Four weeks later...

Well its looking increasingly unlikely that I'm going to write up all the posts for the trip around the USA. I'll be honest with you dear reader, I can't be bothered. If you're interested in the Rail Trip have a look at Paul's blog (though don't believe a word he says) or just ask me in person. I'll gladly go through the photos with you. I've got about 400 snaps, and there's story behind everyone of them... Speaking of photos, Gav is the process of putting up lots of his ones from both Canada and our trip. There's a link from his 'once dead but now showing signs of life' blog.

So what have I been up to. Well this and that. The first week I was home I caught up with friends and generally started to adjust to being back home. In some ways its been easier than I thought, in other ways harder. As I said in my last post the BUNACers had a night out in London just after we all got back to the country. For some reason I didn't put any photos up, so here's some now.

Wa-hey! Andy, Paul, Alan, me, Gav and Simon outside the Maple Leaf. Its supposed to be a Canadian themed pub but it just smelt of sweat, smoke and stale beer... like all British pubs!

Something tells me Andy's gonna be alllllllright back in London

All the Scotch together. Gav, Alan and his bro. That tongue...

A touching moment between an English man and Scotch man. Why can't we all just get on?

Grrrr. Blogger is playing up so I can't put up anymore photos. Actually think that's why I didn't put them up in the last post. Never mind, just imagine a photo of Simon and me almost kissing and another of Paul and Andy by an Oxford Circus tube sign.

A week after I got back Jade arrived in the UK. It was fantastic to see her. In fact as I write this, after spending three weeks with her, I find it hard to believe we were apart for so long. Yes, we are at that sickening lovey-dovey stage still. Must be very annoying for everyone else... We went to Bath for a few nights when she first arrived which was good fun. The following week we went to Brighton to house and cat sit for my friend Ruth and her hubby Jon. I also got to meet their baby boy Bevan for the first time and he is an extremely cute baby. Big eyes and fluffy hair.

I've also seen Steve's kid Ben a couple of times and it staggers me how much he's grown. His beautiful as well. Must be something in the water.

So yeah. I've been keeping myself busy. Tomorrow have my first day of work since being back. Just a day of temping t some office in the West End, but I'm getting back into the swing of things. Just got to sort out getting a 'proper' job now, then I'll feel properly settled.

Home time

Where to begin?

Well first things first I'm back home in dirty, grey, grimey London town (I'm sure I'll warm to the place again soon). I'm a little bit jet-lagged but not too much thankfully though I still feel very spaced out. As if this is all a dream. I've pinched myself to make sure it isn't.

So yeah, so far its nice to be back home. Flight back went very quickly and before I knew it we were in the arrivals lounge at Heathrow looking fro my brother who was picking Andy and myself up. The first thing that struck me was hearing the British accents again. Very odd. My accent is no longer special!

After managing to cram Andy and myself's luggage into Rob's little hatchback, then cramming ourselves in, we sat and watched the world (at least that part of the world around the M25) go by. Still, it didn't feel real.

We got home and my family had put up a welcome home banner which was sweet of them. I finally had my first proper cup of tea in a year (tea with the scum of the Thames on it) and settled down in front of the telly and watched the BBC. Things really haven't changed much have they?

Balloons!

I spent the night slowly unpacking stuff and trying to work out where to put things. Considering the sheer amount of time I had been up I really didn't feel all that tired.

Next day I was going to hit the ground running. I would start with getting my hair cut, get my suit cleaned, have a wander around the local high street shops, pop into the library and then head back. I was just about to leave the house when I suddenly realised I didn't have my house keys with me and I had no idea where my Mum had put them. I hunted high and low in all the places I thought they would be but nothing. I was trapped in my flat, with only my memories for company.

That kind of knocked the wind out my sails a bit, but at least I managed to get my hair cut when my Mum got home and showed me where she put the keys (in a pretty obvious place if I'm honest, not sure why I didn't check there).

The evening was the BUNAC night out in London town. I was really up for this, ready to get back out in my city and have a good night with some of the good friends I made in Canada. Unfortunately the Central Line decided to go mental and it took me nearly two hours to make a journey that normally takes 35 minutes. Sigh.

Still I made it and met with Si, Gav, Paul, Andy, Alan, Alan's brother Colin and two of Si's friends - Zoe and... another name. Blame the jetlag.

We had a great night. With them there it felt very much like we were still on our travels and London was just another stop. So when we said goodbyes... it was sad.

