Mostly about my travels.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

1 week to the snow

Hey all,

I'm sure no one's reading this (it's been awhile since I've posted anything) but what the hey. Been in Aussieland for about 7.5 months and it's been great. Some highlights:

Beaches beaches beaches! Proximity of Brisbane to the Gold & Sunshine Coasts means a day trip is both easy and inevitable. Since I've started the job haven't been going out as much as before, but now that summer's back will definitely hit it up when I get back from Canada.

Best sand: Surfer's Paradise, Byron Bay
Most tourists: Surfer's Paradise, Byron Bay (see above)
Best waves: Surfer's Paradise, Kirra/Coulangatta, Byron Bay (the days I was there anyhow)
Best supporting townsite: Noosa (laidback with a lot of variety, and not as crowded as Surfer's), Byron Bay (lots of little artsy shops, decent restaurants)
Other interesting sites: Point Danger, south of Coulangatta, and Coff's Harbour NSW - has a rocky spit you can walk out onto, into the middle of the sea (got splashed by a huge wave in Coffs :P)

Weather - in the fall/spring/summer, it's a balmy 15-30 degrees. This year has been a good one for rain, although sometimes you get these torrential downpours that feels like it's going to strip your skin off. Even got hail one day. It was insanely hot a couple days ago and super muggy, but it was all good after a big rain. Winter is fairly chilly, and without central heating you actually need a heater to keep warm at night! I'm still talking about 5-10 degrees though, nothing like Canada.

Food - there's a strong Southeast Asia influence here due to its proximity, and you can see it in the variety of Malaysian/Indonesian/Vietnamese/Thai restaurants and grocery stores around here. Have gotten addicted to Mi Goreng, the Malaysian version of instant noodles (a lo mein, and fairly spicy). Haven't tried this one with cheese yet though. :P A restaurant called Little Singapore in Sunnybank and downtown serves up decent portions with pretty good taste. There's also a little Thai hole-in-the-wall just down the block from the apartment, which serves up a great red curry.

People - For some reason I only met Canadians in the first few months, we're even living with Canadian roommates! :) The Australians I've met so far have an interesting sense of humour and are generally pretty outspoken, friendly and like to take a drink once in awhile (okay a lot pretty often).

Scenery - I think that Australia has some of the most impressive scenery in the world. Just the sheer scale of some of the sights takes your breath away. A wispy waterfall dropping a hundred metres down the side of a sheer cliff, miles of blue-tinged eucalyptus trees undulating over the mountains, massive gum trees spiralling up into the sky and rainforests thick with vegetation occasionally opening up into serene lagoons. And this is only from one national park (Blue Mountains). I'll be going up to Cairns at the end of December and see a little more of what Aussieland has to offer.

Wildlife - So bizarre! The strangest creatures run around the sidewalks. I work next to the City Botanical Gardens and you can wander through tripping over water dragons, dusky moorhens, ibises and possums. Not to mention the other things in the wild like kangaroos, koalas, echidnas, wombats, wallabies, tasmanian devils, crocodiles, emus, cassowaries, lorikeets, kookaburras, lyrebirds, dingos, etc etc... the only thing I don't like about them is that because sunrise is at 3 am or so the birds start making their racket at an ungodly hour... being woken up by a monkey-like cackling is slightly disturbing.

Public ferry - okay this probably only applies to Brisbane, but I love taking the ferry to work and back every day. Takes you through the heart of downtown, and most of the river is lined with these beautiful purple flowering trees. Even though locals say the river is disgustingly polluted, it looks pretty nice and blue to me (coming from Winnipeg with its "muddy waters").

Public markets - probably due to the temperate climate, there are tons of vegetable and fruit farmers who bring their produce to a variety of open-air markets every weekend. Not only do you get to grocery shop out in the park, you can also browse the various crafts, clothing and stall foods available too. I usually go to the West End markets, which are a mix of hippies buying organics and Asian students looking for cheap veggies (you can get pretty much all the varieties you are looking for for a decent price).

On the other hand, Brisbane isn't really known for its restaurant food price value (meager portions and so-so taste for extremely high prices) and haven't found a decent bar yet (I miss the Black Dog), and drivers are insane here. Plus they have "tasty" cheddar cheese, which is a white tangy cheese that falls somewhere in between mozarella and Canadian cheddar, but in my opinion falls short of both.

Overall though it's been an enjoyable stay, and pending their questionable immigration processing times I may stay here another year!

cheers, Ange

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Auckland! and pics from Aussieland

Time to wrap this sucker up...

As usual, here are the pics!

