As I walked along Pike Market on my own, an incident reminded me why I had always felt unsafe while visiting the states. I always get acousted by weird strange man. Several years ago when I was in L.A walking alone, a group of guys in a car slowed down to hassle me until a patrolling car came to my rescue.
This time, while I was minding my own business relooking at my camera shots out in open streets in broad daylight, this crazy guy suddenly grabbed me by my arm, asking with a smile if I want to take a picture with him. Fking hell. That totally caught me off guard and jolt me with momentary shock. I couldnt even swear at him because I didnt know if this joker had any guns with him and if he is trigger happy. So all i did was to wrestle his hands off and walked off. I didnt care what he was saying next. I just wanted to widen the distance between us.
And when I boarded the bus back to my friend's place, I felt really uncomfortable with alot of "homeless" looking people sitting across me and staring at me. It's just the whole mannerism that really doesnt sit well with me. I wasnt being a snob or anything but their super unfriendly expression really gets to me. In other countries, I didnt see as much poorly dressed people congregated in place as I do in states.
The incident at Pike was a real reminder that I was in a foreign land, where a woman's safety and security are not a given thing. One should assume the worst possibilty here and not think the best of people. There are too many crazy people here who can do really nasty things to you if they want to.
Showing posts with label Seattle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seattle. Show all posts
Saturday, August 16, 2008
2nd day in Seattle -City
The next day in Seattle was shopping time considering the weak US currency! I have got to be a moron not to take advantage of the lower price now, so I headed off for a great spree! As usual, Max Mara never fails me. After hunting high and low all over, I managed to find 2 gorgeous dresses at MM. I was feeling fabulous already!
Lunch was again fantastic at Etta's....
Its still new to get accustom to the idea of a full meaty crab cake full of crab meat... Oh i love the dungess crab!
Since we had so much time to kill, we ended up catching a flick -The Mummy 3. It was a little disappointing and I didnt quite like it as much as the earlier 2. Somehow the characters lacked chemistry together, the sequence is thin and only Brendan and the guy acting as Jonathan were holding the show together. The new lead actress just couldnt draw me in into her role. She just wasnt convincing.
When we passed this children's boutique, we stopped and bought couple of dresses for our host's daughter and another good friend who was delivering. The little girls dresses were sooooocute and gorgeous! I almost wish they had the adult version. They were those prim and proper floral french like dress complete with outer cardigan etc. It was fun picking because I knew exactly which style will suit which kid (with one half korean-german and the other half american-chinese!)
It was pretty strange boarding the public bus back. For some reason, we didnt have to pay any fare at all because at some timing, the bus is apparently free. I am not sure how it works but I am certainly not complaining since the driver said I didnt have to. Free public transport at specific time, another new concept to get use to...
BBQ that night was great and since their in laws were in town, it was a good gathering of fun, food and drinks. Even baby sage didnt want to sleep and joined us for our late dinner instead.
Lunch was again fantastic at Etta's....
Its still new to get accustom to the idea of a full meaty crab cake full of crab meat... Oh i love the dungess crab!
Since we had so much time to kill, we ended up catching a flick -The Mummy 3. It was a little disappointing and I didnt quite like it as much as the earlier 2. Somehow the characters lacked chemistry together, the sequence is thin and only Brendan and the guy acting as Jonathan were holding the show together. The new lead actress just couldnt draw me in into her role. She just wasnt convincing.
When we passed this children's boutique, we stopped and bought couple of dresses for our host's daughter and another good friend who was delivering. The little girls dresses were sooooocute and gorgeous! I almost wish they had the adult version. They were those prim and proper floral french like dress complete with outer cardigan etc. It was fun picking because I knew exactly which style will suit which kid (with one half korean-german and the other half american-chinese!)
It was pretty strange boarding the public bus back. For some reason, we didnt have to pay any fare at all because at some timing, the bus is apparently free. I am not sure how it works but I am certainly not complaining since the driver said I didnt have to. Free public transport at specific time, another new concept to get use to...
BBQ that night was great and since their in laws were in town, it was a good gathering of fun, food and drinks. Even baby sage didnt want to sleep and joined us for our late dinner instead.
Arriving at Seattle -Pike Market
It's always handy to have a friend in foreign city where you can bunk over. So we booked a quick shuttle coach and headed straight to Seattle for 2 days. It wasnt too bad a journey, about 4 hours bus ride inclusive of time across the US land border customs.
Surprisingly, we got a really nice and friendly custom officer. The whole process was a relative breeze. I had expected some major hold back like the JFK airport with shoes off xrays etc but there wasnt. We chatted abit about Singapore and he laughed when I smiled candidly for the webcam shot, stating that I was the first for the longest time he remembered. Apparently, most people have this impression that one has to have that solemn expression for shots as such. Before the bus herd us off, there was some mild drama with one guy being held back. We werent sure what happened but he couldnt clear the customs and his friend who did had to get off the bus and stay back as well.
The first pit stop when we arrived was straight to Pike Market. The first thing I saw was obviously the space needle which was cute but isnt as impressive. Seattle obviously hasnt caught up with technology at their carparks. Suffice to say, it was backward and utter waste of time to try to get the ticket and back to car to place the ticket. You would expect such a heavily visited place to have better system...
Surprisingly, we got a really nice and friendly custom officer. The whole process was a relative breeze. I had expected some major hold back like the JFK airport with shoes off xrays etc but there wasnt. We chatted abit about Singapore and he laughed when I smiled candidly for the webcam shot, stating that I was the first for the longest time he remembered. Apparently, most people have this impression that one has to have that solemn expression for shots as such. Before the bus herd us off, there was some mild drama with one guy being held back. We werent sure what happened but he couldnt clear the customs and his friend who did had to get off the bus and stay back as well.
The first pit stop when we arrived was straight to Pike Market. The first thing I saw was obviously the space needle which was cute but isnt as impressive. Seattle obviously hasnt caught up with technology at their carparks. Suffice to say, it was backward and utter waste of time to try to get the ticket and back to car to place the ticket. You would expect such a heavily visited place to have better system...
Pike Market was less interesting than I had imagine. It's just another fresh produce place and tourist trap/ junk place. Apart from seafood and some fruits, we were not interested to check out other stuff on display. The scallops were huge though! Gia-normous! Some were even the size of my palm!
There are multi-levels and basement but it was an utter waste of time.
We walked along the shops and our friend showed us the very FIRST starbucks location. Even the logo is distinctive different and its brown in colour!
However, lunch was good. We had seafood at Ettas and the mussels and dungeous crab crabs were yummilicious! However, the fish and chips were pretty lame sad to say...I have never seen such soggy overcooked fries in my life!
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