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Glacial Blue
This image shows the water which flows direct from the Glacier and slices through rock over thousands of years...Greetings, friends and/or relatives (and random readers, too) from accross the Earth's oceans. I have returned finally to do another journal before my head splits into many pieces after a huge cranial explosion. Ive experienced too much, well seen too much, at least and I need to get it down in typage before I lose it forever. Ive come close to buying a note pad and jotting shit down... maybe I should but these decisions are hard to make... I find it much easier typing so without crying too much I better get started.
Im sitting here in Washington DC, The US capitol and chatting to someone via gmail, Im pretty relieved because I found free internet in a hotel lobby, after walking around 2 hours trying to find a net cafe. This is awesome as I can upload photo's from here, too. Ill get onto that tomorrow.
This journal starts with me leaving for the Rockies the next morning, which is fine and I was very exited about that but I worked out that when I get back on Monday night Ill have to stay an extra night in Vancouver ... no biggie Ill catch the train Tuesday
Frozen Canyons
The Banff National Park had quite a few canyons, this one was the most awesome, the water came down through caves of ice before slowly flowing downstream. and be on my merry way, however the train costs $50 more on Tuesday than Monday OR Wednesday ... someone please explain to me WHY but oh well, Ill just stay in the hostel an EXTRA night and leave on Wednesday (the irony though is that I spent more than $50 afterall but was it worth it? Hmm... read on and when I get to that point in time you'll understand my feelings on that one 😊 My bus left at about 13:30pm from the Vancouver convention center but I had to sign out from the Hostel at 10am, so I had 3 hours to slay. These details are pointless and that's when I actually discovered about the train prices and I sat around in a net cafe being miserable, nothing too exciting hehe but hey 13:00 rolled around in no time and I walked down to the shoreside. I saw some asian dude there with his "west trek" coat on, he's one of the owners of the tour group I was touring with and he yelled out "hey! you coming with us? whats your name?" and from that point on, I knew it would be a great weekend. His
Picturesque Tourist Trap
The township of Banff, over priced Maple Syrup but stunning views and great hiking trails ... name was Jeff and he was one of the friendliest guys i've met yet. A few more people got on, including a really nice blonde girl, very interesting, I thought... well actually 2 blonde girls got on but only one was alone, hey but im not here to be looking at girls am I? Well anyways we traveled in a small group of about 8 but we had to meet a seperate tour group arriving from Victoria (a seperate city, out on Vancouver Island, the capital of British Colombia, the west most province of Canada) Jeff was telling us all the cool stuff we'll be seeing on the trip ahead. It was awesome. We got to the ferry place where the actual tourbus would come pick us Vancouver stragglers up from. Jeff left us there in the hands of Krista, who would be our actual tourguide for the next 4 days and also the bus driver Steve who turned out to be a decent bloke, too. Jeff shook my hand and thanked me for choosing his company and I was like "damn straight, cheapest and most friendliest, ill reccomend you guys anytime!" ... I doubt I actually said that but
Winter Lake
In summer, it would look much nicer but it would still be too cold, this lake is fed from one of the glaciers so it's nice and coold all year round, even too cold for fish apparently. I smiled and got on the bus anyways. As I got on the bus, I noticed that everyone on the bus was asian... I was taken aback by this because I was about to become part of "one of those" asian-camera-fests in one of those great tourist areas... I was thinking "err did I make a mistake?" but I sat and conveniently sat next to the cute blonde girl, the trip got slightly better immediatley. So the bus roared off and we hit the road, about 10 hours driving before we hit our first hotel for the night. I started talking to the girl, her name was Marcia and she was from Brazil... it was great because I had no idea about Brazil or what goes on down there, so over the next few days I learnt some stuff which may/may not come in handy sometime. Marcia didn't look like a brazilian, I thought they were all kinda brownish, burnt by the sun and more Exotic looking... turns out her heriatage is german, so most of her family were german. Very interesting indeed. The conversation fizzled out and she fell asleep so I sat up and watched the movie they
The Wheels on the Bus
Here's the great big bus we hit the columbus Glacier on... it was fun but their top speed is only like 10mph had playing on the bus "meet the fockers" ... seeing as though like 4 people on the bus understood fluent english, I think I was the only one laughing at the movie. After a couple of stops for food and urine displacement procedures it was all over and we went to our hotel bed (yes hotel not hostel!) ... comfy queen sized beds. Only catch was that the room and 2 beds and three guys had to share the room? woah, do the math(s) on that one, maaan? I have to sleep with a dude? Well, we decided that we'll all get a bed to ourselves on one night and whore ourself off to another on the other 2 nights, so on the first night it was I who got the bed to myself. Hurrah! My room/bed mates were both South American (yes some non-asians hidden in the back of the bus), one's name was Diago(not Diego) he was from Sao Paulo in Brazil and was a 25 year old lawyer studying english in Victoria (like EVERYONE bar 4 other people out of 41 on the bus) and the other was Juan Sebastion (or kiko, his nickname), a 17 from
A Humorous Sign!
