Welcome Home (You)

After a nine-year absence, I finally make it back home. Although lots have changed and with the help of my family and friends, help me recall my past, one thing is sure: you can take the girl out of the west coast, but you can't take the west coast out of the girl. I think the reason why I love the mountains, outdoor adventure, and serine and peaceful places, is the fact that for four years, I woke up everyday next to mountains; next to beautiful and tall trees; next to water that flows from the Pacific; and next to places where I am able to escape from the hustle and bustle of the city (ok...so I couldn't really do the last part, given that I was only a child).

Thursday, October 5
My trip began with a 5:50pm flight from Ottawa to Vancouver. This was my first time flying solo and post-9/11, so I made it my mission to arrive at the airport as early as possible, just in case anything happened. I arrived at the airport at around 4:15pm via OC Transpo and proceeded to the Air Canada Express check-in kiosks. Let me tell you, that it is the easiest and quickest way to check-in, especially if you do not have any baggages to check-in, as this was my case. I was literally at the station for about 30 seconds, punched a few buttons and voila...my boarding pass; although, I was a little disappointed that my boarding pass was a measely piece of paper. I thought it would be a bristol board-type paper.

Anyway, instead of walking around the terminal (there's nothing really special about it...unlike Toronto), I decided to go through security. There was literally no line up and the guards were actually waiting for people. I took out all of my electronics and plastic resealable bag with my 'less than 90 ml liquids and gels' inside and placed them in the little grey bins. Security went smoothly, except when I got told that I wasn't supposed to cross the line until the guard said so. whoooops. I checked out the less than 10 stores available inside the gates. Nothing special so I decided to head to my gate. Took pictures of my plane and other planes. I heart planes. After taking enough pictures, I decided to sit down and read my Toronto Star newspaper that I bought for $0.99 (gasp) at the convenience store. At around 5:20pm, my plane began to board; beginning with the Executive Class. Meh. Since I was at the front of the plane, I had to wait awhile. At first, I wasn't really hungry because I had a pretty big lunch and I also bought some snacks and munched at work. At around 5:40pm, my stomach started to growl. Uh oh...bad timing. They were already calling the seat numbers that I was in. Crap. What to do? So I ran to Timmy's, which was luckily right beside my gate. Realized there was no one in line, except for someone at the cash making an order! Wahooo! This bright idea turned out to be the scariest moment of my trip.

The girl and her boyfriend could not decide what to order, but knew they wanted a combo. What made the service even slower was that they wanted to substitute a coffee for juice and the donut for cookies. The Timmy's lady couldn't understand what they wanted and kept punching the wrong things in. Urgh. Finally, the girl just went with the juice and donut. Next came me. All I wanted was a sesame bagel toasted with cream cheese. Paid and went to the sandwich counter to wait for my bagel. Turns out another couple was also in line behind me, so instead of serving the couple in front of me and myself, the lady proceeded to process couple #2's order. URGH. Then the other lady who was in the back stocking realizes that it was getting busy and comes out to process our sandwich and bagel orders. She first put in my bagel to toast while she made the sandwiches. Easy enough right? Well, the girl requested that her bread be toasted. By this time, my toasted bagel had already come out. I look at my watch, '5:45 pm'. Crap...my flight leaves in 5 minutes and with the rate that this Timmy's lady was going, I would miss my flight. After placing the bread into the toaster, she takes lettuce and starts ripping it. Seeing that my bagel is already sitting at the bottom of the toaster shute, I kindly asked the Timmy's lady if it was possible to do my bagel first because my flight was leaving in 5 minutes. The following conversation carried out:

Me: "Excuse me ma'am, is it possible to make my bagel because my flight is leaving in 5 minutes"
Lady: "I can't because I have to make their (the couple's) order first"
Me: "But their bread is just toasting and my bagel is already out"
Lady: "No I can't. I have to make their order first. It's the rule"
Me (already agitated): "My flight is leaving"
Lady: "No, they're going to call you anyways"
Girl: "It's alright, you can make her bagel first. Our flight doesn't leave for another hour"
Lady: "Nope"
Me: "Why?"
Girl: "It's alright. Just do her bagel!"
Lady: "Fine fine"

