Juneau-a-go-go

Alright, lets begin with the most important/ interesting thing that's happened here in Juneau. No, as far as I know, there's been no more news on the apparent volcanic activity in the Juneau area. This is much more important. I became an overnight celebrity in the town of Juneau, population approx 30, 000. I made it into the frickin newspaper.




Photo: Juggling can be a winter sport, too
Juneau Empire

Simon Wong, left, shows off his snow juggling skills to his sister, Lian, on Wednesday near Marine Park. They are visiting from Auckland, New Zealand.



Not much else to say about that, really. A slow news day I guess. (Also, in the photo it looks like I've just got one snowball but really, the rest are just out of shot! I swear! Ha.) I'm pretty happy nonetheless. I have my souvenir from Juneau, cos god knows everything here is so frickin expensive! I mean, seriously, $75 for a PRINT of a painting? I'm sorry, that's just ridiculous. If it was the original, signed and dated, then maybe you could get away with it, but dude, $75? Also, the native artifacts are pretty expensive too. Which, I guess makes sense but $200 for a small carving is pretty ridiculous too, dude. I thought New York was expensive, but man, Alaska can get pretty dang pricey too.

The hostel. It's ok, but the other night a group of like, 20 kids and a few adults have been here for a few days now. But luckily for us, we're getting kicked out of the hostel tomorrow (they have this policy where you can only stay for 5 days every 3 months which kinda makes no sense, but ok). It also gets pretty annoying that we have to be out between 9 and 5 every day. Especially on a day like today when it's snowing like crazy outside... I guess it's a good and bad thing though. It means we get a lot of things done but if we have no plans like today, the time seems to go pretty slow. I mean, Juneau (and from what I can tell, everywhere else on this godforsaken continent) have closed down for the winter which is kind of annoying. Yet for some reason I'm surprised by it every time.

Note to self: Summer. Summer is when things are alive.

The weather hasn't been all bad though. Yesterday was pretty nice. We headed out to Mendenhall Glacier which was pretty extraordinary. I mean, you'd think that any self-respecting kiwi would have seen one before - Franz Josef and Fox etc. But no, not me. I'll get onto that though. I promise. Not much to say about that really. It was blue. It was pretty. It was cold. Well, not really that cold, not really that pretty, not really that blue. We did a hike where the snow sometimes got up to our knees. It was kinda intense. Especially when I almost fell into a hole. Woah.

Oh, also, I almost forgot. I totally saw another Bald Eagle swoop down and grab some kind of meat...thing from the side of a dumpster. Kinda gross, yet majestic. And of course I was too slow to take a photo so I have no physical proof of it but you gotta believe me. You just gotta!

Right, I think that's it yous fulla's. Oh, besides the fact that I'm going HOME in 11 DAYS. That is frickin, ridiculously nuts.

Bloggin on a ferry

So, I’m on a ferry to Juneau right now. Just chillin. And adding to the ‘places I’ve blogged’ list. Plane, train, bus, airport and now ferry. Wicked. Also, I’ve been saying ‘wicked’ a lot in the last few days. I have no idea why...

We almost didn’t make it here to be honest. Well, when I say ‘we’ I mean my sister. I made it to the ferry terminal with plenty of time to spare, not to mention a few extra friends. My sister on the other hand, arrived at the terminal with 5 minutes or so to spare before the ferry was meant to set sail. It’s a long story and one that I’d rather not get into but it involves aeroplanes, passports, hitchhiking and a lot of luck. I wasn’t really nervous though, mostly because technology kept me up to date with what was going on. Thank you technology. Once again you save the day. Also, thank you Sheri. You’re my hero.

Not much to report from the ferry thus far. We boarded at 6pm when it was already dark. The lights are pretty though. I'm pretty sure we’ve passed Vancouver already which is awesome. There’s also this outside covered bit on the top of the boat where we’re planning to sleep for the rest of this trip. It’s an amazing little place – and before you ask, no, it doesn’t get that cold up there. The shelter – sort of like a half dome- is facing the stern of the boat (aka back of the boat) (sorry, I thought I’d throw some nautical terms in here. It seems appropriate) so all the wind coming from the bow (aka front of the boat) is going over the shelter if you get what I mean. Also, you’re pretty much sleeping under the stars (which you can see amazingly well). There are also heat lamps.

