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23 years, 3 months and 3 days, since my very first breath in this world. It was three days ago that I've given myself one of the most precious gifts that I'd have ever received--my very own website adelineang.com

I've been blogging with the Blogger for almost a year now and have truly enjoyed it. Thoughts are put into words, and pictures are saved as sweet memories. More importantly, I stay connected with family and friends who are far in distance but close at heart, in this little corner of the virtual world.

Thank you very much for your continual support and encouragement.

A new beginning as the new year approaches,
bringing new visions and new hopes.
Your support and encouragement means a lot to me,
keeps the fire going till eternity.

You're cordially invited to my new site, adelineang.com (Heavenly Paradise@AdelineAng.com)!

十五的月亮

十五的圆月，默默地等待着即将来临的春节：

皎洁明亮的圆月，
照耀白色的积雪，
闪烁眨眼的星星，
细腻静心地聆听。

世界各地的人们，
举头望月的眼神，
难以掩藏的感触，
回忆家人乐相聚。

圆月背后的意义，
有多少人去分析？
就连赏月的时间，
也挪不出一丁点。

圆月 提醒了我春节即将来临
圆月 奉劝我缓下脚步欣赏沿途风景
圆月 撩起我对家乡的思念
圆月 对我说世界充满希望

我
躺在温暖被窝里
感受月光的温度
隔天白昼的来临
我知道 你仍默默地守候

Calgary - Part II

Besides those top tourist attractions, I enjoy visiting university campuses when I'm in a foreign city! I visited the University of Alberta in Edmonton; and I should not miss the chance to take a tour around the University of Calgary campus, in Calgary (of course).

From top left (clockwise): A residence building, the Alberta Children's Hospital, Nickle Arts Museum, and McMahon Stadium.

After the quick campus tour, we went to Kensington Road for breakfast. We had cupcakes and some Southeast Asian food. Yumm...

There are some unique stores along Kensington Road that worth a visit. Some of them were closed since it was New Year's Eve.


Subsequently, we went shopping at the Costco Wholesale and IKEA, before heading to Stephen Avenue Walk (famous shopping district on 8th Avenue S.W.) and the City Hall.

Left: The "Women are Persons!" Monument near the Municipal Building (can also be found at the Parliament Hill in Ottawa). Other pictures taken at Stephen Avenue and surroundings.

After that? We had a quick visit to the Pacific Place, a Chinese shopping mall. Later, in the evening, we met up with few other friends for steamboat buffet as supper, before I bade Calgary goodbye at midnight. Yes, on New Year's Eve. A different way to celebrate the New Year ;)

Overall, my trip to Calgary (and Edmonton, Drumheller, Lake Louise, Canmore, Banff) was a fantastic one! This was one of the very few trips where I didn't have to do a trip planning and look at maps while walking on the streets (as if I didn't already look like a tourist). Everything was very well planned and taken care of. I even received my trip itinerary more than a month before my arrival in Calgary, from my lovely big bro, Julian.

Special thanks to Annie and Julian, for their kind hospitality and wonderful friendships over the past number of years. This was one of the best trips I had ever been on! I greatly appreciate your time and effort in making my trip a memorable one!!!

Calgary - Part I

Did I not mention that I visited Calgary? So, where are the pictures of Calgary? Amazingly, I spent most of my time (if not all) during the first five days of my one-week visit to Calgary outside Calgary ;) The last two days were days which I traveled around the city itself.

The expensive housing in Calgary is a known fact. One-bedroom apartment of less than 1,000 sq. ft. will cost around CAD 350,000 for starting price.

Why Calgary?

"Calgary is a dynamic and progressive city of just over 1 million people, close to the Rocky Mountains and famous for both the Calgary Stampede ('The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth') and the 1988 winter Olympics with Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards and the Jamaican bob-sled team. Well known for its friendly people Calgary's motto is 'Welcome to Calgary, Heart of the New West'."

~ Information from Canilink Relocation

All these while, I had the impression that Alberta is one of the provinces in Canada that offers the highest minimum wage. Shockingly, the minimum wage in provinces such as Manitoba ($8.50), Newfoundland ($8.50), Quebec ($8.50), Yukon ($8.58), Saskatchewan ($8.60), Ontario ($8.75), and Nunavut ($10.00) surpass that of Alberta ($8.40). Nonetheless, Calgary is a booming city that provides great job opportunities, owing to its fast developing gas and oil industry, particularly.

"Although British Columbia and Alberta account for only 20 per cent of the Canadian population, they produced nearly half the new jobs in the country last year."

~ Maclean's Magazine

Desperate looking for a job? There might one waiting for you in Calgary!

Residential area in downtown Calgary.

Public transit in Calgary. From top left (clockwise): bus in downtown, CTrain, interior of CTrain, and one of the many Light Railway Transit station.

CTrain which travels along 7 Avenue is known as the free fare zone. There is no cost for riding either CTrain route between 3 Street East and 11 Street West. Wonderful!

From bottom left (clockwise): Mewata Armoury, TELUS World of Science, Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre, Chinatown, and the Chinese street signs.

The Mewata ("O Be Joyful" in Cree word) Armoury is a Canadian Forces reserve armoury in Calgary, located on 11th Street S.W.