We went to the Maple Leaf, London's only Canadian themed pub (and it was pretty awful if truth be told) and the Red Lion, a great pub near Carnaby Street. A few beers with some good friends. We'll have to do it again very soon.

Now I know what you're all thinking, 'Hey Ian, what about yur travels in September? Where's your HILarious account of your time in the United States of America and maybe some kind of summing up or overview of the year?' Well you can just shut up OK? I've had enough of your demanding type.

Only joshing fans. Over the next few days I intend to fully update you all. I'll be dating the posts from the time they actually cover. For example Seattle will be dated Sept 5th. So keep an eye on September. And stayed tuned for all the exciting things that are sure to happen to me now I'm in London again!

Sigh.

Never enough time...

In (checks watch... eek!) 15 minutes I catch a bus to catch another bus to Seattle and so begin my US travels. I have US dollars in my wallet (not as nice as Canadian dollars, FACT) and a spring in my step. Excited but just a little sad for today I leave Vancouver. I come back for two nights at the end of my trip but my time of actually living here is over. So much still to do but so much done.

I've said my goodbyes to various people who I won't see now for a while (its not goodbye forever, DO YOU HEAR ME!). I'm glad I met each and everyone of them.

Except Hannah. Not really, you were great :)

I probably won't post at all until I get back, but keep checking just in case (and keep pushing that counter up, now over 10,0000 hits!).

There's loads I would like to say and lots to tell about the last week I've had here but sadly I've run out of time. I'll tell you all about it in October.

Goodbye Canada... And thanks!

The Rockies and all that

Ok, I warn you, this is going to be a big post. Last week I traveled around Western Canada with the Moose Travel Network, a tour company for 'independently minded travelers'. Whatever that means. I had a great time though and saw lots. The Rockies were beautiful. Never seen anything quite like it before in my life. Anyway, better start. Don't worry there won't be much to read but there will be LOTS of photos.

So, to begin. I woke up early on Friday the 18th and made my way to Downtown where I was being picked up by the tour bus. I was pretty nervous I must admit. I'd never really done anything like this and had the obvious worries of what kind of people would be on the bus and whether I was in store for a week of seeing lots but not talking to anyone. The bus arrived and it was much smaller than I thought it would be, only being able to hold 10 people. Indeed a few other people getting on the bus were surprised at how small it was as well. We were a mixed bunch, two Aussie guys, an English couple (young teachers on summer hols), and four German women (though two of them looked about 14). We were a bit awkward with each other but by the end of the day the two Aussies, Simon and Anthony, the English couple, Toby and Angie and myself had bonded. The young looking German girls (who turned out to be 22!) didn't say much at all and kept themselves to themselves the whole trip. Fair enough I suppose though their silence probably had a bigger impact on our small bus than it would of done on a bigger bus.

The first day we stopped off at a couple of places and finished in a place called Shuswap Lake near Kamloops. Basically there was a lake and the hostel and not much else. Went for a swim in the lake though which was nice.

My first of many waterfalls. About two hours from Vancouver.

A river which was being fished by native fishermen. Apparently it gets chock full of salmon.

Yay! The town of Lytton. Apparently it had Canada's highest recorded temperature. More famous though for sharing the name Lytton with Lytton Road in Leytonstone, legendary home of Lew, Jas, Si and myself back in 2003/04.

It was a native town, so the street signs were spelt phonetically.

Lytton Museum. Maybe they have Lew's Dreamcast games collection, Jason's stained t-shirts and an empty coke can and dorritos packet.

The view near Kamloops. Looks almost desert doesn't it?

We had a few drinks in the only bar in Shuswap but not enough to make us want to stay in Shuswap. We then set of early in the morning for Banff. First though we went Go-Kart racing and I finally got to Kayack! All before half past two in the afternoon. Amazing. There have been days I've barely tied my shoe laces before half past two. We Kayacked on this pretty little lake in Revelstoke. The guy doing the teaching was cool and taught us some proper strokes. We did see a snake swimming in the lake though which was slightly worrying. Snakes on a Kayack!

Me getting ready to Go Kart. Call me the 'Iceman'.

Getting ready for the off.

In the lead... Though the Go Karting was less of a race and more of a demolition derby. I was knocked of the road 3 times and went through to Go Karts. Our bus driver, Tanya, seemed to take perverse pleasure and knocking us all of the road.

The Rockies and another waterfall.

