Sense of Wonder

Epic US West Coast Extravaganza

3-15 Oct 2012

I have stopped writing about travels; maybe I have become too busy. Worse, maybe I have lost my sense of wonder and have become desensitised to the feeling of amazement and awe I feel whenever I see or experience something new. This trip, I resolved to not let that happen. This is the story of our super-quick roadtrip nearly covering the entire length of the US west coast, from Los Angeles to Seattle .

Day 1 - we landed in Los Angeles in the afternoon after a surprisingly pleasant 11 hour flight. The scale of the place starts to dawn upon us when we had to take a shuttle bus 15 mins away just to get to the car rental. We somehow get persuaded to upgrade from a 1.5 litre economy car to a 2.0 litre full-sized car, a decision we did not regret later. We drive what would have been 30 mins to Hollywood, but actually took 1 hour in the horrible jam. Exhausted after the travelling we find the motel in a rather nice part of town near the private hospitals and next to a huge Church of Scientology. We drove down Sunset boulevard to get D's must-have fast food: Chick Fil-a. Apparently they famously stood up against same-sex marriage, consequently losing and gaining its following. Junk food stop #1.

Day 2 - drove down Hollywood Boulevard in search of the famed strip. Learnt the art of parking "validation", ie free/discounted parking based on some conditions. Checked out the walk of fame (some ridiculous pple have been added to the legacy like the muppets and Billy Graham) and viewed the Hollywood sign, as well as the Grauman's Chinese theatre and its concrete hand and foot imprints of celebrities. Got bored. Went on a drive to see Paramount studios, from the outside. Drove somemore through the Wiltshire Miracle Mile before hitting Farmer's Market for lunch (and free parking). Philly cheese steak and chilli dog were decent but felt like junk food too. Drove 20+ miles to Santa Monica beach by the Pacific Ocean - checked out the pier and the end of the historic Route 66. Attempted to check out the supposedly impressive LA County Museum of Art but was denied entry (closed). Headed to Beverley Hills instead which turned out a sharp contrast to all the surrounding neighbourhoods. Walked along Rodeo Drive and the seriously fancy shops trying to celeb-spot unsuccessfully. Returned to the Dolby theatre in time for the performance of Cirque du Soleil which we impulsively decided to treat ourselves to after being rather disappointed with what Hollywood had to offer. impressive acrobatics combined with dizzy performing makes for an antidote against serious jet-lag. Drive to in-and-out for dinner and was not that impressed, despite all the rave reviews and not-so-secret menu! Junk food #2. LA, done in a day.

Day 3 - rushed to make a headstart at Universal Studios. Followed A's advice on the order of rides/shows and we managed to finish the whole park with minimal queuing before closing time, with time to spare despite a long lunch at Bubba Gump (junk food #3 which made us too full for dinner). The park was excellent, particularly the studio tour and technology deployed in every corner. But from a rides perspective was rather dismal given most of them were 3D which implies some form of sitting in a moving seat in a machine with screens. Forget the roller coasters. Tired from a day of rushing around, we left at 6pm and drove 3hrs north to our accommodation for the night - Santa Maria. Too tired for dinner, we settled for some snacks and fruit knicked from the morning's breakfast.

Day 4 - checked out a latino supermarket for supplies, and came face to face with the supersized reality of America. I seem to remember massive row after row of freezer and fridge facilities but not the tubs of 5 gallon ice-cream they were filled with. The meat section was the same; they seem to have supersized chickens and turkeys too. Despite a rather horrifying sight, we settled into Mexican lunch at the supermarket of tacos, right next to the aisle that sold the raw meat. Nice. Junk food #4. On the road now headed for the Pacific highway 1 and towards the Big Sur... Mile after mile of drive along a winding dual carriageway, just by the Pacific Coast. It was bliss for me (the passenger) and not so fun for D (for driver). We stopped along the way multiple times to take in the particularly calming view of the boundless ocean with the waves crashing into the rocks, got caught up in a festival, stumbled upon a large 600-strong colony of male elephant seals lounging lazily on a small beach, saw an unusual waterfall onto a beach, and caught the sunset at the beautiful Pfiffer beach where the sand was purple inside. Finally, we arrived at Monterey Bay for the night.

