Philly!

Ashish's good friend from Pharmacy School got married this past weekend in Lancaster, PA. We decided to take advantage of the opportunity to see a new city together and go up a few days early and tour Philadelphia.

 Disclaimer: None of the pictures of me are good, it was 106 degrees when we stepped off the plane. The temperatures only dropped into the 90s at 11:00 at night. I thought the south had awful humidity, Georgia's humidity is like a cool breeze compared to Philadelphia.

Our first stop was the Liberty Bell

And on our stroll we ran into this...

I wanted to start a "Do's and Don'ts of Philly" blog after seeing this. I'm not sure who told her that this dress looked good but they clearly lied to her.

As we were leaving the rental car parking lot, we asked the attendant where to eat and he suggested this place.

Jim's Steaks

I have to say, I wasn't impressed. I went to Philly thinking that I would have the most delicious cheese steak, unfortunately, I got let down. Maybe I'm not cut out for restaurants that have cooks that yell out your order, all the beverages are either sold in a can, carton, or bottle, or you have to walk through the kitchen to get to the seating area. We will chalk this one up to experience.

 Side note: The last time that I was in the Northeast I was in the 9th grade. We visited Washington DC on an orchestra trip. I didn't realize that Philadelphia, New Jersey, Delaware, and Atlantic City were all within  1.5 hours of each other. Guess that's why I taught reading instead of geography. Ha.

Our hotel was in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. We were trying to stay somewhere central to all of the stops on our agenda. Our first stop, Cherry Hill Mall. No, we didn't come all the way to New Jersey to visit a mall, we had to get a baby shower gift. We met Ashish's cousin, Mihir, and his wife, Dhara, at a great steakhouse in Marlton.  Have you ever eaten at a restaurant solely because of the atmosphere? Come on, I know I'm not the only one. Well, this was not one of them. The atmosphere was fantastic-3 bars, 4 firepits, and open kitchen, palm trees (yes, palm trees in New Jersey); the food was just as good, if not better than the atmosphere. It was great to see Mihir and Dhara, they are expecting their first child next month so we had lots to talk about.

Friday, Atlantic City! I am not really a gambler, I know that no one really likes to lose their money but I really don't like to lose. After $5 down, I am ready to wrap it up and head home. I've never been to Vegas but I picture that it is a lot like Atlantic City-minus the ocean.

We gambled, ate, gambled, shopped (there is an outlet in Atlantic City. Best.thing.ever.), gambled, ate, and gambled some more. We had a great time and only walked away with a loss of $50-not too bad in my opinion.

 

Wedding Extravaganza! I took tons of pictures at Sut and Angie's wedding but didn't get a single picture of Ashish and I. Both the Cambodian wedding and the American wedding were beautiful.

Khmer weddings usually begin with the groom and his family heading over to the bride’s home bearing gifts to the family as dowry. Here the friends and families are introduced, wedding rings are exchanged, and three traditional songs are used during the presentation of the dowry (Neay Pream He Kaun Kamlas—Arrival of the Groom, Chambak Rouy—Presenting the Dowry, and Pak Paeuk Pisa Sla—Inviting the Elders to Chew Betel Nut). A tea ceremony follows for Cambodians of Chinese descent, then breakfast for everyone.

Ashish with his part of the "gifts."

Ashish and Cheech

Presenting the gifts to Angie's parents

Ya gotta love a sleeping baby at a wedding

I hit the mother in law jackpot with Ashish's mom and from the looks of it, Angie got pretty lucky too!

The bride and her daddy

Ashish and Sut

By Sunday, it was time to go home. We missed Jordan terribly and frankly, I need to get a part time job to pay for the expense of all the tolls and expensive parking decks on this trip!