Monday, November 14, 2005
2nd visit to Queen Elisabeth Park
Last week (6th November) I went to Queen Elisabeth Park with Yu Zhen and Ju Cheng. On the way, we stopped by the Vancouver City Hall and took a few photos there. When we reached QE Park, we're kinda disappointed, because there were no more flowers blooming... Empty branches on the trees, bare soil on the flower beds, and withering plants were all that remained in the park... Nevertheless, we managed to see quite a lot of animals.
Close-up shots of a squirrel...
Close-up shots of a squirrel...
2nd visit to Queen Elisabeth Park
Last week (6th November) I went to Queen Elisabeth Park with Yu Zhen and Ju Cheng. On the way, we stopped by the Vancouver City Hall and took a few photos there. When we reached QE Park, we're kinda disappointed, because there were no more flowers blooming... Empty branches on the trees, bare soil on the flower beds, and withering plants were all that remained in the park... Nevertheless, we managed to see quite a lot of animals.
Close-up shots of a squirrel...
Close-up shots of a squirrel...
Queen Elisabeth Park in autumn... (The flower beds are all empty and what's left is black soil. The trees are losing leaves... The atmosphere is kinda bleak...)
A colourful tropical bird inside the Bloedel Conservatory... (I dunno what bird it is. Does anybody know?)
Me and Captain Vancouver pointing at birds in the sky...
Festival of the Dead
In celebration of Halloween, SFU (Simon Fraser University) puts up a display on the "Festival of the Dead". The festival is celebrated in Mexico and it's a lavish and elaborate event. Here, you can see an altar beautifully decorated with various items. A black cross is placed in front of the altar. Beside the altar, there are skeletons dressed in beautiful costumes. It's really fascinating.
2nd trip to Stanley Park + Japanese Buffet
2 weeks ago (29th October) I went to Stanley Park with my Chinese friends. We cycled one round along the Stanley Park seawall. At night, some of us went to this Japanese restaurant along Broadway and we had an "All-you-can-eat" dinner. The dinner was splendid and we could hardly move after the dinner...
Motoyaki, my favorite!!! (Motoyaki is an oyster-shell filled with seafood and cream cheese, and then baked.) The other dishes are also divine...
Japanese "All-you-can-eat" dinner! (Yingqian, the girl in pink, was reluctant to enter the restaurant because she didn't like to eat raw fish and she found the price rather expensive. After lots of persuasion, we finally dragged her into the restaurant. In the end, she found the food better than she expected and she ate a lot... Haha.)
Yingqian doesn't know how to cycle, so she sat on Yu Zhen's bicycle...
Birthday dinner
Here are the photos taken on the night of 23 October. It was my birthday, and Tony's birthday is 2 days before me. Hence I prepared a lot of food and invited my friends to come for dinner. I cooked a lot of Singaporean food, such as laksa, bak ku teh, and chicken rice. I also baked 4 cheesecakes (2 chocolate and 2 cranberry) and more than 50 cranberry tarts. (Haha, I'm so proud of myself.) Enjoy the photos! (The order of the photos is from the bottom to the top.)
Jingjing's birthday? No no... It's not her birthday yet, but she wanted to hold the cake and take a photo because she found the "candle" effect very pretty... (She should let her hair cover her face, so that she looks like Sakado... haha...)
Happy belated birthday to Tony... (Tony's birthday is just 2 day before mine...)
The 2 birthday boys in red... (No matter how I tried to be funny, I still cannot beat Tony. He still looks funnier than me.)
Advertisment time: Charles and his home-made cranberry tarts! (Thank you Ju Cheng and Shangshang for "promoting" my tarts and "enhancing" my advertisment. Haha)
Advertisment time: Charles and his home-made chocolate cheesecake!
Dessert time! Shangshang, Jingjing and Ju Cheng looking satisfied with the cranberry tarts...
My friends from China! Back row from left: Shangshang, Yu Zhen, Jingjing, Ju Cheng. Front row: me and Tony.
Here are my friends from Singapore. From left: Dan, Chris, Cass, Chee Kian, Mabel, me and Joe. (Actually Joe is from HK. But he gets along well with the Singaporeans and he learns a lot of Singlish from them. In return, he teaches them Cantonese.)
These are the dishes that I've cooked!!! Clockwise from top left: Hard-boiled eggs for the laksa, fish cakes for the laksa, stewed mushroom, noodles for the laksa, chicken thighs, chicken rice, char siew (BBQ pork) and salad. In the centre: laksa soup. (Ok, actually I didn't cooked everything. The mushroom was prepared by Yu Zhen, and I bought the char siew from the supermarket.)
Monday, November 07, 2005
Trip to Bellingham, USA
Here are the photos taken in Bellingham, USA. Bellingham is a small city near the USA/Canada border, and it's the nearest major American city to Vancouver. During the trip I visited Downtown Bellingham, Whatcom Falls (a nice waterfall), Fairhaven (a historic town) and Western Washington University. Enjoy the photos! (Don't forget that the order of the photos is from the bottom to the top!)
Bellis Fair, the largest shopping mall in Bellingham
Me and a modern sculpture in the Western Washington University campus
The view of Bellingham from the WWU Viking Union Building
The Red Square in the Western Washington University campus
One of the several amusing sculptures in the WWU campus (Western Washington University)
A bank located in a historical building in Fairhaven
A historical building in Fairhaven. (Fairhaven reminds of Victoria, BC, because of the Victorian-style architecture and the coastal geographical setting.)
A chimney store in the historical district of Fairhaven.
Fairhaven was a thriving town in the 19th century, and today there are many buildings and sights in Fairhaven that remind visitors of the rich historical heritage.
An old double-decker bus in Fairhaven, a historical village located at the southwest of Bellingham. (This bus was converted into a Fish & Chips restaurant and cafe...)
Me and the beautiful Whatcom Falls. (The rocks that I was standing on were actually very slippery... As I tried to take a photo, I nearly slipped on the rocks and fell into the waterfall...... Scary...)
Whatcom Falls, a beautiful waterfall located in the east of Bellingham.
A post office in Downtown Bellingham. (The woman in the window is not real. It's just a piece of decoration...)
The Whatcom Museum of History and Art, situated in the former building of Bellingham City Hall. The former city hall was built in 1892 with a Victorian architectural style.
A nice small waterfall near the Bellingham City Hall.
Whatcom County Courthouse. (Bellingham is the largest city and the county seat of Whatcom County, one of the 39 counties in Washington State, USA)
