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| The Towns of Alaskacontinuing on from where I left off, again...
As we went along from Vancouver to Anchorage, our first stop was in Ketchikan. This little town was pretty, but you could see, like all the other towns in Alaska, that it survived purely on tourists. There were little cute shops all over selling tourist stuff.
I had a little experience in this town, after about 15 minutes of being there, I lost my camera! I was very sad and cried...while I went around the town helplessly looking for it with my dad. He was so encouraging! Assuring me that it was merely a "thing". So after much searching, I accepted the fact that it was gone...
However, just as we were about the board the ship, my mom, being ever hopeful, went into a shop one last time to make sure that it wasn't there. And LO AND BEHOLD, my camera was there! Oh, I was so delighted. Praise God and thanks mom was all I could say. So anyway, here are some pictures of Ketchikan:
They were selling REAL bear fur...
Mommy, me and our ship...
Then the next day, we arrived in Juneau, which is the capital of Alaska. Although it's the capital, it's not really big. To get the real feel of this pretty town, we took a little tour around it and here's what he saw:
Beautiful scenery...
Fake bears...
A part that fell out of a glacier...
More beautiful scenery, all the white stuff is glacier...
Then, we traveled on to Skagway, where we took a train ride on a old mining track that was used in the olden days to reach gold. This track is used mainly for tourism now, because there's no more gold left...hehe
The train...CHU CHU!!
The train going over a bridge...
We were going uphill, so eventually, we arrived at snow-covered areas. This was another bridge...
We actually crossed over to Canadian grounds with the train, so we weren't allowed to step off of it.
The train ride was really interesting and we say a lot of beautiful scenery, yet another reminder of God's great power...
After this, we visited the place that all people who go to Alaska must see, the Glacier Bay National Park. We actually stayed in the ship and cruised very slowly around it, cause there's really no other way of seeing the glaciers, I think. Here are the highlights, these glaciers are really amazing, and sadly, they're melting away...bit by bit by bit n bit...
The black areas are also a part of the glacier, they're merely covered by dirt.
As we gazed at these beautiful glaciers, this is how we kept warm and comfy:
Besides glaciers, we also saw some birds who had duck-like feet...
And to make this day special, the kitchen cooked some extraordinary Alaskan delights for us, including some of this salmon:
 
Then, at last, after 8 days of being on sea, we arrived in Anchorage, where we stayed for a day, and here's what we saw:
A wall by a GREAT underwater artist name Wyland...
A real BIG moose crossing the bicycle path...btw, a mama mousse protecting her babies is said to be more dangerous that a black bear...
My parents and I went cycling...
The World Largest Chocolate Fountain...and I drank out of it...hehe
GROUP PICTURE... It was fun...
That was it...and HuiMin and I flew back to Minnesota... :)
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| Final part of the Alaska trip Heys everyone. This is the final part of my family holiday in Alaska and I hope you'll enjoy the pictures. 
Continuing from where I left behind in the last post, the whole group
of us boarded the Coral Princess cruise ship in Vancouver and got ready
to make this beautiful ship our home for the next 8 days. Here are some
pictures of the cruise and a little of what we did during our free time
on it:
 
There was a casino on board and it was filled every night. Of course, I didn't have the capital to be in there. 
 
The lobby, just wanted to show you how grand they make it look.
  
Our room. We (HuiMin, my aunt-in the picture, and I) shared a room. I slept on the top bunk and our personal "butler" opened it up and closed it for me every day.
I love this picture because I think it was so creative of me! And HuiMin didn't know I was being a little naughty. hehe By the way, just in case you don't see it, doesn't it look like the guy is playing with HuiMin's hair?
 
My dad (man in red sweater) joined the Princess Pop Star challenge, the ship's own version of American Idol and he won!  THAT'S MY DADDY! As you can see, there were only 3 contestants, so there wasn't much competition. Yet, I think he deserved it. He does have a good voice you know...
 
On 2 nights, we were required to dress up formally just for the fun of it. Really it was quite pointless, because no one really noticed you besides the people you eat with. But it was still fun to dress up I guess...
There were lounges with live music for our listening pleasure.
This was a Welcome Aboard party on the first day, and if you notice the crowd, the majority of the people on the ship were really that "not-so-young"! HuiMin and I were a part of a very small minority of young people on the cruise.
 
To my great delight, there was a small 3-on-3 basketball court and an indoor swimming pool. They also had a gym.
There was also a 9-hole mini golf area, and in the picture we see U.Andrew the pro teaching the amateurs how to play golf.
This is the example of our menu for lunch and dinner. We have 5 courses and each course has several choices.  Can you imagine how much I ate?? Here's some of the food (YUMS):
The special Alaskan desert (Baked ALaska) made out of egg white.
Some meat.
Fresh Alaskan fish.
Escargo (snails). Surprisingly, they tasted good.
Alaskan king crab legs.
Frog legs. They say it tastes like chicken, but I haven't had the courage to try it. 
Ice cream.
Cream puffs.
The 2 philippino waiters who served us every night.
My cruise buddy, an essential element to every cruise.
This was the cruise part, the real Alaska part will come next, so stay tuned!
By the way, I'm doing well here in Arkansas.  Miss ya!
Mei Yee
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| Canada + Alaska trip - part 2Yes, one month later, I'm continuing our journey through this wonderful trip! I'm sorry about the long delay.
So, after visiting the nature of the Rockies, we went on to visit the urban cities of Vancouver and Vancouver Island. In order to get to Vancouver Island, we had to take a ferry from Vancouver and went to our first stop: Chemainus.
The ferry
Group picture
HuiMin and I doing homework :p (more like writing postcards)
Chemainus is a very special town because its walls are filled with Murals. The murals are actually painted by famous artists and when their colours fade, the artists come back and repaint them. Here are a few examples, and mind you, there were a lot!
The most important mural because of the natives.
Chemainus
In Chemainus, there's also the world's smallest luxury hotel which has only 1 room. It's said to be really nice. :)
 
