Tuesday, August 21, 2007

19 august 2006, sun

At 3pm, the ALASKA BUS DIRECT van finally set off towards ANchorage. There were 6 stops along the way and we got to see the beautiful breathtaking sceneries of alaska - the mountains, lakes, green pastures and glaciers. The kind driver offered to drop us off for free at our hostel 26TH INTERNATIONAL HOSTEL as it was near his house too.

1st impression of the house from the outside was it was quite small compared to the Hostel we stayed in SF. When we entered the hostel, felt kinda disoriented cuz it is someone's house and i don't see any reception table etc. Haha Sebastien, the owner saw us and told us what to do, showed us the house and answered the questions we got.


We shared a private dorm with 2 other girls. The bunk beds were considerably lower than the ones we had in our trailer. Otherwise, it was big and cosy. After shower, we both used the internet for awhile. We got to know one of the girls - a Swiss girl there for travel after the shower then before we went to sleep, we chatted with the other girl Katie (alaskan).

20 aug 2006, mon

The night was very cold that the thin rough blanket we were given wasn't enough to keep us warm. The mattress was alittle harder than wat we used to. haha we did sleep later than we intended. The breakfast that greeted us when we entered the kitchen was wonderful. There was a variety of fruits, waffles, cakes, breads, cereals etc for us to choose. Majority of the guests are from other countries.

After brkfast, we walked to the bus stop to take bus 7 to downtown. There is a fixed schedule for the bus but the bus wasn't very punctual. hahaha. It took only 10 mins to reach downtown transfer ctr and we walked 5 streets to the Railroad depot for another 15 mins. So even though we left at 8.30am and bus arrived at 9.15am. we still managed to reach the depot and check in before 10am.

The logo of Alaska railroad

The alaska railroad glacier explorer train was like those antique train except it was air con and there was a dome-glass windows car at the end. It didn't make too much noise when it travels either. The weather that whole day was dreary - cloudy, dark and foggy. Not a best time to see glacier.



The train trip to Portage took 4 hrs with a 45mins stop at Whitter where those involved in Glacier explorer tour would fill out the paperwork and be given the briefing. Our guide, Heather was a college student,working this tour as summer job. She was knowledgeable about the rafting, the glaciology and quite fit. We were the youngest people on this tour besides the guides. haha It was amazing how people in their late 50 and 60s still mustered up the courage to do such adventurous stuffs. Like the couple we chatted up next to us, this wasn't their 1st time rafting (unlike us - how 'embarrassing') and certainly not their last.

I hope that when I'm as old as them, i'd still have the energy and guts to travel and do exciting stuffs like they do. Heex Damn..life is too short to spend even the last few decades in bed or at home!

so at POrtage, Heather drove us in a 'magic bus' to the Spencer Lake where we took our 1st glance at spencer glacier and got blown away. The glacier was HUGE to us. Hahaha After taking some pics, we were presented with a deli-style lunch. I love the breads - thick and fluffy with ham, roast beef, cheese, veggies. got soup too but too sour for our tastes and the little brownie was tasty.

after which we spent 1 and 1/2 hr rafting along the lake and river. it was quite mellow except for one exciting bump. hahax very beautiful even in the dreary weather. Then we went back to e train, alighted at dunno where again to board the motorcoach to anchorage. The motorcoach seats were damn comfy cuz i fell aslp on bus. hahaha

Reaching the depot, we went to chk out the ULU FACTORY located near depot - not much of stuffs and priced quite high. then we walked along the downtown, browsed a gift shop and bought a mug for my grandma before proceeding to 5th ave mall to have dinner - subway. at 9pm, the mall was closing and we left the mall to browse some gift shops where they stay open till 11pm. There was this POLAR BEAR GIFT shop opposite CLUB PARIS, where they sell souvenirs comparatively cheaper than the rest. so we decided to go there again the next day.

so we went to catch our last bus back and reached hostel by 11pm. showered n used internet.

21st aug 2006, tues

again we woke up later. hahax Had the same brkfast as before. 1st place on our list was the Lake Hood near airport but we din take the bus, believing that the lake was as close to our hostel as it was on the map. HA big mistake! On the way we remb our desire to visit walmart and sebastien mentioned one along the place but i couldn't remb his directions. so we blindly headed off in the rough direction only to come up with no walmart. haha so then we walked our way to Lake Hood. It was a long long hike...one that MY actually complaint abt. lolx Nevertheless we persevered and finally arrived at our destination an hr after we left hostel.


The lake has floatplanes parked around it and we were waiting to see if any floatplanes take off. Luckily for us juz when we were leaving we saw a floatplane leaving. It wasfor a tour and after i taped down the take-off, we noticed that the tour only cost US$50 per person of cuz the duration is unknown. ha

After this, we went to take bus 7 to Dimond Center and once again we misjudged the distance and time. Muahaha it was close to an hr before we arrived there. Did i mention that the seats on US public buses are juz too hard to sleep on?? Despite that our dear MY managed to slp on the bus - that does tell u how tired she was huh?

Dimond Center is gigantic man..haha longer than Vivocity and probably wider too. lolx 1st we went to A&W, opp dimond ctr for lunch. To my surprise again, the burger was smaller than singapore's burger size. haha. Then we shopped at BEST electronic store - as big as the convention hall insuntec bahz. I bought THE SIMS 1 COMPLETE COLLECTION for only uS$39.99!! hahaha Next we went to explore the rest of ctr, played in arcade and redeemed our tickets with rings & a bracelet for me. haha Oh and we saw the big ice skating rink at the basement.

After that, we took the bus back to downtown and continued our gift shopping. we were quite tired so we did our shopping as fast as we could and took bus back to hostel. we showered, changed, packed stuffs again before heading for airport at 10.30pm. And it was transition and travel time again!!!

LET ME FLY AWAY FROM HERE
- 6:39 AM

Saturday, August 18, 2007

18th July was our last day of work for MY and I.

After work, Adel, Yuxuan, eunice, shiwen, MY and i showered and set off for FAST EDDY'S restaurant, a mile away from our trailer.

On the way we stopped by RV TOK village gift shop. By the time we reached restuarant it was 8+pm. *I was famished* YX. Eunice and I decided to share STEAK & PRAWNS combo (including all-u-can-eat salad bar) while the rest shared Alaska King crab combo. All of us shared the chicken wings. WE were soo happy to see that fruits were included in the salad bar and made several servings of the fruit salads - watermelon, rock melon, strawberries, pineapples! The poor deprived us were over the moon and indulged in fruity luxury!

The chicken wings were quite small-sized and we were disappointed with the prawns cuz it was only 3 small breaded prawns. lolx Then at e end, YX,E & i shared the White chocolate raspberry cheesecake! Very yummy! The best of all e courses. hahaha

By the time we finish with the dinner, it was 10+pm and the sun was juz setting. On the way back to our trailer, (the place was quite quiet and peaceful), we saw some Dall sheeps coming out along the highway to chew grasses. Hahax

LET ME FLY AWAY FROM HERE
- 6:33 AM

.profile.The Jet-setter