Trip to India

We try to do a big trip once a year to somewhere exotic and far away. This year we were invited to a friend's family wedding in New Delhi, India. I don't know about you. But on our list of exotic places to go, India is way up there. I had always been intimidated by traveling to India. This would have been the best time to go since we'd have friends guide us around and the rare opportunity to attend a traditional India wedding.

We spent less than 10 days there, but it was everything we had pictured and much much more. Can you imagine a 5-day wedding, where two families from different parts of India came together and combined all the rituals into one 5-day celebration? Everyday it was bursting with vibrant colors from decoration to saree to food.

And the food was every bit as delicious as we wished for. We got to sample cuisines from various parts of India as well, because the hosts wanted to cater to guests traveling from all over the country. The daily, or more accurately 3 times a day, chai ritual embodies the spirit of calm and peace. Though we couldn't get used to having housemaid serve us food and drinks all the time. We found ourselves constantly thanking and nodding to the servants.

And then there's the famous Taj Mahal and other tombs and forts built by various kings and emperors of the past. They are impressive to look at from a distance, but even more breath-taking at close-up. Every single piece of decorative pattern was hand-made and manually embedded in the walls, each with intricate detail. There were no plain flat surfaces anywhere except for the ground. Every wall is covered with patterns that were either carved out or embedded in.

I thought the most interesting side of India was what you see out on the streets, outside of well-groomed heritage sites and outside of homes of upper-middle class. In the western media you only hear about the double-digit growth of countries like India and China and about how the cream of the crop lives and spends. You don't hear or see this other side of India where people still live in vast poverty. It makes us feel so lucky and grateful for what we have.

To see more photos of India, go here, here and here.

Nando's Chicken

While researching for places to eat in Vancouver, I ran across this little fast food eatery, Nando's Chicken. I absolutely loved their website and thought we had to check it out when we are out there.

The story about Nando's started with the chili pepper, peri peri. They do chicken, as the name implies, and chicken only. Everything is flame-broiled. For people who are spice-challenged like me, Nando's has a mild lemon herb option.

It's supposely a "fast food" chain, but it's not like anything you expect. It's more of a casual eatery with a modern decor, clean and un-fussy.

We got a Variety Platter for two to share, which comes with two chicken skewers, four wings, two drumsticks and two breast pieces. Jose got the medium peri sauce on the side. The skewers, assuming it's breast meat, were juicy and tender. It's no ground-breaking food. But for chicken, they did pretty well for themselves. The wings and the breast pieces were nicely seasoned and never dry. There was a good deal of finger licking afterwards...

Capilano suspension bridge, Vancouver BC

Another tourist attraction just north of Vancouver island. We went on a Monday, hoping for less crowd.
Pretty soon after entering the park, you'd find yourself at one end of the famous suspension bridge. There were about 40 people on the bridge trying to cross to the other side. And there was a bus load of Chinese tourists about to get on the bridge.

the famous suspension bridge

Jose and I decided to go for the Cliffwalk first and come back when the crowd dissipates. We were perhaps the only people doing the Cliffwalk that morning, which is only a few more steps to the side of the suspension bridge. This is probably constructed fairly recently as the structure and materials used all seemed very new. And as the name suggests, it hangs off the cliffs.

A walk around the cliff

After having been on the viewPod at Grouse Mountain just the day before, I discovered my fear of heights. Though I only get scared standing on one of those glass floors they like to put in buildings and tall structures to push people's limit. Here's me cautiously walking out to the far end of the glass floor, holding on to the handrails just in case I'm over the weight limit.

Cliffwalk and glass floors

The entire walkway is lit, though you wouldn't notice during the day. I bet it'd have a different feel at night.

Now off to the main attraction of the day, the Capilano Suspension bridge. Much unlike the Cliffwalk which was secured to the cliff rocks with steel arms and completely stable, the suspension bridge sways from side to side as you walk on it. At any given time, there'd be at least 40 people walking on it at the same time. So it could sway a lot if you're not careful. It measures 450 feet across and hangs 230 feet above the rushing Capilano river. However there's no glass floor anywhere on the bridge, I was feeling much at ease.

these thick steel cables are somewhat re-assuring

See, no hands!

On the other side of the bridge, there are a few family-friendly activities in the park. There's the treetops adventure, which is a series of seven small suspension bridges hung between trees. It gives you "squirrel's eye view" of the forest and the river.

Treetops suspension bridges

And then there's a nature walk, which loops around the forest. It's a leisurely hike through the woods on stairs and ramps. The stairs zigzag in and out. You get an ever-changing view of the forest.
It really makes you appreciate living in the west, Pacific Northwest for the US and Southwest for Canada, for easily accessible nature.

Nature walk

Rushing Capilano river below

Grouse Mountain, Vancouver BC

Grouse Mountain is less than 30-min drive north of downtown. It’s one of the peaks near the city. In the winter time skiers and snowboarders come for snow fun. In the summer time, people come for warm-weather activities. This year there’s been so much spring time snow, the slopes are still open in the beginning of June. Teenagers and adults alike are hulling their skis and snowboards in short-sleeve t-shirts.

We took a gondola big enough for 50 people from the bottom of the hill to the middle of the peak. We came for the ziplines and Eye of the Wind tour. There were also a couple other activities included in the general admission we wanted to check out. So first stop, the ziplines. There are five ziplines at Grouse, but only three are open because the two on the top of the mountain were still snow-covered. We got all strapped up in harness, took our gear and walked over to the first zipline tower.

