Totem Poles

Dear Hasan Basri,
In Vancouver Stanley Park near Brockton Point there are a group of Totem Poles made by Native Indians. A lot of people come to see them and attracted tourists from all over the world. The Totem Poles are sculptured from big trees, usually red cedar. The Totem Poles are storytelling, the carvings tell story about legends. Or it can be just as an artistic presentations. Europeans in 1700's misunderstood them as frightening statues that the natives are worshipping. But the Totem Poles are never object of worship. Construction of a totem pole never done in a modern method, but always in a traditional methods and with ceremonies, from getting the log from the forest, carving it and erecting it on site. Totem Poles are also used in building their traditional long houses as supporting beams. The traditional long houses are large houses that are occupied by many families. That reminded me of the traditional Batak's long houses in Sumatra, where some of the beams are carved and also occupied by many families. But Batak's traditional long houses are not desirable as living quarters in today's standard anymore, although many are still kept as monument to generation past, and also good for tourist attractions. There are many Native Indians tribe in British Columbia. The Totem Poles that are shown on photo are from the tribes of Kwakwaka'wakw, Hesquiat and Ditidaht. Mouthful aren't they.

Vancouver

Dear Udin Tarigan,
The City of Vancouver is named after a British explorer, Captain George Vancouver who came to explore Burrard Inlet in 1792. The Greater Vancouver population is 2.2 millions and is the largest metropolitan city in Western Canada. It was first settled in 1860's as a result of immigration caused by 1858 Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. But developed rapidly from a small lumber mill town into metropolitan centre following the arrival of transcontinental railway in 1887. Over the years since I arrived in Vancouver 26 years ago, I have grown to love the place. It is very beautiful, with Grouse Mountain and surrounding mountains as backdrops, deep sheltered harbour of Burrard Inlet and the lush green of Stanley Park. I watched it grow bigger and bigger into metropolitan city as it is now. I bear witness to many developments taken place. I was always eager to see and marvelled at the construction of major shopping malls from their early stages to their completions: Lansdowne, Coquitlam Centre, Park Royals, Metrotown, Guildford Town Centre, Aberdeen & Parker Places, Yaohan, Surrey Place. I was most impressed with the underground malls at city centre: Pacific Centre, Harbour Centre, Royal Centre and Waterfront Centre, at how they managed to dig large holes underground and built shopping malls.
I also watched with keen interest other major developments to make the city more pleasant place to work and live, the transit system. From electric trolley buses into zero emission low floor trolley and compressed natural gas buses. The one most awesome for me was the construction of the driver less remotely controlled elevated "Skytrain" system. I never got tired of watching them busy building station after station and the guided elevated rails in 1984 till it's completion to just before Expo86. From Surrey to New Westminster, to Burnaby, to Vancouver. The Skytrain was built primarily as a showcase for Expo86, where transportation and communication were the main theme. Expo86 was one catalyst that make Vancouver even greater than it was. The Canada Place Hotel and Convention Centre was built with Federal Government help to stage many conventions during the Expo. I was a proud participant at Expo86 as a volunteer and a ticket holder. Indonesia took part in that Expo, where they displayed their domestic satellite "Palapa" and a traditional boat building without the use of any nails. The Skytrain was expanded further to Lougheed and Brentwood Malls in Burnaby.
But with all the admiration I have with the transit system, to my surprise I seldom use the transit system myself, since going to places in your car is the most convenience way to do. But most people have the same idea, that make the roads seem to be always congested. Major new roads that I looked with keen interest were the widening of #1 freeway from Grandview Hwy to Port Mann Bridge to 6 lanes, and #91 Richmond-Annacis Hwy that continue to Alex Fraser Bridge and South. Fraser River runs from East to West and splits Lower Mainland in two, and bridges will have to be constructed. Alex Fraser Bridge and Arther Laing Bridge were constructed during my time, and both bridges take a lot of heavy traffic every day these days.
The construction of city skyscrapers also give change to its landscape. I saw many constructions of highrises at downtown Vancouver: The Scotia Tower, HSBC Tower, Vancouver Sun Tower, Sheraton Wall Tower, Shaw Tower, WestinBayshore Inn and the many high rise condominiums at Coal Harbour. The Expo land where Expo86 took place, became central to the development of high rise condominiums as well, that always attracted my attention every time I passed by. They are my head turner. But many people think they are an eyesore, a concrete jungle that we can do with less or without.
And when the city is getting bigger, then crimes seem to be just want to tag along and become a headache to the police and the authorities. It is a problem to many cities in North America. Some bigger problems than others for sure. Problems like illicit drugs, burglary, robbery, murder, prostitution. Not to mention with Gangsters, that poses more problematic. There are the Latino gangsters, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Chinese. I am always grateful that the authorities somehow managed to deal with the situation. There is one sore point in the Downtown Eastside area, it is shabby, run down buildings and full of the undesirables, mostly problems with drugs, prostitution and homelessness. Some of them former patients from Riverview Hospital, that can't deal with living by themselves anymore. With the re-construction of Woodward building to trendier shops and residentials, many hopes that the area will become a better place for everybody, especially Chinatown businesses just next to it that have been subjected to this for so long.
Some cities in the world have their own distinct landmark, like San Francisco with it's Golden Gate Bridge, Sydney with it's Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Vancouver has it's Lions Gate Bridge and The Sail at Canada Place. But for me the true landmark is the Stanley Park, the 1000 acres of lush green park close to downtown core. You can play tennis, pitch & putt golf, baseball, cricket; do swimming, cycling and also hiking at many trails that criss-crossing the park surrounded by tall cedar, hemlock and fir trees. In summer I particularly like riding my bike from where I live going through Coal Harbour Seawall, to Stanley Park and back via English Bay. It is a good 3 hours bike ride over 30 km distance, with many stops along the way.
Now many people excited about the coming of 2010 Winter Olympics to Vancouver, which will be staged in Whistler and Vancouver. You can see Vancouver is booming, always busy with constructions of sport facilities, road expansions and new transit lines to airport.

