last day in Seattle (6th Oct 2011)

Today is also the last day of the conference I'm attending. For the past 4 days.... it had been juz amazing... i mean I learnt a lot from the numerous talks i attended and also the posters that I viewed and people whom i interacted with. I must say that uTAS is a conference that is more for the academic rather than those from the commercial companies or world. However, I must say that most of the professors, are also trying to steer their research into an ultimate application. Anyway I will not delve much about the contents of the conference... Coz not many people will understand the contents of the conference unless they are in the same area of specialization as me (hahaha.... working or researching into the microfluidics arena). But as what the chairperson said "we must have learnt a lot and benefitted alot from this conference. So now we got to return to our respective countries and start and try our new stuffs". This i totally agree.... hahaha.... Coz i'm also waiting to head home and try out new things.

Seattle Convention Center (where I spend the past 4 days of my 8am-5.30pm at)

uTAS 2011 banner

After the conference ended at 1230hrs, I met my parents and sister and head down to Pike Place market to try the best Clam Chowder. This is very well known in Seattle (perhaps world wide too). But my sister and parents had tried that on 1 of the days that I was attending the conference. I had the traditional New England Clam Chowder. I must say that it is very very tasty. Really nice. Pipping hot. Really good in cold weather. hahaha.... and they also serve us sour dough bread with the chowder.

Paramount Theater, Seattle

Electric Tram

Pike Place Market

Traditional New England Clam Chowder

If u do visit Seattle, take a stroll down to Pike Place market and look for Post Alley. The shop with lots of people eating outside the shop should be the Pike Place Chowder. If you can't find, you can look for it at: 1530 Post Alley, Seattle WA 98101.

Pike Place Chowder

After tasting the chowder, we walked futher down and saw the famous seafood stall, whose vendor sings and throws fish (the fish that the customers had chosen to buy). I know about this stall when I entered my company and they showed us this video... wanting us to learn the unity spirit. hahaha... its good that I can see the real shop and action with my eyes. Coz its really what was shown in the video.... and their actions are really fast.... =D

Pike Place Fish Company

Rows of Fresh Alaskan Crabs (they are really unbelievably tasty. Coz I got to try them when my mum bought it a couple days ago from another stall)

A couple buying peppers. This was a stall that had strings of colourful peppers on sale

Then as u walked down post alley... u'll be able to come across a very very interesting wall.... before u reach the wall.... u'll be able to smell some sort of bubble gum smell mixed with some sourish smell... hahaha... its the world's one and only 'Bubble Gum Wall'!

Bubble Gum Wall

Close up view of an 'artistic gum art'

I mean u'll be shocked at the amount of bubble gum that people had stuck to the wall. The wall was 'prettily' decorated with different colours and sorts and flavours of bubble gum. Its interesting... but at the same time its the worst unhygienic place in Seattle. hahaha. =P

We saw some people protesting something as we were walking back to our apartment. Not really sure what they were protesting I tried to zoom into the words written on the cardboard cards the people were holding. Think they were sort of asking drivers to horn their vehicles? Or something along the line of 'its ok to horn'. check out the picture attached.

People protesting 

after walking around, we headed back to our apartment to collect the car and drove to visit the Seattle Soka Cultural Center. The Soka Cultural Center was situated pretty near to Sea Tac airport. We managed to find it easily. Shaunn, the Kaikan staff was really friendly and warm. She showed us the whole center. And we also got to meet 1 of the part-time staff, Pabolo.

Seattle Soka Cultural Center

us & Shaunn

After the visit, we left and headed to a beach.... that was overlooking the Seattle city. hahaha... so we can catch a glimpse of the Seattle city skyline and also the Seattle Space Needle. (Coz I was not able to visit the Space Needle which is the icon of Seattle). It was pretty nice.... and windy... but also cloudy....

Seattle Skyline (the famous Seattle Space Needle)

After that we headed back to our apartment and did some packing up. Coz tomorrow we'll be starting our National Parks Adventure. And we'll be bringing a small backpack each and the bulk of the luggage will be left in the hotel which we'll be staying when we return to Seattle on 13th Oct.

salmon days!! (2nd Oct)

Today is fine weather! good! Coz its not often that you get to experience good and fine weather in Seattle.... Coz from autumn to winter, Seattle will experience rains. And they will have rains for 10months.... really surprising... =D

Anyway today we'll be trying out some good ole American Breakfast. And we'll be having breakfast at one of the famous eatery in Seattle 'Coastal Kitchen'. 429 15th Avenue E, Seattle, WA 98112

Coastal Kitchen

When u enter the eatery... it sort of give u a good feeling... and the kitchen is an open concept. Meaning that u can see what chefs cooking. 

