Settling into Vancouver, Cats and All

The peaceful view from Coquitlam 

Almost a month ago, a friend from Hong Kong landed in Vancouver. She has been preparing to move for years and now it's finally happened.

We had a chat yesterday on the phone and she seems to be settling in well. She said she spent the first two weeks doing all kinds of mundane but necessary things, from opening up bank accounts, buying insurance to finding a place to live.

One cat investigates the blinds

She is currently staying in an Airbnb in Coquitlam and enjoying it, despite the location not being the most convenient. Her exercise consists of walking up and down hills to get to the supermarket and back, but she loves inhaling the fresh air.

"It's so nice to be here, in freedom," she says. Since she arrived she stopped watching Hong Kong news because she found it depressing. "People are being arrested everyday," she says.

Next month she will move into her rental flat, also in Coquitlam and needs to buy furniture and other household goods and is eyeing the Ikea catalogue. But being in Vancouver is  all exciting to her and she hopes to soon be reunited with her mother, who is currently in Malaysia.

In the meantime her two cats are keeping her company, one 14 years old, the other four years old, though they don't get along. Hopefully they at least like Vancouver!

Scratching Your Way to Wealth

People buying up lottery tickets for a chance at quick returns

Young Chinese continue to look for get-quick-rich schemes like live streaming and trying their luck in show business. But for those without the looks and talent, there's lottery tickets.

Gua gua le are scratch lottery tickets at 20 yuan each, which may make them seem accessible, but these days shops are fast selling out of them in cities like Beijing, Guangzhou and eastern provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

In general the government has banned gambling unless buying tickets from the China Sports Lottery and China Welfare Lottery. People can either pick numbers or buy scratch cards.

Gua gua le tickets are popular if you can find them

"When the economy slows down, the lottery may move forward," Su Guojing, founder of the non-governmental trade organisation China Lottery Industry Salon, said in an interview with CCTV.

In the first quarter this year, sales from all types of lotteries nationwide exceeded 149.5 billion yuan (US$20.6 billion), an increase of 19.7 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Gua gua le sales accounted for 26.1 percent of the total, a n 81.4 percent year-on-year increase.

This compares to the national general budget revenue in the first quarter which was at 6.1 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decline of 2.3 percent.

"The price per ticket is not high, and the prizes aren't big either. It makes people happy. It's entertainment," said Zhao Xijun, a finance professor at Renmin University in Beijing.

"There might be people who, for economic reasons, participate to relieve stress."

Or perhaps they are desperate for a chance at a quick return?

A 20 yuan ticket might win 500 yuan which at first may seem thrilling, but that will soon wear off and people will demand a bigger jackpot, like those lotteries in North America that go into the millions.

It's a slippery slope, but that's how you get people interested in lotteries, otherwise they'll stop playing them... 

Manually Running Airline Information

Here's what passengers look at for flight info at the airport

Hong Kong International Airport is having major issues with its real-time flight and baggage collection information. It's so bad it's hard to resort to handwriting the information on whiteboards. 

I kid you not.

The Airport Authority admitted the system "cannot be restored within a short period of time", and executive director Steven Yiu Siu-chung urged passengers to contact their airlines for flight details and budget enough time for check-in.

What is this? Back to the 1980s?

Staff member manually updates flight information

The massive computer glitch is the second major incident to hit the airport in a week after an emergency landing that caused a burst tire led to hundreds of flights being delayed.

Yiu said abnormalities in the computer system were discovered at 7am, and as a result real-time flight information could not be displayed in departure and arrival halls, and the authority's website.

"We commenced large-scale contingency measures after we confirmed that the system cannot be restored within a short period of time," he said.

While Yiu did not give an estimate on how much time would be needed to fix the problem, he stressed human error was not involved in the incident.

But many people missed their flights and blamed the airport authority for it.

One passenger surnamed Ng had a flight scheduled for 9.40am and entered the restricted area of the airport at 6am with no gate information on his boarding pass. However it wasn't until 10am when he found out where the gate was, and that he was one of six passengers who missed the flight.

"Airline staff told me it was the airport's fault. No one from the Airport Authority approached me with a solution, like how I will be compensated," Ng said, adding he did not know if he should book another flight or go back to Macau to fly from there.

"I am disappointed with Hong Kong International Airport. How can their risk management be qualified to tell good Hong Kong stories?"

Indeed. How can the HKIA not even have a backup system in 2024?

Insolvencies Creeping Up in Hong Kong

The number of bankruptcies filed at a two-year monthly high

Things in Hong Kong aren't getting better, with the number of bankruptcies filed at a two-year monthly high. 

According to the Official Receiver's Office, 871 people filed for insolvency in May, up from 742 in April, and 783 in March.