Day 5 - with the jet-lag (ie ability to wake up early in the mornings) fast fading, we only made it to the Monterey Bay aquarium just in time for the 11am Open Sea feeding session. The sea truly opens up a different world and I'd never seen such a huge school of tuna hundreds of thousands strong, or all kinds jellyfish bobbing up and down, or seahorses of all variety etc. it was straight back on the road for a 3 hr journey to San Francisco, which was much colder and windier than I had ever imagined California to be. On the way we must have passed some very smart and/or rich pple who live and work in Sillicon valley. Entered hilly San Fran just in time to catch an Airshow, probably for the first time

In my life. The slopes in San Fran were scary, probably at an incline of 60 degrees and with cars parked perpendicularly all along! We checked out the Golden Gate bridge (from a distance) and saw Alcatraz, which brought some grief to us considering we didn't manage to buy tickets, even 2 days in advance. Dinner was kindly hosted by some old friends from school.

Day 6 - contrary to all advice, we took our car everywhere we went in the city, which actually worked out very well. 1st stop was down along Lombard Street, a part of it is named the crookedest street in the world with numerous hairpin bends for cars (hmmm we've probably seen worse in Norway!) then on to Coit Tower for supposed good views of the whole city (waste of time). Lunch was seafood at a nice but cheap restaurant along Fisherman's wharf (so that we could get 2 hours free parking!) followed by some wandering along Piers 39-45. This time there were some sealions on the pier greeting the multitude of curious tourists. Then we drove downtown and parked right smack in the middle of town (Union Square) where parking cost $4/hr - no validation! Saw the Hyde street cablecar turn around, a ridiculously long queue round the block outside a newly-opened Uniqlo store, checked out the Mother of all Chinatowns (disappointing) and the Financial district, did a Macy's and Cheesecake Factory run, and retrieved the car. All within 2 hours. Fed up of paying for more parking, we just did a driving tour around the more spectacular buildings of the opera and drive through the Tenderloin to a little park where there was a cute view of nice Victorian houses in a row, with the San Fran skyline in the background. Back to Fisherman's wharf for dinner at Boudin's (great clam chowder!) and unfortunately we didn't make it out of the city across the Golden Gate bridge before dark :( it was another 3 hours (this time with coffee in hand) on the same highway before we reached Redding, the last major town of Northern California heading north. Fiasco at the front desk of the Best Western plus because they couldn't find my reservation, and on top of that scoffed that I only paid £37 for the room through Priceline. All made up for with a very very nice room. 

Day 7 - drive, drove, driving, overtake, avoid police cars, sleep, change driver, drive some more. This was the one day we were especially thankful that we had upgraded to a bigger car. It was a 650km drive, 643km of which was along the very same highway. Not sure why I bothered getting a Sat Nav! It wasn't all bad - each time the landscape changed we were kept entertained for 10 minutes. From dessert to mountains to lakes and autumn trees, that drive had it all. Tried to stop in Eugene, Oregon (home of Nike) but we couldn't quite locate a decent downtown or a decent lunch place. Ended up at Denny's along the highway where we nearly died being bloated. Death by junk food #5. Everything was made better upon arrival at the Woodburn company stores. No therapy better than retail therapy, all the more when the state you shop in does not impose sales tax! Unfortunately after a whole day of driving we only got there close to 7pm at night, so 2 hours had to suffice. Exhausted, we pulled up at the nearby crowne plaza at lake Oswego (only £50!) and felt all very posh indeed at a proper hotel! Who needs dinner when u have sleep?

Day 8 - returned to the outlet mall, and resumed shopping for 3 hours but still did not manage to complete a full round of the shops. Auntie Anne's pretzels in hand for lunch (Junk Food #6), we sped all the way to Seattle, 3.5hrs north, desperate to make the cut-off time for returning the car. Sadly we only saw Portland on the periphery, and it looked like a nice city indeed. Once we hit Washington, all the trees seemed more seasonal - the orange, red and yellow hues were more distinct and deep-set, making for a scenic backdrop for our race against time. Suddenly, just as we hit Tacoma (just south of Seattle) the sky turned a familiar shade of London grey and it seemed that we had left all the good weather behind! The remainder of our days were to prove worse. Anyhow with the help of the amazing High Occupancy Vehicles (defined as 2 or more people in a vehicle!) we made it to Seattle downtown in time to return the car, albeit with sub-optimal petrol levels. We transferred straight to another car, this time chauffeured by our dear friends S&S who met us at the end of our epic dive. Dinner was authentic Korean in the university district, and we were welcomed very warmly (in freezing cold Seattle) to their beautiful home, in a proper orange 3-storey house!!! :D more bliss.

