Life Travels

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Most Wonderful Christmas

Maybe bcos i am not a christian, Christmas has always been just another holiday for me. I will stay at home with family, mahjong, logcakes and pizzas then that's all. The Orchard Road of Singapore will be packed with party-goers and somehow i think most of them are like me.. just in e holiday mood. For the past few years, I attended some Christmas Church services with friends and finally quite understand the meaning of Christmas but then again.. e festive mood doesnt resonate inside me. It is only when i am now here in a foreign land (where Christmas is indeed everything for them) for the longest period of time that i truely appreciate Christmas. It is this year that i had the most wonderful Christmas ironically. =p Reasons are as follow:

1) New Culture
Christmas is a very big thing for the North Americans. It is such a big thing that they decorated their streets extensively but then on e eve of Christmas and Christmas Day, they don’t come out at all! They stay at home with families (so sweet). It makes me miss home. I guess it is e equivalent to our Chinese New Year which maybe that’s why our Christmas holds less meaning?

2) Wonderful Company
I arrived at Vancouver British Columbia on 21 Dec. The plane was delayed and I arrived at 9pm instead of 7pm. Luckily I have friends to welcome me this time. Had Iranian dinner with my best friend Augustine and his friends and now my friends too – Kirk and Adam.

22 Dec was the day when I finally can have some rest from traveling. It is finally the day I don’t have to sleep with my mind open cos living in those backpacker hostels isn’t exactly safe. People can just steal your things. I didn’t go out the whole day and the slept for e whole day. Had a Korean dinner at Robson Street, Downtown Vancouver. Oh my god, I have to admit that Vancouver has a lot of good food. And looking at the Korean outlets they have and the authenticity of the yummilicious K-food can put Singapore to shame. Woo Ram, you must come here some day! After that I went to catch a movie (my virgin movie experience outside Singapore haha) called Blood Diamond. I think girls should watch this movie before they decide to make diamonds their best friend. Lolx

Me at Downtown Vancouver:














Korean Food with my favourite Kimchi:















23 Dec allowed me to go down and visit Simon Fraser University. Seen snow for the first time! Then I went to Metrotown for some shopping and Hot Pot (Huo3 Guo1) dinner. Then I went clubbing too. Vancouver is too boring in terms of the club scene.. Maybe cos it is Christmas and many went home but Augustine said it is usually this boring..

Snow! But it is just ice..

Me at Simon Fraser's. Scarf is made by my Sis-in-law Karen. Very comfy!



















Sunset at SFU (it's only like 4pm)














Sorry, i forgot e name of this lake














Lockers that i see in movies but not in NUS:


















Jinzhan inside an egg mirror:


















Terry Fox is from SFU!















Kwan on Sky Train:















Augustine abandoned me on 24 Dec and I am left to occupy myself. It is this time when my Angel of Hope cum JC classmate Ivy gave me a call and I went down to Seattle on Amtrack coach bus to meet her. The feeling is like the Amazing Race! I checked out the departure time (5pm) and I have one hour to pack and go. This turned out to be the best decision I have made so far for I had so much fun with my crazy Ivy and her friend Charles!! Haha..

Abandoned and alone to Seattle forcing a smile:















25 Dec was fun and exciting. In the morning, after Dim Sum breakfast, I made a trip to Mircrosoft. Charles works at Microsoft as a software engineer. My camera went out of batt and I have to wait for Ivy to send me e pics b4 I can post them. After that I went to Seattle’s Space Needle. Actually it was quite nothing much except I know that Seattle has 36 inches of rain by shaking my head as though I had estacy (people who have been here will know what I mean). Saw the Key Arena and unfortunately there was no NBA matches as it was closed due to X’mas. Went to Pike Place Fish Market but it is closed too. We took some nice pics. Oh we also went to see the first Starbucks. =p After that was dinner at Brasserie Margaux. No pics for now as i have to wait for Ivy to send me as my camera low batt =(

26 Dec is Boxing Day and it is e day with huge Sale!!! I didn’t know about this b4 though. People usually go to queue at stores as early as 7am. I saw splashes of words like “50% off!” “70% gone!” Haha. My plan is to be driven back to Vancouver. Went to Aberdeen Centre at Richmond and had Food Court food for lunch and it is super nice. For the first time I felt like I was in Asia (Hong Kong esp) as I didn’t see that many ang mohs. Dinner is at Guu – a famous Japanese restaurant. Ivy and Charles common friend Linda joined us and the company was great. Linda and Ivy stay at San Jose and I can probably visit them when I go down to San Francisco. =)

27 Dec started at 10.30am as Ivy cannot wake up in time I guess haha.. Had Tim Horton’s doughnuts for like breakfast then we went to Stanley Park.

Me and Ivy (it was freezing cold but we took off our jackets.. VAIN! haha)


















Lions Gate Bridge


















Thunderbirds at Stanley Park:



















Lunch is at Chinatown with Hong-Kong-style dishes. Tour around Chinatown after that and went to Dr Sun Yat Sen’s Garden. After that we went to Granville Island.

Gosu Photographer in action:
























Dinner is at Prima Taste where I have my Singaporean dishes after such a long time. My all-time favourite mee goreng, laksa fried rice, sweet and sour pork, roti prata.. yum yum..

Super full.. Sg food is still e best!


















28 Dec was a rather lazy day for me. Didn’t have such a good day as I quarreled with someone. Had Vietnamese lunch (cheapest meal I have had and e food was great!) along Main Street. Went to University of British Columbia for a visit. Beatrice, the place looks great! =p Dinner was at Feng Shang, a Taiwanese restaurant and the food was great too. The bubble tea here was also good. I ordered my favourite strawberry milk tea and e taste was e best I ever had. The cups were huge too. But of course more expensive la.

3) Been to so many places
(See above)

4) Great Food
(See above)

5) Happy News
To top it all off, I am very satisfied with my performance last semester. My CAP improved by 0.09 and I think that’s a lot! I hope I can still do e same when I return after my exchange. Super happie!! =p Thanks to all my friends, esp Junqi, Su Ling for e tips and advice! Xinhui (studied with me the most), Stella, Wan Jun and Cedric for studying with me this sem. Ok la, Jiehao too for just one day (he only had one paper..)

2007 is coming soon. i hope everyone enjoys great health and blissfulness. =p tata~

blabbered by Jinzhan at 5:43 AM |