Joined Contiki tour yesterday. Pretty hectic - bus took us from Vancouver to Vernon, in the Okanagon Valley - it's the Fruit producing valley for Canada.
21 young chikus + me :) plus the Tour Manager and driver. Mostly Aussies, some Americans and British. Had chinese buffet dinner - plenty of food.
6.30am morning call and left Vernon for Calgary - The Stampede (Rodeo). First time in a cowboy bar - lots of people drinking, dancing and loud music. They had a great band singing Country & Western. Interesting experience.
Left early with some girls and went to Walmart - shopping. Happy me - found 3 pairs of pants/shorts that fit pretty well. And 1 size smaller too from normal. Not that I've lost any weight. Eating like a horse (using cowboy metaphors since it's the rodeo:)))
Plan for tmr - Calgary Stampede. Yeehah.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Friday, July 13, 2007
Vancouver, British Columbia
This is a lovely port city, surrounded by sea on 3 sides. The weather has been cooperating nicely, 28 degrees, sunny skies.
Went to Horsehoe Bay, Lighthouse Park (Hostel free guided tour - they had a volunteer taking tourists out). Great trip but had to walk a lot:)
Granville Island market is fun too - plenty of food and buskers singing on the streets.
Jalan-jalan around city yesterday. There's a Howe Street here (silent 'e' - pronounced as how). Also did a Gastown Ghost Stories 3-hr tour last night. A bit creepy with all the ghost stories.
Leaving Vancouver today, joining Contiki tour of the Rockies. This is the final 2 weeks now. How time flies when you are having fun:)
Went to Horsehoe Bay, Lighthouse Park (Hostel free guided tour - they had a volunteer taking tourists out). Great trip but had to walk a lot:)
Granville Island market is fun too - plenty of food and buskers singing on the streets.
Jalan-jalan around city yesterday. There's a Howe Street here (silent 'e' - pronounced as how). Also did a Gastown Ghost Stories 3-hr tour last night. A bit creepy with all the ghost stories.
Leaving Vancouver today, joining Contiki tour of the Rockies. This is the final 2 weeks now. How time flies when you are having fun:)
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Jasper to Vancouver
What a nightmare - the train was 9 hours late. Apparently the weather was too hot, so a goods train jumped tracks as the iron tracks expanded in the heat and delayed other trains. So my train was 9 hours late arriving Jasper station. Instead of leaving Jasper at 3.30pm, we left at 11.30pm. And there was a medical emergency, somebody had heart problem, and they had to send an ambulance to send her to the Banff hospital in the middle of the night. Interesting events.
The good bit that came from this is that, instead of going through Fraser Valley at night, we went through it in the morning. Great scenery. Had many pics of valleys and mountain rivers, tunnels and Hell's Gate.
Took the bus from Vancouver to Vancouver Island. City called Victoria. Arrived at 9.30pm. So after 36 hours out and about, zonked out and slept for 12 hours.
Victoria is a pretty little town. Pop 70,000. Did walkabout in town in the afternoon.
8th July: Walked in Chinatown, street stalls, parade and theater in the park. Went for Harbour cruise. Took the public bus to Butchart Gardens. Amazing place. Love the flowers and stuff there. Had pizza for dinner:)
The good bit that came from this is that, instead of going through Fraser Valley at night, we went through it in the morning. Great scenery. Had many pics of valleys and mountain rivers, tunnels and Hell's Gate.
Took the bus from Vancouver to Vancouver Island. City called Victoria. Arrived at 9.30pm. So after 36 hours out and about, zonked out and slept for 12 hours.
Victoria is a pretty little town. Pop 70,000. Did walkabout in town in the afternoon.
8th July: Walked in Chinatown, street stalls, parade and theater in the park. Went for Harbour cruise. Took the public bus to Butchart Gardens. Amazing place. Love the flowers and stuff there. Had pizza for dinner:)
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Jasper National Park
What a fantastic place this is. Lots of hikes, biking trails. Water sports too - canoeing and white water rafting. The scenery is fabulous - surrounded by mountains. Did a "Path of the Glacier Walk" tour in Mt Edith Cavell.
Saw 3 glaciers and a lake with icebergs. Imagine - icebergs in the mountains. The icebergs were formed when pieces of the glacier breaks off in summer. It's amazing to walk to among the pieces of huge icebergs. When we were there, there was an avalance. It was loud and looks like a waterfall, except it's ice. The guide said the ice fell about 300-400m off the mountain cliff.
So far - for scenery and adventure stuff - I would recommend the Rockies as the best place to visit Canada if you have only a few days and can only see a small part of the country.