Interior of the eatery

And we were pretty silly... hahaha... we did not know that we gotta wait for someone to seat us. When we enter, we head to an empty table... and the waitress came and told us that in future we should wait for the waitress to show us to a table. 

Mum and Dad 

My sister happened to check out what are the good food and places to visit in Seattle. And she chance across this eatery and also we'll be heading to Issaquah to view the Salmon Days carnival. This only happen once a year.

Anyway back to the breakfast... if u happen to visit Seattle, do check this eatery out. Coz I must say... the breakfast serving is really huge and they tasted fantastic. My parents, sister and me ordered 3 servings to share. Coz we can't really finish 4 servings. They start serving breakfast from 8am - 3pm daily. If u can't make it for the breakfast, you can always try out the lunch or dinner. But we only went there to try out the breakfast as they are pretty well-known for their pancakes! =D

I must say the pancakes were great! pretty different from the usual pancakes that we eat at MacDonals or those pre-heat frozen pancakes. Just different. Very good! Do try it out for yourself. =D

1st platter of breakfast

2nd platter of Breakfast

3rd Platter of Breakfast (Scrambled eggs, hambuger & pancakes with orange syrup)

After breakfast, we headed to Issaquah. Coz that is where the Salmon Days Carnival was taking place. Apparently Salmon Days is the annual celebration of returning salmon to the lakes, streams and downtown hatchery with a weekend of non-stop free activities. The Festival includes a Grande Parade, a marketplace of more than 250 artists, Foods of the World, the Field of Fun and five stages of live entertainment. The hatchery offers exhibits with knowledgeable docents. Apparently, this festival had taken place for 42years! =D

Welcome to Issaquah

Lots of people at the Salmon Days Carnival

Boxes of smoked salmon for sale

Hand crafted blown coloured glasses on sale

There was really a lot of people. Majority are families there to enjoy the run and the food and the fan fare. and to try and catch a glimpse of the salmons trying to make the jump over the 'wall' swim against the currents to lay their eggs. However, the 'poor' salmons were sort of being trapped in the river basin with a dam like structure (which is the mock wall that they were trying to jump over). 

Some wonderful art pieces on sale

An artist drawing on sweatshirts

People bringing the 'monster' fake salmon

the susposed 'wall' that the salmon need to jump across to try and swim up to alaska

Salmon swimming in the river

After that sunday, the people were going to sort of 'keep' the fish in a save enclosure to allow them to breed. We also got to see the different kinds of salmon and I must say that there are some breeds, they do not resemble salmon species... but rather they seem to me like shark.... but they belong to the salmon family. There was also a tiny museum that show case the life cycle of the salmon. The salmon are really really huge... i never expected them to be so humongous. 

1 of the monster salmon

me & one of the monster salmon

After spending time at the carnival, we headed back to Seattle. As i had to make it for the registration for the uTAS conference. I only went for the registration then after that I met my family for dinner. It as raining pretty heavily when we head out for dinner.... we had to brace the rain and wind... hiaz... the good weather of Seattle did not last for long.
We had a hard time looking for a restaurant for dinner. anyway finally we decided to have our dinner at Virginia Inn. Its situated at 1st Ave, Seattle WA 98101. The food was ok. I had fish and chips, whilst my sister had ribs. Dad had seafood rice and mum had a bit from all of us. hahaha... we can't really finish all 4 servings so we just ordered 3 and share.


After dinner, we headed to Pike place market. But because it was already evening and it was a sunday... so all the shops were all closed. Except for the 1st Starbucks Coffee outlet. Well it was not very amazing nor something unexpected. Instead it was just an ordinary coffee shop that sell some products. 

Pike Place market

Hardrock Cafe Seattle

After walking around, we headed back to our apartment and i crashed. Coz tomorrow is the 1st day of the conference. I've no idea what to expect. But one things for sure, I'm here to learn and absorb. =D

visiting the outlets in Seattle (1st Oct 2011)

Woke up at 4.45am (Seatttle Time). I could not sleep well. Coz I was pretty worried about my lost luggage. anyway after doing my daily prayers, i called the Alaskan Airlines and told them the change of my address. The lady told me that she would tell the delivery guy and the lost luggage will reach me around 10am-1pm today. After the call, I felt more relieved... coz my baggage is here is Seattle and its going to reach me soon! Hence went back to sleep (Coz somehow I felt I still have some jet-lag) and slept until around 9am.

