Alaska: The Last Frontier.

....but it isn't the last place that I will visit. My plan to cover every country in Asia continent before I do Europe, Africa and America (and Antartica?) has been interrupted with my visit to Alaska.

So, my globe trotting plan has some changes after this.

When I mentioned Alaska, everybody was like "oh! The Proposal! Sandra Bullock & Ryan Reynolds! It's very cold country!"

First, it's a state, not a country. Second, Alaska isn't covered with snow 365 days a year. It is almost Amazon over there during summer and Alaska also experience bad wildfire. In fact, when I first arrived Alaska, 1,400 acres of forest was burning at Skinny Dick's road, Parks Highway and it caused me missed the Alaska Rail's experience :( 

Third, no, my boyfriend didn't do the proposal to me. But I met his family.

However despite of wildfire and summer, some time this place can look so tropic with the coldest air conditioning temperature set like breeze. In other words, it is still too cold for me although I still can see them wearing T-shirt and pants like it's the warmest time of the year.

and swimming in the lake where its water isn't warm at all.

When my boyfriend asked me whether I want to visit Alaska in the summer, I answered him with the bucket list:

1) I want to hug baby moose
2) I want to hug Alaskan baby bear
3) I want to catch Alaskan rabbit
4) I want to eat King Salmon
5) I want to eat Alaskan Crab
6) I want to go to Mount Denali
7) I want to see the ice cave with blue blue roof
8) I want to hug the biggest pumpkin
9) I want to lay down on wild flowers in Alaska
10) I want to see the stars & milky way on Alaska sky.

So, let see whether I able to get all 10 in 10 days time.

I know, when I look back at the list above, I laugh at myself because it is stupid.

Okay, let see:

1) I WANT TO HUG BABY MOOSE.
Alaska and moose is like New Zealand and its sheep. Moose is like the 2nd largest resident in Alaska? I don't know, but you can see it everywhere and sometimes it walks into the building, like a boss.

Everyone in Alaska must be at least talks about Moose at least once a day. How about that?

For the first few days, I didn't see any moose. And it made my boyfriend wonder where all the moose go! I started to think he was exaggerate about the moose. Because all he talk about is moose here, moose there, baby moose, mama moose since the day 1 we really knew each other.  He talks about moose like a boy talks about his lifetime crush.

This was my 1st encounter with the star of Alaska - hanging dead.

Maybe there were moose around me that time. Maybe my boyfriend is one of them. In undercover mode.

After a few days of moosin' around, finally!!

Saw it on our way to the camping site.

It is stupid for me to request to hug a baby moose because:
a) The momma moose will stomp you to death if you ever move closer to her and her baby.
b) Baby moose is ugly.
c) Baby moose and momma moose is stink by judging their appearance here. Euww. 



2) I WANT TO HUG ALASKAN BABY BEAR
Yea right.

I got warned by the immigration officer as early as I arrived LA about the bears.

and my boyfriend said "good luck with that"
However, here are some of pictures I got with Alaskan bears

3) I WANT TO CATCH ALASKAN RABBIT.
Ha! Even the fastest animals had a hard time with the rabbit. However I saw some wild rabbit around my boyfriend parent's house in 2 second. Sorry. No photo. Or maybe what I just saw the rabbit's shadow. They are fast!


4) I WANT TO EAT KING SALMON
Yea right. My boyfriend gave me an empty promises on this one. He keep saying I will be eating freshest salmon in the world when I got in Alaska. All I got was smoked salmon strip in a packet from wall mart :( Lucky I had some in Seattle's Pike Market on my own.

5) I WANT TO EAT ALASKAN CRAB.
My boyfriend were busy stuffing me with Taco Bell. I didn't see real life Alaskan crab even I'm in Alaska. My boyfriend were too lazy busy working in between my stay in Alaska. He said "tell them  I am a real Alaskan Crab when I'm driving" 

However, I get the chance to experience Alaskan seafood on right after I reached Wasilla.

Mike's family have this seafood feast gathering every year and this year is the 9th. They are really serious in preparing for the fun, they even have T-shirt printed out and set of flower garlands to go with it.

Mike has a big family, unlike mine. They do not need to invite the outsider for a party. Mr & Mrs Goodwin, Mike's sisters (three of them), son in law, nieces with their boyfriend and husband and their kids. and oh! 3 dogs. There are few missing in that picture though.

It was my 2nd day in Wasilla, Alaska. Jet lagged still, manage to get few hours sleep until Mike keep waving the T-shirt and flower garland up to my face. I was still in Malaysia time. And it was like I'm having lobsters at 6 am in the morning?

