OIP Week 3 - Road Trip, Pt 2

Breakfast at Aladdin’s was a simple affair. In its tiny guest pantry, the hotel provided a variety of breads that you could eat with butter and jams, along with bananas, coffee, tea and hot cocoa. Once we were done with breakfast we loitered in the parking lot for a bit, waiting for the others to checkout and figure out how we’d be getting to the next destination. Meanwhile, some of the guys who had never driven before decided to take some driving lessons in the big open parking lot. I must say I regret a little that I didn’t get behind the wheel, but better safe than lying in hospital bed trying to figure out if insurance covers surgery, is what I always say. (And judging from my psychomotor skills, the latter is most certain to happen.)

Diligently plotting our route.

Once more, Farris drove our party down the highway, and we eventually ended up in Rose City. At first, we tried to locate a popular donut shop called Voodoo Donuts. When we go there, however, we saw just how popular it really was. So popular, in fact, that we decided—due to lack of time—that we should just give the amazing rings of dough a miss.   

'The Magic's in the Hole.'

We walked for a bit and found ourselves at the Portland Saturday Market, a carnival-like outdoor market with an intriguing variety of street food and artisan goods. Kok and I decided to break off from the rest of the group and explore on our own. After spending quite a bit of time trying to solve a Turkish puzzle ring, we bought and shared an elephant’s ear, a delicious snack made from real elephant fried dough, cinnamon and sugar. The ear we bought was a menu special, topped with maple and bacon. The result was a crisp, fluffy, sweet-savoury discus of sheer awesome.

Kinda looks like an elephant's tongue, if you ask me.

After walking off the ear and reuniting with two more party members (Othniel and Jonathan), we decided we could still eat. We had seen a stall selling philly steak sandwiches earlier, but the storeowner was not yet ready. Since he seemed like such a nice guy, we went back, and he actually remembered us. He asked about where we’re from (he thought Singapore was in Japan/China, but hey, he makes awesome steak sandwiches) while we waited for the fresh beef to be cooked. Just a minute or so later, he served us up two hulking sandwiches that looked amazing and tasted even greater.

Hello, Philly.

As we grappled with our sandwiches, we stopped by a small fountain to watch a street performer play on his violin. The guy had mad skills and Kok was in awe. We watched till we were done with the philly’s, then made our way to Pioneer Place to look for the others. On our way there we chanced upon a second-hand bookstore that looked and smelled as old as some of the books on its shelves. We also shopped around in Ross and other warehouse stores.

He was not Vuk, but he had skills.

At Pioneer Place we got separated again after using the bathroom and bumming about in GameStop, so we decided to just do our own thing and regroup at some later time. While the others went shopping for stuff, Kok, Othniel, Jonathan and I scoured the city for a café called Case Study, which based on recommendations had the best latte in the city. The other three grown-ups got their coffee fix, but I being the immature man-child that I am, ordered a hot chocolate instead. It was good hot chocolate, though!

Western milo.

Leaving the café, our party of four spotted an entire field surrounded by street food vendors. Temptation seized us like tortilla wraps smothering chunks of hot meat (whut). Jonathan bought himself a grilled cheese BLT, while Kok got some shwarma. The shwarma was the size of Thor’s deltoids, and it took all four of us to finish that beast.

We need the Avengers for this.

After some browsing at A&F, we sat at a huge open space facing the Pioneer Courthouse to just chill out and enjoy the weather. The air was cool, despite the bright sunny day. A perfect day for sitting out in the open and taking life slow. If only we had a beer, or some sweet apple cider.

Why's that dude holding an umbrella?

We regrouped once again at A&F and headed back to Pioneer Place. Kok and I discovered a toy shop and made a beeline for it. Unfortunately, the stuff I wanted wasn’t on sale, so we left the place with broken hearts and sad faces. It was cool though, because we found out that Pioneer Place had another building where there were H&M tees for sale. I bought a couple for myself and Brian and we made our way back to the others.

