Thursday, July 23, 2026

Book 3 - The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

I finished reading The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka some time ago. It's the winner of the 2022 Booker Prize. Saw this book for awhile but decided against it and in the end I got it because I didn't have anything to read. The reason why I was against it was because it told the story of a photo journalist who got killed and then he tried to find what happened to him in the seven moons he got. This happened during the Sri Lankan civil war. Sounded heavy and that's why I wasn't drawn to it earlier. I have no knowledge of the Sri Lankan civil war so I did google a lot while reading this book. I wouldn't say my knowledge of it has increased though. This photo journalist is a flawed character, but I was along for his ride in finding out what happened to him. All the while I was thinking this would make a good TV series, but of all the stories that get picked up to be made into films and TV series, I guess stories not from the mind of the Western world have it harder? Anyways, being Asian the parts of the spirits and ghosts being around in whatever weird forms they are are not strange at all for me. This is also perhaps what the Western world may not get. I just find it very natural even though Indonesian and Sri Lankan are a different kind of Asians. I guess because we Asians just accept it as fact there's many spirits all around us, many of us would agree Asians ghost stories and movies tend to be scarier than what the Western world could conjure because for us there's an added layer of it's real or in the realm of possibility. In the acknowledgements the author included Haw Par Villa, which I've never been to despite having lived in Singapore for close to 26 years now. I guess I'm scared, like I need to mentally prepare myself if I was going to visit it. I did hear that many Singaporeans were frightened by the diorama of hell when they were visiting as kids.

Anyways, one really interesting point that got me really thinking was when this photo journalist was at the end of his 7th moon journey. He was presented with drinks that he needed to choose, each of the drink would allow him to:

• forget everything
• remember everything
• forgive the world
• be forgiven
• go where you most belong

Off the bat, I wasn't into option one and two. Maybe my first reaction was forgive the world, but I also want badly to be forgiven (though, is there selfishness in this choice?) and then there's of course the last option which sounds very appealing. Difficult choices and I'm not sure if I have an answer ready right now or if my answer would stay the same; I mean it all may depend on how I am when I die, what mental state I am in. The photo journalist chose the last option and where he ended up was not something we expected :D That made me think of God. What we think is good for us may not be what is really good for us. God has plans. It is our faith that should sustain us, that God knows best.

Faith is something that I'm grappling with right now. I'm in my down, depressed, angry state - I guess back to usual programming. When I finished writing about the trip, I guess whatever glow still covering me, they're completely gone. This real life that I have to go back to kills a little bit of me everyday, leaving me with so little energy. It doesn't help that I seem to get injured more easily now. A small bump causes me pain that doesn't go away even though it's been more than one week. I am sad, I am angry, and I cannot pull myself up. I do not have the energy. It's perhaps a down phase and I will eventually float up a bit (before I go down again), but right now the amount of anger is just ... I'm turbulent inside. Urgh ...

Let me end with other non-important things. I finished watching Paradise season 2. I thought I was getting to like it, but the revelation towards the end just didn't compute for me and I'm back to having mix feeling about it. Then I continued on with the last season of The Bear and I still love them so much. I'm currently watching House of the Dragon. Still watching Aemond - oh dear, what are we going to do with him? I know bad things will befall him. He's so mean and weird, but I will miss him when he's gone. This season has Lord Ormund Hightower and when he first appeared, I was like that's the priest from Grantchester (this was shown in the local TV here years ago). I like him then and was like okay interesting, what he's like here - turned out Lord Ormund Hightower is weird and kinda scary too :( I had to ask AI, he's like uncle to Aemond right? AI said no, it's first cousin once removed. This English wording thing of what cousin which removed, I will never understand. That began my discussing it with AI. In Asian context, if that person is the cousin of your mom, they're your uncle or aunt full stop. You need to respect that person the same and that person also needs to look out for you the same. Anyways moving on, I'm excited that season two of One Hundred Years of Solitude is coming. I think I need to redo watching season 1, so I need to get on that.

:) eKa @ 9:44:00 PM • 0 comments

Saturday, July 11, 2026

Day 8 - Grouse Mountain + Cleveland Dam

some days there's music in the air
some nights you're hanging by a prayer
when your mind is racing as you're lying awake
but we'd never trade it just to play it safe
cause baby, maybe you and me
we were born to dream
Born to Dream - Young Gun Silver Fox

Gosh, that song lyric, I feel it a lot, even though I'm not as acceptant as the song. Every trial and tribulation cuts deep for me that I don't want it, though perhaps the soul really needs it, you know personal growth and what not. Anyways, I was leaving the night of day 8, but I still had time to do some things. I went to Tim Hortons again for breakfast. I chose their breakfast sandwich this time because it has an egg in its entirety and a donut for the side though I had difficulty choosing which donut because there's many interesting ones. I've actually never been to Tim Hortons in Singapore and I'm sure the donut selection here is not as varied as in Canada, but I do want to try them, hope to get there soon. The tea that day was good too, that I was like yeah Tim Hortons, I approve.

