Sunday 24 July 2016

"Come to Seattle next time, it's much better"

This weekend two of my cousins living in Seattle drove down to Portland.

We had brunch at Broder, this Scandinavian-influenced place and I think we waited 1 hour for a table, one hour for service and then a half hour to eat. Yum?

We went through confusing pathways in my cousin's SUV Jeep to find the Saturday Market, wandered around there for a bit, walked to Voodoo Donuts and decided that the line was too long for donuts, then went to Washington Park where the Japanese Garden and Rose Garden are situated.

My cousin (the one who just came back from Hong Kong and not the one with the SUV) caught 75 Pokemon in Pokemon Go that day.

Then we went to Pok Pok where the wait for a table was 2-21/2 hours!! We had takeout instead. It was decent food, but not worth the wait!!

I then had horrible sleep at an AirBnB place and in the morning we set out for the Multnomah Falls hike. There was a really cool view at Vista House which reminded me of Yangshuo in China.

When we got to hiking, I felt bad because they are both regular runners/hikers (I had warned them of this beforehand) and felt that I kept on slowing them down. I think my last more than one-hour hike and up more than 500 ft was back near Charlevoix during the summer of 2009! I mean, I like hiking, but I like to go at my own pace, which is called "Very Slow" for most other people, and I usually go hiking in groups, so I actually hate hiking because I always feel both rushed and guilty at the same time. Anyway, after many waterfalls we got a quick bite to eat (at McDonald's in Troutdale) and after many annoying roads, they dropped me off and rushed back to Seattle. Before getting back into the car, they said, "Come to Seattle next time, it's much better. We're Seattle snobs now."

Well, I guess it's because of the roads, and I guess Portland isn't that special, but I think it's not too bad. Except for the lines.

I am now here at a reconverted factory/hotel in downtown Old Chinatown. It's really weird because I'm the only Chinese person here in this white-owned hotel yet they are advertising aspects of Chinatowns. I am sitting on a rooftop patio typing this.

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