Day 9 - woke up at the crack of dawn because we were on a mission to get to Mount Rainier National Park (3hrs back down south!) before the working crowd, which comprised mostly of Microsoft folk) trudge their way to work. Weather forecast was horrific and we were prepared for the worst, ski jackets et al in tow. But the thing we really needed were a pair of sunglasses, for God gave us a p-e-r-f-e-c-t blue sky hiking day. In fact it actually got quite warm! Mt Rainier, an active snow-capped volcano part of the Cascades mountain range, was the best-dressed mountain I've ever seen, with a white top against a solid blue backdrop, and with a skirt of bright red, orange and yellow (ok and green too) plants. Drop dead gorgeous. We took the most ambitious route at Paradise, 5.5miles and 1700 feet elevation (starting at 5400 feet). We were kept rather entertained for the next 5 hrs by looking out for small wildlife like chipmunks and raccoons, a mountain lion, traces of lost hikers, and coming high enough above the tree line onto some frozen glaciers. Sun-burnt, grimy and achy, it was another long drive back to Seattle, comfort Japanese food, board/card/video games with friends and zzzz.

Day 10 - woke up late morning and lazed around; perhaps this was the start to a proper holiday. Went supermarket shopping for American chocolates with S and again found them in supersized packets (given Halloween was round the corner). In the afternoon it was time to explore downtown Seattle. Pike Place market offered the popular fishmongers with fish-tossing fanfare, quirky little shops and the world's first Starbucks store! the rest of Seattle did not have much to offer, except for Top Pot donuts which were probably well worth their weight in gold. Took the bus back to home-cooked beef stew... mmm.

Day 11 - helped to pack the house a little bit and more outlet shopping in the afternoon/evening! This time with tax. Enough said.

Day 12 - last full day in Seattle. Went to church in the morning where I think I met my match in someone who could speak faster than me. I felt tired just listening to the pastor speak, but it was a very good message. Lunch was proper burgers (as opposed to fast food burgers) at home, and then more staying at home all day because it kept raining and raining! S&S had friends over for dinner which was very nice. Before we knew it, it was 1am - time to pack and for one last holiday snooze.

Day 13 - off to the airport in the morning knowing full well our flight had been delayed, which would have caused us to miss our connecting flight in Houston. Thank God that we got re-routed via Chicago without any hassle, and many uncomfortable hours on an antiquated plane later, we were back in London. End of vacation. Barely left the airport on the tube when I got a call from the office - I was being sent to a client meeting by myself that afternoon. Nothing like sheer hard work to bring one back to earth. 

My most and least favourite parts about landing in heathrow are how it takes ages and many rounds of circling the low skies before being allowed to land via a final descent in an east - to - west direction across central london. On a clear day, every landmark or building can be easily observed and London looks truly magnificent from above; on the other hand, I moan everytime we distinctly see and fly right past our home, only to have to travel another 2 hours across london to get there from Heathrow.

Maybe I'm just not so suaku anymore. But may I never, never lose my sense of wonder, especially at the beauty of creation, its brilliant Creator and the bestowed genius on man as a minuscule reflection of His image. 

"For the beauty of each hour

Of the day and of the night,

Hill and vale, and tree and flower,

Sun and moon and stars of light,

Lord of all, to thee we raise

This our grateful hymn of praise."

Hollywood - we have arrived!

The end of the Mother Route 66 (from Chicago) at Santa Monica

Meeting the Simpsons at Universal Studios

Elephant Seal colony along Highway 1

The Big Sur

San Francisco

Friends in San Fran (pun intended)

Clam Chowder in a Sourdough Bread Bowl - Fisherman's Wharf

A whole day of driving! (California - Oregon)

The sights and sounds along Interstate 5

More sights and sounds along Interstate 5

Hotel with TWO beds!!!

Mt Rainier National Park with S&S 

Loving the colours of fall 

Seattle skyline

Jellyfish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

The original Starbucks at Pike Place Market

Summer Trips 2010

With the close of August, and the windy reminder that summer is fast giving way to fall, I thought I'd do a little recap of the many trips I filled my summer with, lest I forget.

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April 2-5: The Drive up to Lake District and its tranquil vicinity-

Kendal, Windermere, Bowness, Ambleside, Coniston Grasmere, Keswick, Ullswater, Penrith. And then the drive across to Leeds, and back down to Peterborough and Cambridge.

