Chinese Tour of Quebec

Saturday - Toronto to Ottawa and Montreal
Man there's something inhuman about arising at 0430. I think that from now on I will try to only organise afternoon/evening travel plans. Correct.

It's hard to convey how annoying it is to sit on a bus, full of Asians, listening to Cantonese and Mandarin, with snippets of English thrown in (e.g.. "University of Blah") over and over again.

Maybe annoying isn't the right word, but nevertheless, it's not that much fun. Nor was it that much fun to be with the parents. Sad, but true.

So what did we do? One of the highlights of the day was a cruise around the Thousand Islands region of South-eastern Ontario. I could see myself living here, although I get the feeling I might be a couple of million dollars short....

You may have heard of Thousand Island Dressing - allegedly it is named after this region - although like many foods or dishes, this isn't 100% confirmed.

Another interesting (but short) item was a visit to the Canadian Museum of Civilisation.

What was not interesting was random drive-by "sightseeing" of various other bits and pieces, and a weekend tour of the Royal Canadian Mint, which was of course closed, cause I imagine they don't mint coins on the weekend. Did I mention all narrative was in Cantonese/Mandarin? Hm.

We arrived late to Montreal. As nobody had asked me I had no plans for dinner, and neither did the tour, so we had one of the worst meals I've ever had in the hotel restaurant, and some of the worst (if not THE worst) service as well. By this time the parentals were starting to get to me, so I quickly snuck in a few drinks at the bar....

Sunday - Monreal to Quebec
Sunday morning was some church action. I love church, as you know. First up St. Joseph's Oratory. Yeehar. Nice building, but the fact that some guy's heart is stored in a little box is kind of weird. Next stop, Notre Dame. I didn't go inside, but wandered the streets instead - there were some very cool shops and such around. Pity we didn't get to see anything of "real" Montreal.

Lunch was at the Mandarin Buffet. This was more or less what you would imagine that an all-you-can-eat-white-man-Chinese Buffet would be like. Yuk.

I think after that we arrived in Quebec City. We were told we couldn't check into the hotel until 6pm which was really irritating. My parents were irritating. I had to leave them and sit in the hotel bar for a couple of hours. When I left, I was pretty sloshed.

Dinner that night was awful as well. Frozen vegetables from a packet, pasta and gravy from a packet, and a piece of steak that ... yes, well let's just say it was nasty.

After dinner I sat in another bar chatting to some people (whose names now elude me - SORRY!), and finally in a drunken haze wandered around the town before returning to the hotel (which was VERY nice).

Monday - Quebec to Toronto
I woke up with a RIPPING hangover. I was looking forward to lunch SO much until we pulled into another shopping centre parking lot and to my horror approached the Mandarin Buffet AGAIN!!

Oh dear.

It was even worse than the first one. I'd quickly scouted around for some other food, but didn't see the Subway just next door. So now filled with greasy food, and an even more unsettled stomach, we continued to Upper Canada Village - which despite me thinking it would be super-cheesy, it was ok. It was quite cool to walk around the village which is next to the St. Lawrence river, and see they actually still bake bread and make cheese and such in the old way.

We journeyed on towards Toronto, through a ripping storm, and some Big Apple place. LMAO. Some of the comments on that link are hillarious. Tour buses. Who'd go on one of them? Err...

Finally we made it back to Toronto, where we ACTUALLY HAD NICE FOOD for the first time in 3 days. I nearly fainted. It was great to be back, where there was some buffer between me and the crazy-show that is my parents. Oh well, lesson learnt.

Tuesday - Lunch & Waterdown
Dunno what was with the old man this morning, was already in a super-bad mood. Whatever, I ignored him as I wasn't joining their tour to Niagara Falls. I got a ride out to Wilma's place in Waterdown and we headed downtown to hook up with Cherie.

We had a ripping 3 course prix fixe on the patio at Urban. Very nice, and deceptively large. By the time lunch was over my rippling one-pack was straining at at the fabric of my t-shirt - how alluring!

