Hola!! (hi in spainish!)

have so much to say but no time T.T so just a super quick summary =D

Vienna, Austria:

i’m so pro. lol

Maribor, Slovenia:

love goulash! love salad dressing! love ice-cream(not shown in pic, in stomach =p)

Ljubljana, Slovenia:

uber kakoii dragon

in the castle

Venice, Italy:

gondola!! sea!! sun!!

pigeons!! san marco!!

gondooolaaa. not we didnt pay for it =p

Milan, Italy:

duomo!

shopping shopping and shopping!

Barcelona, Spain:

love gaudi love gaudi love gaudi!! that is built since 1882, unfinished, who knows will it be completed by 2082 – i ll see it if i get to live til 100-years-old. lol.

geyser-shaped building =p

Palma de Mallorca, Spain:

meow!

cathedral/castle =D

i messed up the colours =p

a nice castle on the hill

Villach, Austria:

they’ve got the best pizza I’ve ever had =D

London, UK:

the red phonebooth lol

lol

Bratislava, Slovakia:

on the way to Vienna by bus

the views are just amazing!

and lastly, Beijing, China:

love this picture a lot! just reminds me of the movies =D

old street wib a China flag =D 

The trip is amazing. I still can’t get over it. I was having this thought of a dark wet floor, but I just can’t recall was that in Beijing or in Melbourne. Waking up back in the same welcoming bed is surely comfy though. Life goes on and reality is harsh though undeniably challenging and exciting. There’s still so much more to be explored, aza aza fighting and hope I can get over this writing period soon =D.

All I knew about LA before being there was from…

Rush Hour =D

Apparently many movies are taken in LA, at the Hollywood backyard, as know as the city of gold. It’s basically possible to live on the thrown-out stuffs from the rich ones, here in LA.

“I got this CK pants for 5 bucks at the flea,” said the day tour guide (I joined a day tour to the star’s houses days later).

Anyway, remember I stayed in the downtown for a night, before swiftly changed to stay in Hollywood the moment I was told not to get out after dark? One of the impulse reason that I chose to stay in downtown was when I saw on the map, that it is closed to the fashion district. Yeah, fashion.

Umm no I didnt get to the History district =p

Being a simple minded kanpung (rural area) girl, I thought yes that’s the place to be, only to find out it meant cheap textiles shop:

99cents per m?? always on sale neway =p

And Jewelry District:
“Wonder where all of those West Coast Rappers get their bling bling? Well, if they are frugal, they get it in the Jewelry District.” – wiki

Which is like the indian gold shops street in SEA (South East Asia)…

at 6th-7th street

I stupidly forgot to turn back to AF (Autofocus)..

still in MF mode ToT. This couple called us in the middle of the road, eyed on my big ass camera probably and asked me to take a picture of them… Yes, we got random people speaking to us and I was trained to ignore that after awhile…

“The area bounded by 3rd Street, 7th Street, Alameda Street and Main Street is often referred to as “Skid Row” or “the Nickel” and has one of the largest homeless populations in the United States. The Greyhound Station is located here, but the area is unsafe for pedestrians regardless of the time of day. ” – wiki

As you can see from the pictures, it’s more of a rural like downtown instead of glamarous american-like city center. Well, the more modern part:

Walt Disney Concert Hall. Designed by the same architect for the Dancing House in Prague, if not mistaken.

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels

City Hall!!

The Chinatown Dragon Gate (p/s: Go China Olympics =p The opening is so so so spectacular and gave me goosebumps at the final torch lightening part =D)

And these are all the tall buildings you can find in LA. LA is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, therefore the buildings are built to withstand earthquake up to at least 5.4 degree.

Common sight of newspaper stands on the roadside

Shopped at Macy. Found Victoria Secret on sale =p

And had to rush back for the flight to Vegas (=D) after lunch in Carl’s Junior… Had another two days in LA (mainly in Hollywood and going around in Venice beach, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, Santa Monica etc). Will write up on that next!