Fourth and Final Leg: Auckland

Fourth and Final Leg: Auckland (cont'd)

Made it to the airport in record time (partly thanks to an alternate freeway route and partly thanks to Dallas' aggressive driving :P), and boarded the plane for the longest flight yet in this journey, 12 hours. Resolved to stay awake to acclimatize myself to the time change, but forgot that we got into the airport at 5 am and so would be sleep deprived anyways. The meals were actually pretty tasty even in economy class (a potato-crusted chicken breast stuffed with spinach), although they woke us up at 3 am NZ time to have breakfast (breakfast?? I wasn't even done digesting dinner...). Am flying Air New Zealand all the way while I'm here.

Got into the customs line alright after having my hikers inspected (they're afraid of foreign soils with foreign bacteria), and was so bleary that it took me a second to recognize the guy in line in front of me... Louis from Westlink! I had known that he would be travelling around Aussie/NZ this year, but didn't expect him to be there at the same time! Crazy coincidences.

We figured that it'd be more fun to travel around together, plus he didn't have any plans until his friend arrived in a couple days. Headed into town from the airport to the hostel, which didn't open until 11. Left the bags there and walked around trying to find some breakfast. First mistake: walking around in Parnell, the most expensive "posh" neighbourhood. A bagel with cream cheese for 8 bucks?? Found a cheap sandwich/meat roll shop run by a Vietnamese couple (Vietnamese-Kiwi accent, cool!) that sold sandwiches for a more decent price and ate them in the park while trying to figure out what to do (it was only 9 am). A passing dogwalker was kind enough to explain the local attractions and the not-to-miss spots, as well as letting us know that city rivalries are alive and well everywhere in the world (Edmonton-Calgary, meet Auckland-Wellington).

Figured that we may as well head into town to visit the harbour and see some sights while waiting for our rooms to be ready. It was a bit of an adventure trying to simply walk downtown, as we weren't used to the left-side driving yet and kept looking the wrong way. :P As well, Kiwi street architecture is laid out according to the geography, so lots of winding curvy roads. Passed by the "old" Chinatown, which is now non-existent except for a supermarket and a couple restaurants. Also passed by a couple of English language schools with heaps of students outside (mostly Asian, a few East Indian students scattered in there).

The harbour is half industrial cargo containers, half upscale shops and restaurants. Checking ferry departures to the nearby islands, found one going to Rangitoto, a dead volcano just a half-hour's ferry ride away, where one could hike up to the summit in an hour or so. No other plans, so why not? Had lunch in a nearby cafe where we chatted up the waitress (from China, lived there for 7 years) about life in Kiwiland, the lack of a Chinatown and how she found the culture in general (friendly, less discrimination in the cities than in the country but as long as they got to know you they'd warm up). Chinese-Kiwi accent? Awesome! She had a funny story how she went to a conference once and the Australians thought she was American, the British thought she was Australian and the Americans thought she was British (don't know what the Chinese people thought).

On the ferry ride over, saw lots of sailboats just toodling around in the sea (Auckland is apparently the Kiwi City of Sails). Passed by a bunch of islands (Devonport is cottage country, further off was Waiheke, the beach island), and then pulled up to Rangitoto, which was surprisingly green and lush for a dead volcano (although soil is supposed to be fertile after an eruption). There was the option of riding up in a 4WD, but we decided to do the hike and travelled through hard, sharp rocky paths cut through the surrounding lava fields (not smooth, they looked like heaps of dirt except really hard), and eventually climbed up through the jungle with occasional breaks to admire the view (could see Auckland still).

Gotta say, although I've been walking around the cities for hours on end since I left Winnipeg, I was still out of breath when I reached the top. The crater itself is all overgrown with vegetation, but is still impressive in its depth and breadth, making you wonder how it would have looked during its "active" period. At the actual peak (marked by a geodetic marker), there was a gorgeous view of the surrounding islands and Auckland, as well as the deep blue ocean all around.

While I was resting up there, I heard a faint tinny "Hello? Hello??" coming from my bag... seems that my cell phone got lonely and started calling my sister on its own! :P Couldn't talk to her for very long, but saying you were speaking from the top of a mountain in New Zealand was pretty neat...

On the way down, did a slight detour to the lava caves, which are not quite subterranean formations created by an overhang of lava. It's pitch black in there once you get further in, so we used our cameras to light the way (Louis used his flash, I used the little light that goes on before you snap the actual pic). At one point narrowly avoided a headbanging experience... but an interesting "walk" (more like gingerly groping your way though the cave).

Lots of new and weird looking plants, especially gigantic ferns that when curled up, looked like a hairy beast's tongue ready to snap out and impale you. :) Also saw brilliantly colored flowers that also grew in Auckland, and unfamiliar trees that possessed pine needles but none of the other characteristics of pines at home.

Sat out by the old prisoner's dock (there used to be a jail on the island) while waiting for the ferry back, enjoying the breeze. Louis apparently got painted by a local watercolor artist. :) Upon inspection, the bottom of Louis' shoes were all worn down and even had a hole, while mine were... pretty much the same craptacular soles that I've been walking around with. Note to self, wear hiking shoes next time (could feel every rock by the end of the hike). Overall, a great way to start off New Zealand; it had only been 10 hours since landing.


