| Disclaimer: I am never sure if people really read these types of update posts.. simply because it's so long... and who really gives about the details of your life anyway? But... if you've read it, I'd appreciate a comment or a message, or an email... or facebook comment etc. Show me some love!? :) Day 1 - 3 I guess I better blog now or I will forget all the ups and downs and hows and whys... Day 0: Packing, tying up lose ends, meaomeao procrastinates... didn't get home till 8 pm... packed allllll night, slept from 3 - 5 am, woke up packed, taxi came at 7 am, left the house with 4 suitcases.... I know I'll still be missing something. I packed everything from work clothes to casual clothes, to techy gear (webcam, laptop), to kitchenware, to my bottle of lobster oil from the cannery (yup, I packed it.. if I have to survive on bread alone, I will survive with style!! haha), to my trusted magic bullet, to instant noodles, to books and tapes I'll be entertained with... just a bit of everything.... yet I'm afraid I might still have forgotten something. Packed my bible and devotional book! :) Day 1: Flight to TO was alright, webchecked in with very good seats on West Jet - second row! Don't have to climb all the way to the back (for my family). Got on the plane, sat beside a VIP... that's what it said on his tag! Little boy (removed name to protect the innocent, and me from being sued!)... 10 years old, super courteous, travels between YVR and YYZ a lot... almost a pro! On my right, a charming East Indian girl from Australia, who has her CA and works as an accountant for a bank in Aussie land. She had just finished a weeklong wedding celebration, and was traveling to TO, Montreal, Ottawa etc then flying to Honolulu before she heads home. I don't remember the first part of the flight because I was PRETTY tired... I zonked out within the first 15 mins no matter how hard I tried to stay awake...to be polite. >___< But I guess the good thing was the girl was pretty tired from partying the night before... haha As for the little boy, he was completely absorbed by the personalized TV... and the movie which I later on found out he had made a deal for.... (basically he said to the girl next to me - did you want to make a deal? you swipe your card along this slit next to the TV, and I'll give you cash....haha pretty sweet). So when I finally woke up.... the girl and I chatted a bit about her life and work, and of course we were all watching MTV together and they were showing Britney Spears.... and talked about how someone was selling her hair on eBay.... and I said I was at work that day when that happened!! yup yup yup.... I really enjoyed my conversation with the girl cuz we talked about threading, and she told me about her Vancouver adventures, a side of the vancouver life that I didn't know before. And we were also talking about wines... and how disgusted we were with girls that slam cocktails and think they're cool. First of all, wine is meant to be sipped and enjoyed (unless you already know what it tastes like), and cocktails really doesn't do to the job... so if you have a goal in mind, do it right (which I won't share here due to PG 13 audience) *wink*. Of course we also talked about shopping... H&M, Zara, Banana Republic... I was so shocked that there wasn't even a GAP in the town/city that she is from! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adelaide When we landed the plane, we both realized that Toronto is really quite flat compared to Vancouver. No mountains... !! And the little boy, as gentleman as he is said: "yes, this is it.... Welcome to Toronto!" Since neither of us have been to Toronto before. We were pleasantly charmed by this young man, and I'm sure there will be many ladies swooning at his presence in his days to come.... To the apartment.... I thought that I would be receiving a company car; however, I quickly realized that this was not happening, and somehow there must have been a miscommunication because nothing was registered with the prearranged rides counter. So the big girl takes her flock of 2 family members with 6 pieces of fairly large luggage and a handful of carryons and treks towards the taxi line. I asked for a Taxi-van to accommodate our needs, and when one of the vans did come, he said that we have too much luggage and need two cars. I thought to myself: 1) It's not my fault that you have a baby seat taking up space; 2) if I came in a van and fitted all our stuff, I expect to be able to leave the airport with a van and fit everything... pretty simple logic there. So I smiled sweetly and said, please don't worry about it and help the next customer in line. After talking to the attendance, we hailed another Taxi-van and the little old man, meek but determined.. came to help us. I was afraid our luggage was going to break his back.. and was trying to help him...! (Hey, Miss meaomeao didn't go to the gym for nothing and was able to lift all 6 luggage from the convator belt!) But he was just so smart about everything... the weight he used, the fitting of the luggage... it was so smooth! Too smooth....? After we got on the taxi, my flag of suspicion went up and my horror stories and experiences from sitting in non registered vehicles sent a chill down my spine. (I have 2 stories of sitting in unregistered vehicles: one in Shen Zhen, the other in Singapore). My suspision was triggered by the miscommunication of my mom and my grandfather saying they couldn't see a taxi meter... which I quickly asked the driver for the cost of the ride, and he was able to give me a GTTA price guideline. So I figured even if he was not legit, at least it's not going to be too bad... and maybe he's just a little old man that was trying to earn a few bucks. Oh well. As long as I can claim it. When we arrived to the apartment, he unloaded everything and to my relief