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Published: February 19th 2011
CANADA!!
saddly i'm writing this almost 6mths after the trip... so it's somewhat lacking :/ part 1 - Vancouer I had always imagined Canada to be like Australia... in many ways, but generally in day-to-day culture... & i guess in hindsight... it is! After my culture shock in the US, I also expected to like Canada more... or feel more at home there... I didnt :/
Vancouver is a nice city... it's clean, new, modern, wealthy... in fact, after spending 4mths in Asia, all I could see in Vancouver was immense wealth! which is why I was absolutely shocked, stunned & disgusted by the number of homeless people & beggars that we saw in the streets... I found this really disheartening & sickening... to me Canada represents the 'new world' & the 1st world (if there is such a thing)... it represents hope & opportunity... it is highly unpopulated... so I just could not understand how so many people there could be homeless!!! It didnt help that on the first night, while my parents and I were walking through the city centre to reach Chinatown for dinner, we passed by the worst street in all of
Canada (officially! we got that bit of info later)... what I saw there were people living sub-human lives... it shocked me & destroyed my image of the whole place... I admit that my frame of my mind was different and I did see the 'nicer' side of Vancouver eventually... but.. let's just say that this scene tainted my view of Vancouver - and Canada to some extent.
We only spent a few days in Vancouver, didnt get to see the surrounding mountain areas of BC coz we wanted to maximise our time later in the trip with our cousins... given my changed mood, I didnt mind leaving... we enjoyed walking around the city... seeing the Capilano Bridge (the day after we visited a kid died there... hmmmm)... the highlight of our time there was at Capilano Bridge where we met a couple from NYC (Brooklyn) with the typical accent u hear on tv & the guy's name was Morty!!!!! hahhahaha... but ofcourse it sounds like "Moooowrtyyy" hehe...
also spent a day in Victoria... beautiful place... but was 14degs & raining... another reminder of how much i hate the cold!!!!
part 2 - Toronto had high hopes of
liking Toronto more than Vancouver... & in some way I did... it was a larger city & more interesting to see, had a better vibe, etc.... best part is, we got to see the NIAGARA FALLS!!!! truly amazing!! had no idea there are 3 of them & 1 is in America!!! things u learn.... but the famous one we all know is mostly in Canada... called the golden horseshoe or something... due to its shape...
apparently the night light show & view of it is amazing... but we didnt stick around for that... took the boat ride out to it & managed to get absolutely drenched!! but it was worth it =)
our visit to Toronto, otherwise, was much like that of Vancouver... just ok... hehe... & way too many beggars!!! again!!!! hmmmmm....
part 3 - Halifax & Chester with da relo's My love for Canada only began to grow once we reached Nova Scotia - more specifically, Halifax & Chester where our relo's live. Our cuz Tony picked us up at the airport (it's a nice feeling to get picked up at the airport from time to time, rather than always being the stranger arriving in
a strange land ... ).
Where do I begin to describe our time in NS...? Ola & I stayed in Halifax with our gorgeous cousins Tony, Leah & their super cute daughters Sophia & Maya =) the oldies stayed in Chester which was great! haha... we had our own lil space in the basement - with a Wii!!! became an expert archer within days! haha...
spent most of the time chilling out, trying to get warm in the sun on the deck (on the odd occasion that it was warm ;p) ... we became regulars in the circle of mums (& the odd dad or 2) waiting to pick up the kids after school each day; trying to convince ppl dat Startbucks & Tim Horton's is
not good coffee... when that failed, we just shut up & tried to get used to drinking it... urgh! we learnt a LOT about lobsters, held a live one, went into the factory where they keep them, & ate them ofcourse 😊 my fave seafood dish so far was definitely the scallop salad w avocado & whatever else was in it... hehe
Our relo's also kindly took us to Cape Briton - where
we didnt see any whales in the ocean =( ; on various boat trips around the 100s of little islands in Chester - where we had an exclusive picnic on one island & climbed to the top of the lighthouse there - but didnt see any whales =( ; they also took us tubing with the boat, made sure we got badly dunked in the FREEZING COLD water!!! but still no whales!!! =( haha
the one day that the temperature hit a whooping 28degs (celcius) Leah took us to the beach... where 100s of Canadians who had chucked a sicky from work were lying in bikinis sun baking & making the most of this "heat wave"... um... ola & i sat in long pants & long sleeves... tried putting my big toe in the water, almost got frostbite!!! oh my! these poor sun-deprived souls! :p hehe...