Since it was only 3 pm when we landed back in the harbour, went to explore some of the surrounding buildings. There was this one with what seemed to be a glass enclosure at the very top (the St. Laurent building), so we decided to try to get up there and see what was inside. Turns out that even if the elevator was locked, you could get up through the stairs (great security ^_^). A tad disappointing though, it was just full of ductwork and AC equipment, but a neat view through the slightly foggy glass. Slightly nervous at the sound of voices, we snuck back down quickly with a couple pics to prove we were there.

Getting a bit peckish, so stopped off at a bar for some ribs. Since it was martini night, Louis ordered one of the specials and I got a beer. When the waitress came back with the drinks, she reversed our orders (gender stereotyping, owell). :P The bar was called Degree, and it got pretty hot in the sun until they rolled down the patio shade; they even had jugs of sunscreen for those of fairer complexion.

Decided to call it an early night because of jetlag and the early ferry ride the next day to the neighbouring Waiheke Island, with beautiful white sandy beaches, vineyards and local Kiwi flavor. The next morning, packed just enough for one night's stay and headed off to the harbour. I can't get enough of these ferry rides, they're relatively cheap and offer a great view of the surrounding islands.

Upon landing, we had to decide between renting bikes, scooters, or a car to get around. After looking at all the prices, and a bit of persuasion on Louis' part :P, we ended up going with the scooters. Donning a white bubble-helmet, we putted around the parking lot a bit to get used to the left-side driving rules and then headed up the main road to the nearest town, Oneroa, to find a place to stay for the night. Zipping up the hill alongside traffic, I was a little nervous, but scootering was so fun that excitement soon outweighed trepidation. Plus I was only driving 50-60 km/h.

Once we got to the tourist info post, we found that all the hostels in the area were booked up for the weekend (forgot that it was Easter long weekend), and were contemplating camping out on the beach when the info lady mentioned that "she knew someone" with a boat... Turns out that the guy ran a backpacker boat which had bunks available on board. Did we want to give it a try? Did we ever!! :)

After grabbing some directions and tips for sightseeing, decided to check out a beach before the check-in time. The nearest beach was Palm Beach, and what a beach it was! Secluded, uncrowded, silky sand and relatively calm waters. Didn't have too much time so wandered around taking some pics before hopping back on the scooters and going directly south to the boat. The address given led us to an empty house with a friendly dog in the yard, and after a bit of exploring we happened across some twisting stairs cut into the brush that led down to a dock, where the boat was moored. It was a single hull fishing trawler, not too big but not small either. As we came down the stairs, we could hear a pulsing bass line coming from inside, and had to yell a few times to get the attention of the people inside. :)

We met Red, who owned and ran the boat, and Grant, who came around to help him out with various things, both middling-aged healthy blokes who had obviously worked in the outdoors for most of their lives. About a year ago Red decided that he had had enough of the working life, and bought and converted the boat to host backpackers, parties, and random expeditions to the other islands like the Great Barrier Island. They were quite laidback yet no-nonsense, and told us tales of wild trips up the coast where people would dive off the top into the water, climb back on the front and repeat for hours. They still had a couple of flash-freezers which were now put to use for beer not fish, and the bunks had the bare minimum of bedding but were not uncomfortable. The shower was located in the same room as the toilet, which reminded me of the Yangtze cruise conditions (except it was a "porcelain throne" not a squatty-potty), and had a gas-powered heater for a really good hot shower.

Decided to head up to Onetangi Beach, which was 2 km of pure white sands and clear blue ocean water. Was a bit overcast so the water was cold at first, but you could find these underwater warm currents that were nice to sit in. Stayed for about an hour, swimming, sunbathing, and shell-scavenging. First use of my bathing suit on this trip!

Had to find some dinner, so decided to hit up a winery for some local cuisine. We tried to visit the Mudbrick winery first, but found it deserted and closed for the weekend (the Kiwis take their holidays seriously). Explored around the property a bit, including going up to the top of their vineyards for an awesome view, before heading down to the nearby Cable Bay winery. Where Mudbrick was set up in a classic Italian courtyard kind of atmosphere, Cable Bay was purely modern, with weird funky metal sculptures in the "park" and sleek minimalist architectural lines. The highlight was full ceiling-to-floor windows that faced somewhat westward for a great sunset view, without having the light shine directly into your eyes. Another big impact was the prices: $30 for a fist-sized piece of lamb, or a palm-sized piece of fish (all tasty though). Ouch! At least on a backpacking budget. Some pre-dinner entertainment came from a bird who had flown into the place and was twittering out of reach near the ceiling; the wait staff kept trying to tempt it down with little success until just before our meal was served.

