cheese. But the pasta was slightly overcooked for me. 
Rattlesnake Pasta
Miss Pinky enjoyed hers even though she had a slight itchiness afterwards… I think she missed having a proper pasta dish!
Lobster and Shrimp Scampi without the shrimp
The manager and co. was talking to us throughout the evening. So we tried to eat and talk at the same time! I find it very difficult to do that! But they are all a friendly bunch at the restaurant. I would like to see an English restaurant try to that… Or at least attempt it… That would probably never happen!!

Then it was dessert time. We had the mini versions of the desserts. So Miss Pinky had the The Granny Smith All American which she thoroughly enjoyed…
The Granny Smith All American
And I had the Uno Deep Dish Sundae. The cookie was a little stuck to the dish… But that was ok!
UNO Deep Dish Sundae
Then it was drinks time… We had lovely waiters especially Ally and a lovely bartender (forgot his name)… Miss Pinky asked the barman to make an apple sour (which he didn’t know how to make so he looked it up in his bible of cockatails. Hah!). He even let me take a picture of him making it!! Hahahahaha!! ^_^
The bartender at UNO


Our apple sours!
He made a snakebite for Miss Pinky and for me a sweet cocktail… ^_^ 
My sweet cocktail ^_^
Here’s Ally and the barman…
Pretend fight!


Awwww 😀
And here’s the lovely manager…
The manager!
My geeky rating: 5/5 for everything!!!! 😀 Such lovely staff and food!!!

Address: 300 Houston Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102, United States

Website: http://unos.com/

It was time to go back… We emptied our bladders, and then we only had a few minutes left before the train came in which I needed to empty my bladder again… Too much drinking!!!!! ¬_¬””
We met a person on the train called Nathan at this point and Miss Pinky decided to sit next to him for some reason. ¬,¬”” He is quite a geeky person like me. He also mentioned there was free wi-fi on the train!! What?! Amazing!! He made our journey go quite fast as he was trying to talk to us about Dr Who and other British TV… ^_^

Finally we got back to Victory Station to change for the local train and then I took these lovely pics of the evening. 😀
Dallas at night


American Airlines building


Not sure what building with the flashing ball on top is called
Plus on the downside we heard an old lady talking to Nathan who said there was an explosion in West Texas… That was the one in Waco… I was quite thankful that we were hardly near there! Dallas to Waco is the distance from London to Bournemouth, which is like a 2 hour train trip or a 3-4 hour coach ride (Mr Bear looked that up for me when I went back to work). So sad to hear this… My friends in London were quite concerned! It looks like bad luck happens when I’m always on holiday!!

We all parted ways at Inwood / Love Field Station… Miss Pinky and I hardly argued on this journey!! Incredible!!

Dallas, Texas – Day 11: Pappy’s and Primo’s

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Tuesday 16th April

Started late once again. We actually didn’t do much on this day. But first we walked all the way to Pappy’s Old Fashion Hamburger – you guessed right, a hamburger joint. It’s about a 10-15 minute walk from Hawthorne Suites and also from the Park Inn Hotel. Not a bad walk. We didn’t have breakfast so we went here for breakfast and lunch at the same time… It was way after 12 pm!!
Pappy’s Old Fashion Hamburger


Inside Pappy’s


So many posters!


The till area

I had the jalapeno cheeseburger with fries and an iced tea (forgot the cost). Add loads of ice if you don’t like your sweet ice tea too sweet. The fries were a bit like wedges and they don’t actually look like the normal french fries we see in other food joints. It was a big burger. I had to use a lot of tissue to get through this!
Jalapeno Cheeseburger and fries
Miss Pinky had a set menu – forgot what it is and forgot the pricing too!! :S but she said it was good. Some steak, corn and fries. She actually thought she would get a corn on the cob, but it came in a dish. I didn’t try hers, so don’t know how good it was…
Steak, fries and corn
My geeky rating: 5/5 – just for the American diner experience 😀

Address: 1475 W Mockingbird Ln Dallas, TX 75247, United States


Went into the liquor store next door, and I spotted this odd named whiskey! ^_^ … It has a funny name… The ‘knob’ part… 😀
Knob Creek Whiskey
Next we took the bus to the station, then took the train to Akard for more information about the TRE trains to Fort Worth… The lady at the desk remembered us, but we didn’t remember her…!!

Then next it was time to go to West Village via West End’s 39 bus just to relax and do nothing!

