Thanksskiing - Day 5 in Seattle

Monday, November 27, 2006

Time flies when you are having fun. HAHA purposely put cliche + corny sentence to start the entry. Well, it's already the last day of our trip. vincent and neisha's flight at 11+, weijie, elvin, mark's flight at 1+, danny, philip at 5+, liling and me at around 12midnight and 'miah's the day after. So vincent and neisha went off to microsoft while the rest of us went to Boeing Museum of Flight in the morning.

Started the day with fresh waffles.. thanks to econo lodge.. I love nice friendly people like that who dont care how many pple crash in their room haha. weijie even made friends with some family whose son was learning chinese in sch.. and not bad, he said 'bu4 ming2 bai2' to weijie even with the intonations. impressed.

There was tonnes of snow. I'd googled 'Does it snow in Seattle' prior to the trip and some bloke said not since er, a long time ago.. But this is the most snow I've ever seen in a city! my..

Can you imagine? So thick!

invasion of a snow paw! heehee.

Boeing Museum of flight

We spent so much time out there playing with the snow [or rather watching weijie, li ling and danny play in the snow] that we almost didn't wanna go in haha. We had much more fun out there than in the museum really. looking forward to mark's photos, which i'll download tonight. whee.

We finally got our butts in there. It was really irritating cos we got on a tour around the Boeing facilities.. but we weren't allowed electronics in there.. no phone, no camera.. where's the fun when you can't take photos man. seriously i think i've lost the ability to have fun without taking photos.. slowly i'll lose my photographic memory and my ability to describe pictures or something.. quite bad huh.

Anyway it was really boring lah. We first watched a video on how they assemble the plane [ok that was pretty cool cos they fast forwarded the whole process]. Then we took a bus in to the factory [which is supposed to be the world largest building in terms of volume but it didn't feel that big anyway]. We were only allowed to view from the 2nd floor so we could hardly see anything and the tour guide was q boring keep piling facts on us that i'm not interested in. i'm really bad at numbers.. all i can rem is.. 737 costs what, 120million usd? and 738 costs 200+million i think. anyone interested? heehee.

i also wanted to see if they used our company products in their assembly line.. im quite sure they have ties. too bad i couldn't see what controllers they used cos we were too far away =(

next we went to the exhibition hall where luckily we could take photos.. we hurriedly snapped lots of random photos before rushing off to the airport to send weijie, elvin n mark off.

The engine, most expensive part of the plane.



i love buttons but this is a bit too much eh



i want one of these!!! cute plane softtoys!

We dingdonged so much that weijie elvin n mark missed their flight. Haha.. they damn yaya.. so late le still not worried.. and elvin still wanted to go return the car himself. I happily forced danny to return the car instead.. he looked pretty reluctant to. bleah. well at least they managed to be reasonably early-ish late to still get another flight to san francisco.. and the lucky pigs managed to spend a few hours there.. so resourceful i cannot take it.

Kerry Park

So danny philip jeremiah liling and me squeezed into a super cute yellow chevy.. and off we went to Kerry Park. We were lucky to catch clear skies.. and the pretty setting sun.

'miah says seattle is the last state to see sunset. haha.. he's the only person i know who would actually care abt such things. nature and extreme sport-siow one.

Mount rainier is supposed to be right behind me.. dont see it though maybe wrong angle.



Somehow seattle looks prettier from far.


dying snowman! i was wondering where his hands came from when i saw..


haha.. the snow man creator(s) were pretty resourceful!


the cute cosy chevy.

next we tried to go to outback steak house for lunch/dinner, but they were only open at 4.30.. the seafood restaurant beside it was pretty expensive so we decided to go for a walk instead at a lake opposite the restaurants. 2nd example of prettiness in the middle of unexpected nowhere.

there was way too much gooseshit on the floor though. damn gross.

didn't get to eat this! as it was getting late we decided to go to a denny's diner near the airport instead.

the last sunset seen in the US.

