The
Squamidian Report – June 4 / 11
Issue #471
Including:
China part II
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Maybe, just maybe there are some signs of spring just around the corner, or some time next month. Early spring mind you but spring non the less. There has been some sunshine in between the rain and there have been times when the temperatures rocketed all the way up to just a bit below normal. We were able to ride without turning on our heated vests! Wow, I could get used to that. So, that being said, we rode up to Whistler last Sunday morning for breakfast. That’s a pretty nice way to kick off a day. The ride is smooth and scenic and fun. The ride back down is actually more scenic than the ride up. On the way north most of the scenery is behind you, you ride through it but don’t really see much of it. On the ride back south you face the scenery. The Tantalus Range unfolds in front of you like a towering snow-covered wall. The rock cuts along the highway seem to catch the sunlight better. And, and this is something you would only notice on a motorcycle, there is a net drop in altitude of about 2500 ft from Whistler down to Squamish. So the bike seems to just sift along effortlessly. We only saw one bear, this time of year with the upper slopes still under a huge cover of snow and with the young grass growing green and tender along the sunny side of the highway, you can pretty well count on seeing at least one grazing away, munching as much vegetation as it can find.
We also did a ride down to Porteau Cove. Actually, we have ridden to there or past there several times this season but it’s a nice place to pull into and enjoy the water and the mountains at the same time. There is an old ferry dock that has been converted into a tourist walkway with information signs and boat shaped lookout nooks. You can be out over the water and look up and down the Sound as well as look back at the mountains that the highway runs along the base of. The dock was used for ferries years ago but abandoned once the highway was pushed through back in the 50’s.
We were standing there looking at the view when we noticed a flock of seagulls hanging low overtop of us. That’s normal when someone has food that has attracted them but there was no food there. Then we noticed the gulls were making even more racket than usual and that their attention was not on people but on another bird. Looking up when under a flock of seagulls is foolish at the best of times but I chanced it anyway, and luckily with no unfortunate cost for my curiosity. The bird they were swarming was a mature eagle. It was floating along on its 7 ft wide wingspan just over our heads as the gulls tried their best to drive it away. It didn’t seem to be too concerned, more ‘put out’ than anything. No matter where it went, the gulls continued their pestering. I assume the eagle had gotten too close to a gull nest and the gulls were determined to drive it away. They moved back and forth across the water, no one winning, no one giving up. It was interesting to watch. Then is was time for us to head home so we did.
One other thing I did this past week, and that I had prepared for quite a while ago was have a new rear tire put on my bike. I had ‘prepared’ by purchasing a tire on-line out of the States in early winter. Motorcycle tires are stupidly expensive and if you have to buy one from a Canadian dealer, you can double that price. My Harley uses a Dunlop 407 rear tire that can only be purchases through Harley dealers and they charge a mind numbing, gut wrenching $365 for one of them. However, Dunlop makes a replacement tire called the American Elite that is supposed to be a better tire, but it is only available in the States. So, I had ordered one and had it shipped to a pickup location just over the border. (They can’t ship tires into Canada). I had written about this back then so I won’t repeat the whole thing again except to say I paid $165, a savings of $200 but that does not change the fact that bike tires are way over priced.
I was going to have our local bike repair guy do the tire change for me, I’ve used him before, but he does not have any experience with ABS brakes yet and I didn’t want him learning on my bike. These bikes use special bearings with sensors in them that must be positioned properly. He can also be a bit hard to pin down at times as he tends to be very ‘west coast laid back’. So, I made an appointment with the service department at the dealer where I bought the bike. They did not have any issues with installing a tire that they did not sell, I think they run into that more and more as not many people could afford $365 plus tax and labour for 1 tire. The dealer is about 115 kilometers from here and carrying a tire on top of the tour-pac luggage rack that far was weird. The weight was high and the aerodynamics was effected but I got there ok and they put the tire on. Whenever they work on a bike, the tech must test ride it before they sign it back. He left for his test ride and came back with one of my mufflers hanging down. He had somehow forgotten to do up the bolts that hold the muffler to the hanger. So he had to take it back in and fix that. Needless to say, when I got home I went over everything he may have touched to see that things were in place and snug. Did not leave me with a warm fuzzy feeling at all.
Oh well, I’m now running an American Elite on the back. The OEM 407 lasted an incredible 28,600 kilometers which is a good 10,000 more than I could ever get out of the 402s on my ’07 so I can’t complain about tire life. The biggest problem with the 407 on my ‘09 was that by the time there was 15 or 16 thousand on it, it had cupped so bad that it was noisy and vibrated through the curves. It will be interesting to see how the AE stands up and compares. I’ll let you know in another 15 or 20 thousand K.
