Seaplane

A new visitor to Victoria like me never knows that the strip of water at its inner harbour is the airport for seaplanes.

It was the first time in my life (on October 15th) I saw a seaplane taking off from the sea. At about five o’clock, we were walking along Belleville Street. The throbbing sound of an engine attracted my attention . I crossed the road to the waterfront to track the sound so that I could locate where the seaplane was. It would be best for me to take a photo of one such seaplane home.

It was by luck that the plane was heading towards my direction and still sailing on the water surface. I believed that it had to reach the farthest point in the harbour to allow the waterway long enough for it to take off.

There are two seaplane companies in operations at the moment–
(1) West Coast Air and (2) Harbour Air.

The one in the photo was a West Coast Air seaplane which could carry 18 passengers to and from Vancouver each flight.

Victoria (3) – Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of British Columbia was officially unveiled by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1987. The crowned lion standing on the imperial crown incorporates Her Majesty’s Royal Crest.

British Columbia is the only sovereign jurisdiction to be granted use of the Royal Crest. To differentiate British Columbia’s Royal Crest from the original, it has been changed to include the crown lion wearing a collar of dogwood flowers.

Below the crown is a helmet – the heraldic symbol of sovereignty – that represents British Columbia’s provincial sovereignty in Canadian system.

The red and white mantling displays Canada’s official colours, which represents the British and the French.

The Union Jack flag with the centre crown symbolizes Canada’s colonial origins. The setting sun indicates that British Columbia is the western-most province and next to the Pacific Ocean which is represented by the blue stripes. The white stripes represent the snow on the Rocky Mountains.

On the left side, the elk represents the former Colony of Vancouver Island. The big horned mountain sheep on the right represents the former Colony of British Columbia.

The Latin motto at the bottom – “splendor sine occasu” – means “splendour without Diminishment” or “Beautiful British Columbia” .

Entwining the motto is another dogwood garland.

Victoria (2) – Inside Parliament House

Our speedy legs carried us to the Parliament House at Victoria because heavy rain started to pour down. It was the first wet experience at the capital of British Columbia. Not far from the door was a souvenir counter.

On the wall was a machine which would eject hand-cleansing liquid automatically when hands were placed near. Although Abby was short, she asked me to lift her up to the machine to get some of the liquid foam to rub on her little hands.

Abby was free to stroll about the halls. We had to keep an eye on her so that she would not get lost or break anything.















During our stay inside the Parliament House, a guided tour of about twenty tourists arrived. The guide was a young man, bald to some extent, introducing the history of the Parliament House and its exhibits. We stood among the tourists to listen to some of his descriptions of the Coat of Arms, symbols on stained glasses and processes in a Parliament House meeting. Abby was bold enough to stand beside the guide and, at one time, shook hands with him and introduced her name to this gentleman.

Knowing that we were leaving with two infants and a pram, the kind lady at the souvenir counter offered her help of taking us down the ground floor in a special lift.

That was a courtesy ride of a lift in the Parliament House of British Columbia. Our family was treated as VIPs. What a wonderful experience we had had!

Blindfold Elly?

No, I should rather say, pinkfolded Elly.

Today, Connie dressed Elly in a pink overcoat with a hood. It might be that the hood was too big for Elly, it covered her eyes, so she could not see anything when she was placed at her car-seat. There she was looking at a pink curtain before her. She did not protest at all. Perhaps she enjoyed the great fun of being pinkfolded.

My Collection of Beetle cars in Canada

Over the past five weeks, whenever I saw a beetle-looked Volkswagon in Vancouver or Richmond, I took a photo of it. I aimed at collecting these cars’ images in different colours. Most of the “Beetles” are motionless when I took their photos, either because they were parked in the streets I passed or they stopped before traffic lights. I was unable to catch the "red" beetle because it was moving towards me. The wrong shutter speed as well as focus caused a blurred image. It could satisfy me already.



















I am always fascinated by the modern stream-lined shape and colour of a “Beetle” Volkswagon. Unfortunately, it is a 2-door sedan which does not suit my family. The very old models had their engines at the back while the trunk is at the front. The front screens of the old ones are plane, but those of the new ones are curved.

The last "black and white" beetle is rare to see.

Creating Totem Poles

Next to the Public Market on Granville Island, Vancouver, was a workshop for Art students carving Totem poles. At first sight, they looked like mummies lying about. The wood was from tree trunks. I believed the carving tools were mainly hammers and different sizes of chisels and there should be some preview drawings of the totems before the wood was carved. The final work went to polishing and painting.