Bought a few bottles of wine to take to Aussieland with me, then headed back to the boat. By this time it was super dark, so had to drive pretty carefully. Made it back in relatively one piece, and stayed up chatting with Grant about his colorful past (hijinx as a youth illegally working in Europe, some interesting tales of his buddies as well). He used to operate a tour bus on the island some years ago, and his spiel if not entirely accurate was entertaining ("there are 3098 sheep on the island" "bull!" "okay, let's go count them... one... two..."). The next day, rode out to Kennedy point to see the view, and then headed back to the ferry and back to Auckland. Saw the naval destroyer on the way back, patrolling the sunny waters full of pleasure seacraft...

Decided to take it easy and hang out in the sun at the hostel, as I would most certainly return to New Zealand in the future and there was no point killing myself being a tourist. Louis left for the airport to pick up his friend Nik, and we went out to the harbour for dinner and some sights. They had rented a car, so got to experience firsthand the craziness of "backwards driving". Nik accidentally turned into the righthand lane on a left turn once, and the oncoming drivers' faces were priceless... :P Hit up Degree again, the owner of which Grant had a few interesting stories about when they were young and in Europe... Uncle Tossy and some German leather... haha enough said. He is now successful enough to not have to be at the bar, and was probably sailing around Waiheke on a yacht. Wandered around the high-priced restaurants before happening on a Sushi Train restaurant, and despite the stigma associated with that name back home, the food was pretty decent! They also had blowtorching of some sushi, which is always a good thing. Got a large takeout order, then went to sit by the harbour and ate it in front of all those fancy restaurants. :P

Wandered around a bit while the lights were glowing, and visited the marina to see some of the yachts (one was 5 times as tall as a regular sailboat, and looked like it could hold a regular sized condo!). Decided to drive around Auckland a bit, and visited some of the more posh houses on the hills (interesting architecture, not unlike that you see in California).

I had to get up around 5:30am the next day and Nik was pretty jetlagged, so we hit the sack around 10 pm. Caught a cab to the airport with a nice German couple from Hamburg, who were now living in Coffs Harbour, a town halfway between Brisbane and Sydney on the coast (much better than those German winters).

At the tail-end of my trip, was finally dinged for being overweight (the luggage), due to those extra bottles of wine. Owell! They also had a departure fee separate from the ticket, and you had to buy a plastic carry-on bag from the bookstore... *gouge gouge gouge* Going towards security, was all of the sudden surrounded by Japanese high school students in uniform, probably on a school trip or something. Decided to wait until they were all through security before lining up, and headed over to the Subway for breakfast... They had roast lamb subs!! Tasty. Cheapest way to experience Kiwi lamb I guess.

A mainland Chinese tourist group from Anhui also boarded the same flight, and I sat next to a couple of older gentlemen who barely spoke any English. Ended up doing a bit of impromptu translation for the stewards when they came around with our meals/drinks, to the best of my crappy Mandarin knowledge ("Shui? Cha?"). We managed to tell each other where we were coming from (me pointing at my passport, my neighbour pointing at his cap logo), but beyond that, basically just smiled and nodded. :)

After about 2 hours, landed in the Brisbane airport really tired, but excited to be finally touching down in my final destination (for a long while at least). Reuniting with Yi was excellent, and we took a cab back which went along the scenic route (when Yi first got there, he took the train and bus route which is through an unkempt fenced off section). It was pretty hot and humid, which has continued pretty well every day. Since we're heading into winter, it's a bit colder at night, but so far haven't needed a serious jacket or sweater at all. Woohoo!

It takes some getting used to the road rules and the lingo, as well as the humor (they like to "take the piss out of you", so to speak). Have been camping on Fraser Island (4WD driving on beautiful beaches, with sand dunes and ocean views), visited Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo and the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, and am basically getting used to the way of life here (oh yeah, looking for a job). Taking the local transit is a great way to get to know the city, especially riding on the City Cats (catamarans that travel the river, and one of my favorite methods of getting around). Brisbane is quite hilly, so it's sometimes grueling to walk around...

Real estate and thus apartment rentals are super expensive, and are calculated by week (we're currently moving to a 2-bedroom apartment near the University of Queensland, which will cost $350/week not including utilities or a fridge or washer). They are currently in a 10-year drought, so we are encouraged to take short showers and conserve wherever we can.

There is a noticeable difference in available foodstock (lots of "exotic" fresh fruits and veggies at the market, but they haven't heard of graham crackers in the supermarkets). Food is also way more expensive, and as a result restaurant portions are smaller than expected (a $10 dish in an Asian restaurant doesn't feed 3-4 like in Canada, it barely feeds 1). Atlantic Salmon is $35/kg! There's a lot more South East Asian influence present, so will probably pick up more curries and spices in my cooking. We usually buy our veggies and fruit at the West End Market, a sort of hippie farmer's market with a mix of farmer stalls from the surrounding regions (organic and non-organic), raw meat/fish stalls, finished products (cheeses, bread, sausages and honey), food stalls (meat pies, vegetarian fare and lots more), and various hippie fashion and decorations. It's a great way to spend Saturday morning (or midday in our case), browsing amongst all the hustle and bustle and taking a break with some tasty treat on the grassy hillside.