Jose's all strapped and ready

Brake system

The second zipline was the most fun. At top speed we were traveling at about 45 miles/hr, so fast that we needed these orange bags to cushion our stop. See the coil springs at the end of the cable, they collapse to slow us down. But stopping from 45 miles/hr, a person would swing forward and hit the coil spring so hard that it would cause injury. Hence the orange bags in place to cushion our swing. All I remember was that after getting into the stop position - pulling in legs, tugging in chin and curling up - my body was slammed really hard into a big stuffed orange bag. It’s much safer and harmless than it sounded. =)

It was so much fun and thrill. We wished the other two ziplines were open. Oh well, there’s an end to everything.

Our next stop was to tour the Eye of the Wind. We had a little over an hour to kill before that, so we decided to watch the Lumberjack show in the meantime. Yes, Lumberjack show. Did you know there are professional timber sports lumberjacks who compete on activities such as pole climbing, log rolling, axe throwing and such. We had two actors putting on a show of lumberjack competition. One guys was the world champion of pole climbing. Pretty impressive, isn’t it? The acting part of the show was kind of silly, but some of the competitive timber sports were really cool.

The guy on the left was the world champion in pole climbing. He gave the other guy a 7-second start and you just see him catching up in no time like a squirrel. When on the top, he just let go and pretty much did a free-fall on his way back down. The ground was cushioned, btw.

Log rolling; see who stays on the log longer

Now onto the next major stop, Eye of the Wind tour. Eye of the Wind refers to the giant wind turbine on top of Grouse Mountain. It generates on average 25% of the electricity that powers the entire mountain resort. To get there we took a very slow chair lift ride, followed by a 5min walk in the snow which was more difficult than expected.

The turbine is over 200ft tall with a 360° viewPod with an amazing view of the area surrounding the mountain and Vancouver city. An elevator takes you up to the viewPod. It’s glass-walled and even glass-floored on one section of the view chamber.

View of Vancouver from the viewPod

The view was amazing. Our stomachs though were empty from a whole day of activities on the mountain. We thanked our tour guide and drove back to the city for some good grub.

Vancouver BC overview (another long post)

For our anniversary, we flew to Vancouver for a long weekend. The flight tickets weren’t cheap, but we got a good deal on the hotel, so the overall package wasn’t overwhelmingly expensive. When we lived in Chicago, Vancouver BC was just a tad too far and tickets were always over $800/person. Now it’s only a little over an hour of flight away from Portland. 

We arrived almost 8pm in the evening on a Friday, but it was oh-so-bright outside. Driving towards downtown via BC Hwy 99 in a rental car, the first impression is how clean and well groomed the city is. Trees and plants are thriving here, much like Portland and Seattle, due to the rainfall. But you can’t help but notice the amount of care going into trimming and maintaining the plants so they don’t grow out of control. Another first impression was that there were Asian faces and Asian restaurants and establishments everywhere. Vancouver probably has the largest Asian population outside of Asia.

We booked our stay at Cascadia Hotel and Suites in downtown Vancouver. The hotel is undergoing a massive remodeling. So there’s some inconvenience here and there. But given its central location, its complimentary breakfast buffet and the fact that we would be out doing stuff during the day, we didn’t mind at all.

Hotel exterior undergone remodeling

View from the hotel room window

Complimentary breakfast buffet

We spend three full days in Vancouver. I will write more specifics of each day’s activities in separate posts. Here’s a recap. Day 1, we went out to Grouse Mountain, one of the surrounding peaks in close proximity to Vancouver downtown, for ziplining and a tour of the famous wind turbine called “Eye of the Wind”. Day 2, we took a ferry to Victoria Island for a visit of the renowned Butchart Garden and a quick visit to Victoria downtown. Day 3, we drove up north again to see and experience the Capilano Suspension bridge, an iconic attraction in Vancouver, BC.The rest of the time we spent trekking downtown Vancouver, savoring food and culture. The weather was fantastic, dry and warm. 

Amazing laughter sculpture at English Bay beach park, larger than life

Vancouver really feels like a blend between Chicago and Portland. It’s very metropolitan, much like Chicago, but with more of an international feel to it. Within a 20-block radius of the hotel, there are at least two or three sushi restaurants per block. There are Chinese, Korean, Indian, Middle Eastern, French, Vietnamese cuisines everywhere.  People of all colors, speaking all languages live in harmony. There were Stanley Cup final games going on when we were in town. Vancouver Canucks plays against Boston Bruins. The city felt electric on the days of the game. Everyone was wearing Canucks’ jersey and signs of “Go Canucks Go” were everywhere.  It almost reminded me of the post-game celebration last year when Chicago Black Hawks won the Stanley Cup.

The Portland side of Vancouver is the natural wonders so close to the city center. There’s amazing skiing and outdoor activities within a 30-minute drive. The city itself is lushly green and beautiful. A block away from our hotel, in the midst of all the bustling urban action, there’s a community garden. You’d see parents getting their kids involved in planting herbs.

Vancouver downtown itself also has multiple water-fronts due to its geographical layout. It’s almost like a peninsula. On the north end you have the Vancouver Harbor. On the west the English Bay and to the south an inlet called False Creek. All of them offer different views of the city.

English Bay

Vancouver harbor

A panoramic view of the inlet harbor to the south of downtown

Nearing water also means great seafood. We wanted to visit Go Fish, a tiny hole in the wall place on the dock just south of downtown. Unfortunately it was close that day. We took a stroll around and found this huge public market that rivals Pike’s Place in Seattle. It’s an in-door market that has amazing produce, seafood, meat and cheese vendors. It also has an entire section dedicated to prepared food that made us drool.

Have you seen these before?

Craving seafood, we went into a small place called Tony’s fish and chips, and got their seafood platter for two to share. The deep fried cod was unexpectedly good. Undoubtedly we polished every bit of morsel on the plate. Life is good.