Spending Christmas & festive holidays in Macau & Hong Kong! (25th Dec 2011)

Its been sometime since my last trip out of s'pore... from then till now.... i've been really busy..... its good that i'm heading out of s'pore for a breather..... and its now almost the end of 2011....Looking back on this year.... lots of things have happen & i think i've lead a pretty eventful 2011! =D

Anyway, today I'm heading off for my annual family trip! This year end we'll be heading to Macau & Hong Kong.

Its going to be 1st ever trip to these 2 regions in China. Yeah I know.... most of the people around me cannot believe that i've never been to these 2 places coz they are 2 of the most popular places that s'poreans will visit during hols. Hahhaa.... i guess not in my case..... Coz i always feel that there are not much things for me to see over in these 2 places..... But shopping & food are extremely great in these 2 places though.... Anyway, I'll head over there and see what i want to see & eat what i want to eat and I'll be sharing with u all that I've experience! This hols is going to be different.... coz not so much of ruggard travelling.... and almost everyday we'll be living in the 'urban jungle'....
hahahha.....
Guess by the time i return from Macau & HK, most likely i've put on some weight & my cholesterol levels may have gone up... =P

Till then! Ciao!

End of the National Parks odyssey (13th Oct 2011)

Sorry took a long time to get this written up & posted here... had been pretty tied up with numerous things.

For this day, we spent quite a bit of time packing out stuffs last night. But as usual, we set off @ 9am this morning. We'll be doing a short hike to the inspiration point from Jenny Lake. But before we head to the National Park, we paid 1 last visit to the supermarket. Coz i needed to get some plasters for a cut that I got from yesterday. I fell down whilst trying to capture a photo because the ground was slippery with ice then. Anyway back to today's hike in the mountains, we could not do a longer hike as we've got to get to the Jackson airport by 3pm. Coz we'll be taking the flight to Salt Lake City at around 5pm.

Entrance of Elk Horns (Jackson City)

'No Idling'

Jackson City in the morning

Anyway we drove to Jenny Lake. From there, my sister brought a backpack and inside it was our water and sandwiches. Coz the hike would take about 2++ hours. The total hike distance was about 5miles (to and fro). Along that way, the scenery was really beautiful. We had to move fast.... coz time was limited on our side. But before we head to Jenny Lake, we decided to visit the Visitor Center to check out some stuffs and road closure that sort.

Entrance to Grand Teton NP

mum & me with the fake moose (took this because i've got a feeling we may not get to see the moose)

Mirror image on String Lake

Looking out to Jenny Lake

The hikers (i'm behind the camera)

A bug crawling on the ground

Soon we reached the fork at the bridge. To the left was the view point for the Hidden Waterfalls. And to the right was the continuous road that lead upwards to the Inspiration point. However, there as an elderly couple standing there. My sister talked to them and they told her that there was a brown bear on the pathway. And they needed more people to scare the bear away. (then came a long 1 group of youngesters) We decided not to walk up to the inspiration point coz my parents were feeling a little tired. hahaha... in fact more like suffering from the heat (after the long hike) rather than tiredness. So we decided to sit at the viewing point of the waterfalls and have our lunch. Our lunch consist of the usual, sandwiches and water and some nuts and chips. After admiring somemore of the waterfalls, we decided to head back to our car (the long hike back).

Hidden Waterfalls

not long after walking away from the place, we passed by a mother and daughter. Then suddenly, the mother and daughter ran back to us. The mum's face was really pale and she was scared. She told us that she saw a brown bear standing at the bridge. She thought it was a human being wearing brown, but when the bear turned its face, she saw it was a bear! So she ran back to us in the hopes of getting us to go back with her to find her husband as he had gone ahead before her. So when we neared the bridge, we did not see the bear there.... but we did see her husband sitting on a huge rock. We looked around... then we saw the brown bear at the opposite side of the river! He was staring at us! and his look was as if 'Ahh.... so u guys are the ones with the ham!'. hahahaha.... hahaha...coz we believe he is hungry and looking for food. then after awhile, with more people making noises, the bear went back into the forest. Such a close encounter with the bear! The past few days we tried looking for the bear and we couldn't see any... and today... we were not actively looking for it nor expecting to see bear and we saw one!

