ba-ack
not a fantastic montage, but anyway, here are some pics from the alaska-seattle trip!
as to how it went, it's impossible to put it in a sitting, or several, considering how full the days and weeks were - of events, sights, thoughts, and emotions.
almost all forms of transportation were taken: a total of 8 flights (2 on a small private plane), 3 days of kayaking, 2 road trips, a bittercold day cycle, 4 railway trips, 4 hitchhikes, 4 mountain climbs, and a fair share of buses, cabs, and walks.
Stayed in 3 homes, courtesy of couchsurfing.com (twice in seattle and once at anchorage), 4 different hostels, camped in 9 different sites across 3 national parks and other camping grounds, and stayed at one hotel (in Korea).
Amongst the wild life seen were grizzley bears, black bears, moose, sea otters, porpoise, harbour seals, sea-lions, bald eagles, a golden eagle, caribou, foxes, mountain goats, the misty spray from a whale, and lots of sea birds. also seen were puffins, octopus, giant crabs, etc, but those were in captive at the research centre.
that aside, some of the most interesting moments of the trip include -
upon touching down in seattle, the plane was held up and its passengers grew restless. turned out that it because of me, and that my name was being called (couldn't recognise it cos of the strong korean accent). made my way past all the passengers (because i was sitting closer to the rear) and was escorted by two US policemen without a word of what the problem was. turned out i was suspected of travelling on a stolen passport (reported an old one lost before).
not realising that the rapid tides (tides change VERY dramatically in alaska) had caused the kayak to float adrift, and discovering a moment later, that in an isolated national park, our only means of transport was in the middle of the sea. eventually another visitor came by and helped bring our canoe back to shore.
discovering that nadine and i were almost out of drinking water, we needed to find a freshwater stream before it got dark. eventually we did after rowing for hours, and resting on that island, our haven was gilded by the sunset, and the sight of the back of a porpoise as it came up against the red sunlight.
driving from canada to the southeast alaskan border. it was one of the most beautiful sceneries of the entire trip, of dark mountains, grey waters, dirty grey vegetation, amidst white mountain snow.
watching hundreds of sea otters out at sea, how they moved and clapped, and how they trailed and watched us just as we were watching them.
discovering and walking under the blue iced glacier at mendenhall, courtesy of a tunnel and path formed by the waterflow from the melting ice.
walking on snow; the first for me. we eventually reached the high point, where we could view an ice field from above, with clouds grazing its surface.
visiting bruce lee's and brandon lee's graves. reached there at sunset, and i saw a large white feather over brandon lee's grave, which i took to be a sign.
watching two bald eagles, perched on a fallen tree 10 metres away, looking at us and for prey. it was both beautiful and dangerous at the same time.
boarding the tiny plane to glacier bay, and experiencing the take off (and landing) from such close quarters.
returning back to seattle after our second road trip to mount st helens, driving on the rapid highway at night, watching the city lights, and somehow feeling like i was returning home in a foreign city.
a trip such as this really put a new perspective on things for me, a new independence, discovering how small i am in the face of cities and towns, crowds, homes, small and global communities, and places almost devoid of all the above - only the flora and fauna and geography to discover, respect, and overcome; but somehow feeling larger for it.
what am i going to do with it? well...
anyway, here's a cut and paste of the view of the harding ice field; it does no justice its spectacular beauty, i took the shots with my motorola while resting solitarily at the mountain top, but hopefully it gives a glimpse of the beauty that is alaska.