May's figure is a 35 percent increase over the 646 recorded last May, and it is the highest monthly figure since April 2022, when 930 bankruptcies were filed.

While economists blame the bankruptcy applications on banks recalling loans, others cited high interest rates these past two years.

But the government doesn't see it that way. 

The Financial Services and Treasury Bureau said the figures should be viewed from a macro perspective and "do not actually reflect the overall economic trend and economic reality".

"One cannot accurately assess the actual situation of the Hong Kong economy based soley on the rise and fall of individual monthly figures," the bureau said in a social media post.

"In fact, a comprehensive analysis of various economic indicators shows that the Hong Kong economy is steadily improving and exhibiting a recovery momentum."

The bureau even pointed out the unemployment rate is at 3 percent, and the gross domestic product (GDP) is growing by 2.7 percent year-on-year in the first quarter.

Perhaps that's grasping straws? Hong Kong has always had a low unemployment rate, and even more so with fewer people in the city. Is the GDP really on an uptick because of more mainland Chinese tourists coming to Hong Kong to shop?

That's a lot of luxury handbags if that's true...

Stumping Jeopardy! in Cantonese

A Cantonese question made it on Jeopardy!

A local instructor in Cantonese at the University of British Columbia is grinning from ear to ear tonight after seeing a question he helped develop be read on tonight's segment of Jeopardy!

For $1,000 the question was: "As the word for this number sounds like it means "certainly death", Cantonese speakers have a collective case of tetrakaidekaphobia."

The first contestant said, "What is 13?"

Nope, but that is the meaning of tetrakaidekaphobia...

The next one said, "What is 4?"

Also incorrect, but on the right track.

The final contestant said, "What is 52?"

No...

"What is 14"....

The backstory is that two years ago a writer from the game show had the question and reached out to the university department to confirm the accuracy of it. The instructor revised it and now it's a question that will be remembered for stumping all the contestants!

Five HK Food Inspectors Charged with Theft

ICAC has charged five food inspectors for theft of food samples

Five Hong Kong health inspectors have been charged with the theft of food samples, from canned abalone to white truffle sauce and crab bisque they had purchased using public money for radiation testing.

The three women and two men aged 28 to 37, have been suspended by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. They did not have to enter a plea at West Kowloon Court on Thursday, but Magistrate Li Chi-ho has adjourned the hearing until mid-August for the inspectors to consider their legal options.

They have been charged with a conspiracy to steal, an offence punishable by up to two years in prison when it is the only charge tried at the magistrates' court.

On Wednesday, the Independent Commission Against Corruption said the five inspectors allegedly conspired between May 2022 and March last year to steal food samples bought by the centre for testing.

As part of their job the inspectors were instructed to buy randomly selected food samples at fair and reasonable prices. The ideal food sample size is typically around 1kg, according to the ICAC.

The centre bars inspectors from ordering too much food samples or misappropriating any untested items, and any unused goods to be accounted for and properly disposed of.

In this case, the five inspectors allegedly used public money to buy more than HK$88,000 (US$11,270) from five importers for two radiation tests.

But the centre told ICAC that after testing, the five inspectors took the remaining goods home, instead of keeping records of their disposal.

When investigators when to the inspectors' homes, they found more than 80 unused food samples, including canned abalone, white truffle sauce, crab bisque, Japanese rice and various types of pasta.

What could one do with all those delicious ingredients? 

High Speed Trains for Foodies

Spend the weekend easily in Beijing or Shanghai by train

There's another way Hongkongers can escape the city on the weekends -- take the high-speed train to Beijing or Shanghai in the evening and arrive bright and early the next day after 6am; the return trip starts in the evening and arrives after 8am in the morning in Hong Kong.

It takes 12.5 hours to go to the Chinese capital, and 11 hours to Shanghai. The routes run four days a week, departing from each of the three cities in the evening.

Previously it would take 24 hours to take the train from Hong Kong to Beijing, or 19 hours to Shanghai. Now the time is basically chopped in half. 

Train staff distribute food orders by seat number

On the inaugural train ride from to Beijing, several Hong Kong reporters jumped on board and marvelled... at the food.

They soon discovered that because the train makes several stops along the route, customers can use an app called 12306 and order food two hours ahead of arriving at the stop and when the train arrives, the orders are at the platform for the train staff to pick up and distribute. 

Passengers can sample local dishes, like hot dry noodles of gan re mian from Wuhan, and cold milk tea from Changsha.

While the Hong Kong media were impressed by the ability to order food like this, for mainlanders this is nothing new. Taking trains has been the way most laobaixing have traveled in China, and the improvement in technology in food delivery apps has made this all possible.

So does this mean more Hongkongers are going to ride the trains to Beijing and Shanghai to sample the food? The possibilities are endless...