I just wondered how heavy a totem pole was when finished. What we can see here in the photos were only sections of a totem pole. These sections should be transported, erected and fixed together like ‘Lego’ pieces at designated spots for display.

Victoria (1)

Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, is located on Vancouver Island in the south-west of Vancouver.

We arrived there on Wednesday, October 14th by car and ferry to Swartz Bay and a 25 km drive to the city. The fare for the single journey of the one and half hour ferry went to around 100 Canadian dollars (50 something for the car, 40 something for 4 adult passengers, free for small children under 4).

The road to Victoria is straight. Strange enough, close to the city, I caught sight of some double-deckered buses which I did not see in Vancouver. The nearer was to the City , the more high rises of buildings we could see.

At first sight, the beautiful sign at the roadside revealed a birdcage-like design which reminded us that we were close to Parliament House. The Parliament House looked grant and historical. Its domes, big or small, appeared green, This suggested to me that they were made of copper, not of gold. We definitely liked its shelter on the first day of our visit to the city because heavy downpour of rain began to fall over our heads when we were near.

Aquabuses at Granville Island

There are two kinds of aquabuses at Granville Island. They shuttle about the False Creek at Vancouver. The larger ones can carry about thirty passengers while the smaller ones about fifteen. They serve mainly for sightseeing rather than crossing the Creek. The water at the Creek is usually calm except during windy days or the stirring of water by larger moving yachts or launches.

There are several aquabuses shuttling and they stop at altogether 8 boarding or landing sites, 4 on the shore of downtown and the rest on the side of Granville Island and its neighbourhood. The farthest point the aquabuses will reach is the Science World, shaped like a crystal ball.

Granville Island Public Market (3) - Lunch

Fast food shops centralized at one wing of the Public Market at Granville Island. We bought and shared among us a hot dog, two slices of pizzas, two tacos, a pork-chop burger and a bottle of coke.

Abby loved eating the black beans on the dish of tacos more than the pizza. I myself liked the tacos this time, but the vegetables around them were over-spicy. The pizzas, five dollars each, were up to standard. The pork burger was not juicy as expected. Anyhow it provided another taste of meat besides the sausage in the hot dog.










Outside was The False Creek. We could see a large number of launches, sail-boats and some yachts, parking neatly there. There were two road bridges flying over the creek to the opposite shore, Downtown, Vancouver.

My Aces in Vancouver

It was a meaningful Thanksgiving Eve to me and family in Vancouver yesterday. We were invited by Terry Lo and her husband, Edward Li, to their house to have a big dinner. Peter Au and family also joined us. Without Peter, I could never have met Terry and Edward because Peter had told them that my wife and I had arrived at Vancouver.

We reached Terry and Edward’s grand house at around seven in the evening. We were just a few paces behind Peter. Our host and hostess were at the door to greet us. After a brief introduction of my family members to Terry and Edward, I took the lead into the house.


Soon we sat at a round table filled with delicious food in the dining room. The centre of interest went to the big sliced turkey. The sushi, salad, spaghetti were equally attractive to us. I enjoyed drinking the “Sparkling Apple Juice” and the special “coffee” made by Edward. With happy hearts we took some photos together to mark this well-over-thirty year reunion.

It was a warm gathering as well as dinner among us. The images of old school days at CCSC flashed across our minds and during our chats, my daughter, son-in-law and my three “aces”, Terry, Edward and Peter, talked about their life in Vancouver.

After touring round the house to look at the function rooms and sitting-room, we ate some desserts of pudding and crisp biscuits. Our chats ended at about half past ten because it was quite late in the evening. We hoped to see one another again in the near future.

The Art of Stacking up

Some of he fruit store-keepers at Granville Island Public Market possess the art of stacking up their fruits. To stabilize the stacks, they need to make use of the geometric structure and form of a “pyramid”.

It is neat, tidy and beautiful to pile up fruits in this way. The problem is that the customers cannot select their fruits freely. They definitely can’t pick their favourite ones lower down the stacks, otherwise the whole structure will turn unstable and collapse. The fruits will run down and roll everywhere.

I guess the customers cannot select at all. What they do is to request for the quantity they want and the store-keepers will then place the fruits in plastic bags and weigh them. Money is paid. Trade is finished in this way.

