Identical Twins

I’ve finally found an internet cafe so here’s an update….

Keri and her family very nicely let me stay at their house for a couple of nights in Cloverdale. I chilled out with Ryan (Keri’s Brother) and watched some Hockey and Basketball in the basement. Ryan taught me all the rules of the games which was helpful –

It was great timing because the Cloverdale Rodeo was on so I went along with Keri, Kath (Keri’s Mom) and Al Joe Bear (Keri’s Dad). Cloverdale Rodeo is the second biggest in North America after the Calgary Rodeo apparently. Here is a shot of a cowboy with some action going on behind –

I guess this is the cowboy’s version of a surfing wipeout –

This is the rodeo running into the night time with a lovely evening cloud. They had Rodeo Clowns at the Rodeo which I thought was pretty cool, straight out of the Jack Johnson songs –

Afterwards we walked around the Rodeo and had a look at all the rides. There was also an animal pen where they had lots of different farming animals, including a bull which was no joke 6ft high and about 12ft long, the biggest bull I’ve ever seen. There was also some cute little goats and sheep as well as some tiny horses. Keri thought they would make good friends for Croney Baloney (their cat) but that is not going to happen because they never let it out of the house (unless it is on a lead).

The next day Keri and I headed to Crescent Beach to have a look at the lovely scenery and also take a look at some of the nice houses that are down there, they are really very expensive though!! Here is the view from Cresent Beach-

We got back in time for Al Joe Bear’s BBQ where he cooked Prawns and Scallops as well as some vegetables. It was beautiful and very tastey, the most healthiest thing I have eaten in Canada so far!! That night we went out to a place called Langley because Ryan had to take pictures of the bar for the newspaper he works for. Keri, Ryan, Ryan’s girlfriend and myself headed down there for a few drinks. It was a pretty cool bar for a place that was in the middle of nowhere. Lots of girls dancing on the dance floor and not a guy in site, brilliant!! Although most of them looked like cowgirl rednecks. Here I am enjoying a lovely Canadian lager (they really are good lagers in Canada, much better than Australia and England) –

The next day I headed back to Vancouver to meet Julie, Doug, Sean, Heather and Maggie at a really nice breakfast bar in Yale Town. I had some lovely Crepes with raspberries it was beautiful. Here we are at the breakfast table –

Afterwards Julie, Doug, Maggie and myself went on a driving tour around Stanley Park, which was great because its the biggest city park I’ve ever been in and would have taken me ages to walk around (plus it would have probably been raining). Here is the North Shore with a huge boat coming into dock –

That night I went out with Keri for the last time and we had a nice Tandoori Pizza and watched the film ‘Neopolean Dynamite’ which is pretty funny. I had a great time in Vancouver it was really cool.

Of course there’s the obligatory video. It contains footage at Wendy’s after a night in Langley, a collection of Starbuck photos backed with some ‘G.Love and Special Sauce’ (that’s a real band FYI) and then a Shania Twain cover.

Now I am in Halifax Nova Scotia and it is surrounded in trees. It definetly has a severe weather problem. I started this trip in the 42 degree weather of India and ending it in 0 degree wind chills of the East Coast of Canada –

I am staying at Diane and Biman’s house in Bedford. It is very nice and today Diane took me to the beach to see the Atlantic Ocean. My hands were numb from the freezing winds and I had to wear two coats and a pullover but I managed to snap some of the beautiful swell that was coming into the beach. I so wanted to get out there, but the freezing cold weather was a real off putter –

I also saw this sign on the main surfing beach (which didn’t have as good surf as where I took the picture above), I agree with the beware of cold it is absolutely freezing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! —

We visited the North Shore of Nova Scotia where we visited Grand Pre, a place where the French speaking people were forced to leave Canada and made to go to United State of the Americas. I can’t think of anything worse. This is the Church of Evangeline which was built after some lady that alerted the French speaking people that they were about to be forced to go to USofA. It is very beautiful, although we got chased off the premises because we were not wearing stickers saying we had paid to be there. Here is the Church, notice the French flag –

We then headed to a little town and then took a back street to the beach where we discovered this home –

We then had a lovely dinner in Kentville where I tried Fried Ice Cream. Yum.