Patrick Do Trong En Ligne

What’s new?

1. Just upgraded to WP 2.8.4 and still wondering what’s new in their latest release.

2. Last post was due 3 days ago. Reason for setback: Victoria is such a slow town, I decided to go with the flow as well.

3. Last day in Victoria this morning, visited the Empress Hotel, did Butchart Garden two days ago, ate local food which is no different than Montreal.

4. Miss my girlfriend and anxious to see her next week, on August 18th 09.

5. Sees no ROI (Return On Investment) from FaceBook and is tempted to shutdown the account, again.

6. Can’t attend the Geek Fest Montreal volunteer’s meet on the 17th…

7. Tired as hell, slept everywhere: on the bus, in the ferry’s bathroom, on the grass, you name it, I did it.

Hi Earth,

I broke my promise of writing a post each day during my trip in British Columbia due to extreme fatigue. I’m having a hard time sleeping at night and didn’t want to depend on pills to welcome sleep. I already miss Montreal after one week. Life’s different here in Vancouver, and the public transit remains a pain in the ass.

Victoria: The Maiden Voyage Towards The City

After checking out @ Travelodge on Monday, I headed towards Victoria. The commute is pretty straightforward and requires roughly three quarters of an hour to get to BCFerry docks from where I stayed. Once there, I bought a boarding pass to get across the Island. The trip itself costs 17$ one way; you’re welcome to bring any luggage with you. Make sure you know which Berth to attend to otherwise, you might get lost. If you’re like me, you’ll love the fresh smell of salt water as you’re walking to the ferry ready for departure.

Once aboard, make sure you get the best seat in the house by hanging a left to take one of those side windows. All your vital needs are well served since there’s a cafeteria, a snack shop, a souvenir shop, there’s eveything on board to make sure you get the best experience during the 1.5 hours cruise to Victoria.

Victoria: The City And Butchart Garden

Doesn’t look too much different from Ottawa, ON at first glimpse. Douglas St. is the granddaddy of all Street in small Victoria’s downtown. At night, it gets weird as zombies start crawling out of their hideouts; during the day, its a white collar world. What sets it apart is the Inner Harbour which embraces the whole east-downtown. Magnificent is best to describe it. Cozy, lively and fresh is what I remember from Victoria’s downtown. Being Asian and all, I had to visit Chinatown. Apparently, Victoria’s Chinatown is supposed to be the first one ever built in the country. I find it rather small as it only cover a few streets and restaurants are parsed out as well. I had the chance to taste the food, and left disapointed. Flavour was definitively an issue.

Being the dedicated tourist that I am, I got dragged into visiting Butchart Garden and ended up enjoying the beautiful scenery. The pictures I shot doesn’t do justice at all, but for now, that will have to do. To get there, I enlisted Gray Hound’s service. Expect to pay around 19$ for an all-around trip. Admission to the Garden is rather expensive at 28$ for an adult. I don’t know who’s in charge of marketing over there, but I have to warn you that food is ridiculously expensive. Being one of Canada’s jewel isn’t a reason to drive up pricing like this. No wonder why foreigners call us Canadians crazy!

If you’re in Victoria, do visit the Garden, and make sure you check out the Sunken Garden while at Butchart Garden; you’ll later understand where the name came from. Honestly, you’ll be in for a treat.

After a whole day outside, it was time to get back the WestIn on Douglas. Had supper @ Don Mee in Chinatown. Tempted by their lobster ad, I felt compelled of trying them out. It turns out that it was 13.99/pound, and their smallest sea createure weighted in at 2.5. It was out of my budget, therefore, I opted for chinese brocoli and crispy fried chicken and it served me well. It was finger lickin’ good! Drank lots of gunpowder tea as I heard it helps reduce cholesterol levels.

Back at the hotel, I went downstairs and ran some high intensity interval laps in the fitness room. I like working out alone sometimes in the gym late at night as I can do whatever foolish in-front of the mirror stunts I don’t usually do when there’s people around. After a grueling workout, It was time to shower and head to bed.

Today, I took a tour around the Inner Harbour by boat. Well worth it as you will discover alots of new things. Also visited the Parliament and snapped near 298 pictures in a few hours.

Time to say wave farewell, I packed my things and went back to Richmond where I’ll be staying for the next 6 nights.

Future plans include: revisiting Stanley Park and check out the Totem Poles, bike ride the water front, check out the North Shore scene in Whistler (Yay to CrankWorx), meet up with some friends in Vancouver before leaving town next Tuesday, hit the beaches even if I get hypothermia, and that’s about it. Gotta find something cool for my Princess also, something she can’t get in Montreal. I want to hang out in the Hastings area a bit more and shoot a video displaying what’s really going on over there.

Feels good to back in Richmond. Ok…I’m having issues with NextGen Gallery: pictures over 2MB simply do not work. Flickr? Probablement.