I love Denny's for their ALL DAY BREAKFAST. All restaurants should have that it's damn cool. and refillable coffee. superbly enjoyed my Breakfast. Luckily 'miah offered to send danny and philip to the airport cos i eat damn slowly. later on he came back to join us.. we decided to go to Microsoft cos being ahem software engineers we really shld go there and check out how bill is doing.

unfortch, everything went downhill from here.. Really sad lah. WE wanted to check out microsoft and THEN finally go to liling's factory outlets haha. However we met up with a HUGE jam.. damn stupid lah. it was really massive, the cannot move kind. So we first gave up microsoft cos it closed at 7.. but after a while, we realised that we shouldn't even try to go to the outlets cos we may not even make it in time for our flights. So after a while, we stopped and turned back.

i don't know why there was a jam.. i guess it was a combination of the bad snow.. maybe seattlites dun get snow so they don't know howta drive in it? lots of cars in ditches and many abandoned cars on the road. also heard that there was a football match orsomething. maybe coupled with evryone going home from their thanksgiving holiday? it really sucked.

i was sitting in the front passenger seat and i realised what a lousy navigator i was. oops. ive always thot i had a good sense of direction, but its like i was carrying all the maps and then after a while we just got lost.. oops. i have too short an attention span lah i think. 'miah was amazingly patient. fwah if i was to drive in that sort of traffic and weather i would definitely be in a very foul/panicky mood and bitch at the navigator for being so useless. and he just calmly stopped by at a gas station and took over the map reading without suaning me.. haha. well, at least i was able to lead us back to the airport using the little alleys instead of the highway ok! i just need to FOCUS a bit more.. tsk think my brain spoil.

we finally got back to the airport safe and sound and early.. lots of pple were in foul moods there.. cos of the terrible traffic.. they missed their flight and all. quite a mess at the airport. luckily we were super early and could take our time. but we also spent like, 3-4 hours driving north and then south back to the airport.. poor 'miah must be damn tired.

so we sat around, had a nice cuppa latte and cheese cake at starbucks. while waiting for our turn to check in..

before we left we made him promise not to sleep in the car that night. so garang but its so dangerous lah! don't know where he ended up though.

after going in i fell prey to the books in the airport shop. i bought 'The Devil wears Prada'.. haha im halfway thru it already, very readable and chick flicky with no much story line. i'd like to watch the show tho cos li ling says she wears damn nice clothes in it!

so it was time to fly.. kinda funny that both li ling and i were flying to texas, but she was to dallas and me to houston. both our flights were delayed.. hers by 2.5 hours in the end, and mine was just for less than an hour. As i was waiting for the flight, i was wondering why these people kept approaching the attendants.. i mean, if it's delayed it's delayed right.. why ask this ask that. and i calmly boarded the plane later..

in fact, when i reached houston, i still calmly went to the washroom to wash my face [damn gross and oily, never bathe since morning leh] and then took the following boliao photos. haha. houston airport quite pretty. i couldn't really check my watch cos of the time difference.. and as i went up to one of the monitors to check, i realised that my plane was leaving in 5 minutes!!!

i am how retarded. it didnt even occur to me to check if i would miss my connecting flight.. so that must have been what those pple were doing. haiya think i was too tired to think. So i started running towards the gate but it was freaking far still gotta take stupid train to the terminal and all.

by the time i reached there, they had separated the gate from the plane.. and i saw 'Departed'. haha.. so stupid i still run like mad.. really shld have known. The lady at the counter just took a look at me and said nonchalantly 'oh they knew that you weren't gonna make it so they put u on a later flight.' AHHH so cheated if i had checked beforehand i cld have just walked slowly. and the stupidest thing was that my gate was right where i came from, so i had to drag my feet all the way back. damn shag lah! felt so depressed at that moment.

now that i think of how weijie and the rest could actually tour san fran in that short span of a few hours, i really peifu them. i was so tired i just slid into a chair and slept like a mad woman. damn no xing xiang! to think that i could have toured houston. haha. it totally didn't cross my mind. maybe next time. anyway whenever i woke up i saw smartly dressed, nicely made up pretty girls next to me.. ahh damn paiseh.

pretty ceiling art at the terminal


bush!


take some more photos lah! miss flight then you know.

a while before my flight, i was sooo hungry that i bought this. i wasn't sure if the flight provided meals.. i ate it on the plane.. damn good.

and finally.. all my souvenirs! seattle and vancouver fridge magnets, canadian beaver and i dunno how on earth i ended up with the EMP ernie ball pick in my bag. i really didn't take it on purpose!!

so.. In Conclusion [dreaded words in GP essay, gp tcher said never ever write them cos the examiner is not stupid and he knows it is a conclusion], it was a new experience for me, got to know lots of fantastic pple.. had lots and lots of fun and everyone was cooperative and did their research well and all. only i slack and just go and leech off their plans. hehe. pple like 'miah were really inspiring! so amazing to see new things evryweek. activated my wanderlust! although i just burnt my previous weekend snoring in bed. but they are pretty inspiring lah, hopefully can get to travel together again!