Stopped at West Village and had tacos in Primo’s Tex-Mex Restaurant, a Mexican type restaurant (we had been avoiding Mexican food for the whole trip, but Miss Pinky wanted to try out this place!!). Service was good. 

And here’s our tacos. Beef one was dry. Pork one was ok. Chicken one was the best. They also gave us free unsalted tortilla chips as well!! 😀

I also had a cocktail without the salt (should have had the salt because it was too sweet)… And Miss Pinky had beer…


We sat there for a bit and Miss Pinky had another beer… Plus we took advantage of the free wi-fi. I like free wi-fi. England needs to catch up on this!! 🙂

My geeky rating: 4.5/5

Address: 3309 McKinney Ave Dallas, TX 75204, United States


Website: http://www.primosdallas.com/indexDallas.html


It was then time to go back… We were waiting for the bus 39 again, and I took a pic of this boutique… Miss Pinky kept noticing that they changed dresses each time we went pass it! I am not a fashionista like her… Although I seem to know what clothes match and what doesn’t!
A boutique shop in West Village

Got back to the station, and I had seen this beautiful sunset around Inwood / Love Field Station… I had to take a shot!! ^.^

VERY BEAUTIFUL SUNSET IN INWOOD!!!!!
BEAUTIFUL!!!

And then to end the day, I saw this poor fellow… He looked like a homeless person (had seen a few on this trip…) that you see on American TV…

Dallas, Texas – Day 10: Post Office, Malai and Walmart again!

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Monday 15th April 

Day 10 was an early start compared to the other days. Yay! We first went to the post office in St Paul (it’s just around the corner from St Paul station) as I needed to post a postcard to my friend in Canada who likes receiving these kinds of things from countries her friends go to for holidays… (Not sure if she got it…).
Wow, the post office we went into which I pictured the outside of during the other day (day 3 post) was so eerie inside. It was like going into a building of ancient times of Dallas.
Roof of post office

One of light bulbs

Eerie hallway!

Nice painting

Next it was again another trip to West Village via the M-Line Trolley. We went into GAP, then ate in Malai, a Thai / Vietnamese restaurant. This place was quite reasonably priced and I wanted the Pho Bo (Vietnamese beef and noodle soup).

Outside Malai

So first off, we started off with the mussels which was cooked in a white wine sauce. This was delicious and served with some bread, but the sauce was bit too runny for our liking. We also had a complimentary rice parcel with some curry type of paste.

Bread and mussels

Rice parcel and curry paste

Next was Miss Pinky’s Panang Curry Duck costing US $17 (approx. £11). Pretty expensive dish! But the duck was tender, and the rice portion was small, but the peanuts were a bit too much for her.

Panang Curry Duck

I had of course the Pho Bo – the large bowl (there’s the small bowl option too). Hm. The soup was ok, but a bit too sweet for me. It wasn’t like the one I had in London (Café Mama Pho). I expected a beefy stock, less coriander and a very Vietnamese taste. It wasn’t the greatest pho I have had (even the instant pot pho that I buy tasted much better than this to be honest). The noodles weren’t consistent enough as I saw some thick and thin noodles. But the beef was great. Nice and tender, and easy to chew on. That was the only bit I had enjoyed.

Pho Bo

It was strange to see a complimentary Chinese fried dough given to us… Chinese people mainly eat this with congee! Not as a side dish!!

Fried dough

We then had a banana pudding which we shared. I liked the glazed banana, chocolate and cream but not the pudding. It was too salty for me… Yeek.

Banana Pot de Creme

Well service was ok, they talk too quick for me to understand, and they go through the specials way too quickly. Miss Pinky had to ask about the fish special again!

Total cost came to US $49.80 (I think… approx £32)… Miss Pinky and I were arguing about the bill because I didn’t listen to her say she was going to pay the majority of it since her dish was expensive.
My geeky rating: 3.5/5. Not the best pho I have had I’m afraid. Meat is all good though…

Address: 3699 McKinney Ave #319 Dallas, TX 75204, United States
Website: http://www.malaikitchen.com/

Next we wanted to go to Walmart to do some final supermarket shopping. It was a long trip, and I think I got sunburn because of it!! But first off we had stopped at Uptown Pub before we took the tram and bus. They have free wifi. Plus they have some nice seating outside… This was when heard about the Boston bombing… how sad it was on that day…
Looking out from Uptown Pub

Next we waited for the free tram for a very long time. Got onto it, then came off it as we saw the bus 39 bus-stop… It was late by a good 10 minutes! But thankfully the bus driver stopped for us as we had stood by the tram stop to go a different route! What a long afternoon… Then it was another bus trip to get to Walmart!!