HA....SUCKER TIMMY'S LADY! Got told off by a customer. Hahaha. I was laughing on the inside. After getting my bagel, I ran to my gate and was pretty much one of the last persons to board. Whooops. Got to my seat. Thank God for window seats because the plane that I was on, Airbus 321 has 6 seats across with an aisle in the middle (so 3 on each side). Squishy indeed! I feel sorry for the people who have to sit in the middle. It such a hassle though. If I needed to go use the toilet, I would have to ask two people to get up. Urgh. But I liked my window seat because I was able to take pictures of the sky. LOL.

Flying into Vancouver was awesome. I was able to see the sunset from the East to the West. The flight arrived early in Vancouver. I got in at around 7:50pm PST, instead of 8:10pm. Met my family at the arrivals terminal. After grabbing a bite to eat at Harvey's, we were picked up by a family friend and headed off to Port Moody. After settling in, our family spent some time talking, but I was completely out since I was up at 6am EST and now it was around 10pm PST (1 am EST). Although I tried staying up as long as possible, I had to crash at around 11pm PST (2 am EST), which meant I was up for 20 hours. Whowzers. I don't think I've ever been up for that long in a day, ever.

Friday, October 6
Woke up at 9am; although I had wanted to get up earlier to take in the morning BC air. By the time everyone got ready, we headed out the door at around 11am. Took the SkyTrain to Metrotown to meet another friend. I like the SkyTrain. Reminds me of the RT in Toronto, sans the stench and screeches of metal hitting metal. After getting to Metrotown, we were a little lost and couldn't find "The Crystal Mall". After spending 15 minutes wandering, we finally reach our destination. After meeting with a Uncle Jackie who has a BBT shop there and me endlessly wandering around checking things out we met up with Auntie Phebe. Then we headed off to a Kirin Restaurant for dim sum, where Uncle Jackie's wife, Auntie Christine works. The food there was really good. I guess you could say it was somewhat different from the dim sum in Toronto. Mmmm.

After lunch, Auntie Phebe drove my family to the cemetary where my Grandma and her family rests. It was good to see it again, as the last time I was there, it was a blur. Afterwards, we headed to Richmond and rented a car, since we decided it would just be easier since with a car, we would be able to go anywhere and at our own pace instead of having to bother our friends. After getting a car, we headed back to "home" to Port Moody, where a bunch of old family friends had gathered for a Thanksgiving dinner. It was great to see Emily again :) We gave each other big hugs. There was a lot of catching up to do, especially since we're on different work schedules and by the time she goes on MSN, I'm already lights out. Everyone pretty much left at around 10:30pm because the young ones had to go to bed and we were also quite tired.

Saturday, October 7
We woke up to find some lovely beautiful BC weather. The place where we were staying is on a hill and overlooks the water. Although it was quite chilly in the morning, BC weather tends to be a little unpredictable. With the sun coming out in the afternoon, it became quite warm. Anyway, we made our way towards Whistler. The drive up there was very beautiful. Highway 99, commonly known as 'The Sea to Sky Highway' is currently being expanded in preparation for the 2010 Olympics. But there are certain parts where you just wonder how they're going to expand, especially the parts where you're either feel like you're going to fall off the cliff or blast the entire mountain side out just to make more room. We arrived in about 1 1/2 hours, shorter amount of time it takes for us to get to Niagara Falls. The drive was much better too because there was no traffic; just lots of windy roads.