 

Picture of the Day: When 2 Millions People Marched

Many haven't forgotten this sight five years later in Hong Kong

Five years ago 2 million people came out to the streets of Hong Kong to tell the government to stop the extradition bill. 

But to no avail.

It showed that traditional ways of communicating with those in power were not effective anymore, which led to an escalation of tactics that were used later on in the protests of 2019.

Despite three years of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the implementation of the national security law and most recently Article 23, the protests are still fresh in people's minds.

How can one forget what 2 million people in the sweltering heat looks like? 

And no one can forget the outcome of the protests. It is yet another momentous event in modern history that has resulted in the mass migration of people in the name of freedom. 

Louis Koo's Alleged Loan Default

Koo is being sued by his business partner for HK$8.3 million

Earlier I wondered why actor Louis Koo Tin-lok was hired as the face to help rehabilitate the Hong Kong taxi industry, and now we may know why.

A few days ago it was reported that Koo is being sued by his business partner for allegedly failing to repay a HK$8.3 million (US$1.1 million) loan from a fashion joint venture a decade ago.

Film producer, investor and chairman of entertainment group Sunny Side Up Culture Alex Dong Choi-chi also asked the High Court to order the 53-year-old to surrender half of the stakes in an offshore company investing in a Chinese restaurant in Causeway Bay.

In a business deal gone sour, Koo didn't have enough money to pay his shares of the HK$16.6 million invested at the time so Dong loaned him HK$8.3 million interest-free to be repayable within five years, but according to the writ, none of it has been repaid.

No word from Koo yet, but perhaps we can assume he'll be working in the next few months?!

Picture of the Day: Eagles in Ketchikan

An eagle greets visitors in Ketchikan, Alaska

One more post on Alaska.

In Ketchikan, near the pier where the cruise ships dock, is a giant wooden statue of an eagle with its wings stretched upwards and the body aiming down as if about to land.

That's because Ketchikan comes from the Tlingit word "kitsdhk-hin" which means "the spread wings of an eagle". 

Our tour guide quipped that the eagle looks like it's mooning people... 

Live Like a Local Alaskan

Blasphemous Bill's tagline is "Rest in Pieces"

As I signed up for some excursions as part of my Alaska cruise, the tour guides tried to give us a sense of what life is like where they live and gave suggestions of where to hang out in our precious few hours in each port.

The towns of Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan are very small, with populations of a few thousand people each, but the numbers double when cruise season starts; students and young people with a yearning for adventure come to Alaska to earn money (though food and lodging can be expensive) and have a few good stories to tell their friends and family back home.

Spruce tip soda is among four flavours

Our rainforest tour guide from Montana asked us to write a Google review of our visit and to mention her name so that her mom could see her daughter was still alive and well in Ketchikan.

The guide who took us kayaking also asked us to review the excursion on Google too and if their name was mentioned they would get US$10 extra from his employer. What an incentive.

One of our guides who took us around Skagway was decades older, but it seems he enjoys the lifestyle in Alaska too much. He is happy to take tourists around to see mountains and glaciers from May to October, and after that he and his dog decamp to San Diego and enjoy the sun in the winter.

He suggested that we go to the Skaguay News Depot & Books to get a copy of The Skagway News for US$2 where we can read the section called "Police and Fire Blotter". 

It lists the police reports of what happened in a two-week period. Some are mundane like someone losing a mobile phone or a credit card was found in a store and reunited with its owner. Some involve passengers on cruise ships like losing their ship identification badge, or a medical emergency on the ship.

Colourful donuts assembled upon ordering

Others are more bizarre, like the one about a suspicious pill found on the floor of a bar and was turned over to the police. It turns out it was arthritis medication.

Someone called the police asking about the legalities of standing next to the Alaska sign dressed up as a bigfoot, or how about a person asking the cops to do a welfare check on a friend; the friend was fine but wanted to be left alone...

Another guide in Ketchikan suggested getting a salmon donut (US$10) from Jellyfish Donuts near where the Ruby Princess was docked. He also suggested trying spruce tip beer, bitters and even gin. We could get spruce tip soda from Blasphemous Bill's. 

So after my tour ended and dropped us back at the pier, I walked back to Blasphemous Bill's to get the spruce tip soda. I had to ask for it because I couldn't find it but it was in a small bar fridge near the cashier. 

Having tried pickled spruce tips that taste like capers, I was hoping the soda would have a pine-like smell or taste. Instead it was more of a lemon-lime soda that was quite sweet.

Salmon and maple bacon donuts

Then I hit Jellyfish Donuts and it's a small quaint shop and the donuts are actually brioche buns with creative toppings like sour patch kid and peanut butter and jelly. The signature one is salmon which I had to try. It's actually a smoked salmon spread with a few chopped spring onions on top. 