Love travelling with Si - always pleasant, easy-going, relaxing. She drove more than half the time, and even climbed up Cat Bells fell (pictured above), with a broken knee. It wasn't exactly summer yet, nay, not even Spring actually. There was still snow on the hills and it was actually cold. This was also a trip with she-who-must-not-be-named, not pictured.

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April 30 - May 4 & 5: Amsterdam, Keukenhof, Antwerp, Brussels

Amsterdam on Queen's Day, 30 April 2010, when the entire city turns ORANGE and orange people fill the streets and the canals. This was the trip I was tricked into doing all the planning when there were already bigger plans in place... We even flew in in style, via LCY instead of a budget airline - what was I thinking!

Keukenhof Bulb Fields, Lisse, Holland. Revealed: the location.

Brussels: The big fight after, the luxury chocolate stock up, and missing the eurostar back to London. And then having to walk all over brussels to find 2 beds for the night. Rushed straight to work from St Pancras the next morning. I will always check train timings properly from now.

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May 27-30: Paris & Versailles, île de France

Finally, I kept my promise from back in 2002, and brought him to Paris. One of the best trips we've been on, in a different way because we didn't rush at all but still managed to see a lot. Also checked out Versailes and the Roland Garros. Too bad Federer was on centre-court then, and the walls were slightly too thick.

It was also amazing finally being back here to one of the places I remember the most from 2002 with the same great friend I had first come here with :) Si was again a fantastic host, and I especially loved chatting away every night till 2am and not being able to wake up the next day till 11am. <3

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June 12-13: Stonehenge, Bath, Bristol, Wales

(Cardiff, Breacon Breacons National Park, Three Cliff Bay.)

Reunited with the 2 sisters, and the whole family. I nearly didn't make it for this trip because it was the 1st weekend ever I had to work - thanks to B.P. and their oil spill. Nonetheless I went anyway and it was a mad trip going to so many places in just 1 weekend! Finally visited the stones but once was probably enough...!

Stopped over in Bath for lunch and for a quick look-see around the pretty town. Most memorable thing was probably lunch at Sally Lunns, the oldest house in Bath. Also went to Bristol after and had another quick walkaround for an hour or 2.

One of the most iconic pictures of Wales, and the little massive trek we did to get to the Welsh sea, and the three cliff bay. Also had dinner in Cardiff and a drive around the Breacon Breacons National Park and stopped by a few places amongst the sheep. Not forgetting the one night super cheap stay at Hilton Newport which was an experience in itself!

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June 18 - 22: Ireland- North and South

Northern Ireland was especially green and blue, and all the colours and sounds of nature. Rope Bridge (Carrick-a-rede) above. Beautiful is an understatement. We rented a car and drove around Derry, along the northen coast to check out the amazing rock formations at the giant's causeway (pictured below), to Belfast, and down to Fermanagh to check out some marble arch caves. Oh, not forgetting a titanic boat tour - loved their caption "She was alright when she left here!" Ohoh, and we checked out Carrick Fergus castle too. Also we went to chruch where everyone was dressed so nicely, hats and all :)

And then we took a bus down south to Dublin, the capital of Eire. Leprechaun alert! We were not too enticed by the city, to be honest, but we did spent the nights watching the world cup in the wonderful hostel! In a country that ITV has honoured by calling France, Ireland in all their games, until they got knocked out anyway...

And again, just to reinforce the point about the bluest blue and the greenest green, and some people very intoxicated with the beauty of nature at its finest :)

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July 18- 25: Spain - Barcelona, Madrid, Sevilla

Strolling down La Rambla, the main tourist street in Barcelona, where we had our all-you-can-eat Tapas and nearly died eating. Barcelona is also where the quirky buildings were, which we did check out but couldn't be bothered to queue to get in. Not forgetting the day trip to Montserrat which was quite nice but the ticket we bought was nowhere near value-for-money.

Arriving in Barcelona via a horrible overnight train experience, this is Puerta del Sol, the centre of Madrid and of Spain, an amazingly varied country. Temperatures were rising, and it was about 38 degrees. Sleeping in a non-airconed hostel was quite an unpleasant but it wasn't a bad place overall. We walked around the entire city in the sweltering heat, taking a few siestas too many in between. It's the only way to survive the heat. I never felt so glad to step into a supermarket.

