Vancouver has the title of being the most desirable city to live in, in the world. We'll see.
For me, as a budget traveller, it was desirable as there were many pizza shops offering slices for $1. These I am told are for the large population of homeless people that occupy the streets next to the down town area. They are drug addicts, the mentally ill and people down on their luck. It's quite an unexpected and sometimes shocking sight. Vancouver is the only city in Canada where it is possible to sleep on the streets all year round with out freezing to death. These poor people come from all over Canada for this reason. A few blocks east of downtown there are queues of people out side the pharmacies where they get their methadone prescriptions. Groups of ghost like people gather outside supervised injection sights. Walking through the area in daylight I felt in no danger, at night I was not so sure.
There is an interesting recycling system in Vancouver. No recycling bins are to be found on the streets. The homeless people are seen pushing shopping trolleys full of cans and bottles collected from bins, they take them to recycling centres and are given a small amount of money in return. A good idea maybe but hardly an ideal situation in this modern city. Will all this change before the 2010 Winter Olympic games?
If I'm painting a grim picture of the city the rest of Vancouver is most certainly not. It's just the contrast of rich and poor is very obvious. With the pretty harbour front, the huge trees in Stanley Park and the snow covered mountains beyond North Vancouver it is a very attractive city. The people of Vancouver that I spoke to claimed it's way superior to Toronto, I'd keep an open mind on that.
The road from Vancouver to the ski resort town of Whistler is called the Sea to Sky Highway. It does just that. I checked into my lodge accommodation in Whistler. Being right at the end of the winter season it had a kind of eerie quiet feeling about it, reminding me of the movie 'The Shining'. It wasn't Johnie I had to look out for though, it was the black bears that had just come out of hibernation and were wandering around looking for things to eat. Walking up the road to the lodge, armed with two shopping bags full of food, car drivers stopped to warn me of a bear on the road just ahead of me.
The two days of snowboarding I managed on Blackcomb Mountain were good fun. It was the end of May and warm and sunny making the snow quite soft and avalanches very likely. The best terrain was off limits for this reason. The downhill mountain bike season was well on it's way, it was a strange sight seeing skiers and snowboarders next to the bikers at the apres ski bars at the bottom of the mountain. Think I'd be happy living here with all this going on!
The silver train snaked it's way out of the suburbs of Vancouver on it's long journey across the continent. This was the last long overland journey of my trip round the world and would take me across Canada through the Rockies, the Prairies, the Canadian Shield of Ontario and on to Toronto. A distance of nearly 4500Km and 3 days on the train.
The train is made up of the original 1950's carriages with domed observation cars allowing amazing panoramic views. It was a little bit of luxury at the end of my travels. The train had 24 carriages making it more than a 1/2 mile long. Good for taking a stroll after the generous portions of food served in the restaurant car.
Past the towering Mount Robson (3900m), through endless pine forest, the occasional bear or moose at he side of the track. A day through the Rockies, a day of the flat expanse of the prairies, a day of the trees and lakes of Ontario. Passing through Kamloops, Jasper, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Sioux Lookout, Parry Sound. Eventually the Toronto skyline came into view dominated by the brightly lit CN tower. A very enjoyable and relaxing journey with top quality food and good company.
I've been to Toronto a few times now and there's always good reason to go back, my Aunt Sheena, Peter and my cousins Fiona, Gayle, Kerry and Lynn and now recent new arrival to the family, Rosalyn.
It has been said that Toronto is like New York but run by the Swiss. I think it has a bit more New York in it now and it's none the worse for it. It's a vibrant, cosmopolitan and very ethnically diverse. I liked it lots but there are no mountains nearby so the jury's out on whether it beats Vancouver. Wait a minute of course it beats Vancouver, I have family to stay with in Toronto and cousins to hang out with and to drink too many 'martinis' with.
Staying with my cousin Gayle at her house at Georgian bay on Lake Huron, trips to the museums and galleries of Toronto. Eating out at many good restaurants and maybe a drink or three at night.
Toronto Island is situated in Lake Ontario, a short ferry trip away from down town. It's the best place to view the city skyline particularly the CN Tower and the Sky Dome, now called the Rogers Centre, very imaginatively renamed after it's latest owner. It's a great place to come to on a sunny day with beaches and swimming, if the lake is not too polluted, and even a nudist beach. My cousins took me there for the day and trusted me to steer the quadracycle we hired to see the island. Wooded tracks and old wooden cottages and yachts and boats of the rich and wealthy.
After two weeks of being looked after exceptionally well, I was sad to leave Toronto, not just saying goodbye to everyone there but it was the end of this trip. The last journey to make my trip around the world complete. So no Daft Punk had got in my way, my trip had been a success beyond my imagination and left me with a good feeling about the world and all the people I had met. It is quite incredible that I have traveled through 14 countries in just over a year and not even had my bag searched once. Oh yeah, I forgot it did get searched once, when I first left Aberdeen!
My confidence grew as the trip progressed. Feeling more and more comfortable with my travels until it felt like second nature. The fear I'd experienced before I left and before I'd entered some of the countries I'd been to had been unfounded. Maybe the world is not as dangerous a place as it's made out to be (or maybe I've just been lucky). I have found that humanity persists where ever I have gone. People going about their daily lives as we do at home, in peace. There are not thieves ready to rob you at every street corner. Being aware of your surroundings is always a good idea though. Even as a backpacker I'm seen a a rich western tourist by the people of the poorer countries I have visited and this would make me an obvious target for scams and overcharging, but this is all part of the travel experience. I'm glad I didn't pay too much attention to the British Foreign Office warnings on travel to certain areas I've been to, I don't think I'd have left home if I had.
There is a lot of bad news and negativity generated by the press and our governments about the world. The British press sensationalizes the threat of terrorism and recent terrorist acts.
The British government, I believe, is responsible for creating a state of paranoia within the country to pass more and more draconian laws to control the population.
Get out there and see the world, if you can, and make your own mind up.... Watch this space for more adventures from around the world.