It's actually pretty good, fluffy donut that's a bit sweet and balanced with the savouriness of the salmon. I also tried maple bacon with actual bacon bits on the glazed donut, but it was more on the sweet side with a lot of icing on top.

Nevertheless, it was fun just to try these items even if they are a bit of a touristy gimmick!

Army of Cooks Feeding Cruise Ship Passengers

Showing off some cool knife skills

We ate all our meals on the Ruby Princess this past week and I can attest as a cruiser that the novelty fades quickly; the breakfast buffet looks pretty much the same everyday, and in the fine dining restaurant, ingredients are used in different ways. It's best to eat something fresh on the menu -- and asking your waiter for tips on what's good that day.

Nevertheless we have to say running the food outlets on a cruise ship is no easy task. Executive chef Russell Clarke explained that half the staff are related to food and beverage, either cooks or waiters from some 50 different countries.

Pastry chefs busy making cakes for the day

During a culinary presentation in the theatre, Clarke quipped that he spoke Australian, not English, while all the other cooks and waiters spoke at least two or three different languages.

On stage, Clarke quickly made three dishes for the audience of passengers: shrimp cocktail with mango salsa, lamb chops, and pavlova with berries and coulis.

However, we weren't invited to try the dishes -- the pavlova looked rock hard and dense -- but to go to the galley kitchens to take a look. Apparently this is a popular tour and some people raced to the kitchens! In the end there wasn't much to see, except lots of empty work spaces, stainless steel everywhere and only a handful of chefs working at 11am.

Perhaps the cooks were shy, or Clarke wanted the area cleared out, we could only look at a distance though some areas were decorated with creative carvings of vegetables and fruits. Some were constructed to look like mice and birds, but the flowers carved out of the side of a watermelon were most impressive.

A hearty slice of prime rib with potato, beans

We were given a fact sheet on how much food is produced on the ship, and it involves ordering 110-115 tons of food delivered on a single cruise.

Three butchers clean and cut 1,700 fish into portions daily, while five butchers, three assistants and helpers prepare beef and poultry. On a cruise, 1,400lbs of poultry, 1,700lbs of beef, 1,400lbs of pork and pork products (like sausages); 300lbs of veal, and 200lbs of lamb are cooked daily.

While I had a large slice of prime rib that was pretty good on the last night, the lamb rack I had was overcooked. Interestingly the cream of whatever vegetable soup like cauliflower, or lentil, and the Alaska seafood soup were really good. These are made by 13 staff, preparing 550 gallons per day.

Some 1,600lbs of salad are served daily along with 400lbs of shrimp, 13 gallons of mayonnaise, and 1,500 sandwiches. The Caesar salad was consistently good and what I ate the most.

The bread served on board is made fresh daily by 10 bakers, including the bread rolls we ate everyday that had a light crunchy exterior and fluffy interior along with whipped butter. I did not try the pizza nor the croissants. The bakers use some 1,500lbs of flour daily! I saw some dough being proofed when we went through the kitchens.

Breads are made daily on the ship

And there are 13 people working in pastry making desserts, ice creams, cakes and pies. Around 6,000 pieces of pastries are made everyday, along with 100 gallons of ice cream, and 300 cakes and pies. The blueberry crumble with vanilla ice cream was a favourite at our table. The souffle on the first day was more like a steamed cake, but there was baked Alaska (a giant one sliced up, to individual ones that were sloppy). The safest bet was peach melba or ice cream with fresh fruit sauce like pineapple or strawberry.

Every morning I ate fruits -- honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon and pineapple. Sometimes there was papaya. Towards the end of the trip there was more canned fruit like apricot, peach and pineapple. I ate those anyway, and once had canned figs. Around 6,000lbs of fresh fruit is served daily, while 400lbs of butter are used everyday!

For those who drink coffee, 470 gallons are consumed, 62 gallons of coffee cream, and 400lbs of sugar for the coffee.

After consuming all that food, someone has to clean the dishes. Fifty-seven people wash china, glasses, silver, and pots and pans. Everyday 70,000 dishes are washed, while 21,500 glasses are washed. 

And that's just the passengers. There are also 1,1000 crew who need to eat too!

Spotting Black Bears in the Ketchikan Rainforest

Looking up at the many trees in the rainforest

This morning we arrived in Ketchikan, Alaska, the last port of call on our cruise. It's known as the salmon capital of the world because five species of salmon can be found here: chum, sockeye, king, silver and pink. Apparently chum is nicknamed "dog salmon" because it's only good for mushing dogs to eat.

And we are one month away from the start of the salmon run, where the fish return to their birthplace to spawn and then sadly die... 

Black vertical bear claw marks

The town is also known for having the most totem poles in the world and you do see them around town, though they seem to be much smaller than the ones found in Vancouver. They are made of cedar too, the wood of choice for carving.