We walked around Whistler Village for a bit and I must say it's a "outdoor adventurer's" shopping paradise -- what I like. Lots of outdoor gear and lovely boutiques that you cannot find anywhere else (other than possibly Mont Tremblant and Lake Louise). After lunch, my brother and I bought tickets to go up the gondolas for a little mountain adventure while my parents walked around the village. The scenary going up to the top of Whistler Mountain was amazing. We had to take two different gondolas to the peak. The first gondola was enclosed -- what a gondola should be. After a 15 minute ride in the first gondola, we arrived at Roundhouse Station. This is where you can see a breathtaking view of Whistler and the surrounding mountains. But if you want to be more adventurous, you have to take the Peak Express lift to reach the very top. Now, we were forewarned at the bottom that it would be very cold; about 5 degrees. We didn't expect it to be that cold. As we got off the first gondola at Roundhouse Station, my fingers were numb. My feet were cold. My body was cold. Good thing I had kept my little red hat in my coat pocket because all that was keeping me warm was a fall jacket. Brrr. My bro and I decided to hit the peak of Whistler Mountain first because the last ride down was at 4:30pm and it was getting close to 3pm already. As we made the little hike up to the Peak Express entrance, you could feel the bitter cold. And you know it's cold when the lift operators are bundled up in snowpants, winter jackets, toques, and mitts. Brrr. It was soo cold that the lift operator handed us a blanket (that looked very unclean...). The blanket didn't really do much since my fingers were very numb at this point. After another 15 minute (felt like forever) ride, we finally reached the top of Whistler Mountain - 2160m/7087ft. Brrrrrr!!! It was sooo cold that we didn't even bother doing a 15 minute hike to a tea house. We snapped a few pictures up there and the view was amazing. After freezing our butts off, we decided to head back down. Although I'm not afraid of heights, the ride was a little scary, since all that was holding you back from dropping into ice and rocks was a metal bar and the lift cable. We spent a few moments taking pictures at Roundhouse Station and then decided to head back down since it was almost 5:00pm and the last gondola ride was at 5:30pm.

After locating the parentals, we walked around the village some more and then headed out. We went to Squamish and ate dinner at White Spot, a popular family restaurant on the west coast. When we lived in B.C., my family used to go there but I don't remember. Anyway, ordered myself a Monty Mushroom burger with endless fries -- means I get as much free fries refills as I wanted. The food was really good. I will definitely eat there again when I return.
Sunday, October 8
We went to Willingdon Church for service. The rest of my family has attended a service at the church when they previously visited Vancouver and they've been raving how awesome the quality of their service was. And I must say, it was really really good. They have 4 church services (1 on Saturday evenings and 3 on Sundays) and each service is packed.

After service, we met up with Uncle Jackie, Auntie Christine and their 2 daughters for lunch. One of the dishes they ordered was a sort of escargot thing. Now, I know it's a "French" thing but I will never try it because it looks absolutely disgusting. Other than that, the rest of the food was pretty good. MMmmmmm....I want dim sum now.

Afterwards, we had to drive to Horseshoe Bay to take the ferry to Nanaimo. Since our friends told us that the ferry service tends to get really busy on the weekends, especially long weekends, we had to reserve a spot. Cost us $17.50 one way for a reservation. Oye. We ended up being quite early for our ferry so we waited around at Horseshoe Bay terminal for almost 2 hours. Snapped a few pictures of the scenary there. Very beautiful. The trip on the ferry was about 1.5 hours and we arrived at Departure Bay in Nanaimo at about 6:30pm. After locating our family friend, she lead the way to her house where we stayed for the night and had another Thanksgiving meal. The steaks were amazing and the halibut was deeeeeeeeeelicious; both done on the BBQ. I made origami with Hanzi, their oldest son and Ronnie (sp?) a Japanese exchange student the family was hosting. The youngest, Deny, slept in the car while his mom was waiting for our ferry to arrive and never woke up during the evening, so we didn't get to play with him. My family had a good time with their's because we haven't seen them for almost 4 years, since they moved to Nanaimo from Toronto.

