Okay…so I know I have a habit of unintentionally writing long travelogues, but since I’m 3 months behind I have a really good excuse this time! Just to forewarn…
It’s been alittle over 3 months since returning home to Canada, and it wasn’t because I was deported back either! I actually managed to return home by my OWN FREE WILL!! Yay!
The flight home was largely uneventful and I have nothing much to say about it except for…get this…the really COOL public toilets at the Tokyo Narita airport (I’m serious!). These toilets look like any other western toilet except for the fact that they had a million electronic dials and buttons on the right hand side of the seat. So I decided to give it a go and test every single button….it was a pretty fantastic experience. I must have sat there for a good 10 minutes and it wasn’t even a Number 2 either!
So it turns out the toilet was a contemporary model of a bidet/toilet all-in-one. The bidet (French derived and rhymes with the word filet), for those who do not know is a bathroom fixture used to bathe the external genital and the anal region of the body (too much detail?? Gotta love French inventions). This bidet/toilet allowed you to control the water temperature, pressure of the water jet spray, air dryer system, and heat of the toilet seat. It also gave you options to choose different spray patterns too. But there was this one button that topped them all and that I kept on pressing repeatedly…it was the MUSIC button- a sound recording of a flushing toilet to help hide those EMBARRASSING flatulent noises and droppings. Hilarious!!
Soon after my return home, I was fairly occupied working for my parent’s Vietnamese food court kiosk/restaurant (yeah, it’s slave labour!) because of the seriously large labour shortage in the food service industry in Alberta. There are many funny and interesting stories to tell you about my experiences working for my parents (tales about the Vietnamese soup Nazi, aka my DAD, and about the “regulars” who think I’m from High School) but I will have to decline writing about them for the sake of time. Plus I worry (mostly for those who are attention deficit) that after 10 minutes of reading this letter, you would start to get distracted by something shiny and glittery!
In addition to working at the restaurant, I’ve been trying to whip back into shape by going to the gym and practicing HOT YOGA. I have (well had) a great workout buddy- old high school chum/mate Kathryn. It’s been years since we actually managed to spend some proper time together because we never lived in the same city since graduating. She’s now fallen in love and moved to Calgary (again) to chase her dreams! She lives an uninhibited life that girl- what envy!
For those of you who do not know what HOT YOGA is…let me explain. Also referred to as Bikhram Yoga, it involves practicing 26 hatha yoga postures in a hot and humid environment. By hot, I mean plus 40 degrees C!! The heat allows your body to go into deeper stretches and helps to remove toxins through sweating. It also allows men to be stuffed in a small room full of half naked (truly, it’s too hot to wear any clothes) and sweaty women and see them do really provocative body postures. Men might be interested in this one posture called the CAMEL- insert imagination here>. Lol. It sounds like torture (and it really feels like torture) but you really feel exhilarated when you’re done! Your body feels energized and renewed, and you get this really nice endorphin rush too!
I’ve also been spending my time caring for the greatest kids in the world (though sometimes they don’t seem that way)…my nephew Brendon (9), and nieces Liya (6), Kyana (5) and Kayla (4). Being home allows me to do all the AUNTIE things I never got to do when I was living away from home, such as: going to Brendon’s soccer games or spring concert; going for bike rides; taking them to/picking them up from school; taking them swimming or to the park; or baking cookies together…it’s sort of like having kids but without the responsibility of keeping them for life. I love it!
Trails and Tastings
From early July to early August (~4.5 weeks), I took a 4600km road trip to explore Western Canada. I was accompanied by Tim Fletcher, the English ‘bloke” that I met in Malaysia and traveled with for a short while in Cameron Highlands and Teman Negara National Park. I was trying to convince Tim that Canada was the known center of the universe, and now that he has traveled Canada, I think he’s nearly convinced! He proved to be a terrific travel companion- he’s positive, down-to-Earth, charming and funny (especially that English humor I struggled to understand at times!). He’s the epitome of an all round “good chap”, which is somewhere I read as the “ultimate accolade that an Englishman can bestow”.
(Tim and I in Jasper, Maligne Lake trail)
Trails…
We visited a total of 7 park systems (Provincial and National) including Jasper National Park, Mount Robson Provincial Park, Banff National Park, Yoho National Park, Okanagan Provincial Park, Pacific Rim National Park and Waterton Lakes National Park. Most of these parks were situated in the Rocky Mountains and so needless to say we did a fair bit of trekking. I did a rough calculation of the total distance trekked from this trip (not including meager hikes touring Victoria or Vancouver etc. but only substantial day hikes and backcountry treks)…and get this…we trekked a grand TOTAL of 248 kilometers…all 248km in two of Canada’s most beautiful ecosystems/regions- the Rockies and coastal temperate rainforest.
