Ice fields are formed by a large accumulation of snow which, through years of compression and freezing, turns into ice. Due to ice’s susceptibility to gravity, ice fields usually form over large areas that are basins or atop plateaus, thus allowing a continuum of ice to form over the landscape and not be interrupted by glacial channels. - Wikipedia, 2008. (P/S: I could turn my blog into a brief-mini-encyclopedia on Canadian history and geography at the end of my trip, haha.)
xx
Athabasca Glacier
The Columbia Icefield lies between both Banff and Jasper National Parks. Spanning over 325 sq km in area, it is surrounded by some of the highest Rocky Mountains and feeds 8 major glaciers. Of these, the Athabasca Glacier is closest and most accessible from the Icefields Parkway (i.e. the highway leading to Jasper), hence it's the most visited and a popular tourist destination. In fact, I saw lots of Asians that day on the tour, from Chinese to Koreans to Japanese.. kinda nice to see them for a change, heh.
The Brewster Ice Explorer that took us up the Athabasca. And the ticket cost us CAD 38 each, pricey but definitely an adventure of a lifetime!
Left: the glacier from afar. I'm trying to make the journey as visual as possible here - so basically the Brewster took us along rough trails, up and down steep slopes (like the white strip that looks like a slide in the pic), and finally we found ourselves on the vast whites on the right!
Standing on ice that runs 365m deep, even the Eiffel Tower could be buried in it!
(Aww sorry Chris, I win! Hahaha.)
The Brewster driver, a knowledgeable and humorous (and I think quite charismatic) guy in his 40s.
Sunwapta and Athabasca Falls
Ehh.. we randomly stopped by 2 waterfalls on our way to Jasper as well, but nothing much to say about them, heh.
Sunwapta Falls
Cliff at the Athabasca Falls (the cut of the rocks was so unique we couldn't resist scrambling up repeatedly just for pictures), and the Inukshuk on the beach
Lake Athabasca
It'd be a 2-hour drive hereon to Jasper National Park - pic on the right shows what lies ahead while you cruise along the highway, though every bend really entails a different sight that leaves you in the same awe and wonder..
Readers beware! The pictures you see in this entry and hereafter probably won't do justice to the actual sights I'd witnessed, but I hope you'll be able to sense my excitement and just how breathtaking it was to come so close to the spectacular alpine landscape of the Rockies. And yea, especially when I spent my birthday here and experienced my first snowfall ever! - we heard it still wasn't time yet to get this cold nor snow here, but 老天爷 was kind enough to create that magic for me, haha :)
Banff National Park is Canada's oldest national park, established in 1885 in the Canadian Rockies. Located 110-180km west of Calgary, it is about an hour's drive from the city. We were told that by cruising along the Trans-Canada Highway, we'd be given the unique opportunity of initially gazing at the Rockies in awe from afar, then experiencing the euphoria as the alpines gradually increase in size upon our approach, and eventually just over-towering alongside us! So yes, it was cool indeed to have witnessed that for real..
From inside the car - you can see the mountainous terrains here vary greatly place to place, ranging from snow-capped to duller-looking ones (like what we normally see in Batu Caves in KL..). But yea, at the risk of sounding silly, I must still say that the Rockies do look very rocky indeed! Haha.
Banff Town
Banff Town is a resort town and one of Canada's most popular tourist destinations, well-reputed for its mountainous surroundings, hot springs and variety of outdoor sports facilities such as hiking, biking and skiing. Standing at 1463m, it is also the town with the highest elevation in the country.
We explored a little trail near our hostel, where we had a chance (and very close) encounter to wildlife here - I think it was the elk. And I know I look really wrapped up here, but it went down to almost -8 deg C that night, so better be prepared and toasty! I think I had difficulty walking up and down the steps though, just felt like a fluffy puffball, haha.
Street of Banff Town, complete with quaint fancy shophouses (mostly selling food, gifts, cards and books).
