16 Years Later I Was Back on the Slope

Approximately 16 years ago, I tried a skiing for the first time on a school field trip. The experience lacked proper instructions resulted in a lot of time on the ground. 16 years later, I decided to give skiing a try again during our weekend trip to Sun Peaks with a group of friends. After all, I live in Vancouver now. Not being able to ski or snowboard just doesn't seem right and might get me kicked out of the city.

The day started with two instructors and 10 other fellow ski NuBes. The Level I lesson started with the very basic of how to put on and take off your skis. There are no right or left ski. Apparently they are identical! We were told to keep our ski boots somewhat loose on our feet since tight boots can cut off blood flow into your feet and make your feet really cold. Greg learnt this lesson the hard way.

The we moved onto a bit of slope to learn how to slow down and eventually come to a stop. This was where I became frustrated with the instructor who was very focused on 3 other students. I wasn't getting any tips on what I was doing right or wrong. I kept turning right as I slipped down the hill. This instructor was either not watching or talking to someone else. When she did eventually notice I was running into poles, she said to me: you are learning to turn already and that is excellent. But I had no idea why I was turning and wasn't learning how to slow down or stop properly. At this point, I was completely not impressed with skiing and thought I was just awful at this.

After struggling with the tiny slop, I couldn't believe we were ready for an actual green slope. Canadian ski resort has a system to identify the difficulty of every slope.

- means it is for beginners
- means it is for intermediate skiers or snowboarders
- means it is for experienced skiers or snowboarders (more difficult the slope more black diamonds)

The idea behind the shapes is if the weather condition is not great and you can't see colour, at least you will be able to identify the slope by the shape.

We took the pole lift up to the green slope named Gentle Giant. I like dthe gentle part, but not too sure about the giant part. Once we were on top, we practiced more slowing down and stopping. I still wasn't getting the hang of it. I kept turning to the right which my not so helpful instructor told me was because I was putting more weight on my left foot than my right. Finally, my uncontrollable skis crushed right into the other instructor. He was not impressed. But at least I got his attention that I wasn't getting nowhere. He was much more helpful. My problem was I wasn't lean forward enough to force equal weight distribution on my two feet.

We went on the Gentle Giant one more time and I was much more comfortable. The morning lesson ended with no more bailing. A quick lunch, we were ready for level II! Level II was all about turning. We had a very perky instructor for the afternoon. She was actually very good and made sure she gave very individual pointers to everyone in the group. Turning on a slope is very counter intuitive movement. One has to put more weight on right foot to turn left and vice versa. This concept really took some time to get use to. But just like everything, practice makes perfect. At the end of the day, I managed to squeeze 4 more runs on the Gentle Giant. I did bail a few more times too. I am still haven't found the perfect balance while doing turns. But it was a fun just trying to!

Photography Walkabout Tour Part 1 - Downtown Night Tour

Being an avid traveler, it was only natural that I took an interest in photography in order to capture and share the memories of far away lands. For years I was content with the good old fashioned point-and-shoot but after my recent adventure overseas I was heavily inspired to take the next step up to a DSLR camera. Luckily I had a birthday coming up and an amazing wife who knew the perfect gift, my very own Canon EOS Rebel T1i.

Graduating from point-and-shoot to DSLR isn’t the easiest of transitions as suddenly I needed to learn about white-balance, aperture, ISO, shutter speed, and many other features I never considered before. We decided to seek help in the form of a Photography Walkabout Tour. This is a great first-step for NuBe’s jumping into the DSLR world as it’s relatively economical and a great learning experience as they teach you all about how your camera works and things to take into consideration when taking photos.

Our first walking tour would be a night walk around downtown Vancouver. It was raining a little bit which instantly made us concerned about whether we would even be going forward with the tour. Our guide assured us that weather shouldn’t be a deterrent when photographing as it actually has the potential to make shots even more interesting shots so I wrapped a plastic bag around my camera and ventured out. He showed us that puddles, especially at night-time, created opportunities to take reflective photos and play with lighting to make for more creative pictures.

