Where is the Kimchi?

One thing I like about Seattle is that it is a multi-cultural city and all year round, it promotes this by having events and festivals for the different cultures at the Seattle Center. Today's one was the turn of the Korean Cultural Celebration Ch'uSok (Harvest Moon Festival). As I had a busy day today, I only stayed for several hours which included some time to get something to eat for lunch. My initial intention was to try some Korean food that they had there, but the queue for it was just too long (it must have been free :-)) so I ended up getting some seafood instead from the Steamers restaurant there - yeah, I know it is not very Korean, but it was good.

As well as there being stands and displays introducing Korea and its culture, throughout the day, there was a lot of performances ranging from dancing, singing, martial arts demonstrations, playing of music instruments and tea ceremony demonstrations. Some of the performances were very similar to the performances that I saw at the Seattle's Chinatown-International District Summer Festival but they were still enjoyable to watch nevertheless - I really liked the performances of the different types of drums the most.

No, these are not the performers

One of the many drum performances

Are they in sync?

One thing that I did notice was that the martial arts demonstrators where mostly performed by kids aged 12 or younger. They were actually quite impressive and most definitely I would not pick on any of them. Hmm, thinking about it, I think I can take them on if we had a fight but I would say that wouldn't I ;-)

Hmm, can his kick reach my head??

Go Seahawks!!!!

Given that I have been following American Football and the NFL (National Football League) for 20+ years, one of the things that I really wanted to do since I arrived in the US was to go to a game. Although I support the New England Patriots, the Seattle Seahawks has also become a team very close to my heart (no prizes for guessing why). Unless you are a season ticket holder it would be near impossible to get tickets for a regular season game, but they are easier to get tickets for pre-season games. The last pre-season game before the season starts for the Seahawks on the 9th September was the game against the Oakland Raiders today at Qwest Field. Fortunately, me and my colleague managed to get some tickets. Originally we were going to be sitting at one of the seats at the top of the stadium (yep, a mountain top view), but my colleague knew someone who worked there so managed to get us seats in the club level. These seats were so much better with better views and also more comfortable. The game itself was good but as it was a friendly, we did not see some of the big named players and the atmosphere was so relaxed and not as tense. Overall, it was a very good experience and being able to shout, scream and abuse the opposition was a great laugh. I will definitely go to another game, but maybe try to go to one of the regular season ones to experience that atmosphere. Oh, just in case you were wondering, the Seahawks won the game 19-14 and no, I did not have a good view of the cheerleaders :-)

Before the crowds arrive

Our original seats were five rows from the top!!!!

Filling up...

During the game

Day trip to Portland, Oregon

After working over the past several weekend, last Sunday I decided to reserve a train ticket for Portland thus forcing me to go out and start enjoying my weekends again.

So today was the day of the trip and from it, I made several observations:

1. 4 hours train trip each way is a very long time. Thinking about it, in 4 to 5 hours I could have flown to New York.
   
2. This is the first time that I have traveled on an Amtrak train. Apart from it looking like a tin of sardines due to its metal shell, the interior is no different from a British Rail train.
   
3. I always get old women sitting next to me. Although, they have lots of free seat to choose from but they more often than not, they pick the seat next to me. Having said that the lady today was pleasant and we did have a good chat (and no, having headphone in your ears does not stop them from starting a conversation with you).
   
4. The train stations that we stopped at were very basic and to get to the station itself, you may have to walk across other tracks.
   
5. Never trust the weather forecasters. It was supposed to be mostly cloudy but it ended up being hot and sunny (although I am not complaining). I was just a bit overdressed.
   
6. There is always a Union Station wherever you go to in the US.
   
7. The people in Portland are really nice. Two independent individuals came up to me and asked me if I needed an assistance while I was just looking at a map. Both gave good advice as well.
   
8. There are quite a few beggars and homeless people around many parts of the city.
   
9. Preparation and research is important. This is something that I did not do on this trip so not surprisingly I got lost trying to found the Visitors Center (luckily for internet access of my phone so I can look up address and ask people).
   
10. Although I walked most of it (and my feet are still suffering), the transportation (buses, streetcar and light rail) are very easy to use and convenient.

As I was only there for 5 hours, I had to be selective to the sights that I could visit. In the end, I chose:

1. Downtown District
   
2. Portland Aerial Tram
   
3. The Saturday Market
   
4. The Waterfront
   
5. Portland Classical Chinese Garden
   
6. Pearl District
   
7. The Apple Store (come on, it is tax free shopping in Oregon State - did not buy anything from there though but I did buy a couple of Wii games from the GameStop next door)

Downtown District - this is the area where the Tourist Information Center is so this was the first port of call. After getting a much needed map and suggestions to where to go, I was fortunate to come across an Festa Italiana (Italian Festival) at the Pioneer Courthouse Square. As I had limited time, I did not stay too long but just enough time to get some snacks and catch some entertainment.

