17 August 2006

Moose encounter

Look, it's a curious moose!

Beware of Moose!

Biking around

You don't have to go very far from Anchorage to get out into nature.

Downtown Anchorage

Yesterday I rented a mountain bike and rode out of town on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail.

Float planes

These are like cars here in Alaska, people who own them use them for their daily commute.

15 August 2006

Alaska!

Yesterdays flight

Alaska Airlines, Seattle to Anchorage.

More pastries with sweet filling

Nutella, custard, or red bean. I got custard.

Fish cakes

Not really, these pastries have sweet filling or vegetable filling. I got red bean filling which is sweet.

Richmond Night Market

Even bigger that the Chinatown Night Market and completely packed with people is the Richmond Night Market. We went here for some more good food.

Grouse Mountain

At the top of Grouse Mountain we took a ski lift for some nice views of Vancouver.

The Grouse Grind

On Sunday Michelle and I hiked the "Grouse Grind" a Vancouver institution, so much so that they even trademarked the name. It's a 2.5 km hike up Grouse Mountain and contrary to what the sign says it's not that difficult. It's really cool though that hundreds of people of all fitness levels hike it and it's quite social.

Bubble Tea aka Pearl Milk Tea

An Asian phenomenon that has spread to Vancouver. This drink has little balls of tapiocca inside. It's interesting but they get annoying after awhile.

Egg balls

This guy is making egg balls, and quite theatrically too. In the process he pours the batter, cooks them up, flaps a paper plate loudly to cool them off, uses the plate to chop them up, and then throws them in a bag where the whole thing breaks apart into individual balls, and he does this all while chanting "two dollar, two dollar". It works, he had quite a crowd waiting to buy them.

Red bean sticky buns (on the right)

Just like I had in Seoul earlier this year.

Chinatown gate

Vancouver's Chinatown is the 2nd largest in North America after San Francisco, and is frequently the setting of Douglas Coupland stories.

Vancouver!

This is the Vancouver Chinatown Night Market and it's full of good food.