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Published: August 20th 2013
Chinese Lions
In Chinatown, VictoriaAugust 18, 2013
Enjoyed a lovely day in Victoria with a lot of walking (good thing considering I gave into temptation and had an A&W burger & fries for lunch). We walked in the opposite direction to the harbour straight into a residential area with detached houses. Victoria appears to be so much less densely populated than most big cities (although thinking about it, Ottawa and Canberra are not dissimilar in this respect but you know what I mean. Certainly compared to Vancouver with its mass of apartment blocks it seemed very different to be walking just a block or two away from the busy touristy downtown Victoria past detached houses in the residential area known as James Bay). Within minutes we were on an empty beach at Holland Point watching the sea traffic travelling in and out of busy Victoria harbour. Not a bad place to live at all!
We had plans for a quick photo at Mile Zero which marks the very beginning (or end!) of Highway 1 that runs all the way across Canada from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic (St.John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador to be exact). But it turned out to be way more
popular than we’d anticipated and quite the tourist trap. At least 4 tour coaches had pulled up alongside the Mile Zero plaque and Terry Fox statue so instead we passed by pretty quickly trying to convey a “Really? It’s just a road” kind of attitude (although secretly thinking, we’ve seen the beginning of a road that crosses the whole of Canada – how awesome is that?!)
Through Beacon Park and onto Chinatown, which we timed perfectly (although accidentally) to coincide with a Lion Dance performance similar to that performed at Chinese New Year. The lion is meant to express joy and happiness and is used to summon luck and good fortune. During the dance the lion went on a “search for the greens”. The greens, typically, is a head of lettuce and it had certainly piqued our curiosity when we had previously noticed some of the shop owners hanging lettuce from their doorways. The lion dancers must perform a lift to reach them and quite an elaborate series of actions as the lion supposedly sniffs cautiously and curiously at the lettuce several times before finally eating it. The greens are then thrown toward the audience to represent wealth and
good fortune. Inside the lettuce, or greens, the lion may find a red envelope with money. This offering is a symbol of good luck and a reward for the lion for chasing away the evil spirits. Afterwards fire crackers were thrown in the doorway.
Victoria’s Chinatown is the oldest Chinatown in all of Canada, second in age only to San Francisco’s Chinatown in North America. It dates back to 1858 when the gold rush in the Fraser Canyon brought immigrants up from California, a third of whom were Chinese.
We walk on into the harbour area once again and this time stayed to watch a few of the dragon boat races as well as the sea planes that continually take off and land in the busy harbour. At 3pm the Coho ferry leaves for Port Angeles, carefully reversing its behind into the Upper Harbour and then sailing out in the general direction of the United States of America. We’ll be on it tomorrow and while we’re here we pop in to pick up the necessary visa forms for the boys. We’ll be ok showing our Canadian Passports but they’ll need temporary visas.
That evening the boys and
I try out the pool and hot tub in the hotel while Steve gets on with a bit of work. The boys have some fun while I attempt to work off a few of the extra calories I’ve been consuming daily since we’ve been here! It’s not good!! But on the other hand it is good, so good!
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