I was really making use of my last few hours in the room and only left nearing check-out time. First destination was Grouse Mountain. I had booked the ticket and was going to take the free shuttle from Canada place. What I didn't know was the line for the shuttle was hella long. I may have to wait for the next shuttle in half an hour :( Apparently people waiting for the shuttle was given a token for a seat inside the bus. A lady then returned her tokens back to the staff because her full group was not there and it was just nice there was a single one left for me, or so I thought. I got on the bus, walked all the way to the back to find there's no empty seat! You generally cannot stand on this kinda bus, but the bus was already moving. So there I was stunned and standing. A lady noticed me (this lady was a bit stern at me earlier because I was walking in front of her when I actually arrived after her) and offered her seat. I said no, I couldn't take it because this lady was way older than me. She was like I could sit at my husband's lap. Then her husband got up and insisted I took his seat and I felt so so bad, like I cannot, but he insisted. There was also another girl who wanted to give up her seat but it was this man who insisted on giving his seat. I felt so bad. I noticed there were other young guys around us, but it was this older gentleman who's being the real man. I really felt so so bad. I was looking at the map checking how long more the bus ride would be. Halfway I asked him if we could switch. I may have looked like I was going to cry that he said it's okay and he put his hand on mine. Man, I felt really really bad. When we arrived I thanked them profusely, but I don't think it's enough. I felt really really bad.

To get up Grouse mountain, you take the gondola. The reason why I was visiting it was because in this place you could see grizzly bears. They have two of them, but when I was there I could only see one, Grinder. I was quite glad to be able to see him because apparently this is not guaranteed. The other one, Coola, was hiding in an area with trees and I didn't see him at all in my time there. Then in the later part of the day, Grinder went hiding too. So it's possible you go all the way there and do not see any of them. I was quite lucky that Grinder was quite active. He went to the water and then floated and chewed on a log. Here's some pictures of him, interrupted by a tiny squirrel I saw.

There are actually other things you can do in Grouse mountain like ziplining and Grouse Gravity Coaster, but you pay for this separately and I didn't do any of them. I did watch the free Lumberjack Show performance where these dudes demonstrated all kinds of lumberjack things like felling a trunk while standing on a plank, carving using a chainshaw, climbing, and trying of get the other one to fall while balancing on a log in water.

Also another thing that's free is the chairlift. I was like scared looking at it, but at the same time felt compelled to do it, because again you cannot be defeated by fear. I saw some people working on the chairlift so I thought it didn't work, but it turned out some section was under maintenance and the other section was working, so I couldn't get away from it. There weren't many people queuing for it and I got the whole chair for myself and God help me, I was so scared. I don't think it's the fear of height, but it's the fear of dying violently and I did not want to fall. I felt so exposed that high up that I didn't dare move. I needed to hold the metal bar in front of me, but it was super cold. I switched to hugging my bag but I didn't feel safe - maybe to be more exact, I didn't feel like in control, not like I can control anything, so I was back trying to hold the cold metal bar. It was actually moving quite slow and there's no big wind. Even when it's obvious we're climbing up, it was rather smooth. The other people on the chairs were like enjoying themselves. Going down, there was a girl on her own who sat in such a relaxed posture checking her phone. There was a group of young bros behind me (seemed like between 16-19) who were chatting happily (another bros conversation that didn't interest me), laughing, and making bird noises. Meanwhile, I was just there trying to keep it together. Two experiences came to my mind. One was when I did something like this with Dewi in Sentosa back in 2008, even then I was like please no wind and no sudden movement. Dewi was like fine throughout. The second one was the chairlift in Capri. That one is really a single chair, you have to do it on your own. I may have blocked out every memory of going up, but I remember being scared going down and Mau turning back to look at me because she didn't believe I was scared and when she saw me she grinned because I was really freaking out. I wish I have become better at this, but no, but I did it and I made it. There are many times in my life where I wonder why I am alone doing things. I don't have the answer to that. All the things I conquer, do they mean anything? I do not know. Is there a point? I do not know. Maybe I should just focus on the blessing. Yes I was alone experiencing all these, but the experiences are really unimaginable blessings - who would have thought I get to do all these things I have done. Anyways when I arrived on top, the view of Vancouver in the far distance was nice. The young bros asked me to take their pictures - they called me miss :D I think in Singapore speak, they meant auntie. There's a big wind turbine on top and the view of the mountains around were nice too. Look at the chairlift in this picture below that I had to endure.