Walmart really had amazed me. They sell hospital scrubs. They even sell Hello Kitty ones!!!! I wanted one just for fun, but resisted!!! 😀 No wonder people walk around in scrubs along the streets of Dallas!
Hello Kitty scrubs!!!

Finally we went back, and I took a picture of the sun just starting to set by South Western Medical Center… This medical center is so big. I think you could easily get lost in it!!

Sunset at South Western Medical Center

And I also took a pic of this eerie looking bar with no windows… American bars always look so dark inside! It must really get hot out there!! Miss Pinky said it looked like a hole in the wall kind of place… ¬,¬””

Princes Bar

Then we had dinner at the hotel… It was pizza again :S

End of Day 10.


Dallas, Texas – Day 9 – A trip to Walmart Supercenter

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Sunday 14th April
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I forgot to mention in the previous post that I was given a fortune cookie, it said

“Tomorrow you will find the item you have been searching for.”. 

Wow! So before I went to sleep the night before I quickly looked up where and how we could get to that Walmart that we first went to. I thank Google maps and free wi-fi (plus pictures I took of shops nearby) for finding the bus route!! So I told Miss Pinky. I think we left after 12 or 1 pm or maybe it was around 2 pm to find it…

We took the 526 towards the station and then changed for the bus 529. I put my hand out for the bus to stop and I think I was waving to Miss Pinky who was sitting in the sun to hurry up to get the bus because the station is not its last stop. The bus could drive away without you Miss Pinky and then we would have had to wait again!! 😛 The bus driver thought I was crazy but she was a lovely person who seemed to have known that we wanted to go to the shopping area!! 😀 Lovely woman who seemed to know the area better than the other drivers we have met on our journey in Dallas… Fortune cookie was right!
We looked around the area first. So our first main stop was Sam’s Club. This is a supermarket where you bulk shop like in Lidl’s and Aldi. Unfortunately you have to be a member to shop there… 😦 But that was kind of good for us because that meant more spending in Walmart. 😀
Sam’s Club – You MUST be a member
Finally we went into Walmart, and we spent some money on clothes and chocolates for people back home! We’ll be back again!!
Bus number to Walmart Supercenter from Inwood / Lovefield Station: 529! 
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Stop at: Marsh Lane at Almazan Drive, then crossover at the traffic lights.
Address: 9410 Webb Chapel Rd Dallas, Texas 75220, United States
Didn’t do much in the evening… Sat around and did nothing… I was just blogging, but then suddenly we went out for a walk around the area. Miss Pinky and I saw something typical that you would see in American TV programmes and films… a thief stealing a bag of crisps and the owner of the shop had come out with a stick running towards the thief, but the thief got away… :S I was quite afraid… And then as Miss Pinky and I were walking back, a guy was holding a box of iced beer. Miss Pinky wanted to buy alcohol, and the guy was willing to sell his beer. He offered it for US $7 and she paid US $10 ¬,¬”” … Well… Americans are really nice when it comes to alcohol!! 😀
Brookriver Drive…

Dallas, Texas – Day 8 – Finding DFW China Town 達拉斯中國城

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Saturday 13th April

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Saturday started off late (once again). Well both Miss Pinky and I were exhausted (more Miss Pinky than me!) from the night before.

For this day we decided to go to the Richardson area in Dallas, which is up north, and it doesn’t take you long to get there. I wanted to find ‘a’ or ‘the’ China Town in Dallas, and I had found on the Internet that there was a place in Richardson, but there were no clues on how to get there or where it is! I guess not many tourists like me want to find these places. ¬_¬”” So we took the 526 bus once again (it was so handy having a weekly pass), changed for the train and stopped off at West End to change for the red line. We took this next train up to Arapaho Center Station (can’t pronounce the name of this station), and I saw DFW China Town! We tried to get a bus there from the transit centre, but unfortunately there are no buses that go there on the weekend. 😦 So what do people do in Dallas on the weekend? I don’t understand why bus services are not regular on the weekends… I expect they want people to chill out instead of going out and spending…
Arapaho Center Station

So then we took the train back to Spring Valley Station which is the previous stop to see if we could walk from there… Nope it looked too far from Spring Valley, so we quickly hopped onto the train going back to Arapaho Station and then finally walked there… (I’m sure the passengers thought we were mad!). There’s no actual pathway (pavements) to walk on from the station to China Town, so watch out for the dogs in the houses you pass by. I think this is definitely one thing America needs to improve on. It’s one reason why there’s so much obesity over there. For a tourist like me who does not drive I would expect there to be pavements!!