Brown Bear staring at us

Overlooking out on Jenny Lake

Dried out dead trees standing tall

Another angle of the still waters of Jenny Lake

Walking away from the mountains

Baby eagle calling out to his mum (eagles are really smarty birds. they build their nests on the top of dead trees. In this way, their eagle chicks will be protected from animals or predators) 

Some more sightings of the mountains

Soon, we were back to our car. After arranging stuffs, we headed to the airport. But we've got a about 3hrs to kill.... coz we were really early.... hahaha... so sat in the car a little more to admire the last sightings of Grand Teton mountains.

Lone barn in front of Grand Teton

Wheat stalks swaying in the winds 

Goodbye Jackson & Grand Teton NP

Soon we were airborn and heading to Salt Lake City. I must say the pilot was really scary....But his flying skills were good. After 1hr on flight we landed in Salt Lake City and we had a couple of hours to kill. So we had our dinner before taking the plane again to Seattle. So by the time we reached Seattle, it was around 9pm. At least this time round we know the layout of the airport and where to take the hotel shuttle service. So very soon, we reached Mariott Fairmont Hotel. As this night was our last night... in fact i had to leave the hotel at 5am tomorrow, it i had to do the washings and packing that night. At least for my parents and sister, they will be flying the day after me at 2am. So they still have somemore time. =D

Heading southwards to Grand Teton National Park (12th Oct 2011)

The weather is good today! Yay! We're hoping that we'll be able to capture fantastic pictures of Grand Teton today. But before we can head to Grand Teton National Park, we'll be driving through Yellowstone once last time. And we were intending to drive southwards, that is driving past Old Faithful to get to West Thumb. However, when we were at the gateway, the ranger told us that the road from Old Faithful to West Thumb was closed. Our guess was could be due to last night's snow covering the roads. Hence, my sister was going to head upwards, i.e. to drive to the northeast side of yellowstone then pass through the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. However, when I examine the map, I told her that we could in fact just drive straight from Madison junction to Grand Canyon then make a right turn and drive southwards to West Thumb. In this way, its faster and shorter.

The craggy surface of the Caldera Rim 

As we were driving towards The Grand Canyon, we saw some cars stopping in the medows, and guess what we saw in the far end of the plains??? We saw a fox (it could be a coyote) running into the woods! I was not quick enough to capture the fox. The heading towards the east, it was the Grand Canyon. Since we were heading to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone National Park, my sister thought that it was worthwhile to pay a last visit to the Grand Canyon. Hoping to capture 'an award winning' picture that shows the rocky walls of the canyon is yellow. (@_@) hahahaha.....Yeah I know it sounds crazy.... but that was what we did, visiting the Grand view of the Lower Falls again!

Morning sight of the lower falls in Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Grand Canyon Yellowstone

With a little of the morning sun shinning down on the walls of the canyon... the walls did really appear yellow. hahhaha.... We also visited the Upper falls. Not much of a difference... only that the canyon does not appear that scary. hahaha....

Upper falls in Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

After that is further southwards and the roads were slippery... coz at most portions, it was still covered with a thin layer of snow or ice. Finally we came to a picturesque place, known as the Ox-Bow Bend. Its really beautiful. However, when I saw my sister's photos of that place taken in late summer, I think the scenery is even more awesome in that period.

Snow capped mountains

Ox-bow bend (view 1)

Ox-bow bend (view 2)

After snapping a few photos, we went to another and also the last major sights we'll see in Yellowstone in this trip. And that is the Mud Volcano. Amazing... this is one of the place that you can see lots of mud pots bubbling or 'bloping' away. and seriously the hydrogen sulfide in the air is super potent. U must be wondering what's hydrogen sulfide smells like... its rotten eggs smell or when u peel a hard boiled egg... there's this smell... and that's hydrogen sulfide.

Mud volcano (think this is pH 2). it was very violent. Can u see the cracked surface surrounding the mud portal?

Over looking at the carpark & sulphur cauldron 

Dragon's Mouth Geyser

That's me breathing out the 'dragon's steam'. hee hee

After viewing the Mud Volcano region, we drove off wanting to reach Grand Teton as soon as possible. Coz we'll be covering some areas in Grand Teton National Park. However, as we were driving along the Yellowstone Lake, we saw a couple of cars stopping by the road. When we turned to our right... guess what we saw??? Its a mama Grizzly Bear!!! Yes! we finally see bear! hahaha.... so all of us got off the car and walked towards the fence where the Grizzly was behind in the grass patch. As we were walking towards the Grizzly, we saw a baby Grizzly coming out from the trees on the right side heading towards its mum! Double wow! We thought we were lucky to see 1 Grizzly, but to see 2, its like striking lottery! hahaha... coz its really really rare to see Grizzly. And more and more people stopped their cars and took pictures of the mama bear and baby bear.