I’m really looking forward to tomorrow though. Hopefully we get to see some whales or some shit like that. Apparently it’s not uncommon to see such animals including sea lions, whales, otters and birds. Rumour has it though that we’re gonna be running into a storm tomorrow which to be honest, is pretty shit. Also, word is spreading that one of the mountains in Juneau is gonna blow any day now. We’re gonna be in Juneau any day now. ...Wicked? Possibly.

So yeah, like I said, not much to report. Not much to report on Seattle either. It didn’t really leave a big impression on me. Usually a city has a distinct charm about it. Not this one. Though maybe being charmless is what is so charming about Seattle? To me though, it just seems a bit...disjointed. From what I can see, there isn’t a single vision to the city – there’s building built wherever there’s space; it’s pretty much all under construction right now and some things seems kinda run down as if Seattle was still kinda holding onto the glory of when it held the World’s Fair all those decades ago (sorry, I haven’t done any research for this piece ...not that I do any research on any other piece. No internet on the ferry, see. Apparently there was prior to January 1st this year but they’re a changing internet provider which apparently takes a few months... but that is neither here, nor there). Also, there are a lot of homeless people around. The only thing that I liked in Seattle was my hostel and the Pike Place Market. Both were pretty, well, wicked.

That’s pretty much all I have to say right now. It’s kind of a weird place to leave things, but that’s just how it goes sometimes ok? Besides, this won’t be posted on the interweb (oh, how I miss you internet) until we get to Juneau, if Juneau hasn’t been destroyed by that volcano. In which case, I’m not sure when you will get to read this. Anyways, consider this post officially shelved. Until such further time as I see fit to continue with my right to blog.

BLOGGING!


Bloggin on a ferry cont....

Captains log:
We’ve made it to our first stop –Ketchikan after about 38 hours on this godforsaken ferry. No, I’m kidding, the ferry is alright; the food is a bit pricey though but we kinda have no choice. That’s the problem with not having any foresight. We probably should have brought some food with us. Knowing me though our ‘rations’ wouldn’t have lasted the whole trip anyways.

Right, so, when booking this ferry there was one very important thing that I forgot. Seasickness. We went through about 2 and a half hours of open water yesterday. Which, if you know anything about the sea/ boating/ maritime related things, generally means you’re gonna run into some pretty rough waters. To make a long story short, spending $10 on breakfast was a complete waste of money. I’m hoping we don’t run into any more of that today.

Approximately 17 hours to go.

Also, a lot of young American teens have boarded the vessel. No trouble from them so far.


UPDATE!

We've arrived in Juneau! It's a quaint little town. Not many people around which seems to be the recurring theme during my Winter travels. Snow also seems to be a recurring sight.

The rest of the trip from Ketchikan was pretty uneventful, besides all those dang kids making trouble for everyone.

Luckily also, there wasn't any more open water to sail through. We met a few cool people on the way over too. A few native Alaskan's and a few moving to Alaska for work (which, in the last week or so seems to be a really popular thing to be doing).

Anyways, today was mainly spent wandering around Juneau (our hostel kicks us out from 9 - 5 every day. We also have to do chores apparently, but we're only paying $10 a night so I guess that's reasonable) and planning the rest of the week. We also visited an historic trail - a mining area I think. There were a few creepy, decrepit and dilapidated buildings which were cool yet, well, creepy. Also, as we wandered through the sometimes foot-deep snow we came across a beach. That's right, a beach. It was pretty odd. The snow just stopped and at that point, the beach began. That's a combo of terrain that I would never put together in my wildest dreams. It works pretty well though. Also, I can tick 'Bald Eagle' off my 'Alaskan wildlife to see' list. Also hopefully to be ticked off in the next day or two are whales - Humpbacks and Orca's and possibly some other form of sea mammal - sea lions? Otters? Who knows!?

Forget "I <3 NY," I <3 San Fran

Of all the places in the Continental US this is the place where I could see myself living the most. NYC is too busy, not to mention expensive; Boston is steeped in history but there's not much going on there; DC is alright, if a little boring but San Fran is completely different. First off, it's warm. Secondly, everyone seems to be a lot more relaxed and friendly. Everything's within a walkable distance as well. Sure, it's really expensive here too, but the vibe is something that is invaluable. There's a lot of history here too - the summer of love, the hippie movement, the first place to issue gay marriage licenses and of course, it's home to the infamous Alcatraz.

