Trip to Bellingham

Friday was one of those perfect days. My school had the day off (long story - not a Pro-D day but and actual holiday), the weather was absolutely perfect, and I was psyched for a new personal challenge - scooting to Bellingham, USA!

Last summer, I made my first scooter trip into the USA - just south of Lynden, Washington which is a few miles south of the border. Ever since that trip I have been thinking of pushing the distance a little bit.

Friday was ideal as my wife an kids had school so it was like a bonus day for me to do what I wanted. I go up early and by 7:45 was on my way, crossing the river on the Albion Ferry in the sunshine.

I got to the border about an hour later. There was quite a lineup because this particular crossing is only open 8AM to midnight. I did the terrible cut in thing by zipping down the breakdown lane (which, I found out, is technically illegal in British Columbia) and only had a five minute wait. The border guard was not overly unfriendly and I was on the road.


I took mostly quieter roads. One photo I took was a view north to the Golden Ears, in Maple Ridge.


First stop was Lynden. I stopped at the breakfast place I had visited before but instead of having a giant egg, bacon and hash brown meal, I just had a latté and a bagel. I still like the look of Lynden - it’s a very friendly little town.

I then pressed on south to Bellingham. It was a very nice ride, zipping along in the sunshine, although I made sure that I pulled over whenever there were a few cars behind me.



I got a bit lost on the way to the downtown area, but that’s part of the fun of this kind of adventure. I stopped at the Roeder House which is a stately home. He was big into fishing and built the home in 1903. It was closed, though, so I couldn’t get a peek inside.

After a few more zigs and zags, I ended up at the downtown area. It was Ok, the hub of the area being the local Starbucks, but either I was too early or it was a pretty quiet area. I suspect it was the former as there were a nice variety of stores and lots of potential.


I then headed a little north, stopping to take a photo of this great guitar store.

Five minutes later, I was at Bellis Fair Mall. This mall was built when Canadians frequently crossed the border to grab great US bargains as the two dollars were pretty close in value. Then the Canadian dollar slumped to around 60¢ and the mall almost died. Now that the dollars are close again, the mall is returning to its former glory.


A great find was the Daiso Japan store. It’s like going to a bargain store in Tokyo - almost everything is $2 and all the packaging is Japanese. Very cool. I bought some Japanese toothpicks and resisted the urge to cart a trailer full of nifty items home with me.


I then stopped at the food court for lunch. I went to one of those Mongolian places where you pick some food and they weigh it and cook it. I was feeling rather healthy so I picked a bunch of veggies and a bit of chicken. Imagine my surprise when the woman behind the counter weighed it and the charge was $10! Oh well, at what price health....

I then sped back towards the border in the sunshine, this time being given a bit of a gruff attitude by the Canadian border guard. Quelle suprise!


On the way home, I stopped by Otter Park in Langley. It was just a little place that I almost missed but once I was in there, the absolute Greeness of the park sort of summed up how the whole ride seemed. What with the sun , warmth, and amazing greenery on both sides of the border, I felt, well, green! An excellent ride on an awesome day!

Bear in the Backyard

Here's a little video I made of a recent visitor in the backyard.

He's been making rather regular visits of late, attracted by bird feeders and composters. Hopefully, he'll head up to the hills soon.

There are lots of bears in the wilderness near where we live. Unfortunately, the rapid development in our community has displaced a lot of their habitat....

Scooter Gang Terrorizes Community

by Joe King

The sunny weather that Maple Ridge was blessed with yesterday was marred by the formation of a new scooter gang. Two men, wearing red jackets, were spotted riding up and down the streets of this fair community during the afternoon on Sunday. 

According to witnesses, the first scooterist rode his Vespa LX50 across Maple Ridge to visit the second gang member, a local engineer. The second scooterist then rolled out his terrible machine, a 50cc Yamaha BWS. The two then fired up their loud engines and roared through the quiet neighbourhood, disturbing the solitude of a Sunday afternoon.

Their first stop was a local gas station where they made unkind jokes about how little it cost them to fill up, ignoring the unfortunate plight of good citizens gassing up their trucks and SUVs. After spending a paltry $4, they roared off again, this time headed for a local mall.