I managed to get up but it didn't lessen my fear when I had to go down - oh my God! Again I sat on my own. I don't know which one is worse, going up or down. Both are as scary. There were a few stoppages going down and I was not relaxed at all while waiting, but again I made it and I was fine *sigh* After the whole chairlift thing, I watched Owl talk which wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be because there's only one owl. I tried to see the bears again, but they were' not visible. There's BeaverTails in Grouse mountain, but even that was rather disappointing. It's a small branch and they do not have the full complete flavours. I settled on hazelnut since there's no maple and I had that before leaving. It's nice to see the bear, but I don't think Grouse mountain is that worth it. Many things to do in Grouse mountain require separate ticket as well, so you may end up spending a lot.

My next stop was to visit the Cleveland Dam and Salmon Hatchery. Took the local bus to get there. It's great that you can paywave your way in Vancouver public transports. It was quite a walk from the bus stop to Cleveland Dam. Kinda nice to see families just hanging out that Sunday, eating in the parks and their kids playing. I saw the dam, but it wasn't that interesting for me and then I think I saw an arrow to the hatchery and I went to follow that sign. I wasn't sure if I was going the right way, but I just walked and it was a nice walk, among the trees. The only bad thing was that it was going down down and I knew the back up would be a pain. I arrived in the Coho trail and it was nice. There's the Capilano river. There's people fishing; I don't know how they got down to the river. There weren't that many other people. So I followed the trail and it's a loop and it was really really nice. Then after I finished the loop and crossed the bridge, I went to the hatchery. By this time, I was already tired so I didn't really read all the explanation boards. Through the glasses you could see many baby fishes, I couldn't remember what kind of salmons they were. I didn't really spend a long time there. I like the walk so much that I chose to do another trail, Second Canyon trail. The trees around are Douglas-firs and it was really nice. At the end of the trail, the view of Cleveland Dam was really nice. You know, I should have spent more time here instead of Grouse Mountain. This walk is free and it's just so nice with all the trees and quiet. Hope I get to explore this area more if I get to Vancouver again.

Then I had to get back, but before I did that, I walked a bit more at the top of the dam. The last picture above was when I looked down the dam's wall. For pictures from the day, you can go here. I think I was doing good on time. I have the bad habit of not wanting to go early to the airport - I had written about this. Still, I checked with Google and its AI wanted me to be there 3 hours early - is it seriously a thing now? The AI was freaking me out and rushing me to get a move on. I literally had to tell it, you need to calm down. I can't say I like AI. In fact the idea of it annoys me. At this point it is scary that it can replace many things that we do, but I also have to admit that I used it a lot in this trip and I am embarrassed about it. There is the way it "talked" to me that made me feel a little bit like it cared? It was asking me to update it when I reached Lonsdale (all these things I visited are in North Vancouver), I guess it wanted to give me an update on time as I get off the bus, get on the SeaBus, walk to the hotel, get on the Canada Line train. I ignored it asking me for updates, but yeah I cannot think anyone in my universe who would like an update of where I was like that. There's also like a sadness perhaps or maybe it's reality grounding me - the way the AI "talked" to me felt like some sort of care given, but it's not physically there with me, so whatever problem and issue I might face, it's still me alone having to deal with it. So I realize the nothingness (if that's the correct word) of it. I don't know if I'm making any sense.

Anyways, I heeded the AI freaking me out. I didn't even eat in Lonsdale. I got off the bus, got on the SeaBus, went straight to my hotel to get my luggage, and went to take the train (correctly) to the airport. I wasn't sure what the security and immigration check line in the airport would be like, so I thought okay might as well be early and I arrived over 2 hours before flight. There's no line to drop the luggage. There weren't that many people for security check as well. My bag did have to get scanned twice because somehow the scan showed nothing the first time, but it's all good the second time around. Then it turned out there's no immigration check when leaving Canada. So all the possible queue and wait I was worried about was a non-issue. I ate a bit in the airport, but I was quite tired from the walking that day that I didn't do much else. I was quite sleepy in the plane, did doze off a lot, but I did finish all the episodes that I hadn't watched of Pluribus and I completed season 1, looking forward to season 2. I now have this nervousness about going to the lavatory because what if that one time I go, there's a sudden scary turbulence, but I did anyway because period came and I needed to take care of that and also it doesn't seem right to sit all the way for over 15 hours. All and all everything was good and I arrived in Singapore safely. This is the last post about the trip. I thank God always for being my protector. Every trip is a good trip. I quite like Canada. I thank God that somehow we completed another adventure. I really do not take this for granted.

