Seattle Sights

An iconic element of Seattle's skyline

During my one-day trip to Seattle I didn't really see the sights, but a good place to start is the Space Needle. In that vicinity are various places to check out that are all walking distance from each other.

There's the Space Needle itself where visitors can go up the 605 ft (184.4m) tall tower and have a 360-degree view of the city below. It was built for the 1962 World's Fair, where the theme was "The Age of Space".

International Fountain with its space theme

And the Chihuly Garden and Glass, where people can get a taste of glass artist Dale Chihuly's work rain or shine. His creations are fantastical, colourful and awe-inspiring, such large pieces that are suspended from the ceiling or placed in unconventional places. 

The International Fountain is also a remnant from the 1962 World's Fair. The metal dome is meant to convey the feeling of a lunar landscape. The fountain has 274 water jets and the water it spouts out has been treated and recycled. While we visited on an overcast day, one can only imagine it's the perfect place for kids to beat the heat.

Next to the fountain is a work called Neototems by Seattle artist Gloria Bornstein. It features two whales showing off their dorsal fins in bronze. 

Neototems by Glora Bornstein

We were mesmerised by the Frank Gehry-designed Museum of Pop Culture with its wavy walls and various colours. The museum captures the essence of pop culture, from music like grunge and hip hop, to science fiction and fantasy. 

Convenient Ride with a Dose of Attitude

Convenient but a mean bus driver didn't make it a fun ride

Yesterday I made a one-day trip to Seattle to see a friend from Hong Kong visiting her brother.

To get there economically without driving, I took the bus down. When I was a kid, we took the Greyhound bus, but these days it's called Flixbus and my experience on it was mixed.

While the bus departure time was 9.15am from Pacific Central Station, the fine print warned passengers to board 15 minutes beforehand, which meant getting on the bus at 9am. So I made sure I arrived early, at 8.45am to be precise.

The Flixbus driver wore black and a newsboy cap and was in a sour mood. He didn't have to be like that. Instead he barked orders at people, particularly those with suitcases because they had to be placed in different compartments according to where they were getting off. 

Flixbus tickets are priced according to demand, and you can buy the seat next to you to ensure a more personal space. However, this particular bus did not have a phone charger nor wifi; yesterday morning the electricity was down in our house and so my phone battery was already at under 70 percent.

The bus driver pulled out of the parking lot at 9.15am, when some people started banging on the door. It was a family that had just arrived with suitcases in tow but the driver refused to stop and shouted at them repeatedly to stand back from the bus. English was not their first language. He was not in the mood to stop and open the doors as well as the cargo compartments to include them on the bus and drove away, muttering they were late.

Then he had the gall to put on his nice voice over the microphone to welcome passengers on the bus and gave some strict house rules: Sit in your assigned seat, no wifi today, no smoking or vaping in the bus, wear headphones if you are using your phone.

In 50 minutes we arrived at the border crossing at Blaine. It took him a while to get the customs officers ready for us. A short Asian woman rushed to the front to get off the bus. But when she stood in line waiting to be processed she saw no fruits allowed in and took out two apples from her bag. And then she read no nuts either and pulled out a box of nuts that was wrapped in a plastic bag. What else was she carrying?

Everyone else who had suitcases had to drag them out from the bus and bring them into the customs area. As people were getting back on the bus, one young woman realised she had left her passport behind. The entire family was ordered off the bus and to bring their suitcases in again to be questioned. The bus driver was less than pleased and expressed this loudly. Another woman passenger tried to console him by saying it was not his fault, but that wasn't the answer he was looking for.

When the family finally got back on the bus, the bus driver said we were six minutes behind schedule. Six minutes! And in fact by the time we arrived at my stop at the University of Washington, we were perhaps one or two minutes behind schedule. I was so relieved to get off the bus.

He again barked at people who were waiting there to get on...

My return trip experience was completely different. Thinking I had to be there 15 minutes ahead of time again, I made sure I returned to the same stop early. But a woman sitting on the steps told me the bus was one hour behind schedule with no explanation. So I rushed to the nearest Starbucks to get a sandwich (my dinner).

Each time a bus arrived we went over to check if it was ours or not. They were driven by women and they were nice to passengers. One even retrieved a lost phone and the young man was so grateful. 

Finally our bus arrived at 8.23pm, and a cheerful driver came out. He didn't explain why they were late, but was easy going and relaxed. When we got on board, he also laid out the house rules, and I was pleased to find a phone charger though the wifi didn't work either. 

There wasn't too much traffic on the highway and we made good time to Bellingham and then to the border. This time we were only at customs for half an hour and that helped us get back to Vancouver by 11.36pm, just a few minutes shy of the original schedule. 

So I finished the trip with a good experience, but I can't shake the demeanor of the first driver. Why did he have to be so rude? I understand driving from Vancouver to Portland in one day is stressful, but we are all anxious too. I wondered what happened to that family that missed the ride in the morning... and what would have happened if we had a different driver...