The Portland Aerial Tram is Portland's newest public transportation link connecting the city's South Waterfront district and Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and the Marquam Hill neighborhood. Although intended for students, staff and patients of OHSU, the 3 minute ride also provides the views of the forests, Mount St. Helens, Mount Hood and downtown Portland so it does get a fair share of tourist like me. For me, although the views from the capsule were good, I did not manage to get a clear view of the mountains due to the clouds. You can also see that Portland is slowly developing and not as built up as cities like Seattle.

View of Downtown Portland from the Aerial Tram

The Saturday Market is the number one attraction that was recommended to me by the Tourist Information Center and I could see why. The market was not like the normal weekly street market (well, it is open on Saturdays and Sundays), but one that you typically find at an annual festival. The market was spaced out across multiple streets and contains lots of stalls for shopping (clothes, jewelry, crafts etc), food and drinks as well as street entertainers and artists. The best thing was the atmosphere. There were just lots of people there having lots of fun.

Shopping, food and entertainment

After a quick walk by the Waterfront, the next stop was the Portland Classical Chinese Garden. I have always loved the old Chinese architecture so for me, this Suzhou-style walled garden was a must see. Admittedly, I was somewhat smaller than others that I have been to, but it was good to just sit and relax over a cup of Chinese tea looking as if you have been transported back to Ancient China.

Ancient China in modern Portland

My final stop was the Pearl District. Several colleagues recommended this to me for the restaurants and shops, so I decided to check it out although I was not planning to buy anything or have a meal). The problem about districts is that there span across blocks and blocks so I really don't think I found the heart of it. I did come across the Powell's Books though which I was told was the largest independent used and new bookstore in the world. Truthfully, it did not look that big to me :-)

In general, although most of the time was taken up on the train there and back, Portland is a nice little city to explore. I think that I will go back again in the future and maybe have the time to visit Washington Park with the Oregon Zoo and Portland Japanese Garden there.

Working too much......

We are already in mid August and since going to the Seattle's Chinatown-International District Summer Festival, I have been mostly at home working during the weekends. Deadlines have been coming thick and fast at work so no time to go out and have fun. The weather has not been great either which makes working at home less painful. Having said that, I did manage to pop out for a hour or so to the Bite of Seattle on the 21st July and also the Ballard SeafoodFest on the 28th July. Both have a food theme, but don't let the name of the SeafoodFest fool you. The seafood it is referring to is salmon, crab and shrimps/prawns (the Pacific Northwest is famous for these). As I have been there for several years now I knew what to expect but it is still disappointing that there isn't more different types of seafood on offer. I miss the seafood, like whelks, that we could get at any English seaside. Oh well, looks like I need to pay a visit back home for that :-(

Where are the fish balls, dim sum and satay food stands??

Last Saturday was the annual Seattle's Chinatown-International District Summer Festival and as I had not been to it in the previous years since arriving in Seattle, I decided to pay it a visit and hoping to get some food at the multiple street stands that were there. In fact, the food selection was disappointing with only one stand really selling chinese food. The others food stands were the usual corn on the cob stand, popcorn, BBQ ribs etc (the same one that you get at any other street festival so nothing special).

The most popular stands were the McDonalds (and not for the food), Western Union, Nielsen and Silver Dollar Casino. What do they have in common you may ask. Well, they were the stands that where giving out freebies and us Chinese really love a freebie - especially the old women who will queue jump or push you over to get there first. In fact, I joined in the fun (hey, I am Chinese you know ;-)) and got a t-shirt, a bag, and some playing cards (after I had to prove that I was over 21 to participate in the Blackjack game - the playing cards were the consolation prize with an umbrella being the main prize if i got a blackjack).

Where is the end of the queue for my freebies?

There was also a stage where they had traditional dancing, music playing, drill team performances, a Chinese opera concert and kung fu demonstrations. I only saw a couple of the Korean music and dance performances but they were very good.

