Silent Night

The night is too long
The darkness and quietness are very drepressing
Insomnia with headache and fears
Going to washroom every hour
How many nights can I pass through?

Soledad

Darkness is occupying my space, loneliness is swallowing my soul
Headache is torturing my brain, insomnia is accompanying my mind

Friend's House

I saw wedding pictures in my friend’s house, wedding rings on their fingers.
I met a new friend there, her story is similar to mine but the ending is different.
She met a Japanese in Vancouver, she will marry him and leave Canada.
Beautiful ending doesn’t come to me. My finger doesn’t have a wedding ring.
My friend played a very touching song in the house, I’ve never heard it before.
By coincidence, it is from a Japanese animation directed by Studio Ghibli.
At that moment, tears almost dropped …

Shopping

The atmosphere of shopping centres was killing me. Couples were all around.
I feel I am the one being abandoned, I am the one being isolated.
Loneliness and fears are getting very strong. I feel very very cold in my heart.

Trip to BC Interior – 2013 (Part 7)

Now we were going to the last destination of the trip. Do you remember which park we would be going? It was Alice Lake Park.

Joseph asked the driver to stop and drop us off in the middle of the highway so that we could enjoy the scenic spot. Quite a few cars stopped by for the view also.

Finally we arrived at Alice Lake Park. It was a hot summer plus long weekend that many families came here to swim. I felt it was more like a beach than a park. Anyways behind me was Alice Lake.

In a hot summer day could still see mountain capped with glacier across the lake

Joseph brought up a vey good question: While so many come here to swim, how many will follow its trail to visit its dense forest?

What was so special about this forest? When one tree fell down automatically, another tree would grow on top of the dead tree. See the roots of alive tree are grabbing the body of laying tree. I think this was for nutrition purposes.

Oops … our group kept going while one of the tour members, a senior woman 婆婆, was still there to take pictures. I’d better wait for her so that she would not get lost (actually her son was waiting for her also but I didn’t know that). 婆婆 appreciated my kindness and asked my Chinese name, then she told me I need to practice Mandarin more since I couldn’t pronounce my name correctly. I felt a bit embarrassed.

When it was time for group picture, 婆婆 was concerned that I was blocked by the others so she grabbed my hand and pulled me forward. But picture was taken while she was pulling me so she said unhappily “NO, we were not ready yet!”

If my memory is correct, the leaves (in red circle) have a spicy taste which bears love to eat. So if a leaf is partially bitten, that means a bear has been to this area.

After we walked through the forest, we were on the other side of Alice Lake. Just like across, there were lots of people swimming there.

On the way back to Vancouver, we had a nice ocean and mountain view again. The ocean is called Howe Sound 豪灣 and I think the mountains are in Sunshine Coast 陽光海岸.

I hope everyone will cherish the nature. I hope someone will cherish my love.

Trip to BC Interior – 2013 (Part 6)

I was very glad that we could take lunch at Whistler although it only lasted for an hour. I haven’t been to Whistler for more than 18 years. I hereby express my appreciation to my roommate Jenny and another lady Tracy since they reserved a table for me while I was in the line to buy meal.

Here’s the map of places I visited:
June 29 Vancouver  à Shannon Falls Park (to visit the washroom only) à Nairn Falls Park (planes crashed) à Pemberton à Joffre Lakes Park (doggie swimmer found) à Seton Lake à Lillooet
June 30 Lillooet à Duffey Lake Park à Whistler (quick lunch) à Brandywind Falls Park à Alice Lake Park à Vancouver

After quick lunch in Whistler, we visited Brandywind Falls Park. We found this red mushroom near the entrance.
What would you think of by looking at the mushroom?
I think of Super Mario.

I would love to tell you something about the First Nations but I don’t have any depth knowledge about them. If you are interested in learning more about the Squamish and Lil’wat Nations, please click on the 6 pictures above.

River in Brandywind Falls Park

Joseph was telling us how these irregular shaped rocks were formed. It’s memory testing time again. If I’m not wrong, these rocks were magmas 岩漿 coming out from eruption of a volcano million years ago. When the weather was extremely cold, the magmas became frozen and turned into rocks?

Information of Brandywine Falls - this spectacular 70 metre waterfall is best seen from the viewpoint which also presents some marvelous views of Daisy Lake and the surrounding mountains.

I guess this is the view of Daisy Lake and the surrounding mountains.

Me and the spectacular Brandywine Falls! It was still very hot by the waterfall since the sun was very strong.

What do you see in this picture?

I saw rainbow by the waterfall … it was a double rainbow! Very Amazing! I hope there is a rainbow in my heart.

Trip to BC Interior – 2013 (Part 5)

Around 9:00 am, we left Lillooet to Duffey Lake. The view was incredibly beautiful while we were travelling on the bus – clear blue sky, green forest and glacier-covered peak.

