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My First – Day Two

October 16, 2011 by 4 Comments

I am a sleepyhead, but on this trip I realized I cannot sleep when I am cold.

In the middle of the night, I suddenly felt so cold I woke up. My hands were freezing, as were my legs. I curled up into a ball in the sleeping bag and used my scarf to cover half of my face, so that I would be warmer. However, I was too cold, I could not fall back to sleep. I just lay there, eyes closed, trying to think up some ways to warm up. I did not really want to bother my boyfriend since I knew he was deeply asleep (based on his snoring). For most of the night, I just listened to the sound of nature: from the choir of frogs to the chorous of birds. I must say they sang better than Rebecca Black (but who am I to judge).

Anyways, it was not good to not have enough sleep and suffer from the cold. I ended up having a huge headache. We quickly packed everything and went to the nearby beach, Rialto, to take a few shots. The beach was so wide, as was the ocean. I saw the big white waves crashing onto the shore and the huge rocks in the ocean. The view made me feel pretty tiny since everything was so huge, including the rocks I sat on, the bald white trees that were standing behind us and the huge ocean. We spent a while there to let the wind slap our faces and to walk through the sand hand-in-hand. Then, I picked up a few unique rocks as souvenirs of this special trip (my boyfriend later told me that we should not have taken anything out of the park.)

Rialto Beach - Photographed by Kelly Lui.

After enjoying a bit of nature, we went to Forks for breakfast. I was rather clumsy due to the lack of sleep: I dropped a piece of bacon on the floor as it was too hard for me to poke the fork through. It was good to have a rather long car ride to get to Hoh Rainforest. This was the original site that we wanted to camp at, but because of the time constraints, we just went for Mora.

When we arrived, we first went to the visitor centre to get some suggestions on trails. The lady who worked there was really nice; it definitely warmed me up in the early morning. We went on two popular trails: the Hall of Mosses and the Spruce Nature Trail. These two trails were rather different. One of them consisted of tall trees that were covered with green fluffy hair mosses. The other one had giant monsters with long hairy arms, similar to what you would see in Vancouver.  Both of the trails were rather short, so within an hour, my boyfriend and I had already walked through them. Therefore, we decided to go onto another trail, the Hoh River, since the lady at the visitor centre did recommend this trail for looking at waterfalls.

The view along the Hoh River Trail was quite pretty as basically we were walking along the river. On the opposite side to us, there were trees that looked quite fragile. They had super thin white trunks, and grew along the water. When the wind blew, they just swung side to side like they were dancing with each other. It was just so elegant. They’ve become my favourite trees (but I do not know their name). Anyways, it was a long walk to get to the waterfalls. I kept on mumbling on the way, because we had walked for a long time. It took us at least two to three hours to get back to the parking lot from the waterfalls. However, the falls were pretty great. It was so long and high up in the mountain that I could not really take a good shot of it. Before the giant fall though, there was this little one with many rocks in the middle. The rocks looked super cute with the green mosses growing on top of them. We took a break to have some trail-mix: chocolates+walnuts. It was quite romantic for us to sit in the middle of this greenness and listen to the free music of the water. We even saw a woodpecker on our way back. It was worthwhile to get to our destination even though I did complain quite a lot on the way, and my boyfriend did not say anything about that (thank you!).

After exploring the greenness, we went to our final stop which was the spot I looked forward to the most – Ruby beach. When we arrived, it was like five or six. The sun was no longer high up in the sky, which was a good thing, because it made the sky much more colorful. The view was amazing with the wide ocean and these gigantic rocks in the middle of it. They were shaped like triangular buildings, and one of them was like a bridge with a little hole in the middle. It was unfortunate that the water was so cold and it was windy. If not, I would have crossed the water to the other side to take a few good snaps of the rocks. This little place of the park made me feel like I was in a dream, because the view was surreal. This place was just so peaceful, even though I could hear the huge waves crashing on the shore. Nature had shaped a really wonderful scene before my eyes. It was a hidden gem in our Olympic National Park firsts. This wrapped up our trip to the Olympic National Park; we do have plans to return though, as the park has so much more to see.

Ruby Beach, as photographed by Kelly Lui

Filed Under: All Aboard!, Around the World, Kelly Lui, Our Travelers, Planes, Trains ..., Road Trips, Roamancing, US, West Coast Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

My First

September 20, 2011 by 3 Comments

This was not the first time I had been to Seattle, but what made this trip special was the fact that I was going to have my first camping experience with my boyfriend, my first boyfriend.  It was to be a two-day road trip that unbeknownst to me, would end up including many of my “firsts”.