Birthday dinner at Wild Bill's, slightly pricey though mine was free cos Thalia and Adriana treated me! Haha.. I had their specialty "Legendary Fajitas", and the Mexicans taught me how to hold, wrap and appreciate this dish from their home country.
Highlight of the night - bumping into Shuwen and Huilin once more on the streets of Banff! It was hilarious cos we'd spotted 2 Asians from a distance; they did too, and we all suddenly realized it were us! Totally pounced on one another and there was alot of screaming and hugging yet again, haha.
And then we did silly things like dancing in the snow and tasting the flakes, and..
Touching our boobs..
Anyway, Banff Town is also well-reputed for its abundance of nightlife and we went to one of their two famous nightclubs, Hoodoo's, where I got a specially-concocted cocktail on the house (cos Adriana and I announced the occasion to the bartender, whee!). It was a blend of Malibu lychee and others; very sweet and palatable.
"It's snowing!" - actually everyone'd expected me to only perform this "snow-dance" in end-October, when Winnipeg will experience its first light snowfall, heh. Now they won't see me create such a scene on-campus anymore (I hope). :)
And yea, our car was so covered in snow we didn't know how to drive anymore..!
The Banff Gondola
Saturday morning we took the Banff Gondola (essentially a cable car), scaling the eastern slope of Sulphur Mountain to its summit ridge. Up here, visitors are treated to a 360-deg spectacular view of the Bow Valley. A boardwalk can also be followed on foot, leading to the top of Sanson Peak, a whole 2256m above sea level!
The gondola and its very long boardwalk. It was -8 deg C that morning; we had to walk on very slippery ice and snow ground without proper footwear nor insulation! Suffered from some frostbites and cold feet, LITERALLY. Heh.
View of Bow Valley and many other peaks in the surrounding area
It was amazing just watching the alpine landscape, really. Anyway, we were niao-ed by our Canadian friends for wearing so much compared to Adriana and Thalia (we were said to have layered as if it was already -30 deg C!) -_- Haha, but I think Js looked more like an abominable snowman compared to me! Hahaha :)
Lake Louise
Lake Louise was our next stopover, being on the way to the Icefields Parkway and Jasper National Park. It is said that Lake Louise has one of the most scenic views of the numerous lakes in this region. And it was pretty indeed, though we caught it at a bad timing of 4-5pm, where the sun was at its brightest and there was just too much backlight for good pictures. :(
The vast turquoise waters, simply refreshing and breathtaking to admire
The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, a luxurious hotel and popular tourist destination
This looks very much like the shot I took back in Vancouver's Stanley Park! Haha.
So well, completing our 2nd leg of travel in Banff, I must contend it was a simply unforgettable 22nd birthday, spending it amidst 游山玩水-ing in the wonders of Nature. :)
9-10 october, calgary 3:39 AMWhile on the roads over the past weekend, I kept wondering how I'd be able to blog about this entire trip with all the spectacular sights and first-time experiences - yes, I'd uploaded 10 new albums on facebook - imagine the amount of effort I'll have to spend on this! Omg.. haha.
But still, here I am, 1 day after returning from Alberta; the 6-day road trip which entailed a never-ending-on-the-go itinerary. Albeit the tonnes of emails, unfinished assignments and mid-terms ahead, I'm taking time to revisit my travel journal, scribbled with all the little things and beautiful moments I'd like to share with everyone back home. :)
xx
Reunion dinner and Countdown to 10/10
I understand perfectly what Kaykey'd meant when she said she was always excited to meet fellow Singaporeans when travelling in Europe. I guess it was even more so for our case; somehow we really missed Shuwen and Huilin, and the initial euphoria of travelling in Vancouver together. I was super restless the few hours before we departed for Calgary, harping on the fact that we're all meeting up and counting down to my birthday! Haha.
