Fun fact - Calgary is second only to Toronto as the home of major Canadian Corporations

Today went up all the way to Coliseum mountain, a truly scenic mountain standing at 2040m, that gave a 360 degree view of the surroundings. The way up was filled with perils as we had to circumvent the mountain on its steep (think 45degrees) rocky (think very rocky) slopes near the top, where cold wind (think very cold strong wind... wenzheng and I were singing ‘Cold wind blows’ army song...) blows continuously. Up on the top seemed to me another world that was quiet and untouched by civilization. Not much animals found at that height, less a group of sparrows (are they sparrows? Must be some high-flyers...) and a goose-like animal that shied away on seeing us. Superb place, I tell you, if you ignore the cold winds and freezing balls in your pants. You might want to google for pics (up here) if you don’t want to spend time hiking up this mountain to see the views.

Fun fact - Calgary is the entrance to the Rockies Mountain

Today was at Lake Mouraine. It was drizzling slightly and misty up at the mountain on the way up the mountain to see the valley of the Ten Peaks. Had to backtrack when almost at the peak. On the way up, we were stopped short on the path by the presence of grizzly bears. Too bad that we did not sight them (some other lucky idiots ahead of us saw it.)

Fun fact: Vancouver was first inhabited by the Salish people

Joel (our tour guide) picked us up in the morning and we had a fantastic time at Lake Louis. Wenzheng and me pia-ed all the way to the end of the trail leading to the Plains of the 6 glaciers, and saw Abbott pass from a great angle. Being the first time I went so high and saw vast stretches of glaciers, I realized my relative insignificance and ignorance in comparison to everything else out there. I need to see more things to put myself in perspective.

I have said this once and I will cut-and-paste it again. Wenzheng is a REALLY great guy. No wonder Eu and Garry missed him so much. Had a great time with him as a fellow tourist/hiker/roommate/++ in the Rockies. And if you are wenzheng, you still owe me CAD150 or SGD196.

The walk up was definitely great. And though the walk down was freezing cold, it was an experience I cannot forget. The vast mountain plains, the flowing rivers, the muddy delta at the bottom, the postcard X-shaped sceneries of the mountains in the river (google for Lake Louis photos or go principal.mst.edu.hk/ rockiespic1.htm). And Wenzheng is a very fit walker. Had a hard time catching up with him, though he was wearing slippers (slippers in the cold mountain? He’s mad!) and I was wearing army boots. He’s good.

Fun fact: Vancouver is Canada's 3rd largest city

Just added google ads and stuff to my blog.

As this is a post-written blog (of more than the next 10 days), I can’t remember exactly approximately what just happened but but you may see me having some special powers to comment about what will happen the following next few days. All the stuff written here is based on a meticulously recorded record of expenses recorded over the next few days. Hmm. Damn bad English I know, but excellent Singlish I hope.

Woke up damn bloody early today and went to the airport to catch our early morning flight to Calgary. First time taking domestic flight and wasn’t checked for my passport. West Jet has some uber funny crew for the flight from Vancouver (YVR) to Calgary (CLG). Super hilarious execution in the normal mundane safety announcements and information about the emergency exits. You have to be there to see it. Too bad you weren’t there, so there. You might want to google on more information about the safety announcements about their detailed 10-step explanation on how to put on your seat belt, their demonstration on how to blow up the safety vest blah blah...

At the airport met Wenzheng for the first time. REALLY great guy. No wonder Eu and Garry missed him so much. Had a great time with him as a fellow tourist/hiker/roommate/++ in the Rockies. And if you are wenzheng, you still owe me CAD150 or SGD196.

You must say that Eu has an eye for bargain cos the Best Western Suite that he got for the group’s stay is simply fantabulous. Slightly higher than Hostelling International’s (google on their prices?) price, you get hotel services, personal kitchen (with stove, microwave and fridge) , 2 bedrooms (one with TV), a hall (complete with big TV, sofa bed and cable modem)… Dudes and dudettes, what more can you ask for?

