Over the period of 2009 - 2012, I visited Utah a total of six times.

I recall on my first visit there, I was lucky to travel with more experienced folks to guide me around. First day in Utah and it was a long one. I woke up early in the morning and took a stroll round the base. Amazed at the facilities they have inside, from a cinema, to fast food, to petrol station, 24 hr minimart and more.. It was pretty cold in the morning and my jacket finally came in handy but still regret bringing it along, as it only takes up precious luggage space!

Subsequently after, we met up with Francis and his family and he brought us to Salt Lake City for Dim Sum brunch and it was actually even better than the ones I get in Singapore, haha… it was pretty authentic tasting and well worth its price at just about 10 USD/pax. It was the authentic dim sum fare with siew mai, carrot cake, pau, etc etc. The place was ran by Hongkongers which pretty much explain for the great taste of the dishes.

And that was that for breakfast and we set off to a day of shopping at Tanger Outlet Center, Park City, Utah. It was just like any other mall, prices were definitely cheaper and I managed to get the stuff I wanted so that was a good thing. The one thing I enjoyed so far is really the service quality in US. It is so much better than Singapore, perhaps the people are more friendly and I know the sales assistants are in a way, expected to behave as such but it doesn’t come across as overly forced.

So after one afternoon of shopping, we headed back to Salt Lake City and straight to Salt Lake Capitol, which provided a magnificent view of the entire city. It was very grand and one could easy identify why the location was chosen as the State Building. The interior was also very nice and we spend some time just walking around and marvelling at the architecture construct.

Temple Square was next and while I am not familiar with the whole Mormon / Christian thing, there was a strong religious influence in Salt Lake or Utah in general and this place just reinforces it. As above, it was architecturally very grand and it would be quite cool to listen to one of the choir performances in the various halls as they were all very proud of the acoustic modelling of the place.

Work trips are always repetitive, the conferences were always held at the same place, we always stayed at the same place.. and it was probably only on my last trip there that I started to explore more. Oh well.