So, it wasn't bad at all, to get Alaskan Lobsters and prawn on my 2nd day here.

Although it is my first time meeting all of them, they immediately welcome me like it was my 100th visit. But I don't know what to do except try not to act like a stranger. It is kinda hard for me to switch to this suddenly sunny bubbly merry summer in the air environment, for I am soloist, I've been living my life alone, and recently added two cats into my life.

6) I WANT TO GO TO MOUNT DENALI

It's the highest mountain peak in United States and North America.

My boyfriend kept on reminding me not to call it like that. "Just Denali". Because Denali already meant mountain something. He said I will get a weird attention from the Alaskan if I keep on saying Mount Denali. "Just Susitna" not Susitna River. Because 'tna' is already a river. And he kept on blabbering on the grammar of the Alaskan Native, the Aleutna or the Eskimos language. I noticed my boyfriend has a thing towards grammar of all the languages in the world. He can talk about the history of English, French and Spanish all day long. That's how romantic he is. My boyfriend tried to make me appear as Alaskan as possible in this short visit too. I mean seriously? People can tell that I'm not Alaskan even I am not making any sound. I have yellow skin with red hair and blue eyes. I wore blusher to cold storage and wear big sun glass around camping ground. That's spell "Asian wanna be Martian" all over me already!

Well, we stopped by at Denali town on our way to the Santa's House in the Northpole (Girdwood). But we didn't make it to Denali and my dream to take a picture of Wonder Lake just perished :(

Mike brought me to a few lookout point so that I can see Denali. Too bad it was cloudy and I still couldn't see it. 

He brought me to Mile 135 of Parks Highway so that I can see the South View of Denali. So, seriously, I was looking at the rows of mountains from that lookout point. But I still can't tell which one is Denali south butt :(

I read on the map guide, it stated that you can see Denali from Ted Steven's Anchorage Airport - 

So I did took a picture once I landed at that airport on my day 1 in Alaska.

Is that you Denali? and this picture was taken at 11.00PM. What an extraordinary experience I've had. I got to see all the things I never thought I would ever see in my life - on my first visit to USA. 


7) I WANT TO SEE THE ICE CAVE WITH BLUE BLUE ROOF
State of Alaska is so big, it is 5 times bigger than Malaysia. I had 8 days in Alaska, with 2 days was for camping in the wood, another 2 days I spent in Fred Mayer's and Wallmart, Mike had to go to work in between my stay.. and yet he still managed to drove me around South Central (Anchorage), Mat-Su (Palmer, Talkeetna, Wasilla), Interior (Denali National Park, Fairbanks, Nenana,) and Kenai Peninsula (Girdwood).  - but we didn't have time to explore Kenai Peninsula like Whittier to the Valdez -  where the glacier and fjord and the Ice cave with the blue blue roof at. 

The one in 'The Proposal' is Sitka.

I guess I need to make another few more trip to Alaska then...

8) I WANT TO HUG THE BIGGEST PUMPKIN
I was too early for Alaska State Fair. It is held between August and September and I don't care about concert and carousel ride. But all I wanted to see is the Giant crop competition! Where their cabbage is bigger than your mother and the pumpkin is bigger than your car! No! it's not the chemical effect. Bukan macam ayam suntik. The crops get bigger than usual because Alaska receive almost 20 hours sunlight, everyday during summer. I can imagine myself as Alice in Wonderland (the after eating the cake that shrink her to tiny Alice) if I come face to face with those giants.

Plus, I get a 1st place in the State Fair crop competition in Farmville 2 for most of the time. My crop always the biggest and the heaviest! So, I wanted to see all these, the things that I played every night on Facebook became a reality! I want to hug the biggest pumpkin! 

Well, maybe next time :( 

9) I WANT TO LAY DOWN ON WILD FLOWERS IN ALASKA

This one is too easy. It was all over the places - dandelion, fireweed, daisies...Alaska is a vast land, experience only warm weather only for a while, so God planted all these flowers and make this great land so beautiful. Alaska do not need a landscape designer or majlis daerah to take care of their road and parks. The nature just agree with them at certain period of time.

10) I WANT TO SEE THE STARS AND MILKY WAY ON ALASKA SKY
Opps! wrong request. This only available from December on wards where Alaska at its darkest with only 5.5 hours daylight per day. 

This picture was taken in Alaska at midnight. 
A midnight summer.
.................................................

This is only the introduction of my experience in Alaska.

and I have more to tell.