Thanksskiing - Day 4 in Seattle

Sunday, November 26, 2006

In the morning, we all went down for breakfast. At first we tried to ignore each other, so that it er, wouldn't be so suspicious that we were all in the same room. After a while we couldn't take it and started discussing our plans. Poor gabriel was sitting alone at a table. And we didn't talk to him from the beginning to the end, cos it was like how weird to just suddenly talk to him after ignoring him for so long. Haha.. Damn nonsensical. Well Danny was quite smart and gave the guy a $10 tip for tolerating our nonsense and keeping quiet about it.

Pike's Place Market

Next we were off to Pike's Place Market. In the hopes that it was open and that there were actually people around. Luckily there were! We were worried that u know it was so cold that no fishermen would be out at sea and all. When we reached, the market was just opening, and you could see it slowly come to life. People were just opening their booths, and it was interesting to see the market unfold before you.

Check these out.. they are the CHEEKs of a fish. huge hor? the lobsters looked damn good.. and in the top left corner of the pic [this feels like english oral exam in sec sch haha] are SCALLOPS. humongous lah!

This guy played very good music.. from a cute piano!

The following are 'Cooked Dungeness Crabs'. The guy was happily opening them and allowing us to sample.. tasted really good! Liling and me promptly brought one at $15 to share w everyone.. Yummilicious. This was from the store right at the main entrance of the market, and the people shout and sing whenever you buy something. So when we buy a crab they go 'One Crab!' and they throw the crab around.

When pb told me about this I actually imagined it to be a lot grander, a lot of fishermen throwing fish around as they work and singing.. Haiya, so it's only the fishmonger who sings, ONLY when you buy stuff from them. Bleah. kinda cheated!

Oh, they say that the crab was put there for 3 days le =p but it still tasted superb, so .. whatever!

Next I saw this cute nut store.. selling all sorts of diff flavoured peanuts. I bought $5 worth of Caramel Cashews and Jubee Macadamia. Total rip off. And I also found the guy kinda rude. The nuts were way too sweet.. I didn't finish them and fed them to the rest of the guys.

The following store sold dried fruits.. I had to stop myself from buying all these nonsense. Haha. I took the above self portrait in front of this store, and I bet the lady was laughing at me.. Hehe. Gabriel took a sample from the lady and I saw him chewing on it.. Suddenly he put a piece of dried fruit on my hand to exchange for my nuts. haha it looked like he chew chew chew then suddenly give me. so nonsense.

I was walking around randomly when I noticed these cute little things. Then I realised that the guy in front of me was Vincent! Haha. The lady picked one up at started playing a melody with it. Freaking cute!! They are called ocarinas.. Very expensive, but I was a gone case right after she played a few melodies.

I know it was expensive but it was about the way she sold it, how she looked so happy playing it and how she seemed proud of the craft. She says that it's made by a couple of her friends a couple of hours away from seattle.

Mark was saying that ebay sure got. And liling says she saw tonnes of these in China. hhaha.. but since i'm not going to china soon.. heehee. I thought it would be a cute ornament, and summore u can pick it up and play. I love it. So did vincent so we tried bargaining a bit, and each bought one. Mine's a medium size and his is a small, so mine plays a more mellow sound compared to his.

Later found some on the internet that were way cheaper.. but luckily don't have my shape. Haha. I've been irritating my room mate by playing squidward-ly tunes hahha. There are lots of constraints since only one octave can be played haha but it's still really really cute. loves it.

We walked around a little.. That's some dried fruit thing courtesy of Elvin. I was in a toy shop.. And they sold really cute things like a ball which changed colour when you threw it up and down [haha an old lady saw me playing with it and she decided to buy 3 for her grandsons or something!] I was extremely tempted to buy this calendar whose pages you could fold into origami daily.. and even , kirigami [even prettier.. can cut out into pretty shapes and all] but i had to stop myself from spending money on nonsense.

First Starbucks

Next we went to the First STARBUCKS ever!!! at 1912 Pike Place. There were loads of people there and we went in to get our nice hot drinks. Meanwhile weijie was in the car making sure we didn't get any tickets... haha so wei da.

I had seen the logo before in some art in the market.. and I thought it was a parody of starbucks.. little did i know that it WAS the starbucks logo! so ugly lah!

With my very sexy rockwell jacket. haha. dunno why vincent do C.. machiam C-block like that.

my favourite starbucks drink.. caramel macchiato!

We then went down to mac donalds near the space needle for lunch. i think this is my first filet o fish in america.

Chittenden Locks

Locks are basically elevators for boats. When a boat needs to travel up stream, they go into this contraption which locks the water out, and then water from the higher region is let in, thus the boat will move up until the level of the higher region. Kinda interesting to look at.

Weijie [or was it mark] was asking why do they have to build it in the first place. The water should become level anyway if it wasn't there. It's not like it's a dam or something. Wah. so cheem. I have no idea either.