haha.. anyone agree this sign looks absurd? Colombia studying English in Canada... both guys were okay and proved to be good travelling buddies for the next few days but I still didn't feel comfortable sharing a bed with another guy. Only happened one time before, a long time ago but I may have been on the floor that time and ... well it doesn't matter. Just be clear that it was just as bad for the other 2 guys as it was for me. For the record, the town we stayed in was Revelstoke, I think or something similar... weren't quite in the rockies yet but they were looming just beyond dawn.
Speaking of Dawn the Wake up call blew us out of our deep slumber at about 7am and we had to be on the bus at 8am for a day of marvelous sightseeing, at last! No-one was allowed to sit next to the same person they sat to the day before because the STUDENTS had to practice their english skills on others! on strangers! the joy! I was annoyed at first, this not being a boring adult trip or being a funky backpackers trip with 20 somethings who want a good time every night
The Empire Builder
My House for 45 hours, 13 carriages long, it was pretty cool if you're into trains and stuff ;) (like Horse, the party-lord) I kinda wanted something in between because I like sitting on fences. I guess this situation was going to turn out alright, if I held my peace and found some great conversations in between the broken english of asian tongue and the awkward shyness of a young crowd of people, without the confidence to innitiate conversation with others, for themselves. I guess they didnt' want to be embarrassed by speaking their ratty english and instead just sit there quietly wishing they could speak it flawlessly. I was pretty popular amongst the asian crowd. When the tour Krista announced there was an australian onboard, they went kinda nuts and it made me feel kinda special and boosted my confidence a bit. The Bus consisted of 1 Australian, 1 Fin,1 Malay,1 Colombian, 2 Brazilians, 6 Japanese and the rest were all from South Korea, so the mish mash of Asian languages was pretty intense and learning the slight difference between Portuguese and Spanish ... no wait there were also 2 Mexicans aboard the bus, so another variety of Spanish to learn about. Turning out to be pretty educational for me hehe. Throughout the trip I learnt alot about those countries and the people on the bus, having their email addresses thrown at me (the korean guys especially) after 2 mins of conversation. They were busting my balls for Australian information all the time and I loved explaining it to them because they were soaking it all up, I don't like explaining it to Americans because it seems asif it passes through their ears without even registering at times but Ive hit this subject (or similar) in at least 1 (but probably more!) journal entries in the past.
The 2nd day was awesome, we saw some wicked scenery, passed through 4 National parks... Revelstoke national park, Yoho National Park, Glacier National park (totally awesome, also goes through Montana USA) and finnally Banff national park. We witnessed probably the best natural sights I have ever seen, I think Norway will be the only place to beat Western Canada but I still got alot of Europe to pass through before then. These national parks are like 1000's of km's in total, they're huge and contain their own towns and stuff within, which was weird I thought but then again Kakadu back home has it's own towns but that didn't register at the time. We had 2 additional payments to make on this trip, one was to head up a huge mountain in a scenic chairlift and the other was to take a huge bus out onto the Colombus Glacier and stand on it and take photo's of mounds of snow and ice... it's hard to explain how cool glaciers are (note: cool) but well... they're good. Trust me 😊 I declined on the scenic chairlift because I didnt want to spend the dollars on it but I did pay for the Ice-bus and it was worth it. Luckily for me, Marica also declined on the chairlift, so it was just herself, me and some japanese girl who weren't going. We got dropped off in the Ski-resort town of Banff (in Alberta, a different province of Canada) We were left to fend for ourselves and I was given babysitting duties to make sure the other 2 didn't get into trouble or who knows what else! Im VERY mature, Im glad Krista realised this and gave me the responsibilty and it turned out really well. I left the 2 girls to fend for themselves and went to a net-cafe (hahaha nerrrd) but not just to check my email and update my last journal but because I had to rar up my last 1gb of photo's and store em on my iriver because I had no space on my SD card and needed to take pics! Took me half an hour and then I met the 2 ladies again and we discussed what was going to happen. Still 2 hours before we met with the group again. The japanese girl didn't want to go on a hike with Marcia and I, so we left her in Banff by herself (I felt kinda bad about it but still ... ) ... *it worked out fine and I dont feel bad anymore, por favor* ... So Marcia and I checked the tourist map and head off to the River where it said there would be some scenic views and a waterfall (yay) ... it was an awesome walk, she was loving someone to learn english from (more advanced english about past tense etc.) because she was really great at speaking english anyway but I loved her asking me stuff and I loved being able to give the correct answers, too. She always made me take photo's of her infront of various scenic things, such as the mountains and on the cobbled bridge that led over the river and of course by the falls/rapids along the river. We both had a super time and didn't want it to end, for whatever reason. I enjoyed the company but now realised that we were on a leash from the tour company as we had to be back on the bus at 8pm so as to leave for our final destination for the evening. Before we left the river-trail we found an abandoned shopping trolley. Who would have thought pushing someone on a shopping trolley through a National Park in Canada would be so much fun? Luckily no-one was injured and we arrived back at the bus at 8pm on the dot. The Japanese girl was fine, too... not missing, not murdered, nothing... all was well.