It was nearly time for us to head back to Redmond. After another long drive, we stopped by Target, where Jieqi and I bought a lamp for our dark-as-heck apartment. We had dinner at Applebee’s, an American bar-and-grill similar to Chili’s in portions, variety and pricing. Jieqi and I shared a combo, which included two entrées and a side of fried mozzarella sticks. For my entrée I ordered mac-and-cheese with honey-chicken strips. I had to unbutton my jeans after that dinner.

That phallic thing isn't a fish cake.

And with that, our miniature road trip was over. Farris drove us back to our apartments, music blasting and passengers singing gaily all the way. Back at home I assembled our new lamp with much help from the rest of my apartment mates, and we called it a day.

I'll miss the skies here.

Four weeks down, seven more to go.

OIP Week 3 - Road Trip, Pt 1

Bright and early on a Saturday morning, Jieqi and I hopped onto a car that brought us to the apartments at Old Redmond, where we gathered with eleven other DigiPen folks whom we’d be traveling with for the next couple of days.  

"Are we there yet?"

Once everyone was done packing and hyping themselves up for the journey ahead, we each got into our assigned cars and rode off. Farris (AKA Drift Daren) was our designated driver for the trip, which was going to be tough on him because nobody else in our car could drive. With only a thumbdrive worth of music and our imaginations to entertain us, our little road trip would soon prove to be quite a memorable adventure.

Our first pit-stop was for lunch at Izzy’s, just across the carpark from Three Rivers’ Mall. The incredibly affordable all-you-can-eat buffet boasted a selection of pizzas, pies, salad, mash potatoes, pork ribs, chicken and ice cream. We ate to our hearts’ content, while listening to Kok struggling to describe to us the premise of a PG-13 manga series in Mandarin so we wouldn’t give the Caucasian family within earshot multiple heart attacks.   

All you can eat, and more.

I was completely stuffed by the time we left Izzy’s, having spent just shy of USD11 for a more than full meal. We got on the road once again, blasting music and having our own private karaoke session in the car. At one point we waved at a random Asian girl who was staring out the window of her car, then proceeded to race her boyfriend along the highway. Breath-taking views of trees, hills and crystalline lakes flanked us on either sides of the road as we cruised on.

When I'm on the road.

Two hours flew by quicker than I’d expected, and before long we were pulling up at Woodburn Premium Outlets in Portland, Oregon. An entire row of storehouses hocking goods of varying brands stood before us. Nike, Fossil, Aeropostale, Under Armour, Coach Etc. It was so massive we wound up having to split the group up. I wandered off with Kok, one of the guys from our car, and made off with wallets from Levi’s and shirts from Gap. Kok got a new jacket for himself at Adidas for an amazing steal (USD12+).  

The first time I actually got excited about clothes.

Since Kok and I weren’t natural shoppers, we decided to stop for some Auntie Anne’s before it was time to leave. We waited for the others to finish up their last-minute shopping before driving to a nearby mall for dinner. The mall was pretty huge but lacking compared to the malls in Singapore. A couple of us spent quite some time at a Lego store building our own Lego people and admiring the amazing Avengers: Age of Ultron set display, complete with spinning rims.

Avengers, Assemble!

For dinner, we went up to the foodcourt. Again, foodcourts in USA have nothing on the Kopitiams of Food Junctions back in Singapore. For one thing, there’s no dedicated drinks store. And the worst part? No one sells any hot drinks! I had to settle for some bubble tea without ice despite suffering from prolonged brain-freeze due to all the cold stuff we’d had earlier. To go with the Jasmine milk tea, I ordered a chilli cheese coney dog from Sonic, an American fast food chain.

Couldn't get a focused shot.

Night had already fallen by the time we finished our dinner, and the mall was like a ghost town. We got back in our cars and made our way to the Aladdin Hotel/Motel/Inn, where we would be spending the night.

Anyone seen Psycho?

We showered and caught a few episodes of Family Guy on the TV (they had cable in the motel). It was hard to fall asleep sharing a room with two megaphone snorers, but I must have done so somehow. After all, it had been a long journey.

