This week I finally scrubbed the Yellowstone dirt off my hiking shoes. I'm sunning them now and soon they will retire into a box and into oblivion for a very, very long time. =( Goodbye summer days in the sun, hello office days in flourescent lighting and too-cold air-conditioning.

Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
Into the rose-garden. My words echo
Thus, in your mind.
. . . . . . . . .. . . . . But to what purpose
Disturbing the dust on a bowl of rose-leaves
I do not know.

How did I end up in Yellowstone?

Work and Travel USA Program.

I first came in the summer of 2005, with Speedwing as my agent. My job, as a server assistant (aka the person who pours water and clears the table and cleans it and resets it) sucked and my pay sucked but I honestly enjoyed myself most of the time, being away from the drudgery of life back in Singapore. And there is so much to do in this beautiful place, so many different people to meet, so many new perspectives to gain. So I chose to come back this summer, and I have not regretted my decision even for a moment.

This time, I came on the self-arranged program under ASK Management, meaning that I had to talk to Xanterra (the company operating Yellowstone facilities), plan my own flight itinerary etc, saving SGD300+ in the process. Not to mention greater freedom in planning. I came back to the same job of server assistant in same old Dining Room, Grant Village, Yellowstone National Park. I thought I would be picking up where I left off 2 years ago but so many things had changed: the whole management team, the Dining Room carpet and furniture, operating systems, and not a single person from '05 was here. The beginning was kind of rough: we were understaffed and overworked, people had already completed training together and formed cliques by the time I arrived, and I was the only foreigner in the entire front-of-the-house staff. But things got better rapidly. I started training as server (aka waitress) in my 2nd week, and did that full-time from week 3 onwards. Why is that such a huge improvement? 1) Much better money; remember that people tip here and the restaurant I work at is rather expensive. 2) Chatting with guests becomes part of my job, and I no longer feel like I am holding my server up or something. 3) I move between the front and back of the house and therefore get to know more people better. 4) It is simply more dynamic and way more fun. The kitchen and the other servers are rowdy and work is so much more enjoyable when there are people to monkey around with. 5) I pick up more skills, from dealing with people to alcohol knowledge, which I will otherwise not bother to learn.

6) Heavier responsibilities and therefore greater job satisfaction. Like, it just makes your day when people show their appreciation for you, not just in terms of bigger tips, but like, telling you about their day, asking you about your day, showing you pictures of their grandkids, offering free whitewater rafting trips, giving you candy, inviting you to visit them whenever you're in their state, or simply telling you how much better you made their day. And how some guests bother to remember your name when you don't even know theirs, and spend time filling out fancy comment cards for you. It also makes me happy when people who enter crabby leave all smiling and friendly.

So, although my job can be very physically taxing and frequently stressful, I think it's the best job in the park and I am happy =)

You should come to Yellowstone too!

How did I end up in Yellowstone?

So I have obviously been too lazy to post anything, coz the internet connection here is not exactly the fastest in the world. To see pictures (which are not too frequently updated as well), just find me on Facebook with 'Kheng Hui Ang'.

Okay here is a picture of the feast we made the last time we camped, which was at Shadow Mountain, a beautiful site facing the Teton Range, where the sun sets behind those mountains and rises on them. Aspen groves and purple wildflowers cover the mountain, and at night, you can see the lights of Jackson Hole shimmering in the distance.

We made the fanciest meals ever, even had pancakes and bacon and fruit kebabs and rosti-style potatoes for breakfast. And then after we broke camp we all went to String Lake in Grand Teton National Park for a swim, and then to Jackson Hole for Thai food! It was fun.

