My Alaska Trip 04 Aug - 18 Aug 2005

Day 1 (04 Aug 2005)

Our flight was at 8.10am so we had to be at the airport at 6am. We finish our packing at 1.30am and woke up at 4.30 am to prepare to go to the airport. My elder brother - Lip Wee and my sister-in-law - Pei San who came over and stayed overnight help us with the luggages and drove us to the airport.

We arrived at the airport at 6am sharp. We checked in our luggages and one of the officer of China Airline asked me whether I brought along my Singapore IC. I did not as I thought my passport would be sufficient to prove my identity. But the officer cautioned me that it is more advisable to bring my IC as the rules and regulations had changed at the US custom after 9/11. So Agnes, Pei San and Lip Wee quickly drove back to get my IC and at the same time my birth cert, marriage cert and PR certificate while I waited at the airport for them. I met one of my colleagues who was going to Bangkok at the same day as well. Agnes and Lip Wee came back with the documents and we had coffee at the airport before we board our plane.

The plane was ok. No individual screens for entertainment but the stewardess were courteous and pleasant. Service was great and they speak with a tone that will make man simply melt. If u have listen to how Lin Zhi Ling speaks u will understand what I mean. We stopped over at Taiwan Chiang Kai Shek airport for 4 hours before we took another flight to Anchorage. That four hours were absolutely boring as there was nothing to do or see in the airport. So we ended up clutching our haversacks and slept on the chairs while waiting for our next flight.

Taiwan CKS Airport

Anchorage Airport




We arrived in Anchorage - a town in Alaska at 11pm. After taking some pictures at the airport, we proceed to our hotel. We arrive at the Howard Johnson Hotel via taxi. And the bellboy broke the handle of my biggest luggage while he was trying to carry it onto a trolley. Surprisingly I was not pissed at all. Think I am in the holiday mood so I am cool about it. After we checked into our hotel room, we walked to the downtown for souvenir shopping. Anchorage is a souvenir shopping paradise with lots of souvenir shop lining along the streets and best part of it is that Anchorage is Tax Free. No GST. No State tax or whatsoever. We bought the majority of our souvenirs in Anchorage. We went back to our hotel about 5pm to take a rest. While we were resting in our room, we realised that we have forgotten to bring the battery charger for our new panasonic camera. So we decided to visit the camera shop in Anchorage to see if we can buy a new charger. We finally found 1 shop and bought it at US$ 80. Kind of heartache to pay for it but I think this amount is nothing compared to the incovenicence of not being able to charge my camera.

Howard Johnson Hotel - The hotel that we stayed in Anchorage.




After we had purchased the camera charger, we went to this restaurant operated by a Japanese couple and had our Alaskan King Crab legs as our dinner. I mean how can we come to Alaska and miss eating the King Crab rite? The crab legs were steamed and the meat was juicy and tender. Cost us about US$ 30 for the meal. Two things of Anchorage that you will notice besides souvenir shops are the bear statues and colour building. We shopped till 11pm at night before we retire in our rooms for more action tomorrow. As it is summer now, sun set is at 11:30pm. So it is great for tourist like us who likes to shop.

Anchorage Post Office