This is Sevilla, capital of Andalucia, southern Spain. This time we arrived in style, via speedtrain, in the 1st class carriage (on 2nd class fare, heh). This is the bullfighting arena. Temperatures shot up to 45 degrees, and there was no respite even in the shade. Thank God for the overly cold aircon in the hostel. Alv also fell in love here, with Sangria. Travelling with them is quite fun - kinda reminds me of how I was like just a couple of years back, so eager to chiong everywhere. loved the Moorish architecture and the orange trees everywhere, and cheap tapas. oh yes, we saw a record number of weddings in a day too, and most of them started past 9pm at night. I think I almost qualify to become a Spaniard with my night owl sleeping habits. Eating and sleeping at all the wrong times. If only I could actually speak the language, and that would have taken more than a semester of Spanish at university. I'm definitely going back to Spain one day, but not in summer!

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Aug 14: Legoland, Windsor

Suddenly we became giants from a foreign land, even the pigeons looked bigger. It wasn't the best day weatherwise because it just kept raining all day, but that didn't stop me from being amazed in miniland, where landmarks from many european cities were built out of lego and put on display, complete with mechanisms in the pieces to make the buses and people move. The level of detail was mind-boggling, but more about that in my post on legoland, sometime soon. Also, meet my friend, Naomi, pictured here at half the height of the Canary Wharf tower. Unfortunately, my other little friend, Lucy, was in a terrible mood that day, but maybe we can go again in about 5 years. I should also add that the started with a little dinner party the night before and a stayover at P&N's. We had the most hilarious time playing UNO, and Smartass (a trivial board game), as well as comparing accents. I also had to sleep with a giant spider stuffed toy hanging over my head... who on earth buys SPIDER soft-toys!?! But I was too tired to notice Itsy Bitsy anyway.

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So there, a selection of little adventures throughout the summer of 2010. Not to say that the rest of the weekends were not fun. They were all pretty packed. We also went to Bicester, Oxford, did a London walking tour, played paintball, and a host of other things.

Ironically, also never worked so hard all year till summer, when everyone goes away on holiday and all my names starting with B refused to leave me alone.

Now that summer is over, what will Autumn bring? I know! It's not a question of what, but who... and the answer is, someone special! :)

Journey to the (North) East… Of Europe (V)

u know what, the wait for the st petersberg entry is rather futile. let's just move on. :)

Days 8-9: Riga, Latvijas Republika (Latvia)

7-8 May 2008

Couch-surfing and a truly Latvian Experience

by carol

So after spending some 16 hours on the bus all the way from St. Petersberg - and being held up 3 hours at the Russian border in the dead of the night and one poor random guy being interrogated on behalf of the rest of us who were sound asleep on the bus - we pulled into a bus bay near the Riga market. Boy, were we glad to get off that bus. These overnight buses are no joke man....

Since we were relatively unprepared for most of the trip as it was organised for us, we had no idea what Latvia was about, except that it was a baltic state. Yocksong the STB man did all the research and even got us our place to stay through couch-surfing (what is that? read more to find out!), so we planned to follow him cosely.

After exchanging our remaining Russian Ruble for the Latvian Lat (not a very creative name, but it was a surprisingly strong currency - even stronger than the pound at that time), and refusing to deposit our big backpacks in the lockers at the market, we set off - on foot.

The sun was still rather low in the sky as we headed south into the historical old city. We had about 2-3 hours to kill before it was time to meet our Latvian hosts for lunch. The old city was very pretty, with many narrow alleys and cobbled streets - and extremely peaceful, with the exception of the ocassional tour group. But what I remember most about that morning was trudging around the place with that huge backpack. David and I took turns, but it got heavier as time passed. I dunno how those people on the amazing race do it!

There are 2 prominent meeting points in Riga (oh it's a very small city by the way. you can literally walk around in a day) - the Freedom Monument and the Laima Clock nearby. A little about Latvia: it has a very troubled past, being ruled and occupied by many nations. It declared independence in 1918, after being part of the Russian Empire for some 200 years. The Germans and then Soviet Army later occupied it again, and oppressing the people greatly and depleting the population of Latvians. Independence was finally declared again in 1991. Today, only 60% of the population are Latvian. The older Latvians still speak Russian, as much as they hate them. Anyway, we met our host, Agnesse and her husband/boyfriend at the Freedom Monument, and they brought us to the University of Latvia (one of 2 unis in the country) cafeteria for lunch. It was supposed to be cheaper to eat in the cafeteria but it was still quite expensive to us... :( It was traditional Latvian food but didn't make much of an impression of me, but i remember there was a huge variety of salad and jelly for dessert. We chatted a bit to our hosts and found them to be extremely nice people who spoke rather good english. They gave us directions to their place, and then we parted as they had to go back to work.

