Houston 2015 - January

In January, I went to Houston for a work trip for a week (10th Jan to 18th Jan). Making this my 3rd trip to Houston, the 1st was in 2008, the 2nd in 2013. It was a pretty last minute trip, so I didn't have much planning done. 

Flying to East of USA is a pain. The flight time is looong, 13hrs from KL to Amsterdam, transit for 4hrs, and then another 10.5hrs from Amsterdam to Houston, worse still if you go with an airline like KLM, which I did, where the seats are smaller, and the space between rows of seats are narrower. It was quite torturous in my opinion. Luckily the food served was pretty decent, and they have quite good in flight entertainment. 

These are just some photos captured during the trip for memory keep sake. 

♥Amsterdam Airport Schiphol♥ 

(photos are all taken from mobile, hence the quality is not as good) 

 It's a nice airport, with lots of cafes, but I like the Dutch Kitchen the best. The Gevulde Koeken, which is an Almond Paste filled Cookie was so delicious, I had it again on my transit to go back home. The are quite a number of shops there to keep me occupied; and of course, most of the souvenir shops sell cheeses. I didn't buy any, didn't know what was good.

I was attracted to the Meditation Centre, and went there to check out, I think it was meant to be a surau (Muslim prayer room), so I saw some people praying there, but also a few taking a nap in the quiet room. 4hours transit isn't that bad. 

♥Houston Shopping♥ 

 When in the US, of course, we have to do some shopping. I really really love the variety of items available there. At Sports Authority.

At REI. Of course, can't miss a visit to the Outlets. I was so tempted to get the Samsonite Cosmolite (check out the price!), but buying it would mean incurring additional baggage charge on the KLM flight, which only allows 1x23kg checked suitcase. Sigh. I always love to visit supermarkets wherever I am. And I just realised on this trip, there's a Wholefoods Market just near the office. The variety of organic and natural product is just amazing. This is where I purchased my very first set of natural skin care product from, many many years ago, in the Wholefoods Market in California. Hilton Garden Inn 

This is the hotel we always stay in when we're in Houston. Nice room, but electrical appliances in my room were noisy, so I had to turn off the air-condition (heater actually since it was winter), pull out the plug for the fridge before I could have a good sleep. Breakfast was included, and they were pretty delicious although not many choices to choose from.

For dinner, usually we went out in a group, only a couple of times I had to eat on my own. At PF Changs near the hotel, having a romantic dinner all by myself. At BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse. I managed to meet up with my Texas BFF Jerry, who drove 45mins to meet up with me at a Vietnamese Restaurant, Mekong Grill. Food wasn't great, and we joked about how authentic a Pho can be if it's served with crab sticks, but it was nice to just have a catch up with him. The best dinner I'd had on this trip is at Mia Bella. This is another restaurant that our colleagues like to frequent, as the food is always so delicious. I had a Pan Seared Sesame Crusted Salmon, it was heavenly. The sesame gave the salmon a nice flavourful crunch. Oh boy, if I were to go to Houston again, I have to go back to this restaurant for another of this heavenly dish. It really really tasted nicer than it looked. 

My favourite meal of the day is lunch, as I love the variety of delicious food served in the company's cafe. Check out the Asian section - pot stickers, sushi, Vietnamese rice rolls. The Italian Station have super delicious looking pizzas, and flat bread pizzas. The salad bar has such nice raw vegetable and delicious toppings that I actually have salad for lunch for a couple of days. My lunches. Salad with over the top toppings. Chicken Pot Stickers, so yummy. Turkey Burger, which was so juicy and well grilled. After a week in Houston, I put on weight, of course. 

 I drove in Houston to get to the office and to go to the shops. Actually, you rarely see people walking. I did walk to restaurants a couple of times with my colleagues, and we can see that Houston roads are not meant for pedestrians. There is no pavement for one. And the roads were so wide you have to do a hundred meters dash every time you cross a road. 

While driving, I have to remind myself to keep the right all the time, just so I don't make any mistakes, since in Malaysia we drive on the left.

Unfortunately, this trip was so last minute and short for any sight seeing. This was the scenery I saw daily, while walking to the car to get to the office. This one was on a day when it got really foggy.