Saturday, October 9th

Saturday morning was brutal. Got up (relatively) early, to prepare to disembark. We ended up waiting for what seemed like HOURS (and likely WAS hours) in the theatre until they called us to line up for customs. The theatre was FREEZING! Thinking that we'd be spending the day in Miami, I had my shorts on. Little did I know the first part of the day would be stranded in the boat's theatre, with their air con on full blast. We all fell asleep in various positions draped over each other and the seats, with coats and sweaters pulled out in a feeble attempt to keep warm.

Eventually our group got called. We were smart and told them we were Canadians, so we got placed in the short line. The long line was for all non-US and non-Canadian passport holders, who had to get their fingerprints taken, and all those other security measures the US has put into place since 9/11. After ILC pulled out all her documents, including work visas and every piece of paper under the sun, we got past security.

Like an airport, the port had the luggage carousel thing where you stand until you see your black luggage that looks like every other person's luggage, and yank it off the convey belt, as you frantically scan for your other piece of black luggage. Thank goodness I have Chinese parents who tied a bright yellow thing onto mine, making it easily identifiable. And I'm quite positive I was the only one using a black EY audit bag as my second piece of luggage, since GKY used an actual luggage case.

Finally get out of the port, and had to figure out getting to the car rental place. It's offsite, so they were coming to pick us up. SW had already left for the airport to catch his flight home, but we weren't sure that we could fit the five of us, and all our luggage, into whatever car we had booked. So we tried to get a taxi to take all our stuff and three bodies to the hotel. The taxis there were retarded! Unlike NYC, they are allowed to refuse fares, and multiple cabbies told us they didn't know where the hotel was. Right, like you really don't know where the Sheraton is. They all refused us because our hotel was in downtown Miami, and wasn't a very far distance from the port.

In the end, the car rental guy got there, with his huge van, and loaded us all in. I go into the office to pick up our car, and they tell me that they are all out right now. BUT, they have a truck. So I ask what kind of truck. I ended up driving a quad cab Chevy Silverado! HUGE beast of a truck! Yes, we have pics of the truck, will need to get them off everyone's cameras, and post. Hilarious, five relatively small Chinese kids loading into a gigantic truck! And me as the driver, hahah!!

We unloaded at the hotel, and proceeded to Coconut Grove. On the way, I got a hold of my friend Daniel, who moved to Miami for his medical internship. He gave us a brief overview of Coconut Grove, and areas to be careful of in Miami. Coconut Grove is just south of Miami that has trendy stores and is good for shopping. Lunch was at The Cheesecake Factory, which was complete with GKY's enormous lunch sized salad. I hate to see how big the full-sized salad is!

There were some little stores, which were unique, but extremely pricey. The best deals were at the shoe outlet (can't remember the name of the store), and the Guess outlet. I found a matching bikini top and bottom, for a total of $5USD! On the way back to the truck, we found a store called "Rani's", hahah! Took a pic, will need to post =)

GKY was heading home that night, so we took her to the airport. Then the remaining four of us went to South Beach. We drove past some really swank houses, with private entrances etc. Traffic, as Daniel had warned us, was a mess. But we eventually found parking in an area that we figured wasn't *that* shady -- since it was next to a police station. On the way to the beach, we couldn't help but notice the many many rainbows. Apparently South Beach is not only known for really really skinny girls wearing a bikini top and a skirt, but also for a thriving homosexual population.

The sun was starting to set by the time we got to the beach, but unfortunately the beach faced east. The beach looked like it stretched on forever, and the sun behind the clouds and the buildings was kinda pretty:



Walked around lots, got pretty tired and hungry, and was a little weary of the crowds that were building. There was obviously something going on that night, and four little Chinese people stood out rather obviously. We had dinner at a nice little place, Spiago's, or something like that, and then headed home, we were dead tired. On the drive back, we got to see the gorgeous houses again, this time with the water reflecting their lighted houses, making it look even nicer. Back on the mainland, we found out that the Source Awards were that weekend, as well as Gloria Estefan's last concert on her last world tour before retiring. Hence all the people in South Beach.

Crashed at the hotel. Sheraton has these REALLY nice beds, I think they are called Sleeper, or something like that? Was really snugly and soft. ILC and I watched Desperate Housewives, which we both found to be the funniest show, even though it's not really intended to be funny. It just is funny, you have to see it =)