Korean drums and dancing

The funniest part of this festival was the Karaoke competition. Just like Pop Idol or American Idol, you get both the good and the really bad. I must give these people credit though as they were very brave to go up on stage and perform - (and no, I was never tempted to participate). I thought the judges were too kind though and the entertainment would have increased more if they were as cruel as Simon Cowell and be honest with their opinions and not give diplomatic comments. Of course, that was never going to happen as it is just for fun. Although I did not stay for most of it - I left several times to get more food, I did think the top 3 were very good and deserve it.

Was her singing good or bad? Hmm, I cannot remember

The dancing was more entertaining than the singing in this performance

The judges - don't they look bored?

As some of you know that I really love architecture especially the temples and palaces of ancient China in Beijing. Seeing that there was a stand selling 3D wood build yourself models of the Temple of Heaven, I could not help buying one. Of course, it is still in its packaging and I have not started making it yet, but don't worry, I will take a photo of it when i have completed it. Knowing me though you will have to wait a very, very, very long time for it :-)

The Temple of Heaven model is on the far left. I bet my one is not going to look anything like that

Oh, I watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the local IMAX with some friends last night. The only screening that we managed to get tickets for was the 10pm so it did not finish until 12:30am. As it was a working day the next day, I ended up looking like a zombie. Luckily I did not have any meetings so I worked from home instead. Hooray that my workplace allows that option otherwise it would not have been a pretty sight in the office. Regarding the film, it was entertaining but I did not think the 3D parts in the last battle scene (only available in the IMAX version) added much to it.

Ballard Street Scramble

In order to know my neighborhood better, I participated in the Ballard Street Scramble this morning with a colleague from work. A Street Scramble is a fun competition that has teams running around local streets looking for 30 landmarks marked on a map. To prove that you are there, you have to answer a multiple choice questions relating to the building or place of interest. It sounds easy but the maps are not very detailed so you have to guess roughly where the place is. Here is a small snippet of the map where the triangle is the start/finish point and the circles are the places to visit:


Our intention was to do the 90 minute foot race, but due to being over optimistic and us deciding not to run in the heat, we got back 27 minutes late. This would have meant a 270 points penalty subtracted from the points that we accumulated by visiting the marked places. When we got back to the start/finish line, the organizers suggested that we should be enter the 3 hour one instead. This advice seemed sensible so we decided to do that. In the end, although we lost an hour against the competition (due to us finishing over an hour before we really needed to finish), we still did not finish last in our division and came in 10th out of the 12 teams. In general, this was good fun and I went to places that I had not been to before, but whether I will do it again, I am not sure.

For those of you who wants to know what I did on Independence Day - yes, the day that Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum saves the world from the aliens (only joking!!!) and one of the few National Holiday I get off work (not joking here :-(), I stayed at home all day catching up on watching a Hong Kong TV comedy series on DVD. I was planning to go to Gasworks Park for the WaMu Family 4th to see the fireworks but in the end I was just too lazy - I even missed it on TV. My goal is to go next year, but we'll see :-)

Tillicum Village - our Northwest Coast Native American Village

Given that it was a nice sunny day yesterday, I decided to go and check out the Tillicum Village tour. This tour is a 4 hour trip including a one hour cruise to Blake Island State Park (plus another hour going back to Seattle), a traditional Indian-style salmon buffet meal and Northwest Coast Native American dance performance, arts and crafts demonstrations and 30 minutes free time to check out the island. If you asked me to describe the tour, I would say that it is definitely a tourist trap and really not worth the money. Admittedly the food was very nice, especially the traditional Indian-style Baked Salmon and Warm Tillicum Whole Grain Bread and that you can get multiple helpings (I did take a photo of the food, but it came out blurry so I am too embarrassed to put this photo up on the site), but the dance performance was short and the 30 minutes was not really enough time to do anything. Blake Island is densely wooded and with many forested walking and hiking trails and 5 miles of beaches, there are lots of do there but with only 30 minutes, I would have missed my boat ride back if I wanted to make use of these. Thinking about it, given that half of the tour is spend getting there and back, maybe the main attraction is the cruise, but I must admit that you could get the same views from the Bainbridge Island ferry rides for only a few dollars.

Here are some photos from the water, from Tillicum Village itself and from the show (I was sitting near the back so it was a good use of my zoom and flash on my camera):

Seattle Waterfront

Space Needle and a cruise boat waiting to go to Alaska

The race is on...

Just in case...

Arriving at Tillicum Village

The Tillicum Village Longhouse

One of many totem poles on the island

Inside the Longhouse

Preparing the salmon for baking

The show

Oh, I also watch "Ratatouille" at the cinema and really enjoyed it. If you have not had the chance to watch it then I recommend it - as long as you can get over the thought that it is about a rat in a kitchen :-)