take me back to seward..

seward.. im glad i went there. we left anchorage on sunday morning, driving south towards seward, a small fishing town about 2 hours drive from anchorage. 50 miles out, we stopped by at girdwood where i took my heli ride, landed on a glacier and greeted by 80 huskies and 2 mushers.. yummy for both! the dogs and the keepers.. after 15 minutes of briefing and listening to the history of dog sled, i went around looking for the perfect husky to play with. although they all looked cute and cuddly and scary as well, i cant make up my mind on choosing which one would be my favourite.. i dont know why i do that all the time but i had to do it. my favourite is called ... shit, i forgot. dario, the italian musher could remember the whole pack and i cant remember one. i cant be a musher then..are you happy my dear? i will keep on calling the wrong name and will be wondering why they are not listening to me. damn i love the dog sled ride.. i love it! part of me felt like i was a santa claus minus the red outfit, reindeers and big fat tummy os courfe.. but yeah, the ride was the same, i feel, in some way. and for one moment, i also felt like i was living in the old ice age like a real eskimo or maybe i just dream too hard or too much tv.. i dont know.. you go figure. this is definitely a must try for anyone who is in alaska.. where else can you do this? dog sled with a good looking italian musher on a glacier, 1000feet above sea level overlooking gorgeous mountain and being drop off and pick up by a heli.. it was a perfect way to start my day.
and i slept all the way to seward.. hehe. didnt see the view for nuts! the next thing i know, i was already on 4th avenue, seward and one wrong turning, led us to this stream full of salmon swimming against the current, up stream, looking all ugly and scary and yucky for some, lay eggs and die. what a tragic way to die! either they die eaten by bears, human or love for their eggs.. hehe, sound familiar, correct? aint that a sweet love? hehe.. again. not so when you see them minutes before they r.i.p.. u-g-l-y. sor sar, no offence but my love is only for halibut, which is ugly too but who cares, they taste great! we checked in, walked around town, their teeny weeny town which i love, love, love, i dont know why and head to ray's, a favourite restaurant of mine that i could never get enough. now, why do i say this? because i basically tried every main dish that they have throughout my stay in seward and all the dishes are superbly cooked! honestly.. i could eat it, again and again. they have 4 styles of cooking halibut..if im not mistaken, hmm.. maybe thats why i like it so much.
the next morning, we were off on a cruise to see glaciers and wildlife in the open sea. the weather was gloomy and windy but to me, i like it. i hate it when its all sunny and i get all tanned. not for long, we came across sea otter (fluffy and fatty) which i adore so much as they are so cute floating around on their back, a family of orcas swimming gracefully (i love big fat revengeful orca) , sea lions sunbathing on the rock with flippers covering their face as if they were shy to be seen but not.. and this new kinda bird to me called puffin. they are small, adorable for a bird (this is something coz i dont like birds) and loves to sit around, floating in the middle of the sea, just like us having coffee in bangsar cafes, thats how they looked like in the middle of the sea. we also get to see and get close to the glacier and listened to the ice break away and fell into the water. its magnificent and incredible how loud the sound could be. it sounds like thunder, a huge one as if it was about to rain heavily when actually a small fraction of the whole glacier was falling off. it is a wonder, only when you see how nature works you would feel so small in this world.. i know i did. looking at the iceberg too made me feel like i was in the set of titanic.. for one second, i laughed,a small lil laugh.. you jump, i jump remember? hell no! you jump, i stay and wish you bye bye.. i stayed at the bridge with the captain who looks and sound like kevin costner. remember friends? that i used to like kevin costner? hehe.. we talked and i learnt a thing or two.. all the way back to the port and dock.
seward.. i will certainly come back for you.. that is for sure. be it for fishing, boating, eating, 'love making at a cabin on a cliff'.. as ive said, i love small towns and seward is definitely on my list.

ive been busy - anchorage

sorry for my long absence.. ive been busy. busy checking out anchorage, busy spending time with the boys as they were leaving earlier than me, busy shopping for souviniers, busy planning on what to do and where to go, busy with him whom i dearly miss now.. busy bee me.
anchorage is not a big town but not that small either. the city is well planned with parks, medical centre, hotels, airport, university, with all sorts of ammenities and services strategically located around the area. it is in some way a nice place to retire, to start a family, to run away from crowded city life.. but i guess it is not so ideal during winter times ay? too cold for a malaysian perhaps?
from where we were staying, info center, good restaurants, railway station and the weekend market are all within walking distance. i love it actually.. during the day, it is so much fun to walk around. filled with tourist taking pictures, locals serving good food and all sorts of beers, street performers having a show by the park.. it is just lovely and fun and lively.. by day that it.
at night, downtown anchorage turn to somewhat a dodgy and quiet place where one wouldnt want to or i, personally dont feel like going out for a night cap. i seem to understand why they impose such law on drinking alcohol.. are they a natural born drinker or is that a culture they live by? i wonder.. one night, i was walking to a shop, looking for my father after dinner, i passed by a group of youngsters, barely 17 i must say asking for ciggies from me.. and as i passed them ciggies and light it up for them, they were 'friendly' enough to ask where i was from.. to me, they were the most polite drunkards and druggies ive met. i could smell the alcohol, not beer or whiskey and by their faces, it is not herbs or pills we are talking about. i took back my lighter, wish them a good fun friday night and left..lets just say downtown anchorage is not so touristy by night okie dokie? well, not to my taste anyway..
dont get me wrong.. i would love to come back to anchorage. i must! i love it and my stay here for this trip is not long enough to complete what ive come here to achieve. and if we ( he and i ) could make it this february for winter, it would be great.. winter in alaska with him. to me, that is perfect, and to me, he is too..

