Ok promise this is going to be the final entry in Alaska (yes I know you guys are getting bored already =D).

So basically everyone (老板, Cathy and Hanzi) except Appu (but he has to present on that day) abandoned me after friday 555… The very kind Hanzi did give me a good piece of advice before he left though – he went to the zoo and gave me the free shuttle schedules. Also I went to the visitor center and heard that the Heritage Center is a really interesting place to drop by for few hours.

Appu and his very beautiful wife

So early on Saturday morning I took the free shuttle from UAA campus to the conference site (Egan Center) to get the free shuttle. And guess what! I happened to met Zhengjun on the bus and coincidentally he and his supervisor are going to the zoo and heritage center too (actually they planned for cycling in the park before that, which potong steam abit for me… because

 …

I don’t know how to ride a bicycle……… T.T   ToT   TOT)

*now laugh all you want =___=”

Anyway, so lucky-me got to hitch a ride (minus the risk of being abducted given me being such a suichabo (readers: who? who?)).

Here comes the pictures:

going for brekky *yes tatoo and spray tan is everywhere and no we didn’t had that for brekky*

Zhengjun has a list of parks and decided to give the Earthquake Park a go:

umm the gps showed this as the final destination…

And since the trusty gps has gone confused, we had to find our own way.

Well we got confused too… and had been turning around and seeing the turnagain-and-again-and-again sign (poor gps, we feel your pain now =p).

Finally!

This park is set in the woods where an entire neighborhood slid into the ocean during last century’s most powerful earthquake. (source)

Did someone said cycling?

There isn’t a bike rental here so yokata (fortunately) =D

No we didn’t walk the trail (Daniel rode a bike there and saw a moose though here!)

heading to the zoo

zooooo! I know! Back in msia only kids go to the zoo (because it’s hot and sweaty and smelly and with many mozzies)

Red fox!

with really comfy fur. I touched its *ancestor*’s fur in the fur shop yo =p

sea otters – the ones sitting on the icebergs or swimming on their back in the glacier cruise pictures!

seal

Polar bear!!

so fluffy, so gigantic but so swiftly in jumping around

帅!

some weird looking alaskan cat with long beards

with a really cool name – lynx!

I used to love owl a lot – I made an owl out of cardboard when I was small (just told Daniel this btw). And once I dropped it off the window and never see it again; cause I was staying in front of a cemetery and it’s too spooky to pick it back up =p.

can’t remember the name… I just thought it looks like a beggar…

aaa… I forgot it’s name too… I think it starts with ‘a’ =p

Doesn’t it look kinda 郁闷 (emo-ish)?

The brown bear!

flip flip!

after 10 minutes:

Still haven’t been able to get up… =___=”

the black bear – which is much active (and more dangerous)

The zoo wasn’t big (the entrance is just usd10) and we had arrived back at the entrance in less than 2 hours…

And yer… didn’t manage to take a good picture of the moose in the zoo. But it’s got a good one here =D

See how close I am with the cute moose =p

Had chinese food for lunch

According to Xiansheng, having hot and spicy soup is good (for 脾/pancrease) when travelling…

spent around usd15 each person

fortune cookies!

Next stop, heritage center with the guide of gps:

and the still-very-confused-and-forgetful(to fasten seat belt)-navigator

and the photographer!

Heritage center

It costs around usd25, but since we only arrived the center at around 4pm (closing at 5pm) we got *some* kind of special ticket that is only usd10 and still get to go in =p

traditional dance performance

dream catcher

It’s got an outdoor musuem:

moose!

some ancient equipments – notice the khaki colour kinda of bag thing at the left upper corner (not the blurry one)? That’s made of animal’s intestine – they even used intestine to make window shield so rain can’t get in while able to get some sunlights into the house. pretty cool huh.

zhengjun likes to pose with random skin/fur =p

love the dreamy effects with F1.4 (large aperture)

apparently fishing is an important industry since old times

that’s the ancient houses – looks like the hobbit places in LOTR doesn’t it?

(i love my F1.4 lens!!!)

more equipments…

for fishing!

umm it’s actually an emergency exit

instead of an entrance =p

very cool ancient goggles (like a polarizer!)

love the effects (no PS!) on this picture

some bones/fossils =p

the very ancient public toilet – river runs underneath and therefore doesn’t even need flushing =p

whales… maybe…

i said, “turn around!”

=p looks like some kind of movie poster desu ne? ne?

each of the ancient housing has friendly guides to explain the structure of the housing (which obviously I didn’t pay attention to but busy testing my lenses instead)

reminded me of maoris in newzealand

i wonder if it’s because people are that short in that era

zhengjun kept us well entertained…

followed by dancing lol

police directing the traffics again on the way to the botanical garden

bears alert!!

cute!

pretty creative pony deco

this tiny lil thing suddenly ran to the trail, hit zhengjun’s feet and ran back…

herbs garden

xiansheng surprised to see fake flower decorations =p

had been following it awhile for pictures =p

love the elegant colour!

cute tree houses

posers =p

and that concludes my day tour – catching a plane at 6am the next day :O

Had japanese food for dinner to compensate for the non-authentic-chinese-lunch =p

which is pretty good in fact. cost around usd20 each.

Flying to seattle with Alaskan airways

old leather seats… and usd5 cheeseburgers (no not in the picture =p)

of the snowy icy mountains

In short, Alaska is really interesting, but it would be even more exciting if I had more time to travel up north (towards the north pole!), or to Fairbank (with really extreme weather). The seafood is awesome – fresh king crabs, salmons and halibuts and plenty of activities in all seasons. Had a great time there and thanks to everyone (especially those who offered to drive cause I’m too chicken to drive on the other side of the road) who has made the trip memorable!