The Mayor's Private Mojo Dojo

Councillor Fry's picture of Sim's gym space

There are a lot of questions about what Vancouver's mayor is doing at City Hall these days. 

Ken Sim, the city's first Chinese-Canadian mayor seems more interested in working out than actually running the city.

Green Party Councillor Pete Fry took a picture of what used to be a meeting room next to the mayor's office that was used for meetings and now seems to be Sims' personal gym space.

Sim riding on the Peloton bike for the cameras

There's a Peloton stationary bike, a chin-up apparatus, weights, resistance bands, and an exercise mat in the 300 sq ft space that used to be a board room.

Fry posted the picture on X, formerly known as Twitter and wrote: "The deeply unserious and absolute absurdity of a civic asset being repurposed as Ken's mojo dojo casa house belies a very real problem with process, transparency and good governance that we continue to get stonewalled on."

In a radio interview this morning Fry explained council had received a memo in January from the city manager explaining the meeting room was now being used by the mayor and would not be used for meetings.

So when Fry saw it unlocked and open, he took a picture as evidence of how the room was being used.

Fry said he had tried to ask about the mayor taking over the space during council meetings on Tuesday, but was shut down by other ABC councillors.

Then the mayor invited the media to come look at the space and spun the opportunity as his way of being transparent. He rode the stationary bike for the cameras.

"It allows me to actually get to promote health, including my own health -- the hours are pretty long here," Sim said Wednesday. "If you don't have your health, you can't help your family out and you can't help your organisation."

Sim accused Fry of playing politics, but it should be pointed out there is an existing gym in City Hall for people to use... there is no need for this extra gym next to the mayor's office. Taxpayers are fuming to see their mayor more concerned about his physical health than the city's fiscal outlook...

Hong Kong's Sexist Attitudes Persist

Lee and his wife Janet attracted to the colour red

Women are on the Hong Kong government's mind these days.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu equated trying to seal some deals to attract mega events to the city was akin to chasing women.

In an interview with Sing Tao newspaper, Lee admitted there was stiff competition in trying to lure overseas performers to Hong Kong.

Last week Lo compared women's fertility to soil

"It's like how I used to chase girls. For the good ones, of course everybody will chase them, [we] must work hard and fight," he said in Cantonese.

Then Lee added he would not disclose their strategy of attracting big events to Hong Kong.

In the case of Lee's personal life, he was 22 years old when he chased his then girlfriend Janet Lam Lai-sin who became his wife at the age of 16 in 1980...

Then last week Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau compared female fertility to soil, in that they should not delay having children and that freezing their eggs now would not necessarily help them conceive either.

"It's not just a problem with the eggs, it is also a problem with the soil. Even if you have frozen your eggs, when you have reached 40, the chance that the egg could become a healthy baby will drop substantially," he said in Cantonese.

"Freezing the eggs could not revert the physiological limit on women's reproductive age," he added.

Lam said not all women can give birth early

Lo was immediately criticised by lawmaker Nixie Lam, who opted for assisted reproduction and gave birth to her first child last year, said his remarks were a "heavy blow" to all women in the city.

"The way the minister spoke just now, is it that I couldn't give birth because my soil was bad?" she asked. 

"I believe the minister's remarks would deal a heavy blow even to women without childbirth issues. You are telling them... they cannot get pregnant because the soil in their bodies is bad, and they should give birth naturally whilst they are still young," Lam continued.

"How can you give birth when you are 18 and still studying?" Lam said. "Not everyone is like the minister yourself, who met your match in your 20s, got your degree, got married and had a kid, all in a row."

How much more sexist can this administration get? Perhaps that's why they aren't attracting any big acts either? It is 2024, not 1980...

HK Schools Graded on National Security Education

Hey kids! Time to learn about national security at school!

National education is in full swing in Hong Kong schools, except officials feel the students aren't singing their hearts out when it comes to the national anthem, March of the Volunteers.

The Education Bureau has accused the students at two schools of singing the national anthem too softly and that they should singing with more confidence.

Hong Kong and Macau Lutheran Church Primary School in Tseung Kwan O and Yan Chai Hospital Lim Por Yen Secondary School in Tsuen Wan were both told in the bureau's review report the students' voices were weak when singing March of the Volunteers.

Some students criticised for singing too softly

"Teachers need to remind students more to help students develop the habit of singing the national anthem loudly in unison," the report said of the students of the latter school.

Maybe the kids just don't like singing? 

Meanwhile the bureau told a special school for moderately mentally disabled students in Shek Kip Mei that its teachers don't have a comprehensive understanding of national security education.

"The school must strengthen the professional development of teachers and clarify relevant concepts in order to effectively implement national security education," the report said.

Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Kwan Fong Kai Chi School, which offers special education, said implementing national security education was still in the initial stages.

