Ballroom Dancing

Dear Dave Jones,

I started ballroom dancing seriously in 2000 kind of my resolution for the new millennium. I met an Englishman through a running club, and asked me whether I was interested in ballroom dancing. I said yes, so I joined him in a ballroom dancing class one day in the afternoon. It was at "Danny's Dance Studio" at E.Pender, Vancouver. I was very surprised when I found out that the lesson was given in Chinese, that both of us did not understand. I asked why in Chinese, he just chuckled and said that he could not find other place taught in English. Since I already paid must as well do it. There were 10 students, and we were the only male students. I thought this was my first and my last lesson in ballroom dancing.

The next time I met him again he said that he found a place where they teach ballroom dancing in English, and there were social dancing afterwards. So he suggested to try there at "Astorino" dancing hall at Venables and Commercial. They give free lessons every Sunday evenings, follow by social dancing after the lesson. The lesson was in English, easier to follow because the lady teacher and her lady partner taught beginner class only as to attract new dancers to the club.
From there on every time I was free on Sunday evenings I went there and learnt ballroom dancing. And the Englishman was always there, a very enthusiastic student dancer. He worked days and free in the evenings, so he joined other dancing lessons in many other dancing clubs. Evidently there were quite a number of dancing halls around Lower Mainland. At the beginning, we stayed only for the lesson and then went home, because we were not confident enough to ask a woman to dance.

There are 2 types of International Ballroom Dancing, Standards and Latins.
There are 5 that are categorized as Standards: Slow Waltz, Tango, Quickstep, Foxtrot and Viennese Waltz. And there are also 5 that are categorized as Latins: Rumba, Cha-cha, Jive, Samba and Paso-Doble. They are enjoyed by people around the world both as socially as recreational activities and competitively as a sport. International Organizing Committee of the Olympic, has recognized ballroom dancing as a competitive sport. But the inclusion of it to the Olympic seemed unlikely, because they decided that the Olympic is becoming too large, and is going to reduce the number of sports instead.
I joined ballroom dancing for the recreational activities only. I usually manage to dance 3 Sundays a month. Each of the above dances Standards and Latins, have many variations in movement choreographed by the teacher depending on the levels. There are levels of Beginner, Bronze I & II, Silver and Gold. To be able to dance, one has to master at least the Beginner level. And at "Astorino" which give Beginner lesson 1 per month, it took me 10 months to learn all the Beginner level of the Ballroom Dancing. From then on, we were not afraid anymore to ask a woman to dance, especially that we knew already some of them during lessons. It is a good idea to have a regular dance partner, probably in the same level of skill too.

Not long after I finished my Beginner level, I met a partner of the same level with me. Needles to say that I enjoyed ballroom dancing more than ever. We partnered for more than a year. But because of her work schedules and mine many times hard to adjust we kind of met less and less until she said that she found someone else as a dancing partner, and that was that. The last time I heard from her that she was getting married. But I still go dancing with some friends, and I am in the Bronze II level now, kind of my maximum level.

Photo shown are me and my partner, a version of "Hockneyizer" photos, which creates a unique photo collage in the style of the artist David Hockney. (See my collections of photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/van8)

Nanaimo 3

Dear Jimmy Tarigan,

I went to Nanaimo recently and boarded the "Queen of Cowichan" from Horseshoe Bay similar to this "Queen of Surrey" that departed a few minutes earlier to Langdale, Sunshine Coast.






Many smaller islands between Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. It was a pleasant 1 hour 45 minutes ferry ride to Nanaimo with beautiful views of the Strait of Georgia.






Small boats like this one often seen along the way, taking advantage of good sunny day for sailings.







Sunset at North Nanaimo where I was staying.








I stayed at my good friends Mr & Mrs Li's.








Nanaimo was also busy building the terminal for super ferry the "Coastal Renaissance" that was forthcoming.







On my way back to Vancouver, I boarded the "Queen of Coquitlam" shown here just arrived at Nanaimo from Horseshoe Bay.







The back thrust of the propeller for braking system of the ferry creating a turbulent water around the terminal.







Then cars and foot passengers were ready to board for Vancouver.






Evidently the "Queen of Cowichan" that I boarded from Horseshoe Bay was not sailing and under repair in Nanaimo.









