Monday, June 29, 2026

Day 6 - Victoria + The Butchart Gardens

but I traveled a long way
and it sure took a long time
to find you, yeah, but I sure did find you
... and He blessed my soul ... yes, He did
I Found You - Alabama Shakes

I love that song a lot and I wonder if it would ever apply to me, but at this age I think we have to be realistic it may not. Anyways, I felt quite blessed on day 6, so let's have that song on. Day 6 started early again. I was taking a day trip to Victoria and The Butchart Gardens and this involved taking 1.5 hours ferry ride back and forth from Vancouver to Victoria, so the day was going to be long. Meeting time was 07:05 AM. Breakfast for that day was the Lee's donuts which was okay I suppose. The donuts I got were more cake like which was a bit much perhaps for an early morning, but I finished the two I got. I got to the meeting point and there were already many others waiting. Most were like retiree couples. I wasn't in the mood to socialize so I just hung around the periphery. We got picked up and I got a seat for myself and I thought good, but then we picked out one last couple and since most of the seats were taken, I ended up sitting with a guy and I was like urgh :( The guy was like saying, I won't make any trouble. I wasn't the friendliest I suppose, well I'm not a morning person and I really wanted to sit alone, so I guess I just nodded and gave a weak smile (if I smiled at all).

Somewhere along the way, he tried to make conversation again and was like, how is it going so far. I was like, actually I'm still very sleepy, but then this somehow got us to start talking. They're from Arkansas, just outside Little Rock if I'm not mistaken. Obviously I couldn't point where Arkansas is on a map and I think I told him this and I googled it on the spot :) He and his wife were going to do a cruise to Alaska and I said I was planning to go to Alaska last year, but I didn't, and I'm avoiding America for the time being. He said he got it and then he continued, well we just tried to tell people we're not that kind of Americans - meaning MAGA Americans. He happened to wear a red hat and I wanted to joke, okay let me check your hat real quick if it's MAGA :D but I didn't. He was quite interested about Singapore when I said I live in Singapore. I wonder if these people's exposure of Singapore is from Crazy Rich Asians. He was like the food is great right and I was like, food, err ... okay I'm Indonesian, I would say it's better in Indonesia. I did try to give a better impression of Singapore though and I was saying yeah if you have a chance go there, there's nothing like it, because that's true. I've been places and Singapore is kinda one of a kind, but then forgive me because I also said something like, it's soul crushing but there's nothing like it. Geez, I cannot help myself. I know there will be some Singaporeans out there who will be up in arms with my statement. This might be a split opinion. Well I hope it's a split opinion, I hope there's not like only 30% of people in Singapore who disagree with my statement. Anyways, the guy's name is Kevin. His wife is Christina. They have 2 kids, their son's leaving home for college soon and their daughter is 12 who likes K-pop (man, I am amazed of this K-pop influence). He speaks lovingly of his family. Somehow to me he looked a bit like Mike White, but at the same time because he wears glasses, he also brought to my mind The Minions Kevin. That car ride on the way to the ferry terminal in Vancouver was the longest time I spent with Kevin because after that Kevin and Christina wanted to sit together; this kinda caused a bit of chaos to the rest who had to change seat. Our conversation was short, but I cannot explain it, it's like we just formed a connection, like we're just locked. Like you and me, we friends. It would take a cosmic miracle for me and Kevin to meet again. I already forget his face and I will not recognize him if we meet on the street, but if somehow we do, I think it'll be like, I got you. It's so weird, really weird, but at the same time because I'm quite anti-social, it feels really really good that I could make a connection with people. Believe me, I don't take this for granted. To have it happen so fast, based on so short interaction, well I'm just amazed. I hope it's not just me feeling this way, but I don't think so. When we arrived in Butchart Gardens, he gave me a high five as I got out of the van, just because. I don't know what his wife thought - is it weird? Yeah somehow these two weirdos connected :D