It took me around four and a half hours to get to Seattle by taking the Greyhound bus. If I was not a new driver and had the guts to drive to Seattle on my own, without a doubt, I would have done that. However, I was not a brave girl!  Therefore, I needed to suffer from being stuck in a not-very-comfy, hot and agrivating bus for almost five hours without wireless access or a clean washroom. I do tend to avoid using public washrooms as often as possible.  Something was telling me that this camping trip was about to force me to change.

Upon arriving in Seattle it was time to commence the road trip, and venture off with my boyfriend for Olympic National Park.

Looking out of the window, I knew we were in trouble – it was cloudy. During the long car ride towards the Visitor Centre, it was already raining. I thought, “Great, how are we going to explore with this sucky weather?” As soon as I saw the big grey clouds in the sky flowing around, I just prayed.  I hoped that at least the sky would clear up a bit.  Although it was not the best weather, the visitor centre was filled with people. We got some information and planned our route for the day.  After all,  if all these other people were still going for it, how bad could it really be?

 

Our first stop: Hurricane Ridge

The old man who worked at the Visotor’s Centre did warn us that there would not be much to see when we got up to the mountain, and he was right. It was foggy, and the snow had not yet melted.  The only thing we saw was an endless sea of whiteness.  Remarkably, on the way to the ridge, we were able to see a deer.  My first ever deer sighting! I always thought that a deer would look something like Bambi, but the one that we saw had darker skin without any white spots.

 

The second stop: Port Angeles

Many fast food chains filled this little town, providing us with many lunch options.  We went to Jack In The Box, an American fast food restaurant. At first I did not really want to go there, because I wanted fresh warm food, not junky. However, after a discussion with my boyfriend, he persuaded me to give it a try. Surprisingly, I have fallen in love with it.  I got their chicken strips combo with curly fries.  Curly fries have always been my favourite, and being able to have them again just made my day!  My boyfriend knew that I was cold, so he kindly ordered a coffee for me. I frowned when he came back with it because he should know by now I dislike plain coffee. However, he urged me to take a sip, and oh wow, Hawaiian coffee tasted super good.

 

Lake Crescent

Tranquil relaxation at Lake Crescent. Photographed by Kelly Lui.

 

Visiting this quaint little neighbourhood is a must! We loved the old character houses leading to the lodge and lake. It would be a perfect place to raise your kids with this kind of natural environment. I could definitely imagine us having our family and a puppy here. Anyways, the clarity of the lake was beyond the one described in the Squamish post.  I could easily see to the bottom and make out the different sizes of rocks and pebbles. When I walked onto a little point, I could see that the lake was not blue like we suspected, but it was green. The different shades of green indicated the depth of the lake.  I could picture myself relaxing with a good book here. There was also a little theatre stage where people could perform. The setting of the whole town remind me of how relaxing country life must have been back in the old days. The lodge itself was old-fashioned in style. The walls were painted in dark marble red and purple, which gave the lodge a slightly classic look which I really liked. There was one little thing that disappointed me. I went to their washroom, and really, if they spent so much time and money to modify the lodge, why not the washrooms too? It was clean, but I expected something prettier. However, my boyfriend seemed to enjoy his time in the washroom. He did take a bit longer than he usually did (go figure why).

 

 Sol Duc

The first thing we saw as we drove in was the Sol Duc Hot Spring Resort. I had a few hot spring experiences when I was travelling in Japan; however, something smelled completely different here. It was not a smell conducive to romance!  It smelled like a toilet to me, and according to my boyfriend, it was the smell of sulphur.  When we looked inside the hot spring pools though, both of us just wanted to jump right in. They just looked extremely comfortable and welcoming, especially during the rainy cool weather. The waterfalls here took the prize for me. Despite a long walk to get to them, the combination of three falls proved worth it. I could hear the powerful water rushing down from the mountain against the enormous rocks clashing against the stones at the bottom. At that moment, I felt like lightning struck through my body, creating a huge thunderstorm inside. My heart was leaping in my rib cage, because of the loud energetic sound hitting every single nerve.

 

One of the Waterfalls at Sol Duc. Photographed by Kelly Lui.