There was this 'fish ladder' thing to help the salmon swim upstream! They even had a viewing gallery where you could observe it. Damn cool.. a little murky though. Too bad it wasn't salmon season.. there were only a couple of chinooks that were too old and weak to make their way up.

Oh, it was quite funny that there were erm, salmon cook books at the tourist shop. wth?

On the way there, we saw this bridge opening up.. I've seen this in chicago so i didn't find it entirely exciting, but stupid weijie was making a lot of noise about how cool it is.. haha and he made it seem a lot more fun and happening than it really was. bth!

We braved the crazy rainy weather just to check it out.


Entrance to the fish ladder viewing place



The lazy chinook. Damn big lah.


Fish Ladder


The locks which control the water level

picked up a pretty leaf which i gave neisha later on, but was left to die in the van in the end ha.

We then rushed down to the airport to send Gabriel off.. aiyoh i think gabe is damn hardworking.. must rush back so that he doesn't miss lessons! Then it was time to go for the Experience Music Project near the space needle where the rest had already spent the whole afternoon at.

But, before going there, we decided that the pike place crabs were too delicious to let go of.. and when I said 'We should have crabs and beer for supper tonight' it became an unanimous decision immediately. Heehee.. So we drove back to pikeplace market and bought 3 crabs for only 30+.. It was a correct choice to not buy from that first stall at the entrance who made a lot of noise. It also saves you time cos they don't take so much time to sing and throw the crab and all.

Experience Music Project

By the time we reached the EMP thing, it was very late already.. and we still had to wait for the rest to come down with the coupons which gave us $3 off. It seemed hard to tear them away from the exhibit! So in the end we only had 1.5 hours to tour the place.

We skipped all the exhibits and headed straight for the hands on labs. Damn nonsense, paying $16 to go into the jam studios to make lots of noise. Heh. It was really fun, they even let u record your own music and u can buy the cd after that. We basically went into the jam studio and made lots of noise by plonking on the guitars, keyboard, drums.. and of course, weijie our lead singer. When we left that studio, there was a line outside, and the lady in front of the queue like, smiled at us. Later on we realised that the studio wasn't sound proof so.. our beautiful *cough* music was heard by all. Man.

There was also a small studio which let u 'record your own concert, complete with fans'. Haha.. it's like a little stage.. and you don't have to know any music, just go out there and pretend. too bad we couldn't afford to buy the video/photo. Pretty cool, we looked quite professional lah. Vincent on guitar, liling on keyboard, mark on drums, weijie lead singer and me on the tambourine.. hahaha.. I also had to sing lah so embarrassing. i looked damn stupid in the video.

Our band was called.. Majulah Singapura. Cool huh. at the end of it they print 'concert tickets' for you, and then they lead u to the computer to watch ur own concert. damn boliao, but we enjoyed it. hahaha.

After which, we went looking for those jam rooms again, Neisha joined us and we sang our hearts out.. haha.. it was like a major karaoke session. quite nonsense to spend our time and money on that but it was really really fun. in fact we had so much fun we stayed til the very end when the security came to chase us out. Then we ran into a room on a lower level just to play for a few more minutes before the security came to chase us out again. haha. machiam never see instrument before.

Our concert ticket!!

Some of us wanted to watch Happy Feet in the omnimax theatre.. I did originally but changed my feeble mind after li ling said she didn't want to watch it. haha. So we rushed off to eat.. went to a mexican restaurant spotted by neisha from some tourist guide. the pple watching happy feet didn't have the time to eat so they had to tapao the food.

appetizers

Wet colorado. burrito with sirloin.. something something. hardly ate half of it, shld have shared with liling!

Pike Pub

We went down to where they brew 'the best beer in the world'.. hmm sounds familiar? Well it's something like brewerks I guess. We let the bar tender [danny] choose the Pike Tandem Double Ale, and Pike Kilt Lifter, one of which is sweeter than the other, but i have no idea lah. all tastes the same to me. The beer cups were so cute i was tempted to buy one haha.

The happy feet people joined us after their show. We bought these back: "Naughty Nellie: light, with lots of sex appeal". That's the description of the beer.. like, i can totally tell what it tastes like by reading that.. =_="

We ended the day at Econo Lodge, enjoying Naughty Nellie's and not forgetting the 3 crabs which were waiting for us. No pictures of crab eating cos of dirty hands. But it was superb, squatting in front of the toilet and sink eating crabs on newspapers, kinda like eating durians, with mark the tissue paper dispenser. dispenses every 5 minutes. heehee.