On our way to Banff I saw a Bear! A black bear! I can go home now a happy man. We got to Banff early evening and settled into the rather nice hostel. We then headed out into Banff. It was a nice place though quite touristy. Preferred it to Whistler though. We went to a few pubs, including a British themed pub which is renouned for its rude Brit owners (sniff, makes you proud to be British) and a steak house which did great corn. Really great corn (that's a reference to a running joke on our bus... can't be bothered to explain it though).

I also bumped into Leon and Renee, Aussie Hannah's flatmates. They were driving through the Rockies too. Ended up having a few beers with them after I got back to the hostel. Good fun and nice to see them.

The next day, feeling slightly worse for wear, we set off for Jasper. The drive was stunning. The Rockies are possibly the most beautiful place I have ever seen. If you ever get a chance to go, GO!

Me at Lake Louise. Hello!

The gang by a river and (you guessed it) waterfall at lunch time.

View at the river. It was beautiful. Awesome. Amazing. And lots of other over the top words.

A Glacier of the Columbia Ice Range.

Me standing on the above Glacier. STANDING ON IT!

We arrived in Jasper around 5:30pm and had a chance to wander round. One of our gang, Kiwi Simon, was actually staying in Jasper to work the winter season. I thought Jasper was ok though I actually preferred Banff, even though Banff is more touristy. Jasper just seemed a little too remote and quiet for my liking. Not only that the Rockies didn't seem as spectacular around Jasper. We didn't stay in the town as our hostel was actually 30km outside of Jasper in a place called Abathasca Falls. This hostel was interesting, it was in the middle of no where, had no running water and you had to take your shoes off when walking in the common room. Not only that but we were warned that there were lots of bears around, including a mother and her cubs. A bear is at its most dangerous when it feels its young are threatened. It made going to the loo at night an... experience. We spent the evening playing atomic ping-pong, answering Trivial Pursuit questions and cheating at Cheater. Then we sat outside by the fire and looked at the amazing sky. I saw 3 shooting stars. And yes, I wished.

Our only source of water, as shown by Simon.

Our Evil Dead style cabin. Apparently the mother bear and cubs were right outside around 7:00am. Thank God I decided to hang on when I woke up wanting the loo just after 7.

Yet another early start, though this time we left Simon to hitch up to Jasper. Good luck Simon. It was then a trip back to Banff where Toby, Angie and Anthony where staying. We had a night out there and said our goodbyes. Would it just be the silent German girls and me for the rest of the trip?

Tanya our driver, Anthony, Simon, me, Toby and Angie. All freezing.

Athabasca Falls in the morning. I could never say Athabasca for some reason.

Our very own Inukshuk. May it stand forever.

Not totally sure where this is. Somewhere between Jasper and Banff.

Ten peaks and Lake Moraine (I think).

Luckily I wasn't going to spend my last couple of days in awkward silence. On Tuesday morning Aussie 'Damo', English, Oxford grad, Chris and two lively and fun German girls (whose names I've already forgotten) joined the bus. Being the old hand of the bus now I made sure they new who was boss and who all the card games went through. We left the Rockies and headed to Revelstoke. So good they named it Revelstoke. The Revelstoke hostel only exists for the winter. Which meant it was pretty quiet in the summer to say the least. Still we had a good time in the surprisingly large Aqua Centre there and spent the evening eating steak from the BBQ. Not bad all in all.

The Emerald Lake.

Canada's second largest waterfall. We are actually somewhere in the photo!

Damo, Chris and myself being MEN.

On to Kelowna, wine region of BC. Kelowna is an area I've been wanting to see for ages. Simply because its so close to Vancouver and people always talk about it. Its the wine region of BC, full of vineyards and places to get drunk. It also has... a monster.

The Ogopogo, Kelowna's own Nessie. For some reason I kept calling it the Oggiepogie.

The gang looking at the vineyards.

Me trying some wine. I also tried the 'Ice Wine', wine whose grapes are grown in the winter. Its unbelievably sweet.

We had a fantastic night out in Kelowna, which included a beer mat fight which almost led to a fight, a pretentious wine bar, a strip joint (for 2 minutes) and a sing-song on the lakes beach with a guitar.

On the final morning I awoke hungover and ready to go back to Vancouver. I was going to sky dive but the weather was pretty poor and I realised I didn't really have the money. That was a real shame as I would of loved to have done that and got back to Vancouver saying 'Oh, I sky dived today'. Oh well. After one final stop at the bridge from Rambo, First Blood it was to Vancouver.

They made him a killer then just forgot him.