 

 Forks

Forks is another small town, and honestly, if I did not see all the stores with signs related to Twilight, I would have no idea this was where the story was set.  Neither my boyfriend nor I are Twilight fans, which left us feeling overwhelmed that posters of Edward Cullen were everywhere. It came as no surprise to us that there were Twilight tours. We had only stopped in Forks for dinner, as we hadn’t really come prepared to cook a meal in the campground. Also, it was a good place to stop for a little washroom break. Yes, it could be rather dirty, but it should be better than anything we would find on the campground. No kidding.

 

Rialto Beach

 

Rialto Beach – Photographed by Kelly Lui.

 

As this was my first time really camping, I imagined we would probably set up tents in the middle of forests under the protection of the gigantic trees. However, anyone who has camped at Rialto Beach before will know that the campsites are more like a barbecue site, with bushes and trees separating one from another. My boyfriend had never gone camping without his family, so this was his first time to set up a tent on his own. I helped too, but of course, there was nothing much I could do since I had no knowledge of setting up a tent. I am sure though after this time, I would be able to do this on my own, as it didn’t seem very hard to do. Well, except for nailing the tent firmly into the ground, as I really don’t have much strength. Then, we had to pump up the air mat to ensure a comfortable sleep. Although it seemed like a pretty easy thing to do, the pumping did require a great deal of energy and muscle.  As a result, we did spend quite a while setting up.

After all the hard work and a long day of travelling, both of us were extremely tired.  Although I felt sleepy, one of my usual habits is to use the bathroom before my beauty sleep. However, without seeing any washroom on our way, and the fact that it was dark, we decided to just go in the woods. I am not sure whether that is the usual way  people do it during camping, but it was ours. I did not really like the idea of it since we might get caught by security who drove by, our bums might get mosquito bites, and it might be stinky for the grass.  At this point, we did not have a lot of options. Therefore, in order to fit into the camping culture, we just did what we had to do.  It is unbelievable how I changed from disliking public washrooms to peeing in the woods! To think…this was only our first day.

Filed Under: All Aboard!, Around the World, Kelly Lui, Our Travelers, US, West Coast Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Day of Eating in Yuen Long (Hong Kong)

September 7, 2011 by 8 Comments

After going to the Night Market in Richmond the other night, I missed my hometown of Hong Kong, very much. That’s why I’ve decided to share some of my memorable experiences with you.

A beautiful city, Hong Kong. Photographed by Dan Chui.

Hong Kong has many territories, and I am going to talk about a not very populated place called Yuen Long. There is nothing much to do in Yuen Long. I mean you can possibly go to this wetland (I’ve never been), but the main purpose for me going to Yuen Long is for the food.

Whether you visit the wetland or not, I highly advise that you have lunch in this must-go-restaurant when you are in Yuen Long. You see in Hong Kong, most of the yummiest food you can find is not in glamorous places, instead it tends to be somewhere not very clean and without the greatest service. However, if you are like me, you do not care about these things, rather about the quality of the food. And that is exactly what I hope to steer you towards.

This particular restaurant is popular for their beef balls. Their beef balls are freshly made everyday, which makes them very chewy. Whenever I go there, I always want a second bowl after my first one. because I just love the gummy-ness of the beef balls. I love that Dad always has the same idea, so we can just order bowls of beef balls. (I must say my big stomach probably comes from him.) Oh, and I’ve gotta mention the soup too. The soup is so rich and full of green onion, making it extra tasteful. Due to the price (very cheap), there is always a long line up. I have not been there for a while now, so I am not sure if it is still the same, but I sure do hope so.

Gummy beef balls! Photographed by @morethanreal.

After a simple lunch, it’s time for a small snack! This is something you really cannot miss, because it is widely known as a favourite place for treats from this famous bakery in Yuen Long. I usually get something called Sweetheart Cake (Click to read about its origin and learn why this cake has such a name). The cake is relatively sticky and sweet; however, the outer layer is quite crispy. I am sure anyone, including kids, will like this because it is so soft, and it comes in two different sizes: small and regular. Last year my Dad brought a few boxes back to Singapore for his co-workers, and all of them liked it. If you are thinking that my Dad was generous, you would not believe the woman who stood next to us. She basically bought like more than ten boxes (I am not kidding). It was so cheap, making it such a great little gift for friends.

Sweetheart Cake is known as Wife Cake in Cantonese. Photographed by Michael Saechang.