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USA : Alone in Los Angeles.

I refuse to call this as my official trip to California. Because it was a layover between my flight from Anchorage to Taipei and it was short. In fact, I don't truly feel the California vibe and I never felt like a tourist in my entire experience of going places until this. When you visit ONLY touristy spot especially around Los Angeles, it means you don't really visit California.

Well, at least looking up to these palm trees kinda remind me Usher's music videos and it is so LA.

I must admit this. It such a huge embarrassment that I choose to see LA through packaged "City Tour" on air conditioned coach together with others who are very fit and healthy enough to explore the city on foot. Well, look at the bright side, maybe they are having difficulties like me - 

Knowing that LAX airport doesn't have light train rail nearby to the city center, is a downturn for my 'expedition'. Made it less economical and inconvenient than usual. I always try to avoid taxi at all cost. Although the buses in LA is cheap and can help you to reach many places, but I don't want to take the chance of finding my way back to the airport (if I got lost) when you only have 6 hours wander period before your next flight.

LA do have Inter City Rail called Metro Rail and Metro Link which starts from Union Station then into the city. But you still need to take a shuttle bus from the airport to Union Station and need to switch train before you reach your interested destination, afterwards. And the buses - Red, Blue, Green, Purple and Expo Line kinda make me confuse. Plus, eight lanes traffic in LA can put me into panic mode, anytime. I am willing to explore the rail and buses route adventure, later, when I'm not so alone and have like a WEEK in LA.

What I can tell is, my experience in LA wasn't so travel wonder la. It ain't wonder if you don't wander. That is what I believed.

So I purchased a short, so called familiarization 4.5 hours LA city tour for those on stopover for USD 76!! This tour brings you to the Downtown LA, Hollywood to see the Hollywood sign, beaches, Beverly Hills, Sunset Strip, Rodeo Drive and the Market. It sounds a lot, but a lot means nothing if you just pass it by and do not have enough time to pee during the stops.

And oh, they do the pick up and drop off from almost every hotel in LA. So I choose Marriott since it just 5 minutes away from the airport with free shuttle bus from/to airport. Well, I know because I stayed there for  a night, during my stopover from Guangzhou to Seattle. 

So the tour begin with Venice beach. I didn't get good picture of the beach since it was only a pass by. After that we passes by resident area on Venice Canal Historic District. It wasn't like a UNESCO historic venue. It is historic because this district is well known for its man made canals built in 1905.

Once was triple larger than what we see today, Venice Canal Historic District becoming a desirable and expensive residential area after the renovation, few canals being drained and formed into sidewalks. Well, it is nice to live by the canal or PARIT, provided that it is clean and fancy like the one in LA. Di KL, rumah setinggan je dekat parit parit ni...nyamuk aedes jangan cerita lah kan.

The sights of grafitti on shop buildings adds the feel of LA hype. It is weird that the sketching and art on the walls in the west world can be an eye candy but in Asia, especially Kuala Lumpur, it is one color spray paint, full with vulgar words and stencils of Justice for Anwar Ibrahim and fair elections.

Santa Monica beach. It was just a pass by (again) and it was too early to see girls with bikini top rollerblading along the pavement. It was 10AM in the morning when we reached here.

Notice the arrow? That's a Baywatch's Life Guard House. A trademark for LA beaches.

Santa Monica Pier. All I really wanted is to take a Ferris Wheel ride with you. With cotton candy in our hands and be all silly, a little kid's silly.

LA also is a house to the 2nd largest Mormon Church in the world. The largest is in Salt Lake, Utah and for those who don't know what Mormonism is:  it is a Christian but differ than a mainstream Christian. They have it's own book called Book of Mormon and they belief in and practice of plural marriage. Poligami gitu.. boleh kawin ompek. 

 In the Book of Mormon, the Lord told the prophet Jacob “for there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife: and concubines he shall have none... for if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people; otherwise they shall hearken unto these things (Jacob 2:27-30).

Tobacco, alcohol, coffee and tea consumption are prohibited. Same sex, pre marital marriage is a no-no. For those a Twillight's Robert Pattison - Bella kinda love enthusiasts, please do know that the author of that ridiculous vampire romance series is a Mormon - Stephenie Meyer. Want to know more about Mormon? go find on Google lah. It is not a wrong thing to know about the beautiful of other religion, though.