It was a mission and half getting there I tell you. It was also hot that day. But it’s about a 15 minute walk from Arapaho Station. So it wasn’t too bad.
Finally found DFW China Town

Cool!

DFW China Town 中國城 sign

So many cars! Shops and restaurants are set up in a line

Nice lantern!

Everything’s in Chinese!! Signs, posters, menus…

We spent a good hour or two there and found ourselves looking in the supermarket, the bakery and a cute shop! 😀 Miss Pinky bought a few things from the supermarket (we were arguing about ingredients at this point… I think Miss Pinky was back to her normal moody self due to a lack of sleep) and I had a very good look at the cute shop!! ^_^

Very large prawns!!!!

Black chicken?!

Statue of Confucius – I made my blessings

Didn’t do too much shopping, but we did eat in China Town. I spotted Canton Restaurant. I thought they would speak in Cantonese, but I was wrong.  The restaurant name is misleading. Majority of the people there in China Town spoke in Mandarin rather than Cantonese. I was a little disappointed although I did hear a few shoppers around who spoke my native language in the supermarket. But thankfully I can understand Mandarin – that’s if people speak slowly enough (but my speaking still sucks!). 😦

Just to point out – majority of restaurants in Dallas don’t put their menus outside for you to view. I think that’s quite selfish of them and a bad marketing scheme just to get you inside and seat you as soon as you enter… That’s what happened to us several times… And in this restaurant too…

Inside Canton Restaurant

Miss Pinky so wanted to eat roast duck and noodle soup, but unfortunately they only had braised duck rather than roast duck… So she ordered a pork dish that had too many vegetables and rice… Oh well, we’ll find a Chinese restaurant that makes roast duck and noodle soup before we go… Maybe…

Pork and Vegetables

Rice … Miss Pinky already started on her food before I took this pic!! 

I had the combination special which consisted of prawns, squid, pork and loads of vegetables on top of some pan fried noodles. It was good. A very big dish. I think I have been craving for noodles… In this dish the noodles were slightly thicker than the usual ones I have in London and at home. They also gave me a steak knife. Not sure what that was supposed to be there for. ¬,¬” Miss Pinky was laughing at that in a sarcastic way! 

Massive Combination Special ^_^””

In the end it cost me US $19.98 (approx. £13) including Miss Pinky’s dish and the drinks. So cheap. I had paid because Miss Pinky didn’t like her food. She wanted noodle soup, but she didn’t get it. Oh well!! But at least we sat next to a couple who seemed like they were having an affair… Or maybe not… Gossip to talk about on the way back… By the way, they didn’t take my US $1 tip ¬,¬”” Wow. They didn’t want it!! 

Happy to go again… But would go to another restaurant to try out…


My geeky rating for Canton Restaurant: 4.5/5 

Address for restaurant: 400 N. Greenville Ave. Suite 25 Richardson TX 75081

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Address for DFW China Town: 400 N. Greenville Ave., Richardson TX 75081 United States

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So it was back to the station. By the way, I think there’s some stinging nettles on the ground. So watch out!!

This is the bus number – 360 that takes you to DFW China Town

Arapaho Center Station – Coming back from China Town

It was a good day out…


And look Miss Pinky made dinner… Tom Yum soup with coconut milk… Most of the ingredients were bought in DFW China Town. The mussels were massive too! Wow!!

Ingredients used in the Tom Yum Soup

Very large mussels 😀

Yummy Tom Yum soup – well done Miss Pinky!!

It was quite difficult making this as the pots that the Suites provided were too small!!

Does anyone want the recipe for this?


I had told Miss Pinky that we were supposed to go back to the bar that we went to the night before… But we didn’t. Didn’t do anything during the evening… Sad people we are – I know…

But during that evening we were both awakened by the night life of Texans staying below us… They love to party!! But I wanted to sleeeeeep. 😛

Dallas, Texas – Day 7: Uptown/City Place and Charlie’s Bar

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Friday 12th April

Day 7 started late… What? Again?! Well this time it was me who woke up late not Miss Pinky, so she made breakfast! Heheh.