For dinner, I discovered this restaurant when I was living in Yuen Long. (I still go there every time when I am in Hong Kong despite how long it takes to get there.)  Just looking from the street into the restaurant, you might not want to walk in, and sometimes you might need to just sit outside without any air-conditioning. However, if my sister, who cannot stand it when her plate has a spot, is willing to eat there, you can imagine how great their food is. It’s definitely a dinner spot as it doesn’t open until 4 pm.  To avoid the crowds, I’m advising that you show up much later.

Without looking at the menu, all of us know exactly what we want each time (because we just order the same dishes every time). Here is the list:

1) Chicken congee – this is a must try, because it is so different from what you have had. Plus, it comes in a hotpot. The taste of the chicken is just so fresh and tasty. I can even taste the green onion in the congee; it is just a perfect match!

2) Deep-fried fish balls – they are not the typical fish balls, but made with a different kind of fish. However, not everyone will like this taste, such as my sister.

3) Deep-fried pigeon – not everyone would think that this is normal, but as someone once said the Cantonese will eat everything that can move, so how can you blame us? Do not be embarrassed, but use your hands to dig in to eat this one! Just watch out for the hot juice to splash out when you bite into it.

Looks yum? I would say so.

You can obviously eat more than that, and my list is not that short. However, these three things are something I highly recommend. I am sure you will leave with satisfaction, because it should only cost you around 200 HK dollars (30 CDN). Oh and remember to leave some room in your stomach and go to the store located next door for dessert.

I was too full after dinner, so this was my take-out!

The dessert store is very well-known in Hong Kong. I remember I saw a pair of popular couples eating there with their caps on. Even some Hong Kong artists are risking their chances to be recognized with no make-up to eat there, so it must be yummy. But, do not be worried about finding seats, because the store is huge. Not only does it have a large capacity, it has a long menu. It has a variety of choices. You will have a huge headache just from reading through the menu, because you will want to try every one of them. However, for me, I just know what I want – a cold black sticky rice (photo above). It is not sticky at all; instead it is liquid, just like a typical Chinese sweet soup.

This will definitely be a great way to wrap up your day: with a fulfilled stomach and a few pounds to carry after the whole trip.

Filed Under: All Aboard!, Around the World, Hong Kong, Kelly Lui, Our Travelers, Tasty Morsels Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Roadtrippin’ in Squamish

August 29, 2011 by 3 Comments

On Wednesday I received a text from my friend Francis, asking me whether I wanted to go on a road trip, and honestly, I was not entirely sure it was a good idea. I am quite lazy; I can sleep for ten hours straight without waking up. Now when he told me that we might meet at eight, the sleeping monster inside my head was already complaining about the shorter sleep I would get that night. However, not taking any summer courses, I decided to go.

When I woke up, I was a bit worried since the weather was not as nice as I had expected it would be. It was raining slightly, all I could see was the big grey cloud that was hiding the sun. Anyway, the weather did not affect my excitement to go to Squamish for the day. “Squamish, here I come!”

 

How could I sleep with views like this outside? Photo by Pete

 

Squamish is not very far away from Vancouver. I think it just took us less than two hours to get to the Welcome Centre. If I was going on this road trip with my parents, I would probably fall asleep during the ride. However, going with friends, especially when sitting in the front seat, there was no way I could fall asleep thanks to the constant worry that we’d get into a car accident. Sorry Steven, I am not saying you are a bad driver. It’s just how I roll. Hey, I am glad I did not fall asleep ‘cause the views along the way were breathtaking.

Looking ahead, I saw enormous mountains which were like many fluffy green giant hedgehogs. Although the trees looked so tiny from afar, I could still see each of them reaching out from the ground to the sky, like parts of the hedgehogs’ spines. On my right, I could see rock formations, but could not really tell what kinds of rocks they were — geography not being my best subject in high school. Nevertheless, the walls of rocks amazed me. I remember looking at this gigantic rock which was just mind-blowing, because it was purple and had such a smooth-looking surface. I just wanted to jump out of the car right then and take a picture of me pretending to lift it. On my left, I could see this huge calming clear ocean, divided into several shades of blue that showed the water’s depths. Somehow, I could see the horizontal line dividing ocean and sky. At that moment, I felt like the wide-open ocean was contained in a box-like sky.