Brisbane, and some Fraser Island pics
Yi's Fraser Island pics part 1
Yi's Fraser Island pics part 2
Yi's Fraser Island pics part 3
(we went with 15 people, and they all have a photo album of Fraser Island :P)
Australia Zoo part 1
Australia Zoo part 2
Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

One thing I've noticed is that Down Under, even the cities have tremendous jungle-like vegetation, and the indigenous wildlife is very different. Ibises and bush turkeys are the local scavengers along with the pigeons and magpies, possums are the equivalent of squirrels, and you are surrounded by bird calls that make you think you're in the middle of the jungle somewhere. Interesting living. :)

That's it for this "epic journey", it's been fun!

cheers, Ange

Sunday, March 23, 2008

San Francisco

Whoo... lots of travelling so far, so haven't had a chance to update the blog yet. Back up a couple weeks ago...

For pics:

SF part 1 - BBQ, GG Bridge, Coit Tower
SF part 2 - Fisherman's Wharf, Castro, and other randomness

Landed in San Francisco around noon time, weather was a brilliant change from Seattle, which was rainy and overcast. Sunny and +15 or so, could finally shed that sweater. :)

Tooling around Oakland with Dallas, Linda and Trish, flying around the freeways and getting lost in sketchy neighbourhoods ("I wonder if we can bust through that fence to the highway, it doesn't look very sturdy"), making it into the city with all the crazy traffic and finally ended up at their apartment, which hasn't really changed (Sphinx and Tex were still the same happy fat cats... oops I mean big-boned/poofy).

Went over to the house they're going to move into, around the Irving neighbourhood (the "locals" Chinatown). It's got decent space, and a large garage space that is going to be converted into a 1 bedroom suite by Dallas. They gotta do something about the connecting stairs though, either make them wider or install a traffic light to indicate when someone is coming down... Next was 8 hours of BBQ, Beatty family craziness (7 members present), some puzzling over the pictograms in the caps of the Mickey's beers (could drive one to drink, it could :P), and some tasty handmade burgers/veg skewers/Middle Eastern dainties. Eventually as night fell, people got to huddling around the dying coals of the BBQ, in true bum-huddle fashion.

Spent a week in SF, seeing some sights and hanging out with friends. Did most of the tourist trap stuff on the first Monday while people were at work, heading out to Coit Tower for the 360 panorama, then travelling by the streetcar of death to Fisherman's Wharf (when the driver tells you "I don't feel safe on this car, this is my last run", it doesn't exactly inspire confidence...). Wandered along the boardwalk until I hit Ghirardelli Square, where I caught the cablecar back to Market St. (hanging off the car on the side is fun, tiring, and occasionally earsplitting when the firetrucks roar by).

Highlights of the day:

an old "performance artist" who would hide behind a couple of tree branches he was holding until an unwary passerby got close, then sprang out "from behind the bushes" with a shout. Nearly scared the pants off me, and then I joined the crowd of onlookers/former victims to see the next one...

Busker who played for the crowd lined up for the cablecar, he did a pretty mean Beatles... and the dancing man who just started jiving to the music without any prompting or a hat out (coincidentally, the guy had played "Mr. Bojangles" about 5 minutes before)

Sea lions are fat and sleepy at FW, the young ones play around at "king of the dock" while the older ones are happy to bathe in the sun... kind of reminds me of the beach :)

Feeling like not only you but the cablecar is going to fall off the rails on the downhill segments



Went out to Pleasanton the next day with Dall and Linda for an errand, which is a nice little slice of suburbia with large malls and flowering trees everywhere (plum I think they were). Afterwards, had a soup bread bowl at Quizno's (pure genius! environmental and tasty), and some ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery (the original "marble slab ice cream parlor). Basically lots of driving, lots of hanging out in flowering parking lots, and eating. Headed down to Mission district for burrito mojados with Trish, which are super-sized burritos drenched in sauce and guacamole (the things are the size of my forearm!). So good, but could only barely finish half of one. Horchata, a Mexican rice milk cinnamon kind of drink was also really good. Got slightly lost on the way back, wandering through a bit of Castro before finding out that we were way closer than we expected to the apartment. :)

The rest of the week was spent wandering around San Fran, through the Castro and Irving neighbourhoods, a bit of the parks and other randomness. Since Lisa sent down a 1L bottle of maple syrup with me, we made pancakes pretty much everyday for breakfast. I went out in my pajamas (knee-length black pants, grey West Beach hoodie, and long black & gray horizontally striped socks with my brown shoes, Trish said I looked like a Dutchman) to grab some eggs from the corner store once, but SF has some pretty interesting fashion statements so wasn't too out of place...