Mama Grizzly & Baby Grizzly

Snow capped mountains on the other side of Yellowstone Lake

After that we headed further south. For now, we've finally finished the 3 main animals that we gotta see in Yellowstone. hahaha..... As we drove further south, the scenery changed quite a bit. Coz now we no longer can see geysers and thermal pools. and the air no longer smell of hydrogen sulfide. but its the crisp smell of pine, mountains and autumn.

It's a board informing of the continental divide... no idea why there is this board.

Lewis river cutting through the canyon

Grand Teton National Park

Very soon, we saw the chains of mountains beside us, in front of us. Yup! they are the famous chains of mountains in Grand Teton National Park. These mountains are really weird. When you look directly at them, they appear sort of dark brown with snow on them, however, when u look at them  from certain angles, they appear purple! Seriously I'm not bluffing.... they really look very very beautiful. Pity was most of the places in Grand Teton National Park was close. Apparently the only place that was open was 'Signal Mountain'. We drove to Jenny Lake (1 of the iconic place in Grand Teton National Park), however the winds were so strong its hard to capture any great photos with the reflections of the mountains on the lake.

Golden trees (an indication that its autumn!)

Think this is Jackson Lake

More mountains

Grand Teton Glacier (that the white smooth patch in the middle) Grand Teton is the one on the left with the pointy tip

Chain of mountains that appear purple

But I must say that over in this national park, numerous trees had changed their colour to yellow, orange and red. Its really a very pretty sight. =D

Autumn colours. Ducks wadding in the pond. (taken at Jackson's visitor center)

After driving through the park and capturing the pictures, we headed to the town where we'll be putting up for the night. That's Jackson. We found a motel to stay. (I can't remember what's the name). Although the price was low, they do not provide proper seasoning for the cooking. Basic things like pepper, salt, sugar, creamer were absent. Anyway, we told ourselves that its just 1 night... tomorrow, we'll be viewing some more parts of Grand Teton before taking a couple of flights back to Seattle. Why a couple of flights you may ask. Coz there are no direct flights from Jackson to Seattle. So the best way was to take a flight from Jackson to Salt Lake City and from there we take another flight to Seattle.

Day I see Old Faithful! (11th Oct 2011)

Today we'll be visiting the famous geyser that I've always known... and longed to see. Yup! its Old Faithful. But today's weather is really really bad. It practically a horrible day coz its constantly raining. But we got to see lots of geysers today though. But not fantastic weather for taking great photos.

Misty Mountains

Anyway today we'll be heading south of Yellowstone National Park. and the 1st stop was the drive through the Firehole valley. Through that drive we got to see a mini waterfall. And that morning was deary and misty...but my sister said that such weather are the best for capturing great waterfalls pictures.

Fast flowing river flowing through the Firehole Valley

Firehole Waterfalls

As we drove further south, we saw some geyers erupting and the Fountain Geyser in massive display. I must say that I'm pretty lucky to see the geyser in action. Coz the geyser only erupts like once a day or once every few hours. after viewing the geyser we headed south and reached the middle geyser basin. well... there are really lots of geysers in display here... and some of them just keeps erupting and erupting. when we were at the carpark, we saw a herd of bison eating and resting in the grass plains. anyway back to the basin, not only were the geyers activating erupting, some of the thermal pools there were really colourful.

Baby Bison suckling

'Blop Blop!' Boiling mud

1 of the many geysers seen

Shoot for the skies

Huge black raven looking for food

Fountain Geyser in its magnificent glory (luckily I managed to catch this. Coz it only erupts once every few hours or perhaps once a day or once every few days....)

This should have been taken  at the fountain Geyser region (can't remember)

'Let's stretch!' skinny trees clustered together

Picnicking time. That's dad & my sister. I'm behind the camera and mum's in the car

Reflections on puddles after a downpour at the carpark 

The its time.... we head to Old Faithful. As we drove there, it started to rain and the rain just gets heavier. its almost similar to a downpour. When we reached Old Faithful, we made a few turns in the carpark, trying to locate where is the entrance. Coz my sister kept commenting that its not what she saw the last time she was here... and she kept saying its the wrong place. Until we told her to just get a lot and go and enquire at the visitor center.