One more day of adventure was still ahead of us. Click here to see what happens.

OIP Week 2 - Asian Food

While Jieqi was braving Mt Rainer this weekend, Kenneth, Shaun and I took a bus towards Bellevue, where the Asian Food Center was. The surrounding area is filled with restaurants and supermarkets specializing in Asian goods, from food to medicine to pottery.

Our first order of business was lunch at the Little Garden, a Chinese restaurant that served up huge portions of traditional Chinese dishes, including kungpao chicken, stir-fried frog and sambal-fried long beans. We decided to order individual dishes. I got a plate of fried beef hor fun, while Shuan ordered a bowl of pork over rice crackers, and Kenneth, a bowl of chicken fried rice. Much to our shock, the scrumptious food came in overwhelming heaps on plates larger than our faces.

Chinese food!

We ate as much as we could, reminded of how long it’s been since we’ve had authentic Asian fare, but in the end the portions were far too huge for any of us. We packed up the rest of our food and left, all set for dinner later in the evening.

Next, we went to the Asian Food Center Herbs & Gifts store, where we bought a couple of air-tight containers and a pack of chopsticks for pretty cheap. We hopped over to the actual Asian Food Center and toured around the area. The place was packed with people of all races, and though some of the fruits and vegetables on sale were quite questionable, we had a great time locating items that we’ve had trouble finding in America thus far. These include chilli sauce, sweet-and-sour sauce, traditional South-East Asian candies like Rabbit Sweet and even cans of Thai milk tea. Some of the stuff really brought us back to our childhoods.

Thai milk tea--in a can.

After we’d had our fill of reminiscing, we visited Goodwill, a shop run by a non-profit organisation selling second-hand goods. The shop was pretty huge, and was stocked with clothes for men, women and children; old VHS tapes; pieces of tech from all across the last century; sports equipment; books for 99cents and comics for less. We found some interesting cameras and an old children’s keyboard. I also bought a Billabong jacket that cost USD29.99.

Funky little contraptions.

We walked out on the streets only to find that we had missed our bus. That was all the excuse we needed to pay a visit to the massive Fred Meyer departmental store just across the street. Rows upon rows of shelves, each filled to bursting with all sorts of delectable products, greeted us as we walked about the store, overwhelmed by the variety of items on display. We even found bottles of alcohol that were named after characters from The Hobbit. It was hard not to grab anything and everything that was on sale. Fortunately, we managed to overcome much of our temptations (except for Kenneth, who bought all the Nerds candy he could find). Take that, effective product marketing!

Precious...beer...

Satisfied with our purchases, we headed back home and had our leftover Chinese food for dinner.

The next day, Moses messaged me in the morning to say he wouldn’t be joining me for Mass. I went and met up with Samantha and we went to St Jude’s together. I was quite excited that they sang One Bread, One Body, because I had yet to hear to choirs sing any hymns I was familiar with (despite the fact that they also used Breaking Bread, like our choir sometimes does).

After Mass we went to the Redmond Town Center to find something to eat. Unable to locate anything cheap but interesting enough for our tastes, we decided to try BJ’s, which was a street and a carpark away. We resolved to share a juicy bison burger, which really just tasted like beef but was still awesome nonetheless. Unfortunately (and surprisingly) the burger wasn’t big or filling enough for both of us, so we got a deep dish of fries covered in meat sauce and peppers (I can’t recall the actual name of the dish). That really filled us to the brim. We made our way back to our apartments at Gates of Redmond, where a fat stack of homework still awaited us.

Would you like some fries with that?

Next week, a group of us are driving down to Portland, Oregon to explore the area. So, till then, have an awesome week ahead.

OIP Week 1 - Seattle

After the first week of school, and in the midst of a surprisingly fat stack of assignments, Jieqi and I headed down to Seattle last weekend to explore the city. We hopped on a bus and took a 30-minute ride, getting off near a Nordstrom a short walk away from Pike’s Place Market. We browsed the Barnes & Noble and GameStop inside the super-mall before deciding we were getting bored and a little hungry.

