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.