wini in winnipeg...

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Time in Winnipeg

Sunday, August 31

a bizarre day 6:49 PM

Friday was a rather weird and “chapalang” day for us, filled with all kinds of emotions.

Newcastle Island

After a hearty Portobello sandwich and authentic French toast breakfast at the Mon Petit Choux Café, we proceeded to Newcastle Island, a 10-min ferry ride away from Nanaimo. Newcastle Island is legendarily renowned for the many camping, bicycling, kayaking and trekking activities that people carry out there, in a totally fresh-aired and pollution-free environment.

Yet the place did not turn out well for us tourists. We had hoped and assumed that bike or canoe rentals would be available on the island, but that was not the case. Also, because it was not the peak summer period, Newcastle Island was actually rather empty and deserted, with no sign of life at all! We ended up trekking (or rather, walking) a trail for about 2 hours instead. It all felt just like Pulau Ubin or some camping excursion, cos along the way we felt bored and entertained ourselves with jokes, mystery games and even singing competitions! Oh my.. it was tad disappointing but we were thankful to be able to exercise and walk around a little at least.

The Portobello sandwich and really good French toast. Apparently authentic French toast is supposed to have a cake-y texture, and not just, bread dipped in egg and seared in the pan!

We were still very excited when we first reached Newcastle Island, although there was no sign of life.

A pretty dandelion (I blew it but the wind was in the wrong direction so it all went onto my face.. tsk), clouds and a trail of maple leaves..

Newcastle Island.. akin to Pulau Ubin.

The Sun in Canada

Back to Mainland, Horseshoe Bay Vancouver

We then proceeded on our journey back to Vancouver, via the BC Ferries. Perhaps because it was a Friday afternoon, there were just so many vehicles around and we had to wait almost 2 hours for our ferry ride! We ended up playing bridge in the car, which was quite a funny way to pass time (when most other locals abandoned their cars to grab coffees or food, while some couples just settled for a little making out on their vehicles..). Anyway, bridge has become our favourite pastime it seems, we also played on the 90-minute ferry ride back.

See we're so happy playing bridge!

Stanley Park

So it was all a mundane and slow-moving day, that was, till we arrived in Vancouver. The route back to our hostel downtown was along the way to Stanley Park, and we decided to stop by. Stanley Park is a 404.9 hectare (1000 acre) urban park bordering downtown Vancouver. It is the largest city-owned park in Canada and the 3rd largest in North America. There are approximately 200 km of trails and roads in the park, and is rankted the 16th best park in the world and 6th best in North America.

Anyway, we got a little lost but managed to reach it eventually, and caught one of the most breathtaking sunsets we’ve ever seen in our lives!

Stanley Park is beautiful indeed, and it was a pity that it was starting to get dark and we were not able to explore its other park sites. Nevertheless, we did feel ecstatic to have come here at the very least. I’d also wanted to collect some maple leaves from here to press, but was not able to find any nice ones easily… most of them were still green too, so I guess I’ll wait till Fall to do so.

Chinatown and Gastown

Our plan today was to visit Chinatown and have some Asian food for a change, instead of the everyday potatoes and burgers. I navigated the walking route towards Chinatown, and well, Keefer Street here did offer a night-market sort of feel like what you see in KL’s, albeit a very much smaller version. We managed to grab some really expensive dim sum, bao and fried noodles here! There was also bubble tea, but it was a horrible CAD 3 for a small cup, so we restrained ourselves from splurging, haha.

Roti prata = Malaysian pancake?!?!

Walking back to our hostel after satisfying our stomachs was a rather scary experience though. Apparently, we were so excited that we overshot a street by 2 blocks, and we arrived at a different part of downtown Vancouver where there were many weird-looking and suspicious-behaving characters. No, I am not just referring to gangsters or yuppies or ghettos, but really weird people (some mentally unsound) that I can’t even describe. To think that we were just 2 blocks away and suddenly it is a totally different experience! Anyhow, we saw someone sprawled on the floor (don’t know what happened to him), surrounded by a group of burly guys and an ambulance could be heard in the distance. Hui Lin claimed that she also saw a guy flick a knife onto the ground, although she was not too sure. We were so terrified, horrified and stupefied that we walked on and on and settled for a huge detour towards our hostel instead. And because of the way we walked around the fire hydrants and lamp posts and street signs, it felt like walking an obstacle course, haha :(

Anyhow, it might still be considered a blessing in disguise, cos we stumbled upon Gastown along the way, which was really very “hip” and happening. This place was where Vancouver was first founded, by a guy named “Gassy Jack” and his friends. Gastown seemed to be the hype of the city, filled with pubs and nightclubs, and people our age were seen all around heading to these places and preparing to party the Friday night away. Anyway, it was really cold and freezing tonight, but many girls were still dressed in skimpy tops and mini skirts.. aiyo..

Gassy Jack and a random shot of Gastown

Of course, we did head back to the hostel in the end, all safe and sound. It was a bizarre day I would say, filled with many chance encounters and all kinds of miscellaneous things.