From the religious sightseeing, now than we come to the "it's a material world" district. Rodeo Drive must be the most favorite rich Asian who sleep, live and poop branded stuff. I am not that Asian though. Latest arrival (bukan stock clearance atau 2nd hand ya) of Jimmy Choo, LV, Prada, Badgley Mischka, Bvulgari, whatever it is, you name it. Kalau kau rasa kau Rihanna sangat, mai lah shopping sini, aku tabik kau siap pakai bunga api. And the price is almost 30% cheaper than what you see in Dubai or Asia. Thank you.

I think you guys can start to divert your shopping destination to LA instead of London or Paris. The cheapest flight you can get from Kuala Lumpur to LA is around RM 3,500 for return journey. Clothing, branded skin & hair care, kitchenware, shoes are the cheapest compared to other western countries.

You can email me and I am very pleased to arrange things for you though. That is what I do for living.

Next to Rodeo Drive is a Beverly Wilshire, where the hotel appeared in Julia Robert's Pretty Woman movie is located - Four Seasons. Can you believe that our tour coach driver suggest us to go in that hotel & use the toilet so that we can experience the Pretty Woman's. dafuq? 

Oh! korang must be wonder why this time I got pictures with me in it, here in LA compared to Seattle. Ceritanya begini.. when I was queuing for my tour bus at the tour office, there was a Chinese lady sounded like a Japanese, with her mouth full of popcorn, asked me what tour I will be joining in. It happened that both of us on the same tour. She was alone too. So, I met another camera slut who is desperately in need of photosnapper, Thank God!

BUT! Time was very limited for me to teach her that, it is important to let people (at least, can do a wild guess) know where you are by looking at the background.

I know, you don't know what is behind me and why I decided to stand there after I flew million miles away from my home country.

Oh, ok, she did try her best to get a full background. It's a Tiffany & Co with people were having al fresco breakfast next to it.

As minutes went by, I managed to teach her by showing pictures that I took for her on her iPhone. So she started to learn to point the lens right. So now, Im not so small, not too far left..

It was a 15 minutes stop anyway, Turns out we made everybody waited for us :( and as soon as we stepped into the tour bus, I noticed everybody gave us 'the look'. SEE? THAT'S WHY I HATE GROUP PACKAGE TOURS!

So, we only passed by the 90210. Beverly Hills is well known as the 'atas' residence area, every lane is planted by different kind of trees.

Here is with the palm trees...

All the housing area here are looks like a Wisteria Lane from 'Desperate Housewives" series. Perfect cut bushes and trees, blooming flowers are everywhere along the pavements.

I was wondering.. instead of telling people "rumah aku kat Jalan Zamrud 7/1A" you may "the one at palm trees drive"? Begitulah atasnya puak puak ini...

Tapi satu kerja pulak nak kena study jenis baka pokok kayu.

...and we passed by the Sunset Strip.. tengok je lah ikut tingkap bas..

while sitting on this generic speedy tours for the first timer, it reminds me of some quote...

"The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see" - G.K Chesterto.

Maybe some of you wonder what is the difference between Traveler and Tourist. Tourists tend to travel in large group or families. That is what I do for living. I create and offer custom made package for rich people to go on vacation.

On the other hand, Traveler tend to travel solo, or with one other person and willing to get lost and find their way back with thousands of unique experience in their hands. The experience of getting  lost made them find their true self, somehow. And made them see things differently than the others. I must tell you, it somehow shape you to be more wiser and grateful with every little things you have.  

Despite of LA, I still consider my self as a Traveler. A desperate solo traveler. I won't become so desperate if I don't care about pictures with me in it. Because of that desperation, I turned myself into a tourist.

Finally we got a little bit longer stopover at The Walk of Fame. Like 5 minutes longer than the stopover we had in Rodeo Drive. Pffttttt.

Grauman's Chinese Theatre was renamed early this year when TCL Corporation, a Chinese Electric company purchased the naming right. Don't be surprise if in a few years later it will change to the TCL's founder/ Board of Director's name and will be inscribed in Mandarin.

It is so funny that the Americans worry about Muslim Terrorist or any male with thick black beard while I forseen someday USA's president will be a Chinese. Ha!

Kuasa duit. Mampu mengubah ketuanan sesebuah negara.

This place is The official Tourist Trap - "The OTT, yea you know me" LOL. It makes you spend your money on the unnecessary things like souvenirs shit.

