absolutum dominium

for those who have been wondering about the long absence, i was away in seattle for the weekend, or at least from 15- 16 october (fri to sun). went with 5 other singaporeans: eileen, ignatius, weiquan, jillian, diana, and 5 girls from hong kong who were iggy's friends.

we drove down from vancouver to seattle in 2 cars. one was an '80-something white toyota camry owned by jill, and one a pontiac montana 7-seater suv/mpv tt iggy had rented. takes approx 3.5 hours to drive from vancity to seattle. or at least tt's what the guidebooks say. i'm not sure what the actual time taken is; we have been going up to 150 on the freeway (km, not miles), but at the same time there have been so many delays and time spent waiting, so i guess things more or less even out in the end.

we left after lunch on fri afternoon. or rather, we left between 1 and 2pm, but it was assumed tt we would already have had lunch. or else eat in the car. yeah. we pretty much survived in seattle on *one* sit-down meal. and the rest... what meals?

but yeah. pics 1st.



these are the first few pics tt we took - the moment we crossed the border from canada to US where it was legal to take photos without the probability of being accused of terrorism or military espionage.

the above is me and eileen on american soil; more distinctly in the state of washington (state, not city. think 'washington apples'. mmm. yum.), although miles away from seattle yet.

and below is iggy (trip leader, planner, driver and tour guide extraordinaire), eileen and i.



we went to the seattle premium outlets first, which is a bunch of factory outlet stores on the way to seattle. and i mean factory outlets for brand names like guess, coach, calvin klien, gap, adidas, puma, nike, banana republic, burberry's, nine west... etc. yeah, you get the idea. but while the prices were *really* cheap in US: i.e. i got an original nike tank top from the nike store for just US $9.99; once you convert them to SG prices (multiply by approx. 1.7), they aren't tt cheap after all. oh, but levi's is cheap. you can get a pair of levi's for approx US $20. and i bought a genuine fossil watch for myself for US $14.99, and one for the boy for US $29.99.

but because half of our tour group consisted of crazyinsane shoppaholics (somebody kill me now), we didn't get our asses on the road till almost an hour after the generously stated meeting time.

but yeah. we got to seattle... close to 10 pm i think.



this is how the space needle looks like at night - taken from the car window.

i can't rem when exactly we checked into day's inn (sneakily cramming 5 or 6 people into a room meant for 4), but by the time we wanted to make our way down to the crab pot (i heard something else actually) at the waterfront for our very fucking late dinner, it was past 11 pm. by which time the crab pot was very nicely, closed. so tt was tt. in the end we were told tt only a) elliot's, or b) ivar's would be open. well. we found elliot's first, so elliot's it was.



yep. eileen and i at eilliot's. elliot's is an osyter bar. what this means is *fine-dining restaurant*. in US prices.

jill, eileen and i shared half a dozen rockafeller oysters for US $12.95. but boy were they absolutely good. they were so fresh and baked in their shells and covered in cheese, spinach and bacon and the whole thing just melted in your mouth. i haven't actually been much of a fan of oysters, but i would def eat this again. my table also shared a plate of cajun crab cakes ($13.95), crab claws with risotto ($24.95), and i ordered a delicious clam chowder ($5.95). oh, and the bread was free, and it was warm and really good... so tt we could def eat more of.

but the thing is... we didn't know tt ivar's, which was just a little further down, would be a lot cheaper. plus it looked a lot more fun too. just read the sign outside the restaurant.



on day 2 we woke up early... too early in fact. we were supposed to go to pike place public market, but somehow somewhere along the lines someone changed their mind and we ended up back on the waterfront where almost everywhere was still closed, taking photos of the scenery.

so yeah. just coz we had to.



that's me, diana and jill above.

and tt's the 4 singaporean girls - eileen, me, diana and jill, below.





and above: the UBC people. actually, most of us (excluding jill, who goes to SFU) go to UBC. but it so happens tt the UBC hoodie is a popular choice. heh.

after that it was a quick stopover at zeitgeist coffee for literally, seattle's best coffee (i broke my coffee celibacy and ordered a cappucino just coz i had to taste how good the coffee was)...



...and then over to this street market for what was supposed to be an oktoberfest... except they spelt it with a 'c' instead of a 'k', which makes a whole world of difference. so there. our supposed german lunch of franks and knuckles and sausages became a lunch of apple strudel and popcorn (coz everything else is fucking expensive). haha.



oh. but i managed to buy this blue knitted scarf from the woman selling the apple strudel (talk about diversification). and tt made me happy.

thus commenced the 4 hour drive out from seattle and into olympia... to mt st. helen, this dormant volcano in the mountains. its last eruption was in 1980... and since it was a national attraction... yeah.

but anyway the drive out was really scenic. i love the american and canadian freeways coz there's just so much *space*. you could just go on and on forever. i suppose the closest singaporeans know is the malaysian north-south highway, but the big difference is tt it's a lot colder in north america. and the scenery is different. you don't see kampungs or palm and rubber trees. you see coniferous pines, multi-coloured fall trees, mountains, lakes...

at some point in time up mt st. helen we stopped the cars *just* to take photos.



this is what you can see from the road.

and below: tt's me with tt.





me, diana and jill...



me and jill...



me and eileen: the normal photo...