Finally we woke up and left our apartment at around 11am for the outlet. It was about 1hrs drive away from the Seattle city center. If you want to visit the outlets... and I feel you gotta if you rent a car. Coz the shopping over there is just wonderful. Prices are being slashed at unbelievable prices.... Anyway, the shopping outlet is known as "Seattle Premium Outlet" its situated at Tulalip. Address: 10600 Quil Ceda Blvb. Tulalip, WA 98271. There are about 110 stores in the outlet. We went a little 'crazy'. Coz its just shopping and more shopping. You can check out its site: http://www.premiumoutlets.com 


I did not take any pictures as I still have not purchase any batteries for my camera. But u can check out the site that I've pasted above.


I also got to taste the most fantastic milk shake of all times! It was not cheap... But I guess its common for milk shakes to cost that price (USD 3.75) but the portion was really huge. My parents had an ice-cream cone (the ice-cream portion was also really huge). We left the place around 8.30pm. Goodness! We spent the entire day at the outlet! Then its onward to grocery shopping. Coz we need to get groceries (like water, fruits etc). visited the nearby Walmart. Luckily we did that. Coz I think I had some lactose intolerance. Must be the milkshake had too much milk and my stomach could not take it. I visited the toilet about 3 times. (Urgh) I finally got my batteries. Tomorrow onwards, I'll be able to take photos and show u some of the things happening over here. =D


Finally after the grocery shopping, we headed back to our service apartment. Finally I get to see my bag! I've got my stuff back. Pretty happy about it. After some simple food, we crashed. 


Till tomorrow! =D

Unexpected experience in Seattle (1st day - 30th Sept)

I've juz managed to get my luggage... after it had been missing for more than 24hrs (well in fact it was missing for about 14hrs). It was a little nightmare ever since i board the SQ flight bound for Los Angles (LA). It was not a good start of my conference cum leisure trip.

As you have gotten to know, I left s'pore on 30th Sept for Seattle for the conference that I'll be attending on 3rd Oct - 6th Oct (2nd Oct is registration). Once all the passengers were on board the SQ flight, the captain announced that there was some electronic technical faults with the aircraft and we gotta get off and board another aircraft. Hence we were all delayed for 3hrs! Totally horrendous.... coz there were quite a number of passengers who were rushing for our connecting flights when we touched down in LA. I was one of them. Luckily I had about 3hrs for getting onto my connecting flight on Alaskan Airlines. However, with the 3hrs delay... I was really skeptical if I'll be able to make it for the flight.

Anyway, for that 6hrs to Tokyo, there were 4 babies in our segment and 2 of them were screaming their heads off for the entire 6hrs. Could not get any peace. I don't understand why the babies parents did not try and do something to placate the babies. Or maybe they did but why did they not try other methods? It was totally horrible. Luckily, that family got off in Tokyo. Then it was another 10++ hours to LA. I managed to catch some sleep and switch my body clock to US (west coast) timing.

Finally reached LA and I had to run..... (2nd time running in the airport trying to catch the next flight) to the customs, get myself cleared, so i can pick up my baggage go through the customs and run to terminal 3 (international flights are in Terminal B) to catch my next flight to Seattle. I had practically 1.5hrs to get everything done. Its really worrying... coz I've heard of news that the US customs are really strict and they take really long to clear us. But because our flight was delayed, we had the privileged to get an orange express card. and get onto express lanes and customs etc. but..... it was quite a joke... coz the 'express lanes' was not that 'express'. Coz only 1 lane was opened - there was only custom officer. It was only much later that more lanes were opened. I happened to talk to 2 'uncles' whilst waiting for our turns.... and apparently we were all trying to meet our connecting flights... but they were in more difficulty coz 1 of them, his plane flew off whilst we were waiting whilst the other still had another 14min. and I had about 1 hr 5 min before the plane flew off. soon it was our turn.... and i cleared the customs pretty easily... the next was the custom checks of our baggage. Luckily... i had nothing to declare... so i went through the customs very easily.... and entered another hall where those pple who were trying to catch the connecting flights had to head to. One of the airport staff called me over and asked me for my flight and gave me the directions and instructions to run to the terminal to get my boarding pass whilst she helped me to bring my baggage to the airlines and put it up the plane.