Yocksong wanted us to walk to their place, claiming it wasn't very far; but we protested vehemently, and so we ended up taking the tram a few stops down the main road. We proceeded to look for their apartment and it was a nightmare of a search. The address led us to a very very rundown block of flats, off the main-road, and all the way to the last block. The stairway was very dark and musty and really really scary. Still, we braced ourselves and ventured to knock on the door, hoping that Agnesse's brother would open the door. Alas, no one answered, leaving us to wonder if we had gotten the right place at all. As we milled around the dodgey place, thinking and praying hard, we saw some people go in and out of the apartments, some giving us weird looks but no one really offering any help. We tried to stop one or two to ask if they knew 'where Agnesse lives', but of course, why should they know? After a long while, we got quite desperate, so yocksong ventured into one of the shops along the road and tried to borrow a phone to call Agnesse at work. Thank God he managed to get through to her and she said she would get hold of her brother. So we had to wait again. Some time later, a young chap walked by and we asked him again, if he knew where Agnesse lives, and this time, a positive reply! :)

Gratefully, we followed him back up that dodgey flight of stairs (think of singapore in the 60s or something) and into their apartment. It was rather basic, but sufficiently homely. Oh i forgot to mention the weather. For some strange reason, while it was super hot up north in Russia, it was freezing when we got to Riga. It was inexplicable - it was May and the flowers were blooming, but temperatures just dipped, so we were tired, cold and miserable. That was when the next bomb was dropped on us. Agnesse's brother told us that the hot water supply in the house was spoilt, and they haven't been showering at home because it was too cold. However, the last time we took a shower was probably 2 days ago in St Petersberg (since the hostel there was terrible too) we didn't have much of a choice, so we decided to quickly shower while we could, while it was still day. Obviously, i showered with minumum water, and at the end wondered if it was effective at all. Still, it felt good to at least have a roof over our head in a country I know nothing about, and no one.

This couch-surfing thing is very interesting though. It is really based on trust. You meet a complete stranger, let him into your house and then expect him to be a good person. Soon after Agnesse's brother showed us in, he left us all alone in the house. Agnesse wasn't going to be back till late that night, and she had invited us to join her at a party at some warehouse. We were so tired, and not interested in the party, but yocksong obliged on our behalf. So off we trooped again, on foot this time (it's a lot easier to walk without the bags), to complete our tour of the city (we spent a lot of time at the free Latvian Museum of Occupation, which was very educational and fascinating). Dinner was a simple affair and we had Georgian food, which is generally somehow very popular in the former Soviet bloc. Yocksong went off to meet Agnesse; David and I wandered around the place somemore, thinking we could see Riga by night.... But we didn't get very far - only to the train station, where there was a 'shopping mall'. Reminded me a lot of bukit panjang plaza before it was renovated (i.e. pathetic). Still, we amused ourselves in the supermarket before we decided to head back because we were so tired by then. We spent the rest of the time chatting with Agnesse's brother.

It was a wednesday (definitely weekday) night, but Agnesse was volunteering at this party thing, and her boyfriend picked them up about midnight. When they got back, they still had energy to talk to us (david and I were leaving the next morning anyway) about their lives and what they do. I guess they characterised Latvians for us - very resilient, determined, passionate, zesty and full of life. They were building up their country almost from scratch after all the years of opression. Yet, they do barely form the majority in their own country. Their parents speak russian but this generation does not hold that much contempt for the Russians - they would rather move ahead, and watch their country win the next ice-hockey world championships (yes, with a population of slightly over 2million, and coming out from war after war, they have produced a sporting team of world standard. how about singapore?). it was very very good talking to them, but we had to give in to our tiredness too soon.

It was time to couch-surf. literally. Agnesse had also informed us during lunch that their inflatable matress was spoilt... and all that was left was the couch that could have its back flattened out to form a bed. 3 of us slept on the couch that night. Because we slept vertically instead of horizontally, there was lots of space between us. I think i had a swimming float for a pillow. But i also think we all slept so soundly that we didn't move at all.