And so was the "Queen of Esquimalt" under repair. No wonder the ferry schedules were out of whack.







Life buoy at the entrance to the Nanaimo terminal, and the many islands in the Strait of Georgia in the distance.







"Queen of Capilano" was leaving for Bowen Island. That meant the Horseshoe Bay terminal was near.







"Queen of Coquitlam" arrived at Horseshoe Bay terminal. The water there churning again due to braking system of the ferry.







Arrived at Downtown Vancouver, corner of Burrard and Georgia.

Victoria, B.C.

Dear Rosminta br Saragih,

Recently I went to visit Victoria. Victoria is the capital of British Columbia and is located in Vancouver Island, about 1 1/2 hours driving and 1 1/2 hours ferry ride from where I live. I boarded the "Queen of Saanich", a large ferry that can carry 360 cars and 1700 passengers. With 300 000 population it is the second largest city in B.C.

In April 1778 Captain James Cook, a British explorer, landed on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Subsequent to that in March 1843 James Douglas of the Hudson Bay's company set up a trading post in "Camosack" which then changed .
name to "Victoria" after the name of Queen of England. Victoria is a tourist place, more than 3.6 million visitors per year. Because of its temperate climate many retired Canadians settled in Victoria. A lot of things you can do and see there. Since I came only for a short visit, I can only do a few things. I walked along the sea wall of the inner harbor, checking all the activities there. There was a whale watching boat tour just departing, fishermen mending their netting, restaurants crowded with patrons, street musicians playing their beats and people looking at all the vendors selling arts and other paraphernalia. There were a lot of visitors
coming in from the U.S.A.
There was a statue made of some kind of reinforced plastic standing near the water. I was quite impressed with the detail of construction, and in the process of taking a picture. But the statue moving ever slowly toward my lady friend and hold her shoulder to pose. We had a big startled laughter. The statue was a real living person inside, and he was called a "performance artist", that can stay motionless in uncomfortable position for extended period. The container on the feet asking for your donations probably giving him away unnoticed.

I also visited the BC Parliament building, and it
has quite a story. It
was designed by a young 25 year old Architect Francis Rattenbury with no experience, but got help a lot from his Architect uncle. It was completed in 1897 after 5 years construction, and 100% over budget. He also designed many Victorian style building after that: The Empress Hotel, The Government House and The Crystal Garden all in Victoria. And also Vancouver Art Gallery, and courthouses in Vancouver, Nanaimo and Nelson. Most of them not on time and over budget, a common practice in that time. I went to a 30 minutes tour to the inside of the Parliament building. A guide explained the working areas of the Politicians from the ruling Liberal government and the NDP oppositions.
I went to see "Fisherman's Wharf" by riding a small ferry and checked the inner harbor from the water. It is the place where fisherman tied their boats during off season.
I also went to see "Craighdarroch Castle", a historic Victoria-era mansion built in 1890 by a coal and shipping baron Robert Dunsmuir. He was the first millionaire in BC history or could be a multi billionaires in today's comparison. the 39 rooms castle occupied 20,000 square feet of floor space. But he never moved in to occupy the castle because he died in 1889 a year before the castle was completed.

I also stopped at "mile 0" the starting point of the Trans Canada Highway, the Federal-Provincial Highway system that joins all the 10 provinces of Canada: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Foundland. The construction of the Highway was started in 1950 and was opened in 1962, a 7820 km long starting from Victoria in the west and ending to St.John in the east.

Photo (top): Performance Artist at "Inner Harbour", Victoria.
Middle1: BC Parliament Building, Victoria.
Middle2: Craighdarroch Castle, Victoria.
Bottom: "Mile 0" of the Trans Canada Highway, Victoria.

