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Ketchikan Skagway - White Pass Trail Skagway - City At sea Juneau - At sea Juneau - City Juneau - Perseverance Hike Victoria - Buchart Garden Victoria - City Note to the old folks (you know who you are!): Don't forget to click on thumbnails for larger images. Short, annotated movies will be posted later. |
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Hi guys. Jing here. It's 1.30 pm in SeaTac Airport. The old folks + Bing just boarded their plane for Tulsa. Me? Well, I'll be here until 11pm and due to arrive into Pittsburgh at 6.30am the next day. This stinky schedule is the result of my wanting to cut 50 bucks off of airfare. How will I keep myself entertained for 10 hours you ask?! I called upon my inner geek and promptly purchased airport wireless for my laptop. cost: 10 dollars. So I guess the net $$ saved for wasting 10 hours of my life is 40 dollars. And then I'll probably get hungry and be tempted to purchase uber expensive airport food later ... I'm beginning to think that I made the wrong choice in ticket purchasing. The reason I'm currently suffering at the airport is that I'm trying to get home after finishing a 7 day Princess cruise to the great state of Alaska and our neighborhood friendly Canadian city of Victoria onboard the beautiful and virginal Sapphire Princess ship!! Listen to me, I'm adopting the salesmen schpills of the cruise staff. Anyway, the trip was wonderful! It's just what I needed to de-stress and be pumped up for work and the accompanying stress all over again afterwards :o). I've always regretted being lazy and not documenting my travels publicly. But this time, I have 10 hours to kill so you guys are in for a treat ... or i guess no one may care and I'll just be talking to myself. No worries, I love talking :o). The following is my stream of consciousness so be warned that it may not make sense at times and my spelling has always been awful! I like to start by saying that the trip far exceeded my expectations. When my parents asked me to cruise with them and our family friends, I was hesitent because I thought the ship would be full of boring old people, sipping wine and tell old war stories or something. Well, there were definitely lots of old people, more than I have ever seen in one setting other than my time at the convalescent home. And I talked with many many of them and with a couple of exceptions, they were all really cool! I met an American guy who goes to Beijing every other month for business and has been getting free drinks from a hotel for the past two years because he punched out an Oklahoman who was drunk and scaring all the Chinese people at the bar. Go Oklahoma! (for those who don't know, I went to high school in the great state of OK and I still visit my parents there every year). I met a very strong woman who survived breast cancer through her strength of belief that she would conquer the illness despite a late diagnosis. She seems very capable and wants to start a consultant and support group for those about to undergo or are already under treatment. I met an old couple, maybe in their 60s who met five years ago at a singles dance! They danced all night long and eventually he walked her to her car. Phone numbers were exchanged and the rest is history. So cute!!!! And of course there are the three ladies who looked older and way more out of shape than my mom who brave a nature hike in Juneau (details later). I admit that I was sort of judgemental about their ability to do the hike at the beginning, but they were real troopers! And one of the old ladies was telling me about her old motorcycle riding days :o). Makes me want to get the Vespa more and more. And lastly, there are the old people in my traveling party: ma, ba, Fan bobo, A yi, xia a yi, Liang nainai, Sun yieyie, and Sun nainai. I'm obligated to say that my parents are my favorite else I may be disowned, but really, my favorite is Fan bobo! :o) He's so genuine and funny. He's favorite restaurant is McDonalds, he eats rabbits (i don't like this, but somehow he makes it okay), he was like a boy in a candy store when we went to Buchart Gardens in Victoria, and he says the funniest things like trying to speak Chinese to those who don't know the language, thinking the water reflecting from the mirrors was actually real and just plain goofy and fun. :o). The activities on the cruise ship was kind of boring save the art auctions (more about that later), trivia, reading on the decks (and falling asleep under the sun), being surrounded in the beautiful scenery and watching Alastar and Scott (the cruise directors) make jokes. I guess the vegetable carving was kind of neat, but it was just demonstrations nothing hands on. It would have been cool to make my own owl and take it back to the lab (my research group loves barn owls). Most of the music I heard on the boat were pretty sappy. Lots of 'adult contemporary' and UB40, blah. One of the piano player, can't recall his name, was pretty good. I was not too impressed with the onboard dance shows, probably because I just saw Cirque du Soleil Varekai prior to the trip and few shows will ever compare to C du S. C du S was such a mesmerizing mix of dance, acrobatics, song and art. I seriously got dizzy (the good kind) and could not walk during intermission because I was so engrossed in the show. Anyway, back to Alaska. There were a couple things I didn't do on the ship that may have been fun. There was a spa that would have been nice to try with my mom, but mom wasn't too excited about the idea and since I was not relunctant to pay 50 