At the mall, while they took care of errands, they had the audacity to park in the same parking space. "Don't they know that if everyone doubled up when parking, there'd be far too many empty spots," complained Edna Busybody, a local resident.

They then took their foul machines on the backroads, forcing cars behind them to drive at 55 kmh, rather then allowing people to speed as is their right. 

Back at the 'clubhouse' or home of one of the scooterists, they were seen laughing and eating cookies, undoubtedly commenting on the lack of fun they saw others having on the road. It is also rumoured that they are both members of yet another gang, the Volunteer Bike Patrol.

Only vigilance and careful observation will prevent this sort of raucous behaviour from becoming the norm. Can you imagine if everyone in our lovely town were riding scooters? One shudders to think....

Oki-na Gaijin, Chisai-na Kuni (Big Foreigner, Small Country) #10

March 29 - Last Day - Sayonara

This is the last part of my trip to Tokyo series.


This picture was taken inside my apartment 23 years ago for a party when my then-girlfriend (and present-wife) was going to return to Canada.

Had one too many chu-his last night as I woke up with a bit of a sinus headache this morning. After my customary coffee, banana, and tea biscuit, I felt better.

As we were leaving today, I thought I could get away with giving a present without getting flooded with omiyage as we weren’t going shopping anywhere. It turned out that I was sorely mistaken.

I gave some candy, a card and a raku sculpture of a salmon that I had bought last December when we were skiing at Sun Peaks. Apparently these were well received as the omiyage doors were flung wide open.

Yoichi proceeded to give me watches for everyone in our extended family. This included a couple of Guccis, Seikos, and about 8 other watches for various members of the family. I thought about giving him Colleen as a slave girl but then realized that it was time to admit defeat.


I took a last look at the apartment building, first outside my old apartment, then on the roof that had been the scene of several fun parties 23 years ago. Finally, I took a walk around the neighbourhood, realizing that most of the businesses had either changed or turned into residential areas.


Here's a picture of my daughter, Colleen, on the roof of the apartment building.

This picture is a blast from the past - my 25th birthday on the roof of my apartment building.

I returned back to the apartment and we did our final packing. Then we all went with Yoichi’s driver in a car to the airport.

We arrived early so we went for a yakisoba (fried noodle) lunch. Interestingly, we were told to leave all of our bags at the front of the restaurant (unguarded) and ate, out of sight of the bags, at the back of the restaurant. This was something I would never do in most places in the world but, in Japan, even the airport seems super safe. When we were finished, of course, the bags were there, untouched.

We checked in and then said our tearful good-byes and went through the security gates.

In the departure lounge, I shopped for a bottle of duty free whisky - and ended up helping several customers with their selection! Maybe I should have worn a “Scotch Expert” T shirt! I tasted a couple of different ones (including a Johnnie Walker Blue Label that was too pricey) and settled on an 18 year old Highland Park.

The flight went well and was comfortable. But I spent a good deal of it trying to estimate what was t the total of all the gifts I was bringing back. Canadians are allowed to bring back $750 duty free after being away for a week but I was pretty sure that some of the watches were worth that each.

Upon arrival in Vancouver, I made an extremely conservative estimate of the value of the goods I had, paid some money for duty and taxes and headed toward the exit. This being Canada, I saw no customs agent anywhere and almost broke into a run when I walked through the exit doors.

It was good to be home but it was also revealing to me that I had such a good time in Tokyo and would definitely consider living there again. Unfortunately, my wife doesn’t feel quite the same....


Parting shot - Yoichi's Aston Martin - we went clubbing in it one night while at the karaoke bars. The absolute coolest car I've ever been in!

Sunshine Coast Cycle

I spent a couple of days at a friend's cottage near Gibsons, on the Sunshine Coast. It is an area just north of Vancouver but you can't drive there because of the mountains and other rocky terrain. The only way to get there is by taking a ferry from Horseshoe Bay (near Vancouver). It is about a 40 minute ferry ride.