Went to walk around uptown and downtown for the rest of the day and visited the interesting places around Calgary. Visited the Calgary tower but did not go up cos no money. But we did visit the Glenbow Museum where they have some interesting displays about the First Nations (dunno what’s that? Google it!) and the minerals in Alberta…

Tomorrow we are going for the True North Tour’s Rocky Express Tour (Want to know my whole itinery? Google it!) and it didn’t turn out to be as good as we want it to be because of the bloody cloudy and rainy weather. Oh yah. Next time do google for the weather before going for any outdoor activities. =(

Fun fact - Vancouver Population::2.1 million

Nothing much doing today. Went to Airport to fetch Jiayun/zhiqing/yanying and dumped all their stuff at our place. Mainly a logistics day with a dinner at Hon’s Wonton House. Tomorrow we are going to Calgary to attack the Rockies.
Oh yah, at night also went to make phone call at the same place near our house (read yesterday). Lucky never see the person selling any other stuff there.

Fun fact: BC should experience a big earthquake... soon?

Today went to Chinatown in the morning to recce and memorise the place. Have a super bad memory so must purposely do this. Found the place to buy cheap rice that Eu’s uncle was talking about, and it’s really quite cheap. Dunno whether they got discount card for buying more…. On the way back saw an old lady lying on the notorious strip near ChinaTown, with a police car and two policemen by the side. Some bystanders were at the side bystanding. Ambulance came and took her away. Looked around and contemplated about Life for a while before witnessing a drug transaction next to me. Absolutely shocking. Who is to be blamed for the imperfection of Life? I think we are, and we are not. There is so much we can do, so much we don’t do, and so much to be done. Soliciting, transactions, highs and lows, you can find them all on the streets here unlike in Singapore. Makes me treasure the order back home, yet makes me think that it is uncomparable, for the people in Singapore has exchanged freedom for order. I can see freedom of choice here, and the results though is unsettling at times, does give an edge for personal exploration at other times, which is unfound in Singapore. Oh yah, bought one big onion for 40 cents. Plus tax and convert to SGD is 47 cents. By aggaration.

Afternoon went to MetroTown to buy stuff from the one dollar shop. CAD$25.15 worth of them. Change to Sing is a lot more. Calculate calculate… si nang kia, why you so ngiao? But that’s me. =P. Also saw a chio bu, but that’s secondary.

Night had food and rice left for tomorrow’s breakfast of fry rice (pronounce fry rice both in 1st hanyu pinyin).

Siao liao siao liao. Just went outside with Eu to make a phone call and saw so many things in our neighbourhood. Saw one hooker soliciting near the junction of Victoria street and Hastings, and at the phone booth two blocks down the road, we were approached by a guy wanting to sell us a stereo system. He had a companion to whom he was not very satisfied with, judging from the way they exchanged expletives and hollers across a street.

This does not bode well. Don’t think it is safe to go out for supper by myself already. This sux.

Fun fact - Vancouver has skytrain and buses

There are cockroaches everywhere. Under the bed, under the table, in the toilet, on the walls, in the kitchen, on the carpet….everywhere. A rough score of 7 kills per day is a minimum count. Can we ask for cheaper rent because of this? We might need extra money to buy a chalkboard (and of course some chalks) to tabulate the numbers. Hmm…

Went to Richmond today. Took the bloody hot 98 B-line bus all the way down stuff to tour Richmond Centre. It was a bloody big shopping centre with lots of things except toilet.

And Eu is beside me again. Sometimes you really wonder if he got nothing else to do then to come beside me and ka chiao me. He’s poking me now. Poke poke. He’s showing me a scissors now. Lucky I go buy insurance. He’s gone now.

But I need to go also. Anyway nothing interesting happened today. It’s like a day around Taka. So there.

BC update

Bank account done. Made phone call back to Singapore liao. Barang barang for apartment almost complete liao, now just lack a dining table and chairs to accompany it. Cooked black pepper chicken and selected high grade vegetables for dinner. And Eu is beside me now. He’s a very ugly chap and his arm is super heavy on my shoulder. I suspect he is gay. Hmm. He keeps touching me. WTF mate? If I get pimple on my neck, I know who to find. Ok he’s gone now.

After several minutes of peace and no blogging (unfortunately), Eu is back to my side. But he’s no longer interested in kachiaoing me. Or is he? Now his hand is on my shoulder again. WTF mate??? He just touched my chin again. WTF? Ok he’s going to sleep now. He’s an idiot. He bashed my head and went to sleep liao. Good good good. Sugooi des.

As I was saying….