Canmore, was where we stayed the 2nd night and it was an extreme night of drunkeness... a small group of us head out to a club , yes a club in a VERY small town with like 3,000 people way out in the Rockies and it turned out to be pretty cool. They sold 99c "highballs" which are what Canadians call stuff like "scotch and coke" etc. So I had 4 doubles (only $2 each) and one single and was feeling kinda fine, Canadian Rye whiskey and coke is quite a nice drop and at those prices, who could disagree? Had some of the local beer, too... it was alright but even VB late at night can suffice. So my 2 roomates, Marcia ... 4 asian girls (oh Bangers where art thou?) and Krista all got kinda drunk. The only one who didnt drink was the mexican girl and I thought that all mexicans drank like mad people. Diago was the most drunk and raved on like a Crazy South American blasting my ears about how GREAT Brazil is and I MUST GO THERE AND ENJOY and then well.. errr... drunk people are funny, Im sure I say very retarded shit, too. The South American's passion was something to treasure. Kiko the colombian (we had to edit his student ID to say he was 18) was drunk after 2 vodka mixers and he smoked his first ciggarette some guy offered him for free. Oh how heartily I laughed, kids these days have all the fun! Enough about that night.. we staggered home at a lazy 1am cause we had to be up at 6:30am for the bus was leaving at 7:30am ... aww man, it was like being in the Monk's house on a Saturday night again, boohoo :P overall it was a really fun night, especially seeing Krista the tourguide come out drinking and letting loose.
It's bad that Im not mentioning much of the Rockies sights for you guys but they, just like all the national parks and natural wonders of this continent I see are just one facet of my journey through them, it's the people Im with at the time that make the experience not just how pretty a mountain peek looks or how blue glacial rivers flow. These experiences prove to be the even more unique and wonderful with the people you share them with.
The 3rd day most people arose with Hangovers and soon fell asleep on the bus. A big mistake because the 3rd day was the most precious. We were deep in the heart of the rockies and either side of us the mountains stood, waterfalls gushed down their slopes (if not frozen into Ice from the cold) and crashed into lakes and continued to flow to the ocean, where they will be joined by human waste and filth and fish will seize up and die but hey, why not enjoy water from it's source where it's most beautiful. Im not some greeny or hippie, like I care about what happens later, right? We got out at various places for 30-60 mins to wander about on Frozen lakes, Diago and I threw the american football around on one and had a jovial time. I also explained to him and Marcia, the beauty of cricket and how it's not just sport but art! They pretended to be interested, which kept me happy. The sleeping people really missed out on all this amazing scenery. I sat up front for the entire trip so I could see EVERYTHING and I sat there with a Japanese girl who slept rather than talk to me... but Krista was there and we had some great talks and she thanked me for helping her out and keeping an eye on the people and helping the students with their english and I really appreciated being appreciated even though I wasn't doing that much, it was still nice to be acknowledged 😊 I spent alot of time with Marcia on that 3rd day, she had to leave that night and not stay the last one and come back to Vancouver as she was heading home to Brazil from Toronto and it would be too late if she came back with us. I was getting pretty sad because she had been a great travel buddy to have but this is what happens now and again when you travel and meet cool people. There's a memorable few already and Im sure there'll be more, or at least I hope so. We all had dinner that night... I can't remember that last town's name... ugh. Before dinner, I wandered around this skeletol down, tiny, no more than 500 people, id say. I ventured into the cemetry because they're a great place to just chill out, you know? I was listening to Katatonia and reading people's headstones and immediatley being humbled by these people's deaths (not their lives?) I read their dates of death and wondered if war had taken their lives or natural causes... I would never know but all these dead people, even the children whom lived no more than 10 years all would have tales to tell if their tongues could move under that soil. In the middle of a foreign country, people who were born and died before I existed. Something touched me in that place... crazy huh? I really am crazy, so you better stop reading my journals.