On Saturday, we went for a very nice bicycle ride. The weather was sunny and it was fairly warm outside. Unlike scootering, I rarely get cold when cycling because I create my own heat, so to speak.


We first made to 2 km from my friend, Randy's place to the town of Gibsons. It is a little town of about 5000 people that became very popular because of a long running -Canadian TV show called the Beachcombers. Molly's Reach was one of the main locales in the series and serves a nice pint, too, if I recall previous trips.


We took the lower road which more or less runs parallel to the highway. There were a number of stops along the way to take photos. The sun was very cooperative and the views of the ocean made me feel very good inside. We didn't push really hard as it was my first bigger ride of the year so there was lots of time to chat and joke as we rode.


The lower road ended at a beach just shy of Roberts Creek. We then pushed our bikes along the beach, no easy task, for maybe 20 or 30 minutes. It was pretty hard work. We then connected up with a trail covered in roots where we had to carry our bikes until we got up to the road. In the photo, you can see our tire tracks in the sand.


In Roberts Creek, we stopped at the Gumboot Cafe for a coffee and a snack. I had a samosa with tasty homemade chutney.


We continued on to our destination, Sechelt, which is a bigger town of about 10 000 people. We stopped at a park on the beach there and had a nice break, admiring the view. While in the park, I took Randy's bike for a ride. He has a "Bike Friday" which is a folding bike. He has taken it several times to Europe and really likes the mobility it gives him. Not a bad ride, either.


We then headed towards home, stopping at Davis Landing for a drink before we pushed it a bit on the highway back to Gibsons.

It was about a 50 km ride which was definitely long enough for me for a first ride of the year. Back in Gibsons, we headed into Gramma's pub and tucked into a well deserved halibut and chips with a frosty beverage, also well deserved!

Oki-na Gaijin, Chisai-na Kuni (Big Foreigner, Small Country) #9

March 28 - Kamakura and Hase

Got up at 8, feeling pretty good, despite the late night before. Maybe I'm getting used to this hectic lifestyle?


Our first stop was an unusual one - it was the Honjo Fire Station and Life Safety Learning Centre - just a five minute walk from where we were staying! We first watched a 3D film dramatizing how several people responded to an earthquake that hits Tokyo.

The first was a mother who couldn't work out how to work a fire extinguisher and so, fled her house with her elderly mother as buckets, roof tiles and live wires fell all around them.

The next part had a businessman on the subway as the earthquake hit. We had headphones that translated the dialogue into English which was interesting. As the earthquake hit, for example, the businessman yelled, "What the hell was that?" which is not exactly what you'd expect for an educational video shown to children!

Anyway, the story progressed from people running from the train, some running on top of other people, and running, panicked into the street as debris fell around them. The film continued with a story of what not to do in case of an earthquake without giving the alternate - a refreshing change from educational videos here! I quite enjoyed it although I did find myself giggling from time to time...


After the movie (which happened to be in 3D - look out for that falling glass!) we headed upstairs to the earthquake room. After a rather lengthy explanation ("OK, OK, OK?") and detailed instructions on what to do, we had a couple of simulations where a machine moved the entire floor of the test area - a couple of the jolts were quite strong. I enjoyed it thoroughly!


After, we took the train to Kamakura which was about an hour away. We had soba for lunch (a type of noodle), which was quite tasty, and then wandered the shopping street.


We made a couple of purchases, took in a shrine, stopped for coffee, and then headed back to the train station to take the little commuter train to Hase.

We arrived in Hase and then walked to the Daibutsu - the big Buddha! He is huge! He was built around the year 1200 and is made of bronze. About 400 years after he was built, the building that covered him washed away in a tsunami.


It is a remarkable sight and is well worth seeing especially with the trees and hill behind.


We then went to Hase temple which is a shrine complex with gardens, statues, and caves as well as shrines.


The saddest was the section devoted to Jiso, god of unborn children, to honour all those unborn fetuses and children who died in childbirth. I think there were less statues than last time I went, however, possibly due to the fact that birth control is now legal in Japan.

When we went home, it was rush hour so Yoichi sprang for a Green Car - a first class seat on the train - which was very nice - reminded me of the Shinkansen - and I had a bit of a nap on the way home.