Ketchikan's population is around 8,000, while the entire island is 14,000. When it's tourist season the population doubles to service thousands of tourists who come daily. That's right. Today there were five cruise ships docked in Ketchikan. 

I signed up for a walk in a rainforest, named the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary, which was about a 20-minute ride from the pier. Both our drivers to and from the sanctuary were funny and entertaining with their stories of living in the town. Almost all the young people I've encountered here are in Alaska to earn money, but also some genuinely love the outdoors and the lifestyle. 

Our guide for the rainforest walk wasn't a local but from Montana. Nevertheless, she seemed to know what she was doing as she took a dozen of us on a 1 mile walk around the trail. We were told this area gets 13-16ft of rain per year, which compares to Seattle at 5-7ft of rain. In addition Ketchikan only gets 2-3ft of snow per year, so it's more wet than cold.

The rainforest, which is part of the Tongass National Forest, reminded me of Pacific Spirit Park but with a lot more moss and narrower trails. The guide told us interesting facts about things we saw along the way, such as skunk cabbage grown on the ground are eaten by bears as a laxative, and there are berries grown here such as salmonberry, huckleberry, and blackberry. The blackberry's leaves have medicinal uses too.

A tree that grew from a nurse log

She told us 90 percent of this rainforest's trees are either the western hemlock or the sitka spruce. How can you tell the difference between the two? The western hemlock has stripey bark like bacon, whereas the sitka spruce's bark are shaped like fish scales. 

The forest floor is not deep when it comes to soil, so the roots spread out, or in some cases, young trees will gain its nutrients from fallen or dead trees called nurse logs. They can have up to 100 years' worth of nutrients stored up for "baby" trees. 

Our guide showed us a tiny sapling and explained it was 5-7 years old, and a "teenager" was about 50 years old. A mature tree could be up to 500 years old or even 1,000 years old. And the moss hanging on many of the trees? They are called "old man beards" and they are sterile enough to be used to bandage wounds; I was told a while ago that they make good toilet paper!

She also showed us a tree trunk that had bear claw marks on it, as the bear had climbed up the tree!

Not long after we saw a live black bear in front of us which was quite the excitement. Our guide advised us to wait for a few minutes to give the bear some space to leave. And to our left we could see two cubs running around in the forest. 

See the young bear in the stream in the middle?

We spotted the bear again this time under the wooden elevated walkway we were on, and then further in the distance in a grassy area in low tide. There is a stream that leads to the salmon hatchery and this is where the bears are waiting for the salmon to return. The area gets high tide and low tide twice a day which is an interesting fact. 

There were also two bald eagles in the distance circling around in the sky. Hope they didn't think we were lunch...

All of us on the tour were so thrilled to see the black bears, while our guide was probably relieved nothing happened! She added we were so lucky to have blue skies as it had been raining for three weeks straight!

Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary

4085 Tongass Avenue

Ketchikan, Alaska

Traversing the Endicott Arm

Lots of tiny icebergs floating in the Endicott Arm

This morning we woke up to the ship moving at a slow pace because it was in the Endicott Arm, a narrow fjord, about 85km southeast of Juneau, Alaska. The scenery constantly changes, with some areas showing lots of trees, others a deep crevasse that reveals a waterfall from the melting snow above.

The mountains have been eroded by glaciers

After breakfast we wandered to the front of the ship on deck 15 and there were many people standing there taking in the sights. It was so warm outside, around 16 degrees and sunglasses were a must. Floating in the aquamarine-coloured water were small icebergs and if we were lucky we saw some seals sunbathing!

However, as the ship approached they quickly slipped under the water. This happened a few times along the way. No one seemed to spot any wildlife, like black or brown bears, deer, or mountain goats. The Endicott Arm is still part of the Tongass National Forest, one of the largest protected areas in the United States.

The Dawes Glacier in the distance

Then at a certain point, the ship began to slowly turn around, and that's when we saw the Dawes Glacier. However we didn't get close to the glacier, nor could we see any chunks of ice falling into the water, which is called glacier calving. 

When we finished lunch, I had a good walk around the deck and once in a while we could see whales in the distance -- far far distance! They did not jump up, but rather came up for air and went back down again. Nevertheless it was still really cool to see them, if only just a bit of them!

Yesterday I managed to see a very cute five-week old puppy that will grow up to train for Iditarod racing. Two puppies were brought on board the cruise ship to meet some passengers. This female puppy looked very shy, and is a mix of husky, border collie, setter and hound. While huskies are best known, mutts can also run fast too! 

A cute future Iditarod racer

Apparently when full size and racing, these dogs can consume as much as 10,000 to 12,000 calories a day!