I finally understand all those songs that were written about San Francisco - "I left my heart in San Francisco"; "Sitting on the dock of the bay" (which until now I didn't know was about San Fran. Thank you internet.)and the aptly named "San Francisco".

I don't know what it is with me now. I used to seem to want to write about EVERYTHING that's happened when I've been in a particular place/ city or wherever I happen to have been but now I'm just kinda lazy I guess. Another example of my laziness is my as yet unfinished Obama story. I don't think I'll get it done, to be honest. Firstly, I don't really know where I'm going with it. Secondly, I'm a bit rusty seeing as I haven't done anything...journalistic in the last 6-8 months. Thirdly, I have no idea what I'm talking about and don't really have time to do research.

Anyways, back to San Fran - I didn't really do much. A driving tour of all the different neighborhoods - The Castro (gay neighborhood); Haight Ashbury which is where all the hippies (nowadays the wannabe hippies) chill and Richmond where all the blue collar workers live. We also drove across the Golden Gate Bridge (I mean, C'mon, it'd be rude not to) and took a few obligatory photo's too. Then into Muir Woods where I took the wrong track and proceeded to get lost and get back to the van over an hour later than I should have (oops). The rest of the trip included Alcatraz, Coit Tower, Lombard St (crookedest st on the planet), Chinatown (several times), Fisherman's wharf and of course, no trip to San Fran is complete without a ride on a cable car. Oh, I also went in search of the Full House house but to no avail...

That's pretty much it for San Fran. I'm off to Seattle tomorrow where I'll mostly be trying to sort everything out for Alaska. To be honest, I'm not too fussed about seeing Seattle. It's meant to be raining while I'm there anyways. I just need to find a decent ski shop to buy everything I need.

Bloggin on a plane/ some thoughts post -inauguration

Well, whaddya know? I’m bloggin on a plane. That’s it then, I’ve (almost) done it all – planes, trains and automobiles. I mean, the only thing left now is a boat, which of course is inevitable and on that day I’ll be able to die a happy blogger. Of course, there’s no internet connection in the sky – just a bunch of clouds and shit. It’s not that exciting, really. The only really exciting thing is that I’m headed to a place which is actually gonna be moderately warm! (aka San Francisco). To be honest, I’m getting tired of the cold so this is gonna be a pretty awesome break. Kinda like Cuba but less... exotic.

Funny story actually, I had an opportunity to buy half of a convertible in DC with this Aussie guy I met and road-trip it to San Fran instead which would have been amazing but after a bit of deliberation decided not to for several reasons. One of them being I can’t really afford it; what to do with the car afterward; the car had a Texas license plate which made me think it may have been stolen; I can’t/ am not comfortable driving on that side of the road and the other guy’s license had expired which lead me to believe that one or both of us would inevitably be arrested or run into trouble and road-trips need a decent amount of time to be done properly.

Now, as you may or may not know, I was lucky enough to attend President Obama’s inauguration which was one of the most extraordinary moments of my entire life. I’m planning a special post in the next day or two about it so watch this area. Also, I’d like to note that I’m officially Obama’d out.

Alright, I guess this is it for now. My battery’s about to die.

Blogging on a bus

So I guess that's it. I've blogged on a train, an airport and now a bus. That must be some kind of record.

Ok, now I'm not bloggin on a bus. But I did and no one can tell me otherwise. ...I just had to stop cos there wasn't enough room for me to type cos there was this wannabe actor guy sitting next to me reading his script and shit. Also, there wasn't a place for me to plug myself in...

I'm gonna start off by saying that Megabus is mega. I mean, first off, it's a double decker. Secondly, it had wi-fi which is pretty snazzy. It's also blue. Not that I have any particular inclination to the colour blue or anything.

That's pretty much it I guess. I'm getting ready to go see history be made. That's about it. I'll let you know how that goes. I'm telling you now though, Obamamania is definitely in full swing here in DC. It's pretty gangsta.

The second bite out of the Big Apple

Why do they call it that anyway? I have no idea. I mean, sure, it's big, but it's not apple like at all.

