Canada / USA 2006 Part III

Last part (finally!)...

Day 09
Started off the day by visiting Lake Louise and Moraine Lake (shown below).


I swear, the water colour has not been modified in photoshop!

After that we continued our journey on the Bow Valley Parkway (south) and stopped in the middle for a place called Baker Creek Chalets. Only one tiny restaurant was there, but to our surprises, it was very elegant and food was prepared and served nicely!


One of the dishes we've ordered: Prawns with a sauce taste like salad - CAD $10.00

Continuing our journey after lunch down the Bow Valley Parkway and reached Banff after roughly 45min. However weather was not good at all, so we decided (I decided actually) to go east a bit on the Trans-Canadian Highway to a neighbouring town - Canmore. Took us just 20min, and everything there was just (a lot) cheaper! We then found a motel, had dinner, did laundry, and called it a day.

Day 10
After breakfast (continential - I really really hate this kinda b'fast now), we drove back to Banff. Visited Cave & Basin and went up the Sulphur Mountain (by Gondola, CAD$23.50 each) before going back to town centre for lunch. We, again, had mexican - basically coz it was nearest to our carpark! (I was so hungry that I bought a Mars Bar on the Sulphur Mountain souvenir shop so that I had the energy to claw back to the car, drive to town centre and find a restaurant!)


Here we go: needless to say, Nachos - CAD$10.95

We walked around in the town centre for a while after lunch before getting back to our car and continued the trip to Lake Minnewanka (also in Banff NP), which was then followed by a 2-hour driving to Calgary. We stayed in our relative's apartment in city centre in Calgary, which was near Chinatown! God... after dinner @ Chinatown, it's not hard to find old Chinese immigrants sitting in parks staring at us in a horrible way... Seriously, what's the point to move all the way from China and just sit in parks every day and wait until that moment? (needless to say what moment rite?)

Day 11
Considered as the most boring day of the entire trip - Calgary city trip. Nothing special, city centre was the same as in Vancouver. However we had the best lunch today - the famous Canadian AAA Alberta Angus Steak!


Here we go... 10oz AAA grade Alberta Angus Steak! - CAD$28.00 @ Metropolitan Grill on 8th

After lunch, we got back to our car and visited several places:

• Canada Olympic Park
• University of Calgary
• Northhill Mall

That's it for the day. (oh yea, and also dinner with relative @ Chinatown)

Day 12
Had Chinese dim sum with relatives for breakfast, then we started our ultra-long trip back to Vancouver. First stop was at Baker Creek, just coz we liked that restaurant very much. Took us 2.5 hours from Calgary - and on the highway just passed Banff, I was stopped by the cops... speeding!!! He said (in strong Canadian accent), 'you were going at 118km/h!' (ok... speed limit was 90km/h. Aparently he was a nice guy coz he didnt give me any ticket! (probably coz of my HK license instead of holding a BC licence) After that (at least for that afternoon) I was driving right up to the limit... god! Here're some excuses: 1) road's too straight and wide; 2) vehicle's suspension + sound proof was too good; 3) other cars were going too slow! Well, anywayz...

After lunch, we visited Johnston Canyon. This was the last spot we visited in Banff National Park. Then we drove to the park next to Banff - Yoho National Park. The same sort of things really, Takkakan Falls, Emerald Lake, Natural Bridge... then stopped at Golden (in BC) and rest.

Day 13
After breakfast at our beloved A&W, we drove to Rogers Pass inside Glacier National Park. Comparing to Jasper and Banff, Glacier was a smaller NP and therefore nothing much for us to see. We stopped at Revelstoke, about 1 hour from Rogers Pass, for lunch and a little break. This was a semi-self-served restaurant, which served (surprisingly) good food!


Chicken - Southern Fried Chicken to be exact - CAD$8.99

After lunch, yes, driving again! Continue to go west on Trans-Canadian Highway, we briefly stopped at Salmon Arm - just another small little town with nothing much to see. We were supposed to stop for the day at Hope, which was about 3 hours drive from Salmon Arm BUT dad worried I was tired so decided to stop at Meritt which was just 2 hours from Salmon Arm. However, hotels/motels there were extremely expensive (c.f. normal price) coz of a music festival that evening! We didnt continue to Hope, instead we drove (ok... I drove) to the nearest small town... actually didnt know where that town was, how far and even the name! It was 20.00 and the SUV's tank was quite low. I was worrying (my parents werent worried coz they couldnt see the tank reading) so I stopped right in the middle of no where (I SWEAR! NOTHING but just several farm houses) and asked for direction. Luckily, that little town was just another 20km ahead. I then speed through country roads (again, as usual, despite that gas tank was very low and unknown road condition ahead) and finally reached Logan Lake! It was probably the smallest town we've visited so far with just 1 gas station and 2 motels. We (firstly and most importantly) filled up the tank! and then settled down in one of the motels, had dinner there and zzzzzzzzzzzzz.................