Klondike Prospectors Paved the Way for Tourists

There isn't normally this much snow on the mountains now

Our ship the Ruby Princess arrived in Skagway, Alaska this morning, but the captain announced at 7am that the ship could not dock -- the water was too shallow and added other ships would not budge either! There are at least three other cruise ships along the same route as us.

As a result, our ship had to stop away from the dock and set up tenders (small shuttle boats) to shore. This plan was scrambled very quickly and kudos to the staff for making it happen relatively fast.

Even the tour operators in Skagway were shocked to see the cruise ship floating around in the water -- our tour guide Paul said in the 18 years he was a tour guide here he had never seen it like that before... but apparently there is a 17-feet difference in the water levels here...

Pitchfork Falls on the left, next to a pipeline

As a result, our tour at 10.15am started a bit late because the previous tour at 8.30am was delayed by this change in logistics.

Nevertheless, Paul was fun and accommodating -- he can drive a bus of 21 tourists, drive and tell us about the history of the gold rush in Alaska in the 1890s! He even uses a drum stick to point to various areas on the map above him!

As we drove along the Klondike Highway, we had stunning views of the mountains that still had snow on them. Paul said usually at this time of year -- June -- just the caps of the mountains would have snow on them. But because this year was particularly cold, the snow was still around. Perhaps it's a good thing considering there isn't much snow in general on the mountains?

He explained in 1896 gold was discovered, but word didn't get out until a year later. People from all over went from Seattle, Vancouver and Victoria by ship to Alaska -- in some boats it was literally standing room only -- and it was an arduous trek with lots of provisions on their backs.

Stunning views and gorgeous weather to boot!

Horses were badly treated, overwhelmed by the weight of the stuff they had to carry and over treacherous terrain that some 3,000 of them died... is it any wonder one of the roads was nicknamed Dead Horse Trail?

Paul also reminded us in the Victorian era, these prospectors didn't have Gore-tex or North Face jackets -- they had wool and it was very heavy and would get wet easily. The women wore dresses. It's amazing they even survived.

But by the time these prospectors made it to Alaska and survived the frigid winters, there was hardly any gold left in 1898 and either called it quits or stayed anyway. 

Paul gave some shocking statistics:

- 100,000 went to Seattle, Vancouver and Victoria in the hopes of getting to Alaska;

- 40,000 made it to Alaska

- 20,000 looked for gold

- 4,000 found gold

- 1,000 found enough gold to live on. One was John W Nordstrom, a Swedish immigrant who used the money he made from gold and set up a shoe store.

The highways we went on to see the magnificent sights were because of the gold rush, and now who benefits? Us tourists.

In 1972 the first ship brought some 200 tourists. Today it's 15,000 a year.

The season lasts from late April to October. On the last day of the cruise season, some of the locals will get together on the dock to give a send off to the last batch of tourists -- they moon them!

Apparently this is an annual tradition!

And one year, a group of tourists on a cruise ship mooned the locals back!

Kayaking in Juneau, Alaska

Looking across the bay at Mendenhall Glacier

This morning we arrived in Juneau, Alaska, but by lunchtime it was raining which did not bode well for my kayaking trip. However, by the time we arrived at Auke Bay via a school bus for a 20-minute ride, the rain had tapered off with a slight sprinkle and blue skies opened up.

We got ready with a kayak spray skirt so our trousers wouldn't get soaked, and a life jacket on top. Our guide Michael from Alaska Shore Tours made sure each of us was tightly strapped into our life jackets and then we went to the shore and had a quick lesson on how to kayak even though all of us had kayaked before.

Our kayaks on shore ready for some paddling

Soon after we got into the water and began paddling. Across the bay we could see Mendenhall Glacier, in Tongass National Forest. The glacier is shrinking every year; since 1929 it has retreated 2.82km, and climate change has accelerated its retreat even further. 

In the distance Michael pointed out Admiralty Island where there are a large number of brown and black bears that live there. 

He also told us that we were in high tide so the chances of seeing orcas was slim -- they usually appear in low tide, when the fish and other food are concentrated and easier for the orcas to feed. Two weeks earlier a group of kayakers were able to see a pod of orcas.

The weather cooperated for the most part

Nevertheless, we were able to see three seals in the distance. They can hold their breath for 30 minutes, so if they pop up and then go down, you may not see them again. The same goes for orcas, though they can hold their breaths for an hour.

We also saw a tern, a small white bird with a black-shaped helmet on its head. Michael explained these migratory birds fly as far down as Antarctica. Quite amazing. 

As we made our way back to shore, we encountered sandbars 1ft down and made sure we avoided them -- Michael said if you hear the waves as if they are lapping on the shore, then there are sandbars nearby. Periodically we got sprinkles of rain, but no downpour. We were all so happy the way the weather turned out.

