Moving

We helped Myron & Cyndi move from Sundre AB back to Winnipeg MB. The girls flew and the guys drove. Reg, Myron and I each had a vehicle to drive. Just before we left, we heard a little bit of scratching in the back of the moving truck. When we opened up the back, two kittens popped out! They just about relocated to Winnipeg.

We bought Walkie Talkies so we could communicate without having to always pull over. (Technical note: we purchased Cobra brand FRS/GMRS 2-way handheld radios. They advertised as having a 16km range--ya right! We were lucky if we got 1/2 km! Granted it said 16km under ideal conditions such as good weather and unobstructed line of sight, but that's what we had! We were in the prairies in sunny weather for crying out loud. Anyway, for any future walkie talkie buyers, you have been warned.)

The great thing about the prairies is that when you get tired, you can just find a quiet gravel road and sleep. So that's what we did. I've always wanted to camp in the median on a divided highway (you know the ones between Surrey and Hope). Well I guess my dream kinda came true because we pitched our tent in the middle of a divided highway. I say "kinda" because it hardly felt like it. There was a whole mile between the two directions of traffic. It was a nice quiet camping spot, free and alone, just the way I like it.

It took us two days of driving to get us from Sundre to Winnipeg. We had to go the speed limit. Not because we couldn't afford a ticket, but because if Myron went over 100, the moving truck would start to shake. And Myron & Cyndi's van gets the shakes around 110. My car (or my foot) is built such that it always wants to go 120km/h on the highway, so it was a constant fight to keep the speed down. On the plus side, we got no tickets.

After arriving in Winnipeg, Reg and I became "two small guys with big hearts" as we moved all their stuff into storage lockers. On our way back we may end up moving all that stuff once more if they find a house.

Corner Gas

Reg and I took a little detour off the #1 highway to see the set for the TV series Corner Gas. They do a lot of the filming for that show in an actual small town in the Saskatchewan, so a lot of the show is quite authentic. They have the Corner Gas gas station and The Ruby diner all as one building. The store part of the gas station is set up just like a small town gas station store, and they do all the inside and outside shots right there. Some of the inside shots (like inside the Ruby) are done at a sound stage in Regina, but most of it is taped on location in Roulou (Row-Low) Saskatchewan (about 1/2 hour south of Regina).

It was pretty cool. We could walk around the set (which is on the highway right on the corner of town). There is a map of town to show you where they tape various things in the show. For example the Dog River Police Station is actually an ice cream shop. They just put up a Police Station sign when they are using the outside for filming.

The other cool thing was that they were shooting some scenes for Episode 63 while we were visiting. For those who follow the show, they were filming at Oscar and Emma's house, which is an actual house on the other side of town. They renovated it for the owner so it would look the way the producers wanted it. They even fixed up the house next door in exchange for being allowed to use their bathroom on the days they are filming. So (not that anyone really cares) Episode 63 will consist of scenes where Oscar is doing some gardening and they will be apparently erecting a "city limits" sign at the edge of town.

We didn't get to see much. They block off roads and keep the public quite a distance away. We got brief and distant views of some of the cast but not much for the amount of time we spent there. We talked to one of the traffic security guys and that was pretty fun. Then we toured around to see some of the other locations they film at. I felt embarrassed as I took a picture of the curling rink. For crying out loud, it's just a small town rink! And yet I was taking a picture because it's been on Corner Gas. I roll my eyes at myself.

Roadtrip

Well as I write this, we are on our way to Winnipeg. Reg and I are doing a roadtrip from Abby to Winnipeg, with the possibility of going to New York City. Yes, I am aware that NYC is significantly farther than Winnipeg, but we both have the time. It will just be a matter of the will.

We stopped in Sundre to see Myron & Cyndi and helped Myron move their stuff and their van. From Sundre, AB we drove to Winnipeg, MB.
I'll try to keep this thing updated while on the road. I've got my lappy along so I can write while on the road. It is a bit of a challenge to try to always be documenting everything you do. We have the digital camera, the video camera, and the blog. It can become a hassle. Sometimes you just want to enjoy the moment. So you won't be filled in on everything, but you will get the jist of our trip.

Airshow

The province newspaper had a feature "100 things to do in BC before you die". I have already done about 16 of them, which I think is pretty good. But one of the things they neglected to mention was the famous Abbotsford International Airshow. I mean it's the only thing that puts Abbotsford on the map--well it's also the city with the 3rd highest crime rate per capita in Canada (Hooray!) But enough about infamy and onto fame...