I had a brilliant time and I'm so glad I managed to see the Rockies. They were simply amazing. I met some good people as well. And I didn't shave once!

Moosing around

Today is my last day at work in Canada. Unbelievable! I've worked at UBC for... 10 months now. Here's some stats for you:

5 - Number of different positions I've temped in here

2 - Number of campuses I've worked on, the main one and Robson Square in Downtown

312 - Number of times I've said to myself 'Don't the students look young'.

$5679.03 - Amount of money I've spent on tea and muffins at Starbucks. Damn you Starbucks!

17 - Number of times co-workers have thought I was from Australia

4 - My favorite bus to get to work on, not too slow, not too quick, comes just at the right time and is never busy. Special mention goes to 84, my second favorite bus

14 - Number of people I see on the above bus nearly every day but have never spoken too...

I was very lucky to end up at UBC and have enjoyed my time working here. I never quite got to work in the cool, hip, young department that I imagined I would end up in (not sure what that department was though I've heard that there's a Wine Testing Department) but practically everyone I've worked with has been nice. I've not made any long term friends while here sadly (partly because of the nature of temping and the types of job I've mostly done) but met lots of good people. My favorite position? Probably Computer Science. It was the most challenging of my jobs (in terms of stimulation of the work as opposed to just working hard), worked with some cool people and I got a badge. Worst? Financial Services. The job was probably the hardest I've ever done, with people shouting at me because they haven't been paid for one reason or another. Not fun. Though the people there were great and I was given a cake, card and joke present from the whole Dept when I left which was nice of them.

So its over. At least 2 months of unemployment beckon. Or holiday, depends how you look at it. Tomorrow I set off on a tour around Western Canada for a week. I then get back for one, no doubt very busy, last week in Vancouver then I'm off to the States. Then its back to... well, you know where.

I'll try to update the blog when I get back from my Canadian tour, promise. Have a great week.

Oh, and finally - BYE UBC!

Cover your eyes

I spent my lunch break on a nudist beach. Vancouver eh? (Shakes head and smiles)

Basically one of the things on my 'Things to do in Canada List' is visit Wreck Beach in the summer. I think I came up with that thing to do back in the early spring when I thought how cool it would be to have my lunch on the beach every day at work. Certainly something I can't do back home. Today was my second to last day of work and I realised I had never done this (mainly because it is a bit of a walk and I nearly always have to do something a lunch time) so I made sure to get a sandwich in my morning coffee break to take down there at lunch.

I know Wreck Beach is Vancouver's only designated nudist only beach but for some reason I always thought that it would only be like that at weekends.

It isn't.

I was slightly surprised by all the flesh on show but its surprising how quickly you get used to it. Within 5 minutes I was just eating my sandwich and reading my newspaper, oblivious to all the bums around me. Crazy that this is only 10 minutes from my office. I didn't swim or paddle though, I've read the water is pretty dirty there due to the University's antiquated sewage system... Yeah, urgh.

And in case your wondering, no I didn't join in, though I did take my shirt off and shoes and socks. Yes, you can all wolf whistle.

(Notice the lack of pictures. I thought it best not to take photos, even of the scenery in case I ended up arrested - 'Honestly officer, I was taking a photo of the view')

TO THE BUNAC MOBILE!

All us BUNACers have seen and done a lot since being in Canada but we've always been held back slightly by the lack of a car. The public transport in Vancouver maybe good (and it is, you rarely have to wait more than 10 minutes for a bus) but there are obviously places that simply aren't accessible without a car.

With this in mind we decided to hire a car Saturday and try and see nearly everything North and West Vancouver had to offer. They said it couldn't be done. We proved them (mostly) wrong.

So Gav, Liz, Si, Paul and me made our way to Rent-a-Wreck (this is not a 'funnee' joke, the company is really called that) and got ourselves a Pontiac Sunfire. In electric blue. Surely the greatest car ever?


We didn't really have a plan other than to cross the Lions Gate Bridge and see where the roads would take us. Maybe we would go to (Jim) Bowen Island, maybe Eagle Lake, maybe Whiterock. Who knows? Well our first stop is the pretty Horseshoe Bay. We stopped there for a wander and to check out the possibility of going to (Jim) Bowen Island. Deciding that we would be a bit too pressured for time boing on the ferry we settled on heading to Lynn Canyon, home of the 'other' Suspension Bridge. First though, some breakfast. We were feeling such free spirits on the open road that Gav decided to break breakfast conventions and have fish and chips. Below is a photograph with Simon's watch to confirm the time and that I didn't dream this outrageous two fingers to a society that doesn't allow chips for breakfast.