On this day we were determined to find the big superstore Walmart that we first went to on Day 2. So we took two bus journeys. The 404 which is near our normal 526 bus stop, and this took us all the way to Parkland Station… Then we were advised to take other buses around the area… Basically we got lost. But eventually we took the 527 bus… And we still couldn’t find it. The bus took us back to the train station. May I just point out that the bus drivers don’t know the areas very well, so don’t ask them questions. It’s best to ask the locals who the know everything that goes on!! But some of the locals don’t even know the area… 😛

We gave up. So we went to the one in City Place. We took the train (orange line) and stopped off at Uptown / City Place. We realised we were back in West Village!!!! Hahahahah. 

Uptown / City Place Station

We asked a lady where the Walmart was. And yay!! Someone knew where there was a supermarket!! It looked far and Miss Pinky wanted to take the bus… Seriously it wasn’t far! A 10 minute walk. This one is a small grocery one, not the superstore, and isn’t what we had wanted. It’s opened 24 hours. The lady advised us to go back towards the inside of the station, crossover, then take the bus 36… So we waited…

Walmart looks far…!!

When we got there Miss Pinky wanted to eat before we shopped, so we walked all the way back down to Uptown Station…

…and surprisingly we passed by a memorial for black slavery. Ooooh interesting!! ^_^ This place is called Freedman’s Memorial…

Inside Freedman’s Memorial


We then ate at a steakhouse. Texas Land & Cattle Steakhouse. There were only a few diners at that time. It was around 3 or 4 pm. But it seemed people got takeouts from there rather than eat in. 

Big sign for Texas Land & Cattle

Looking out from where we sat… didn’t smell any car fume like you would in London!

The outside

Nice boots!! ^_^

Menu cover

And we had the following food. I swapped my bacon wrapped scallops with her lobster. I like lobster. And I just knew Miss Pinky wanted my scallops. I also got a free soft drink top too!! Great place! Good food! 😀

Chips and bread

Butter was nice, bread was warm

Sauteed onions

TXLC Sirloin and BBQ Bacon-wrapped Scallops with potato mash – looks small but filling!!

Signature Smoked Sirloin and Lobster Tail  with rice – yummy lobster, plus nice presentation!!

My geeky rating for Texas Land & Cattle Steakhouse: 5/5 – quiet, peaceful, friendly people and good food!!

Address: 3130 Lemmon Ave, Dallas, TX 75204, United States


Both of us didn’t want to go all the way back to Walmart, so we shopped in Albertson’s. This is an ok grocery store but a little expensive. It was like shopping in Sainsbury’s where everything is expensive!

We then took the M-Line back to St Paul, and took the train back…

So food unpacked, we then went out to look for bars and had ended up in an Italian restaurant (where I had a very good gin and tonic) and then into Charlie’s, which is a block down the road. It’s an all time American bar! Finally we went into one. It looked awkward on the outside, but very much like a bar on the inside. I don’t understand why there are no windows. I guess they are built that way so people from the outside can’t look at the people drinking their lives away… Just a thought…
Inside Charlie’s

Another view of Charlie’s

The people in Charlie’s were awesome. Very much a homely sort of bar where the locals drink and where they have a good time. It was karaoke night by the way, and Texans can really sing!! I was amazed at these people’s singing… However, Miss Pinky had trouble with one customer who was already drunk and swore at her whilst I was in the loo… Miss Pinky panicked and wanted to go home. But a couple of the regulars saved the day and convinced Miss Pinky to stay.

Miss Pinky had wanted to try a beer in a jug like this!!

One of the regular customers paid for our drinks and cab!! OMG. She didn’t have to do that, but she is a lovely person who can really sing…!! 😀


Here’s a mix video of the people singing that night. I just want to say thank you to the people at the bar who made our trip a memorable one!! Miss Pinky and I had a great time, and it’s a shame we didn’t go back for shots… Maybe in the future if we return. ^_^


The girl at the end of the video paid for our drinks and cab… Shocking!! 😀 Happy to return the favour if she comes to London. 😀

Address: 1820 W Mockingbird Ln Ste 28, Dallas, TX 75235, United States

The night ended very late for us… 2 am to be exact… Then we went to sleep around 3 am… YAWN!!! 