Anyways, back to the trip. The van parked at the lower compartment of the ferry. Kevin said it reminded him of a film he saw. I wrongly said Inception; only much later I realized it should be Tenet instead. We all got out of the van and dispersed. It would be weird if I hung around Kevin, so I just went my way. The ferry has like a cafeteria and the breakfast food looked good. It's crowded though with all the passengers. Since I already ate, I didn't bother. I did get a hot chocolate if I'm not mistaken. I think I just walked around and stood outside, but I didn't really take any photo on this ride to Victoria it seemed. As we're approaching Victoria, we're told to get back to the car. This is where we did wrong. I was waiting at the lift as instructed by the guide and all our travelling companions were there too. Then somehow they decided to go down to the parking area themselves. I was like, Kevin, do you know where we're going. We did not and it was like the blind leading the blind and we're lost in the parking lot. I regretted not being a good Asian who followed instruction and waited for the guide :D At some point this Kevin and Christina went different ways. I do not understand why they did not stay together. I chose Christina, because Christina looked like she's more determined and can solve problems and Kevin looked more like the type, we'll just see as we go. Took some scrambling but I spotted the guide and I was thankful for that. Then it's up to Christina to figure out where Kevin was and get him back :D

When we got into Victoria, the guide was telling us about the area a bit. He was telling us as we're passing Chinatown, there's the oldest Chinese Temple in Canada, as well as the most narrow alley in Canada. Now we're about to get some time to spend in Victoria and I did not plan at all what I was going to do. So when I heard all that, I was like so interested. The guide dropped us not near Chinatown though. We're dropped by the Royal BC Museum. I forgot how much time we got, maybe like 2 hours and I thought I could do it. Google put walking time around 15 mins or so and I could walk and so I did. Passed some interesting shops on the way there, but I was focused on the goal. When I got to the temple as Google indicated, I couldn't find it. I was like what, where?!?! I had to ask Google back where the entrance is and the AI was like saying yes indeed it's not obvious. What I was seeing was like a row of shophouses and Google indicated the door to take and I found it. When I opened the door immediately I saw stairs. When I started to get in and walked up, the door opened again and I heard some Indonesian. What are the odds?!? I turned and was quite happy to be speaking Indonesian and I asked them if they're going to the temple. I told them it seemed we needed to take this stairs. Perhaps they were a bit hesitant, but they indeed followed suit. The temple's name is Tam Kung Temple. When I got there, there's an old uncle caretaker who didn't seem to speak English - see him a bit in the picture below. I was a bit surprised of the temple. It's actually just a room, not very big at all. You paid / donated 2 dollars to visit. I wanted to pray and saw the sign it's 10 dollars, so by pointing and all, somehow the uncle understood me and he got me the joss sticks set. Then he proceeded to light the candles and joss sticks for me and basically led me to the sequence of altars. It's a bit much to be receiving this treatment because I felt like I'm a bother for him (he also moved kinda slow), but at the same time I understood. This is a small room and he needed to make sure all are placed correctly lest there'll be fire. In fact it was really on my mind, like I cannot imagine this temple having as many joss sticks as the temples I usually go to. Even in the temples I usually go to, both in Indonesia and Singapore, there would be caretakers who take out the joss sticks from time to time because they do not want the joss sticks to suddenly catch fire if they're all crowded together.

Except for the main altar where it's on a table, the rest are on the floor. There's one of its balcony too and the last one was the Kitchen God. I know because there's a small write-up in English next to the altar. Seeing it, I was so touched because my house has a Kitchen God, so I immediately thought it's the sister God or perhaps brother God to be more correct and my mind was like thinking is it like a portal, does the Kitchen God at home see me now? It almost like I could reach and be there at home. After this the uncle indicated for me to hit the bell and drum three times each. I was a bit embarrassed doing this. Mind you, the Indonesian group was there watching me, but I followed whatever the uncle said. Then came the burning of the joss paper. This totally skipped my mind. I didn't think of it at all because the temple is just a small room. Even in a normal temple, this part could get me nervous. I like to see a straight line from where the candle is to the usually pagoda-shaped furnace. I like to be quick, almost to a run. When I was a child, I'm pretty sure there was a moment when I wasn't quick and the paper was burning a lot that I was scared that I dropped it on the ground and it didn't reach the furnace - this is bad. There were also moments when I was scared so I didn't want to light the paper too much on the candle that the fire died when it reached the furnace - on cases like this, I could only hope there's other burning joss papers in the furnace to help mine. So when the uncle handed me the joss paper, I was like, what, how?!? Trust the process I supposed. So I lighted the joss papers on the candle by the Kitchen God and then the uncle opened this little red door on the wall and so that's where the small furnace it. It's so so interesting. Here's a photo that I tweeted at Bluesky, it's the Kitchen God on the floor. You can see the drum and bell and the little red door on the wall is where the small furnace is.