The main highlights of the road trip in my opinion (Tim’s might differ!) were trekking the Berg Lake trail in Mount Robson Provincial Park (77km/4 days- including Snowbird Pass and Mum Basin day hikes) and the West Coast Trail in Pacific Rim National Park (75km/5 days). The Berg Lake trail offered spectacular views of many waterfalls, glaciers (including Robson Glacier, the source of the Fraser River), as well as Mount Robson’s peak, the highest peak of the Canadian Rockies. Wildflowers were abundant and in full bloom, and animals such as ground squirrels, marmots and pikas were seen/heard just about every where in the sub- and high alpine. The place was a photographer’s paradise and definitely a place I’d love to return to.
(Me and Berg Lake/Berg glacier)
(Berg Glacier’s reflection off of Tim’s sunglasses)
(Me and icefield on Snowbird pass- courtesy of T. Fletcher)
(Friendly marmot along the trail)
(Three-striped chipmunk)
The West Coast Trail in Pacific Rim National Park (Vancouver Island, BC) was something else! This 75km of trail was traditionally used by the First Nations but later became a telegraph line (which was then improved to a life saving route with established light houses) because of the numerous shipwrecks that happen in this area. I’m really not sure how this could be a life saving trail for ship wrecked mariners if I nearly DIED from hiking it!! Lol.
Okay, it wasn’t that difficult of a trek but there was a lot of potential to get yourself hurt, such as spraining your ankle from slippery rocks and tree roots, or falling off one of the 38 steep and long ladders on the trail! But luckily, we made it out unscathed with just a few blisters on the feet. One hiker commented on how “clean” I looked and questioned if I was on the trail at all. He even asked how I managed to still have nail polish on my toenails when he had completely lost some of his while hiking. What a joker. Little did he know Tim was carrying me in his backpack all the way. We originally planned on finishing it in 6 days, but we managed to finish it in 5- well Tim did…I just sat in his backpack and poked my head out occasionally to take a few photographs of the awesome scenery.
The difficulty of hiking the trail also lied in the fact that it was exceptionally slippery and muddy because it rained really hard for a few days the week prior (30 evacuations the week before we came!). We were able to divert some of the mud puddles by trekking along the beach so at least we managed to keep relatively “clean”- however clean you can get for not showering for 6 days.
(Me at the trailhead, West Coast Trail- courtesy of T. Fletcher)
(sunset along the west coast trail)
(Tim in his glorious moment)
One of the really good reasons why I enjoy backcountry hiking/camping so much is because of the post-trekking activities that follow. Long hot showers feel so luxurious, and after scrubbing down and washing your hair (repeatedly), you truly feel like a million bucks!! Plus, you can gorge on all the yummy food you’ve been craving for and not have to feel an ounce of guilt- especially that chocolate fudge brownie and cookie dough ice cream blizzard from Dairy Queen!! Just awesome.
And Tastings (of wine that is!)…
We also toured a few wineries in British Columbia’s wine tasting region, the Okanagan. We only managed to visit seven wineries of the 95 wineries in the area, but the number of wineries visited was NOT a reflection of the amount of wine we drank! And as most of you know, it really doesn’t take much for me to get drunk! So needless to say I had a wonderful wine tasting experience.
(Grape vine, Mission Hill winery)
(Tim at Mission Hill wine estates)
I think I really have developed a good taste for wine- both reds and whites. These abilities became self-evident when Tim and I went to a wine “boutique” called Golden Beaver (Tim has never seen a Canadian beaver and so this was as close as he was going to get to seeing one unfortunately- please refrain from making any dirty jokes!). The wine tasted like piss! Anyway, to help cure us from that trauma, we went to the Inniskillin wine estate, internationally recognized for their ice wines, and bought a couple of bottles including ice wine. We now have quite a good collection of wine; which makes for a great incentive for Tim to come back to Canada (besides seeing a REAL Canadian beaver- hold the dirty jokes please!).
What’s next??
So I hope most of you have made it through this letter and not had to stop for a pee break. You will be happy (or maybe jealous??) to know that I will be continuing my travels this September to India/Nepal via England (to visit Tim) for a few months to learn yoga and trek the Himalayas. I should be returning early December to find a home to get settled into, which would likely be in Regina (where my job is currently being held open for me).
To tell you the truth, I’m actually looking forward to working again- I’ve got this renewed sense of motivation to do good work and research in the field of sustainable agriculture/sustainable development, with a greater understanding of how important it is to continue the work that I do (’cause our ever-growing population will need to eat!). I’ve also this renewed sense of gratitude in life, as well as a heightened self-awareness of what is important to me, and what makes me who I am and happy.
Anyway, I’m starting to sound flaky and too philosophical for my own good.
Until my next adventure, Mai-Linh
(Tim at Waterton Lakes National Park)
(Pow wow at Jasper National Park)
(Clark’s nutcracker)