Managed to find my way to terminal 3 (luckily it was pretty nearby) and waited for the plane. soon i was in the air (on board alaskan airlines - it was pretty much the same as the usual budget airlines. But it was my 1st time on this particular airlines) and reach Seattle Tacoma airport 2hr 30min later. I was really surprised that there were very few checked in bags from the plane. I was even more surprised when I do not see my luggage at all! I went to the airlines and reported my missing baggage. Was really irritated.... coz nothing has been going right for that entire day. Thinking about not being able to have clean clothes and soap for washing up really is a disgusting thought. But the airlines staff assured me that I would be able to get my bag by tomorrow morning.

Anyway I had to wait another 1 hr for my parents and sister to arrive on Eva Airlines. After that we took the shuttle service (Seattle Airport express) to our service apartment. And I must say.... another terrible blunder.... coz i did not read the instructions from the person whom i made the reservation with. Coz instead of giving the driver the service apartment address... i gave him the office address of the people whom i made the reservation. Hiaz! really terrible! hence, instead of 15-20min to get from the airport to the service apartment, we took about 1hr to reach there.

When we reached the apartment, Doug, one of the owners of the service apartment 'Seattle Suites', was there to show us the apartment and also some information. The only nice thing that day was the apartment. It look pretty grand! Anyway, I must say that I am pretty lucky that my parents and sister came with me. Coz they lent me their clothes for that night and the bathing stuffs, the apartment had some.

Anyway, after washing up, I crashed into bed. I had to wake up at 5am to call Alaskan Airlines as I've got to give them the address of my service apartment to send my baggage to. (Coz previously I gave them the address of the office)

(sorry no pics for this entry as my re-chargeable batteries did not have any energy. Apparently they were spoilt! Totally terrible start off of my conference trip. Juz hopping that it will get better as the days pass)

Ready, get set, go!

I'm now in the airport waiting to board my flight to Los Angeles. Its going to be a long long flight.... About 22hrs!!!
I'll be travelling from singapore to Tokyo then to LA. And in LA i'll have to run for my flight on board Alaska Airlines.... (oooo 1st time for me!! =D) Then head to Seattle! It not the furthest country from S'pore I've travelled... but the duration of the journey is definitely the longest for me. =P

Not sure what will await me there... hahaha... but definitely for the 1st wk... will be super intellectual.... will be attending talks and more talks from morn to evening... and really really hope that I can meet the 2 objectives of attending the conference. I'll write more when I'm there... after the 1st wk... i'll get to relax a little... hahaha... will share more of the happenings in the next 2 wks soon!

stay tune till then! =D

Youth training in Tokyo

Sorry took me some time to get this up. I was really busy ever since i came back on 14th Sept.
This is my 5th time to Japan. However, unlike the past 4 trips, this 5th trip is the most unique and most enriching trip. Coz for this trip, i'm not going to Japan for leisure, rather, I was there to attend the annual Soka Gakkai International Youth Training Course. I was really very fortunate to be given this opportunity to attend this course. (there were 8 of us from Singapore attending this training course) During these 7 days, we went to a number of places (Soka University, Yokohama, Kamakura). I must stress again not for leisure, but to attend meetings and interact with the Japanese members and leaders and learn from them. We also got to learn some history and revived our Mentor and Disciple spirit.

Seeing sunrise from the plane

A volcanic crater in the middle of the sea

1st meal in Tokyo: Lunch - Curry rice & udon with seaweed

And I must say, through the 7 days in Tokyo, I really really learnt a lot from the Japanese members, leaders and also the overseas leaders. At this training course, I met youth from all over the world. In fact, there were 250 Youth leaders from 55 countries attending the Soka Gakkai Youth Training course. It was not possible to interact with all 250 participants, however, I did and had the opportunity to converse and interact with quite a number of youth from various countries.

me & the Youth leaders from Ghana

me & Suet Har with the Youth Leaders from Malaysia

Some of you may be wondering what is Soka Gakkai International (SGI) about. The Soka Gakkai International is lay Buddhist Organisation. SGI members integrate Buddhist practice into our lives, following the Lotus Sutra base on the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin.

Min-On concert Hall (one of the buildings that President Ikeda founded in Shinanomachi area)

Posing in front of the Young Women's Division (YWD) Center

Inside the YWD center

Anyway, I don't think I will divulge much about the contents of the Training course. In this entry, I'll probably write more about some of the things I saw after the training course... hahaha... but not many.

