Seattle, WA

Of all the cities that I went to in US, I'm gonna start with my favourite stop, Seattle.

Well known for its rainy weather, public market, and the space needle, the famous waterfront city sits right on the top of the norther-american west coast. It haven't been a usual choice within my circle of friends as one of the stops to visit when travelling in US. I chose it to be one of my stops mainly because of, Microsoft and Starbucks. In my thought, there must be a reason why these great companies are born here.

I was there for 4 days and 3 nights, I would say it was just enough for a short trip. If you arrived at Tacoma-Seattle International Airport (SEA), its pretty easy to get to the city. Just look for the light rail and it will bring you to downtown Seattle for about USD 2.50

Green Tortoise Hostel Seattle 

My accommodation which I highly recommend when visiting Seattle alone or backpacking style, is the Green Tortoise Hostel. Here's a few things that I like about the hostel: 

- Its right in downtown and very near to the light rail station towards the airport. Located at Pike Street, it is surrounded by many attractions such as the famous market, the first ever Starbucks, the gum wall and etc. 

- The rate is about USD 30-40 per night, which is a reasonable price for hostel stays in the US. This includes a breakfast every morning

- Some nights they even have free dinner, I was there for Taco night. The good part about it is not just about the free food, different people from all over the world will gather at the common area of course when theres free food and thats where you meet a lot of friends. 

- These guys know what a backpacker wants. Each bed has their own storage right under it where you can lock your belongings. 4 power outlets are provided for each bed with a mini fan and reading light, and of course, shades. There's coin operated laundry, and the bathrooms are very clean. 

- Activities! Pub crawls, free walking tours, music and etc. 

Pike Place Market 

Staying next to it, I went to the market almost everyday. I couldn't finish exploring the whole thing in a day. Farmer's market, fish market, public market, pike place market, it has all kinds of names, and I'm just gonna stick with THE market. Trust me you won't miss it

The Pike Place Fish Co. is one of the reason why the place if often known as the fish market. Fishmongers here toss and hurl the customers over the counters for wrapping, while shouting and repeating the order simultaneously. It is definitely a tourist attraction. While people are just watching, I braved up and asked the tough guys whether I can catch the fish behind the counter. And yes I did it :) 

Fish market tradition hahaha

A video posted by Clement Chai 俊龍 (@theclement_i) on Sep 9, 2014 at 4:25pm PDT

Fresh food of all kinds is all around the market, I had most of my meals here at the market. Seafood of all kinds. A few notable food joints: 

Market Grill- Salmon/Cod/Halibut Sandwich or with Rice and Salad

Michou- Deli place (Recommended by Starbucks Barista)

Pike Place Chowder- All range of chowders

Piroshky-Piroshky Bakery- Smoke Salmon Pate

Beecher's Handmade Cheese - Mac and Cheese 

Getting a good view of the city skyline 

The space needle is a beauty, but its not where you want to get your view from, it is what you want to see together with the skyline. So head to these 2 other options instead: 

Kerry Park

Accessible by public bus, or a walkable distance from the space needle. The park is located on a hill top, it takes a little bit of walking to reach the park but the scenery is worth it. Do reach the park right before sunset and stay until night time, the pictures will tell why. Best part, this is free!  

Columbia Tower 
The tower stands right downtown, also known as the Bank of America building. It is the highest building in Seattle. A ticket is required to access the top view, could be purchased at the lobby. The view gives you a 360 view of the city, from Mount Rainier, to Bainbridge Island, to Kirkland and of course the Space Needle. 

 

The First Starbucks 

Now this was a must for me, as I mentioned before I do collect Starbuck tumblers from the cities that I have ever visited around the world. Don't get surprise when you visit one of the biggest and well known coffee company in the world, and you see their pioneer shop is half a shop lot. History tells us that Starbucks when it started, it only sells coffee beans. After great demands only it started brewing in their shops. And that is why the first ever Starbucks is so small that it couldn't even fit the queue waiting outside. The merchandise is here is exclusive to the shop itself, not even the rest of Seattle. 

Hint: Ask the barista for a exclusive gift card, they do not put them on display

Underground Tours 

If you're into historical stuff, an underground tour is a must to do. Staying at the hostel, I got a discount for one of the many underground tour in Seattle called "Beneath The Streets". The tour guide is amazing. Spoiler alert*. He did few hundred year Seattle history in just 1.5 hours, guiding you through some of the underground (used to be street level) passage, and some notable old buildings on modern street level. 