As locals of Abbotsford, and the good Mennonites that we are, it seems a bit pricey to pay 25 bucks for the privilege of being on the grounds of our dinky little airport. So we decided on a different vantage point: The top of a grain elevator. After a very long climb up a very long ladder, we were at the top on this little metal platform. Just us and an auger motor which was thankfully off.

It was pretty cool to be on the top of the tallest thing in the sumas prairies. And we got some good views of the planes. Most went around us instead of over us, but 2 snowbirds flew right overhead so that was cool. Ah, a free airshow. My kind of show.

Fireworks

I've been doing a lot of things with Reg because he wants to do a lot of things before he goes to Thailand. Man, you'd think the guy was going to die on January 1st. Anyway, one of the things he wanted to do is watch Vancouver's Celebration of Light fireworks.

We watched all 4 nights and as usual it was very good. But since the show is world class, any other fireworks display that I watch now is just boring. I highly recommend to anyone to see the Celebration of Light as least once. Then again, if you want to enjoy little fireworks displays, you better stay away or you'll be spoiled forever.

(I didn't take any pictures of the fireworks because I took so many last year. If you want to see more than enough pictures of fireworks, see July/August pictures in 2005.)

Golden Ears

Well once again it has been a long time since I last blogged. But for the sake of documenting my life in chronological order, I will step a few weeks back in order to fill you in on a hike that Reg and I did. For the first time for both of us, we conquered Golden Ears mountain.

It is 12 km ONE WAY. I did not train for this trip and I was dreadfully out of shape, but I made it, albeit barely. Positives: Beautiful (although hazey) view of the entire Fraser Valley, good view of Pitt Lake, and a feeling of accomplishment. Negatives: Relentless black flies (even on top), and a terrible trail. I have never called a trail "stupid", but this was a stupid trail. It is 12 kilometers, and it didn't need to be. The first 3 km are completely flat! In another part the trail goes up really steep up the mountainside, only to go down again right away. What's with that? Then there were the rocks. It's like they built half the trail on an old creekbed, with big loose rocks--too small to step on but too big to ignore. Very hard to hike.

There is an "emergency" cabin at the foot of the glacier, about 1 km from the top. It sleeps 8...cozy people. And they had an outhouse. Pretty fancy for being way up in the mountains. The cabin was occupied that night so we tented, which was fine. It was the hottest weekend of the year (35C or so in the valley) so it was really nice, not really cold at all.

We summited in the morning and then headed back down. That was the first time hiking that I was actually concerned that I wouldn't make it down. My legs hadn't recovered from the hike up, and we didn't bring as much food as we should have, so I didn't have anything to get my strength back. We had some Gator Aid mix and I was so desperate for energy that I ate a couple of spoonfuls of raw powder. That might have been the energy I needed to get down. The trail is so steep that you can't go down any faster than you came up, because you have to be so careful of your footing. I was so exhausted and so thankful to see my car after that hike.
(The picture above on the right is of the cabin, the outhouse and our tent)

As a footnote, I would just like to say that I will never do that hike again, unless
a) they redo the trail so there are no creekbeds and
b) they make the trail half as long (and they can, they SO can).

Spam

Well the spammers have found me and are leaving comments on my entries. So I have turned on that security word verification thing.

One thing to note: If NOBODY bought things that spammers advertised, spam would disappear. So the fact that spam is getting more and more common means that some of you out there are buying things that are advertised through spam. So whoever you are please stop! You are encouraging uncaring jerks to keep making money though very annoying means. Please, for the good of all mankind, please make your purchases through legitimate businesses. Thanks!

Long Beach

If you visit long beach on Canada Day, the parking is free. So we made the trip to the island to take advantage of the savings! Well, maybe we had other reasons as well. (Note the sentence that starts and ends with the word "well") . We were able to camp on the beach and it didn't rain at all! In fact it was about as good as it gets in terms of weather on the west coast.

Had a bear come through our camp. Of the 8 people in our group, Reg and I were the last ones to leave camp that morning. I was eating breakfast and was walking toward the food to get myself another strudel, when I looked up and saw the bear about 10-15 feet away! What do you do when you come face-to-face with a bear? I found out. I said "WOAH!!! Reg, there's a bear in our camp!"