Sadly the day's newspaper wasn't available to confirm the date

We jumped back into the car after Simon had experienced the best coffee of his short Geordie life (he works in Starbucks as well) and headed Lynn Canyon way.

Of course I've already seen one Suspension Bridge in Canada, the tourist trap that is Capilano, but can one ever see enough Suspension Bridges above Canyons? I don't think they can. Plus Lynn Canyon is free!

The way Paul is standing I think he suspects I'm going to cut the ropes

The Bridge itself, though smaller than Capilano, was far wobblier which made it much more exciting. There was a sense that the whole thing could just collapse and we would be sent plummeting to our deaths. Thankfully that didn't happen, we just went 'Ooohhh' a bit.

On the other side of the Bridge were a some trails in the forests around there, and we followed one to (Anneka) Rice lake, simply to see if the lake was the size and shape of a grain of rice as we suspected. It wasn't. It was very tranquil though.

Oh I dunno, think of something funny yourself

Me by (Anneka) Rice Lake. Look at the peaceful expression on my face.

My attempt at taking a close up photo of a giant slug we found. Afterwards Simon and Gavin explained to me how to us my own camera so I'll get a better photo next time. Nest time I see this slug.

On the way back from (Anneka) Rice Lake we decided to take a slightly different route. This took us down to the bottom of the valley and the river there. It was beautiful which sadly none of my photos really capture. We then spent an hour or so there looking around, jumping from rock to rock that crossed the river. Liz played the part of our Mum by shouting at us to be careful and shaking her head, probably muttering under her breath 'One of them boys is going to fall in and who will they come crying to then?' Luckily none of us did fall in though it was a close shave a couple of times.

Pretty eh?

After that it was back in the car to the to what would surely be the highlight of the day, the Salmon Hatchery!

After 5 minutes there we decided that there was little fun in watching some slightly ill looking Salmon throw themselves up an artifical waterfall so went back to the car. On a bit of a whim we decided to check out the Cleveland Dam. This turned out to be a great decision as it had some amazing views. Even after all this time it still surprises me quite how beautiful BC is. How lucky I am to have lived here.

The view...

The Mighty Cleveland Dam

Evening was approaching and we knew Simon had to get back for a date with a girl (of all things) so we decided to head back to Horseshoe Bay for something eat. Before that though we stopped off at the Thrift Store to look at some tat. Simon did consider buying the below for his date...

Calm down ladies

...but decided that a leather waistcoat may give off the wrong signals. We finished our adventure in an apparently famous Fish and Chip restaurant with Gav sticking another two fingers up at the 'man' by having his second Fish and Chip meal of the day. This time with gravy. Who would of guessed he was Scottish?

Still no newspaper

In the evening we drove to the rather tacky casino in Richmond where I lost 20 dollars on the Roulette Wheel. Gambling's a mugs game kids, don't do it. Unless its the horses or dogs which is actually fun.

Cars are great!

4 minutes

I accidentally went to an South-East Asian speed dating event last night with Hannah.

Just letting that sink in...

I blame Hannah. Who in turn blamed her work colleague. Basically Hannah was going to see someone she works with DJ in a bar and asked if I would like to go. Despite the fact it would be going to see someone DJ (something, I've just realised, I have never done before in my life) I thought 'What the hell' and went along. When we arrived it was obvious that it was a speed dating event and, unless it was a massive coincidence, one targeted Specifically at South-East Asian people wishing to meet other South-East Asian people.

We managed to find a booth away from all the action and Hannah's DJ friend pleaded ignorance. It was actually quite interesting to watch, seeing some people hitting it off straight away and others obviously looking very uncomfortable. It provided excellent entertainment to go with our surprisingly expensive bottles of wine.

It was a nice night.

In other Ian news I've booked a trip round Western Canada. I leave next Friday and am gone for the week. Its very exciting, I'll get to see Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper and Kelowna. If nothing else this will knock a fair few things off my things to do list. I seem to remember that my New Year's resolution was to complete 75% of the things on the list. Its still do-able but its going to be a close thing.

How exciting for all you Chimpers fans!

After my trip I'll have just a week in Vancouver before we leave for our Big Rail Trip (TM). A whole month traveling with Simon, Paul, Keenie, Liz, Gav and Andy.

Yes. Well.

I'm sure we'll get on just fine.