Of course there are more things that I did, but these are some practical highlights for those who are stopping by at Seattle for a short visit. Overall, Seattle has this balance of urban and nature. People there live good lives, appreciates all little details of it. I was lucky enough to be there and none of the days rained.

Signing out with the rockstars of the tech world!

Next Stop. Portland

USA Summer 2014

Okay, because this is a long one, so I'm gonna separate them to each post for each city. This post will act as a overview and links bellow will lead you to the specific city post.

Basically I told my self that I need to escape from reality for a while right after my final exams on my final year. So I joined this 

USA Work and Travel Programme/ Cultural Exchange

That's Andrew and Kens, who I spent the working months with

US had been on the top of my wanted to go list, and conveniently my friend introduced me to an agent who does all the arrangement for the programme. People have been asking these questions: 

1. Who is the agent? Are they trust worthy? 

My agent is Esther, she have been very helpful, arranged all things necessary for me like Visa application, travel insurance, flights, the job and etc. I was introduced to her through a friend who went for the same programme a year before me. So I guess its pretty safe. 

2. What is Work and Travel Programme? 

Basically during the summer, people would be hiring for summer jobs all over the US. Such as summer camps, amusement or theme parks, or any businesses in the service industry.

I worked at a premium supermarket called Roche Brothers well known for their quality product and premium customer service. I was paid USD10/h and USD15/h on weekends or holidays, and I get to work about 40 hours a week. It pretty much covers the expenses and have some leftovers for travelling.

Our host Denise(Right) and her son Jared (Left), dinner with students from Thailand

3. How much did your whole trip costed? 

It started where I have to pay the agency for the package which includes visa application, insurance, job placement etc etc. Which is about SGD 1900. I chose Korean Airlines and it costed me in total of SGD 2200. And I brought about SGD 1200. I spent all the money I earned through the job and came back almost empty handed. So that means I spent only about SGD 5300 for the whole trip

4. What was your work about? 

As mentioned earlier, I work for Roche Brothers supermarket. There were other students who were working there too in the various departments, namely deli, kitchen, bakery, produce, and as for me the meat department. Most of the time I was serving customers on the meat counter, sometimes I do some prep stuff like meat cutting, burger making, and stocking. The main thing we get to learn is the way we deal with different types of customers with different needs, as the company focuses a lot on it. 

The meat department at Roche Brothers, tough guys!

5. What was your route for the whole 4 months? 

So I started by transiting in Korea, and reached San Francisco where I stayed for a few days and met up with friends. Then I took as domestic flight to Boston and made my way to Cape Cod where I worked for the summer. 

Over the off days during work, I went to Niagara Falls, Boston and the rest of Cape Cod. 

The next day after my last day of work, I left Cape Cod and head for New York for 3 days. 

Then to San Francisco, where I rented a car and drove down California Highway 1 all the way to San Diego for a week. 

Then took a flight from Los Angles to Seattle, took a train down to Portland, and ended my trip back at San Francisco. 

6. Your favourite stops?

Seattle, Boston and Niagara Falls

Those are most of the questions that people ask me frequently, any more questions feel free to ask at the comment section and I will reply. And here are the links to the posts:

(they will be clickable when they are ready)

East Coast 

Cape Cod, MA 

Boston, MA

New York City, NY

Niagara Falls, NY 

West Coast

Seattle, WA

Portland, OR

San Francisco, CA 

The drive down California State Highway 1 (San Francisco> Santa Cruz> Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, San Diego) 

This is my travel log

Yes, this is probably going to be one of the things that I got excited about and forgets later. I can't promise that I'll always be updating this place. 

My plans is to treat it as a travel log. 

Where I can share my journey with everyone.
Where other people can get tips with a personal point of view on their travel. 
Where I can just leave my friends at where it gets too detailed on travel advices. 

Probably gonna start with my recent US trip first. 
Then wind back to the previous travels that I did
Korea
Bangkok
Taipei

Sometimes maybe I can do some travel tips for those visiting both my home and second home.
Kota Kinabalu and Singapore

So far for Northern America and Asia

 

Few places on my checklist that are next: 
Bali
Tokyo
Vietnam
Hong Kong 

On a side, everyone collects something when they travel. For me, its Starbucks tumblers.
I haven't get a chance to take a complete photo of all of them together, currently about 20 of them. And sometimes, my friends get me some when they travel too.

Like I said, I can't promise when I will finish any of them. Just doing them on my free time. 


Cheers. Owh and Welcome :)