Saw 3 glaciers and a lake with icebergs. Imagine - icebergs in the mountains. The icebergs were formed when pieces of the glacier breaks off in summer. It's amazing to walk to among the pieces of huge icebergs. When we were there, there was an avalance. It was loud and looks like a waterfall, except it's ice. The guide said the ice fell about 300-400m off the mountain cliff.
So far - for scenery and adventure stuff - I would recommend the Rockies as the best place to visit Canada if you have only a few days and can only see a small part of the country.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Winnipeg to Jasper National Park
The trip to Jasper was amazing - flat rolling fields of canola (yellow flowers) to cows & horse ranches and further west of Edmonton, the hills start appearing. Amazing hills and blue water (glacier water melt) in rivers and lakes. It's amazing, even awe-spiring.
If you have been to New Zealand - South Island - the National park is 10 x bigger. The whole little bitty town of Jasper is catered for tourists. Surrounded by huge craggy peaks of the mountains.
And since it's the Canada Day weekend - can you imagine the crowd? Canada Day in Jasper - with speeches, parades (candy & flags tossed on the streets), being sprayed with water from fire trucks, pancakes breakfast, bands - it's really fun. Saw my first Mountie (RCMP) in their bright red uniforms - marching past.
Booked tour to Maligne Valley / Lake cruise. Amazing trip, like a safari on the roadside:)
First sighting of an elk (a she-elk), 3 white-tail deers, 2 bighorn sheep (another female), squirrels and finally a black BEAR. He was near the roadside, and we could hear him breaking old logs looking for bugs to eat. Very exciting.
Scenery was fantastic - Maligne Valley is a hanging valley - what is means is that it's a valley above another valley - Jasper valley. The lake is the 2nd largest glacier-melt lake - water was turquoise blue green. And freezing 4 degrees. Perish the thought of taking a swim. The 90 min cruise to Spirit Island - end of the 24km lake was really beautiful. Surrounded by mountains and forests, with green water.
Had the best blueberry scone I've ever tasted in the Lake Cafe. Sorry, no pic of scone.
After coming back to the hostel, I hiked 2 km uphill to the Whistlers Mountain Tramways. Paid $24 to go up in the cable car to almost 2,400m. The scenery and view was amazing. And the wind...brrr...8 degrees up there.
Took plenty of pics but sorry - cannot upload into the computer. It's too slow to do and internet / computer time is very expensive:(
Will have to find cheaper computers...like in libraries.
Gotta go for dinner.
If you have been to New Zealand - South Island - the National park is 10 x bigger. The whole little bitty town of Jasper is catered for tourists. Surrounded by huge craggy peaks of the mountains.
And since it's the Canada Day weekend - can you imagine the crowd? Canada Day in Jasper - with speeches, parades (candy & flags tossed on the streets), being sprayed with water from fire trucks, pancakes breakfast, bands - it's really fun. Saw my first Mountie (RCMP) in their bright red uniforms - marching past.
Booked tour to Maligne Valley / Lake cruise. Amazing trip, like a safari on the roadside:)
First sighting of an elk (a she-elk), 3 white-tail deers, 2 bighorn sheep (another female), squirrels and finally a black BEAR. He was near the roadside, and we could hear him breaking old logs looking for bugs to eat. Very exciting.
Scenery was fantastic - Maligne Valley is a hanging valley - what is means is that it's a valley above another valley - Jasper valley. The lake is the 2nd largest glacier-melt lake - water was turquoise blue green. And freezing 4 degrees. Perish the thought of taking a swim. The 90 min cruise to Spirit Island - end of the 24km lake was really beautiful. Surrounded by mountains and forests, with green water.
Had the best blueberry scone I've ever tasted in the Lake Cafe. Sorry, no pic of scone.
After coming back to the hostel, I hiked 2 km uphill to the Whistlers Mountain Tramways. Paid $24 to go up in the cable car to almost 2,400m. The scenery and view was amazing. And the wind...brrr...8 degrees up there.
Took plenty of pics but sorry - cannot upload into the computer. It's too slow to do and internet / computer time is very expensive:(
Will have to find cheaper computers...like in libraries.
Gotta go for dinner.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
24-27 June Updates - Toban Experience
24th June - arrived in a little bitty town called Minaki via train. Population 100.
Joined a local trip called Toban Experience. The van will drop me of in various places.
First stop is a little resort called Minaki Yurts. The host/hostess were great people. Had a fantastic time with them - boating, cycling and kayaking. And they have fireflies (a few blimps) near a lake next to their place.