Met up with my oldest cousin Peter and his wife Rain, who are living in the Bay area, and are doing great. :) He recommended some oyster farming up in the GGNRA, which I will have to do next time I am back there (it's apparently an "exciting manly task" to shuck oysters, sounds like fun! :P). Also met up with an old family friend Agnes Wong and her three-year-old daughter Maya out in Berkeley, where we had some great Indian food (no frills atmosphere, but the best saag paneer I've tasted so far). Berkeley is apparently the birthplace of "Californian cuisine", will have to go back for food adventures at some point.

Then Friday night rolled around... let's just say that it was a good night. ;) Yujie came out for a few hours, she's working down in Sunnyvale and taking latin dancing, looks great! Hopped around a couple of bars with a pizza break in between. The pics should say what kind of state I was in afterwards. :P I woke up the next morning to discover a pot with a plastic bag in it beside my head (pristine though)... Saturday was pretty much spent recovering, stayed in and ordered Nepalese food which is pretty close to Indian, just with more goat. Tasty stuff from the Kathmandu Cafe.

Didn't feel like doing a big hike on Sunday, so walked around Castro and Haight-Ashbury with Trish in the afternoon. Remarked on how the trinkets in those Tibetan shops were marked up about 1000% from those we saw in China. Chilling at Cafe Flore talking about random stuff, life, etc., pretty much what we used to do at the Black Dog. Sat in the Panhandle watching the slice of weird life go by (some people had dragged couches onto the grass, and after a while a cop car came zooming up to them, eager to enforce the law in this little corner of SF).

Monday was spent packing mostly, then went to Golden Gate Park to feed the squirrels peanuts with Dallas. After a while, they'll come right up to you and take it right out of your fingers (although one mistook my finger for a peanut once). Saw a model sitting up by the waterfall in an evening gown for a photo shoot, tourists were also snapping pics as they walked by (I wonder which ones turned out better...). Dogs being walked would chase the squirrels around, who darted up the trees but soon came back down for more peanuts. Funny enough, most of the dogs were little ones, not much bigger than the squirrels...

OK, ending this massive post now. More on New Zealand/Aussieland later.

G'day, Ange

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Seattle

Seattle... lots of dogs, bikers (the self-propelled kind) and North Face gear.

Really only had one day in town so tried to see stuff that I didn't get to the last time I was here. Woke up fairly early and headed down to Fremont, the "quirky" neighbourhood just north of downtown. They pride themselves on being weird, so have a whole bunch of suburban art installations (the Fremont Troll, the Interurban collection of bus stop denizens, a statue of Lenin salvaged from the collective Russian statue toppling, etc etc). There's also a park that is actually a reclaimed gas refinery, named (appropriately) Gas Works Park. The playground there consists of some rusty mock gas refinery equipment.... didn't see any kids there though. :P

walked along the sound to the University of Washington, there was an interesting monument just across the street from the Applied Physics building. Were they trying to tell us something...

The campus is pretty nice, lots of neat architecture, and a skateboarder's dream of a central space.

From there, walked across the bridge to Capitol Hill, a hipster neighbourhood known for indie music and coffee shops. By that time my toast and orange breakfast was hours back and I was getting pretty footsore, so resolved to stop for some pho noodles that I heard were in the neighbourhood. If only I could find it...

Realized after about 2 hours of walking that Capitol Hill isn't right across the bridge, it's a couple neighbourhoods south of it. >_< By the time I reached it, I was so hungry I ducked into the first food purveyor I saw, which turned out to be a tasty Japanese place that served specialty sake. Figured that if I wanted to make it back to the hostel in one piece I'd better lay off the sauce, so just gorged on unagidon instead. Best BBQ eel on rice I ever ate!

Walked around the neighbourhood a bit, stopped into Wall of Sound to see if they had the CD I was looking for (they didn't, but did have a copy of Kid Koala, a Montreal scratch artist who releases comics with his discs; were also playing some experimental music with lots of distortion, clicks and squeals...). Went to Bauhaus for a latte and some people watching (also some dog watching, lots of dog walkers). There was a weird sundog (only one) that appeared around 4 pm....


Checked out the local concert clubs to see if there was anything I wanted to check out that night, but by the time I got back to the hostel my feet hurt so bad I could barely put them down on the ground (yes, I walked back). Decided to call it a day and chilled for the night. Seeing as I had to wake up at 6 the next morning it was probably a good idea anyways.

For more pictures, see the following album:

Vancouver & Seattle

Tried to lug my stuff to the Sheraton airport shuttle, then spent 20 minutes trying to find the elusive hotel. Gave up at the Westin and hopped in a cab, which cost me about $30... darn phantom hotels... Caught Southwest down to San Fran; they have this weird queueing system where they give you a letter and a number to designate when you're allowed to go find a seat (general boarding), and you had to line up according to your combination between marked poles. Everyone was confused though because the poles rotated to show different letters/numbers. Self-defeating efficiency...