 

The purple rock – Photo by Al Pasternak

 

After gathering some information about the town, we decided to go to Alice Lake Provincial Park. (By the way, if any of you go to Squamish, do drop by the Welcome Centre. The workers were helpful. They gave us pamphlets and maps telling us where to go, that made it much easier to plan our trip.) Anyway, back to Alice Lake. When we first got there, it was still raining. The weather definitely affected how we approached the lake: since everyone was cold, we were not very eager to explore the place. There were at least ten trails for hikers, but due to the weather, we just walked around the park. The lake was quite huge and clear. It was surrounded by many tall trees, and in some hidden corners of the lake we found it full of water lilies. It would be nice to just float around the lake, looking at the branches swinging slightly on top and feeling the sun warming our bodies.

 

Photographer: Ash Mishra

 

What a lovely place to swim in warmer weather!  As it is almost enclosed by the trees, it gave me the feeling of a private pool. I just have to get over my fear of what the animals are doing in the water.  I know this is silly, but I’ve grown up a city girl, not summering on lakes and ponds.

Alice Lake Provincial Park is a quiet, relaxing place for people to escape a busy lifestyle. There are several wood logs on the beach, allowing people to read or just chill with their friends. Also, there are lots of barbecue and camp sites around the lake making it an ideal place to spend a night: having a camp fire, staring at the stars, and hanging out with friends in nature.

 

Photo by Gord McKenna

 

At around one, Urbanspoon helped up to find a place for lunch – The Campfire Grill. The name just sounded brilliant since we wanted local food, instead of always going to the restaurant with the white chicken logo, a red haired girl or a big M. It was certainly surprise arrive and find a food truck. While we were wondering whether to stay, the lady in the window was already smiling at us and introducing their menu. With this warm welcome, we decided to give their food a shot. I ordered something called “Smokin’ Threesome”. I liked it’s creative name a lot. It was three mini sandwiches with different meat: chicken, beef and pork. Each of them had a distinctive taste, and my favourite was the beef, followed by the chicken and pork. If a tiny girl like me could finish all of the three sandwiches (I am like 5’3), you can guess how yummy they were.

In addition to your main course, you got to choose a side dish. I highly recommend the BBQ Potato Salad, because it was just so refreshing. Remembering their food is already making my mouth-water. Oh, and try their pops, Stewarts as well. After a fulfilling meal, it was great to just burp with satisfaction.

 

Photographer: Matt Swern

 

After lunch, we were off to the Shannon Falls. This place is a must-go since it will definitely make you appreciate nature and life in general a lot more. When we got there, the weather suddenly brightened. The sun came out from behind of the clouds and shone on this enormous waterfall. Looking at it from afar, all of us were already speechless. In order to get a closer look at the falls, we decided to climb the stairs, and it was worth the few minutes of hard work. I felt alive when I saw the water bursting out on top of the mountain and felt the sound of the falls bumping into my heart.  Nature gives me these moments of awe, where no word I can think of can describe my fascination. When we walked back down, we saw the water polishing the pebbles and stones into smoothness. At one point, I just wanted to take off my shoes and socks, walk down to the stream and feel the coolness of the clear fresh water on my toes. On the sides of the stream, there were some bushes and huge stones. I made a mental note that here might be a good place to read or chillax later.

 

Photographer: Craig Elliott

 

Our adventure continued to the Britannia Mine Museum, and this was the last stop of our road trip. I remember having been to this museum when I was very young; however, since the memory was rather blurry, I was glad that we had decided to visit. The tour around the museum cost about $16, so it was not cheap. We had an underground train ride into the mine where we learned about the history of the workers and their conditions. It was super educational as the tour guide let us experience the loudness of the mining machines and the darkness of the mines, making us realize how dangerous mining can be. My favourite part of the tour was panning for gold. There is a technique to pan gold, and I’ve got to admit I have yet to master that skill. Luckily, I did pan out many bits of fool’s gold and a thin piece real gold. The best part of panning for gold was that we got to keep anything we panned out. This was a good stop to wrap up our trip as each of us had a little souvenir to bring home.

This was definitely a good day trip from Vancouver for a bunch of University students, since it didn’t have to be tightly scheduled and we could get back to town rather easily. One day if you feel bored being in crowded, busy city, then you should go to Squamish and explore nature. I am sure you will have as much fun as we did.

 

Filed Under: All Aboard!, Around the World, BC, Canada, Kelly Lui, Our Travelers Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,