What are you supposed to do next? I don't know, I never read that chapter. Apparently town-bears aren't phased by yelling and flailing arms. But clapping and thowing sticks seems to work...sort of. Two minutes later he came back through a different part of the bush. And THIS time I got my camera out.

We scared it off yet again with more sticks and clapping and that worked for a longer period of time. The thing about where we were camping is that we left our tents up. And even after we told the rest of the group about the bear, nobody was interested in checking on/taking down the tents. When we got back LATE that evening, the bear had taken down 2 of the 4 tents, looking for non-existant food. Fortunatelly, our tent was OK. But the others had to use a lot of duck tape to patch holes and mend broken tent poles. I can't believe we still slept there that night.

Long Beach was gorgeous, and the water was very cold. Peter brought a kite to fly, which was an excellent idea (I would have been SO bored otherwise). There was enough wind that we were able to attach bull kelp to the bottom of the kite. We made a tail about 20-25 feet long. This was a 2-string kite that you could control really well. We would whip that tail around and try to make it snap, or slap the ground with it. Good fun.

Peter & Bronwyn's dog Coda had to be kept on a leash, as per the sign and the park warden. But she never said the leash had to be attached to anything. So Coda ran free, dragging a leash behind her. Whatever.

The last night we stayed at Sproat lake. A nice place except for the 20 bucks a night. The water was relatively comfortable and the grounds were beautiful. A good place to go, the next time you want to camp around Port Alberni.

Floating down the canal

My oh-so-original title basically sums it up. At the end of June, Reg and I decided spontaneously to go to Penticton. More specifically, at 10:00pm Saturday night Reg mentioned his parents were in Penticton for the weekend and I asked him why we were sitting in Abbotsford! So ya, we arrived at 3:30am and stayed with Reg's relatives. Sunday afternoon we were floating down the canal.

It's a great thing to do in summer. I highly recommend it. If you provide your own floaty things and transportation then the ride is totally free. We each had an inner tube and we were both tied to the boat which carried all our worldly possessions. You need to be tied together or you will totally get separated. We were moving along at the pace of a fast walk (5.5km/hr). As to the state of Reg's undress, I'll let you decide.

Camping On Kenyon

Reg and I took advantage of a rare weekend when it wasn't supposed to rain. And it didn't rain so that was good. We camped on Kenyon Lake. It's one of my favourite places to camp, and judging by the amount of garbage thrown into the bush, I'm not the only one.

I got up in the morning, before the bugs had even woken up, and took a look at the lake. It was clear as glass. Not a trace of wind. The lake gave a perfect reflection of the mountains. All in all it was another successful camping trip--not to mention, fun.

Back to the Cave

At the end of May, shortly after I got back from Thailand, Reg and I went to visit our cave. It's still as beautiful as ever. And just as muddy. The entrance is eroding away, which is actually good because it means we don't get AS wet as we used to. On the downside, a lot of gravel seems to be building up on the lower (wet) end--the end we were hoping would eventually open up into more caves.

We both ventured down the hole that we once hoped was a lead to a new part of the cave. It still doesn't go anywhere but we like to check it out anyway. It is a tight squeeze with solid rock above you, rocky mud beneath you and rocks on either side of you. And it's at an angle so you have to inch your way back up to get out. There is one part which is REALLY tight. We jokingly called it the "birth canal". It's a good place to try out your claustrophobia. The picture doesn't do it justice.

And the last picture shows some of the flowstone. Ya it's a real cave with active stalagtites and flowstone. I still find it hard to believe that Reg and I were the first ones to ever see it.

Blog Junkies

OK you blog junkies, you know who you are. I'm posting some more stuff so you guys can get your fix. I'm posting each event as a separate entry so maybe PACE YOURSELF, cause I don't know when I'm going to be motivated to post again!

Home

Just a quick post to let all my faithful readers know that I am home. The return date was always on my website, but it seemed that very few people ever went there. I touched down Wednesday evening (May 17th). Thankfully, I haven't been suffering from jet lag. Almost no effect at all. Strange but good. I'm driving again and back to wearing sweatshirts, socks and shoes. The weather is cooler for sure but not as biting as I thought it would be (it's so much drier).

I'm looking for a new job. So... If anyone knows of a company looking for an electrical engineer (with an interest in computers, networks and servers). Let me know. Even job websites are welcome!