Made it to San Francisco around noon, where it was warm, sunny and all around the best weather I've seen since starting the trip! Got picked up by Trish, Dall and Linda in their car, and drove around Oakland trying to find lawn chairs and BBQ food for the gathering later that day (un/successful respectively). After dropping off the luggage, headed over to the house that they are in the process of buying/moving into, and spent the afternoon/evening making food, eating and drinking with the Beatty clan :).

cheers, Ange

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Vancouver-Seattle

Currently typing this from the Green Tortoise Hostel in Seattle, by the Pike Place Public Market. Seattle and Vancouver are both similar in that there's a lot of waterfront to walk on, and parks everywhere.

Stayed in Vancouver for the past 3 days, basically pounded the pavement around downtown in the mornings and visited friends for eating in the afternoons/evenings. Was situated in Davie neighbourhood, lots of rainbows... :) It's in the "south end" of the downtown peninsula, so English Bay is a block away. Even on warm sunny days, the cold wind off the sea makes for a chilly but brisk walk. Lots of dog walkers, joggers, bikers, etc... From there, walked up Denman to Stanley Park, made it halfway around to within eyeshot of Lion's Gate Bridge before getting really hungry.

Was going to meet a friend Farnaz in Burnaby for lunch, so walked over to the Burrard Skytrain terminal. It was a bit of a gong show after that.... missed the transfer for the Millenium line so had to hop back a couple stations. After getting to the station, waited for my friend for about half an hour before looking at my phone and realizing I had been booted off the network somehow, so wasn't receiving calls. Figured she would be sick of waiting by now so hopped back on the train to downtown, when I got a call from her and we figured out that we had been waiting at opposite ends of the station. :P OH MAN... so turned around again, and finally saw her after an hour of these shenanigans... Good to see her though, and she's working for some surveillance/security company programming in C++, so doing good. We were both in consensus that grad school, while a good experience, isn't something that we ever want to go back to....

Headed back downtown to meet up with another family friend who was a lawyer at Harper Gray LLP, and got to see the seriously impressive view from their offices (32nd floor). Even better that it was late afternoon, so everything was a warm golden color... Could also see English Bay from there...

Walked from there down to a Chinese restaurant on Cambie, 6 blocks away from my family friend's place (a nice find for her). Met up with an auntie and uncle who had moved out here for retirement (a common trend amongst the Chinese community in Winnipeg), and had a nice evening reminiscing about old friends while eating Peking duck and crab. This was actually the first time I enjoyed crab, because there was actually meat inside the legs! I guess it's because it was really fresh... The uncle is known in his neighbourhood for running around the park ("it's you! I know you!" from the local kids), and the auntie regularly sings Cantonese opera on Tuesdays with a bunch of other ladies in Vancouver (apparently there's a big difference between Cantonese and Beijing opera... will have to listen to it one of these days).

The next day walked up the other side of downtown to Gastown and Chinatown. Basically just wandering around until something caught my fancy (which wasn't often). Gastown has that famous triangle skinny building, and Chinatown had this Kwai Chang Kane-Chinese lookalike (you know, from Kung Fu the Legend) in a gift shop who taught Wing Chun kungfu in the back... how awesome is that? :)

For some reason, Canadian geese everywhere... in the parks, on the streets, in the air... I guess like other Vancouverites, they see no need to leave for the winter....Had an hour to kill before meeting up with other friends for artistic lattes so went down to English Bay to finish my book (Ghost Sea by Ferenc Mate, an excellent sea adventure/ethnological study on the Kwakiutl people of northern BC). It was sunny out so I figured I could find a warm spot along the beach to read, but the cold sea wind drove me from bench to bench until I figured out the best strategy to find a reading spot: just follow the sunning geese. :) Parked myself beside a flock enjoying the sun in the shelter of a few tall leafless trees.

Met up with Jacques and Jess for lattes decorated with cream and powdered cinnamon at Artigiano's, in Kerrisdale, a neighbourhood with funky little shops/cafes/restaurants/lingerie stores (??). Talked about movies, new and old, and how the upcoming "Forbidden Kingdom" would probably be very light on plot, but would be worth seeing for just one thing: seeing Jet Li and Jackie Chan in the same movie! :P

Got dropped off at Kitsilano Beach, with an awesome view of downtown, so took a short walk among all the dog walkers. Then headed back up the hill (I forgot how hilly Vancouver was, my butt is hurting from all the unaccustomed exertion :P) to BC Sushi, a pretty good all you can eat sushi place. Slabs of sashimi, really fresh and even sweet sea urchin! Apparently there's no decent sushi for a decent price in Australia, so ate my fill that night. The first sushi place I've seen where the waitresses put in the orders with PDAs. :P