and me and eileen: the spastic something-is-wrong-with-us photo.

and if you've been wondering who i've been in the car with:



the car people: jill, diana, weiquan, eileen and i.

and all the singaporeans...



everyone + iggy.

yep. so photo-taking session over, we get back into our cars and drive up to mt st. helen. apparently it's about 3000 feet above sea level (or is it 3000 m? i can't remember), so it's approximately 6 degrees celcius. yar. we were freezing our butts off. didn't help tt it was raining (what's new in vancouver/seattle?) and foggy.

oh. the foggy bit was a bummer. you wanna see how st helen looks like?



there. if you can make it out through the fog. tt's the volcano.

i think.



tt's me with the background. it's one of those "see? i've been here!" kinda photos.



and tt's jill and i. YES. we are *COLD*.

anyway we got into a little skirmish with the st helen people coz we didn't pay the $3.00 entrance fee and the woman who was demanding the money was being a goddamn bitch. oh well. not like we're going back again anyway.

so after tt it was back down the mountain and to olympia, where we were to spend the night at this place called econo lodge. once again, 6 people into a room meant for 4. and my room was right opposite the office! but well... we managed. just a little sneaking around.

we had dinner at this place called the spar cafe and bar. which sells tobacco and cigars and has a live jazz instrumental band. olympia's a small town with what i would assume to be a small-town mentality. aka chinese are strange looking people.

but anyway the prices were cheap compared to elliot's. jill, eileen and i shared the oyster stew, which was damn fucking good. and jill and i also shared the captain's platter, which was deep fried halibut, shrimp, scallop, oysters, and strips of clams, with fries. and i ordered a peanut butter milkshake.

i swear for all my love of peanut butter, i will never order another peanut butter milkshake again.

for one, the serving was enough for 2 people. they gave me 2 huge cups of milkshake. and tt's just 1 serving. for another, it was so thick and rich and creamy tt i could barely eat anything else after drinking it, and as much as i absolutely love peanut butter and i was forcing myself to, i really couldn't finish the milkshake. and weiquan who tried it, called it the first ever milkshake tt he dislikes.

spent some time in the bar after tt just chilling over drinks and listening to the instrumental band. then it was back to the inn for an early night.

well. we played bridge till midnight, actually.

we woke up early to drive back to seattle. some people were a bit too inconsiderate to wake up on time, therefore causing half an hour delays, but nonetheless, we got back to seattle around 10 am and in time to visit the pike place public market.

just background info: there's this book called 'fish!' tt is a bestseller for companies hoping to motivate their employees. and it's based on the fishmongers in the pike place public market.

aha. so you see the link now?

so anyway yeah. we visited the market to see how these guys worked. and they were all really cheerful and energetic, shouting orders over, chiming in unison, joking and literally throwing large fish around.



and we also visited the original starbucks. as in the first ever starbucks outlet. it was right there in the pike place market area.




after tt, it was on to visit the space needle. the space needle is this 520 inch tower thingy... oh what the hell. see below.



tt's how it looks like by day.

anyway it's a historical momument of seattle. any postcard with seattle in it will have the space needle on it. sort of like our merlion, except tt the space needle doesn't have lazer beams shooting out of its eyes. not tt it has any to begin with.

we busted US $13 just to go up to the top of the space needle.

but yes. the view is gorgeous.



you can see the whole city from here. as well as the puget sound.



but it was fucking windy. and therefore, cold.

post-space needle: our only meal of the day for the third day - we went to this place called 'the cheesecake factory' in downtown seattle.

the waiting line is long, no matter what time of the day it is, the food is expensive - a slice of cheesecake is anywhere between $5.95 and $8.95.

but like what jill said, it's worth visiting. and worth sitting down and eating for.



yes. all these are cheesecakes.



want a closer look?









and what we ordered:



chocolate mousse cheesecake, godiva chocolate cheesecake, fresh strawberry cheesecake, kahlua coffee cheesecake, boston cream cheesecake, original 6 carb cheesecake, and chocolate fudge cake.



oh and not featured: our main courses - fried macaroni and cheese balls covered in marinara sauce, and spicy cajun jambalaya pasta.

shared among 6 people. now you know why it could last us for the rest of the day?

but after the cheesecake factory, we had problems finding parking, and as a result we missed the underground tour, which is supposed to show us the days where seattle was a crime/prostitution/drugs haven.



this place is btw, in pioneer square. historic seattle.

there's something about seattle tt i can't pinpoint. the buildings brim with something tt i feel like both singapore and vancouver lack. i think the word 'culture' is overused, but yet i think tt is what might be used to describe seattle.

there's a kind of old world charm to this place, a vibe tt underlies the whole city. it's not so old tt it's victorian or historical, yet it's not modern. it's caught somewhere between the past and the present, and there's just something immaculately beautiful about tt.





the above is the Q WEST Field in between the buildings. super bowl sunday is the day where the football teams play the NFL. and this evening the seattle mariners were playing a home game, so the whole city was crowded with excited fans making their way to the stadium. at a time like this, it costs up to $25 just to park your car for the event.



and tt's me and eileen and our last photo... the sunset over seattle.

thus concludes the seattle road trip.

first ever trip to seattle.

first ever trip out of canada since being here.

first ever trip to the US.

first ever road trip.

it was fun. we should do this more often.