We Leave for Whittier

The day began early as usual. We had to be up early and there were lots of people on the tour and we had to eat our breakfast and check out by 8.30am to hop on the bus. While waiting for the bus to arrive, we walked around the hotel area to take some pictures. Then we were off on the bus to the first stop for the day: The Alaska Native Heritage Center. It was a very short ride and we arrived at the center even before it opened at 9am!

We waited a while and were finally given our tickets and went in. First stop was the theatre for a short film about the natives. It was interesting although we had to go off halfway for a toilet break (you seem to pick the best times!). When they show was finished we had a walk around the compound of the building where there were model traditional village sites of Alaska's indigenous people. They had model buildings as well as displays of the things used by the natives. There is someone in each place to show you or answer any questions we may have.

We took a picture with the gray whale bone (bottom left)

Ah Kong could not squat to take the picture, so it's a little "unique"

Daddy even tried his hand on their hunting equipment. Something which was like a spear which came with a handle. Not too bad for his first time. He didn't hit the target but he hit the haystack and not the ground.

The guy who was in charge of the spear thingy demo also showed us the kayak which was used by the natives and explained how it is very much similar in design to the modern day kayak. Before long it was time to head back to the main building as it was time for their dance and song performance. It had already started. They were introducing their costumes of the various tribes.

It was soon time to head to the bus at 10.45 as Paul had requested. We stopped by the gift shop to pick up a few things and went to wait for everyone else to board the bus. We waited for quite a while as there was a couple missing and Paul could not locate them. In the end we left without them after Paul had left a message for them to hop on the center's shuttle to the Saturday Market in Anchorage.

Nope, we did not have time to head to the Saturday Market (although I'd love to..). That was the end of our bus ride with this tour company. They dropped us off at our next stop, the Egan Convention Center. We tagged our luggage, got our bus pass and then headed to have lunch. Ah Kong went off with Ah Ma to buy something and we decided to have the yummy pizza for lunch. It was drizzling so we made a mad dash to the shop which thankfully was just nearby. How good was the pizza? Have a look:

.. and you finished the whole slice! We finished lunch and still had some time so we headed to the 5th Avenue Mall (which we hadn't gone to during the few days we had in Anchorage). Wandered around, had no time to shop *sob* and headed back to the convention center to prepare to board the next bus.

Met up with Ah Kong and Ah Ma and soon it was time to hop on the bus which would bring us to Whittier. IT wasn't a long ride, less than 2 hours but you napped all the way. It was rainy weather as we drove to Whittier but the scenery was still lovely.

Before we had left the city, the bus driver had mentioned that we would drive through a tunnel. By the time I woke you up, we'd already driven past the tunnel.. or so I thought. You woke up asking where the tunnel was and I had to tell you that it was nothing interesting, even shorter than the one on the highway to Ipoh!

Then we came to a halt. What was it? We had come to the REAL tunnel. It was not time for us to go through the tunnel yet and many vehicles (train, cars and buses) were queuing up for their turn to go through the tunnel. We were going to drive through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel . It was a 4 km long tunnel and we could not see the end of the tunnel for a long time. Shortly after we exited the tunnel, we saw this:

What was it? Our "home for the next 7 days. The Diamond Princess"