p/s i made new friends.. mei and nicollete. mei works at the visitor info center, the place i went to stick my face everyday to plan my activities. on my last day,i told them i dont want to do anything 'touristy' so they took me to their campus and let me pretend as a student to collect free gifts on their open day!it was a lot of stuff that i will never use, carried around in a huge laundry bag which i felt at one point like a santa claus but i had so much fun being young again os courfe. we then head out to earthquake centre, 10mins drive from the campus and nearby the airport (where he was that morning, sob sob) looking for berries and the legendary 'sleeping lady'.. come dinner time, we picked up hantu and i had the first, really good asian meal after 50 days of travelling at this vietnamese restaurant. they have spicy food! and i finished the whole big bowl of rice! whats new!!! thank you mei and nicollete. i had a really good time.. ohh.. anyone interested with an archeologist? let me know.. you wont regret it. trust me..

the rice story..

where do i begin..
to tell the story of how great a love can be..
the sweet rice story that is older than the sea..
the simple truth about the love it brings to me..
where do i start..
with the first order..
it gave a meaning to this empty tummy of mine..
there'd never be another love another time..
it came into my life and made my tummy fine..
it fills my tummy..
it fills my tummy..
with very special things..
with all seafood..
with chicken and meat..
i fill up my plate..
with so much rice..
that anywhere i go..
im never hungry..
with take away..
fear i might get hungry..
i reach inside the plastic bag..
its always there..
how long does it lasts..
can rice be measured by the hours in a day..
i have no answers now but this much i can say..
i know i need rice till the paddy all burn away..
then life is unfair..

dedicated to all the restaurants that has been feeding me and i miss dearly..
-sri siam thai restaurant
-kanna indian curry house
-muhibbah malay/chinese restaurant
-the talk japanese bistro
-bonga korean restaurant
-teluk gong seafood restaurant
-klang seafood restaurant
-nasi lemak bangsar
-berjaya restaurant
-aunty starhill seafood

god i cant wait to eat you guys again. it has been 53 days since i last taste the sweet love of malaysian food. and as much as i dont feel like going back to face malaysian society (the snob and the remps), i miss the food and nothing, nothing compares to our delicacies that is available 24hrs a day. although i must say i found something new and love to eat here in alaska, i am still very traditional and faithful to my food back home. the new love i found is called halibut. a very very very ugly fish with good white meat.. halibut looks like it belongs to the dinosaur world, it is huge, scary ancient looking fish. but YUMMY! i have halibut everyday in every meal. and i know i will miss halibut once i leave alaska so i intend to fill up my body with it by eating it without killing the entire population, os courfe. i never miss a meal so far.. i wish you could have a taste of halibut, i know you will like it but i cant bring it back to kuala lumpur. i cut you a deal, how about if i draw you one instead? hehe..ok, ok.. i know i cant draw for nuts! i'll try to take a picture of it. wouldnt it be nice if i could catch one? ya right.. i think it is as tall (the length) as i am, if not taller. my god! i bet it is heavier that i am too.. :( halibut the fish is heavier than i am, now that is sad..i need you rice!

WE DID IT!!

i could now offcially say that we did it!! we have reached alaska.. drove 21504kms.. from buenos aires.. across brazil, venezuela, colombia, panama, costa rica, nicaragua, honduras, guatemala, mexico, united states, canada and now, ALASKA! congratulations to the drivers, hantu and hugh.. and the co-drivers, cris, patrick, martin and me os courfe! i think we did one hell of a job, one hell of a team and definitely one hell of a holiday that i would never forget. thank you! muchos gracias senor..

First time here, wont be the last..