Since Jieqi wanted to locate the first Starbucks ever established, we walked towards Pike’s Place, soaking in the sights and sounds of the bustling street market. Hordes of tourists from Korea, China, Japan and just other parts of America buzzed about, browsing and sampling and clicking away on their oversized cameras. The place was filled with mostly flower shops (which we suspected were attempting to cash in on the fact that it was the day before Mother’s Day), but we managed to find some stalls selling more delectable fair, like organic honey, jams and homemade apple cider.

Pike’s Place wasn’t just about its outdoor market. Alleyways and criss-crossing stairwells led to underground stores selling food, souvenirs, books and jewellery. We even came across a hobby shop that had neat Adventure Time merchandise, as well as an alley flanked by walls that were filled with chewing gum. Talking about gross. 

This is probably why gum is banned in Singapore...

For lunch, Jieqi and I settled for a Mexican street-food stall, where Jieqi finally got his hands on his much-awaited burrito. I ordered a breakfast burrito myself, which came wrapped with bacon, eggs and salsa. It hit all the right kinds of tangy and savoury.

Sadly, it's not Everything Burrito.

After the meal we wandered around Pike’s Place a bit more, winding up in a field overlooking the highways and the lake. For dessert, we indulged in some creamy gelato. Mine was Nutella-flavoured. 

Cars and ice-cream, so much in common.

Simply because we had to, we queued up in line at the world’s first-ever Starbucks for a good fifteen minutes before we finally got into the shop. It had no seats, and was one of those places where you ordered and go. Despite being really tiny, it was actually more spacious than some food joints in Singapore. An awesome line-up of quirky, friendly Starbucks crewmembers worked to both entertain customers and fulfil their orders. One of them spoke to us in decent Mandarin (she was African-American), while another called Jieqi ‘Jackie Chan’. It's not as racist as it sounds, really.

The girl giving out our drinks was kinda cute.

Following that, we met up with Moses and Alvin (whom we had bumped into by coincidence), and decided to continue our explorations. We walked in the direction of the lake, but were eventually halted by a massive train track in our way. So we doubled back and found the John Coney Bridge, which led directly to a scenic coastal park by the lake. The four of us found ourselves a bench and sat there for a long while, appreciating the glorious, low-hanging sun and the refreshing breeze.

Not enough lens flare.

We finally mustered the strength and motivation to leave the comfort and tranquillity of that park bench and made our way towards Seattle’s most prominent landmarks: the Space Needle. Built in 1961, the Space Needle had an impressive observation deck that gave visitors a breath-taking view of the city—for a price. Alvin had discovered some magical way to get us up there for…let's just say, less than the usual cost. The view from up there was spectacular. We got up there, took a bunch of photos, then shuffled back down, vowing never to return.

This picture proves I was actually up there.

The night ended with dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings, a sports bar that served up burgers, ribs and wings. I ordered a pulled-pork sandwich, which I had been craving for the past week, and a beer. The pork was a little saltier than necessary, and the beer too bitter for my taste. Still, the meal wasn't bad—just not as amazing as some others I have had in America so far.

The coleslaw could have been better.

The next day, after attending Mass with Samantha and Moses, we walked down to the Tipsy Cow for lunch. This meal was definitely more satisfying than the previous night’s dinner. I ordered a salted caramel milkshake and a burger which they called the Brewmaker, a delicious beef burger topped with cheese and overflowing with tangy BBQ sauce. Moses got something called a Rockstar, a mouth-watering amalgamation of breakfast and lunch that could fill you up for dinner.

The Rockstar.

The Brewmaster.

So, that sums up the weekend that has just passed here in Redmond/Seattle, WA. There have been a few setbacks and disappointments the past week regarding my credit card and the crap-ton of schoolwork that's been dropped in our laps, but we're doing what we can to make the most of this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Here's to making more great memories and all the misadventures yet to come.