That beginning was just a matter of getting used to our cameras, and what better way to do that then just to take a bunch of pictures at different settings. We started off outside the Vancouver Art Gallery playing with our ISO setting. ISO essentially is how sensitive the camera is to light, the higher the ISO number the more possible it is to shoot in low light situations. This takes getting used to because while you are able to brighten as ISO gets higher it also begins to add grain and noise to the photo.

Next we moved onto an outdoor skating rink where we would start learning about White Balance. This is a bit of a complex concept that involves grasping the concept of light having a range of colours that go from cool to warm. Without breaking out my Physics textbook, the NuBe approach to this is to tweak the White Balance setting until the photo doesn’t look too blue or too orange in your viewfinder. There are a number of auto settings based on the conditions you are in (tungsten, daylight, cloudy, etc) and some manual settings which take a bit of getting used to.

From here our group moved onto a small courtyard near the Vancouver Law Courts where we practiced our creative composition. There was an interesting sculpture that we were challenged to take photos of from all different angles. The advice here was to “shoot the hell out of it”, trying as many different perspectives as possible. It really helped break the habit of taking the shots head on and really getting into some more unique and interesting compositions. It was a very good learning experience.

Our last lesson of the night was learning about Shutter Speed and Aperture which both combine to form exposure of a photo. Exposure is the amount of light (controlled by aperture) that is captured over a specified amount of time (controlled by the shutter speed). Once you have a correct exposure you can make adjustments with the shutter speed and aperture to give effects to a photo. By increasing the shutter speed and decreasing the aperture you are now able to ‘freeze’ fast action shots. Going the other direction of decreasing shutter speed and increasing aperture gives you a deeper depth of field. A small aperture may blur out the background however a high aperture will have everything in focus. For low lighting a long shutter speed can make for some terrific pictures however tripods start to become a very good idea to avoid blur caused by shake. On the other hand, intentional blur of fast moving items can make for a very neat effect.

We ended the night here with plans to pick-up on another walking tour in a few weeks, next time during the day taking a trip through historic and gritty Gastown area!

Stand Up Virgin No More!!

October 27th I finally did it! As Faye mentioned below, we've been talking about me doing a stand up routine for the past 2 years or so. I was supposed to be at a Def Leppard concert but it got canceled and when Yuk Yuk's called me on Sunday the week before, I thought, "it's now or never" and I accepted the date. I had 5 mins to make people laugh...

That night I put pen to paper and ended up developing so much more material than I had collected over the past two years. It started becoming difficult to pick what I wanted to talk about. I spent the week trying to work things out. When it got to the Monday night before my performance I had a friend come over to review my material and time my act. There was so much I had to cut out! When we slashed through everything I ended up with something I was confident about. I went to bed anxious and woke up the next day full of nerves. I spent the day running through my material until it was time to head over to Yuk Yuks.

Funnily enough once I got to the green room backstage my nerves started to calm down. I went on third and I could hear my friends laughing in the audience. Then it was my turn.

I've got to say, I have some of the best friends in the world. It was so good to hear them cheer me on as I took the stage. I started with my first joke - and whadya know.. PEOPLE LAUGHED!!! (Thanks Akhil!!) It was awesome!! I couldn't believe it! So - i carried on, and except for the red light that I became increasingly conscious about which was throwing my timing off, I pretty much said everything I really wanted to say.

My biggest laugh came when I referenced a joke the MC made about small dogs when I was talking about my small dog. (He said they're like swiffers, and I said my dog was not a swiffer... you should have been there if you weren't :P ) I learned a lot from this first experience - about myself, nerves, and getting started. Unfortunately we couldn't record this performance - but I am considering giving this another shot.

So, stay tuned and come out the next time I'm up - I'm looking to do this at least one more time before the end of the year.

Try Something New Generator!