At a Canadian Mc Donald

It was a sunny morning. Since it was still early before we went to church, we dropped in a nearby Mc Donald for breakfast.

We ordered a Happy Meal for Abby. Here I have two questions to ask you. You may guess the answers.

1. What was Abby eating out of?

A. jam
B. butter
C. cheese
D. nectar
E. salad dressing

2. What was Abby drinking out of?

A. milk
B. milk tea
C. coffee
D. ovaltine
E. chocolate

Fallen Apples

On September 26th, I chanced to see some apples lying near the pavement before me. The apples looked red and ripe but had a few bruises or holes. I wondered why they were there. Then I went on my way.

The other day when I passed the same place, I looked up and found a large tree with hanging apples. Well, I had never seen an apple tree before, but had heard of the story of an apple hitting Newton on the head. That hit inspired Newton about gravity.

The apple tree had a large crown of leaves and branches. It did not look pretty at all. The apples were not conspicuous to find. I managed to spot them out when I enlarged my photo.

The tree looked healthy and its apples were of good quality. I was sure if they were collected properly, they could be sold at a good price.

Granville Island Public Market (2)

Let’s take a close study of sausages at Granville Island Public Market.
Without the labels, the sausages displayed in the show-windows looked very much the same.

Here, I list out the sausages as follows:
[1] organic chicken
[2] butter chicken with East Indian Spices
[3] Rose Mary Lamb
[4] Syrian Lamb
[5] blueberry buffalo
[6] coconut chicken
[7] Chipolata pork (great for breakfast)
[8] Beer Bratwrust with chicken
[9] elk with cranberry
[10] apple pork (great for breakfast)
[11] Bristol Bangers
[12] fresh Kielbasa with garlic
[13] spicy Italian (for pasta, grill, BBQ
[14] Toulouse champagne (coarse pork)
[15] duck with orange

Mouth Exercises

Recently Elly exercises her mouth by contracting her lips to a small round hole (O咀). She also practises sticking her tongue out of her mouth.

Sometimes when we talk to her, she will look at us and utter “Ur, Ur,….” to start her own conversation with us. I wonder when she will first say “Papa” or “Mama” to her parents.

Watching the Moon on a distant land

We spent the Mid-autuman Festival this year in Canada, some eight to nine thousand miles away from Hong Kong.

The top photo shows the moon on October 3rd, 2009 at the riverside on Richmond. The left-hand side shows Vancouver International Airport. The orange dots on the right show the light of the streetlights along the road. The only white circular dot of light was the moon we were longing for that day.

At that time where we were standing was a grassy dam just a few feet above river water on one side and the road was again a few feet below on the other side. I wondered if the river water might overflow one day when the river flooded. That night, it was dark there and we worried that Abby would walk or drop into the water because the river water was just a few feet away. Since it was quite dark, a little chilled and no people were seen, we just walked for a while and kept standing and eating the mini-mooncakes we brought along.


A similar car like ours arrived and a family stepped out of it They had the same will of watching the moon and eating mooncakes there. Soon we left with our two missions finished and wondered how long they would stay there!

Granville Island Public Market (1)

Without crossing a bridge or through a tunnel, we arrived at Granville Island on Saturday, September 26.

Several months ago in Hong Kong, I saw Granville Island Public Market from a TV programme on travels The programme mainly introduced a meat-selling shop and a bakery. I was wondering if I could find them in a rush of an hour including eating and walking in between stores.











The market was simply inside a large factory-looked warehouse supported by wooden beams and wrapped up in scraps of metal. It was crowded with middle-aged or old people I thought it was not the place for youngsters.










The meat- shop was right before my eyes when I entered this market. It chiefly sold processed meat such as sausages, ham, bacon and meats of all kind – deer, duck, chicken, beef, pork….. Some of the names of meat were strange to me. The prices of meat were high. To me, the meat was for the eyes only, not for buying and tasting.This shop also sold pickled cucumber. I thought people like this sweet and sour appetizer to go with the meat.










Fruit such as strawberries, oranges, grapes and apples at higher prices and good qualities, flowers, vegetables, chilled fish fillets, bread, souvenirs were found in different corners of the market.











My wife and I bought 4 cobs of corn which were sold at C$1 for 2. We would like to see if they were really sweet. In Hong Kong we have eaten corn which was described as “Extra-sweet corn” (超甜粟).