I DID see a meter and since he did such a good job in helping me to move the luggage I tipped him $10. He was overjoyed.... :) warms my heart. The intercom at the apartment had my name on it.... and I rang to find Lisa... my property manager/ landlord, whom I have been corresponding with for a few weeks back and forth. She looked a bit frazzled and shared with me that there have been some arrangement changes.. and since my apartment was not ready, she was going to put us up in a larger apartment for a few days (until Tues). So apparently the cleaning lady didn't fix up the place well enough, and so we had to wait till after the long weekend. Which was actually ok for the first few days, with the extra luggage and the people etc. But I did take a peak at the actual place, and it's basically a fair sized living room, with full bath and kitchen and some storage space. I would say it's the size of mango's living room without the dining, hallway, stairs, kitchen area. And that would be the sofa, the TV, the little dining table etc. Everything. It was quaint, I like it. Although the fact that the room is towards the back of the building kinda scares me.... but hey, I gotta grow up right? And I learned this somewhere, we should have the confidence that God is SO powerful and SO awesome that if the Holy Spirit is in us, there really should be no fear of Satan or evil spirits. Because they are in turn so scared by even Christ's name that they should be the ones fleeing, not His children. So I learned that my faith needs to be big and strong... and know that God is WAY more than powerful to protect me and fend off anything evil (that's not to be confused with being cocky or ignorant about the evil powers). So we settled into the new place.. rested and showered... and then made our way to St. Clair and Yonge to look for food. The first night there, we were pretty cautious... not knowing where we were going etc. We found this Japanese restaurant and we went into it knowing there is... RICE! For my grandfather and often when I travel with older people, they need familiarity and things of comfort. E.g. rice, asian foods, asian people etc. It was fake Japanese food that really didn't compare to Vancouver (no sashimi, just rice and unagi and miso soup etc). But it did the job.. and we went home. That night... I slept at 12 am EST... and woke up at 2 pm EST the next day... 14 hours! I have been lacking THAT much sleep. Day 2: Venturing out to the new city for me meant TTC (i.e. skytrain/ MTR) and walking.... venturing to my grandfather means... we better rent a car. And so going through my EZ Echo GEM guide, I found the rental info etc and even texted message GEM customer suppport weekend online contact Echo Ho. But during my research of an occasional usage vehicle vs. a traditional rental vehicle (with company rates), I went with my company rate.... and after calling etc finally confirmed my vehicle by 4:30 pm EST. I really didn't know where I was, but I figured the Yonge and Bloor station seemed close enough, so I darted out the house, while catching a glimpse of my friend messaging me.... I called back not to be rude and told him where I was going. He might as well picked up the phone with : I'm Tank, I'll be your operator." because from there onwards, that's pretty much all his main function has been! My GPS (Gummi positioning system) in the big T-dot. We quickly established this relationship and he gave me directions of how to find my closest TTC station (cross the street cross the street!! SOUTH SIDE... south!!!! yes.... THAT SOUTH!.. you're west right now, nono... that's east bound... come back!!!), how to buy the tokens (yeah, I didn't put the ones that came with the EZ echo kit in my purse, but I have done so since then). and found the right trian to take to approach my stop... which was actually 4 train stops from where i was... definitely NOT walking distance as I had thought.... stepping off the train I ran to AVIS... 5:01 pm... they were suppose to close at 5 pm. I turned on my charm, smiled and made my case. They told me that Tank had called and advised them that I was arriving... So I got the car, no problem... ordered a mid size but they gave me a compact for the night, and I was to return for a mid size the next morning. Driving back to the apartment was a breeze... as long as I had Tank connected on the line.. haha! Amazing landmarks that I had spelled out, which were very important in my road recognition later on... a long Bloor St, there are 2 H&Ms, Holt Refrew, Ashley, The Bay, Pottery Barn Kids, and a church with a funky building that marked my homebound Street... Avenue Road. After receiving my family into the new vehicle we explored the city... first by grocery shopping (fruits and vegetables which they know gives them comfort) and we saw real people! haha it's been a long weekend, and downtown has been surprisingly quiet. At Loblaws and every Loblaws that I see, you can be sure that I will remember Jason Mak. Yup... you gotta ask him why. Anyway.... from there I asked them where I can I can find decent asian food... and this somewhat friends store clerk pointed me to Chinatown... past Spadina she said. Good dumplings! So off we went, Spadina..... past Casa Loma (which was introduced to me on the EZ Echo guide). Circled around for a bit... and saw Chinese people... in Chinatown!!