On my trip to Alaska, I had to transit in LA. And it all started from…

老板drove us to the airport and got us into the business lounge (and also skipped the long queue at check in =D)

that’s 老板 working hard with his mac. yah geeky i know =D

and then i was on my own (taking different flights with cat and 老板) for the looooong 16 hours flight (with transit in Auckland)

plane brekky bleh

reaching LA!

The first thing I saw was brown lands, mountains, and somehow brown smog =p all thanks to the pollution caused by bad traffics:

LA is very chinessie (is there such word??), or asiannissie(yeah I know just saying ‘asian’ will do but heck I enjoy spelling it that way bleh) – I saw chinese restaurant in every town I passed by (of course mexican food everywhere since it is just above mexico =D). They even had really authentic korean food:

fish as one part of the free sides!!! no the guy is not on the menu zanendesu (unfortunately)

tofu soup – in a set just around usd15 for a set lunch i remember. much much cheaper than in Melbourne!!

We ordered so much (actually the sides cover 30% of the table already) which turned out to be a wise choice…

…

Because…

We don’t get dinner.

ToT

We are too chicken to walk on the street after dark. I know. We only wanted dinner around 8pm. And it’s already dark. We. stayed. in. downtown.

the room

Where walking alone/just two girls on the street is something no one would do. People will even approach you asking if you are okay if you walk alone on the street. The whole downtown (near 5th-6th street I think) is just quiet. Dark and quiet. With occasional police sirens. Apparently a homeless center is at 5th(??) street, and no they probably won’t harm you on purpose, according to some of the people we met – somehow they might just be a lil bit out-of-mind and suddenly hug you from the back, scaring the freak out of you, or maybe worse (no idea what could happen though).

no views. well unless the uncle naked in bed in opposite window is considered a view.

So, how to get dinner?
me: Umm is there any restaurant nearby? (I still have no idea bout how downtown LA is not like any safe downtown)
receptionist: There is, but you gals should not go out of the hotel at this time…
receptionist: Get pizza delivery instead.
me: ah?

We didn’t get pizza either =p We changed the hotel booking for the rest of the days in LA to stay in Hollywood (which costs more) instead. And got to bed early, looking forward for brekky in the next morning and to see the real LA downtown.

Umm. yeah so I’m going to sleep now. I mean in real life =D

So is LA really so angelic? Will post up the more faces of LA soon and you’ll decide =p

Paid usd79 for a day tour from Las Vegas to the big hole. Yes, you hear me, THE big hole.

The fact is, the grand canyon is not the only canyon in the world (obviously), and it is nor the biggest canyon in the world. But it is well-known as *THE* canyon, all thanks to the desert environment, not much vegetation manage to conquer the land – leaving us the magnificient orange/red/brown layered views.

To educate you what a canyon is,
“A canyon (rarely cañon) or gorge is a deep valley between cliffs often carved from the landscape by a river. Most canyons were formed by a process of long-time erosion from a plateau level. The cliffs form because harder rock strata that are resistant to erosion and weathering remain exposed on the valley walls. Canyons are much more common in arid areas than in wetter areas because weathering has a greater effect in arid zones. Canyon walls are often formed of resistant sandstones or granite. Submarine canyons are those which form underwater, generally at the mouths of rivers. The word canyon is Spanish in origin (cañón). The word canyon is generally used in the United States, while the word gorge is more common in Europe and Oceania, though it is also used in some parts of the United States and Canada. The military derived word defile is occasionally used in England.” – wiki

*************
So, we unwillingly woke up at 5(?)am for the tour, grumpily waited at the lobby for a coach to the meeting point, which happened to be an airfield.

Iris: Ah, are we going by plane?
me: Hmm.. but we paid for the cheaper fares with the bus…
me: Maybe they’ve changed, we ARE going by plane =D

And we got excited for like 15minutes before *the* bus arrived to pick us up. Potong(means cut in English, well you still won’t be able to understand with translation lol. In short, “potong steam” means =___=”) steam aje…

Passing the police check point at Arizona

Hoover Dam!!!