And then Ryan and I decided to do a run into Horseshoe Bay that evening, his last ride before he headed for Europe on Wednesday for a couple of months of Adam’s tours. Our ride in was fine but while there, the sky darkened and a front moved in. Our ride back was a down right soaker. We could barely see to ride but didn’t have much choice. Luckily traffic was very light and we made it home fine. Very wet but fine. He keeps his bike here when he’s away as he has no indoor parking for it where he lives. It is safe and out-of-sight parked in our garage. So he left from here for the airport on Wednesday morning and after they were gone I noticed both bikes were covered in road dirt. You’d think they have been driven in a steady downpour or something, which of course they had been. So, like the good guy I am, I washed his Harley at the same time I washed mine.
doug
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China part II
Hello all!
China part II: The first day in Shanghai was very exciting. We only stayed two nights before flying again which was a bit fast for me. Just walking down the street was a bit of an adventure for me, never having been on that side of the world before. UU and I walked to the Yuyuan garden in Shanghai, which was amazing. Most of it is a commercial area, with a large old market. Those buildings are very old, classic Chinese architecture, with those distinctive tiled roofs. They all sweep out in wide awnings with angled corners, very dark ornate wood. It wasn't anywhere near as crowded as I figured, but it was busy. I obviously stood out a bit, but in a city that size I wasn't anything anyone really noticed much.
The shops in the market have been in operation for hundreds of years. New businesses come and go but the function is the same. There are no cars inside that market area so it is very popular. I saw a very old style puppet / marionette show, and old fashioned food vendors. There were also modern stores of every kind, including high tech. Some of the buildings are surrounded by water, with bridges and open squares. I tried one of my new favourite foods, which we will learn to make here. I always saw candy apples, which were okay, but I never thought of treating other fruit in similar ways. They do a few different types, including some that were new to me. Strawberries were the best. They sell about six good, fresh strawberries on a skewer, with a very thin layer of candy on the outside. The candy was almost totally transparent with a slight golden colour, crunchy, and only a little sweet. They were great!
Some of the shops were very impressive, and in no time I was carrying whatever we (mostly she) had picked out. She lead me to an upstairs art gallery, and I said I was happy to look at some Chinese art as long as we didn't buy it. Once up there it was obviously a shop and they were showing us all the original art. It was beautiful and very interesting, and of course we came home with several. The price was reasonable, apparently there are lots of artists who constantly churn out similar art of traditional subjects. The art shop lady handed us coupons for tea and the nearby shop. It turned out to be very lovely and relaxing. The same lady came and served us tea, teaching about the different kinds to try. She was very knowledgeable and was eager to both teach and learn.
There is an actual garden in Yuyuan garden and we eventually found it. It includes old buildings, smaller and finer than the others in the market. The roof tops all have small statues of old Chinese figures (dragons, warriors, fish, birds etc.). The architecture, water, natural elements and artwork compliment each other brilliantly. Here and there a sky scraper is visible in the background. It was one of those times when I realized that a person could spend a few hours, a couple of days or a lifetime just learning about one aspect, like the stories behind the statues. There was a conflict within me which was repeated throughout the trip. The space demands time, relaxation, peace and quiet contemplation. But I filed through with the other tourists, clicking pictures and moving along, trying to drink it all in. The only difference is that all of the other tourists were Chinese, and many of them know some of the stories already. I picked up on the visual elements more, and was oblivious to what the words meant. I got some of it though.
Like most parks we visited there was an entrance fee to the actual garden. I kept the tickets because they are like post cards. I saw almost no post cards anywhere we went, but the tickets include pictures, maps, information and are generally very nice. The admission was also always very inexpensive.
Shanghai has a large river / canal, and later we walked along it. The skyline is very impressive on both sides, with a steady stream of small and medium sized freighters pushing both ways. We strolled on an elevated walkway, and the view was remarkable. On one side is the modern architecture of Shanghai. There is little room for a plain, boring rectangular building. Each one tries to out do it's neighbours, with unusual angles and many spheres, all joined by arches and triangles. There is one building that I always liked, a huge tower with big bright orbs at different levels. The Oriental Pearl Tower is like a CN tower from Mars, something out of an old sci-fi comic book. It reminds me of Flash Gordon or the Jetsons. I wanted very much to eat there, although the food was only supposed to be a so-so good, a big buffet. I never made it there, but in the end it didn't matter at all.
On the other side of the river is "the bund", with it's old Western style buildings, left over from the days of European and American domination. They still stand and are very impressive. Now they are topped off by many Chinese flags. At one end is an impressive monument to martyrs and those who fell fighting some natural disasters. Some people put their feet on part of the monument for a picture and guards came quickly to tell them that it is illegal and to shoo them away. They didn't seem to take the guards very seriously, but they got off it right away. Sometimes in Canada people spit on or deface our memorials, but it is unusual, and sometimes we put our foot down here too.