Or in my case, I was forced to give them tip after a single snap with them. I don't care about Kungfuck Panda or Bloody Hell Cookie Monster. That Chinese girl pushed me to take the picture with these 2 scumbag so that I snap her picture with her idol in return. (I assumed they are her idol since she wanted to take pictures with these 2 so badly). Right after that these two joker didn't let me go and keep asking for a tip money! OH! I don't know that they are so royale until I have to pay them for a stupid threesome snap. So yea, I paid them or else I can't move! and that Chinese girl, didn't contribute it at all! I had to free myself from being a hostage and paid them that stupid tip.

How I wish my boyfriend here with me so that he can give them punch - in - the - face tip

Hollywood Boulevard is just like a Disneyland & Universal Studios's souvenir shop mash up. Rows of restaurants, clothing shops and theme park's every mascot walking around to trick your dollars any time, especially when you are too excited and show your very tourist face up to the public.

The Tour itinerary did mention about the view of  'HOLLYWOOD' sign. So I guess this the the best spot for it? Because after that I never see a Hollywood Sign until the tour end. Nampak tak sign dia? If you can see it in 2 seconds, meaning this wasn't bad at all.

What a Ripoff!

Since it was a 20 minutes stop. And that Chinese girl from Beijing busy stopped by at GNC, So there were nothing much I can see except running back to the tour bus or else I will get 'the stare' again.

Trust me, I stopped for a second in between my run to snap some stars. And I'm not her fan.

ok. This, is epic. LOL.

Chewbacca on the run. I quickly snap his picture while running and I ran even more faster after that. Or else he will ask Tip money from me!!!

Another victim? Good Luck. I dare to take this picture because I know the Bat & Spider man will be busy to get tip money from this boy and his brother. So they let me off, continue running to my tour bus.

LA Posse.

Final stop in the itinerary. LA Farmers's Market. We had like 50 minutes stop here for lunch.

The concept of this place is almost like Seattle Pike's Market. Fresh fruits and seafood. The food here is cheaper though, like USD 9 to 15 per plate. But I already had a take away when I was at Dolby Theater - it was a Greek crispy chicken kebabs. It was too big like a "Greek man/warrior's arms" and I can't finished it. Hehe.

We wandered around with precious 30 minutes left. I saw this doll shop so I was so drawn to it..

Like a Mattel's Barbie Girl except it is a life size toddler. Real clothes and their clothes is even more fancier than mine and expensive.

It has many character and style. So I walked around to find mine.

I saw this toy in a pink tent! So it immediately reminds me of what my boyfriend trying to turn me into! Yea, I went camping in Alaska (Next next post) during my 2 weeks stay and it was not one, but TWO! So I took a picture with a fake me under the tent with the remaining chicken kebab's plastic bag wrapped around my arm. Glamorous.

LA Farmer's Market eateries.

I had a fresh lemonade here for $1.90 though

That Chinese girl from Beijing saw the raspberries at this stall. She told me she never saw it before and wonder how it taste. I convinced her to buy. USD 4 per cup and I heard she bargain with that fruit seller for a cheaper price. But it's not happening. Why would he give discount to the tourists when he know these tourists have more money than him, able to pay expensive flight ticket to come to LA with ripoffs tour package. That fruit seller maybe never made it out of LA in his entire life and think anything outside USA is dangerous.

And I can see LA raspberries is bigger than Seattle's! Yums.

My boyfriend told me that tourist open top double decker bus is a joke to them.

Lots of new movies going on, here and I can be sure that half of it never made through Malaysia.

AND look at the petrol price!! and HELLO, USA has many oil reserves and production in 31 states out of 50 states! Alaska alone produce almost the same as Malaysia. Bersyukur lah dengan apa yang kita bayar di Malaysia.

Everytime I saw my boyfriend refuel his car, it was like $60 - 80 every time and it finished less than a week. Gila kau. My car only consume RM40 per week (to work)!

So, the shit like "petrol price in that country is expensive because they do not have their own reserves and do not produce own petrol" is so for the tortoise. 

..and then suddenly I felt like Im in Jerusalem.

...it seems like this land is totally claimed by the Jews. Rows of Synagogue along the streets. All I missed to see is The Kabbalah temple.

Anyways, it might be them that makes LA as what as LA today. Ranking 9th in Global Power Index, one of the city that serves as economic engine for USA. A Restless money maker, a material world.

My boyfriend once zealously sighed when I told him that I'm going to do the LA CityTour. "You will see LA more than me".

Don't worry darling, whatever I've seen and been during this trip you already saw it on TV. And I wish I did too (just watch it on TV). We still need to come back here together and travel the way we travel. And see real stuff like locals do while get lost in it. We will be like Bonnie & Clyde Silly Wonka & Willy Wander of a lifetime.

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