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinatown,_Toronto The first Toronto Chinatown I saw was pretty big... very much like the LA and/or SFO Chinatown. Very traditional looking Chinese.... of long ancestral descent. Where as many Vancouver Chinese people are really quite westernized/ mixed... and doesn't have the traditional features anymore. The TO Chinatown is about 8 times as big as the Vancouver Chinatown.... comes complete with loud screeming, wet streets and cheap merchandize that you don't know if you really want to buy.... But I found a decent/ half safe parking lot and took my family out to find food... We found this greasy dumpling place that was absolutely packed! And hung pictures of the owner with Jack Layton and Olivia (his wife), and with Adrienne Clarkson, and other stars and celebs that Mango and Gummi will understand why I don't know their names. It was ok. Food is still not as good as Vancouver. We ordered potstickers and dumplings and seafood... so oily.... With our stomachs full, we went to venture around the city... we easily found the CN tower, the rogers center and the air canada center, the harbourside (Queen's Quay), the shoppers drug mart, drove on Bay, Yonge and finally on Avenue and got home safely. Finding street parking was a headache... since there is no meter parking around my area; there is street parking but I have to move the car at 7 am they said. So I set my alarm. Tank called me after his wedding reception and took me out to see more of the city..... I found Morton's! The CNE is gorgeous! Drove across what I realized to be Lake Ontario... no long just something on the map, but I'm actually crossing it... he downloaded the programs of Toronto basic into my head... and showed me all the club zones.... there were just so many clubbers, there were kinda hard to miss. We finally settled on Spadina again where we found a vietnamese Pho place with bubbletea. Bubbletea in Vancouver is better; but it's all about the experience. :) After chatting and getting out of that place before the gang fights broke out (my literal words to Tank as we left), I finally retired at home and slept at 3 am EST (which was only 12 am in YVR!!) Day 3: Adventure continued at 6:30 am.... when I had to dash out to find parking space..... I drove around, but really there were restriction signs eveywhere... until I lurked by a parking attendance. In my sleepyness I had a brilliant idea. I stalked the parking attendent.... hoping that he can give me directions. I literally followed him for a few blocks as he kept making turns... I think he realized this a finally stopped. As I drove up, a worried looking man rolled down his window is discomfort... only to be greeted by a smiling confused Vancouverite asking him about the parking policy at 7 am!!!! He told me that it's a holiday so none of the Monday to Friday signs applied. As for meter parking, I really was looking at a 5 mins walk even for the closest meter stop. I'll deal with that when I need to, I thought to myself, but today, I'm going back to my parking spot and going back to sleep! hahhahaha I got my family... and went back to the Bay Center to exchange for a mid size car. So from the Chevy Cobalt I now drive a redish Dodge Caliber. At first we were thinking of going to Niagara falls, however, I was looking through my EZ echo kit for sightseeing info and figured that we really couldn't do much given the time and the holiday and how packed things are until tomorrow, so .... we went in search of familiarity again.... and did a whirlwind tour of all the Chinese shopping malls!! Tank gave me great directions to Richmond Hill (yes, I went to Richmond!!) and there along Highway 7, we pulled into the first Chinese mall.... having Dim Sum at Dun Huang. The decor was quite impressive.. however, the food.... Vancouver is better for Dum Sum. But perhaps I just don't know where to go... I'm sure this will change as the days go by? When I said whirlwind tour, I really meant it. For Day 3, we visited about a DOZEN Chinese malls... all along Highway 7, then down Kennedy road. We were especially impressed by the Pacific Mall. http://www.geocities.com/cplarosa/toronto/malls.htm That's where I found my electricity free pot for $80, and for another $30 I got a electric hotpot with korean bbq. There are two swtiches, if I want to use the grill, I just use the grill, or else I can use the hotpot. Or, I can use both!!! Perfect for my colder house warming days! I needed to pay tax for both items... and together, the two items came to $130 after tax and a discount! I am so SEE LAAI! But modern See Laai! :) To top off my See Laai-ness, I went grocery shopping by myself and bought Chinese food!! Rice..... noodles... frozen dumplings and udon! Tofu.... cooking oil..... I'm a big girl now. Gooo Crisco with the least transfat! We stopped at Tea Shop 168 - which you have probably seen on Chinese TV.. advedtising for franchize opportunities. The turnover is amazing... in 1 hour, more than 100 people came by.... but the service was unacceptable... took us a long time to get our stuff.. and if was too sweet. Again, bbt in Vancouver is better. I was so ticked off that I didn't tip them; they had enough business going as is.... I was pretty proud of myself that I was able to drive on the infamous hwy 401 (tons of accidents and traffic jams in the winter) and got home safely. Took a nap and we were going to go to Queen's Quay again... I WAS hoping for the sunset, but I guess we slept through that.. and we saw the night view instead. Finally settling into a Thai restaurant (gotta find rice for them!) And so far, that's pretty much it..... I feel like I'm still living in survival mode and not enjoyment mode. I think after my family leaves, that's when life will really begin for me in TO. Overall: - food in Vancouver is better (all types)
- TO people aren't as unfriendly as I have been told
- It hasn't been as muggy as I thought
- Playing Tank and TnT (Trinity in training) has been fun
- BIG credits to Dylan for making all the connections
- EZ Echo GEM for making my stay at ease, I actually found the guide and map REALLY useful... I felt so loved.... really I did... thank you!
- Fond memories of all my friends.... and especially those that have been emailing/ msning me to provide moral support... :)
... more to come... |