Once we avoided this hurdle we paddled hard to get back to shore. After we took off the life jacket and kayak spray skirt there were some snacks waiting for us, as well as some warm apple cider. Michael kept asking us if we had a good time -- he was eager to have a good review on Google -- and then we got back on the bus.

Beautiful blue skies on our afternoon kayaking

Definitely a memorable trip and a fun arm workout!

Cruising to Alaska with Waves

Dramatic sunset from the bow with clouds gathering above

Yesterday we embarked on a cruise to Alaska and it's been quite the trip so far. We had a glorious departure, sailing out of Burrard Inlet, passing under Lions Gate Bridge and into the Pacific Ocean with blue skies.

Towards evening despite gathering clouds I caught a fantastic sunset at the bow of the Ruby Princess as I got my 10,000 steps in. It was quite windy, but lovely to be out in the open sea.

Seeing Vancouver from the ship before departure

Or I might have spoken too soon. Later in the evening I could feel the rolling waves and went to bed hoping the next day would be fine.

The choppy waves continued pretty much all day and I had to lie down most of the time to keep my dizziness at bay! As a result I didn't have much of an appetite. 

Heard later from my relatives who are traveling with us that at breakfast the waves were so rough early in the morning that people dropped food from their plates, causing quite the mess for staff to clean up. I later saw many people holding white paper sickness bags in case they didn't feel well...!!!

Then around 5.30pm the captain made an announcement that a passenger had a medical emergency and needed surgery -- a helicopter would be arriving in about 1.5 hours to evacuate the person and that no one should go outside at that time. I've been on a few cruises before but have never heard of an instance where a helicopter actually flew to a ship to pick up a patient.

About half an hour later the ship began to slow down and then as if by magic my dizziness dissipated and it was a relief!

About to pass under Lions Gate Bridge

By 7.30pm the captain made another announcement the helicopter was coming soon and requested all hands on deck in terms of the staff to make sure no one was outside, and people in their rooms were advised to keep their balcony doors closed too.

We were told later that the evacuation was successful and the ship began gathering speed again, but this did not cause me to be dizzy again.

It was still bright out at 9pm and caught the last of the sunset. Hopefully the rest of the way to our first port of call, Juneau will be uneventful!

Learning About Abandoned Spaces Part 3

The railway tracks along Arbutus Street that lay idle for years

Our last stop on the photo walk was a neglected railway track near the entrance to Granville Island. It was part of a track that ran from False Creek, where there were factories, to the Pacific Central Station to transport the goods elsewhere in British Columbia or outside the province.

Pedestrians and cyclists use the Arbutus Greenway

There is also another railway that used to run parallel to Arbutus Street that was nicknamed "the Sockeye express" or "Sockeye special", where trains ferried salmon from Steveston in Richmond, all the way into Vancouver, up the second Granville Street Bridge (demolished in 1954), and into downtown, at the intersection of David and Richards. The same train line was used to carry fresh milk and spring water too.

I remember as a kid my brother and I would leave pennies on the railway track and after the train ran by we would collect the stretched pennies, still hot to the touch. That train stopped running in 2001 and was unused for a long time. 

There were calls to turn it into a pedestrian and bike path and in 2016 the City of Vancouver bought it from the Canadian Pacific Railway for C$55 million. The tracks were taken out and the path was blacktopped. Today people can walk or ride leisurely along the path, now called the Arbutus Greenway, from West 5th Avenue and Fir all the way south to East Boulevard and Southwest Marine.

Which takes us back to the unused track at False Creek. It was used during the 2010 Olympics to transport passengers from Olympic Station to Granville Island on a replica street car for exactly 60 days. After the international sporting event was over, so was the railway track at a cost of C$8.5 million.

Can the rail track at Granville Island be revived?

A local heritage group is hoping to gather enough interest in it to revive the use of the track by putting a street car on it; there would be more foot traffic to Granville Island and Olympic Village, not only by residents but also tourists too.

We Continue to Remember

Five years ago in Victoria Park...

It is 35 years since that horrific night in 1989 when the tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square in Beijing and thousands of people did not go home that evening.

It is five years since the last time people in Hong Kong were able to gather in Victoria Park to commemorate the dead.

It is now a crime to do that in the city.

Artist Sanmu Chen was arrested the day before in Causeway Bay soon after he started making hand gestures allegedly related to June 4.

The Hong Kong police will be out in force all over the area and near Victoria Park to ensure no candles are lit, real or digital, nor any other public signs of remembrance.

"The government's position on public events is very clear: all activities by any person must be conducted according to the law," explained Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu at a media briefing. 

"No activities that contravene the law should take place. The government of course will take action according to the law, which includes the public order ordinance, the Hong Kong national security law, and safeguarding the Hong Kong safety ordinance."

So instead in Vancouver, there are plans to hold a large candlelight vigil at Dr David Lam Park this evening. While the organiser, Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement suggests people bring their own candles and dress according to the weather, and the forecast is for sunny skies by late afternoon, early evening. 

