Land of the midnight sun

Alright, I’ll try to do a more decent blog post compared to the previous one.

Alaska’s beautiful! But the weather isnt being very kind to us. Of all the days that we’ve been here, I think we’ve only experienced 3 days of sun that is fit for a summer day; the rest of the days are cloudy; gloomy and sometimes rainy. It snowed at one point today! Imagine snowing in summer.. that’s Alaska for you.

In the land of the midnight sun, well, the sun doesnt set. It can be 1am and the sky looks like it’s at 6pm in Singapore.

Cycling here is really different from our trainings. The cold winds are a mighty big challenge, especially on down slopes. And the hills.. oh my god. If Desaru was bad, this place is probably 10 times worse.

Living out of the backpack with these people have been so much fun. We do laundry together, so we’re all pretty familiar with everyone else’s undies and bras; we smell each other’s farts so much that it has become quite a normality; we scold vulgarities at each other; and some of the guys are like brothers to me, teasing me like i’m their little sister.

So this is where we’ve living for the last few days..

Campsites..

Our freak-ass good North Face tents

living in the wilderness.

at some campsites, we have to use this water pump to pump water! How primitive! But it’s all good fun.

Making use of the campsite as much as possible.

RV Parks..

James just waking up

Our food crate! Groceries are pretty scarce here, and very expensive. So we’ve been stocking up on canned food as much as possible.

And here’s what we see when we’re cycling..

Marvelous mountain views

This was a particularly cold morning.. here’s me and bestie feeling a little miserable

and.. it was raining..

Halfway into the ride

Another day’s ride, the weather was so much better

Here’s me climbing up a hill

Rest and Relax

Kayaking at Byer’s Lake

Absorbing sceneries

Crazy walking through the cold river to get onto the rock in the middle

Of course, not forgetting the cam-whoring sessions

Endless roads; blue skies; white fluffy clouds – Perfect summer day

Fireweed

They have a moose dropping festival at Talkeetna; and even their “road closed” sign has moose antlers!

The hood of the car says “Pooper Duty”

Having an animal of a time

Denali National Park
Weather was seriously shit. It was a cold, wet and cloudy day. We couldnt see any mountains at all. But.. we paid for the bus tour, so we had to go for it.

Here’s probably the best view of the day. Still, it didnt fail to take my breath away.

Up in the cold cold lookout of Mount Eielson

and… it started snowing!!!!!!! Snowing in summer!!

Pretty water crystals on the flowers

Us in the bus, waiting for the guide to point out some wildlife

Eating good food

This is one of the best place that we’ve eaten. They have the best food all round; down to their chocolate chip cookies!

Their Mooster Burger with some Mediterranean veg soup

This place is called Salmon Bake, which is near where we’re staying now, and it’s the place we’ve been visiting most often. Their food is pretty damn good too.

This is their Denali Burger. It’s meeaaann stuff man.

OKay folks, updates soon. =D

Welcome to Moose Country

Day trip to Seward

It was the third day, and we decided to head down to Seward to check out the wilderness; and also to visit the Exit Glacier.

First stop: Mount Aleyska. It was a hike up to the snowy top

After an hour od steep climbing, we finally saw some snow at last.

Snow!! The guys decided to go topless

Northface keeps us warm

After lunch, nice shot with Jasbir baby

Hanging out at Summit Lake

Exit Glacier!

Wispy stream running through the trail

Elation!

Crossing the glacial streams to get closer to the glacier

Then it was on to Seward town for dinner

We’ve started riding!!

Starting off from Anchorage

Kim, with her children Jonathan and Joy, who has helped us in any way they can.

Ride ride ride

I was in the safety vehicle for the day

First flat!!

Poor Yukina got dirt sprayed all over her face

We’ve reached Wasilla

Then on to Rocky Lake campsite

The guys set up the tent..

and girls cooked

warm warm fire

Dinner!

All of us warming up by the fire

Day 3 reporting on Day 2

Alright, this is what Day2 is about.
Do bear in mind that the first 4 days is to get used to Alaska, that’s why we’ve not startung cycling yet but just enjoying to our hearts’ content.

Anyway, thanks my dearest ngia and baos for your compliments!! Ngia, thanks for being such a fan!! It’s so heartwarming when i read that msg. (=

Our room! 6 bunk beds, 9 people. So 2 have to sleep on the floor. But it’s all good fun. Look at the amount of laptop adaptor wires we have on the floor.. proud students of smu indeed..

Mr Daren Hansen, this gentleman who used to work at SMU arranged for us to visit some businesses in Anchorage.

Alaska Seafood and Sausage. They specialise in smoking fishes and making sausages. Even reindeer and moose sausage!

We have to wear these overalls and paper hats. Taking some silly photos while waiting for the person in charge to get off the phone.

Sharma Traffic Control. They do… some traffic related jobs.

Alaskans do bring their dogs to work.

Artic Roadrunner Hanburger Joint. We’re supposed to meet the owner, but he wasnt around, but we ate there anyway. Their burgers were MEGA awesome.

Alaska’s Airmen Association

There’re alot of these kinda seaplanes around the lake

Random shots..

The team!!!!

Back at the hostel, where we began to fix our bikes

And.. I cooked dinner! Spaghetti with moose sausage (yah, real moose) in tomato cream sauce

The last frontier – Day 0 & 1

Alright, it’s Day 2 now, but I’m too tired to upload more than the photos from Day 0 & 1. So.. more to come!

Team shot at the airport

First stop: Narita airport

Second stop: Seattle airport

We’re crossing nights and days like nobody’s business, and in the sky, we lost all sense of time

Finally: Ted Stevens International Airport, Anchorage, Alaska!!!!! (25 hours later)

The big red ford that’s gonna be our safety vehicle. How are we gonna get 8 adults, 8 bikes and ALL the equipments into it?

s-q-u-e-e-z-e!!

Home for the next 4 days – Spenerd International Hostel

The cosy comon area in the hostel

with the greedy Skeeter, who’s attracted to be by the only fact that i was holding a piece of pizza

Pizza dinner with Kim, Dave, Jonathan and Joy (Jasbir’s friends)

Joy!

Group shot outside the hostel

The day has come.

I was having dinner with my family this evening at this restaurant that we frequent. And one uncle asked why in the world would I want to go Alaska to cycle. In his words, “you can’t go Pulau Ubin to cycle meh??”

He asked further, “so what are you going to get in return?”
Me, not knowing how to explain the sense of satisfaction, said, “hmm.. the shiok feeling lor.”
Him, “see! shiok only!?! not like you’re coming back with some medal or something right!”

One thing out of the many things i’ve learnt from this expedition is, you dont need medals to feel the sense of satisfaction and the sense of achievement, do you?

I really would like to thank EVERYONE for all your support. It really means alot to me when I receive messages telling me that you’re proud of me. Thanks to my friends whom I have flown aeroplane in certain occasions and yet still understood (or tried to understand) my plight. Thank you for all the meals we’ve had, thank you for all the pats on the back, all your well-wishes and all the encouragements. When the going gets tough in Alaska, these will be the things that will keep me going.

Today is the day that we’ve all been looking forward to; all our work in the past 6 months is becoming a reality. To be quite honest, it still feels very surreal.

black, white, grey.

“I slept with her. I slept with her and the whole time, I was thinking about Meredith”
Grey’s Anatomy, Dr. McDreamy to Dr. Slone

I think humans invented black and white, because in truth, everything in life is in different shades of grey.