Summer has come and gone... New season means new adventures, my fellow NuBes! As I was browsing through new things to do for the fall on Google, I came across this neat little website. It is the Try Something New Generator.

http://www.trysomethingnew.com/

I picked "Travel" as my category for the random generator to suggest what I should try. "Learn some German" came up. So "etwas Neues ausprobieren" people!

It is not a very fancy website, but still very fun. I got a kick out of their "DoneThat" Stats page.

http://www.trysomethingnew.com/stats.php

It is interesting how the top 8 things people has marked off as "DoneThat" involves eating. I like it!
Please leave a comment if you actually did something the website gave you to do.

Try Something Crazy with some Laughter

Most people may think the new thing you want to try is just plain crazy and sometimes that determines whether you follow through. Knowing Johainah for the past 3 years, she is always up to something crazy! While most people has issue just speaking in front of a crowd, Joh always wanted to give stand up comedy a try. Although I like to think I am a supportive friend, sometimes I even question if it is a good idea to encourage something this crazy!

Last Christmas I brought Joh a pen recorder for her to carry around to record her funny ideas. Joh did a great job as the Master of Ceremony at Greg and I's wedding this past summer. So after a couple of years of preparation and working up the courage, Joh finally booked herself in at Vancouver Yuk Yuk Comedy Club on Oct 27 to make her big stand up debut. I can't wait to see her on the stage and cheer her on with laughter (not sure if it is going to be at her or with her yet :P)

If you are interested in checking out and support Johainah's big YUK YUK's debut, please RSVP here.

Good Bye China, Hello Home Sweet Home.

We returned to Shanghai at dusk. Everyone went to bed right away.

We only had 1.5 days left in China, so we had to do more shopping, eating and going to Internet cafes. During our times in China, we had no access to Facebook or Blogspot. These two sites and many other sites likes CNN were blocked due to recent troubles in XinJiang and Tibet. This definitely made us feel cut off from the western world. Amongst the glitz and glamour of a booming China, this reminded us we were after all still in a communist country.

Aside from shopping, Shanghai is also known for its crazy and wild night life. We met up with our friend Amanda who recently returned to China for work. She took us to this club in JingAn District called MUSE. The club had great music and we lived it up! Table service, Grey Goose and cranberry for the ballers. Our server stood by our table the entire time we were there. Yes, we had a dedicated server who was always there whenever we needed him! He didn't look like he loved his job though. Every hour for about 20 minutes, a couple of really scantily dressed (in thong!) go go dancers danced on spot lighted platforms. Hard to imagine we were in communist China! What a country full of contradictions.

(video of live music performance at MUSE, then we got yelled at by the security for video taping)

We are really going to miss China. As we headed home sweet home, we are going to miss traveling around to different countries and experiencing new cultures.

Huangshan (Part 2): Beyond Yellow Mountain

The next morning we awoke at 4am to begin our trek to a choice lookout where we would be watching the sun come out. It was pitch dark and we were guided by only two headlights that members of our group had. It would be over a 1 hour hike up winding paths before we would reach out lookout. Our guide had arrived late for picking us up so by the time we reached our destination it was already fairly packed full of other tourists waiting for the sun to peak out. Just as our luck would have it, another cloudy day. It shouldn’t really be a surprise to us as we were told the clouds form on these mountains over 200 days of the year. It was still a nice start to the day, so no complaining on our part.

Following a nice simple breakfast we would begin our trek back to the tram where we would view numerous more famous rock formations, cliffs, and trees. Often while walking along the path we’d come across some people who had paid to be carried around the mountain in sedan chairs by two porters. I suspect there may have been some buyer’s remorse as a few of the people looked a bit embarrassed by the indulgence. There’s something about having two men carrying you up a large flight of stairs on a mountain top and through a crowd of tourists that just seems a bit over the top (unless it’s really necessary of course).