Marcia's bus was due to depart at 1:30am, the greyhound station on the corner. I did the noble thing and offered to walk her there from the hotel, this was before I was asked (because I was, by Krista) because Im nice and mature. I was falling asleep already at 8pm and I eventually drifted off listening to some music in the lobby of the hotel, this was after we played pictionary until 11pm. Marcia came down at about 12:30am and woke me up and told me she felt horrible about making me do this. I didn't really mind. I felt like it was the right thing to do. So at 1:10am I walked her the short distance to the corner and we talked a bit and I gave her a present... I have presents I give to nice foriegn people I meet. Ive parted with 4 of these creatures thus far. Marcia's eyes widened and she laughed and smiled like i'd given her something actually worth anything. I told her to make sure to hang onto it and she promised she would. She loved it and gave me a big hug and then the bus arrived. I helped her load her shit on ths bus and then she gave me another hug and the bus then gently rolled off into the dark highway, I stood there until it's motor could no longer be heard upon the breeze and then slowly walked back to the hotel in sub-zero temperatue and hit the sack at about 2am... what a day but a fullfilling day none the less.
The Last day wasn't anything special. We drove back, I listened to music, we stopped in places, I taught some of the students how to play frizbee and I felt like everyone liked me, It was a nice ego boost, which didn't goto my head. I sat there thinking shit like "im never going to see these people again" and like "I'll never see her again, either" and it was pretty sad. I warmed to alot of these people. I warmed to their life stories and tales about their home countries and was glad I met all these people and gained understanding about places I now would like to visit one day. These warm and nice human emotions, Im not used to them but I must say I like them. Wont trade in my cold loner side just yet but it was a nice change of scene for the time being. We got dropped off at the ferry place and after lots of goodbyes, I shook Steve the drive's hand and hugged Krista and then the bus shot off and we borded the shuttle, the remaning Vancouver troupe and "back home" we went... or so it felt "home" but one thing was different, just like the rockies... the sun was out and the blue sky was making Vancouver something sweeter than what I left behind 4 days earlier ....
This brings me back to what I mentioned in my first or second paragraph, "was it worth spending the extra 2 days in Vancouver?" the answer of course was YES. The whole day on Tuesday was marvelous... I spend the day with the girl, Shell-e I was hanging out with before I went into the Rockies and we walked around downtown and I was appreciating the dire architecture in a new light... sun light of course! Everything seemed more appealing, the cherry blossoms blowing on the breeze and the expressions on people's faces made it seem like Vancouver was the place to be. I even got to wear t-shirt and shorts! woohoo! it was JUST warm enough, about 22 degrees. We went down to the beach and sat there for ages talking about stuff and watching boats come and go from the inner harbour out to the Pacific Ocean and then wandered back to the hostel and had something to eat. I left Shell-e there and headed off for my usual "must be alone to think about stuff and ponder usefull but more than likely useless thoughts" routine. So I hit stanley park and walked around blasting some depressing music... dunno why but I needed to bring my mood back to Earth. Seeing the skyline at dusk with the sunsetting was VERY VERY awesome. My mixed feelings for Vancouver were now more than ever postive. I really did like this place and when I got up the next morning and borded the skytrain towards my bus at Union Station, I felt those sad human feelings again. Just like San Francisco, I didn't want to leave but this time, I would be leaving someone behind who would miss me, too.
