Seattle: Day 4

I left the hostel soon after writing the previous post and headed north from Chinatown via Broadway toward Capitol Hill. I was once again blessed by the nice weather and my legs were fresh for the long walk.

First, I arrived at a district called Pike/Pine. I was there early and all the shops were closed. I read that this area, along with Capitol Hill, has a lot of LGBT people. It was evident by the rainbow sidewalks and the rainbow flags outside of the storefronts.

I passed through Cal Anderson Park, which has a reservoir. There was a cone structure at one end of the reservoir that I thought was weird and interesting. Never seen something like that before.

Some weird cone structure at the reservoir

There were more shops as I walked through Capitol Hill. This area felt more like a suburban downtown with local stores and restaurants.

Signs of Capitol Hill

I walked a bit farther north to Volunteer Park where the Seattle Asian Art Museum and the Volunteer Park Conservatory are located. I didn’t go into any of them since I had no interest at the time.

Seattle Asian Art Museum

Volunteer Park Conservatory

According to Google Maps, Bruce Lee and his son, Brandon, were buried in the cemetery that’s adjacent to the park. I had to walk around the perimeter of the park to the other side to get into the cemetery. There were money left on the grave site by visitors that a homeless person would have been happy to acquire. I enjoyed the quote on the grave. It’s about cherishing the moment.

Very nice quote

Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee tombstones

I took a brief rest outside the cemetery at a lookout overlooking the water, the distant mountain, and the blue sky. I was deciding where to walk to next when I spotted the Capitol Hill Wishing Tree on Google Maps. I’ve never heard of a wishing tree before and haven’t seen it advertised anywhere. I should check it out.

View from the lookout

I walked east on E Galer St and found the tree. There was a sign there that said the tree was vandalized on June 6. I was disappointed to say the least. The tree is now just a normal tree and I couldn’t make my wish.

The Wishing Tree, without any wishes due to vandalism

I found it a little silly by what I just wrote. Humans put meanings in things. The tree is just a tree. I could have made my wish on any tree. I suppose I fell into the marketing scheme that this tree is somehow special. I’m sure it is. But then isn’t everything special?

The neighborhood in this area is residential and full of nice houses. I enjoyed my quiet walk in the shade and away from all the shops. I decided to head back to the hostel since I was getting tired of walking.

Going south on 15th Ave, I stopped at Nuflours Bakery. It’s a gluten free shop that sold ice cream sandwiches. Just what I needed since the day got hotter. I ate a Maple Thai Iced Tea ice cream sandwich. I wanted to try it because I don’t know what a Maple Thai is. I guess it tasted like maple.

I walked down 12th Ave and headed back. When I got into Chinatown there were so many people lined up on the streets in front of many shops. I soon learned that there’s a food walk today in Chinatown and I didn’t want to be part of it due to the massive amount of people. When I got back to the hostel I decided to rest a bit before I go to the library that’s only a few blocks away from me.

Around 2 PM, I went to the library. I sent an eCard to my dad wishing him a happy birthday. Then I tried to research things to do in Hawaii. Soon I realized that I don’t want to plan everything out. There are some sights that I want to see and the rest I’ll just follow the flow. It also occurred to me that I didn’t research Seattle ahead of time and just learned what I wanted to do on the day of.

I also noticed that the photo importing function on this Blogger site stopped working for Google Photos. I had to create an photo album first then I was able to import photos. I hope Google can fix this bug soon.

When I came out of the library there were still so many people on the streets. I took refuge again inside the hostel and called my dad to wish him a happy birthday on the phone.

In the kitchen area, I did a bit more research for Tokyo, more specifically where to stay and where to go after Tokyo. I still don’t know where to stay at, but I think I will go to Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka rather than going north to Hokkaido. From Fukuoka, I can take a ferry to Busan, South Korea. At least that’s the plan so far.

Around 5:30 PM, I was getting hungry. Finally, I was actually going to eat dinner. I decided on a restaurant called E-Jae Pak Mor that’s a block away from the hostel. Once again, I ordered something I never heard of. I had the Pak Mor Rab Rae. It looked like a big bun with noodles and vegetables in it. I was impressed by the way it’s made since the wrap is huge.

Pak Mor Rab Rae

For the rest of the day I stayed inside the hostel and thought about my trip so far. I felt like I should have booked four days rather than five days in Seattle. I feel a bit tired and bored. But one extra day is no big deal. I’ll be staying in Hawaii for two weeks total with a week on the Big Island and another week in O’ahu, where Honolulu is located. Maybe two weeks is a bit too much, but I’ve already decided.

I started to feel a bit lonely since I didn’t really talk to anyone in the hostel. It seemed like everyone is doing their own thing. I need to learn to feel comfortable traveling by myself alone. Looking back at my previous solo travels, I’m surprised at how I was able to handle loneliness. I was much younger and perhaps more brave.

I also thought about my route. I think it might be better if I backpack the Asia Pacific region first then bike tour Europe some time later. Also, I’m not sure how I want to travel South America, backpack or bike tour. Maybe that’ll be after Europe.

Knowing me, I started thinking what would happen after my travels. Most likely, I’ll have to get a job in the States. I’m not even sure where to live. Do I want to stay in King of Prussia or move elsewhere? And what kind of job do I want if I don’t want to stay in IT? I had to stop myself from thinking too much.

I went to bed around 9 PM and woke up at 6:30 AM. Guess what I had for breakfast? Dim sum again!

Today, I plan on taking the ferry to Bainbridge Island. There is supposed to be a good view of Seattle there.