After a couple more hours of wandering around the mountain top we finally reached the tram and headed down. From here we would be heading to a local village. We weren’t really sure what to expect here, but we were pleasantly surprised by what we discovered when we arrived at Hongcun Village. Hongcun Village has a history of over 900 years and has been passed down for generations throughout the Wang Clan. It was famous for having a number of scenes for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon filmed here. As we arrived through the gates we came upon a picturesque small lake with a stone arched bridge going across the center, we learned this was the opening scene from the movie. Along the bank were numerous young painter students set up all along the bank practicing their talents. The village is said to resemble that of a buffalo with two 600 year old trees representing horns, a lake as its belly, and even irrigation streams are its intestines. We’ve really come to appreciate the imagination of the Chinese culture. The tour was fantastic and made for some great history lessons and amazing pictures.

It was a long couple days, so we were really looking forward to this evening which we had arranged to spend at the local hot springs spa. As high as our expectations were for this place, they didn’t come near touching what we actually encountered. The entrance fee was equivalent to approximately $20 CAD. Inside this spa was an infinity pool, over different kinds of hot springs, complementary fruits and snacks, free internet service, and even late night live entertainment. We must have stayed there for about seven hours just relaxing and getting out every need looked after. The highlight for me was the Garra rufa fish or as more commonly known as the Doctor Fish. They are these tiny fish swimming around in a giant spring that when you climb in they would come up and begin to eat the dead skin off your body. It’s a little weird at first, but once you get accustomed it begins to feel like a little massage and your skin is left feeling incredibly smooth.

The next morning we would be heading back to Shanghai, but not before a detour for a river cruise along Xin'anjiang River. The river looked like a mirror, completely reflecting all of the hills and villages we encountered along the way. We were treated to a couple stops where we would tour the local villages. In the last stop we were even treated to a show from local performers what included singing, dancing, and acting. Even our boat guide was pulled up on stage to sing a duet with the show host as well as newlyweds Faye and Greg to perform a traditional Chinese wedding ceremony. It was a slow day so we were the only people in the audience but that only made for a more enjoyable and personal experience. Following the show we would head back on the boat as we sail back towards our van an onwards back to Shanghai. What a great excursion

Huangshan (Part 1): The Peaks of Yellow Mountain

While we knew we wanted to see experience the history of Beijing and the glamour that is Shanghai, we had decided we wanted to visit someplace a little off the beaten path that is a little less travelled by the typical foreign tourist. After a lot of research and recommendations we had decided that Huangshan (or Yellow Mountain) would be that place. Yellow Mountain is about 5 hours outside of Shanghai so we booked a tour guide through a travel agency that would drive us and take us around. We’d be taking a 3 day tour that would include a hike up Yellow Mountain spending a night at the top and then another night in a local town around the area. None of us really knew a lot about the area other then it was a major inspiration for a large amount of Chinese artists.

We were picked up very early in the morning in a private mini-van that would be taking us on our trek to Yellow Mountain. It was eight of us plus driver (and luggage) so we ended up crammed into this van and the suspension was pretty poor which made for a fairly bumpy and uncomfortable trip. When we arrived we were met by our guide who gave us our instructions for the day. We were told to pack just for overnight and leave the rest in the car since it would be a long hike. We had the option to either take a 3 hour trek up the mountain followed by another 3 hrs once we got to the top or we could take a tram up to the top and just do the extra 3 hrs from there. Faye was pretty keen on taking the hike all the way up but after learning we’d likely miss a great sunset photo opportunity we decided back on the tram option. As we ascended up I think we made the right choice, the trek looked treacherous with a lot of ups and downs all the way up. I didn’t see anybody on any trails so I suspect this is a rarely chosen option. The view going up was absolutely breath-taking.

Our guide had taught us about the four wonders of Yellow Mountain as we headed up the 30 minute tram ride to the top. The first is the pine trees that grow out of the rocks. They seem like they have no reason existing on these mountains, but seeds fell into the crevices and they would grow, often with a crooked and downward angle growing branches only on one side. The second are the grotesque rock formations. These rocks have sparked the imaginations of visitors over the years, many of them being given names to represent shapes they form such as animals, people, birds, and even a cell phone. The third wonder is the Sea of Clouds which are very common and forever changing. The last wonder is the Huangshan Hot Springs which are free from sulphur and contains many trace elements beneficial to health.