It was truly a touching moment for me. It's because it's very rare that I go overseas and I found a temple where I could pray. There are churches and I do spend time to say a little prayer in some of them, but a Chinese temple that I could understand, that's familiar to me, that is rare. Of course that's because I usually go to Western countries. The only other places where I had prayed in Chinese temples were in Hong Kong and Taiwan with the parents. In Japan, the prayers were not quite the same. So all this, this experience that God had given me, that's so unexpected, it's just so so precious. After I finished, I asked the uncle if I could take some pictures, he said yes. The Indonesian family already went down by this time. I googled the temple as I'm writing this and I found out they recently had a fire :( It seemed there's a lot damage. I hope the uncle is okay. The news said the main deity statue in the main altar is okay despite of the fire. I am a bit sad and stunned that for such a historical place, the temple is just a small room on the upper floor of a building. I guess it goes to show that when you're so far away from your root, some things perhaps couldn't take hold and flourish as much. I hope the restoration of this temple after the recent fire would go well and the temple will get better. I said thank you to the uncle and then I left. Back on the street, the Indonesian family was still there and I chatted with them a bit more. It's the parents with some other family or friends visiting their daughters who are studying in Vancouver and they're taking that day to go visit Victoria on their own. I knew where I wanted to go next, so I said my good bye.

Where I wanted to go next was Jam Cafe which is visible from the temple. Jam Cafe is a popular brunch place, like it's a recommended place to go in Vancouver and I already kinda thought I was going to go there the next day being that it's not so far from my hotel. It's not super ideal though, the next day being a Saturday, that would mean I had to get up early so that I didn't have to wait long in the queue. I hate queueing for food. So it was kinda like a fortuitous blessing that the Victoria branch is nearby, like how lucky! There wasn't any line when I was there and it wasn't overly crowded but they still put me at the bar counter, which was fine, it wasn't filled with people. They have savory and sweet dishes and all of them are very interesting and it's not easy to choose. I should most probably go with savory considering what I had already eaten thus far, but somehow I couldn't. I chose the cinanamon bun pancakes and look at its beautifulness below. It's three stacks, I don't know how they did it with the cinnamon swirls in the pancakes. Look at the very generous maple butter. I was a bit unsure if I was going to like the cream cheese icing, but it all worked well together. They were really really good. I couldn't finish it though, it's too much and I did feel sad that I couldn't finish it because it's so good and the chance of me having it again is low.

I still had quite a lot of time to get back, so I didn't have to rush. I didn't explore the Chinatown, but I did go to the narrow alley. It's called Fan Tan Alley. There's actually shops in there, but I didn't go in any of them. Then I reached the harbour where there's many boats. Then I explored the area by the British Columbia Parliament Buildings where there's the Knowledge Totem Pole - the frog below is part of it. Can I just say I like totem pole and I love things that get chosen into a totem pole. I just googled, I didn't realize that a totem pole is from one single log, not separate items being stacked together. The artists making these are amazing. Then since our meeting point is by the Royal British Columbia Museum, I explored its small garden outside while waiting to get picked up.