Butchart Gardens

Dear Jimmy Tarigan,
Butchart Gardens is located in Vancouver Island, about 22 km north of Victoria. It is a 55 acres of floral display. In 1904 Mr & Mrs Butchart with the help of landscape consultant and landscape artist produced the Gardens as it is today. And in 2004 when it was celebrating in bloom for 100 years was also designated National Historic Site of Canada. Last June 10,2007 I and 2 of Tan's family from Nanaimo went to visit the Gardens, about 2 1/2 hour drive away. The entry fee was $23/person including parking. We brought some lunch from home and had lunch first before we started our tour. There are 7 main important of
features of the Gardens worth visiting: The Piazza, Sunken Garden, Rose Garden, Japanese Garden, Star Pond, Italian Garden and the Mediterranean Garden. You can see flowers and flowers everywhere, and they were all beautifully arranged. The Piazza is the entrance area, kind of a lobby of a hotel. There are cafe and restaurant, souvenir store, washrooms, water wheel and the lucky "wild boar" bronze statue. Of the 7 features we liked the most 5 of them:
The Sunken Garden, Rose Garden, Japanese Garden and the Italian Garden. Because we spent most of our times there and took lots of pictures. That day was a Sunday, and there
were so many people come to visit, and many come by buses too.
The Sunken Garden is the starting point, the biggest and the largest from all of them. There is a mound, a small hill in the centre of the Sunken Garden and at the far end is the large fountain in the centre of a large pond.
The Rose Garden was very popular. The Rose Garden "is home to 2500 roses in 250 varieties", and was the only part of Butchart Gardens that in which the plants were labelled. There were too many people that it was hard to take close up pictures of the roses. I should think that they should make the footpath much wider.
The Japanese Garden is full of greenery creates a feel of tranquil, with creeks, ponds and bridges.
The Italian Garden is very open, wide pathways with pond and fountain.
We finished the tour in about 3 hours.

Photo(top): The Piazza, main entrance area with the "wild boar" statue.
Middle1: Sunken Garden with the Fountain.
Middle2: Rose Garden.
Middle3: Japanese Garden.
Bottom: Italian Garden.

Hell's Gate

Dear Dany Tarigan,
Hell's Gate is located near Boston Bar on Trans Canada Highway #1, about 250 km from Vancouver. When British Explorer Simon Fraser reached here in 1808 he called "awesome gorge", but at the same time was his "greatest challenge" because of the difficulty in passing through during his expedition. Here the mighty Fraser River has to pass a 35 m narrow gorge, and creates a very strong rapid that is too fast for salmon to go upstream to spawn. Fraser River is best known as the North America's greatest salmon stream. Five species of salmon run the Fraser to spawn: chinook, chum, coho,
pink and sockeye. But with joint effort between USA and Canada, the "International Fishways" were constructed and opened in 1945. The salmon survival rates was much improved since then.

In 1971 the Hell's Gate Airtram was built for public transportation to the Fishways, as it was set for tourist destination. There are 2 trams in operation, and they both move at the same time, one from the top end and the other from the lower end, as both are connected to the same cable. It is open for public between April - October. Access to the Fishways is only by the
Airtram. It takes about 3 minutes tram ride each way for a distance of 345 m, and a vertical drop of 160 m. These are the things you can do and see: fisheries exhibit, suspension bridge and observation decks, interpretive signage, Salmon House Restaurant, a fudge factory, a cafe, a souvenir shop, gold panning and watching the fishways and the rapids.

I have visited Hell's Gate a few times in the past. The last time I went there was in 2003. It took about 3 hours drive from Vancouver to get there, following Highway #1 past Hope going along the deep and treacherous Fraser Canyon. Highway #1 that traverses along the Canyon was built basically along the Gold Rush trail of 1860's from Fort Langley to Cache Creek. It was an engineering feat in road constructions, and necessitated building tunnels in 5 places because of the steep mountain cliffs. At Hell's Gate, half way down from the level of Highway #1 and the Fishway there are 2 railway tracks, one on the east side of the river belongs to the Canadian Nationals (CN), and one on the west side belongs to the Canadian Pacific Railways (CPR). Both tracks are also engineering feats in construction, because the railroads cling precariously to both sides of the steep cliffs of the Canyon. British Columbia joined the Confederation in 1871 with a promise of railroad being built to join with Eastern Canada within 10 years. But because of difficult terrain of Fraser Canyon, the last spike for the CPR line was driven in November 7, 1885, 4 years late. It was considered as one of the most remarkable engineering epic of Canadian achievement. CN railway tracks were completed much later in 1913.