Right, so, round two in NYC thus far has been a mix of old and new experiences. I'm staying a few blocks from where we were staying for Xmas/ New Years so now I'm pretty much an expert on the area surrounding around 110th and 101st and Broadway but not really anywhere else. That's about the extent of my knowledge of Manhattan.

So the things we re-visited thus far are central park (though it was covered in a thin layer of snow this time), the Guggenheim (but they were in the process of taking down the exhibits that were on during Xmas/ New Years so there wasn't much to see). And sort of the Statue of Liberty although we took the actually ferry instead of the Staten Island one.

New things pretty much include the Met, Battery Park and UN Headquarters.

Also, I'm pretty much running out of things to do here. I mean, really, who would have thought you could run out of things to do in NYC?! Well, sure, there's still the Empire State Building, a Broadway show and a taping of David Letterman but these all cost money. Again, money that I don't have.

Also, on another note, the other day I was just randomly looking on Hostelworld.com for accommodation in DC for the 19th to the 21st (for Obama's inauguration) sort of already knowing that there wouldn't be anything there. But no! Something had come up! And was reasonably priced! That to me is pretty miraculous. So that's it then. I'm gonna be a part of history. Excellent. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do about it though. I mean, I'm going to experience such an important moment in history but what am I gonna do to commemorate it? I suppose I should do something... journalistic seeing as that's what I'm meant to be after this year...

Wow, I'll be finished uni next year. That's kinda nuts. I'll be out on my own. No more studying, well, not necessarily but y'know. My plan is to go traveling in 2010 but I'm not sure where or when. Probably Europe seeing as that's where I have a high concentration of friends now. Hopefully that works out slightly cheaper. I dunno. I'll worry about this at a later date I suppose. Not sure why any of this paragraph is in here actually. I just kinda rambled on for a bit. I think I'll stop now.

The East Coast Odyssey - The Abridged Version/ A quick goodbye

So, I'm just chillin at Halifax airport (I seem to do a lot of writing at airports and/ or trains) where the internet is free which is pretty awesome. Umm, so I'm here a day earlier than I planned to be. I'm actually kinda sad cos on Thursday a couple of new people moved into the hostel and they were pretty ace. It's just too bad that only a few hours prior to their arrival I had booked my ticket outta here... But anyways, yeah, yesterdays weather was pretty awesome. That's really what I wanted from the start but I suppose that's just how it goes though eh? I'm kinda sad to leave Halifax now, so I didn't do anything that I had planned to do but the people at the hostel were pretty awesomely cool. On my next visit to Canada (cos there definitely will be one - it's just a matter of when) I'll definitely give this another try. I'll do research this time, and come during Summer! I promise!

Also, of great importance is that this is pretty much the end of my trip in Canada. Y'know, besides going back to Vancouver for my flight home. You'd think I'd be sad about it and I kinda am but it's not so bad because firstly, as I just mentioned, I will most probably be coming back. Secondly, I've already said my goodbyes and there's no one left here to say goodbye to. Except to Canada. Goodbye Canada, I will miss your freezing cold temperatures, your friendly people and the general ridiculousness of your great lands. Though there were still many things I did not do in your country the people I met and the places I DID go to have changed me forever. I never got to see a moose, a chipmunk OR a raccoon but that's ok. There's always next time right?

The morning after the night before.

So, my first day in Halifax was off to a decent start. The hostel isn't half bad but there aren't many people here. That's off-peak season for you I guess.

I went out walking for a bit and Halifax is actually a pretty quaint place. Still kinda spooky though. The houses are nice but they look like the kind of places which would be haunted...

I also walked to Pleasant Point Park which wasn't that pleasant at all. It was kinda spooky too. Quite possibly the creepiest park I've ever been to. No one was there and I had to keep looking back to see if someone was coming behind me with a chainsaw... Ok, I'm paranoid, so what??

Also, whilst walking back to my hostel/ cafe in the rain my jacket kinda froze. To begin with it was pretty cool but it just got kinda annoying. It was so cold that the rain on my jacket froze in a thin layer of ice! Also, by this time the footpaths were slippery which wasn't great. Especially since I had at least an hours walk to get back to my hostel/ cafe. Luckily though, the path I took was pretty flat but damn, I had to go down this downhill bit and I actually fell over! Fuck that, if it doesn't get better tomorrow I'm leaving! I know I said that last night but I'm being generous here. Plus, I did some research and there isn't much to do in Halifax as such - a few museums and whatnot - and I don't really wanna take a tour of places outside Halifax on my own. I'll probably come back during summer at some point along the way because to be honest, the place seems to be a lot more lively around that time.