Wilma and I headed back to her place, where we had a few more beers, some dinner, talked some shit with Kang and Kira. Finally it was time for my Toronto adventure to be over, and kindly I got a lift back to John's house.

Had some strange confrontation with John about taking a cab to the airport (despite him having some major tooth operation business the next morning) but oh well.

Wednesday - Toronto to Oakland
At 0540 I awoke, threw on some clothes, said goodbye to Mum, and jumped in a cab. Man was I tired. An uneventful flight to Denver, some tasty Egg McMuffins for breakfast, and another uneventful flight to Oakland. A short cab ride (in which the DIRTY BUNDI cab driver tried to rip me off) later I was back at my Aunty's house. Ro was at home so she let me in, and I headed down to the Turd to get it out of storage.

For some reason the Turd's brake warning light was on when I started it up, so I spent the next few hours looking at that (no brake fluid?!?!) and cleaning the water tank and such.

I headed back to Alameda for a lovely dinner, some innernet, and some freaking out about the laptop's power supply which was on the blink. Argh.

Thursday - Worst Buy
Today the thrills continue with a trip to Best Buy for a new power supply, and here I am waiting to go to the airport to start the German Invasion. Oh, and it's my birthday.

Tonight I believe there may be some partying, and then tomorrow we're going to the Outside Lands Festival. I don't even recognise most of the people who are playing. I think my friend Mr. Beer may accompany me though, so it doesn't matter.

I feel really disorganised at the moment. Not sure why. I guess there's a fair bit to do over the next few weeks to get back to AU. I'm also worried about Kat, who has turned to the bottle :-)

Oh wait, nothing wrong with the bottle....

Anyway, not sure whether I'll be online too much over the next few days, but will try to make a pre-Burning Man update before we leave.

xox

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes it's that day of the year, the day that I am another year older, and the day that my parents wonder why on earth they ruined a perfectly good world by giving birth to me!

I have plenty to write about, but the power supply on this laptop is on the blink, so it'll have to wait until tomorrow... I will be reporting to you live from the German Invasion!

xox

Tronno

Well here I am at "Uncle" John's. It's all been quite peaceful, and the parentals have arrived.

Yay.

Tomorrow morning I have the privilege of getting up at 0430 to go on some tour. Can't bloody wait!

Fingers crossed it's not too much of a disaster, although I can't say my hopes are high.

Back in Tronno on Monday evening. I'm tipping I might need to have... ooh... about 20 beers to recover....

The humanity!!!

NYC to Toronto

Monday
For some reason my sleeping patterns are all fubar again, so I ended up hitting the sack quite late on Sunday night. After saying a goodbye to James and Luvena I jumped into my (early) taxi.

On the way to the airport I noticed some dark clouds and lightning in the distance, and hoped they weren't over the airport. Turns out they were. Awesome.

Must have been a pretty good storm because most of the flights due to head out of JFK that day were cancelled, and mine was delayed from 13:30 to 16:30. Still it didn't bother me that much I guess. I'd started reading the new William Gibson book, "Spook Country" which was keeping me amused pretty well.

Besides, it was easy to be all calm and shit when those around you were starting to behave like little spoiled children, although the girl who had been waiting for more than 24 hours for a flight to St. Louis was still pretty calm when she was told she'd be waiting for another 24 hours.... talk about being stuck in an airport!!

Anyway, I finally arrived in Toronto, to be grilled by the border patrol agent (I must look like a terrorist or something) and then to be looked at suspiciously by the exit guard. Argh!

Wilma had a nice "Leigh Clark" sign which was very cool, and I got a nice ride in the Turbo Bug out to the burbs of Toronto. I finally got to meet the famous Kang... and after a great steak dinner, and many beers, we finally hit the sack at 2am. What a late night! Or am I getting old?!

