Day 47 (Fri)

Woke up at 5.45am after only 2 hours of sleep...never go shamrocks but still slept at 3 chatting with friens online and surfing the net...thought can sleep on the 3-hr bus to philadephia later...wah no sleep really jialat...almost cannot wake up...so at 6.40am ken, JK, Karyn and me set off for Philadephia...realized no time so all of us ran to the bus terminal which is like a 25-min walk away normally...wah damn xiong slept 2 hours and need to run somemore...hahaha...in the end we still miss the direct bus...so no choice gotta go to Atlantic City to transfer...

no time for breakfast...so dabao Macs from Atlantic City and ate on the way to Philadephia

Ken, Karyn and Me...On 551...on our way to Philadephia

Meeting in Progress...the plans for the day ironed out on the bus

Finally after a 3 hour journey and a mini-morning ruckus...we arrived at Philadephia around 10.30 in the morning

Our 1st stop in Phili...where we belong...Chinatown

after exploring through the streets of Chinatown...we head straight to the visitor center to get our itinerary for the day fixed...was given very helpful advice by the amiable old lady at the counter as to the places we visited and how to get around the city...bought the bus/subway tokens before we walked out of the visitor center...ready to begin our 1-day Philadephia trip...

Inside the visitor center

This uncle so friendly...stop playing to let me take picture

wanted to take the horse carriage for a tour around the city at first but the $$ and weather was quite a turn-off

Group Photo outside the Liberty Bell Center...an important symbol of freedom in this historical city of Philadephia or rather the whole of the United States

the legacy of the bell in words

the world-famed Liberty Bell

We and the Bell

George Bush gave me special permission to touch the bell

Before entering Franklin Court...the place where Benjamin Franklin resided...u know the guy who discovered lightning through his kite experiment

The sign outside Franklin Court

Trying to figure out how things were in place 300 years ago inside Franklin Court

The Independence Hall where US's Constituition was born

A picture showing the 1st US Congress Session inside the Independence Hall

The very same chair which George Washington sat to chair the US congress meeting

Outside the US mint...the exact same place we will be hiding from rain in one hour's time

Benjamin's Franklin burial place...he was not juz a scientist but also a diplomat, philospher, writer, inventor and one of the nation's founding father

Betsy Ross House...the lady who made the 1st American Flag stayed in this house 300 years ago

JK & Me with the Captain at Betsy Ross House

Elfreth's Alley...US's oldest residential district

"Knock Knock...anyone home?" Wah people are really short 300 years ago...the doors and windows are so damn small

raindrops started to pour the moment we made our way out of Elfreth's Alley...we walked past a few streets in the rain before deciding that the rain was too heavy and hid outside the US mint...after 15 minutes the rain began to sizzle and we set off for Walnut street to take a bus to our next stop - University of Pennsylvania where one of the top business schools in the world is - Wharton school of Business

Outside UPenn Law School...people read law i read map

3 NUS civil engineering students acting cool at UPenn

Discussing E=MC^2 seriously in a LT at school of engineering and applied science

look! people campus so nice and beautiful...buck up NUS!!

At the Wharton School of Business

Benjamin Franklin's legacy is everywhere in Philadephia...even in UPenn...posing with the man at UPenn

After spending close to 3 hours at UPenn...we took a subway back to City Hall before making our way down to South Street for some Philadephia's world famous cheese steak...the only thing on 4 hungry, tired and sleepy travellers' minds...could hardly survive with 2 hours of sleep, 1 banana and 1 egg MacMuffin...cheese steak....ahhhh

JK and me in the middle of a cocaine session at the back of the subway...look at those druggy faces...hahaha

Jim's Steak at South Street...voted No1 in Yahoo Travel Website for cheese steak in Philadephia

Wah kaoz!! so this is the cheese steak?!? I thought i will be in some fanciful place where i am prepared to say "Medium-rare" when the waiter ask me "how you want it to be done Sir?" But still...the beef is really soild - a muz-try in Philadephia

Posing at the South Street Bridge...Philadephia's equivalent of MS

After dinner...we took a slow walk down South Street to breathe in some Philadephia night air...a happening place with pubs and clubs lining the street and Bugis-like shops...and of coz who can forget the muz-have drinking session?? ordered 2 large pitchers of beer...a celebration of an amazing Philadephia visit...

drunkards at a hotel lobby...3 guys cannot hold their liquor to a gal...really what a shame...hahaha

tired heads on our way back to Wildwood...JK & Ken