This was probably the best Chinese style cooking by a non-Chinese chef. Quite tasty (just forget the rice)... CAD$13.95.

Day 14
Again road trip for today. Continue speeding on the Route 5 from Meritt, which then merged with Trans-Canadian Highway 1 at Hope. We had a piss stop there, then continued on 1 back to Vancouver. In order to save time + gas, I changed to local roads at 70km away from YVR. Route 10, then route 97 then 99. I missed the junction to the ferry terminal BUT this gave me something I didnt expect - NANDO'S!!! Oh god... I missed it so damn much!!!


Half chicken with two sides - fries and my favourite Nando's rice! - CAD$11.99

After Nando's, Tsawwassen was our next destination. This was just 10min away from Nando's, and was where the ferry terminal was. This ferry was to Swartz Bay, a big island on the west of Vancouver. The journey took just 1.5 hours roughly, but at a cost of CAD$87.05!! (4 people + car + fuel surcharge) There were signs asking drivers to park within 24 feet of the vehicle in front. This was what I got:


One word: SKILL!!!

My parents asked me to back up a bit before getting off the ferry (in case any accidential reverse by the car in front)... em... obviously they didnt know what bumper was for... haha

Anyway we drove to Victoria after got off the ferry. Not a long drive... just 20-30min and we started our motel/hotel hunt rightaway. An hour later (yes! typical time for motel/hotel hunt!) we settled down, pissed, got back to the SUV, and started sightseeing in Victoria. It was obviously a tourist place - BC Museum, BC Parliament building, tourist street... that's it!


Last shot of Victoria at night before heading back to hotel for sleep.

Day 15
Breakfast at McD.
First spot: Beacon Hill Park, which was also the starting point of the Trans-Canadian Highway 1.
Then back to the Royal BC Museum (didnt go inside... too expensive)
Lunch was at the harbourside - Canoe Pub


Brunch menu dish - Pancetta Benny - CAD$12.00

After lunch we started our way back to Vancouver. We took another route, that was route 1 to Departure Bay Terminal instead of Swartz Bay coz we wanted Horseshoe Bay for our destination in Vancouver. Took us 1 hr 40min to get to Departure Bay from Vancouver BUT the line was so long that we had to wait 3 hours for our ferry back! (we arrived at 16.05, ferry at 17.00 was full so we had no choice but took the 19.20 one) As a result we had dinner onboard and spent rest of time taking pics like this one below:-

Day 16
It was our last full day in Vancouver. In the morning after b'fast, we visited BC Place Museum, then spent two hours downtown before going south to Richmond. In Richmond, my parents went to have lunch at the Richmond Mall while I went to visit my friend there. 2 hours later, we continued south to Steveston (just a tiny fishing village) then back up to Granville Island for dinner... our last dinner @ Vancouver. And yes, at Bridges again!


We havent ordered much for main course coz we wanna try out the desert. This is fresh berries with cream and ice-cream! Very tasty! CAD$9.00


And this is probably the best lemonade on earth! CAD$3.25 (no free refills... damn!)

We headed to Gastown quickly after dinner for last-minute souvenir shopping then back to hotel in Richmond.

Day 17
Last day of our trip in Canada. Breakfast was in hotel (continential again!), then straight to Stanley Park for mainly souvenior shopping. We were supposed to have quick lunch in Gastown but time was running out after parking so we just headed to the airport straightaway. Car returned, GST refunded, checked-in, then had lunch at the airport.

Same as before, we were on the upper deck on B747-400 again, but this time with much more legroom!


As you can see, view from my seat on the upper deck. It was actually an emergency exit seat. Cabin crews were serving drinks and snacks at that moment.


Lunch onboard JAL flight 11 to Tokyo. It was beef with noodles and was not bad.

Arrived at Tokyo at 17.20 one day later. We then walked to another gate for our flight home. We were all virtually dead by that time due to seriously jetlag so didnt take much photos. Dinner on that flight wasnt good anyway. This marked the end of our 17-day trip to the N.America West Coast.