"Some teachers are taking the lead [in terms of the implementation], and it is understandable that other teachers may not have a complete grasp of national security education," it said in its response to the review report.

Flag-raising ceremonies are scrutinised as well

"The school will continue to strengthen the professional development of teachers according to school conditions and clarify relevant concepts in a bid to implement national security education in the school more effectively."

The report, released by the Education Bureau, covers various education performance indicators and offers suggestions.

Now how students sing the national anthem and conduct flag-raising ceremonies are scrutinised as well...

Settling into Vancouver, Cats and All

The peaceful view from Coquitlam 

Almost a month ago, a friend from Hong Kong landed in Vancouver. She has been preparing to move for years and now it's finally happened.

We had a chat yesterday on the phone and she seems to be settling in well. She said she spent the first two weeks doing all kinds of mundane but necessary things, from opening up bank accounts, buying insurance to finding a place to live.

One cat investigates the blinds

She is currently staying in an Airbnb in Coquitlam and enjoying it, despite the location not being the most convenient. Her exercise consists of walking up and down hills to get to the supermarket and back, but she loves inhaling the fresh air.

"It's so nice to be here, in freedom," she says. Since she arrived she stopped watching Hong Kong news because she found it depressing. "People are being arrested everyday," she says.

Next month she will move into her rental flat, also in Coquitlam and needs to buy furniture and other household goods and is eyeing the Ikea catalogue. But being in Vancouver is  all exciting to her and she hopes to soon be reunited with her mother, who is currently in Malaysia.

In the meantime her two cats are keeping her company, one 14 years old, the other four years old, though they don't get along. Hopefully they at least like Vancouver!

Scratching Your Way to Wealth

People buying up lottery tickets for a chance at quick returns

Young Chinese continue to look for get-quick-rich schemes like live streaming and trying their luck in show business. But for those without the looks and talent, there's lottery tickets.

Gua gua le are scratch lottery tickets at 20 yuan each, which may make them seem accessible, but these days shops are fast selling out of them in cities like Beijing, Guangzhou and eastern provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

In general the government has banned gambling unless buying tickets from the China Sports Lottery and China Welfare Lottery. People can either pick numbers or buy scratch cards.

Gua gua le tickets are popular if you can find them

"When the economy slows down, the lottery may move forward," Su Guojing, founder of the non-governmental trade organisation China Lottery Industry Salon, said in an interview with CCTV.

In the first quarter this year, sales from all types of lotteries nationwide exceeded 149.5 billion yuan (US$20.6 billion), an increase of 19.7 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Gua gua le sales accounted for 26.1 percent of the total, a n 81.4 percent year-on-year increase.

This compares to the national general budget revenue in the first quarter which was at 6.1 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decline of 2.3 percent.

"The price per ticket is not high, and the prizes aren't big either. It makes people happy. It's entertainment," said Zhao Xijun, a finance professor at Renmin University in Beijing.

"There might be people who, for economic reasons, participate to relieve stress."

Or perhaps they are desperate for a chance at a quick return?

A 20 yuan ticket might win 500 yuan which at first may seem thrilling, but that will soon wear off and people will demand a bigger jackpot, like those lotteries in North America that go into the millions.

It's a slippery slope, but that's how you get people interested in lotteries, otherwise they'll stop playing them... 

Manually Running Airline Information

Here's what passengers look at for flight info at the airport

Hong Kong International Airport is having major issues with its real-time flight and baggage collection information. It's so bad it's hard to resort to handwriting the information on whiteboards. 

I kid you not.

The Airport Authority admitted the system "cannot be restored within a short period of time", and executive director Steven Yiu Siu-chung urged passengers to contact their airlines for flight details and budget enough time for check-in.

What is this? Back to the 1980s?

Staff member manually updates flight information

The massive computer glitch is the second major incident to hit the airport in a week after an emergency landing that caused a burst tire led to hundreds of flights being delayed.

Yiu said abnormalities in the computer system were discovered at 7am, and as a result real-time flight information could not be displayed in departure and arrival halls, and the authority's website.

"We commenced large-scale contingency measures after we confirmed that the system cannot be restored within a short period of time," he said.

While Yiu did not give an estimate on how much time would be needed to fix the problem, he stressed human error was not involved in the incident.

But many people missed their flights and blamed the airport authority for it.

One passenger surnamed Ng had a flight scheduled for 9.40am and entered the restricted area of the airport at 6am with no gate information on his boarding pass. However it wasn't until 10am when he found out where the gate was, and that he was one of six passengers who missed the flight.

"Airline staff told me it was the airport's fault. No one from the Airport Authority approached me with a solution, like how I will be compensated," Ng said, adding he did not know if he should book another flight or go back to Macau to fly from there.

"I am disappointed with Hong Kong International Airport. How can their risk management be qualified to tell good Hong Kong stories?"

Indeed. How can the HKIA not even have a backup system in 2024?