Finally we arrived at Duffey Lake, the most attractive scenery of the whole trip!

Everything is simple, wild and natural – but very impressive!

Not only should we protect the native environment, but also the languages and cultures of the First Nations.

Although the First Nations do hunting, fishing and harvesting, they leave the forested area mostly untouched. It is still a beautiful land of mountains and glaciers, fertile valleys, alpine meadows, clear streams and lakes.

More photos of picturesque Duffey Lake

The breathtaking views continued on the highway after we left Duffey Lake. This was like heaven on the earth "人間天堂".

Trip to BC Interior – 2013 (Part 4)

Around 5:30 pm, we arrived at Lillooet. The motel “Mile 0” where we would stay overnight still had vacancy.

After motel check-in, we went to a Greek restaurant called “Dina’s Place” for dinner. I ordered spaghetti and toast instead of the real Greek cuisine. My Taiwanese roommate said it was crazily hot that we could hardly enjoy the meal. She was a visitor from Taiwan and was told that summer in Vancouver is not too hot, but somehow that particular long weekend (June 29 – July 1) had a record breaking hot weather. We were sitting inside the restaurant, probably it would be better if we could sit on the patio.

After one and a half hour, we returned to the motel and there was no more vacancy!

The motel room was quite large with 1 single bed and 2 queen beds for me and my roommate. Her queen bed was even in a separate room which allowed both of us some privacy. Since we stayed at a corner unit, we had a street view.

The bathroom was not bad except the quality of soap and shampoo were a bit below the standard. Now I think it is better to bring our own soap (or shower gel) and shampoo, which is also more environmental friendly. Otherwise the unused portion of motel soap or shampoo will be thrown away.

One thing I was a bit concerned about was bedbug. Fortunately the guest room was clean and no bedbug was found. Lillooet is supposed to be very quiet at night since there are not many residents around but I could hear people talking loudly until passed midnight.

Next day (June 30), everybody was gathered in front of the motel before 8:00 am. It was very refreshing and energetic to walk uphill in the early morning on a sunny day …

Why did we see cactus? Because Lillooet has a very dry climate with lots of sunshine. I’m not sure if I heard or remembered it correctly … there is not much rain in Lillooet as precipitation becomes less once we pass Whistler. Due to the fact that Whistler Mountain (6000 feet above sea level?) blocks the precipitation from the sea to the inland.

See how beautiful the morning was under the sunlight. At that moment, I had a wish … will someone sit with me on the bench, hold my hand gently and say “I will always be with you”?

Here is the view that could be seen from the bench

Finally I reached the top of the hill

Miyazaki Heritage House, often called the most beautiful home in Lillooet , reflects the architecture of the 1890's era when it was built.

It was originally named Longford House, built for merchant and civil servant Caspar Phair and his family. It was designed in the same style as Phair's wife’s ancestral home, Eyrecourt Castle in Ireland.

Why did it become Miyazaki House?

During WWII, Japanese and Canadians of Japanese ancestry were relocated to BC interior. Along with 250 other Canadian Japanese, Dr. Masajiro Miyazaki was sent to Bridge River (now South Shalalth). In 1944 when the Lillooet’s only doctor died, Artie Phair (son of Caspar Phair ) requested B.C. Security Commission to allow Dr. Miyazaki to take the position in Lillooet. The request was accepted and Phair who was living at Longford House by himself, invited Dr. Miyazaki and his family to move into the ground floor of the house and set up an office.

After WWII, Dr. Miyazaki and some other Japanese families chose to stay in Lillooet. In 1947, Dr. Miyazaki became the legal owner of Longford House when Phair moved out.

We just went to the backyard, walked around outside of the house and discovered poppies 罌粟花.

See … Lillooet is surrounded by mountains

Passed by Dina’s Place again … if I had a chance, I would like to have another meal on its lovely patio.

No surprise to see Chinese displays in Lillooet Museum since Chinese came to Lillooet for Gold Rush (淘金潮) in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.

There are still some Chinese rock piles found in Lillooet. During Gold Rush, Chinese washed the sand and gravel from the rocks to prospect for gold, they neatly piled the washed rocks in rows up to 12 feet high.

Still not to forget that First Nations 原住民 were the first groups to live on this land. There is always a rumour that they were from Mongolia more than 10,000 years ago when a land bridge was formed during ice ages to connect Siberia and Alaska. I’m not sure if Lillooet = Lil’wat? But for sure there is the Lil’wat Nation within the St'at'imc group and they are considered the Interior Salish people. Their language is called Ucwalmícwts.

The basement of Lillooet Museum is full of Margaret Ma Murray collections. Maybe she was a very famous newspaper editor and publisher.

Which part of the world am I from? I pinned Hong Kong even though now I’m Canadian citizen. Now we got 3 from Hong Kong including me!

pin pin pin pin pin … so many from Europe