There will be a Zunzi comics exhibition, and not only information about June 4 but 2019 as well.

There are so many things to remember, but we must carry on commemorating what happened 35 years ago, five years ago. 

Learning about Abandoned Spaces Part 2

Molson brewery has been vacant since 2016

Another space we visited during the photo walk was the former Molson Brewery on 1550 Burrard Street.

It's a place I have passed by in the car so I have never looked at it up close before. Many of us on the tour hadn't either. So we looked through the large windows to see the giant steel vats and walls tiled with shades of indigo blue to aquamarine. It also looked very dusty inside and sadly deserted.

Giant containers that used to store beer!

We were told by museum staff that this was the original site of 6 Capilano Brewery that was established in 1953 by a Sikh family from Alberta. They had first opened on 1445 Powell Street before they relocated to the foot of the Burrard Street Bridge.

It previously had a number 6 neon sign that also gave the weather, much like the Molson sign that came later.

After five years, the brewery was sold to Molson, which at its heyday had 260 employees. Molson operated here for 60 years and then in 2016 the 7.4-acre site was sold to a developer for a whopping C$190 million.

The developer had plans to build a high density, mixed-use building that also generated employment (ie shops and offices on the ground floor), but the site has been left idling ever since because developers are still waiting for its rezoning application to get the green light from City Hall. Hello Mayor Ken Sim???

Large vats and pipes inside

Museum staff point out that even though Vancouver is short of land for housing, space for industrial use is even smaller. Ideally for a city of Vancouver's size the ratio should be around 4 percent, but in reality it's only 0.16 percent... is it any wonder there is no industry in this city?

For example, goods shipped to Vancouver need to be stored in Alberta because there is no space, and then delivered back to Vancouver. What a waste...

Learning About Abandoned Spaces Part 1

Construction at Senakw, by the Burrard Street Bridge

Yesterday I went on a photo walk with a group of strangers and led by staff from the Museum of Vancouver. It has an exhibition called Mirage: Disused Public Property in Taiwan by photographer Yao Jui Chung that is on until September 2. 

For 14 years he and his students documented abandoned government-funded buildings all over Taiwan not only to draw attention to them, but also hold the government to account and challenge the authorities to reuse them, or allow others such as NGOs, artists, the elderly or young people to repurpose them.

Some of these photographs are shown in the exhibition, which encourages visitors to pin point unused spaces on a map of Vancouver.

On Saturday the museum staff invited some amateur and professional photographers to come and investigate some neglected places in the city (well those near the museum).

After visiting a run-down house that has been left empty for years, we went to see a plot of land with many construction cranes near the Burrard Street Bridge.

On Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh land, the development is called Senakw or "the place".

Museum staff explained that the indigenous people lived here, but in 1869 they were forced to move to the North Shore. They were told they would get C$100 cheques each when they got to the other side and were only given a short time to pack their belongings. When they did reach the North Shore, their cheques were void -- in other words fake.

We were also told the place was multicultural. In 1908 the first gurdwara or Sikh temple in Vancouver was built in Kitsilano; it was taken down and interestingly Canadian architect Arthur Erickson designed the Ross Street Temple in 1970.

Japanese-Canadians also lived in the area before they were interned in World War II.

The large towers at Senakw will add a lot of housing and services to the area; neighbours are concerned about what's coming in, while others are optimistic about the land use and look at it as a model for future development in Vancouver...

Chinatown Eats: New Town Bakery & Restaurant

Barbecue duck with thick rice noodles at New Town Bakery

Earlier this week we went to New Town Bakery & Restaurant in Vancouver's Chinatown for lunch and by the time we got there after 1pm, all the tables were occupied and we had to wait. Luckily it wasn't too long -- after a few minutes some customers left and we got a booth for four of us.

The fish cakes were better than the fish balls

One friend was from out of town in London and he was eager to try some barbecue duck because it's not something he can eat there. And just his luck it was available with thick rice noodles too.

We ordered two bowls and my friend and I had fish ball with ho fun or wide rice noodles in soup.

The bowl of fish balls arrived and I was surprised to find they were a bit small -- you can't tell from the picture but they were miniature. While they weren't that bouncy in texture -- like the ones I had in Singapore -- the thick fish cakes were actually quite good.

Meanwhile the two friends who ordered the barbecue duck were impressed by the serving and promptly dug into the bowl that also came with some boiled cabbage. While the meat was tender it was a bit on the chewy side, but it satisfied the craving.

Flaky egg tarts for dessert

There was enough room for dessert and we had a round of warm egg tarts with the flaky pastry crust that hit the spot.

New Town Bakery

148 East Pender Street

Vancouver, BC
604 689 7835