Insolvencies Creeping Up in Hong Kong

The number of bankruptcies filed at a two-year monthly high

Things in Hong Kong aren't getting better, with the number of bankruptcies filed at a two-year monthly high. 

According to the Official Receiver's Office, 871 people filed for insolvency in May, up from 742 in April, and 783 in March.

May's figure is a 35 percent increase over the 646 recorded last May, and it is the highest monthly figure since April 2022, when 930 bankruptcies were filed.

While economists blame the bankruptcy applications on banks recalling loans, others cited high interest rates these past two years.

But the government doesn't see it that way. 

The Financial Services and Treasury Bureau said the figures should be viewed from a macro perspective and "do not actually reflect the overall economic trend and economic reality".

"One cannot accurately assess the actual situation of the Hong Kong economy based soley on the rise and fall of individual monthly figures," the bureau said in a social media post.

"In fact, a comprehensive analysis of various economic indicators shows that the Hong Kong economy is steadily improving and exhibiting a recovery momentum."

The bureau even pointed out the unemployment rate is at 3 percent, and the gross domestic product (GDP) is growing by 2.7 percent year-on-year in the first quarter.

Perhaps that's grasping straws? Hong Kong has always had a low unemployment rate, and even more so with fewer people in the city. Is the GDP really on an uptick because of more mainland Chinese tourists coming to Hong Kong to shop?

That's a lot of luxury handbags if that's true...

Stumping Jeopardy! in Cantonese

A Cantonese question made it on Jeopardy!

A local instructor in Cantonese at the University of British Columbia is grinning from ear to ear tonight after seeing a question he helped develop be read on tonight's segment of Jeopardy!

For $1,000 the question was: "As the word for this number sounds like it means "certainly death", Cantonese speakers have a collective case of tetrakaidekaphobia."

The first contestant said, "What is 13?"

Nope, but that is the meaning of tetrakaidekaphobia...

The next one said, "What is 4?"

Also incorrect, but on the right track.

The final contestant said, "What is 52?"

No...

"What is 14"....

The backstory is that two years ago a writer from the game show had the question and reached out to the university department to confirm the accuracy of it. The instructor revised it and now it's a question that will be remembered for stumping all the contestants!

Five HK Food Inspectors Charged with Theft

ICAC has charged five food inspectors for theft of food samples

Five Hong Kong health inspectors have been charged with the theft of food samples, from canned abalone to white truffle sauce and crab bisque they had purchased using public money for radiation testing.

The three women and two men aged 28 to 37, have been suspended by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. They did not have to enter a plea at West Kowloon Court on Thursday, but Magistrate Li Chi-ho has adjourned the hearing until mid-August for the inspectors to consider their legal options.

They have been charged with a conspiracy to steal, an offence punishable by up to two years in prison when it is the only charge tried at the magistrates' court.

On Wednesday, the Independent Commission Against Corruption said the five inspectors allegedly conspired between May 2022 and March last year to steal food samples bought by the centre for testing.

As part of their job the inspectors were instructed to buy randomly selected food samples at fair and reasonable prices. The ideal food sample size is typically around 1kg, according to the ICAC.

The centre bars inspectors from ordering too much food samples or misappropriating any untested items, and any unused goods to be accounted for and properly disposed of.

In this case, the five inspectors allegedly used public money to buy more than HK$88,000 (US$11,270) from five importers for two radiation tests.

But the centre told ICAC that after testing, the five inspectors took the remaining goods home, instead of keeping records of their disposal.

When investigators when to the inspectors' homes, they found more than 80 unused food samples, including canned abalone, white truffle sauce, crab bisque, Japanese rice and various types of pasta.

What could one do with all those delicious ingredients? 

High Speed Trains for Foodies

Spend the weekend easily in Beijing or Shanghai by train

There's another way Hongkongers can escape the city on the weekends -- take the high-speed train to Beijing or Shanghai in the evening and arrive bright and early the next day after 6am; the return trip starts in the evening and arrives after 8am in the morning in Hong Kong.

It takes 12.5 hours to go to the Chinese capital, and 11 hours to Shanghai. The routes run four days a week, departing from each of the three cities in the evening.

Previously it would take 24 hours to take the train from Hong Kong to Beijing, or 19 hours to Shanghai. Now the time is basically chopped in half. 

Train staff distribute food orders by seat number

On the inaugural train ride from to Beijing, several Hong Kong reporters jumped on board and marvelled... at the food.

They soon discovered that because the train makes several stops along the route, customers can use an app called 12306 and order food two hours ahead of arriving at the stop and when the train arrives, the orders are at the platform for the train staff to pick up and distribute. 

Passengers can sample local dishes, like hot dry noodles of gan re mian from Wuhan, and cold milk tea from Changsha.

While the Hong Kong media were impressed by the ability to order food like this, for mainlanders this is nothing new. Taking trains has been the way most laobaixing have traveled in China, and the improvement in technology in food delivery apps has made this all possible.

