Bears

When we went to Lake Johnson in Banff National Park, my brother and I decided to go on a hike. The trail was approximately three kilometers, probably an hour walk (on a leisurely pace) around the lake.

About 15 minutes in the trail, I asked:

"What if we see a bear?"

There was silence for a few seconds. Then this conversation:

"Umm... All I know is that we shouldn't run." my brother said.
"Should we play dead?" I asked.
"I don't think that's a good idea." He replied.

Good thing we didn't run into one.

An almost adventure in the Canadian Rockies

As early as February, my mom already had us booked on our Radium Hot Springs, BC trip. She had googled it and she even asked around for the possible activities and other worthy sites around that area - one of which was Lussier Hot Springs.

From the village center of Radium, we drove for about an hour to get to the Lussier Hot Springs - which, according to reports, was an undeveloped pool of hot water. It was so undeveloped that the road that leads to it was called "unknown" by the GPS.

So from the highway we drove into the unknown: a seven kilometer stretch of two way rough road. From the unknown, we turned right to what I would call "nowhere": a single lane of even rougher road that leads to somewhere I'm sure. It was safe to say that at that point, we had no idea where we are and where we are going.

A few hundred meters into "nowhere", surrounded by trees and the fear of possible wild-life encounter, we decided to turn back. This family, so used to the concrete jungle was definitely not ready for the deep woods.

Heritage Park, Calgary

To Celebrate Canada Day, we decided to explore Heritage Park - Canada's Largest Living History Museum.

It was lovely. I've always enjoyed museums so I really enjoyed this one. There are lots of exhibits to see and many activities to do.

We rode the SS Moyie...
And the Canada Pacific Steam Train...
Unfortunately we were only there for 3 hours and it wasn't enough. While we went around the park during the train-ride, we weren't able to go inside all the historic buildings, weren't able to go on all the rides, weren't able to shop in the novelty stores... although I think my husband will appreciate that last part.

For sure, we will go back. And you will see more pictures.
And I will shop... for hubby's presents... and a little for me too, of course.

Barrio Fiesta, Calgary

So my Canadian friends and I thought about checking out this Filipino restaurant that allegedly played Latin music. They were all into salsa and I was just craving sisig. As we entered the restaurant I was appalled. They had red lights. The fear that a stripper will go out on stage started to creep in.

“So you feel at home?” one of my friends asked.
“Hell no.” was what I wanted to say. But I just laughed in an ‘are-you-kidding-me’ sort of way.

Seriously, if I was in the Philippines I would never in a million years go to a place like that. It’s putting all restaurants in the Philippines in a bad light – red, in particular. Considering the vast diversity in the Filipino art and culture, I feel sad that this restaurant had to choose ‘modern-day-strip-club-near-the-airport’ as its inspiration.

On the upside, the band was fantastic, the staff was super friendly and the food was great. The best part for me was the fact that they serve Red Horse Beer. After 3 bottles, I didn’t mind the red lights.

The C-Train

i don't know why, but my sister and i always enjoyed riding trains. in the philippines, we rode the new mrt from quiapo to cubao and then the old mrt from cubao to ayala, just for fun. and we even planned to ride the really old north rail transit from tutuban to... ummm... wherever it leads.

but then, we're in canada now. (plus the fact that i'm not really sure if the north rail transit actually operates for real live passengers) so our new dream is to ride it's transcontinental railway, the Canadian Pacific Railway.

some say that it's expensive. i visited it's site and i think they're mainly for freight now. so since we can't do that in the near future, we decided to ride the C-Train instead.

the C-train is the local LRT here in calgary. it's the train i ride everyday to work. anyway, since we've only rode it from our place to downtown, we decided to ride it from end to end: somerset to dalhousie, city center to mcknight.

the ride to dalhousie took about 1 hour and 21 stops. we got off and walked a little bit. mejo nahilo ako dun eh. we were supposed to wait for another train, para maiba naman, but the train we rode took so much time to leave, so dun nalang din kami sumakay, we just got in another car.

anyway, for the trip to mcknight, we had to transfer to another train. kaso, halfway along, we felt tired na. faye was hungry, i was dizzy and i needed to pee. so we decided to head back. next time nalang.

total: we rode the train for about 2 hours and went through 53 stops. nakakapagod din pala.

however, tiring it may be, the sites we saw were amazing! we took as much pictures as we could, but no amount of pictures can give justice to all the places and things that we've seen.

tracks of the canadian pacific railway

the mall where i work
i just walk from the train station, towards that mall

39th ave. station

erlton stampede station

on cemetery tunnel
creepy coz yung taas ng tunnel is an actual cemetery

downtown

view from the dalhousie station

the calgary tower

notice the mountains
sayang, snowcapped dapat sila eh. it must be the lighting, or cloudy lang siguro.