So well, a reunion after 1.5 months! We really screamed when we saw one another, and our Mexican friends (Adriana and Thalia) were kinda amazed/amused at how close-knit we were. We went for a good Japanese dinner at Globefish Sushi, a highly-recommended restaurant - well, it wasn't like we hadn't tasted anything like this before back home (okay, not at least in ages), but it was the reunion and great company that made this dinner so very significant and special. As for our Mexican friends, it was that of tasting proper Japanese food for the first time, as well as learning basic Jap phrases and etiquette, as well as how to use the Asian "deep-welled" spoon and chopsticks etc - I taught them all!
"Ita-daki-masu!" with the chopsticks resting on the notch between thumb and forefinger - Japs do this before each meal, signifying "Let's eat!" We had a Rocky Mountains sushi platter, which was drowned in mayo to render its snowcapped effect, haha. Absolutely o-ishii!
The 4 of us then chilled and caught up over some drinks at a pub called Bungalow in downtown (no we didn't abandon our friends, they were tired so we sent them home to rest, heh). Anyway, the pub had a 25 year-old age limit and dress code policy sign at its entrance; it was freezing cold that night (-1 deg C) so we tried asking the bouncer if there was anywhere near that'd take us in. But it turned out that the sign was there just to "keep off the bad guys", so in we went, and settled down in a secluded comfortable spot totally in our own world, haha.
We had a very good time catching up, sharing our lives in Calgary and Winnipeg and just reminiscing about things back home. My martini was on Shuwen and Huilin too, haha. I guess I just felt blessed to have the company of fellow friends in the wee hours of my birthday.. yep. And of course, the smses from friends back home! I'll reveal the winners for most-accurate-timing in a separate post!
Then we kinda wanted to play SMU games but realized we couldn't with only 4 people around! :( Took silly pictures of tiu-tiu, bloop and big titty town girls (girl) nevertheless.. and I'm supposed to look/feel xing fu and warm with the 2 of them hugging me, since they were in their winter jackets, heh.
We all spent the night at their place - the 3 of us shared Shuwen's bed while Adriana and Thalia took Huilin's, and Js had a makeshift bed out of 4 chairs in the kitchen. To the right is the view from Shuwen's room, the green glass looks like SMU library's!
We bade farewell to our friends early next morning for the 2nd leg of our travel itinerary, although they were going to drive up to Banff that evening with their friends too, where we'd be, and might probably meet up. :)
Canada Olympic Park
The ski resort at the Canada Olympic Park was one of the best-known legacies for the XV Olympic Winter Games, which were held in Calgary in 1988. It was the primary venue for this event, hosting ski-jumping, bobsleigh and luge, amongst others. Currently, the Park is used both for high performance athletic training and recreational purposes by the general public, providing facilities for winter sports such as downhill/cross-country skiing and snowboarding. The 25km biking trail in the Park grounds also renders it a favourable site for cycling and other warm-weather sports in summer.
The difference between being the best of the best and the worst of the best..
Left: This is for ski-jumping (I think, haha). So yep, skiers go down the "in-run" and glide through at the take-off ramp, attempting to go as far as possible with style. Right: View of the city from the Park's hilltop.
Zooming into one of the ski-jump ramps with the Olympic Rings
The pic on the right depicts 10-2, so it kinda symbolizes 10/10 for me. HAHA.
Calgary Tower
The Calgary Tower is a 191m free-standing observation tower in downtown Calgary - "Free-standing" apparently means it sways from time to time, up to 16.5cm in any direction in the occurrence of strong winds! No wonder I felt so giddy while I was up there! Haha.. seriously.
Calgary Tower from afar, and inside the observation tower. You actually have the whole of Calgary beneath your feet when you're up there!
Up up and away, from 0 to 525 feet high!
Scene-shots of downtown Calgary as observed from the Tower
xx
Well well, so this pretty much concludes our short stint in Calgary! It's definitely more of a bustling city here compared to Winnipeg, though I feel it offers more of shopping/dining/pubbing than actual sites of interest. Or perhaps I've become accustomed to the Winnipeggers' slower pace of life (..??) Omg, I wonder if I'll feel shocked returning to Singapore and experiencing its hustle-bustle all over again! :(