After she enquired and came back to the car, she said this was the right place. and the visitor center cum education center was recently built. Apparently there are exhibits in the visitor center and there was also an auditorium. Because we just missed the eruption of Old Faithful, we had quite a bit of time to kill. If you don't know yet, Old Faithful erupts every 1hr 20min. So technically we got about 1hr and 20min. We decided to view a video that showcase the history of Yellowstone and how Yellowstone was formed. I must say the video was really really educational and informative. Likewise for the exhibition. It showcase on the mechanisms of the geysers, and how the caldera rims came about and they also exhibited the different kinds of rocks that can be found only in Yellowstone and the different pHs of pools to be found in Yellowstone.

Soon the time for Old Faithful to erupt approach. However, it was still raining. But weird thing was... it wasn't really rain. Coz when u observe carefully, the expected rain drops that drop onto the ground would be absorbed and leave a wet patch. Instead of being absorbed, the drops bounced on the floor. Yeah it was raining hailstones. As the temperature dropped to about -3 degrees, it became snow. Soon the floor was covered with snow. At least its better than rain. I headed out to stand in front of Old Faithful in the hopes of capturing it in its glory. Soon lots of people also came out and stand in front of Old Faithful. Just before Old Faithful erupted, the snow stopped and the sun came out. We saw a rainbow appearing over Old Faithful. It was a beautiful sight!

Rainbow over Old Faithful

"Woosh!" Old Faithful has erupted. And u can basically hear everyone exclaiming in awe and cameras clicking away. Finally I'm able to see the real sight of Old Faithful erupting... coz in the past i know about it and seen it from my Secondary textbooks and pictures on the internet. Nothing beats the real deal. hahaha....

Old Faithful aiming for the skies

After Old Faithful finished erupting, we decided to walk around the Upper Geyser Basin. And its over here that u can see some really wonderful and beautiful thermal pools and also lots of geysers. Particularly 1 geyser, the Grand Geyser. Its eruption was longer and much majestic as compared to Old Faithful. However, the interval between eruption was much longer than Old Faithful. the 1st colurful pool we saw here was the Beauty Pool & Chromatic Pool. I tried my best to capture the pool emitting the strong and clear colours.

Anemone Geyser

Upper geyser basin 

Grand Geyser

Chromatic Pool

After that we headed further north to view the famous "Morning Glory" Pool. All the while we can see that the skies is darkening. When we reached the Morning Glory Pool, I must say that this is one of most clear and prettiest pool. The blue colour was really very blue and clear. But the board that provides information of the pool states that the Morning Glory Pool is not as clear and vibrant as it used to be. Coz in the past, people had thrown rubbish, coins into the pool. Resulting in choking up the vent where the thermal springs was emerging from. Hence the park caretakers had to use machinery to siphoned out the debris....

Morning Glory Pool

We tried out best to capture the best photos... and soon... the rain came. and as time passed, the rain got heavier... and we had to walk about 35min-45min in the rain back to the car that was parked at the Old Faithful visitor carpark. Luckily we wore waterproof jackets, hence our upper bodies was relatively dry, however, our jeans clad legs were literally drenched. and worse of all, rain seeped into our shoes, hence our feet were also drenched (except for my sister who was wearing high cut hiking boots).

warning of wildlife. But we did not see any during our walk

Once we were back in the warm and safe confine of the car, we headed back to West Yellowstone Town. However, my sister said that we shld also pay a visit to the famous and iconic Prismatic Pool. I must say we were silly to have listened and believed her. Coz there was so much steam all over the place and rain was just pouring down like the buckets. I could not see any signs of the vibrant blue and yellow of the pool! In fact I couldn even make out the pool. So instead of being able to capture the pool, I took the board with the picture to compensate.

Prismatic Pool This was what I saw then. Couldn't make out the pool due to the steam

That the board with the real prismatic pool that we should see if there is no steam. Gotta get onto a plane to get this top down picture

I must say that today had been a pretty eventful day.... but it would have been even more eventful if it did not rain. But certain things just can be prevented or stopped. Tomorrow we'll be leaving Yellowstone and heading for Grand Teton National Park. Not sure when I'll have the opportunity to visit Yellowstone again. But definitely if i were to come here the next time, definitely Yellowstone National Park would have changed. Adios Yellowstone and Hola Grand Teton!

Bison crossing the road

Caldera Rim speckled with snow