:) eKa @ 8:59:00 PM • 0 comments

Sunday, July 05, 2026

Day 7 - Stanley Park + Granville Market + Lonsdale

she's always trying to find another place to go
cruising to the music on the radio
and they'll try to understand her but they'll never know
Madison - Drugdealer

I finally got a day where I could wake up late in Vancouver. For breakfast, I went to the nearby Tim Hortons and ordered their loaded box combo to go. I didn't realize the loaded box already had two hash browns inside it that I chose hash brown as my side - should have chosen the donut :( I chose tea as the drink. They asked me if I wanted a brewed one; I said yes and they put cream and sugar and I think they call this double double and gosh that tea was good. I was like darn Tim Hortons, you make good tea. So I got all that back to my room. I can't say I like the loaded box much. I don't think they do scrambled eggs well. I tend to eat rather plain so I also didn't enjoy all the sauces much. It's a big portion that I didn't manage to finish it all.

After breakfast, I needed to go and start the day. I already planned and studied about cycling in Vancouver and yet that day I was still rather nervous about it, despite of my cycling success in Banff (all the pain from that day was completely gone). You cannot be defeated by fear though, so off I went. I got to the bicycle rental store at around 11 AM and unlike in Banff, they got me out quite quickly and here I did a mistake. I didn't take a moment to make sure all were okay. The helmet they gave me was too big that it was like falling out of my head often throughout the ride :( Then they also didn't teach me how to use the lock; I was like dumb you, sigh. At least here they could put a basket in the bicycle though. The street in front of this bicycle rental store was so crowded with traffic and people that I confided to the staff, it's so chaotic out there, and asked how to get started. He instructed me to walk the bicycle first until the junction, turn right, then I would find the start of the dedicated bicycle lane. It sounds easy now that I had done it, but I was pretty much blanking out on his instruction, I just recalled walk the bicycle first. The customers in front of me were these three Indian bros and they were setting off not long before me. This was perhaps one of the reason why I didn't check all my equipment first and quickly set off, I wanted to follow them. They led the way correctly and I was thankful.

I started with the dedicated cycling lane near Canada place. The dedicated part was actually what assured me that I could do this when I was studying for this, but darn I was a bit wrong. The place was so touristy and people were walking in and out the lanes that I felt like I needed to be careful more. My braking skill is not graceful at all, I couldn't just suddenly brake. Even when I wanted to stop to take pictures, I was rather awkward. Anyways, the people were watching all the little planes landing and departing from the water. They were interesting. The floating platform with a structure that has Chevron logo on it is where I think the planes get their fuel. The day was overcast, but luckily there wasn't any rain.

Following the cycling path brought me to Stanley Park. It's nice that these paths are all connected, so it's all safe, but you really need to watch out for people walking and crossing in. This is an example of the path I was on in Stanley Park.

The path is on the outer perimeter of Stanley Park so I don't really know what's inside the park. It's also one way which means that you cannot just turn and backtrack. I was so consumed in trying to figure out if I can cycle safely that I didn't really study and plan to do things inside the park. I didn't even take a deeper at the map the bicycle rental shop provided. It was actually quite useful. When I stopped (awkwardly), it was to take photo, and it was made more awkward by the helmet falling off my head :( By luck I stopped at one point and then I saw that there seemed to be many people on the other side of the road. So I walked my bicycle and crossed the road and found that's where the totem poles are. The bicycle rack was full and there's no point of me using it because I didn't know how to use the chain lock given to me anyway. So I just put my bicycle next to the full bicycle rack unlocked. Luckily it was okay. There are other sculptures near the totem poles if you walk out a bit. The totem poles themselves were very interesting though my pictures of them were rather blurry - I do not know what happened.

Other things seen on this cycling path after I left the totem poles are the Girl in Wetsuit sculpture and the Lions Gate Bridge. When I saw the Girl in Wetsuit sculpture, it reminded me of the Copenhagen's mermaid which I'm sure many people think too.

