I had always been very ambivalent about Canada. It had never occurred to me as a tourist destination. even though my son Shen-Yang had spent a year and a half in Toronto doing his subspecialist training under the world-renowned Movement Disorders authority Prof Anthony Lang. A coach tour Hwa and I did across America in 2018 did swing us across the border for us to spend a night in Niagara Falls. Probably influenced by her sister’s account of a journey she took earlier, Hwa decided that we should do a similar tour as well and duly signed up with Travel Marvel. We were supposed to do it in May 2019. COVID-19 struck, and the trip was cancelled.
The West’s behaviour towards China and Chinese that ensued changed my entire attitude towards them. Canada’s Justin Trudeau became one leader I despised greatly. To me, he has done two unforgiveable things to we Chinese – (a) bending to the US wishes and placed Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou under house arrest and (b) acting as a key Biden hoodlum to contain China. I was happy to forgo the trip.
But Hwa was keen; she rebooked the tour, even though I told her it was not a good idea. As a good husband, I let her have the final say. Maybe this was also an opportunity for me to see for myself first-hand what was wrong with countries that are under people like Trudeau?
We began our one-month tour beginning May 31.
The first leg of our tour comprised the sights and sounds of the east coast of Canada – Toronto, Kingston, Ottawa, Quebec, and Montreal. We then flew to Victoria to visit the west coast. I heard about towns like Whistler, Jasper, and Banff for the first time! We then switched to a two-day train ride to admire the Rockies before going to Vancouver to board Volendam, a-60,000 tonne cruise ship, that sailed us to Alaska and back. It made several port calls along the way.
We finally reached home on June 30!
Of course, the landscape, especially the majestic Rockies and several other mountain ranges (the names of which I have not bothered to take note), the glaciers and the temperate rain forests on both sides of Inside Passage along the Alaskan coast, was spectacularly awesome. But the cruise part was quite a torture to me; it was quite difficult for someone like me to kill time. We have indulged ourselves with a room that has a balcony. But the weather is cold and windy. No sooner had you opened the door to the balcony than you wanted to close it immediately. How ridiculous!
I told my wife two things after this trip: (a) No more month-long tours, and (b) No cruises that last more than three or four days!
Few things I would like to share with friends:
One, we were with a group that was organised by an Australia agency. Naturally, most of our fellow travelers are Aussies. We had joined such tour compositions and had not felt awkward or uncomfortable. However, in the wake of the West’s generally anti-China stances, we naturally became a little conscious of our differences with them – even though we look – no joking, really – more “atas” than most of them. I told my wife that this would be the last trip I would travel with Whites. (Hitherto, she preferred tours organised by western tour companies; her contention, and rightly so, was their tour guides are knowledgeable, and visits are usually more leisurely.)
Second, contrary to what I first feared, Canadians are by and largely friendly. The tour guides often joked about American’s ignorance and arrogance.
Canada is a huge country but has only a small population. While cities like Quebec and Ottawa here the heritage is still predominantly British or French, cities like Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver are becoming very cosmopolitan, and they are also being plagued by issues that come with such complexity. These cities are dirtier.
Three: We did not seem to see tourists from China. Those we saw in the cruise, I believe, are likely to be Hong Kong immigrants living in Canada. Yes, Chinatowns are still around, but Chinese presence is no longer that overwhelming now. (I did not know that the first Chinatown was established in Victoria!) I seemed to see more Koreans than Chinese there!
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| First Chinatown in Canada |
Instead, you see South Asians everywhere now. Soon, their politics will be dominated by them. (As it is, a very vocal politician in Canada is a Sikh.) A trend indicator: in the resort town of Banff, which is full of tourists, there are several Indian restaurants but only one Chinese restaurant that is decently enough to be called one.
India has surpassed China in terms of population numbers. Indians adapt to Western cultures and taste better than we Chinese. With their general ability to articulate well in English, political shots in the West will soon be called by Indians!
Four: The bulk of the service crew of Volendam is Indonesian. We exchanged pleasantries often; they speak good English.
Five: I would like to single out my disappointment with Vancouver. Homelessness is most glaring there. And drug addiction must be a big problem there. You see zombies on the streets and in the parks, and junkies in front of convenience stores looking at sympathetic shoppers to give them a dollar coin or two. They are not aggressive, though. (I thought Li Kah-shing had transformed Vancouver, but I did not get to see the results of any of his efforts! Shops look tired and many are closing down. The airport is quite third-world, really.)
Six: The tipping culture. Service providers expect 15% or more! Food is expensive. A simple meal, plus tips given, would cost more than 50 to 60 Canadian dollars!
Would I recommend friends to make a similar trip? No, unless you have run out of places to visit!
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