 South Beach!!
No not the South Beach Diet..but actual South Beach Miami! Awsome and I decided to venture out to South Beach for our 1 Year Anniversary. We've gotten some funny reactions, "Why?", "Oh man, where all the beautiful folks are?", "Oh, gotta work out before I go there!" or " You goin to see all the celebrities out there!!" I think it was funny cause I really didn't know that was the rep that South Beach has. But in reality, when we did get there, I felt more like we were in a different country than the Hollywood of the East Coast.
Everywhere you looked, the people were mainly either European or of Latin descent. Awsome and I were one of the very few Asians that were there. We did not see one Asian in our hotel. In the stores or restaurants, the employees mainly spoke Spanish. It was a really interesting observation, especially coming from the Bay Area. Not until you leave your surroundings, do you actually take notice of how different the rest of the world can be.
Since South Beach is located South East of the United States, it's almost the Hawaii of the East Coast. When we arrived it was already 75 degrees and humid and it was only 11am? It's bound to get even hotter, and it did! We stayed at The Hotel of South Beach, which was perfectly central to what we had planned on doing. It was a block away from the beach and it was a block away from all the chaos that weekend, Miami Spring Fest! Since check-in wasn't till 3pm, we were able to use the facilities to change and freshen up and finally hit up some place for brunch! We were starving!
Our first stop was Front Porch Cafe which was located about 8 blocks from our hotel on the infamous Ocean Drive. The bellman of our hotel said it was right around the corner...blah! This was the first sign of how the locals must think everything is really close but in actuality, 8 blocks in 80 degree heat for this Bay Area gal feels like FOREVER! Anyhow, very good food! I ordered the Thai Chicken Wrap and Awsome had a Mexican Omlette which was really good too! What was very interesting was how they automatically add the gratuity onto your bill which is 16% if I remember correctly. Well I guess this establishment deserved it. But I didn't let another eatery keep their gratuity. They actually served Awsome's meal and we finished it before mine ever came out????
We started our tourist thing of walking to the beach and down Collins Ave. and then ended up all the way to their outdoor mall on Lincoln Road, which might be 10 long blocks. This row was full of boutiques and restaurants w/ outdoor seating. It was great especially with the kind of weather they have. We wished the Bay Area had this kind of feel. It's trying. We've got Santana Row...all 3 small blocks of it... It's a start right? We ended up walking through a private party as well although didn't stay to eat and drink since we noticed everyone had these name tags on. Oh well...
It was about 5pm and we still haven't checked in and so we finally headed back to our hotel to unpack, rest and get ready to hit up a club. YES! We did go to a club called Mansion! We took a taxi there and doors opened up at 11pm. Let's just say we were one of the first people there!! hahhaha I thought I was able to put us on the guestlist, but to my surprise that list was only for locals so we ended up paying the $20 cover. As we walked in, I would have to say this was my favorite out of all the clubs i've been too from SF to Vegas to NY! Nothing beats the decor nor the sound quality coming from the speakers and of course they were playing the best beats!!! R&B in one room and Dance in another. As the crowd started to roll in, we noticed that we were the only Filipinos around??? Folks were mainly European & of Latin descent again. As we were grooving on the dance floor, a crew of Filipinos rolled through!!!! We got all excited! hahaha I know we're weird like that... It was about 1:30am and we decided to roll out since we were headed to Magic Kingdom in 4 hours. As we were leaving, there was a huge crowd outside waiting to get in... Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan...we were actually in a happening place. I later found out that this venue holds concerts for Nelly Furtado, Fergie and P.Diddy just to name a few. Am I name dropping??? hee hee hee
Anyhow, we got back to our room and showered and prepared our clothes for the next day. Our BUS TOUR was too pick us up at 6am to head out to Orlando for Magic Kingdom. Yes... a 5 hour bus ride! Crazy aren't we. Well thank god we had our stuff ready cause low and behold our phone rings and the bus is down stairs. CRAPOLA! I shut off my alarm. We had 7 minutes to get ready before the bus leaves us. Let's just say that was the fastest i've ever gotten ready. I'll spare you the 5 hour details, but just know that if you ever go to Disney World... IT'S HUGE! I really think you have to stay there for a week to actually enjoy every park that is there. I think the whole park was as big as San Francisco itself. And I think that Disneyland is actually better than Magic Kingdom. AND their Space Mountain broke down as well right before we got on it. WACK!!!
What was actually interesting were the people that were on our bus going back. They weren't all the same people we had arrived with. I guess this charter bus doesn't only service folks going to and from Disneyworld but just folks just trying to get from one end of the state to the other. Interesting isn't it???
We did have a chance to lay out on the beach and hang by the pool side sippin' mojitos. And we did try clubbing 2nd to the last night out there as well. This night was kinda wack, because we actually felt the discrimination at the red rope. We were the only ones there and it was 1am, and the bouncer nor the girl standing in the front would look at us or even speak to us. Is that wack or what!!!! Too snobby..... We waited for 10 minutes and bounced. UNBELIEVABLE!!!
All in all, I would definitely head out to South Beach again! Very relaxing and really chill. The staff at our hotel were great and most of the folks we met were really nice as well. Hopefully, you get a chance to get out there? Maybe on your way to a cruise to the Carribean? I saw a bunch of those cruisliners passing by and even docked... And as for the so-called beautiful people.... I really think that's more of an exaggeration..maybe the term that should be used is "sexy" people? |