Remember the gigantic dam in the Transformers movie where the *daigaosuei* bad bad All Spark was being kept in? That’s Hoover Dam =D. And since we have to pass by the dam on the way to the hole =D, we get a short break at the dam:

The intake towers

Saw this at the souvenir shop:

Cowboy bubble bath

My first brainless impression was, beans can dissolve in water?? =p Okay, if you still don’t get it, the beans go down into your stomach, not into the bath tub. Umm, and if you still haven’t been able to get it, it has to do with the word farting =____= (now you made me sound disgusting).

Views on way to the canyon

showing Zorro on the bus. Watching it the nth time.

Oh and the tour fares include an unexpected filling buffet style lunch

Finally…

The suichabo/meinu/kirei-onna once again Grand Canyon!

more suichabo canyon pictures…

We have plenty of time there and there is no other entertainment other than taking picture of suichabo with the canyon

more…

more =D

mo-i-yo (enough! in Japanese)

ok lah last one

nice right nice right? I mean the colour of the rocks lah

the best travel buddy/my dearest bff =D

Don’t do this. 80 has lost their life in Grand Canyon. They just dropped from the canyon. Most of them are pro-photographer (no source for this though, purely based on imaginations).

We were at the south rim – north rim is simply too far and the so-called west rim is bloody commercialised.

And mohawk is very much in fashion here:

bush-ier:

And how can I not taking pictures of the plants even that I don’t have a macro lens so please support “Eehui’s wide angle and macro lens funds” already

unknown

unknown

and

still unknown

this i know though!

suichabo aloe vera and cactus =D (umm maybe not…)

The visitors center

see the different colours

lollies with dead insects

*some* lake on the way back

The best way to see the canyon would be hiking down the hole – otherwise just by viewing it from above is not as ummph as it should be. And the crazy heat is making us grumpy (also from the lack of sleep…). So maybe going there in spring/autumn would be a better idea (bring layers of clothing cause it can get really cold at night and plenty of water!), and be sure to spend more than 1 day to hike a bit there!

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!

actually, just walking on the very front part of the glacier =p

And why I said family?

We were at the visitor center for the glacier and it costs usd15 for adults, usd12.50 for seniors:
Lady to 老板: Are you 65 and above?
老板: …
(with sorrowness in his eyes, 老板 turned to us and couldn’t say anything (no he is not that old… =p))
Lady: Oh I’m so sorry… I don’t mean that, I mean this is just a procedure…
老板: Yeah, and these are my sons and daughters.
me: I’m the grandaughter =D

老板

later…
me: You should have said yes, you can save usd2.50 yo!
老板: Pride has got a price…
老板: If it’s usd5 I would say yes =D
me: …

so cute right =p

Neway, we all know the lady is really just doing what she has to or else she could get into trouble for misinformation.

So, we all paid full price. Pictures below =D

alaska map

on the way…
老板：Cathy, start writing your thesis already or I’ll make you jump into the river!

the Gang :O 很有势力吧 =p

The plants:

The dead ones:

The views:

The photographer:

The meinu/sui chabo/perempuan cantik/kirei onna:

LOL

Finally the glacier =D:

at the front part of the glaciers – covered by muds and is really sticky. If you keep digging you would meet the ice.

muddy muddy – caused by soil fell from the neighbouring mountains

closer look – see the blue-ish ice underneath?

we didn’t have the right shoes so it’s quite difficult to move around

those are the professional ones

suichabo once more! =D
(readers: where? where? kenot find eh…)

lake near the glacier

zoomed at 200mm =D

views are superb, aren’t they?

more…

had 25cents bottomless (means free refill lah) coffee in eureka lodge

and if you know me well… I don’t drink coffee ToT

So, I hiked walked on the glacier =D I know… not very exciting cause I didn’t really hike to the deeper part… maybe next time then if I get to go to the fox glacier in New Zealand south island =D

Though you can explore the downtown entirely in less than an hour =p. (That excludes the time spent in the museum/heritage center of course). So, the sun goes down at 12am and before it gets completely dark, the sun rises at 4am. And there goes my hope for encountering the stunning Aurora…

But the good thing is, you’ve got 24 hours to go around Alaska in summer =D Like, you can still go canoeing at 12am:

(That’s the tiny weeny white/red canoe at the left corner) Taken at 1230 midnight at the University of Alaska Anchorage lake.

me me!

some random guy lol

We stayed at the UAA dorm for just usd30 per day =D

And then zhengjun saw this:

and insisted that we follow the sign so he could/might find some kind of mm paradise =__=

we got attacked by alaskan mosquitoes (which are huge and very slow-motion) along the way

only to realise mm means

(many) mosquito(es) lake =____=”

Anyway, a few more pictures on campus before pictures in downtown:
The very artsy library:

main entrance:

Bus stop:

Moving on to the city center:

ok this is NOT the center of the city center, but the edge of the city center =D. And that’s my big boss with his leng (ok with some cvpr conference participants)

in the city center! the shops are mainly souvenir shops, travel agencies and restaurants – very tourissy!

with lots of stuff like this for you to pose with

lol

oh and not forgetting the many skin/fur shops:

i’ll bite you if you don’t leave a comment =p

or even skinned you… I know this is cruel – I guess hunting is pretty common here therefore the abundant skins/furs.

and gold mining industry too:

rings with gold nuggets

even watches

some graffities around the corner:

So, in short, the downtown is more like a place to stay/eat/get creative souvenirs (seriously, the tee-shirt’s designs are much more interesting than any other states’ designs). I did a few outings (other than the cruise) in Alaska and will write them up next yo =D.

dad called in yesterday…

dad: only three pictures!!!
mum: she’s busy lah…

so dad, this is specially for you yo

Not vegas – though Vegas IS a city that does not sleep all thanks to the casino lightnings that are on 24/7.

I got the chance to visit Anchorage in Alaska all thanks to the CVPR conference =D. It’s a huge conference with more than a thousand participants – you might see this person today and not seeing him/her in the next few days! Met lots of interesting people and had really good alaskan experiences (especially being bitten hard by Alaskan Airline (the mosquitoes!!)).

Neway I’ll let the pictures do the talking =D

I was a blur sotong (octopus) when I booked for the flight to Alaska – I thought the conference starts from 22 June so I booked 21 June – only to find out it’s one day later. So as I was blaming myself (for like, 1 second? =p), I immediately googled up a glacier cruise =D

no not that kind of small boat =p

with nice reflections

the very shuai captain

it’s double-storey

We first visited a salmon farm, and you get to see salmons come flying from the water. But I can’t predict where the salmon will jump from and therefore the best picture I got of the salmon is:

yes the white splash is where the salmon was =p gomen lah, you just have to use some imaginations…

seagulls

starting to see some glaciers:

It’s kinda cold if you stay out at the front deck when the cruise is moving…

cute isn’t it? =p

The captain will stop whenever we spotted sea otters – this is a mum with baby otter… chio kawaii… and they love to swim on their back =p

more sea otters on ice bergs

and finally, the tide water glaciers:

notice the distinct blue colour? “The distinctive blue tint of glacial ice is often wrongly attributed to Rayleigh scattering which is supposedly due to bubbles in the ice. The blue color is actually created for the same reason that water is blue, that is, its slight absorption of red light due to an overtone of the infrared OH stretching mode of the water molecule.” – wiki

closer look

even closer =p

the fresh white (clean) part is where the glacier just collapsed in front of our eyes =D

and dad, I know you missed me, so here’s your kawaii daughter before I end this entry =p

chiang =D

So, I haven’t really explained bout the midnight sun – will do so in the next one yo =D

p/s: I am looking at buying a wide-angle (I know I am super broke already but… u know… =p). Anyway, just planning okay… Let me know if you have any good suggestion, I’m interested in Tokino 11-16mm F2.8 (I hope to get a wide angle with big aperture so I dont need a tripod for nightscene).
http://smartimports.net/product.php?productid=16272&gclid=CIK3yuC7pZQCFSEbagodyGyWtw

My current lenses:
Sigma 18-200mm (which has a bit of wide angle to telephoto) F3.5-6.3
Sigma 30mm F1.4 (which is freaking good for dim light shots and with a bit of wide angle – which is bad sometimes cause it makes me look fat!!! =p)