So does this mean more Hongkongers are going to ride the trains to Beijing and Shanghai to sample the food? The possibilities are endless...

 

Picture of the Day: When 2 Millions People Marched

Many haven't forgotten this sight five years later in Hong Kong

Five years ago 2 million people came out to the streets of Hong Kong to tell the government to stop the extradition bill. 

But to no avail.

It showed that traditional ways of communicating with those in power were not effective anymore, which led to an escalation of tactics that were used later on in the protests of 2019.

Despite three years of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the implementation of the national security law and most recently Article 23, the protests are still fresh in people's minds.

How can one forget what 2 million people in the sweltering heat looks like? 

And no one can forget the outcome of the protests. It is yet another momentous event in modern history that has resulted in the mass migration of people in the name of freedom. 

Louis Koo's Alleged Loan Default

Koo is being sued by his business partner for HK$8.3 million

Earlier I wondered why actor Louis Koo Tin-lok was hired as the face to help rehabilitate the Hong Kong taxi industry, and now we may know why.

A few days ago it was reported that Koo is being sued by his business partner for allegedly failing to repay a HK$8.3 million (US$1.1 million) loan from a fashion joint venture a decade ago.

Film producer, investor and chairman of entertainment group Sunny Side Up Culture Alex Dong Choi-chi also asked the High Court to order the 53-year-old to surrender half of the stakes in an offshore company investing in a Chinese restaurant in Causeway Bay.

In a business deal gone sour, Koo didn't have enough money to pay his shares of the HK$16.6 million invested at the time so Dong loaned him HK$8.3 million interest-free to be repayable within five years, but according to the writ, none of it has been repaid.

No word from Koo yet, but perhaps we can assume he'll be working in the next few months?!

Picture of the Day: Eagles in Ketchikan

An eagle greets visitors in Ketchikan, Alaska

One more post on Alaska.

In Ketchikan, near the pier where the cruise ships dock, is a giant wooden statue of an eagle with its wings stretched upwards and the body aiming down as if about to land.

That's because Ketchikan comes from the Tlingit word "kitsdhk-hin" which means "the spread wings of an eagle". 

Our tour guide quipped that the eagle looks like it's mooning people... 

Live Like a Local Alaskan

Blasphemous Bill's tagline is "Rest in Pieces"

As I signed up for some excursions as part of my Alaska cruise, the tour guides tried to give us a sense of what life is like where they live and gave suggestions of where to hang out in our precious few hours in each port.

The towns of Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan are very small, with populations of a few thousand people each, but the numbers double when cruise season starts; students and young people with a yearning for adventure come to Alaska to earn money (though food and lodging can be expensive) and have a few good stories to tell their friends and family back home.

Spruce tip soda is among four flavours

Our rainforest tour guide from Montana asked us to write a Google review of our visit and to mention her name so that her mom could see her daughter was still alive and well in Ketchikan.

The guide who took us kayaking also asked us to review the excursion on Google too and if their name was mentioned they would get US$10 extra from his employer. What an incentive.

One of our guides who took us around Skagway was decades older, but it seems he enjoys the lifestyle in Alaska too much. He is happy to take tourists around to see mountains and glaciers from May to October, and after that he and his dog decamp to San Diego and enjoy the sun in the winter.

He suggested that we go to the Skaguay News Depot & Books to get a copy of The Skagway News for US$2 where we can read the section called "Police and Fire Blotter". 

It lists the police reports of what happened in a two-week period. Some are mundane like someone losing a mobile phone or a credit card was found in a store and reunited with its owner. Some involve passengers on cruise ships like losing their ship identification badge, or a medical emergency on the ship.

Colourful donuts assembled upon ordering

Others are more bizarre, like the one about a suspicious pill found on the floor of a bar and was turned over to the police. It turns out it was arthritis medication.

Someone called the police asking about the legalities of standing next to the Alaska sign dressed up as a bigfoot, or how about a person asking the cops to do a welfare check on a friend; the friend was fine but wanted to be left alone...

Another guide in Ketchikan suggested getting a salmon donut (US$10) from Jellyfish Donuts near where the Ruby Princess was docked. He also suggested trying spruce tip beer, bitters and even gin. We could get spruce tip soda from Blasphemous Bill's. 

So after my tour ended and dropped us back at the pier, I walked back to Blasphemous Bill's to get the spruce tip soda. I had to ask for it because I couldn't find it but it was in a small bar fridge near the cashier. 

Having tried pickled spruce tips that taste like capers, I was hoping the soda would have a pine-like smell or taste. Instead it was more of a lemon-lime soda that was quite sweet.

Salmon and maple bacon donuts

Then I hit Jellyfish Donuts and it's a small quaint shop and the donuts are actually brioche buns with creative toppings like sour patch kid and peanut butter and jelly. The signature one is salmon which I had to try. It's actually a smoked salmon spread with a few chopped spring onions on top. 

