Back in Alaska

Hello all! Been dying to blog but simply didn't have the opportunity. This time I decided to travel light and leave my laptop behind. It was hard being cut off but my back thanks me for it. So after leaving Denali, I headed down to Anchorage, where I stayed at my friend Marc's house, then went to Seward for a couple of nights, back to Anchorage, then flew out to Seattle and finally Tokyo.

Phew. While I was in Japan I feasted on ramen, good ol' Japanese curry, fruity beers, senbei, chicken wings, and all the Asian goodness that I don't get in Alaska. Of course, the wedding was fantastic and I'm so so so happy I got to see my family again.

It was time to leave all too soon. Coming back, I stopped over in Hawaii and Seattle before getting back into Alaska. Independence Day was alright, the parade was ok but I got to eat my halibut and corn fritters so that was all good. Picture time!



Seward

Seward is a seaside community known for beautiful scenery and fishing. It has a Sealife Center here where wounded animals get rehabilitated for release into the wild so that's cool. But exhibit-wise, I'd say Underwater World, Jurong Bird Park and the Night Safari are just as good. The most fascinating thing about Seward is its fishing industry. They catch HUGE fish here. The day I was there someone caught a halibut that weighed 250 pounds! A lot of you reading this probably weigh about 100 pounds.

This starfish was walking as I took the picture, which explains the fuzzy image


Cute puffin


Cute seal

Some boat at the harbor

Bunch of fishermen with their catch


The 250 pound halibut and the guy who caught it


Halibut being pushed around in wheelbarrows. They're huge.

Took a cruise in Resurrection Bay, compliments of Major Marine Tours, which gave me the chance to see sea otters, bald eagles, a whale pod, seals, bears, puffins etc. in their natural environment which is pretty cool.

They gave me a free cruise - cheers!

Pretty island

I also visited Exit Glacier, the only glacier in the Kenai Fjords National Park that is accessible by road. You can literally walk up to the face of the glacier but they put up rope barriers cos someone got killed when the glacier calved and a block of ice fell on the person :p

See the trail with people on it?

That's the glacier from really far away

And me really close to it! Those are two Taiwanese I met on the trip

After that I took the train back to Anchorage, which is an absolutely beautiful ride, passing mountains, waterfalls, glaciers and the sea.

Breathtaking la!

Japan

There are so many people here I was frightened in the beginning. Frightful heat and humidity too. But oh man the food. It actually tastes good and has nutrients! And supermarkets/convenience stores are everywhere! I sound like I come from the wilderness. Anyway the wedding was great. It was in an Italian restaurant at Odaiba overlooking the bay and my kor's quite cute friend drove us there in a Toyota Mark X. Very nice car but I digress :)

After that there pretty much was no time left and I flew off after buying assorted foodstuffs from the 100 yen shop in Harajuku. This was arguably one of the highlights of the trip haha.

Ramen and gyozaaaaaaaaa

Flight back was uneventful, passed through Hawaii and thought of going to Waikiki but it would have cost me 60USD to spend an hour that (cab there and back), so I decided against it. There's always next time!

Back to work. Gahh!

Summer Solstice Toga Party

On summer solstice (June 21st), we had a toga party! I wore a pink sheet and made a headpiece out of wire and bluebells :)

Pre-party Drinks

Steve, me, Bill, Dan, Marlo

Marlo, me, Peiya, Dan

Dan the Man

Dan won the Sexiest Male Toga contest!