Monterrey

Man, I took a few hours just to upload all these photos, so you all better appreciate it! Anyway this was from my Mexican trip last weekend. Went with a group of 5 French, and Alex, who hooked me up with them haha. We drove there in the French's minivan. 10 hours sia. Oh we went to Monterrey, which is supposedly the high class part of Mexico. But it's still Third World leh. Like extremely. I'm so glad to be back here in one piece haha.

Our group. The trusty minivan haha. It's damn old lor, from '94. And the aircon is faulty, so we were basically perspiring to death in the backseat throughout the trip haha. At least it got us there and back haha.The Mexican border, at Laredo.

Anyway, we reached Monterrey around 12 plus at night. It was bad, cuz we were trying to find one of the French guy's girlfriend's house (she's an exchange student there), and we lost our way in the city. So we were driving around for quite a while. Plus we met a few mishaps along the way, like being chased by a police car who thought the driver was drinking alcohol when it was actually water, and almost colliding with a car. Those crazy Mexicans. They drive like madmen, and their roads have no lane markings? I really admire the French lor, cuz they managed to drive properly haha.

So we found her house, and they were having a party there. It was insane, in a bad way. Those Mexicans party like siao lor. I saw couples making out left, right and centre. And there were drunk guys trying to pick me up. Gosh. I had to hide in the bathroom to run away from this particularly creepy guy. We left at 4am, and took 1 hour to find the hotel! Cuz we booked the Marriott hotel, only to realise that it's very far away from downtown Monterrey, so we wanted to change. But the hotel wouldn't allow it, so bo bian lor, have to find the hotel hhah. And it's not the real Marriott, just the offshoot motel version. But not bad la, the room was really nice :)

Our hotel. Fairfield Inns.
Good morning. The French are pros. They can sleep at 5am, and wake up at 10am?? Consecutively for 2 days.
Stop sign.
Lunch. Tacos, tacos and more tacos.

Err. Crap, I forgot the name of this church haha. I think it's called Catedral Metropolitana de Nuestra Se ora de Monterrey. It's sad how I only know the names of the places I go, after I come back and google them haha. As a tourist, I'm a failure. But then again, you should try remembering those Spanish names.

In the town central.

Gosh, I look like a freaking tourist. Me with my giant sombrero.

Monterrey is famous for its mountains.
Faro de Comercio

Oh man, I love those 2 Mexican girls we met at the park. They're so cute! And both of them kept giggling whenever I point my camera at them haha.

Err this guy popped out of nowhere and sang to us. He didn't even know how to play the guitar, he just strummed it randomly.
Ahh this is life, I tell you. Lying in the grass, talking cock.

Err. The Museo de Historia Mexicana. The museum of Mexican history la, in other words.
The museum trip was a complete failure cuz everything was in Spanish! We came out after 15 mins haha. Thanks goodness the admission was free.

Barrio Antigua. It's this street of bars and clubs. Crazy at night.

This bar we went to. Very nice haha.
They offered salsa lessons, so I tried. And embarrassed myself terribly. In Alex's words, "It's not that I don't wanna shake my hips, I can't even find them!"
Our group, with the 2 Mexicans we danced with, and the waiter haha.

Oh we visited this waterfall in the mountains. Cascada Cola de Caballo.

Taken with my 3.2 MP phone. My camera only managed to last for a day -.-

They offer miniature pony rides for kids, handled by kids haha.

Our last meal at this dingy restaurant on the side of the mountain roads haha.

And finally, some sights of the city on the way out.

Ooh, this is the line separating Mexico from the US. And the river in the background is the infamous Pincearo (I can't remember how to spell). Apparently many Mexicans die trying to cross the river over to the US.
The line to the checkpoint. I think we waited 1 and a half hrs in the sweltering heat.
And home sweet home! I've never been so happy to see Texas!!

Hahah I had alot of fun in general. Learnt quite alot of French and Spanish too haha. But I was basically lost in translation throughout the whole trip, cuz none of us were fluent in Spanish, only a few French know bits and pieces of it haha. ("Non comprendo?") The stuff in Mexico is cheap too! Basically 10 times smaller than the US$.

Speaking of which, I spent $38 on a haircut today?? Mother, forgive me!! I didn't think it'll cost so much!! I promise I won't cut my hair till I go back! Crap, I feel so cheated. And it's not even that nice. Oh today is Be Nice to Your Fellow Singaporean Day haha. Self-declared la. So we decided to visit the Asian market here (and walked 15 mins just to get there), and get stuff to make dinner. We cooked Mee Sua, and oh man, it was a complete failure lor haha. The mee sua totally sucked la. Not our cooking skills. The thing itself was too salty! We quit eating halfway, and just decided to finish the meat (prawns, pork kidney bleah, fishballs, luncheon) before we kena kidney failure tomorrow haha. Oh we made Milo Dinosaur though, and I think it was the only highlight of our dinner haha. Well, there's tang yuan for tomorrow so hopefully it'll turn out well. This reminds me of Rag. "Rag comm meeting outside!!" Yeah, and it was just an excuse for us to eat tangyuan away from those freshies hahaha.

Ok I need to sleep now. Gahh. I don't think I ever recovered from this trip. I'm destined to suffer from black eye rings and coffee-dependency forever.

But with you by my side I can do anything
When we swing
We hang past right or wrong