dollars for a better plane ticket, I was not about to shell out 150 dollars for a facial or massage. I did learn about this treatment called Isothermiso (i've butchered the spelling) where they literally melt the fat and water off of you!! There was this advertisement picture of an ass before the treatment, after 1 treatment and after 3 treatment and I must say the results are impressive. And apparently it's a favorite of the art auctioneer and despite his praise for the treatment, he's not a very good walking advertisement from the looks of his stomach. I don't feel bad critizing him because he said some awful things to the boys who move the art in front of everyone. It's was just mean and wrong and I felt sick when I heard it. I have no complaints about the trip other than his attitude. Besides his derogatory remarks, his demeanor was so fake when he promotes the art. He's definitely a salesman. I really enjoyed looking at some of the paintings around the ship and the gallery, but whenever the the auctioneer talked about them I just don't like it as much because he pushed too hard. Another thing I didn't really check out were was the night club. I totally like shaking it on the dance floor, but I wasn't about to go in there with the old folks (henceforth, old folks will refer to all members of my party other than Bing). The ship is soooo beautiful that it was pretty nice to just sit and daydream and read, or walk around with my shiny new ipod. The single activity that consumed more of my time than anything else is eating ... oh man, I never thought I would say that eating is hard, but when you sit in the dining room for 4 hours a day ... geez! eating becomes more of a job than a leisure. Each meal was multiple courses and served by these nice waiters, many of whom are very charismatic. At first I felt great with the food. I mean, it sure beats the broccoli, bread and coffee which are the core of my normal diet. Oh yeah, let's not forget my obssession with eggs and cookies. Then I became a prisoner to the food and meal times and lost my appetite. Anyway, so much seafood! I've probably accumulated a huge quantity of heavy metal poisoning from the amount the fish and shellfish I have consumed in the past 7 days. Apparently, the boat loads 150 tons (no, that is not a typo) of food per 7 day Alaskan cruise. Oh right, the boat contained very roughly 2000 passengers and 1000 crew members. So that's 1/20 tons (100 lbs) of food per person!! Goodness, it's amazing that people are still able to walk off the boat when faced with that much food. Anyway, meals are how everyone in my party meet during the day since we tend to have different opinions on what are fun activities onboard and on shore. Anyway, I'm beginning to think that this 10 hour airport wait is good for preparing myself mentally and physically for the return to my real life. I need to get over not cooking and not making my bed and prepare my body to accept my normal diet. Now, that I've blabbed endlessly about my life on the ship, let me say a bit more about my two favorite portions of the trip: the scenery and the especially interesting people that I met. Being on top of the water made me feel so small and insignificant. It's hard to describe but the experience is very humbling. I've always loved convertibles. My favorite car is the volkswagen cabrio, but the breeze on the ship deck and on top of the mountains totally beat any convertible experience on land. I'm not good with words, so I'll let my pictures speak for the scenery. I became slightly camera happy on the trip because I really wanted to capture the moment all the time. I really need to learn more about how to take better photos. Another thing to add to my list. So much to learn, so little time ... My absolute favorite part about traveling and really just in everyday life is talking and meeting interesting people from different cultures. Sometimes that inclination gets me in trouble like the 300 pound man in Geneva who wanted to be special friends, but generally I'm descent at filtering out the weirdos. First, a little about the demographics of the ship's passengers and crew. The passengers are predominately old caucasians with a descent number of asians, a few africans and latinos. They were mostly Americas and some Canadians and Brits. The crew were from all over the world. It was amazing! Tangent: there is a really cute baby laughing behind me. She's got the cutest pink plastic eyeglasses! Anyway, there were people from the Philippines, Thailand, South Africa, Britain, australia, Romania and more! They all have name tags with their country of origin. I didn't see any Amerians; I'm sure there are some onboard somewhere. Anyway, the demographics are totally different from what I'm used to at school and it was every cool! All the crew were super friendly and helpful, but often I cannot help but think that they are doing so because it is their job and it's all a facade. I mean, much of the crew are around my age and I know what patience for a twenty-something year old is ... often, it's not much. Maybe I'm just weird, but I don't think so. I wrote a lot in my personal log of the individual crew members I chatted with and what i learned from them, but two people come to mind as having left the greatest impression in my mind. G from South Africa and S from Thailand. Our Victoria tour guide was also kind of interesting in a crazy asian sort of way. On a side note, no crew members seem to wear glasses. In fact, one of the bartenders asked me what is wrong with my eyes during one of the days that I wore my glasses! I guess I'm used