Later that night, Keiko prepared a fantastic sukiyaki meal which is a cross between shabu shabu and yaki niku (Korean BBQ). We then just sat around, chatting, talking of old times and new experiences. It was a wonderful last evening.

Interlude - Scooter Ride to Barnston Island

I know that I've been sharing my journal of my trip to Tokyo for the past little while and, even though I'm almost done, I have a couple entries left to write. However, yesterday was an unseasonably warm and sunny day so I packed my camera and went out for a nice afternoon ride.

I first took the Albion ferry - and I love it because scooters get to go to the front of the line! I arrived at the ferry and was the only thing on two wheels until we started loading. Then I heard the rumble of motorcycles but I focused on getting up the loading ramp without having an unfortunate accident....

I parked my scoot, got off and looked behind - 13 leathered guys and their Harleys, some with their biker girlfriends. Happily, a few smiled and waved at me, something that I still find surprising and amazing. Here I was on my little 50cc scooter and a guy on a bike with an engine bigger than my car treats me like an equal!

The sun was shining as I rode in my shirtsleeves through Northern Langley towards my destination, Barnston Island. Barnston Island is a small island in the Fraser River between Surrey and Pitt Meadows that is basically an agricultural area used for dairy. There are also a few houses where people live. I had always intended to pack up the bikes when the girls were little because it's a great cycle but just never got around to it. Also, there's no stores so my girls would have serious motivation problems, especially now....

I didn't have a map handy (it was with my eldest daughter's car) so there was a bit of exploring but I eventually found the ferry. While waiting, I chatted with a retired gentleman who lived on the island.


The ferry itself is small - really small. It's actually a little barge with a tugboat secured to it. It holds about five cars and the ride is about three minutes.

Once we got across, I rode the very flat road that goes around the island. The weather was fantastic and the views were great.


There was this very nice view of the Golden Ears in Maple Ridge.


And, 100 metres down the road, this view of Mount Baker.

I stopped a couple times, snacking on the cookies that I had snagged from home. It was very quiet and peaceful.


The only negative was this in-your-face sign that clearly stated that visitors were not welcome on the bench.


When I got to the dock to leave, I watched in amazement as the cars backed onto the ferry to get on. This is definitely small scale!


On the way back, I was able to get a few shots of the Golden Ears bridge which is under construction. There were some interesting views of the construction and I was able to get right under the bridge.


This photo I especially liked as it looks like pieces of Hot Wheels track that hasn't been snapped together yet!

I headed home, taking the return ferry trip with only one motorcycle. The temperature was still around 24° (about 75° F.) so I changed into my shorts and chilled out for the rest of an excellent Saturday.

Oki-na Gaijin, Chisai-na Kuni (Big Foreigner, Small Country) #8

March 27 - Tsukiji, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro



Got up a little early and, after a nice breakfast, left for the Tsukiji fish market.


We arrived as things were beginning to wrap up at the fish auction but still got there in plenty of time to see lots of interesting things. Scooters and bikes scurried everywhere with loads of fish earmarked for different places all over Tokyo.


In the actual market, the different businesses were readying their fish, sawing, packaging, and otherwise getting their product ready for further on the food chain.

We did our best to stay out of the way but it was difficult because there was so much activity. We even got honked at a couple of times!


I loved all of the colours, fish, and strong smells. Colleen, on the other hand, thought it was gross but kind of cool. Teenagers...

We left the market and went to a sushi restaurant just down the road where I had, quite possible, the best sushi of my life. It was super-fresh, melt-in-your mouth sushi and tasted amazing!

One cool thing - the chef took a blow torch and seared the top of some of the pieces! Very industrial.


On our way back to the station, we stopped by a shrine where a monk(?) was burning dolls that people had purchased. I think it was either for good luck or to remember departed relatives.


After, we went to Shinjuku and Ikebukuro for some shopping. Even Colleen was starting to get a little bit overexposed to the commercialism that is Tokyo, but I still enjoyed wading amongst the masses of people. Tokyoites make for excellent people watching.