It's actually pretty good, fluffy donut that's a bit sweet and balanced with the savouriness of the salmon. I also tried maple bacon with actual bacon bits on the glazed donut, but it was more on the sweet side with a lot of icing on top.

Nevertheless, it was fun just to try these items even if they are a bit of a touristy gimmick!

Army of Cooks Feeding Cruise Ship Passengers

Showing off some cool knife skills

We ate all our meals on the Ruby Princess this past week and I can attest as a cruiser that the novelty fades quickly; the breakfast buffet looks pretty much the same everyday, and in the fine dining restaurant, ingredients are used in different ways. It's best to eat something fresh on the menu -- and asking your waiter for tips on what's good that day.

Nevertheless we have to say running the food outlets on a cruise ship is no easy task. Executive chef Russell Clarke explained that half the staff are related to food and beverage, either cooks or waiters from some 50 different countries.

Pastry chefs busy making cakes for the day

During a culinary presentation in the theatre, Clarke quipped that he spoke Australian, not English, while all the other cooks and waiters spoke at least two or three different languages.

On stage, Clarke quickly made three dishes for the audience of passengers: shrimp cocktail with mango salsa, lamb chops, and pavlova with berries and coulis.

However, we weren't invited to try the dishes -- the pavlova looked rock hard and dense -- but to go to the galley kitchens to take a look. Apparently this is a popular tour and some people raced to the kitchens! In the end there wasn't much to see, except lots of empty work spaces, stainless steel everywhere and only a handful of chefs working at 11am.

Perhaps the cooks were shy, or Clarke wanted the area cleared out, we could only look at a distance though some areas were decorated with creative carvings of vegetables and fruits. Some were constructed to look like mice and birds, but the flowers carved out of the side of a watermelon were most impressive.

A hearty slice of prime rib with potato, beans

We were given a fact sheet on how much food is produced on the ship, and it involves ordering 110-115 tons of food delivered on a single cruise.

Three butchers clean and cut 1,700 fish into portions daily, while five butchers, three assistants and helpers prepare beef and poultry. On a cruise, 1,400lbs of poultry, 1,700lbs of beef, 1,400lbs of pork and pork products (like sausages); 300lbs of veal, and 200lbs of lamb are cooked daily.

While I had a large slice of prime rib that was pretty good on the last night, the lamb rack I had was overcooked. Interestingly the cream of whatever vegetable soup like cauliflower, or lentil, and the Alaska seafood soup were really good. These are made by 13 staff, preparing 550 gallons per day.

Some 1,600lbs of salad are served daily along with 400lbs of shrimp, 13 gallons of mayonnaise, and 1,500 sandwiches. The Caesar salad was consistently good and what I ate the most.

The bread served on board is made fresh daily by 10 bakers, including the bread rolls we ate everyday that had a light crunchy exterior and fluffy interior along with whipped butter. I did not try the pizza nor the croissants. The bakers use some 1,500lbs of flour daily! I saw some dough being proofed when we went through the kitchens.

Breads are made daily on the ship

And there are 13 people working in pastry making desserts, ice creams, cakes and pies. Around 6,000 pieces of pastries are made everyday, along with 100 gallons of ice cream, and 300 cakes and pies. The blueberry crumble with vanilla ice cream was a favourite at our table. The souffle on the first day was more like a steamed cake, but there was baked Alaska (a giant one sliced up, to individual ones that were sloppy). The safest bet was peach melba or ice cream with fresh fruit sauce like pineapple or strawberry.

Every morning I ate fruits -- honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon and pineapple. Sometimes there was papaya. Towards the end of the trip there was more canned fruit like apricot, peach and pineapple. I ate those anyway, and once had canned figs. Around 6,000lbs of fresh fruit is served daily, while 400lbs of butter are used everyday!

For those who drink coffee, 470 gallons are consumed, 62 gallons of coffee cream, and 400lbs of sugar for the coffee.

After consuming all that food, someone has to clean the dishes. Fifty-seven people wash china, glasses, silver, and pots and pans. Everyday 70,000 dishes are washed, while 21,500 glasses are washed. 

And that's just the passengers. There are also 1,1000 crew who need to eat too!

Spotting Black Bears in the Ketchikan Rainforest

Looking up at the many trees in the rainforest

This morning we arrived in Ketchikan, Alaska, the last port of call on our cruise. It's known as the salmon capital of the world because five species of salmon can be found here: chum, sockeye, king, silver and pink. Apparently chum is nicknamed "dog salmon" because it's only good for mushing dogs to eat.

And we are one month away from the start of the salmon run, where the fish return to their birthplace to spawn and then sadly die... 

Black vertical bear claw marks

The town is also known for having the most totem poles in the world and you do see them around town, though they seem to be much smaller than the ones found in Vancouver. They are made of cedar too, the wood of choice for carving.