The food there was very good. I think part of the reason UU left was that so many of the dishes include meat. It seems to be in almost everything. Some of the food is very familiar, while lots of it is totally foreign, or the combinations are very different. I always found food I enjoyed, and tried something new. I don't think I ever tried the same thing twice (other than the strawberries). Of course, there was always the option of fish heads and boiled intestines, but people seemed to get that I probably wouldn't be in to it.
In some ways the streets are very clean, and in other ways very dirty. I noticed that people seem to litter more in China, yet there is less on the ground. Maybe people here litter with more subtlety? They are always cleaning the cities, and there are no garbage bags waiting around to be picked up. But there is a blackness in the streets from the vehicles, sort of like Yonge St but worse. The whole city was white with haze, and the air quality wasn't very good. It wasn't too bad, though I wouldn't recommend breathing it for long, and even then only those with strong pink lungs.
The next day, before we flew out, we went to a nearby water city. It was another old, historical area with much beauty. It was like Venice, with Chinese style gondolas, and many bridges over small canals.
Until next time,
Ewan
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
I sincerely hope you are all enjoying this terrific spring/summer weather we’re having! I know for sure that I am!
I decided to get some spring chores done this afternoon. I had a choice of either cleaning out the eves-troughs that requires climbing onto and working along the edges of the roof or getting the Jeep all cleaned up. I decided that I’d rather stay on ground level first and clean out the Jeep. I had taken it to the car wash earlier in the afternoon to take advantage of a free wash with my Petro Points. I know I know, my Petro Points are hardly free since they are accumulated by purchasing expensive gasoline from Petro Canada but at least the build up of such points make Petro customers feel that they are getting something extra for their hard earned gas dollars. With the exterior of the Jeep gleaming in the sunlight, it was an easy choice to finish the job before working on the roof thing!
I managed to locate my summer floor mats for the Jeep. The winter “deep dish” mats were just stuffed full of scrapings off our winter foot wear and weighed in at about 5 lbs each as I lifted them out of the vehicle carefully so as not to spill them. I was actually upset with myself for having left them in such a state so late in the season. On the other hand, I can justify this sordid move by telling myself that we haven’t had a dry day in months so there just wasn’t an opportunity before today to do this much needed cleaning job! After finishing the vacuuming of the interior I went inside to grab a cold drink. Carole was up stairs in the office and I was standing at the foot of the stairs talking to her. I glanced out the front window of the living room as a school bus came down the street beside our house. Just as it passed out of sight to the side of the house, there was an incredibly loud and earth shaking explosion! The pictures and other knickknacks on the walls of our house rattled and a few of them crashed to the floor. Carole and I simultaneously yelled, “What the heck was that?” It sounded to me like a true black powder explosion and Carole said she thought something had crashed into the concrete hydro pole beside the house! I ran out the front door and around the side of the house to find the school bus sitting in the middle of its lane listing severely to one side! It was still idling so I figured the bus hadn’t blown up. I ran up to the open door of the bus only to find the right front tire mangled and shredded but still hanging around the axel. The lady driver was on the two-way radio calling her dispatcher for help. I was shocked when I realized that the “explosion” that rocked our house so briskly was just the result of the bus tire sidewall blowing out! It actually sounded more like a stick of dynamite going off! I asked the bus driver if she was ok and she said she was just a little in shock! She said that she was just grateful that she wasn’t driving the bus on a fast moving busy street with a load of kids on it! She was on her way to Waterloo to pick up her 32 passengers and deliver them to their homes after a school day. I could just imagine after jumping a foot off the floor while standing in the house how I’d have reacted if I’d been up on the edge of the roof with my back turned to the bus and bending over the edge of the eves-trough to clean out the tree debris! Hell, I’d probably have taken a header off the roof into the rocky garden below! No telling if I’d have been able to walk away from landing on my back or head on the jagged rocks we have edging the garden. I’m sure it would have hurt like the dickens!
All things said and done, I am happy that I made the right choice when it came to which chore to do first on this lovely sunny afternoon. I don’t think I’d be writing this column tonight if a header from the roof had been my excitement for the day! LOL! OUCH!
Anyway, the car is clean, the eves-troughs are clean and the bus driver was on her merry way after the arrival of a replacement vehicle some 20 minutes after the explosion! I’m just glad there were no kids on the bus or things could have been a lot worse than they were! I hope the bus company takes some time to check the tires on all of their fleet after this wake up call!
Well folks, that’s my excitement for today!
Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to talking to you all again next time in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now… GREG
PS: Something To Think About>
“Heroin” is the brand name of “morphine” once marketed by ‘Bayer’.
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Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.