Riverview Hospital

Dear Dr Titi Sulastri,
You probably are interested to know how people with mental disorder being treated here in Vancouver. They are being taken care of in the Provincial Government "Riverview Hospital" located in Coquitlam. The hospital provides specialized treatment and rehabilitation for patients ages 18 and older. General Hospitals usually have a small unit to take care of temporary stay psychiatric patients. If the patients become unmanageable, too aggressive for example, then a Psychiatrist will refer them to Riverview Hospital to stay for further assessments. The hospital opened in 1913 on 1000 acres of crown land, by using British hospital as a model of operation. It was originally designed for 1800 patients, housed in several buildings that were constructed in stages. The first building was called "West Lawn" built in 1913. Then "Centre Lawn" in 1924, "East Lawn" 1930, "Crease Clinic" 1934, "North Lawn" 1955 and "Valleyview" in 1959. "Pennington Hall" was constructed in 1950 to provide recreational facilities for the patients. Patients population peaked in 1951 to 4630. Incredible isn't it.
The patients are grouped together in wards that have similar type of illness and according to ages to better coordinate their program of treatments. They are divided into "adult programs" for ages 18-64, and "geriatric programs" for 65 and older. The type of mental illness are based according to the terminology of psychiatric and psychoactive substance use disorders that are classified in the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual DSM-IV".
Wards to include in the "adult programs" are: acute assessment and treatment units (wards located at Centre Lawn), psychiatric intensive care unit (ward E4/East Lawn), refractory psychosis unit (ward F2B/East Lawn), neuropsychiatry units (wards S2&N3/North Lawn), and rehab/community preparation units (Brookside and Leeside buildings).
The "geriatric programs" with wards in: neuropsychiatry geriatric unit (ward S3/North Lawn), geriatric acute and treatment unit (N2/North Lawn), psychotic and affective disorder treatment units (2X&2Y/Valleyview), acute aggressive behaviour rehabilitation units (N1/North Lawn), behaviour stabilization units (wards 3X&3Y/Valleyview) and psycho geriatric extensive treatment units (4X&4Y/Valleyview).

Those are all jumble of words in psychiatric terms. Schizophrenia is the most common type of mental illness, both genetically or drug induced, and many of the programs above are connected in some ways with this illness. The electroconvulsive therapy "ECT" treatments are used at the hospital for patients with severe cases of depression both unipolar and bipolar with some success, but it is always a controversial issue. There is a motto written on the hospital ground that says "transforming mental illness into mental wellness". I think it is more of a clise than anything else, because majority of the patients will never become mental wellness again, due to the severity of their illness. Most of the patients are very long terms.
In 1995 there was a plan to close the hospital. A committee was formed to study and prepare for a replacement. But that was only it, a plan. There were opposition to the hospital closure from strong union employees and from patients' relatives. Also the cost of building a hospital was very expensive, and with the government at that time running a large deficit, they decided not to proceed with the closure. But in 2004 a new government of anti labour union was in power, and the hospital closure was inevitable. A committee already made a recommendation to decentralize the mental hospital into smaller hospitals located in various geographical areas. So the government speed up the closure, as the budget now is easier to manage. Many patients have been moved to new smaller facilities nearer to where they come from. Many buildings at Riverview Hospital are already closed, the patients there are now numbered in the hundreds, and eventually will be completely closed. The large track of crown land now sitting in the desirable booming Coquitlam, will become a source of fund to the Provincial Government, ostensibly to pay for the new facilities.