Ketchikan's population is around 8,000, while the entire island is 14,000. When it's tourist season the population doubles to service thousands of tourists who come daily. That's right. Today there were five cruise ships docked in Ketchikan. 

I signed up for a walk in a rainforest, named the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary, which was about a 20-minute ride from the pier. Both our drivers to and from the sanctuary were funny and entertaining with their stories of living in the town. Almost all the young people I've encountered here are in Alaska to earn money, but also some genuinely love the outdoors and the lifestyle. 

Our guide for the rainforest walk wasn't a local but from Montana. Nevertheless, she seemed to know what she was doing as she took a dozen of us on a 1 mile walk around the trail. We were told this area gets 13-16ft of rain per year, which compares to Seattle at 5-7ft of rain. In addition Ketchikan only gets 2-3ft of snow per year, so it's more wet than cold.

The rainforest, which is part of the Tongass National Forest, reminded me of Pacific Spirit Park but with a lot more moss and narrower trails. The guide told us interesting facts about things we saw along the way, such as skunk cabbage grown on the ground are eaten by bears as a laxative, and there are berries grown here such as salmonberry, huckleberry, and blackberry. The blackberry's leaves have medicinal uses too.

A tree that grew from a nurse log

She told us 90 percent of this rainforest's trees are either the western hemlock or the sitka spruce. How can you tell the difference between the two? The western hemlock has stripey bark like bacon, whereas the sitka spruce's bark are shaped like fish scales. 

The forest floor is not deep when it comes to soil, so the roots spread out, or in some cases, young trees will gain its nutrients from fallen or dead trees called nurse logs. They can have up to 100 years' worth of nutrients stored up for "baby" trees. 

Our guide showed us a tiny sapling and explained it was 5-7 years old, and a "teenager" was about 50 years old. A mature tree could be up to 500 years old or even 1,000 years old. And the moss hanging on many of the trees? They are called "old man beards" and they are sterile enough to be used to bandage wounds; I was told a while ago that they make good toilet paper!

She also showed us a tree trunk that had bear claw marks on it, as the bear had climbed up the tree!

Not long after we saw a live black bear in front of us which was quite the excitement. Our guide advised us to wait for a few minutes to give the bear some space to leave. And to our left we could see two cubs running around in the forest. 

See the young bear in the stream in the middle?

We spotted the bear again this time under the wooden elevated walkway we were on, and then further in the distance in a grassy area in low tide. There is a stream that leads to the salmon hatchery and this is where the bears are waiting for the salmon to return. The area gets high tide and low tide twice a day which is an interesting fact. 

There were also two bald eagles in the distance circling around in the sky. Hope they didn't think we were lunch...

All of us on the tour were so thrilled to see the black bears, while our guide was probably relieved nothing happened! She added we were so lucky to have blue skies as it had been raining for three weeks straight!

Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary

4085 Tongass Avenue

Ketchikan, Alaska

Traversing the Endicott Arm

Lots of tiny icebergs floating in the Endicott Arm

This morning we woke up to the ship moving at a slow pace because it was in the Endicott Arm, a narrow fjord, about 85km southeast of Juneau, Alaska. The scenery constantly changes, with some areas showing lots of trees, others a deep crevasse that reveals a waterfall from the melting snow above.

The mountains have been eroded by glaciers

After breakfast we wandered to the front of the ship on deck 15 and there were many people standing there taking in the sights. It was so warm outside, around 16 degrees and sunglasses were a must. Floating in the aquamarine-coloured water were small icebergs and if we were lucky we saw some seals sunbathing!

However, as the ship approached they quickly slipped under the water. This happened a few times along the way. No one seemed to spot any wildlife, like black or brown bears, deer, or mountain goats. The Endicott Arm is still part of the Tongass National Forest, one of the largest protected areas in the United States.

The Dawes Glacier in the distance

Then at a certain point, the ship began to slowly turn around, and that's when we saw the Dawes Glacier. However we didn't get close to the glacier, nor could we see any chunks of ice falling into the water, which is called glacier calving. 

When we finished lunch, I had a good walk around the deck and once in a while we could see whales in the distance -- far far distance! They did not jump up, but rather came up for air and went back down again. Nevertheless it was still really cool to see them, if only just a bit of them!

Yesterday I managed to see a very cute five-week old puppy that will grow up to train for Iditarod racing. Two puppies were brought on board the cruise ship to meet some passengers. This female puppy looked very shy, and is a mix of husky, border collie, setter and hound. While huskies are best known, mutts can also run fast too! 

A cute future Iditarod racer

Apparently when full size and racing, these dogs can consume as much as 10,000 to 12,000 calories a day!

Klondike Prospectors Paved the Way for Tourists

There isn't normally this much snow on the mountains now

Our ship the Ruby Princess arrived in Skagway, Alaska this morning, but the captain announced at 7am that the ship could not dock -- the water was too shallow and added other ships would not budge either! There are at least three other cruise ships along the same route as us.