I missed last weekend's camping trip though, because I was having cramps and couldn't imagine fording a river and dragging a huge pack 5 miles into the backcountry. So I went to Shoshone and Lewis lakes for a long, leisurely hike instead. AND YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED?! I tried to throw my backpack across a river before jumping over myself. The pack cleared the river alright, landed on the opposite bank and happily rolled into a hidden pool on that side. My camera enjoyed a ten-second dip in the cool waters of Lewis Channel. I'm still trying to dry it out =( I hope it'll be okay *wail*. But the trip was fun, and the lakes were beauuu-teee-fuuulll, especially at sunset.

i love camping

So there are basically 2 types of camping: car camping, in which you drive straight up to the campsite; and backcountry camping, in which you pack your tent, your sleeping bag, food and other barang barang, and hike into a backcountry campsite.

The first time I went camping this season, it was car camping with several other restaurant folks, and we went to Beaver Creek, which was the place I last camped before leaving Yellowstone in 2005. It was a different tent site but it brought to the surface such a dizzying mix of emotions. I was really happy to be back in that pretty place, by the same creek in the same valley, but it also made me miss the people of the summer of '05, with whom I may never ever meet again. So Noah and I pitched our tent right out in the open just beside the creek, because he said he thought it will be wonderful to be lulled to sleep by the sound of flowing water (but the next morning he said it just felt like he was sleeping next to a really noisy air-conditioner). This was the view from our front porch:

As usual, there was alot of drinking around the campfire, and after a while Corey, Frankie, Duga and Shannon discovered they could all balance beer cans on their heads and they absolutely needed to take pictures as proof of their rare talent. I love these people. In the past, at most campfires, everyone gets so happy-nonsensical-drunk it's kind of lonely to be the only sober person around, but luckily for me, Noah doesn't drink, and most people I have campfire-d with so far remain able to hold decent conversations. Yay!

Oh and we saw a moose and her calf that night! The pair wandered to within ten metres of us and gave me a bit of a shock when I saw something big and brown moving. That was so cool though. Before we left the campsite the next day, Shannon, Noah, Corey and I took another last picture.

Then the following week, Noah planned a backcountry camping trip to a site near Fairy Falls, and everyone bang-seh-ed him, and in the end only Anlin, Markus and I joined him. Only after Noah got the camping permit did I realize my Yellowstone guidebook says that site rates only 1 out of 5, and has "no view, no water source, no campfires allowed." Best. But since we got the permit we decided to go anyway. No campfire meant no cooking and alot of mosquitoes. When we nibbled away at our sad dinner of chocolate, chips, pretzels, EDR-stolen bananas, apples, peanut butter, while the mosquitoes dined on us, and it started to get dark and chilly, we totally felt like homeless people.

And I have also finally understood the importance of a campfire: it occupies you. You can always go look for firewood, feed twigs to the fire, poke at it, or just watch the dancing flames. Without a campfire, we were like, "Er... now what?". So.... we decided we should squeeze into Noah's tent to watch Kill Bill on his PSP. Haha. Unglam, uncool and un-gungho. We are the first people I know who watch movies when camping. Backcountry camping, at that.

But this atypical camping experience was followed the next day by a super backcountry camping trip at Ribbon Lake, which is reached by a hike along the Yellowstone Canyon rim. This time it was with Qiuqun, Liyan and the two funny Serbian guys Milan and Mario. The hike was beautiful, the campsite was on the edge of the lake, campfire was allowed, we cooked sausages and smores and alot of weird stuff like tofu on it, and basically just had alot of fun. It was awesome! Unfortunately I left my camera in the car, so no pictures folks, till I get them from Qiuqun =)

Oh on the same day, the four of them wanted to climb Mt Washburn, and since I've already done it and was feeling lazy, I sat on a grassy hillside in the lee of the wind reading "Memories of my melancholy whores" while waiting. It was a beautiful day, there were wildflowers everywhere, and whenever I lifted my eyes from my book I rested them on the soothing greens and blues of the landscape:

At times like this, life feels so perfect and peaceful, and I am content. I don't know how I can ever bring myself to leave this place.

Graduation Pictures

These are such reputation-annihilating pictures I simply HAD to post them. Liyan fooling around with Jamie's academic dress.

And Jamie's beanie too.

Yes this is my room =)