Our last stop was The Butchart Gardens. I read a lot of nice reviews about the garden, but when I was there I felt like it didn't live up to my expectation. I thought this is no Keukenhof, but when I had finished seeing everything I realized this garden has its strong points too. There's a sunken garden and a Japanese garden. The landscape is more varied, so it makes it quite inetresting. This is also where I finally saw blue poppies (see below). I have to say they're not as what I expected. I thought it would be darker blue, not baby blue. It's not my favorite colour of poppies. Then there's the tall trees, the redwoods, the beech. There's a dock with boat; I don't know where the boat ride would take you. There's a carousel for the kids. I like that we're given a plant guide booklet that shows the pictures of the plants / flowers and their names, though I didn't go hunt for each of them. I guess in the end, I do like this garden afterall. It was quite nice exploring it.

On the ferry back, I made sure to take note where the van was parked and the way to get there. As I recall, the cafeteria was closed. I chose to spend my time outside. Tried to find a quiet spot and didn't really find it. I found a place to sit, but there was this lady who I think was practicing Spanish on the phone and she was kinda loud :( It was very windy which made it chilly and after some time she thought of it too and she took her small dog inside. I didn't get my peace and quiet though because behind me there were some bros sitting and I have to say, I do not enjoy bro talk. I didn't realize it would be rather banal to me. To be fair if they have to sit through girl talk, they may feel the same. There was nothing offensive, thank God, but there were things I found really boring. A guy was saying he was like in a bar or something in Thailand and was rather invested on the UFC fight playing on the TV and thought it was live and only after he realized it wasn't and he was disappointed for being so invested - okay ... I guess in a way it's good that these bros have friends, what with the male loneliness epidemic kinda thing. They too finally moved inside, so I did get some peace and quiet. I took some pictures on this ferry ride back. I didn't seem to take any on the way to Victoria, I'm not sure why. I must have spent time outside as well, but I just didn't. Anyways, we passed other ferry and our ferry would sound its horn when it happened. You know, I just realized that this ferry trip between Victoria and Vancouver crosses the US water on some parts.

We arrived in Vancouver at 8 PM something. A couple in the group asked to be dropped off at some street which I found out was very close to my hotel, so I followed suit. Turned out that couple was staying at the same hotel. I said my goodbye to Kevin and Christina. It would have been nice if we had talked more, but I was rather shy. Anyways, the sun was still out, but I didn't want to go far or take too long for dinner, so I went straight to the nearest Burger King. Now, I stayed in a hotel that's nice. I don't think it's a shady neighbourhood, but I told you about the very visible homeless people in Vancouver. On my way to Burger King, there's this homeless man about to take drugs by the corner of the block of my hotel. You might be asking, how do you know it's drugs, do you know what you're seeing? What I was seeing was this man having an aluminium foil on one hand and a lighter on the other hand. On this aluminium foil was substance. It was off white, not pure white, which made me wonder what it was. Truly the whole thing was fascinating to me. I have never seen a person taking drugs in real life. I've only seen them in movies or TVs - not Singapore one, taking drugs is highly censored; not sure what the censor is like in Indonesian cinema. This was about to happen live in front of me and I was so so curious. I have so many questions, even now. What is the substance? How much does it cost? Is it easy to get? How do you afford it? How do you do it? How fast do you feel the effect? I wanted to watch it, but obviously I cannot. I couldn't take pictures and I had to keep it moving. Fascinated might be the wrong word and perhaps it's wrong to have this much curiosity, but I was truly fascinated and curious. I wonder if all the many sirens I heard in Vancouver were all the paramedics trying to help overdosed people.

Anyways the Burger King was having the Mandalorian meal thingy. I had the chicken fries, onion rings (its breading was different than Singapore one), and a blue shake which I didn't know what, it was very sweet though. The staff asked if I wanted a crown with that, I said no. Perhaps I should have said yes; I could have worn it while eating in my living room. It was a good end to a good day - sitting in front of the TV, eating all the junk food. The day was really good. The many unexpected blessings, the serendipity of it all - God blessed my soul indeed. For pictures from the day go here.

:) eKa @ 9:37:00 PM •