End of Day 7 (and it was the start of day 8). 😀


Dallas, Texas – Day 6: Fair Park

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Thursday 11th April

Gosh. Time flies when you’re having fun and a very relaxing time!! It’s already day 6 into our holiday, and I felt like we hadn’t done enough on this trip. It felt a little different to our short holidays because this time we had so much time on our hands… 😀

On this day both of us woke up late. Well, Miss Pinky had her TV on loud the night before, and we both didn’t sleep until after 1 am Dallas time!! ¬,¬”

Miss Pinky wanted to find out some tours we could go on. Her energy levels seemed to have revived after yesterday’s short trip around the area. And she said she didn’t spend any money. I am actually impressed because usually Miss Pinky would have spent all her holiday money by now. Thank you mother nature for the rain!! 😀

So we went on a bus journey by taking the bus 526 again up to Inwood / Love Field Station. Then I saw a bus 39 going towards Downtown, so we jumped onto that bus which seemed to have taken us back towards McKinney, which is the road before West Village and where we had sat down and had loaded chips… and got slightly drunk! Wow. So now we don’t have to rely on shuttles, trains or taxis!! The bus 39 took us through Cedar Springs. This place seemed like a posh area of Dallas. It was like going through Docklands on a nice sunny day. The last stop is West End Bus Station, then the bus goes back towards Inwood / Love Field Station. It’s funny how the buses in Dallas run on a circular route (as I have mentioned in my previous post). I like the Dallas bus routes as you will never get lost – this is what Miss Pinky would say. But the bus times are not that great as they run hourly during non-peak times (at this point I had missed London transport!).

Anyway, we went back to the Tourist Centre to check on other tours. Not much going on, but Miss Pinky found two she wanted to go to… ¬_¬ … One of them didn’t get my approval and thankfully we did not go to it…!! Then one of the guides at the centre advised us on where to go to, but we had been to most of them already, and we didn’t want to disappoint him, so we had just let him carry on with the information about Dallas’s tourist sites. And then finally he mentioned about Fair Park! That’s a place where we haven’t been to yet!! But before we jumped onto the Green Line heading towards Bruckner we stopped off at the West End Aquarium Center just to check out the prices really. It’s a bit expensive for my liking…

We got to Fair Park. Then we almost got lost because the map wasn’t too clear. It didn’t show where The Women’s Museum was on the map that was given to us at the tourist centre!! I then asked a gentleman who kindly pointed out that we needed to go through the entrance around the corner leading to The Women’s Museum and then we would find the other attractions… Oooooh. That could’ve been pointed out in the map!!
Fair Park Station – pretty on a nice sunny day!! 😀

Star of Dallas – go pass this and you will see the attractions at the site

The Women’s Museum


We looked around. It is a gigantic place to explore! I felt like we were the only tourists around, but we spotted another two tourists, and then we saw some other people around.

Someone’s boat…???

Statues representing the gods and goddesses I believe

Swimmers…?

Another museum


Some cops having a gathering before they get to work

Mini Statue of Liberty in Dallas?!

Ghost town…

Unfortunately the fair ground or the stadium were not opened. It looked like they were rebuilding a few things before the summer starts… Not sure when it’ll be open to be honest! Maybe May time…

The Fair Ground

Cotton Bowl Stadium

Then we walked a bit more, and finally we went out of the place via a back entrance, and looked for a place to eat… 

Beautiful scenery ^_^

Duck boats!

Seahorse statues

The Science Place


Wanted to try out Jack in the Box. I think I heard about the place from somewhere and wanted to try their food out.

Jack in the Box in Fair Park

Inside Jack in the Box

Miss Pinky had a steak burger with burnt curly fries. Miss Pinky said she has had better junk food than this… Not up to her standards I believe. She would’ve given this place 2/5 I believe!

Hmmmm…. Not good food…

And I had the Chicken Teriyaki bowl with an egg roll and a banana smoothie. Mine was ok. Sauce was a bit too sweet for me though…

Chicken teriyaki and an egg roll

My geeky rating for Jack in the Box: 1/5

Finally we made our way back to the train station. We just missed a train, so we had to sit and wait. By the way, Miss Pinky hates me for being right, because we almost took the wrong train at the wrong platform going in the wrong direction… Hmmmm… (^_^)v

Got back to West End. We needed to find a few groceries before heading back so we went into CVS and 7Eleven, but both don’t sell loaves of bread or other stuff we needed… Hmmm, it’s really hard to find a grocery store in Dallas that’s if you don’t have a car to go to the bigger stores! I’m happy that in London that you can find loads of grocery stores and supermarkets and markets easily than in Dallas. Anyway, we were advised by a customer in 7Eleven to go to City Place where there’s a Walmart (we’ll go there another time)… I think she said it was closed at that time we were around… but it wasn’t. It’s opens 24 hours!

In the end we went back to the Suites via bus, ate dinner in the dining area again (it was better – fried chicken, unseasoned mash potatoes and sweetcorn ¬_¬””) and then we watched a lot of TV! American TV is ok in the evening… Not so much medical stuff or weird adverts…

End of Day 6.