Leah also took a day off from running to go for a nice forrest walk with us & kookie... it had amazing ocean views at various stops, but still no whales! =(
all in all, our time in Halifax / NS was definitely the highlight of the trip!!! it's so nice to discover
more awesome cousins of mine somewhere in the world =) just sad we can't be closer to each other in distance...
part 4 - Montreal, Quebec Province, Quebec City The cultural centre of Canada - it's almost a different country! Well, I'm sure the French-Canadians would be happy to hear that 😉 why do I say this? go there and see for yourself! haha
firstly, you're encouraged to speak French in most cities & parts of Quebec (Province), tho in saying that, i'm not sure about the actual French that the locals are speaking there... hmmmm... can't say it has the same romantic/sexy tone that u find in Paris...
This was also a family reunion part of my/our trip since we got to see and hang out with mummy's cousins (closer to my age) Danielle, Carole & their mama, Scarlet (who have now moved there and become 'canadian'! haha
unfortunately Carole went to Vegas the day after we arrived so we didnt see her much, but Danielle took us to small village called St Sauveur. it's a little out of Montreal and really beautiful with gorgeous old architecture, lots of cute shops and a european village
feel to it... here we had an amazing coffee and some really healthy lunch :D
Back in the city, we spent a lot of time walking around the old city of Montreal, which has the old French cobble stone streets and architecture, really felt like being in Europe - sort of! haha... we also climbed the majestic Mont Royal (which the city was named after) - this "mountain" (you have to call it that or the locals get really upset) stands at a whooping 300m!!! & Ola & I climbed all the way to the top!! yessir we dids :p must say it was a lovely walk 😊 hehe... u get to it thru a huge park that's more like a forest and some really cool tracks and a huge "neverending" flight of stairs... mama, papa & I also visited some famous rich guy (now dead)'s old mansion... was a pretty cool story to it but i really dont remember it right now :/ ahem!
the whole time we were in Montreal (6 days) we stayed in 3 different hotels! the first one was really crap, the 2nd didn’t have rooms for da time we needed… which was
a good thing, coz the 3rd one was way better & in a better street full of cafes & restos =) so, yeah... i strongly recommend
that street, but i have no idea what it's called :p heehee
Before leaving Canadia, we took a day tour to Quebec City (came highly recommended to us and rightfully so!). this is the history capital of Quebec Province... here you can see where the battle was fought and lost between the French and English - the English took victory in about 20mins! yep! the tour involves a really nice boat trip from somewhere to somewhere else.. hehe.. & amazing castles, tour of city, history, wonderful little resto's... yadiyada... :p
sadly for us, it rained, no it poured psychotically out of the sky!, which ruined our arvo a bit :/ but it was really beautiful & historic =) we spent a bit of time on the tour chatting to and hanging out with a Filipina woman who was also staying in our hotel in Montreal =) this was a great treat for my phils nostalgia at that time ;p
well... in that short and somewhat uninformative summary of Canada, i conclude,
with a big huge thank you to Danielle and her family for being so hospitable and kind to us. It was really so nice to see you guys again and I hope we do meet again somewhere in this world 😊
i've now stopped doing the whole tan-o-meter thing and flights etc
i've been travelling far too long - i've gotten super tanned and lost it numerous times, i've gained and lost weight, i've been super fit and unfit depending on the times and location... i've caught way too many forms of transport and endeavour to take as few flights as possible bcoz i realised that land / sea travel is sooo much more meaningful!
ok... there it is..
EL FINALE =)
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