Scratch what i said about Central America.. No doubt its different from the countries i've been to, exotic in some ways and wouldnt mind doing it again but Canada, Canada is a must for all. The drive towards the U.S/Canadian border was rather boring and we travelled 3074kms from El Paso, only to stop at a small town town called Casper, Wyoming to sleep before continuing our journey the next day, across the border into Banff, Canada. Speaking of casper, adik told me to print out stickers like my father's and in this case, i should be casper since he is 'hantu'. Thank god i didnt. I just realized that casper looks like a condom and i aint gonna portray myself as a flying safe sex mascot. Now, back to Banff.. Where do i begin? It is a small town, tourist resort, surrounded by mountains and greenery's.. It was just honestly breathtaking. When we arrived, it was late at night, we were tired and just looking for a place to sleep. We couldnt see the view or how the town looks like. When i woke up in the morning, had my coffee and walked outside for a puff.. there it was. Amazing.. Incredible.. God damn it! I love it.. love,love,love,love it! Thanks to Hugh's mother who suggested that we should take a peek at this town, we spent the night and i know for sure now, it is not enough. I will definitely come back for more, i would even stay for a week perhaps. They have all sorts of activities such as atv tours,white water rafting, horse riding, rock climbing, hiking,float trips, caving tours, biking, fly fishing, wildlife tours, kayaking. glacier sightseeing,heli flights, zipline tours, gondola rides, camping to name a few or did i just list it all? I cant help it. I think i found a new love.. Told you that i would be in this state of mind the whole journey. K.L really got me on my nerve and im not homesick at all. Sure i miss adik, mama, baby, my hommies (not homo ok, my dear) and the FOOD but for now, im super fine, still thirsty for more new places, new people, new day. So Alaska, here we come! Pictures above was taken throughout the drive from quick-passing-thru America to heaven-on-earth Canada.. It's amazing, isnt it?

p/s after my camera's battery died, i started to take mental picture. Do you know how? Let me teach you.. Aim and focus on what you want to remember and then close your eyes for 2 seconds as if you are the lens, taking snapshot from the camera. If you are not sure you are doing it right, please call adik and she will gladly show and guide you.

Daniel.. This is for you..

Daniel rindu papa yea.. This is just for you. All papa's pictures for you to view till papa comes back.. He misses you, i know. And i miss you too.. And when he comes back, he'll take you to the beach ok. Love you dan..

One border crossing to another..

Time passed by so fast.. It has been 36 days since we started the journey, leaving Buenos Aires on the 13th of July. After covering 9 countries (Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico) and travelled 14941 kms, we are now in El Paso, Texas, America with 6768 kms to go to get our sweet asses to Alaska.
We left Dominical, Costa Rica into Nicaragua on Friday, 10 August. With heavy rains and early sunset, we decided to stay in Jinotape, a small town along the route. Hotel was nothing fancy and i never did mind since we stayed at a 'whorehouse' before in Maracaibo but my god, i didnt feel safe. There were 3 security guards armed with (pump gun, i think), standing by in front of the hotel. Imagine that! I guess it's a norm as when we got to Tegucilgapa, Honduras.. its the same thing too. Armed guards and the main door at the hotel lobby is locked by night falls. Something tells me that i dont think i would wanna go back to this 2 countries. Driving up north into Guatemala the next day, we spent the night in Cuilapa in a small, on top of a hill motel which looked quite deserted but i feel a lot better than the ones before. A man who is apparently running for governor of that teeny weeny town joined us for dinner and damn his moustache is so thick that i bet he has a shampoo and a comb for it.And my mind started to wonder whether is that the reason he got elected for.. Perhaps, you may never know. I was trying very hard not to stare at him and his other half as i know and half of the people i know that i can be quite obvious when something intrigues me that much so i tried to keep my focus on my pollo championes (is that how its spelled? i wonder) that tasted exactly lke the roast chicken in Dave's Deli. I was amazed with that too. Shit! Im easily amused, arent i?
By the way,thank god for the heated pool, it took my mind off the moustache and into the pool with Patrick and Martin and ohh.. our new found frined, Rambo. He is the security guard that was around the area, guarding while we took a dip ( and a picture with him too! i dont know why). We had an early cool morning drive out of the scrawny town, up and down, round and round the hills, heading towards the next border. It was so good.. I dont know what made it so good and my mind could think clearly ( i actually resolved few issues in my head that morning). Maybe it was because of my full tummy with heavy breakfast, cooked by papa as the motel didnt serve any breakfast. At 6.30am, he prepared 3 packets of maggi in a bowl and a cup of milo for me. I think he thinks im a pig, what say you? Not that im complaining as i did finish without any hardwork but really, am i? Am i?
The good feeling didnt last that long as we've reached the Mexican border, we were stuck there for half a day due to unnecessary situation. Thanks to my 'lucky charm', we got thru the border by 6pm. Spending a night at Tapachula wasnt so good as i could recall but Puerto Escondido, which was the next town that we spent the night was great. Great, great, great. You see, i like small towns. I find that the people are friendlier, the food they serve is original, not confused to suit to certain international taste and the ambience is just relaxing, easy going where one can enjoy the time they spend. Puerto Escondido was great! Next day, we drove up to Acapulco without going into the beach area as the city wasnt impressive at all as i thought it would be.. Dirty, unfinished building, poverty, too commercialized made us skip and headed for Toluca. But before that, we said our goodbyes and many thanks to Buby and Barbara who are heading back to Buenos Aires. I will miss them.. they are so much fun to be with.
Anyway, back to Toluca(telur ka?), it's a city which is 2400mtrs above sea level so you could well imagine how's the tempreature was like. Driving up to the city/town, we went thru small indi villages with superb views and i was wondering why were they covering themselves up with pochos and sweaters. Then i realized how high we were and upon arriving, it was cold, freaking cold. And these two Malaysians just strolled in with t-shirts, shorts and flip flops! Malaysia Boleh! Hehe..
Hmm..Let me see. There was Torren 1150kms up north from Toluca, a small town that we stopped by to overnight since the sun had dawn on us and left early in the morning towards the American/Mexican border. After driving 904kms, we reached Santa Teresa, an easier check point, rather than going thru El Paso's check point and got ourselves a very much needed comfy room in Holiday Inn El Paso, where we are now.. So far, it has been one hell of a trip. Crossing Central America without Maxis line was hard for me especially when it comes the need to talk to adik and unconsistent internet service has put me on hold in writing the blog. As i've said before, i would love to have my friends, my adik to be with me (rather than writing, i aint a writer) and see what i see, feel what i feel and experience new, everyday joy that makes life worth living. No doubt,as foreseen, a lot of money was spent (and a lot more to come till we get back), time taken and unexpected scenes arise but it was all well worth it. And if i have to do it all over again, i would.But this time.. come with me. I promise you, you wont regret it..