Layover

You would think that with the thousands of bookings that an airline handles each day, they should be pretty good at what they do, and you would think that they wouldn't just change the time of a flight and not tell the person flying until he comes to the counter on the day of the flight. Well that's what happened to me. My 4 hour layover instantly became a 10 hour layover with no advanced warning. I was not amused. Bad China Airlines! No fortune cookie for you!

On a positive note, I have become well acquainted with the Taipei Airport. If you ever have a layover there, be sure to go to Gate C7 for some free wired and wireless internet. They also have a subway and starbucks upstairs (in the VIP lounge area).

Here are some signs I found around the airport:
Dude! This restaurant serves gruel! And dishes. Mmmm, dishes.
He dances, he pukes and he wants to be your friend. It's Puki!! (Well maybe not, my Taiwanese isn't that good).
Is that what they call a recursive sentence?
I found it on the wall in the bathroom. It is informing me that I should not bring fruit into Taiwan. That's fine except it's a little late since I'm already in Taiwan. The funniest thing is this was in the bathroom on the departures level. Everyone who sees this sign is leaving Taiwan. Silly.

Shopping in Bangkok

Well I'm pretty sure that Bangkok is by far the biggest city I have ever been through. It has about 12 million people and it sprawls as far as the eye can see in all directions. With that said, it is no wonder that they are the home of some very large markets and malls.

I joined the TREK team for a day of shopping in Bangkok. First stop was Jatujak market. It is HUGE, and impossible to see the whole thing in one day. It is home to thousands of little shops with thousands more of people, walking down aisles no wider than 6 feet (that's before they let their merchandise spill into the aisle. If you are claustrophobic, you might not want to dive in too deep, there are a lot of rows and some of them get pretty crowded.

Next stop was a congregation of malls (or flock of malls?) We think metrotown in Burnaby is a big mall. It is but that's just one mall. Imagine like 5 or more malls like that, all side by side or across the street from each other. And that's just one part of Bangkok. It just makes the malls in Canada seem puny (ok, except West Edmonton). The malls took the other half of our day and we only scratched the surface. Shopping in a city that size with that many people is definitely an amazing experience.

Rush Hour

Bankok brings a whole new meaning to rush hour.

When I got back to Bangkok from Lopburi, I took a motorcycle taxi through Bangkok during rush hour. We were traveling between cars with fractions of an inch of clearance between my knees and car mirrors. I prayed a lot during those 10 mintues. It was one of the scariest things I've ever done! But I gotta say, it sure got me to my destination in a hurry.

A Trip to Lopburi

Took a quick trip to Lopburi. Stayed only one night and was back in about 24 hours. Just visited the Griffioens who are busy in language school. Also I just wanted to see Lopburi and see the monkeys. Over the course of two days I traveled by: MU7 (SUV), taxi, bicycle, foot, train, tuk tuk, motorcycle taxi and van.

I saw the Lopburi monkeys. Indeed there are a lot of monkeys in Lopburi.

Day Trip

Ya, some friends and I took a day off and traveled to a nearby island. We rented a giant 6-passenger tuk-tuk for the day (driver included) and toured the whole island. The island is pretty big and it has one or two small towns. It also has at least one BEAUTIFUL beach. The scenery was picture perfect, and it was as nice in person as it looked. The sand was clean and soft, right into the water. The water was clear and WARM. It was great.

Afterwards we toured around a bit and visited a site that was a vacation spot for one of Thailand's ancient kings. They keep it up, and it is a beautiful park.

All in all, it was a great day. And I worked it out, it only cost me about $12 Canadian for all food and transportation. Best 12 bucks I ever spent!

Lots of pictures on my website.

Picking Mangos II

Picked mangos again. This time I got a close up of the picker itself (refering to the object on the left--not me).

Grain Jai

Ok, say it was your turn to do the dishes and you forgot, and your roommate went ahead and did them for you. You say, "Awe, you shouldn't have." and you kinda feel bad that they went to the effort to do something that was your job (note that you are a GOOD roommate). How would you describe how you feel? "I feel...." what? Ok, I'll tell you. You feel "grain jai".

The Thais have a word for it, but I don't know of an English equivalent, and frankly I don't know how we've gotten this far without it. It is a distinct feeling. It's a little bit of embarrassment. It's a little bit of feeling bad. It's a little bit of helplessness. It's wishing you could do something to change it so it didn't inconvenience someone else, but you know you can't. Thats grain jai.

So I'm going to start using grain jai to describe the feeling. English needs that word. When you finally see a grain jai emoticon, you'll know what that is.