Caught the bus back downtown (total noob with their faresaver tickets, but whatever), and spent the remainder of the night looking up details of Seattle for the next day. Unfortunately the greyhound bus was running slow so didn't get into Seattle until 4:30, too late to do much of what I planned, but there was a "First Thursday" free art walk in all the galleries including the Seattle Art Museum, so it's not all bad. Will try to hit up Fremont (with the bridge troll) and Capitol Hill tomorrow, basically just pounding pavement some more and maybe seeking out random landmarks. I have a small project while I'm travelling, there's an obscure album by Takagi Masakatsu (classical/electronic/visual arts) that I've been unable to find anywhere in stores, so perhaps I'll be able to find it here, where indie music is almost a way of life.

cheers, Ange

Monday, March 03, 2008

Picture Albums

Three days of reunion/partying = one tired Ange :)

Edmonton pictures

Gantarmania: birthday bash

(and these are the relatively tame pictures...)

Great to see everybody, go stomping along the Ave and experience +8 weather for a couple days at least.

This was more about seeing people than places, but here are some highlights:

Friday: Took a morning walk across the High Level Bridge, which gives a great view of downtown, the Legislative Building, and the N. Saskatchewan River. On the way back, walked through Kinsmen Park and forgot how hard it is to walk uphill on ice. :P

Visited Neuroscience lab to eat some Spanish delicacies Esther had brought with her, including prosciutto (tasty) and anchovies in oil (interesting...). A small discussion on the perils of eating small oily fish when you have braces. Most of the crew will be gone within one or two years, off to the next stage (working or otherwise)...

Dinner at Lisa's, making it was interesting (sauce on baked salmon dripped down and caused 2 feet of eye-tearing smoke, forcing us to open all the windows & doors), ultimately very tasty and craziness abounding with making videos for Trish's compilation (it's all Jon's fault!). Headed out to Gantarmania afterwards, and partied till 3 am! Tom is eternally youthful as always at 30, how does he do it?? Falling asleep at 5 and waking up at 9:30 to find some keys made the next day kind of a blur...

Saturday: as sleep-deprived as I was, made it out for Pho with B-dette and Jess, discussed the trends of moving to Australia (B-dette's going too later this year) and how people all seem to be getting married at the same time lately. Craziness!

BBQ that night at a friend's place, semi-comatose until the poker set came out (don't know how, I actually won it all...). Headed over to the Empress afterwards to check out the newest pub on the Ave, opened by former Black Dog employees and doing pretty much the same business. I even put a hole in the wall in the same spot while playing darts...

Sunday: took the opportunity to sleep in, and just chilled with Lisa and Aleks on the Ave. Antique Cellar always has some interesting stuff, and visited the recently departed BD (it shall return, as assured by Sue Kiernan). Craving some eggplant hotpot at Buddy's, then helped make my own scrapbook present at Remedy cafe (they made one for me and Trish, so will wait until I get down to SF before looking at it).

Monday: woke up at 6:30 am to help Lisa clean up her house (kind of a disaster after 3 days of partying), then headed for the airport. 2 x 50 lb suitcases = arms of steel...

more later on Vancouver, which is the suck right now (rainy and cold), but should warm up tomorrow.

cheers, Ange


Friday, February 29, 2008

Departing Winnipeg, hello Edmonton


So after a year at home reconnecting with family and old friends in Winnipeg, my itchy feet couldn't stand it anymore and I'm moving to Australia to live, work, and explore (conveniently, Yi is doing med school there for another couple years). And no, my feet aren't itchy just because Winnipeg is very dry. :P

A short map of my travel plans:

1. Edmonton Feb 28-Mar 3 - visiting the old university stomping grounds, some of my best friends and Whyte Ave (my home away from home).

2. Vancouver Mar 3-6 - I just like this city, even though it rains all the time. Lot of old friends moved out here after high school/university/retirement.

3. Seattle Mar 6-8 - I like this city too, like a sister to Vancouver. Home of Starbucks, I'll finally get to use that gift card that Gary gave me at Xmas; favorite blend is Pike Place. Lots of music history here too.

4. San Fran Mar 8-17 - I guess liking the city is a recurrent theme for this trip... as well as visiting the rest of my best friends.

Leaving family and friends in Winnipeg is tough, but the world is so much smaller now with telecommunications, so I don't feel like I'll really be that far away.

Flying from Winnipeg to Edmonton, the only difference is more hilly terrain and swagger (especially in Calgary). :)

Great to see the Biomed crew again, just like I remembered and happier if that can be possible. The balmy -10 degree weather may have helped. A few new faces, same overall characters. Really happy to see the inheritor of my green couches again as well! :P Lots of catching up to do over the next few days...


cheers, Ange

Outside the "Discovery" store in Calgary Airport... lots of kids hugging these two...



























Looks like a fish swimming through the clouds...










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