Met one of their friend, a lady named Jane who stayed overnight there. She invited me for lunch at her place. Spaghetti, meatballs and salad. Yummy - homecooked meal.
25th: The next day, Toban van picked me up (only me this time) and dropped me off at Falcon Beach - 2 hours away from Minaki. It's a horse ranch with cabins. And I had 1 whole cabin to myself (can sleep 6) - only problem is the weather was lousy - windey, cloudy and it rained.
Did you guys read about a tornado in Manitoba?
Well , I saw some of the damages - ripped trees and roof.
BTW - I don't quite like the horse ranch - swarms of flies (lalat). The cabin was great but not the ranch.
26th : In the afternoon, Toban picked me and dropped me off at Grand Beach (sort of grand cos Manitoba is landlocked and no seaside). Was the lake was grand, beach has nice wonderful white sand. But the wheather in around 10 degrees, cloudy and windy.
The Sand Motel was a motor lodge. At CN35 a night, I had the whole place to myself. The manager or boss (?) Tyler was very nice - he let me borrow a bicycle to cycle around the little resort town of Grand Beach. Population - quite low....since it's not a weekend and wet, windy day.
27th: This afternoon, Toban picked me at 4.30 and Winnipeg - here I am. Sitting at the HI hostel computer terminal at 10.45pm, updating emails and blog. BTW - even Korean noodles tasted good after 3 days of bread and western food.
Will be walking around Winnipeg's Chinatown tmr for some Asian food:)
(sorry no pics - cannot find the USB port in the computer terminal)
Joined a local trip called Toban Experience. The van will drop me of in various places.
First stop is a little resort called Minaki Yurts. The host/hostess were great people. Had a fantastic time with them - boating, cycling and kayaking. And they have fireflies (a few blimps) near a lake next to their place.
Met one of their friend, a lady named Jane who stayed overnight there. She invited me for lunch at her place. Spaghetti, meatballs and salad. Yummy - homecooked meal.
25th: The next day, Toban van picked me up (only me this time) and dropped me off at Falcon Beach - 2 hours away from Minaki. It's a horse ranch with cabins. And I had 1 whole cabin to myself (can sleep 6) - only problem is the weather was lousy - windey, cloudy and it rained.
Did you guys read about a tornado in Manitoba?
Well , I saw some of the damages - ripped trees and roof.
BTW - I don't quite like the horse ranch - swarms of flies (lalat). The cabin was great but not the ranch.
26th : In the afternoon, Toban picked me and dropped me off at Grand Beach (sort of grand cos Manitoba is landlocked and no seaside). Was the lake was grand, beach has nice wonderful white sand. But the wheather in around 10 degrees, cloudy and windy.
The Sand Motel was a motor lodge. At CN35 a night, I had the whole place to myself. The manager or boss (?) Tyler was very nice - he let me borrow a bicycle to cycle around the little resort town of Grand Beach. Population - quite low....since it's not a weekend and wet, windy day.
27th: This afternoon, Toban picked me at 4.30 and Winnipeg - here I am. Sitting at the HI hostel computer terminal at 10.45pm, updating emails and blog. BTW - even Korean noodles tasted good after 3 days of bread and western food.
Will be walking around Winnipeg's Chinatown tmr for some Asian food:)
(sorry no pics - cannot find the USB port in the computer terminal)
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Leaving Montreal for Toronto, westward bound to Winnipeg
Will bid adieu to Montreal and family tmr, leaving by train to Toronto, followed by westward-bound train to Minaki (Winnipeg) on Saturday. Have booked a backpacker vantrip tour of Manitoba for 4 days. Its called Toban Adventure and it will take to me little towns Minaki, Falcon Beach and Grand Beach Manitoba.
Canada is such a huge country - you cannot believe the distances between cities. Am keeping a km log. Montreal-Halifax is 1,346km. Montreal-Toronto - 539km. Toronto-Minaki (a small little town in Manitoba, near to Winnipeg) is 1,758km. The train leaves at 9am, arrives the next day at 12.37pm. A trip of 27 hours. Woohoo. Winnipeg to Jasper (Rocky Mountains) is another mega trip of 1,657km. Will try to update more soon.
Canada is such a huge country - you cannot believe the distances between cities. Am keeping a km log. Montreal-Halifax is 1,346km. Montreal-Toronto - 539km. Toronto-Minaki (a small little town in Manitoba, near to Winnipeg) is 1,758km. The train leaves at 9am, arrives the next day at 12.37pm. A trip of 27 hours. Woohoo. Winnipeg to Jasper (Rocky Mountains) is another mega trip of 1,657km. Will try to update more soon.
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