Interestingly, we had a couple of delays on the train. Apparently there were two different suicides where people had jumped in front of the train. This is one of the most common forms of committing suicide in Tokyo. I guess it was a bad day for some.


After, we went to Kinshicho station for Shabu Shabu. This tasty dish is where you have a pot of boiling water in the middle of a table and you plop in meat and veg to cook. The sound it makes gives the dish the name. It was very tasty.


Later on that night, Yoichi and I went out clubbing in his fancy car, an Aston Martin. Very cool. First stop was a Karoke bar with Filipino hostesses. This was quite a large place and the manager was a bit excited that I was a gaijin. I was let in, thanks to Yoichi's influence, and things picked up a bit. The woman I spoke to the most was 32 and was looking forward to going home to hang around her house and chill. She had been in Japan for 5 years out of the last 13 and had the equivalent of a green card.


Singing at this bar was a bit intimidating because of the number of customers, the fact that I hadn't had a really warm greeting, and that I couldn't hear myself really well. You also had to go up on a stage where in other places you could sing from your seat. According to Yoichi, there were pretty cheap with the drinks and expensive with the bill.

We then ended up after midnight at another karaoke bar, this time with Indonesian hostesses. Again, the manager was a little excited about the fact I was a gaijin but the customers seemed generally friendlier than the last one. One hostess I spoke to knew less English than I knew Japanese so eventually another one was found that spoke English. She's only been in Japan for a couple of months and didn't speak Japanese very well so she was quite happy to talk to someone she understood. She was nice enough but I made a point of talking about my wonderful daughters and my loving wife...

The singing was better here - I belted out a few numbers - and the clientèle really warmed up to me, especially after singing a couple of Green Day songs.

As to the hostesses, rest assured that, at least in the places Yoichi took me to, nothing untoward happens. Apparently these kind of places are popular in Indonesia, the Philippines, Korea and many other places around the world. The hostesses couldn't believe that we don't have places like this in Canada (at least, not that I'm aware of).

At around 2 AM, we headed home. A full day, definitely!

Oki-na Gaijin, Chisai-na Kuni (Big Foreigner, Small Country) #7

March 26 - Ueno and Ginza


A bit of a later start today - up at 8 and then off to Ueno to shop at Ame Oko. Ame Oko was a black market area established during the American occupation after WWII. It’s not a black market area any more but it is a very popular place to shop for deals. Colleen absolutely loved it. So did Yoichi so quite a few omiyage (presents) were purchased and we all left with many bags.



This picture shows Keiko in front of a place that makes manju - buns with sweet bean paste inside. I don’t like them.


We then headed to Ginza - very fancy stores and hip people. Colleen managed to find some trendy shoes while I bought a bright yellow walled in a bargain store.


We stopped at the Lion Beer Hall for lunch. It was an odd fusion of German and Japanese cuisine. For example, I had a chicken and onion dish which seemed German but had a soy based dipping sauce. Colleen had Chinese dumplings, cheese spring rolls, and french fries! Still, it was pretty good. The picture shows me between Yoichi and Ando-san - notice how they’re both smoking.


This building is actually twisted - there’s no special effect.


We went into a Nissan store and everyone was talking about the new GTL. It wasn’t until I returned to Canada that I realized that it was actually the new GTR!

After lunch, we headed back to Kinshicho by taxi because Yoichi’s feet hurt. We all went back to the massage clinic and had a combo shiatsu and foot massage. It was wonderful although my daughter found it to be a bit strange.

While we were waiting for Yoichi, I thought I’d show Colleen a pachinko parlour. Pachinko is a game where you buy metal balls and put them in a machine similar to a pinball machine and try to win more balls. Then you cash in your metal balls for some objects (flints, for example) and then go to a booth nearby and exchange the object for money. This is all to evade the gambling rules in Japan. Unfortunately, the pachinko parlour was completely packed, extremely smokey, and so cacophonously loud that I couldn’t stand it!

We had dinner at a restaurant called Tsukiji Sushi and ate our fill. It was good and I stayed away from anything really odd. We then went back to Yoichi’s for a night cap and then retired, content and full after yet another super day.