The hike around the top of the mountain was fairly laid back. There are plenty of trails etched around throughout the mountain top and even a few hotels and homes. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking and unlike any sight I had ever seen in my life. The jagged rocks spotted with trees made it very clear why so many artists were drawn here. Throughout our hike around the top of the mountain our guide pointed out some of the more famous scenes, describing all the different images each shape is thought to represent.

Throughout the top of the mountain we saw locks locked up along fence rails as we saw throughout Russia. A few of us decided to partake this time and bought and signed a lock with our significant others, locked it to a rail, and tossed the key off the mountain. It was starting to get darker so we needed to keep the pace up for the next bit in order to check into our lodging and make it to our sunset lookout.

We’d be staying in a 2nd class room, which meant 4 bunk beds rather than 30 people all crammed in a room. Good enough for us. After a quick check-in we headed off another 20 minutes up the mountain where we’d catch our sunset. Everything was looking good, but as sunset drew near clouds started to form in so we got a fairly blocked sunset. Oh well, tomorrow morning we’re up at 4am to try to catch a sunrise.

Tomorrow ... local villages and hot springs!

ShangHai Knights

A few days back at dinner, we talked about how we are glad there is only one more train ride left on our trip. We ate our words hard when we hopped on the train from Beijing to Shanghai. It was like we had stepped into a space ship. Everything was white and really clean! Our bedding didn't smell musky and didn't itch to the touch. Every bunk had a TV with remote panel and headsets. We even had a hot water jug and garbage can. The washroom not only was open all the time, but also not the size of a tiny closet and didn't smell like pee. We didn't want to leave the train when we arrived in Shanghai in the morning.

Faye's cousin Sophia picked us up and took us to the hotel. Sophia had to go back to work and Faye had to play tour guide for the afternoon. After a short rest, we hopped on the metro and headed to the famous Shanghai Bund.

We walked through Nanjing Road to get to the Bund. Nanjing Road is like Robson St in Vancouver, but 20 times bigger with 50 times more people. As soon as we stepped onto the road, we were bombarded with "bag? t-shirt? belt? Gucci? LV?". Much like some shops in certain malls in Vancouver, these street hustlers have "secret" backrooms (or more like another world!) to showcase their wide variety of very well made designer fakes that bedazzles any tourist looking for a deal.

To our disappointment, when we reached the Bund, the area was all blocked off due to World Expo 2010 construction. We couldn't see anything other than the top of the Pearl through the dust. The Bund stretches one mile along the bank of the Huangpu River. Back in the day, this area was an international settlement which explained the various very European or Westernized architectural styles. Across the river is the PuDong Business District which provides the best skylines at night. After a very Shanghai dinner, we checked out the night scene from the PuDong and HuangPu River.

The next day was more shopping and food. We went to where we can do both: ChengHuang or City God Temple. It not only refers to the large temple complex, but also the traditional district of commerce in the city, surrounding the temple. There are over a hundred stores and shops in this area, and most of these store buildings are nearly a century old. The shops had every imaginable souvenir you can think of there from magnets, chopsticks, combs to personalized dough figurine. But no shot glasses to the disappointment of one of our travel mates. Lunch consisted of very yummy Dim Sum dishes. Faye's cousin suggested we give a seafood a try for dinner. Oh boy, are we glad they suggested that!

