Fireplace or Barbecue?

 

It is mid-May. We had switched off the gas fireplace a while back; however, now that the long weekend in Canada is nearly here, I felt the need to light it again. This morning the temperature felt cold and it's still only 9°C (48°F) and remains overcast and rainy. Tonight the temperature will drop just a couple of degrees lower, but the sun is not expected to appear at all until tomorrow morning. 

Yet, get ready to fire up the barbecue because Victoria Day arrives on Monday, May 18th, as a statutory holiday that guarantees a three-day weekend across British Columbia! Originally established way back in 1845 to celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday, this historic Monday became a fixed, nationwide holiday by an act of the Parliament of Canada in 1901 following her passing. It has happily transformed into Canada’s undisputed, unofficial kickoff to the summer season, especially after 1952, when the government smartly decreed it would always fall on the Monday preceding May 25th. 

This paid day off is officially celebrated in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Yukon, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories. In these regions, it remains the cherished long weekend where Canadians enthusiastically dust off the patio cushions, unpack the camping gear, and boldly embrace the Great Outdoors to welcome the warm weather ahead. This makes it the absolute perfect excuse to settle in, relax, and celebrate a joyful start of the summer roadmap in style, even though we will most likely require umbrellas again in 2026.

An 1886 Map of the Former British Empire

 

It's a three-day weekend in Canada.  Today's Victoria Day.  I figured I could repost this map.  You may click on this image from 1886 to load a larger version from my Flickr account. Appreciation is in its details.  Zoom in to look more closely.  Jay and I have visited and stayed in many locations of the former British Empire.

The Queen's Funeral Day

I took the following photo because I was at our city hall to use one of the two Level 2 EV chargers available to the public there.  We are going to head over to the Okanagan as the weather is so very nice.  I wanted to get a full charge as we'll probably stay in Penticton, BC which is 400 km (250 miles) from New Westminster.

I noticed the flags were half mast at the New Westminster City Hall.  That was to acknowledge today's funeral of Queen Elizabeth.  Our city was named by Victoria, her great-great-grandmother, as a reference to a favourite part of London.  For decades our city has also been known as 'the Royal City'.

I knew I could find a photo of the same building with the former Queen in front of it.  This photo was taken a few steps from where mine was.  It shows one of the Queen's visits to the area in 1971.  This occasion was 27 years before we moved here.

How Many Meters from the Front Door?

THREE:   Day 51 - Bird feeders are for more than the birds, at least this one is.  Both evening fruit bats and three-striped palm squirrels are welcomed.

ONE-HUNDRED FIFTY:  This is the Old Kottawa Road. The sidewalk is much improved since our last visit.   Further along, new traffic lights have made the intersections much safer.  This spot is only half the distance as the crow flies.  One must walk to the end of Rupasiri Mawatha and around the Mirihana Police Station to this location by the front.

TWO-HUNDRED AND FIFTY:  This is simply a small shop and happens to be where Jay's elder sister generally buys her bananas.  We passed this before sunset yesterday as we took a four-kilometer walk to the main junction of Nugegoda, Sri Lanka and back to the house.

FOUR HUNDRED:  This marker has been buffed off and reinstalled on a base due to the road work and the addition of traffic lights.  It is known as the Jubilee Post and was added in 1887 for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.  Today's entry updates an earlier blog reference from December 2019.  

New Westminster is 'The Royal City'

Sometimes, even when I have only my phone, a photo opportunity smacks me in the face. Today, I marvelled at this rather crooked tree as we took a short walk in Queen's Park. 

   

Like so many great things in the old British Empire, our city's flagship space was formally opened in June of 1887, the year of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.  It must have been an exhilarating era to experience.

As my phone was no longer in my pocket, I managed these photos in our municipal park today too.  We just wanted to enjoy the clear cold morning before some uptown shopping.

 

Jubilee Post

Day 36 - On the 20th of June 1887, Queen Victoria was sitting on the throne of an industrious, burgeoning empire. In her 50 years as Queen, she had rebuilt the monarchy and was, at that point in time, overseeing the most powerful nation on the globe.

I found a copy of this world map published in time for her Golden Jubilee. I found it at the website of the Cornell University Library in a category labelled PERSUASIVE CARTOGRAPHY: The PJ Mode Collection. (You should be able to open it in a new window by clicking. You may enjoy taking a closer look at the excellent image.)