Anyways, I have to wait till tomorrow anyway to see if I should go back to Toronto or straight to NYC.

And so, my east coast odyssey may be cut short.

Mostly because there doesn't seem to be much to do around here. I was in a bar tonight and talking to some of the barmaids and apparently everything kinda closes during winter... it's only my first night here in Halifax though, so I guess we'll see how tomorrow goes and then I'll decide if I want to stay for the planned 5 days. My taxi driver also kinda shot down my plans to visit PEI so I've decided to cut that from my plans...

My hostel also doubles as a cafe which is interesting.

The train ride here was nice enough though. Now I can say that I've traveled from one side of the country to the other by train. Woot.

I like trains. It's kinda in between a bus and a plane. Slightly more expensive than a bus, slightly cheaper than a plane; Takes less time than a bus, more time than a plane; You see more on a train and there's less traffic overall. I dunno, I guess there's just something about it. The pioneer spirit and all that.

This whole East Coast odyssey isn't turning out as well as I'd hoped. Quebec city was pretty, but there's not a lot going on there... I went to Parc de la chute-Montmorency which was probably the highlight. It's kinda like Niagara Falls but frozen over. The whole, everyone speaking Quebecois was pretty challenging/ annoying. So I was kinda glad to leave that behind.

So yeah, I'm getting kinda tired now. I'm giving you one last chance Halifax. Hopefully you can redeem yourself tomorrow. If not, I'm booking the first plane outta here!

Bloggin at the airport AND the train. Ooooh.

So here I am, bloggin at the airport again. There’s no internet access here so I’m gonna have to CTRL + C/ CTRL +V this thing when I’m done.

I’m sitting at gate A11 at Newark airport waiting for my flight to Montreal and subsequently my flight back to Toronto. I’ve had real shitty internet access at the hostel that I moved to after posting the post below. The first hostel we were in was pretty much a hole. The room smelled of something that none of us could quite put our finger on; the beds squeaked; the mattresses were generally uncomfortable and the bathrooms left a lot to be desired. There was though, good internet access and a slightly better location than our next hostel and an elevator. I suppose the compromise here was a good internet connection, location and elevator for a more safe/ secure non-smelling room with still, pretty average showers.

The second hostel we stayed in was pretty much in the middle of Harlem which to be honest, wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Apparently it’s an ‘up and coming’ area of NYC and you can kinda see that happening. Granted, you still probably wouldn’t walk around there at night unless you didn’t have a choice. You also kinda have to stick to the main streets. But besides that, it’s pretty cool. The food is really good too. Deli’s are pretty much awesome. Think of a dairy crossed with a deli in the supermarket which also makes excellent sandwiches. Excellent. Mostly.

Also, I’m not sure where I left off on my last post so I’m just gonna start with the Staten Island ferry. (This is what happens without the internet) (I love you internet). So forgive me if I cover some stuff again. Also, all the days seem to roll into one so I can’t really distinguish which bit comes where... Thank god for my over 500 photos from this trip.

OK, so as I probably may have mentioned, Christmas was pretty uneventful, I got a bar of Grenadian chocolate (which I still haven’t eaten yet) and supposedly some money in my bank account (which, as of yesterday, I still haven’t received... ). We all went to an Italian restaurant for dinner (which I’m pretty sure I mentioned already....) I think I also mentioned the Guggenheim and MoMA (mostly because I distinctly remember writing ‘the goog’ in my last post for some reason. If not, then, I dunno, I guess that word just stuck in my mind.) Just in case I didn’t though, both MoMA and the Goog were pretty cool. I’m pretty gutted that I missed going to the Van Gogh exhibition for free though. Long story.