We arrived at the seafood street called TongBei Street (PuDong District). The whole street was nothing but seafood restaurants. Everything about this place was an instant sensory overload. The smell, sound and bright neon lights was China at its best. Buckets of live seafood are on display outside of the restaurants which you can just point and order your dinner. You can even get snakes! The restaurant we picked was called MangLingGe (满灵阁大宝海鲜排档). But due to overcrowding, we were seated almost right on the street next to our future dinner. When cars drove by us, couple of us had to get up to let it through. Faye's cousin ordered us drunken shrimp (yes, the shrimps were uncooked, but soaked in cooking wine and spice), clams, raw clams, snails, oysters, sea mushrooms, fish and so much more. All of us agreed that was the best meal we had in China. But that wasn't just a meal, it was an experience, the quintessential China experience. By the way, the bill came to 55o RMB (which is approx 90 CAD) that included dinner for 8, about 6 liters of beer and a bunch of soft drinks.

Tomorrow we wake up early for our trip to Yellow Mountain!

Beijing Part Deux

Day 3 in Beijing, we split into two groups. One group went to the Summer Palace and the other group went to the Old Summer Palace also known as Yuan Ming Yuan ("Gardens of Perfect Brightness"). Summer Palace is the most famous because it is the best preserved imperial garden. It is modelled to resemble Southern China scenery. Old Summer Palace was a bigger garden. However, most of it was burn to the ground in the 1860 during the Second Opium War by the British and French. The Palace is now a massive park with many man made ponds, bridges and of course, ruins and less tourists. Most of the ruins were in one area. It was very surprising to see a lot of European influenced structure once stood the ground here. Since it was an imperial garden built exclusively for the emperor, not very many people have seen the original glory of the garden. Now stone columns and archways laid broken and scattered. It is a true pity.

We had our second Peking Duck of the trip for lunch along with 10 or 15 other dishes. To walk off the lunch we had to do some much needed shopping at HongQiao and XiuShui Market! Shopping in China is an art form. It required one to be charming, tactful, strong and knowing regardless what happens you got ripped off. If a vendor gave you a price, you were to offer back at 20% of the vender's price. Then work your way back up a bit at most to 30%. After awhile, it became a fun game for everyone. When everyone met up after a few hours, we not only compare the goods we got, we compared tactics used and the final price we negotiated. Check out the panda hat we got for 20 RMB (=2.50 CAD)

On the way back from the XiuShui Market, we stopped by The Place, home to the 250 meter x 30 meter LED screen. It is just 3 meters shorter than the largest LED screen in the World which is located in Vegas. The thing cost $32 million, is 80 feet above the ground, and actually 5 separate screens combined.

We were tired of walking around. Hence, next day which was also our last day in Beijing, we decided to take a Hutong tour via rickshaw! Hutong is narrow alley ways that form SiHeyYuan or courtyard which family or families live in. Hutong is disappearing fast as Beijing becomes more modernised everyday. Many think they are unique to Beijing. They are pretty common around China and just called different names. The tour gave us a glimpse into how ordinary Beijinger lived. But we couldn't help feeling we were intruding.

We still had a lot of time to kill before our train ride to Shanghai. Faye's cousin decided to take us to another park called BeiHai Park. This one is an imperial garden too. How many gardens does one emperor need? The literal translation of the park name is Northern Sea park. From the back of the park , you can see the corresponding Central Southern Seas park which is the complex of buildings that houses China's paramount leaders. There is a dramastic contrast between the two parks. One full of tourists and the other one is empty with many guards surrounding the grounds.

In case of bad traffic, we arrived at the Beijing Train Station really early. What was there to do, but do more exploring of the neighbourhood. Beijing was great since no matter where you go in the city, there was something around to see! No wonder Faye's cousin was so proud of his city. We walked around the old city wall. We walked by a dog park and spotted a line of colourful stars in the sky. We didn't know what to make of them until we walked a little further down the road. It was a LED light kite! We stopped and spoke to the middle aged man who made and was flying the kite. He used cell phone batteries to power the LED lights that changed flashing patterns with a click of a tiny controller. The lights ensemble were glued onto a piece of small cardboard. It was the coolest thing ever!

Not wanting to leave Beijing, we made it onto the train to Shanghai 10 minutes before departure time.