Top photo: Observation Deck and the Airtram. Suspension Bridge on the background.
Middle: The "Fishways" on the left bank of the Fraser River, and the Rapid.
Bottom: Suspension Bridge looking across to the Observation Deck. It is used for emergency only, if airtram is malfunction for example. The CN tracks is just 10 m away. There is a steep trail going up to Highway #1 above.

Tallest Building

Dear Mustakim Abdurrauf,
The tallest building in Vancouver is the "Sheraton Wall Centre" at 1088 Burrard Street, with 48 floors and a height of 150 m. The first 27 floors of the building are a 4.5 star "Sheraton" hotel. The next 3 floors from 28-30 are the "Club Intrawest Resort", and the remaining 17 floors are residential condominiums. As shown on photo, the tallest building is the tall building just behind the white domed roof of the BC Place stadium. Second tallest building in Vancouver is the "Shaw Tower", hidden behind tall buildings at centre, because it was built on the lower elevation at Coal Harbour with 41 floors and 149 m high. And still under construction is the "Living Shangri-La" at 1120 West Georgia, with scheduled completion in 2008, with 62 storeys and a height of 197 m, will be the newest tallest building in Vancouver.

But these are insignificant if compared with other tallest building in the world. According to the "Council of Tall Building and Urban Habitat (CTBUH)", an international organization based in Chicago, USA, in their last "World Congress" meeting in 2006 determined that the tallest building in the world today are:
1."Taipei 101" in Taiwan. Completed in 2004, with 101 floors and a height of 508 m.
2."Petronas Tower" in Malaysia. Completed in 1998, with 88 floors and a height of 452 m.
3."Sears Tower" in Chicago. Completed in 1974, with 108 floors and a height of 442 m.
4."Jin Mao Tower" in Shanghai. Completed in 1998, with 88 floors and a height of 421 m.
5."Two International Finance Centre" in Hongkong. Completed in 2003, with 88 floors and 415 m.
The former "World Trade Centre (WTC)" in New York, with 110 floors and a height of 417 m, was used to be the tallest building in the world when it was completed in 1973. As we all know, that the WTC was destroyed by terrorist attack in September 11, 2001.
The "Jakarta Tower" which is still under construction with scheduled completion in 2009 with a height of 558 m will be the tallest building in the world. But hang in there for a minute, the "Center of India Tower" in Katangi, India with scheduled completion in 2008, with a height of 677 m, will surpass Jakarta Tower by a big margin. And not only that "Burj Dubai" tower in Dubai, United Arab Emirates with scheduled completion in 2009, with a height of 808 m, will surpass all of the above and will become the tallest building in the world. But the race for the tallest building in the world doesn't stop there and still more to come.

There are plans to build "Marjan Tower" in Bahrain with 200 floors and a staggering height of 1022 m, with a plan designed by a company from Denmark, and "Mubarak al-Kabir Tower" in Kuwait with a height of 1001 m. It sounds crazy and incredibly mind boggling. With the collapsed of WTC by terrorist attack I wonder whether it is really worth the risk to live and congregate large numbers of people in a single tall building. And also it will come down to huge amount of money available and the strain to the engineering technology to design such task. But they think they figured them all, so we have to just wait and see.

Meanwhile here in Vancouver, where real estate is so plentiful, there is no reason why they should build ever higher and higher.
Photo: "Sheraton Wall Centre", the tallest building in Vancouver. A view from my jogging route.

Chestnut Trees

Dear Harry Hutapea,
This is East 10th Avenue in Vancouver East. Both sides of the street are lined up with mature chestnut trees, tall and majestic to 15 m high. They are deciduous trees, which mean that they are leafless during winter as shown on top photo. I pass by this street every time I do jogging. The trees form a canopy or an umbrella, and feel pleasant whenever I jog by. I took these photos at 2 different times in the last few months:

Top photo was taken last March 2,2007. The trees were without leaves.
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Middle photo was taken from the same spot 2 1/2 months later in May 25,2007. The trees were full of leaves and blooms.
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Bottom photo shows the chestnut tree with it's white blooms.

The blooms will turn into spiny fruits and fall to the ground around November. I picked some of them last year, and inside each fruit there were 2-3 chestnuts. You can boil the chestnuts and eat, or you can also have the "chestnuts roasting on an open fire....." like it says in a Christmas song. But I gave them away to my neighbour.