Yah, we had a nice dinner on the kitchen floor (read first line of blog), and the sight will go down well as an imposter of Bangladeshi workers in some squatter settlement in Singapore. But that’s inconsequential. What is most important is that none of us suffered from chronic back pain because of that…. yet.

What’s for tomorrow, hmmm? Not a single clue. Dunno what they guys want, but I would want to just take a bus around the neighbourhood (any neighbourhood) to take in the sights and sound of the Canadians’ day to day living. Like taking buses around aimlessly like that and getting myself lost (but not too lost), knowing that at the end, I will get myself found. Lost and found constitutes to be what I would deem to be a nice adventure. Yup yup. Contentment in that.

Anyway, dun think that’s possible because there will be things to be done no matter how free you think you will be. Murphy’s Law, so can’t argue with that.

Words of wisdom: If you are feeling cold and insomniac, don’t drink tea. It only makes it worse. To cure insomnia, read:
Chew, Ernest C.T."The Foundation of a British Settlement", in Chew, Ernest C.T. and
Edwin Lee, eds. A History of Singapore. Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1991.

It’s quite effective, and I hear the latest edition may come with a money back guarantee for this miraculous property.

First visit to UBC

Went jogging early in the morning. Nabuay, you can never sweat in this super low humidity place. Ran around the compound a bit to familiarize myself, and found that there is a landmark-ish tall building just behind our apartment. Also found quite a few eating spots around our place, as well as a 7-eleven.

Late morning spent $2 for a bus trip to UBC. It was a direct bus from a bus stop near our place, but that proved a fatal mistake cos it went through the downtown area and kena stuck there for ten years or so, give or take one second. Oh yah, also was stopped by a super slow cargo train (that might probably be running on one block of coal) in a junction for a loooong time. Never to take the bus again. At least not when rushing for time. On the way to the bus stop, found JJ Beans and a Jap food place that Eu say want to go there to try out the food.

Got our student card and U-Pass (Unlimited bus rides! YAy!!!) at UBC. Also looked at the book prices that would make most people sweat a bit. Need to buy second hand or go photostate. LOGIC costs CAD$54 and COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY costs CAD$101. And those are prices for used books. Absolutely balls-dropping.

Garry lost his wallet but found it later. Careless careless careless. Had late lunch at Subway. Eu ordered a footlong meatballs but only finished half. The other half is now in the apartment fridge preparing itself to be breakfast tomorrow.

Went off-campus to try do bank draft and look at secondhand books in a secondhand bookstore. Did not manage to get our bank draft done, cos didn’t know which bank is the most value-for-money. Went back to school and spent some time browsing internet and finally decided on Bank of Montreal. We go tomorrow to settle.

Saw the landlord when we got back to our apartment. Were promised internet connection and a kitchen table. Yay. Now no need to sit on kitchen floor for steamboat.

Intended to go Chinatown to buy foodstuff for the house but went there too late and most shops were closed. In the end had dinner at Han’s and went back home. 3 of us ate one plate of fried rice and one sweet and sour pork. This time was cheaper at 4 dollars per person compared to the last time when we ordered the 3 mountains of rice/noodle dishes and tofu, and was quite fulfilling as a dinner.

Vancouver ChinaTown

Walked the whole day at Chinatown (morning and early afternoon) and downtown (after that). Had the biggest portion of chee cheong fun at chinatown for breakfast. At first I thought it’s just this café that was overdoing on the portion, but dinner turned out to be worse, tell you later.

Afternoon checked out downtown. Was lucky to see a festive procession (I DON’T THINK they do this everyday…) where they had pple in kilts and playing bagpipes marching up and down the street. Garry also went to internet café to settle internet stuff.

We had dinner at this Han’s Chinese Restaurant that had won several awards (and was proudly displaying them on the window), and ordered a rice/noodle dish each, and one shared fried tofu. When my fried rice came, almost kena stroke. It was a super super super gigantic mountain of rice that would even make my big brother shocked. For a rough estimation, its portion was easily more than 2.5 times the nasi goreng that is selling at Sunshine Place in CCK, and I’m talking about the tar pau portion. Those who have tried the nasi goreng will agree that the fried rice I am facing can actually kill. If the Japanese had enough rice to go around with during WWII, they might force-feed 1 portion to a prisoner as a torture. Worse than any of the Manchu 100 tortures. In the end we tarpau-ed our leftovers for next day’s breakfast. But it was good food, I must agree.

Concussed at night very early.