Then we went to Duncan, the land of Totem Poles, which are traditional wood carvings used to worship gods.
Duncan
A description of each Totem Pole
  
Totem Poles
Then, from there we went to Victoria, which I find was the nicest city among all. It is really pretty! See for yourself, and let me know what you think.
The legislature building
 
Sunset
 
Street entertainment along the harbour.
The glorious sun
 
Relaxing on the grass
The empress hotel and the harbour
Then in Victoria were some beautiful gardens. Early in the morning, my parents, my aunt, the Wong parents and I walked a few minutes to the Beacon Hill park where we had a relaxing morning walk before starting the day.
      
After that, we followed the group to the Butchart Gardens which is absolutely breathtaking!! The way the landscaping is done and how they match the colours are just wonderful. So yup, we ladies went crazy!
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| Canada + Alaska trip - part 1Yes I know, this is very much delayed, but I have finally sorted all the pictures and specially selected a few to best depict my recent 3 week holiday before coming back to Malaysia.  I will be dividing it into 3 parts, and in this first part, I'll tell you about our visits to the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia, Canada.
The BEAUTY of God's Creation
My holiday started in Minnesota, where my whole family and the Wong parents gathered in my oldest brother's little double story home. We came from all directions, the South (me), the East (my 2nd brother) and the South East (my parents). It was a long-awaited family gathering as we had not been together as a family for about 2-3 years!  It was really great to be together and we all (9 of us) traveled 4 hours north to Bemidji where we united with HuiMin (Wong's daughter) to celebrate her graduation. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures to show at this time as they are all with my brother, so we shall wait till August when he comes home. However, if you are very eager to see them, please feel free to go here: http://chewkinyan.multiply.com/photos/album/52/Chicago_and_Minnesota
So, continuing on, my parents, the Wongs and me left Minnesota for Vancouver where we joined a bunch of Malaysians for the Rocky Mountains tour. We set of early in the morning and traveled around British Columbia in a bus, going through different National Parks where the Rocky Mountains live. The scenery is breathtaking and it reminded me yet again of God's greatness. The snowcapped mountains are huge and small, so still, but yet if you stare long enough, you can somewhat sense that they're alive and growing.
 
So anyway, we visited several towns on the way as we traveled and hopped from place to place each day for a week. First stop, we visited a Ginseng Factory. Apparently, it's the only place that manufactures North American Ginseng. *shrugs*
 
Then we stayed overnight in Revelstroke and cam-hored.
  
Then we visited the Athabasca Glacier and played in snow! We even threw snow balls at each other. Mind you, the people I traveled with were not very young, that made it all the more fun! hehe
   
Aunty Yoke throwing a snowball at me
Some of the people (L to R): U.Andrew, A.Yoke, HuiMin, Daddy, Mommy, A.WaiKam (my aunty) and me
My parents making sure they're warm...
 
A snow coach, specially used to transport people to the glacier. Check out the HUGE wheels.
Then we visited Bow Falls, and the Banff Springs Hotel, which is said to be haunted and very very very expensive.
The hotel
Bow Falls
Then we visited Sulphur Mountains and we "hiked" up with a cable car.
   
Then we visited Lake Louise, which is my favourite lake!
    
Then we visited the Emerald Lake, named so because of its colour.
Then we visited the Natural bridge, called so because the rocks naturally formed a bridge.
  
We also visited a historical site called the Last Spike. It is at this point that the Canadian Pacific Railway workers nailed in the last nail and connected, as they constructed the railroad from East and West.
If you look hard enough, you'll notice that the middle nail is gold, that's the "last spike".
Then we visited a bee farm and bought interesting honey.
 
Then we visited a winery and tried wine, it was my first time trying icewine, and ooo...it's REALLY yummy!
 
Flying around the world.
Summerhill Estate Winery
 
Icewine..yum...but the price isn't as yummy. hehe
The pyramid where they keep their wine, it is said to be the best way to keep wine.
So those are the highlights of our one week through British Columbia. Throughout the trip, we were driven around by John, the bus driver, and entertained by our tour guide, Frankie. They were fun, so that was good.
 
This was our travel group:
Well, that's all for the first part. Next up...Vancouver and Alaska.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me k?
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| Wow, it's been a while huh? Sorry about not updating! Life has been hectic, and honestly, I don't really remember all the crazy, frustrating, and wonderful things that have been happening lately! Time has passed by in a flash and because I never write in my journal anymore, it's hard to recall!  There isn't much time to even absorb everything that's going on.
Nevertheless, here are some pictures of major things that have happened this semester.
There was 5 days of traveling with the Ozarks Chorale through Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. It was a great experience!! The best part was having the opportunity to stay with different host families every night! Met many interesting people, it was exhausting but super fun!
This picture includes only a small portion of the choir, we're the Chamber Singers.
I also made a day trip to Hot Springs, AR with 10 other people. It was good to get out of small-town Clarksville! We shopped, played mini-golf, drank spring water from a fountain, and played hacky sack for the first time with some locals (totally random, but that's what made it special )!
The locals whom we played hacky sack with.
Mini-golf
Then, there was the one day trip to Eureka Springs, AR. This time around, we visited some interesting sites. First was the Thorncrown chapel which is made out glass and some metal bars. It was very modern and quite interesting.
Then we visited the Christ of the Ozarks.
Well, the semester is nearly over and I can't wait to finish up with finals next week and head over to Minnesota to spend time with my family! And then California (hopefully) and then...H-O-M-E...
SEE YOU SOON!
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