Right, lets skip forward a bit shall we? (fast forward noises) And here we are, a few days ago on the Staten Island ferry. It’s free and apparently not a lot of people know about it. I don’t think there’s a lot to see on Staten Island, it’s pretty much a residential area. But as a wise man once said: ‘the most important part of a journey is not the destination but what happens in between’ (or something to that effect. This would have been much better if I had googled this quote (he he, goog). Once again, I apologise for my lack of internet access). Anyway, the point is that the Staten Island ferry goes right past the Statue of Liberty. And it’s free. Being as poor as I am, free things/ things that cost very little money come top of the list when deciding what to do. Hence why we didn’t go see a Broadway show, plus we didn’t have a lot of time to do it... There’s a ferry which takes you right to the Statue and to Ellis Island too but of course, that costs money. Money which I don’t have.

Ah, yes, I remember now. This is the day where one of my friends was meant to be on a plane to India the night before but went to the wrong airport. We spent the day on the Staten Island ferry and were lucky enough to make it to Brooklyn Bridge at sunset. We also visited the Seinfeld diner (which is actually called Tom’s Restaurant) which was pretty cool. Obviously in the show it’s only the facade that’s shown but it’s still pretty cool. The food isn’t too shabby either. It was super busy too. We were pretty lucky though, that the diner was only about 3 blocks up from our first hostel.

A trip to New York probably isn’t complete without seeing Ground Zero. Right now it’s under construction so there’s not really much to see but there’s like, a visitors centre/ museum across the street which is pretty much designed to make people cry. The whole sentiment of the exhibit is designed to be very emotional, very patriotic and very well, pro-America. Children’s paintings – ‘not just NY’s finest, but the world’s finest’; missing persons posters; sappy movies with interviews with people; random things found in the rubble. It does the job though, I suppose. It made me almost want to cry. Just being so close to something so big. There’s just a big empty space where you think there should be something but there isn’t. Just a big patch of blue sky. Visiting the museum is a must but it really brings you down. It kinda ruins the rest of your day. You get kinda depressed and don’t want to do stuff. Luckily though, when we were there it was getting dark anyways, so we just went off to find a bar somewhere.

Let’s skip forward to New Years Eve. Being in NYC for New Years you can’t not go to Times Square right? Apparently though, the whole Times Square thing is for tourists only. Apparently New Yorker’s go t Central Park instead which would have been cool too. But I think it’s true. None of the people we talked to were from New York. Pretty much anywhere BUT NYC. This New Years Eve also was the coldest on record in NYC history which is pretty cool. It didn’t really feel that cold though because all the people were huddled together. But as soon as it hit like, 12.10am on the 1st pretty much everyone had left the area and you could definitely feel the -10 degree winds then.

The actual ball drop itself to be honest, was kinda lame. The ball is super tiny and the ‘fireworks’ weren’t spectacular at all. The event has a lot of potential which isn’t being taken advantage of which I find surprising – I mean, NYC is one of the cultural powerhouses of the US but it can’t put together a decent New Years show. It could just be so much better. I mean, for people who are pretty far away from the ‘action’ there’s not much going on. I mean like, Lionel Ritchie was performing and apparently the Clinton’s were there but no one where we were gave a shit. I dunno, it’s not really what I expected to be honest.
So that was round 1 of my trip to NYC. Flying home was pretty uneventful, except for when I fell down the stairs at the hostel and twisted my ankle and when my bag didn’t arrive at Montreal airport (cos apparently when you arrive at Montreal airport you need to pick up your bag and go through customs again to recheck your bag on your next flight. So, I waited for my bag for like, close to 2 hours which made me miss my flight which meant I had to book another flight to Toronto. Luckily for me the flights were hourly so I didn’t arrive too much later than I was meant to. I was kinda scared that my bag wouldn’t turn up and I’d have to postpone or even cancel my East Coast trip (on which I am writing the rest of this post) ( It was there waiting at Toronto airport for me and thank god for that!) It was also my last night in Toronto last night. It was pretty uneventful, a few drinks at Mick E Fynn’s (well, just the one for me) and one final night staying at the Primrose.

I’m now sitting on a train bound for Montreal. Nothing much to report really. I’m just sittin, writin’ shit. Bloggin on a train. Being kinda anti-social listening to my ipod but trains aren’t really set up for that kinda thing anyway. Plus, the lady next to me doesn’t seem very interesting. It’s kinda weird travelling on my own again but I don’t really mind it. I was meant to be travelling with someone originally but plans change and I’m cool with that. So yeah, everything seems to be running on time as far as I know, and I should be in Quebec City late this afternoon. Cool.