The next morning, david and I had to leave early for the airport. Yocksong was staying for another day. We had kinda finished the whole city the day before and there wasnt really much to see, but Agnesse had taken the day off to bring YS around (how fortunate!). From the pictures, it looked like they had a lot of fun! But David and I were really happy to be going home to copenhagen. This trip had been one of the longest we've been on, and it's only fun being a tourist for so long. Yet, the couch-surfing experience made it one of the most interesting experiences we've had throughout the exchange. It's a great way to get to know the locals and their culture, and get free accomodation! www.couchsurfing.com

The next morning, our hosts offered us breakfast. But we were too paiseh to take any, except for a hot tea. We felt quite bad for staying only 1 night and wanting to leave their country so soon without talking to them much. (it's not their fault, we just had enough of travelling for the moment!) Agnesse even gave me chocolates to bring along and then sent us off. We went around a bit more that morning, to try to finish spending all our Lats (we hardly spent anything in Latvia!) bought some souvenirs and some famous Laima chocolates and sweets at the airport and still had change out the remaining Lats into kroners/euros.

For once we were not running for our flight. And it was a nice feeling of familiarity and home to be back in Copenhagen. We had come round in a circle: Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Moscow, St Petersberg, Riga, Copenhagen. The countries we visited weren't backward or dirty, but those places just weren't home. Also, we had brought our Danish textbooks all around, but hardly touched them. Now we had to sit for our Danish exams the next day....

An introduction to the Inner Mongolian Grasslands

tour of singapore: National Orchid Garden (with a very cool model!)

19 March 2009

We were supposed to go to botanic gardens for a surprise picnic to celebrate Karen's 18th birthday. Sharon and I wanted to bring joel and chloe, who wanted to bring shermin, which then made it necessary for aunty carrie to come along, who also brought sean and sheryl, who then called sayuri. and ah ma decided to come along too. 

we finally arrived at botanic gardens, after a long-drawn process of trying to get karen out of the house first before we could pack everything. It was a long long walk to the amphiteatre, where we were supposed to lay in ambush. This is the first time i'm visiting the gardens again after a good 5-6 years, and it really does look slightly different. It was ah ma's first time there too, and along the walk, she commented (in hokkien), 'what's there to see here? all grass and trees...' 

until...

we went by the national orchid garden and it seemed that we were still quite early. I offered to go in with Ah ma, since it was free for students during the school holidays. it costs $5 for adults, so mummy stayed out and handled the kids. 

in we went, it was quite big, and surprisingly, it was a very pleasant and colourful experience. there really was a large variety of orchids and some other plants too, and i think my grandmother really loves flowers. i tried to make her pose for pictures and it was personal satisfaction when i got one with a smiling face, haha. 

a bit about the place: It is located in the western end of the botanic gardens, and is about maybe 6-7 acres. There are over 1000 species and 2000 hybrids in the collection, and the landscaping is very well-done. there was also a section for VIP orchids, where special breeds were presented to visiting dignitaries and an 'orchidarium', which housed the more exotic species i believe. 

here are some pictures:

at the entrance... i really wanted a picture of the 2 of us and the background by my arms weren't long enough...

so i got a random schoolboy to help us, but he did a terrible job... the above is edited, and still quite bad. heh. so i gave up and decided to be the photographer from hence on...

touching the petals and telling me about how the orchid is one of the hardiest flowers around, and what some of the other plants in the garden were for... 

i made her go into this huge birdcage thingy... part of the rather interesting landscaping.

plus, there was a big photo sign, which means, 'TAKE YOUR TOURISTY PICTURE HERE'. so we did.

presenting... the national flower of singapore... vanda miss jochaim...!

inside the orchidarium, there were interesting breeds... 

this was like 5 mins after mum called to tell us to get out of there cos karen was coming... we were trying to find the exit, and saw this mirror. some quick thinking resulted in this, but we were kinda still moving so it's blur... wasted :|  she was very amused indeed.

my ah ma is so cute, half way through, she whipped out her handphone from her handbag and told me to take a picture of her and the flowers, but i didn't know how to read the chinese words so i couldnt figure out how to activate the camera, so i used my phone instead. just put the photos onto her phone just now, it's proudly sitting on both her's and my ah gong's phone desktops! :)

i wonder when this liking for purple started. aunty carrie likes purple too, so does sharon.

anyway, bottom line is, it was a very fruitful day, i came out very happy, and it's been a long time since a buck has gone such a long way... :) 

i <3>

some of the other photos from that day are here: 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=96649&id=692471387