Looking at map, it is rather sad that I didn't explore the inside of Stanley park because there seems to be quite a lot of interesting things in it - maybe one day I'll get a chance to go there again? I just followed the cycling path in front of me and I knew that I had left the park when it's looking more crowded with people. There was a time where I literally stopped because there's this clueless guy tourist who wandered into the cycling lane and was like taking his time and then a guy behind me came and was like saying loudly it's a cycling lane! People walking in and out of the cycling lane really made me nervous. Anyways, one of the things I saw from a distance after leaving the park was this A-maze-ing Laughter sculpture by Yue Minjun.

Then a problem came. Initially I had thought, could I cycle to Granville market? I could not. I studied it, checked Google Maps, but on the day I just couldn't figure out the way. Based on the Vancouver cycling map I got, I also couldn't understand if the cycling paths are connected all the way there. In the map, the path was like on top of another, what does it mean? I do not know. I ended up just following the path in front of me. I passed by George Wainborn Park, David Lam Park, saw the sphere of the Science World in the distance, all the while thinking how do I get back?!?! I didn't study the important part. I knew I didn't want to go to Science World and I didn't want to cycle aimlessly. I finally stopped and checked Google Maps on how best to get back. Hornby street gives the most direct line, so off I turned and got there. My Vancouver cycling map told me that there's a part where it's a steep uphill and yes I couldn't do it. I walked the bicycle. Embarrassing? For sure. There was a guy in a bicycle who turned to look at me - yes, I see you dude. In Hornby street the cycling lane is separated from the car lane so it's safe, no worry there. After that section where I had to walk, I could cycle the rest, but because I wasn't fast (by design), I stopped at every junction because I met a red light. It gave me time to rest and see things. I saw that there's a protest happening in Robson Square (if I'm not mistaken). I don't know what the protest was for. The flags were not Palestinians, so my guess was for Iran. At that time I didn't know the different version of Iranian flags, so I really don't know what it was for. Was it to stop the war? I did see one Israeli flag, so maybe it's to support regime change? Anyways, I reached the end of Hornby street, now what. I decided to still go straight to this small park which I already walked through the morning before on my way to my day tour meeting point. I was met with some stairs going down, oh my God! Thankfully God heard me even before I went full on panic and I saw a ramp by the side, so I could walk the bicycle and at the end of the park I turned right and I got back to the bicycle shop easily. Thank God!

I still wanted to go to Granville market, so after I dropped off the bicycle I figured out a bus to get there. The bus stop wasn't clear so I had to ask a staff at the Waterfront station. The Granville market area was happening. I don't know if it's because it's a Saturday. I would be so confused if somehow I had made it with a bicycle. Because there's so many people, I actually didn't explore the surrounding area much. I went to the market and it was packed with people so that's not comfortable at all, but I have to admit there's so many interesting food in the market. I wanted to try a lot and after going here and there and got turned off by the many people I decided on pies, but which pie? So many interesting options. I went with banana pie which was good, but the meringue did have an egg smell which I didn't quite enjoy (and I actually love eggs) so I didn't finish the meringue. I found a seat outside and ate it there. After that, I decided to just leave. I could not handle the crowd. Granville market is something that I would like to explore again if I'd be so lucky to be in Vancouver again.

After I was back in Waterfront station, I decided to take the SeaBus accross the water to North Vancouver. I didn't really explore much actually. There's the Lonsdale Quay Market which has less shops than Granville and way way calmer. Maybe it was busier in the morning, it was quite late when I got there. Then I walked around the area, the pier.

Then I decided to go for dinner. The place where I wanted to go to is kinda away from the quay and a walk up a slope. They made me sit in at the bar. There were other people around me and suddenly these strangers made conversation with each other and the staff shucking oysters at the bar and I was just listening about their lives, kids, schools. I chose lobster mac and cheese and when it came I had to make sure it was correct because that was not what I expected. Just googled the place again and only now I realize they put mac and cheese inside " ". It was really good all the same. After that, I decided to just go back across the water. Back in my side of Vancouver, I walked a bit around the area where I started cycling that morning. I didn't see any plane taking off, but there were a few landing. I could also see some mountains covered in cloud.

Last stop was Gastown. I wanted to get some stuff for myself and check out the clock one final time. I was leaving the next day so yeah things were ending. I also stopped to take pictures of the pink alley before I went back to my hotel, just as a final thing to do. There's also some last pictures of the pink alley at night from my room. Vancouver has been interesting. For pictures from the day go here.

:) eKa @ 12:45:00 PM • 0 comments