On the 2nd last day, after the dinner, me and the Singapore youth team, went to Tokyo Metropolitan Building. hahaha.... one of my friend, remembered me telling him that my Japanese friends had tried to bring me up the building in  of my previous trips. However, we were not able to go up the building the past 2 times as the building was closed then. And my friend asked our guide, which was the building and it happened to be the building that was just a short distance of walk from our hotel! hahaha... u must be wondering what is so special about the building. Wellll..... if you're short on cash or you do not want to take the train to get up the Tokyo Tower in Roppongi, then Tokyo Metropolitan Building is the place! You can get up to the top of the building and view the Tokyo Skyline for free! The sight before us was really pretty. The whole of tokyo was lighted and you just see building everywhere.... pretty clustered.

Shinjuku, Tokyo in afternoon (taken from my Hotel room)

 Sun setting (taken from my hotel room)

Tokyo at night (taken form the Tokyo Metropolitan Building)

Another part of the clustered Tokyo

That night, my friend, Mitsue Kajioka came to the hotel to meet me! I was really very happy to see her and talk to her. In fact just 2 days before that night, I saw her on the stage in the Headquarter Leaders meeting helping out with the presenting of awards on the stage. I could not walk up to her and talk to her then after the meeting. We had a short catch up. I told her that I'll try to visit Japan perhaps next year before I head off for my studies. =D

Mitsue & me

The last day in Tokyo, we had the whole day free. Coz our flight was in the night. So we decided to do some shopping rather than sitting in the hotel. So my friends and I headed to Harajuku. Hahaha.... this is the place in Tokyo if you want to see some form of cosplay. However, the cosplayers will only emerge on the streets in late evening or at night. we were there in the late morning to afternoon. Hence, we did not see any cosplayers. But we did manage to buy quite a number stuffs. We also visited Kiddy Land. I believe some of you maybe surprised that I will visit such a place... hahaha.. too kiddish for me... well. I went there because my friends wanted to get stuffs for their kids or nieces, nephews or wives. For me? I just walked around and see 'cutesy' things.

Interior of Kiddy Land (the background is super pink)

Soon it was time for us to leave for our hotel. And our hands were laden with shopping goods. majority were for friends or family. And we were wondering how on earth were we going to pack the stuffs into our baggage.... yikes! Well.... this will have to see whose packing skills are of tip top standard. hahaha.....But luckily, I was able to 'squeezed' everything into my luggage.

We were really very lucky to be able to take SQ's A380 for the trip back to singapore. I mean for some of us, it was our maiden voyage on A380! So naturally for us it was something exciting... and we chose to sit on the upper deck. Being in the plane... hahaha... there was not much difference. In fact pretty similar to a Boeing 747. Only that for the window seats, there is a compartment for window seat passengers to put the bags rather than in the overhead compartment.

Well, the 7 days really passed by very quickly... and soon i was back in Singapore.... fighting the 'battles' in our respective areas. However, all that I've learnt in this trip, I've engraved them in my heart and will share and share the spirit and all that I've learnt with my juniors and friends. I've also reafirm my determination in some aspects and I'm very determined to see all my resolution to fruition.

I'll be posting somemore on my next trip soon. The next place I'll be heading to is Seattle, US. I'll be flying there next fri. Will be away for 16 days. I'll be attending a conference (that the huge one in my area of specialisation, uTAS) and extending for several more days to visit Montana's Glacier National Park and Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park. Stay tune then! =D

Youth training in Japan

I'm currently sitting in my living room, checking my mails and typing this.
Waiting for 9.20pm to come so that i'll be heading to the airport. Just to imagine that in another 3.5hrs time, i'll be in the air on board SQ! its been sometime since i last took SQ. hahaha... but more than that is the training course in Japan that i'll be attending from tomorrow onwards. This training course is one of most important course in the SGI calender. Yup! I'm really really fortunate to be given this opportunity to attend the annual SGI Youth Kenshu.

We've just gotten our itinerary for the entire week and its going to be pretty pack. But like what my seniors say, 'Go there and absorb like a sponge.' When we return from the training course, we 'must be a better person, a better leader. Things must be different!' Yup! that is also my goal in this training course. To really learn everything and return to S'pore to share with the rest. =D

I'll see if there are things or activities that can be posted here. Till then! As my japanese frens will say 'じゃあね'! =D