This brings me to my last paragraph or 2. Still sitting here in hotel lobby using the net for free but it's almost 9pm and I dont know my way around Washington DC too well, yet.. but anyways, I caught the bus back to Seattle from Vancouver and then borded the "Empire Builder", the US's most famed Train Service (apparently) and this Train would deliver me upon the doorstep of my next big city, Chicago. All that stood in my way was 45 hours sitting on the train, yes that's right, 45 hours on a train but Chicago is very east from Seattle, so I was heading towards New York finally (progress!!) Let me cover some things. At first I bitched about how 9 hours was "way too long" for a train trip and then I bitched about how 17-20 hours was "you've got to be kidding maaaan" but I was over that now and had to bite the bullet. As much as I loved the West Coast, the East was calling me... my European leg of this trip was just around the corner. So there I sat on the train. Satisfied about my last 12 days in Canada... still so much I didn't get to see and so much I would have loved to see... always will be another time to do Canada exclusively, maybe? I think so. Leaving Seattle was no big deal, the train went through a tunnel which disected Seattle and immerged about 4km on the other side, it came out just by the last few piers and took my last glances at a city which succeeded in depressing and inspiring me so much, within only 5 days but I was leaving her behind now. The journey was excellent, seeing Washington State's scenery from a train Window is spectacular. We sailed along the coast of Puget Sound, I swear I looked out the window and could see the stones and coral just below the Water's surface, we were indeed that close to the edge. After the picturesque Scenery darkness fell and It was time for me to try and sleep. This train seat (luckily I had no-one next to me, thank god horse wasn't here!) and I could curl out on both and sleep like a baby... and for once, I got a good night's sleep on a moving machine. The 2nd day of Travel was very boring. We hit "big sky country" ... or what's known as the state of "Montana"... this place aswell as it's neighbouring states like Minnesota are farming land, so all you see is grain fields... cows... barns... desert... some trees and then... the sky. Boring but once again, another side to the USA not seen on popular Televison Series such as Miami Vice or Night Rider. I survived this trip mainly because of my saviour (my Iaudio) and also because I bought a book, yes a book, with actual words (and this one even had some pictures, too) and it was quite a compelling tale, I got through 300 pages before I got to Chicago hehe. The 2nd morning and 3rd day aboard the train was pretty awesome. We hit the Mississipi river (im sure I spelt that wrong) up north, can't remember what state though... doh... but it was next to Illinois, which houses Chicago. We crossed numerous bridges as we followed the river and saw those famous steam boats you may/may not have seen in history books or television documentries. I thought this stuff only existed down south where Horse was but I guess I got lucky and saw the best of both worlds woohoo. This 3rd day was amazing, seriously, even though someone sat next to me for the last 6 hours. His name was Fred, he wore thongs (note: flip flops) he spoke on the phone alot. He liked to talk to me. He annoyed me. I opened my book. He shut up. Life is good. Passed through some semi-large american cities like Milwaukee (they have some metal-fest there, be fucked if I can remember the name????) and Minnepolis, can't remember why i'd heard those names but it was cool so I could tell someone some day. Yeah man, I've been there...
Eventually made it through country Illionois and could see the Chicago skyline on the distant horizon .... woah... Sears tower looked huge and woah... it's SOOO BIG ... I could feel my blood thicken. Another challenge awaited. More train systems and ticketing machines to work out. More hostelers arghh... madness to occur soon. I hoped inside that it would work out well, just like the west coast but did it? hmm another time, my friends. I shall document Chicago and Washington for you when I next sit in front of a pc pooring my heart out to you kind people. Thankyou for reading but I have one more thing to add, my music playlist from my 50 hour ride from Vancouver to Chicago. You may click the big red cross in the right hand corner of your screen now.
- Other Side of the Sky - Rorschach (the latest best thing ive heard, can't tell you how many times ive listened to it... like ISIS but more like Mono at the same time... great)
- Sunn 0))) - White 1 (sonic waves to drift away to, my fav album of theirs, even though a tad subdued)
- YOB - The Unreal Never Lived (One of the finest bands ever to exist, R.I.P but you left us one last great album)
- Massive Attack - Mezzanine (a classic album, can't help but be immediatley chilled out)
- Katatonia - The Great Cold Distance (oooh such a great album and a great return to form)
- Jesu - Silver (keeping the deprression session alive but this release is no-where near as bleak as the last 2 but still just as compelling)
- Aereogramme - Seclusion (I only know 2 scottish bands, no wait, I know 3 but one is too gay to speak of... Aereogramme are like the darker brother of Oceansize...)
- Cosma - Simplicity (Psytekk, a dance genre I know little about but I really really love this album, so much it sent me to sleep, glory glory!)
Okay, bye bye!!
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Wow i am so touched with this journal!
Paul, what can i say while tears are streaming downmy face. This is the most touching wrinting. What you share and expieriance, wow what can top this all off. I am in need to re-read this entry many times over, it is so much to take in. It shows me the Paul i do know, and may you have many more of those good times. And situations like Marcia, where you shine the best being a gentelman. Keep at it, i absulutly love this. Will even print it out i think, and read it over and over. Thank you so very much for sharing with us tour journey. As always, you know :)