Tuesday
Not surprisingly, nobody rose particularly early... After a slow start - Wilma, Kira and I headed into downtown to have a little cruise around. Toronto is pretty cool, but like Vancouver, erring on the side of emo and/or the 80s in the fashion stakes. After a tasty roll that was nearly as big as my head, and a quick shop for a nice polo shirt, we headed back to Chez Lee to freshen up.

Thankfully my new Boss pants still fit me (that tailor must be a wizard) and I was looking quite sharp, if not a little preppy, in my new pale blue polo shirt.

We headed down to the waterfront of the lake, and met up with Cherie and Marion and had a delightful dinner... it was great to catch up with everyone again as it's been a few years!

For some reason I couldn't sleep last night, and I think I only got into a vaguely deep sleep around 6am...

Today
Today I hung around the house, checked my e-mail, took Coco for a walk with Wilma, and then Kang kindly dropped me off to my Uncles house here in Brampton.

I've had a spot of dinner, fired up the laptop, admired the fish, birds and turtles, and it's all rather good....

Toodles!

Windy Cities, Big Apples

Thursday – SFO to Chicago
It was my privilege to drag my sorry, sick ass out of bed at 0430 to get a ride to the BART station (thanks Aunty). Man was I starting to feel like crap.

I didn’t get a chance to hit up the chemist, so I was stuck on the flight sans medication, wanting to die. A nice english bloke sitting next to me donated some pills, so at least I stopped coughing and sniffing for a while.

Al Auda, a buddy from GE, was kind enough to pick me up from the airport, and we headed to the South Loop to wait for his brother-in-law Mac and have a few brews.

Several beers (and a parking ticket) later, we met up with Mac, who is an all-round great guy, and one of Chicago’s finest firemen. There were more beers, and some steak, until I had to bail due to rising sickness.

The night was rough, Mac (who had kindly offered to let me stay at his place) had to deal with me coughing and spluttering my way through the rest of the evening….

Friday – Chicago, Baseball, Drinking
Mac and I woke up pretty late, and met his new girlfriend for breakfast. The rest of the day was spent just hanging around, as I was feeling a little under the weather.

Al attended an exclusive work baseball function, but neglected to get us an invite… however he arrived after a few beers and suggested we go see a ball game.

We got pretty good seats, quite cheaply from a scalper, and proceeded to drink our way through my first game of baseball – the Chicago White Sox vs. the Boston Red Sox. Hey it was pretty good, but I get the feeling it was more the company than the game itself…

Al headed off, and Mac and I roamed around a bit more. I got a tour of the firehouse, and my very own souvenir shirt.. You will be seeing me model it when I return to Melbourne.

Alas it was time for me to head off to the airport. I cannot thank Al and Mac (who only met me the day I arrived) for an awesome time…. I hope to be able to repay the hospitality some day!

Saturday – Chicago to NYC
Somehow between checking into my hotel, and arriving at the airport, I managed to lose my bloody Wizard card. Awesome. I was in a fine state on awakening as well…. Double Awesome.

Anyway. I arrived in NYC, and caught a cab to my friends place. I haven’t seen James and Luvina for … ooh… about 12 years when they moved to Sydney. Not really sure why, but hey.

We cruised around mid-town, had some dinner, and then wandered around. It was strange to see things like Times Square and the Empire State Building in the flesh.

Took a few photos. Ironically this first one is outside the International Center for Photography. Good thing they didn’t notice me taking it…

You can see the Empire State Building in the top-right of the frame (it’s the building that’s all lit up).

Next stop was Grand Central Station, which was very cool…

…both inside and out.

It was about time for bed after that… man was I tired.

Sunday – NYC
Today we cruised around the city a bit more. I got to see Wall Street, ate some food in Chinatown, sampled the various doughnuts and such that are to be had, and also checked out the Statue of Liberty. Woo!!

Not much to say really, but I got a really good cross section of the city (well as much as you can do in one day I suppose) and it was a lot of fun.