to having almost everyone around wear glasses. I wonder if the boat makes its crew wear contacts to look better to the passengers. Anyway, I met G on the Juneau hike, Perseverance trail, it was called. It was a beautiful hike. G has been everywhere and experienced so much of life that I will only experience through stories and conversations. He's one of the photographers onboard the ship. The photographers take candide photos and formal portraits for the dressy nights and people can purchase prints or CDs if they like what they see. Their pictures are very good but expensive so before G, I always tried to run the other direction when I see a person carrying a giant camera. Anyway, G has travelled the world taking pictures. He's been in many dangerous and exciting situations, documenting history with his camera. Sometimes, I wish I could experience life away from developed cities. I guess I get a small inkling of that through travelling, but it will never be the same as being completely immersed in a different culture and lifestyle. S was our cabin steward. I thought I was crazy getting up at between 6.30 and 7am on a regular basis, but S gets up at 5.30am! He works so hard to keep the staterooms clean and passengers comfortable. Princess policy is two cleanings a day, which I think is just stupid. the rooms do not get dirty fast enough. It's only there to make the passengers feel more pampered when there are plenty of other onboard amentities which do that already. Anyway, I saw S every day because he's always working. I thought he was very genuine, friendly and humble. He's so young, hardworking with big hopes for the future. There was something very admirable about his nature. i think it's because he possessed qualities that I wish I had myself. I traded contact info with G and S and I sincerely hope we can keep in touch. The world can be very small when you want it to be and there is so many places i want to go that i'm sure our paths will cross again. Anyway, now, about Alaska! There were 5 distinct regions of interest during the cruise: Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Tracy Arm and Victoria. We did not disembark for Tracy Arm. The ship sailed through it for the glacier viewings ... but I totally slept through it ... oops. Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway are Alaskan cities, while Victoria is the capital of British Columbia, Canada. Ketchikan city was puny and uber touristly. I generally hate being among tourists even though I am a tourist because I don't feel like I get a good impression of the actual city. But in Ketchikan, it seems that tourist attractions are almost the whole of the city. So many diamond and gem shops and mini totem poles and keychains in the gift shops! I've seen enough totem poles to last a lifetime. I did manage to walk enough to be away from all the tourist shops, which is not hard considering how small the city is, to sit on some rocks and soak up some sun. Anyway, all the shore excursions are better understood through my pictures linked at the top of the page. Juneau was beautiful! I went on a hike and no words can capture the majesty of the scenery. My amateur pictures also do not do Juneau justice, but that's I've got for you ... It's so refreshing after the basement scenery of Mellon Institute (my office location)! In Skagway, I explored the city with the old folks. I sort of went my own way in the first two cities because the elders wanted to shop too much and didn't bring walking shoes. In skagway, we sat on a train which drove around the mountains offering more peaceful imagery, but I was tired from not sleeping much the night before and prompty fell asleep...that was one expensive nap ... the train ticket was 97 dollars. Skagway city was also small but very quaint. The buildings had these super interesting facades and it was fun walking around, but very windy (my eyeballs and contacts were not happy) and cold. In Victoria, the old folks, Bing and I got swept up with a local tour guide who took us to the famous Buchart Gardens and around the city for 4 hours. Buchart was so beautiful! I can see myself being very creative in such a venue. Pittsburgh needs to get a nice garden like that ... Think of all the good research ideas that will come out! Fan bobo, our flower fanatic, was very happy! My allergies got fired up a bit, but nothing major. ... many hours and airplane mileage later ... Now, I'm at home on my bed. I got back at 8.30 this morning and other than the airline losing one of my bags (which they just delivered), the trip to PA was pretty easy-going. On the bus home from the airport and even right now after work and stupid house chores, I have an slight empty feeling. For a short week I was living a different life, taking in the most beautiful scenery i've yet to see, meeting new people. And now, i'm back to my life. back to my house, back to Centre Ave, back to MATLAB, and back to my friends in PA. and away from the Sapphire Princess, which is now sailing towards Ketchikan with another batch of passengers. I wonder if there is someone on board like me and what my friends onboard are doing. it's such a change that I guess i'm still adjusting and processing the trip. I got an email from the group saying that i'm in charge of food for this week's lunch meeting. I guess that means i'll be giving the lunch talk next week ... back to work! it's interesting how great vacations are. They totally relax me, give me opportunity to learn while still having fun and they make me more excited about my own life. I'm going to give the best talk ever next week! :o) |