Imperial Federation Map of the World
Showing the Extent of the British Empire in 1886
If one zooms in, he/she can clearly see the importance of Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, although a speck compared to India to the north. British administrators in Ceylon, as a commemoration for Victoria's 50 years on the throne, erected a tiny post at the end of a highway. Jubilee post sits about a half kilometer from where I'm typing this in Nuguegoda.

The post is pretty much ignored now and the stone has been painted an unimpressive white. One errant bus could easily demolish it. It is a bit sad that it garners so little attention being such an important historical, world marker.

Therefore, perhaps it's fitting that as I tried to snap a photo today in Nugegoda, a 3-wheel rounded the circle at breakneck speed and blocked my view of the Jubilee Post.

All Aboard!

Day 27 - Jay and I decided to go to Gampaha today. This city is about 12km from here and is the closest rail link. It has traditionally been larger than Minuwangoda probably because of its start as five villages and the rail station. We took a PickMe tuk-tuk which picked us up at the house and dropped us off in the city center. The roads were pretty clear mid-morning and so it didn't take long.



We walked around for a bit. Of course, everything has grown since we were last there. We spent quite a while in the huge, 5-story department store directly in front of the station. Then, we walked the traditional shopping streets toward the clock tower.



We came back to the station and bought tickets to the next big down called Veyangoda. Both these cities are accessible from Minuwangoda via different highways. Yet, being able to ride the rails is something I always enjoy here.

Some of the equipment and many of the stations date back to the British era with some iron construction techniques that Queen Victoria herself would've recognized. And it all still works, of course with more modern diesel locomotives.

We were only travelling about 20 minutes up the line, so our tickets cost SR 30 which is about CA $0.11 each for the one-way trip.









Jay and I didn't really do much in Veyangoda. We walked to see the differences since the last visit and noticed that there's a flyover and a ring road so all the highway traffic no longer needs to go through the center of town. We bought some Elephant Brand Ginger Beer. I love the real ginger taste, not what we can get at home. In fact, my lips burned a little.

Rather than going home from here we decided to take another train back to Gampaha and have a little lunch.









We were going to eat at the Rest House restaurant but although it still has an online presence, it appeared to have been closed. We went to Perera and Sons which was serving lunch in an upstairs restaurant. This bakery establishment has stores all over the country and has been serving customers since 1902.



We used the PickMe app to hire a tuk-tuk to return home and were back before the heavy afternoon showers.

Royal City Ale

When Jay went to the gym at Bonsor Recreational Complex in Burnaby this morning, I did something more to my interests.



I drove to Steel & Oak Brewing Co. a bit up Columbia Street in New Westminster. It's not far but a bit further than is comfortable walking with a half-gallon sized growler. I got their flagship brew. A fridge isn't adequately stocked if there's no beer inside!



We are known as the Royal City. This was because Queen Victoria was asked to name the capital (at the time) of British Columbia and she reportedly suggested her favourite part of London.

Kuala Lumpur's History Makes It Unique

Day 74 - The historic center of Kuala Lumpur is less than a kilometer from where we are staying. Today, as we walked in places going back to the mid-1800s, I was excited. We have always travelled to learn about people, unlike those who seek vacations simply for places with natural beauty. The majority of people live in cities and that is why they have always been Jay's and my focus too. To understand a place, it's important to understand a bit about its history.

You could say that Kuala Lumpur owes its existence to a commodity. It was pretty much started because of tin mining by Chinese prospectors. They were hired by the local Malay royal family. Supplies could be brought right up to the point where two rivers meet. We are a kilometer from that location. Families of Chinese, Moslem Indian, and other Malay traders and businessmen began to arrive. This was KL's genesis.

Of course, the local history is affected by all that has occurred between then and now. There were years and years of British administration initially during the reign of Queen Victoria. On the economic side, later a global car industry bought about a critical need for rubber, a material which could easily be grown here. In the 1930s this city had 110,000 inhabitants and if you look at today's photos you will be able to see an art-deco clock tower from that era.

Influences never stop, of course. This area was occupied for three years and eight months by the Japanese during the WWII. After this period, some Malay states joined together but this city did not gain independence to become the capital of Malaysia until 1957, just several years before I was born. This is a global city with workers and residents from many places. Obviously, the descendants of those from India and China, as well as local Malays, help form the population of Kuala Lumpur. Also today, tens of thousands of foreign guest workers work and live here.