Calgary Stampede Parade

it's time to get all westerned up! calgary stampede is here!
unlike the "ultra stampede", nobody dies in this one.
and it's actually a happy occasion!
they call it the greatest outdoor show on earth.
with the rodeo, carnivals, concerts etc.

so on the start of the stampede: july 4th,
there's a parade downtown.
it's a good thing it was my scheduled off day.
si faye naman, nag-absent talaga.

so we took a train, and dun palang, dami ng tao.
they were all in their cowboy hats and western attire.
i know, we might consider it baduy,
but they all look so happy getting "westerned up" na parang nakakahawa ang energy nila. gusto ko na tuloy mag cowboy boots.

syempre we saw a number of marching bands:


cute vintage cars and weird vehicles:


first nations people (what we know as native indians like pocahontas):


and of course: lots of horses and cowboys:


because there's a lot of horses participating in the parade, we can't avoid the presence of horse poop in the streets.
in fact, isa sa mga inaabangan namin ay kung sino sa mga marching band ang mamalasin na makaapak ng tae.
kasi diba, their in a line so parang ang hirap umiwas. plus, if they're playing an instrument, mas mahirap mag pay attention sa nilalakaran.
but in fairness, onti lang sa kanila ang minalas.
hmmm... mukang alert ang karamihan sa kanila.

here's the sweepers cleaning up the poop

but ang pinakanabilib ako is with the army as seen in this video:

ang galing no?

anyway, the parade lasted for almost 4 hours.
well, di naman sila as in sunod sunod like the parades in the philippines.
may mga interval between entries and floats so you appreciate each of them.

and it wasn't that crowded.
not like in manila na nararamdaman mo na yung hininga ng nasa likod mo sa sobrang siksikan. here, everyone maintains a reasonable distance. plus it wasn't that warm, kaya presko parin. walang bumaho sa crowd. ehehehe...

Filipino Store

maraming pinoy dito sa calgary. AS IN.
everywhere you go, may pinoy.
di pa ko nakakasakay ng bus na wala akong nakakasabay na pinoy.
and sa foodcourt, sa department store, sa grocery...
well, nagkalat tayo.

and as expected, meron din ditong filipino store.
actually, dalawa pa nga eh, one sa south and another sa north.
yung pinuntahan namin is sa south, mas malapit eh.

anyway, you have everything filipino there:
knorr chicken sopas,
lucky me pancit canton,
mang tomas,
bagoong balayan,
sunsilk,
eskinol,
curly tops,
flat tops,
chocolate mallows,
chocnut,
chippy,
clover chips,
turones, etc...
oh! and goldilocks cakes and mamon!

and may mga posters and ad na everything pinoy.
it's like a pinoy headquarters.
they have ads for homes for sale and for rent na filipino yung landlord.
tas may mga job ads din.
may mga announcement ng pinoy radio and tv. (yes merong pinoy radio station pero weekends lang.)
and mga concerts ni basil valdez, zsa zsa padilla, gary v... atbp.

eto sample: parokya in calgary

at saka pala pwede ka rin magpadala ng package to the philippines.
pati narin pera.
ehehehe....

so mejo natuwa talaga kami sa place na yun.
we bought mang tomas, sangkatutak na lucky-me instant noodles, chippy at v-cut.
at si mommy, di pinalagpas ang eskinol.

right:Philippines, left: Calgary

Downtown (Mis)Adventure

On our second day, we went to downtown right? Took a bus, then a train...

Downtown was like Calgary's Makati Business District. And 7th Avenue was it's Ayala Avenue. Yun nga lang, instead na walkway, may free train ride all along the 7th Ave.

Anyway, maganda naman.

We got our Social Security First. It was fairly easy. As usual, maraming pinoy. Parang isang group ata ng mga OFW yun.

We finished mga 11 na. at nahihilo na kami sa gutom dahil maaga kami nagbreakfast. So we walked to find a nice fast food resto. siguro naka 3 blocks na kami pero wala parin kaming nakikita. puro fine dining. and since 2nd day palang kami sa canada, we didn't want to splurge. so tipid muna.

We entered Chinatown mall. hmmm... icky sya. as in parang lumang viramall. di ko inexpect...

the chinatown mall at a distance

So lakad na naman... We were getting bugnutin na, tas si mommy ang bilis pang maglakad. Para syang energyzer bunny. lakad lang ng lakad...

Then we saw this diner. mejo shabby looking. pero sige na nga. mahihimatay na ko sa gutom eh. So nagorder na si mommy. mukang mura lang eh. less than $4 a meal. So we looked for a spot and there i realized, shet, nakakatakot sya ha. it was poorly lit and the walls are stained with i don't know what. imagine, the first stage of diner-dash, in real life. and though i didn't see any people, feeling ko somewhere behind it, may naka-higa na homeless person. and si mommy na CR person, di man lang nagattempt maghanap ng CR.
as in seryoso, mas malinis pa kumain sa mga karinderya along kalayaan. at least dun alam mo na kahit papano, winawalisan yun araw-araw. eh ito, mukang may areas na di na napupuntahan ng tao.

it was too late to backout now. so we settled by the door kung saan naiilawan ng natural daylight. and hope na walang riot na mangyari sa loob.
we totally stood out sa place na yun. family, tas ang ayos ng suot, malinis... buti nalang 2 aussies na mukang turista also walked in. so di kami totally alone sa loob.

Anyway, dumating yung food and it looked good. super laki ng burger. and ang daming fries on the side. but syempre, yung fries lasang pinirito sa lumang oil. tipong yung oil na bago 3 days ago. actually, kung sa malinis na restaurant yun, pwede pa sya. kaso, sobrang dumi dun who knows kung anong nangyayari sa oil during the night.
But the burger was pwede na. i was super gutom na di ko nalang inisip kung san galing yun at kung anong processo sya nanggaling before. i imagined burgoo...

The day after, we shared our adventure kina ate josie and kuya bong. Sabi nya, tambayan daw yun ng mga homeless and don't we dare go into that place again.

daddy enjoying downtown