VANCOUVER ISLAND and TOFINO !!!

(A double-post day; be sure to read the previous post 'Whistler/Vancouver below this post)

Whew! So, we made it to the ferry! We slept a bit in the car waiting to board the ferry and perked ourselves up with a nice breakfast on board. We both vowed to take a shower and nap when we got to Tofino, our next destination.

We arrived in Nanaimo at about 10am, grabbed some groceries in which to make sandwiches with in the car-ride; bread, salami, peanut butter, etc. On the road to Tofino, which is on the west coast of Vancouver Island, we stopped the car and strolled through the absolutely gorgeous and breathtaking forest there. The trees are enormous and extremely thick; it was the most beautiful forest I’ve ever been in. I could walk in it for hours. You can’t even wrap your arms around the trees, they’re so big. I felt like an Ewok; I’m sure Megan felt like one too.

Lost a hub-cap somewhere in the Rockies!

After some more winding roads, which Megan slept through thank lord, we made it to Tofino, BC. Surf shops, motels and small restaurants dot the landscape. We skipped over to Surf Sister, a surf shop and school. Surf Sister was visited once by Rick Mercer on his show; all of the employees are women and everyone has to wear pink t-shirts while surfing. Check out the video here: Video We both booked a three hour class for the next day. This would be my first time surfing, but Megan is an old pro: she’s surfed in France, England and New Zealand! What an adventurous lass!

We went for a drive to the beaches around the city, seeing Tsunami advisory warning signs everywhere. Apparently, the Tsunami alarms had gone off the day before. Nothing had happened after the earthquake, but just seeing Tsunami signs everywhere sets one’s spidey senses a-tingling. Megan informed me that Tofino was the film location of the stupendous film Twilight. So, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart had visited this town? No way! The location in the book –which I have not read, thank god – was chosen by the author because it received the least amount of sunlight year round. As you know, vampires hate sunlight because it traditionally kills them! While on the beach, the sun started to set, which was hard to see since the sky was overcast, so we decided to race to a restaurant in town for fear of what would come out after dark, and also, because we were simply hungry. (Had a great meal at a restaurant called Shelter. Check it out!)

The next morning, we checked out of our hotel and began our first day at surf school. The first day of school is always a bit nerve-wracking, but we had a great teacher named Carly to guide us and answer our questions. Carly was an Ontario ex-pat, who had come out to Tofino for summer holiday with her family, fallen in love with surfing and eventually moved there full time. Megan and I got into our wetsuits, with pink shirts to boot, and hit the waves!

Let me tell you, I became instantly addicted! Why have I never surfed before? Megan and I were able to get up (and stay up!) a bunch; yes, we did have a few spills and wipeouts, but that’s all part of the fun! The wetsuit was quite nice; definitely does its job. The temperature outside was a balmy 9 degrees. We didn’t wear the hoods because you can’t really hear in those things; nothing like a cold saltwater wave hitting you in the face! The three hours of our lesson literally felt like nothing! When our instructor told us there were only five minutes left, I couldn’t believe it. Megan and I kept asking if we could do one more wave. Unfortunately, eventually we had to go, but this won’t be the last time we go surfing. Hopefully, Malaysia will have excellent surfing, or be close to excellent surfing. I can definitely see myself becoming a full-blown surfer. Megan has always described me as a water rat; well, I guess I must be. 

Having switching into dry clothes, which feel strangely baggy compared to the wet suit, we got some hot teas and got back on the road. Our next destination: Victoria! Stay tuned! 

WHISTLER / VANCOUVER

After our harrowing drive to Whistler, we rested down to a relaxing night right in the heart of the village. We kept thinking how two years ago, Jon Montgomery walked down the Village Stroll drinking a pitcher of beer right after he won his gold medal. We kept thinking how many people must have been up here for those Olympics and what a party it must’ve been. We checked out the Olympic rings and the Olympic flame pedestal. Kinda sad to see it not lit. We could see all the ski hills up in the sky around us, but they weren’t ready for skiing yet and we had decided to leave our skis at home. ;) Go Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010!! 14 Golds was it? The new winter record for golds; lets see if we can top it in 2014!

The next morning, we drove down to Vancouver on the Sea-to-Sky highway. The drive was beautiful with a tinge of stress. We headed to Stanley Park where we strolled several kilometers along the sea wall. The Pacific Ocean! At last! Finally! I dipped my feet into the waters! What a view! The mountains on one side, the ocean the other. This was my first time in Vancouver, but Megan’s 2^nd.

For the next two nights, we stayed with our old coworker Kamala, her fiancé Roberto and her daughter Charm. Kamala and Roberto showed us around the city; we saw the infamous East Hastings and all its scenery of characters: a man opening a sewar lid and trying to remove something from the sewars, a woman hunched over in a doorway sniffing something off the ground, a couple of individuals shaking hands and exchanging products. A highlight. We saw Granville Island: its market and the general carnival feel. We saw the campus of UBC, which is the most beautiful campus I’ve seen. Maybe one day I’ll be a professor there? In the evenings, one night we played a ‘relationship’ board game called Telepaths in which Megan and I won, after a shaky start. The next night, we went out to the Yaletown Brew Pub for Halloween, we were all costume-less, but had fun watching all the costumed folks live it up. An interesting man there approached Roberto, informing him he was hot; he invited Roberto to join him and his girlfriend at their table because this man’s girlfriend’s friend needed a companion for the night. Roberto gracefully declined, telling the man that he was engaged; the man’s girlfriend’s friend ended up finding another man instead. All’s well that ends well.

We made it back home at 3 in the morning, having to get up at 6 to hit up the ferry to Vancouver Island. In the pub, we’d seen the Tsunami advisories and wondered what the situation on the water would be like. Kamala and Roberto assured us that all would be fine. We got into bed at 4 and set our alarm for 6; the alarm didn’t go off and we woke up at 645, didn’t shower, threw our stuff in the car and booked it to the ferry, which was leaving at 830!! Ah!!!! Megan was so tired while getting ready, she mistakenly wiped her deodorant stick on the armpit of her shirt. LOL. Ah! Would we make it to the ferry? Read the next entry to find out!