Monday, October 9
In the morning, I woke up to the smell of waffles and sausages. Mmmmmm...The waffles were amazing. We kind of had to rush our breakfast in order to catch the 10:30 ferry, which we had made reservations for again. We had intended on staying a little longer in Nanaimo to catch in the sights of the city and the surrounding area, but there was absolutely no room on the ferries past 10:30am. We could run the risk of lining up for a boat, but it would probably mean waiting for almost 6 hours. The kids, especially Hanzi didn't want us to leave because he was having sooo much fun. Heck, I didn't want to leave either.

After getting off the ferry at Horseshoe Bay, we drove to the Capilano Suspension Bridge in West Vancouver. I wanted to see it again because I do not remember it from my childhood. Since the admission prices were ridiculously expensive, only my brother and I went. Can you believe they have a price for B.C. residents? It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be and as my mom made it out to be. We got a map of the place and we had to go around the site and collect stamps to receive a special certificate and so my bro and I did it. Whoo hooo. We also completed the Treetops Adventure, although it wasn't really treetop-ish, but rather middle of the tree adventure. Hehehe. After completing our little Capilano adventure, we went across the street to the Bridge House Restaurant for lunch. Good food again, espcially for the price we were paying. Hehehe.

After lunch (more like late afternoon snack) it was almost 4pm and we headed back to the city. After stopping at Grandma's one last time, we headed to Granville Island. I keep hearing that it was a great place to hang out, but alas, it was a tourist trap. I'd probably return there on a weekend since most of the shops were closed by then and was mostly deserted. Then we headed to Richmond where we were going to stay at Auntie Phebe's since her house was the closest to the airport. Before dinner, my parents and I (bro went to meet a friend) went to Aberdeen Mall and walked around. Wow. That place is what I consider a Chinese mall. PacMall and First Markham doesn't compare to Aberdeen. The shops were very stylish and nice....not like the one's in Markham where it's a box filled with fake stuff and no style/taste at all. There was even a BMW/Mini Boutique store there! Hehehe. We arrived about 15 minutes before closing so we weren't able to go in the stores. Rather, we just window shopped. Hehehe. We went to dinner at Hon's House of Noodles (gwai lo tastseee) and had to head home since I had to go to bed early in order to catch my morning flight.

I didn't even get a chance to catch up with Auntie Phebe's parents. Boooooo. Stupid flight back to Ottawa.

Tuesday, October 10
Sigh...the day I dreaded: the flight back to Ottawa. I slepted in a little bit and kinda had to rush to the airport. Loe and behold, there was construction on the way to the airport and detours all around and we got lost. AHH!!!!! We had to stop at a gas station and ask for directions. AHHH!!! As soon as I got to the airport, I gave my dad a quick hug and ran to the AC Express check-in kiosks. Thank God there was one right by the door. I printed out my boarding pass (this time in cardboard-like paper!) and proceeded to the security gates. Argh...line ups. I gave my mom a quick hug and lined up. I was probably in security for almost 10 minutes, including screening. Anyway, good thing my gate was the first one after security. They were already boarding the Business class when I arrived at the gate. I was going to purchase some snacks but I couldn't find the cafe in the terminal so I just bought a bottle of water and milk at the convenience store.

Anyway, the flight back to Ottawa was alright; although, it was somewhat sad since I was leaving Vancouver. Boooo.

My trip to Vancouver was amazing and I enjoyed every minute of it; although, it was short. I didn't get to see everything I wanted to. My family didn't even get a chance to visit everyone because we have so many people to see whenever we go back. 5 days is too short. I intend to save up some money and if I can find a cheap flight to Vancouver in April (depending on my exam schedule), I will definitely return and visit all the touristy things in Vancouver. At least I'm saving on my room and board when I'm there so it makes life easier. Maybe I can find a co-op job there, although I only have one more work-term and would prefer to stay in Ottawa.

I really do hope that it will not take another 9 years for me to return to Vancouver. There's a (grand) possibility that I may be heading to Hong Kong and China after I'm done with school next fall, so a stop in Vancouver may (will) be in the works. Until then, I will have to look at all the pictures that I (and my bro) took and reminesce of the good times.