Anyway, if you'd like to learn more, here's a Wikipedia article containing some information on the History of Kuala Lumpur. I hope you enjoy a few of the photos I snapped today.

George Town and the CAT

Day 12 - Last Sunday we went to George Town and enjoyed the trip. So today we did the same.







We needed to top up on some cash. The main HSBC branch is in an old, heritage building near the Queen Victoria Memorial Clocktower. We walked there first. This is the third main place we've spent winters since early retirement in 2014. First was in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Then, we were five months in Luxor, Egypt. Now three months of our winter will be here in Penang, Malaysia. Each location has had HSBC branches, so we can directly access our accounts and get free ATM withdrawals.


After, we decided to board a CAT bus. The Central Area Transit buses are free and just circle the UNESCO World Heritage section of George Town. They run every fifteen minutes. We have seen almost all areas, but the bus offered a cool, air-conditioned way of sightseeing. I have a friend who attends an Anglican church in Vancouver and had read about one of the oldest, purpose-built church in SE Asia. We passed the St. George Church built over 200 years ago.

Then, it was time to have lunch again. We returned to our new favourite place. Okay, I admit we like the price as well as the food. The two of us ate for about $US 6.18.

Penang is a famous foodie-capital in SE Asia. We've still been a bit hesitant to dive deeply into the vast Chinese influences yet. We've been favouring the Indo part of the Indochina experience.

The Queen Victoria Memorial Clocktower

Day 05 - We headed to downtown George Town for the third day in a row. Today, we walked from the bus station at the jetty.


A famous landmark of Penang Island is a clocktower to commemorate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee, which is why the structure is 60 feet tall; it rises a foot for each year. It was commissioned by a wealthy, local Chinese millionaire in 1897. Unfortunately, it wasn't completed until after her death. Oh, and it is said to be a little crooked due to bombings during World War II.

We spent a little time meandering in that area. In among the colonial buildings, we found the HSBC, which will provide easy access to cash directly front our Canadian accounts. As today is Sunday, things were pretty empty in the morning. I'm sure families were out on the Esplanade in the evening when the sun was a little less intense.









We returned by bus after we picked up a quick lunch. We stopped at our Hypermarket as bus #301 passes the Kompleks Bukit Jambul. We have most of what we will need in the way of basic supplies for now.

Melbourne, Australia

Day 30 - I'm not sure of my vote. It seems that the cities of Sydney and Melbourne have always had a bit of a rivalry. I'm not sure where I sit on choosing the 'best' city. Although I did really like the stunning scenery and compactness of the former, I have to admit that today I witnessed many of Melbourne's charms.



The city is definitely friendly and every single bit of human contact today was more than cordial. We found the downtown core filled with visitor ambassadors who were volunteers helping visitors. Even an ordinary guy noticing I was trying to figure out our map offered help and suggestions for getting to Queen Victoria Market. I think today's city might win on friendliness.



Moreover, transit was excellent here. Similar to other cities with progressive transit, a downtown core area offered free service. We noticed that a huge number of tram lines serviced the neighbourhoods. The system ran a special bus to the cruise port because our ship was visiting. Downtown was about 20 minutes from the sea.



With the number of arts venues we saw, there is a prosperous cultural scene. In a related observation, Melbourne seems extremely multicultural and damn proud of it. The China town wasn't very large but we saw most ethnic groups represented. There was a bit banner visible from the main square near Flinders Street Station stating that "Refugees are welcomed in Melbourne".



We took several trips to down today. We first got there right in the morning. We returned after a little rest at the MS Noordam from 1:00 to 3:00 PM. Most of the trips were on the shuttle bus to the Arts Centre but the final trip back to the boat was on Tram #109. Although the ship doesn't leave until midnight we were back in time for dinner. By 8:30 a rainstorm had come that must have dumped a whole lot of water.



So, for the quality of life perspective, I'd say I could probably settle right into today's city. Yet, there was something I cannot exactly define that intrigued me about Sydney too. I never had much of an opinion about Australia before visiting but after seeing these two cities, my view is very positive. Hey, as the seasons here are opposite to home, we could do a future winter in Australia! I guess, for now, I should probably abstain from voting for which city is best.