Vermilion Pass

Dear Wahban Wibisono,
About 600 km from Vancouver, just at the border between the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, there is this place called Vermilion Pass. It is part of highway #93 that connect Kootenay Region and Banff in Alberta. It is coincidentally at the border of Kootenay and Banff National Parks. There is no significant building or statue at the site, except for a simple plaque on a stone and a wooden sign in a hastily made small park as shown on this photo. The Vermilion Pass is 1700 m above sea level and has a lot of precipitations. It is situated at the peak of Rocky Mountains Continental Divide. The Rocky Mountains, kind of similar to the "Pegunungan Bukit Barisan" in Sumatra, extend North to Alaska and South to New Mexico in the States. The amazing part about this site is that, any rains that drop to the left on this photo, will "have to" go to the Atlantic Ocean in the East, omigosh, that is 4000 km away. And rains that drop to the right side will go to the Pacific Ocean, 600 km West. In 1858 a British Captain John Palliser led an expedition to Western Canada, split his team in two, and gave his geologist Dr James Hector in charge to map out this area that was very much unknown territory at that time. James Hector then noticed the unusual phenomenon of the site. He gave the name "vermilion" which meant ochre color, the color of clays that were found on the B.C. side of the pass, and used by native to make paint. Probably they should have given the name "Hector Pass" in his honor. When I stopped at this place, as I drove from Radium Hot Springs on my way to Banff, it was pouring rains. And I really could see the rain water that drop to the left, all flowing to the left side to eventually join Altrude Creek to start the journey somehow to the Atlantic. The ones that drop to the right all flowing to join Vermilion River for the journey to the Pacific.

The Grouse Grind

Dear Sumihal br Sembiring,
Last summer Debra and I went to North Vancouver, which is a half hour drive away, to climb "The Grouse Grind". The Grouse Grind is a very steep uphill incline trail, an ascend of 800 metres over only 3 km distance. It is a difficult trail, but very popular for hikers. Certainly it is not for the faintest of hearts. You need to be fit and have a lot of energy and perseverance. You need to have surefooted too, because one misstep can have dire consequences. In summer the trail is crowded with hikers, mostly by young people or people young at hearts. The trail most of the time is narrow, so authority has strongly advised hikers to go one way up only, and to come down by skyride gondola. It took us 2 hours to reach the top with countless stops in between. You could see us on the photo shown here, gasping for air after reaching the summit, totally exhausted but happy because of "mission accomplished". The view of Vancouver from the top of Grouse Mountain was magnificent. You can see Lions Gate bridge, Stanley Park, the city skyline and in the distance to the right was the Endowment Land where the University of British Columbia located. That day the weather was really nice and warm. It was no wonder why there were so many people up there. Most of people coming up by the skyride gondola. After having lunch at the Grouse Mountain restaurant "Observatory", we went for a tour of the ski resort, a "bird of prey" demonstration show, a tram ride going up and down a ski hill, a bear and wolf refuge areas and a lumberjack show. We also watched the helijet took off and landed with visitors departures and arrivals. There were quite a number of wooden sculptures mostly about wildlife, displayed around the place. Coming down from "The Grouse Grind" was the easiest part, just step into the skyride gondola and enjoy the view. A little too crowded perhaps, but the view was spectacular.
PS. The food at the "Observatory" was pricey but delicious.

Buntzen Lake

Dear Banta Tarigan,
There is this pristine place near Anmore, a suburb of Vancouver, a 45 minutes drive away from where I live, called Buntzen Lake. It is very popular place for summer recreation between June-September: picnic, hiking and canoeing. It is so popular that sometimes it has to be closed for later arrivals. There is no entry fee. In 1903 the first Lower Mainland hydro electric power station was built 1/2 km away to tap in energy from the lake. But many other hydro electric dams were built somewhere else ever since, so that now Buntzen Lake is more important for an attractive recreation area for public enjoyment. I come here a few times every summer, mostly for hiking. You can walk around the lake, up and down terrains, through wooded trails and surrounded by tall cedar trees, in less than 2 hours. And that will be good enough for your heart and lungs the exercise they need in a clean and fresh environment.

Space exploration

Dear Bachtiar Abbas,
Recently I went to a seminar at the University of British Columbia, that was attended by 5 astronauts from NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). It was a discussion about "the need of humans instead of artificial intelligence in space exploration". All 5 astronauts including Mr. Ulf Merbold shown here (an astronaut from West Germany and a physicist by trade), gave a short speech about the topic. Some with well design chart and visual display to dramatize their reasonings. Needless to say that they were all "pro" (as oppose to "con"), that humans need the "hands on" expertise in space exploration. There was a 30 minutes "question and answer" period after the speeches.
The "con" is that, with the rapid advancement in artificial intelligence technology, a robotic can be made to do all the necessary task in space exploration in a very harsh environment. So why risk human. What do you think?