As a result, our ship had to stop away from the dock and set up tenders (small shuttle boats) to shore. This plan was scrambled very quickly and kudos to the staff for making it happen relatively fast.

Even the tour operators in Skagway were shocked to see the cruise ship floating around in the water -- our tour guide Paul said in the 18 years he was a tour guide here he had never seen it like that before... but apparently there is a 17-feet difference in the water levels here...

Pitchfork Falls on the left, next to a pipeline

As a result, our tour at 10.15am started a bit late because the previous tour at 8.30am was delayed by this change in logistics.

Nevertheless, Paul was fun and accommodating -- he can drive a bus of 21 tourists, drive and tell us about the history of the gold rush in Alaska in the 1890s! He even uses a drum stick to point to various areas on the map above him!

As we drove along the Klondike Highway, we had stunning views of the mountains that still had snow on them. Paul said usually at this time of year -- June -- just the caps of the mountains would have snow on them. But because this year was particularly cold, the snow was still around. Perhaps it's a good thing considering there isn't much snow in general on the mountains?

He explained in 1896 gold was discovered, but word didn't get out until a year later. People from all over went from Seattle, Vancouver and Victoria by ship to Alaska -- in some boats it was literally standing room only -- and it was an arduous trek with lots of provisions on their backs.

Stunning views and gorgeous weather to boot!

Horses were badly treated, overwhelmed by the weight of the stuff they had to carry and over treacherous terrain that some 3,000 of them died... is it any wonder one of the roads was nicknamed Dead Horse Trail?

Paul also reminded us in the Victorian era, these prospectors didn't have Gore-tex or North Face jackets -- they had wool and it was very heavy and would get wet easily. The women wore dresses. It's amazing they even survived.

But by the time these prospectors made it to Alaska and survived the frigid winters, there was hardly any gold left in 1898 and either called it quits or stayed anyway. 

Paul gave some shocking statistics:

- 100,000 went to Seattle, Vancouver and Victoria in the hopes of getting to Alaska;

- 40,000 made it to Alaska

- 20,000 looked for gold

- 4,000 found gold

- 1,000 found enough gold to live on. One was John W Nordstrom, a Swedish immigrant who used the money he made from gold and set up a shoe store.

The highways we went on to see the magnificent sights were because of the gold rush, and now who benefits? Us tourists.

In 1972 the first ship brought some 200 tourists. Today it's 15,000 a year.

The season lasts from late April to October. On the last day of the cruise season, some of the locals will get together on the dock to give a send off to the last batch of tourists -- they moon them!

Apparently this is an annual tradition!

And one year, a group of tourists on a cruise ship mooned the locals back!

Kayaking in Juneau, Alaska

Looking across the bay at Mendenhall Glacier

This morning we arrived in Juneau, Alaska, but by lunchtime it was raining which did not bode well for my kayaking trip. However, by the time we arrived at Auke Bay via a school bus for a 20-minute ride, the rain had tapered off with a slight sprinkle and blue skies opened up.

We got ready with a kayak spray skirt so our trousers wouldn't get soaked, and a life jacket on top. Our guide Michael from Alaska Shore Tours made sure each of us was tightly strapped into our life jackets and then we went to the shore and had a quick lesson on how to kayak even though all of us had kayaked before.

Our kayaks on shore ready for some paddling

Soon after we got into the water and began paddling. Across the bay we could see Mendenhall Glacier, in Tongass National Forest. The glacier is shrinking every year; since 1929 it has retreated 2.82km, and climate change has accelerated its retreat even further. 

In the distance Michael pointed out Admiralty Island where there are a large number of brown and black bears that live there. 

He also told us that we were in high tide so the chances of seeing orcas was slim -- they usually appear in low tide, when the fish and other food are concentrated and easier for the orcas to feed. Two weeks earlier a group of kayakers were able to see a pod of orcas.

The weather cooperated for the most part

Nevertheless, we were able to see three seals in the distance. They can hold their breath for 30 minutes, so if they pop up and then go down, you may not see them again. The same goes for orcas, though they can hold their breaths for an hour.

We also saw a tern, a small white bird with a black-shaped helmet on its head. Michael explained these migratory birds fly as far down as Antarctica. Quite amazing. 

As we made our way back to shore, we encountered sandbars 1ft down and made sure we avoided them -- Michael said if you hear the waves as if they are lapping on the shore, then there are sandbars nearby. Periodically we got sprinkles of rain, but no downpour. We were all so happy the way the weather turned out.

Once we avoided this hurdle we paddled hard to get back to shore. After we took off the life jacket and kayak spray skirt there were some snacks waiting for us, as well as some warm apple cider. Michael kept asking us if we had a good time -- he was eager to have a good review on Google -- and then we got back on the bus.

Beautiful blue skies on our afternoon kayaking

Definitely a memorable trip and a fun arm workout!