what can i say about dominical..

it has been 4 days since i got here in dominical.. and things are still the same. been raining everyday in the afternoon and i miss being on the road. honestly i do! well, to keep myself occupied, i found a new love. its called directv.. hehe. it is something like astro, only better! they have every channel that you can imagine and the bonus point is their radio station. it provides the title, artist and the album of the song that is on at the moment. i love it.. love love love it. hard habit to break by chicago, right before my eyes by southside hustlers, real girl by nutya buena, black horse by kt tunstall.. one minute i was doing salsa, then switched to trance then love songs then on the bed, reminiscing on my past life (yawn.. it seems so far away now, im way over it thanks to you my dear, you know who you are)then back to tv in english and maybe spanish (yes..im learning). everywhere i go, i would fall in love with something..even when i thought i was gonna die of boredom while waiting for HIM and the car, i found myself a new toy to play with. lucky lucky lucky me.. or am i that easy to be pleased?
by the way.. hantu and i went for horseback riding to nauyaca waterfalls. obviously, it is nothing compared to angel falls but i had a good time with the horsie horsie.. mine named pacheko. cute yea? he's 10 years old and very very slow (like me when im stoned) and loves to eat (like me again!) every 100 mtrs ride, he'll stop to eat. im the last one to arrive at every stop! thats how slow he was.. nauyaca falls is great, the main guide looks like pacheko and the one who asked for my number reminds me of zaid a.f.. eeww.. i kinda like horse riding but i cant stand the pain on my ass. it hurts even now! im lack of fats you see, so papa suggested to put cushion if i wanna take up riding. no, gracias.. maybe till im 50kgs.. thats my next mission in life.
being here, having all the time to myself makes me wonder and think about my life a lot. i dont wanna think about it, i hate thinking about it. the problems i have, the future problem that may arise and the ones that ive dealt with. at the moment, there is one. how open are we to talk to our father about love life? not that im in love right now but my whole life, i dont talk about it, at all. i just let them find out by themselves and it wasnt a proper way either. im older now and i wanna be open to him (since i could drink openly here, why not talk about it?) but i feel awkward and this goes to my mother as well. do you have a problem like this, friends? how do you handle it? should i just say it out or keep it to myself? lemme know coz im tired.. too tired to think.lazy too perhaps. maybe it is for the best if i give up.. maybe its better to be on my own.. so far, it has been great (didnt have that much of a choice do i?) but i know i am missing something every time i see a couple passing by, holding hands and embracing each other..this is not me talking.
enough! of these crappy things.. i must get back to my beer, pool and ipod and think of the next thing i could play with ( double meaning!)wondering alone is not an ideal thing to do when you are in costa rica. i should have fun! damn the ports, the clearance, the country, the security and bureaucracy.. i will try to give you fools a hell of a time when you are in mine! dont let me catch you in my territory ok.
posted here are some pictures i took in dominical.. resort is lovely, beach is a surfer's paradise, food is great and the people are friendly.it's not you dominical but i cant wait to get out of here and head to alaska!
p/s adik.. you are right. i do sound like im talking to myself when i write. wonder if that is good or bad..