Well… it’s been a great 4 days. I’ve been shown fantastic hospitality and am really looking forward to Toronto!

Bye Bye!

Alive and Unwell

ARGH!! Of course the day before leaving for Chicago I started to come down with a cold. Let's just say I wasn't at my fighting best on the first day/night of my time in the Windy City.

I'll present a thrilling wrap-up tomorrow... needless to say it was a blast.

xox

Merriment with the Folks

Yes, well here I am with the parentals. Sadly the excitement I felt about seeing them has all but evaporated by now... ahh hell.

Friday - Day of Running Around
Friday was the day of much public transport, and the stress of piloting the Turd without my trusty co-pilot. Thankfully the (long) day went without a hitch, but took freaking forever. I left Pleasanton at 1100 (a couple of hours late) and finally made it to Alameda at around 1600.

Hmm.

I had discovered the hard way that buses generally only run once an hour. Fine if you make your connection, but of course I did not, and had about a 45 minute wait for each of my buses. Ahh ripper.

The parentals were already in residence, and seemed to be in good spirits. I also hadn't seen my Aunty and Uncle for many, many years (in fact so many years, I didn't remember when I last saw them). For those who are not asian, you should realise that they aren't technically my aunt or uncle, just everyone is an aunt or uncle.

I also saw their daughter, who I met when I was really little (and she was even more little). Sadly we're both grown up now, and she even has a younger sister (of whom I was not even aware).

Some dinner shenanigans:


Saturday - Muir Woods
Muir Woods are a small remnant of the forest that I imagine used to surround San Francisco. It's more or less pine and redwood (brothers and sisters of the Giant Sequoias we saw at Merced Grove). So I fiddled with some HDR.


Pretty pleased with this next one....


Sunday/Monday - Yosemite Take 2
Well it was really nice to back in Yosemite, and frankly I'm not going to go into all the other crap that went down. Let's just say relations got a bit strained. Woohoo!

This little guy was posing for me in front of our cabin:


The falls were nearly dry:

Amazing when you compare them to just a month or two ago.


The chipmunks had given birth to babies since we were there, so there were lots of little ones running around. The only other thing of note is that I hired a 'Stang to take us there. I'd forgotten what it was like to drive a car that wasn't a total piece of shite.

Today we went to Alcatraz, but I haven't had a chance to get the photos done. Until tomorrow.

xox

PS - If anyone knows how to get in touch with Bonne, please let me know, before I am forced to release the hounds....

Where did the last 9 days go??

As I come to the end of my solitary sojourn here in Pleasanton, I find myself wondering where the time has gone. Obviously time hasn't actually "gone" anywhere, in fact some would argue that time doesn't even necessarily "flow" in one direction... but I digress.

Even with little to do, I've rarely been bored, and I feel like I've reacquainted myself with the current state of electronic music. I am looking forward though to human interaction again, and not just the kind you get at the grocery store.

Tomorrow will be the first time the Turd has ridden without a co-pilot, so I'm a bit nervous about that actually. Having someone on the other side is quite useful, since you can't really see what's going on.

It's also going to be the first time I've seen the old parental units for nearly 12 months, which I'm rather excited about. Hopefully that lasts for more than the first 10 minutes!

Well yes, these have not been the most exciting entries of the trip... but these have not been the most exciting times.. so pthht to you.

My schedule for the next few weeks (as if you care) is as follows...

01/08 to 06/08 - Parentals / San Francisco
07/08 to 9/08 - Chicago
09/08 - 11/08 - NYC
11/08 - 20/08 - Toronto
20/8 - 24/08 - San Francisco
24/0 - 25/08 - San Franciso / Reno / Burning Man
25/08 - 01/09 - Burning Man
01/08 - 02/09 - Reno / Lake Tahoe / Woodland / San Francisco

Once we're back in SF, I'll be boxing everything up, and shipping it back to AU, getting rid of the Jeep, and finally heading home! I'm sure I'll be online before then though :-)

Bye for now!