Eau Claire Market (bottom left) and the winter scenes of Prince's Island Park in downtown.

The awesome experience using the +15 walkway to avoid walking in the cold.

The +15 walkway is known to be the world's most extensive pedestrian skywalk system with a total length of 16 kilometers and 59 bridges. Plus 15 refers to the skywalk that's 15 ft from the ground level. It connects dozens of building in the downtown area, with enclosed shopping centres at the centre core. The rest of them are mainly office buildings.

Devonian Gardens, the large indoor urban park, are accessible from the skywalk. Unfortunately, the gardens were under renovations and I missed my chance to visit...

From left (clockwise): The entrance of Calgary Tower, Canadian Pacific Railway, and the Fairmont Palliser Hotel.

Bird's eye views from the Calgary Tower. From bottom left (clockwise): City Hall and Municipal Building (top right corner), Delta Hotel, Pengrowth Saddledome within the Stampede Park, and buildings seen through the glass floor.

Calgary Tower is a 191 metre free standing observation tower in downtown Calgary. It's the city's most identifiable physical landmark.

It was an amazing visit to Calgary downtown. Despite the chilly weather, we managed to visit numerous places in the city. As a reward, we had our delicious meal at Bolero, the Brazilian restaurant :P

Ski Trip in Banff

It was a ski day! Julian and I took off from Calgary, on an early Monday morning and headed to Banff. It was about an hour drive from Calgary. The view along the highway was breathtaking! The magnificent alpine looked unreal.....

The overpass ahead of us helps to keep animals off the highway during their migration. What a neat idea!

The Rundle Mountain.

The ski mountain we intended to go, Sunshine Village, was overcrowded by the time we got there (around 9:30 a.m.). It was unexpected, especially on a Monday morning. We spent an hour waiting in line before we finally got a chance to turn around. Another 30 minutes wasted just to get out of the ski mountain...

Our second choice, Mt. Norquay was not too far from where we were. Its smaller ski area allowed us to hop on and off the chairlifts without much waiting time; which in turn, maximized our ski time. It turned out great after all! We purchased half-day ski lift tickets to ski from noon till 4 p.m.

It has been my dream to ski at the Rockies. Why do I enjoy skiing? I shared my downhill skiing experience previously. As compared to the Crabbe Mountain in Fredericton, Mt. Norquay offers more and longer ski trails at higher elevations. In other words, it was more thrilling and challenging to ski at the big mountains!

The mesmerizing beauty of Canadian Rockies, snow-covered evergreen trees, as well as the long and steep skiing terrain were astonishing! Mt. Norquay has a variety of ski terrain for all abilities, ranging from beginner, intermediate (blue run), advanced (black diamond), and expert (double black diamond). The advanced trails I've explored at Crabbe, turned out to be much similar to the intermediate trails here at the Rockies!! Thus, I didn't go further than that. Furthermore, I haven't had a chance to hit the ski terrain for nearly a year... I'd need to sharpen my skills before trying anything more adventurous...

Our first chairlift ride of the day!

I was pumped to ski at the Rockies for the very first time!

All geared up and posed for a nice shot ;)

The marvelous view of the Rockies!

Julian, my ski buddy cum personal ski instructor :)

Trip to Banff

After a long day of traveling and dog sled tour, we were exhausted. Solution? The Banff Upper Hot Springs we went, looking forward to luxuriate in the comfort of soothing hot springs! The hot springs were steaming hot, measured at 39 degrees Celsius. Immersing ourselves in the HOT springs in the COLD weather (-10 degrees Celsius) was quite an experience!

The lengthy time frame (i.e. one whole minute), between taking a shower after donning ourselves in bathing suits and making our way to the hot springs, almost drove me nuts. It was freezing cold.....

We were there for about 30 minutes before calling it a quit. It was fine walking out from the hot springs as our bodies already warmed up a fair bit.

Busy crowd in the hot springs.

After our big meal at the Keg Steakhouse, we were ready to hit the sack. The next morning, we got up and saw the pretty snowfall in Banff. We decided to walk around the town after breakfast, since the fog wouldn't offer much to see from the top of mountain. There are stores selling souvenirs, clothing, crafts, sport equipments and more, along the streets.

Snowy morning in Banff.

An amusing site where park benches covered in snow.

Around 2 p.m., we made our way to the top of Sulphur Mountain by taking the gondola ride. It was rather windy at the top of mountain, -15 degrees Celsius without the windchill. Some of the sites were closed due to the snowfall. They haven't gotten a chance to clear off the path for tourists to walk around.

A gondola ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain.

The spectacular alpine scenery from the top of Sulphur Mountain.

"Where's home from here?" I wondered.

Dog Sled Tour in Canmore

Participating in the dog sled tour was an excellent experience! After out trip to Lake Louise, we had a stopover in Canmore before heading to Banff. The Snowy Owl Adventures offered an unforgettable dog sled tour, as it turned out. It was a two-hour tour, including a van ride to Spray Lake, where we began our exciting adventures!

We were given a short briefing about the huskies and some useful commands before driving the dog sled on our own! Here are a few commands we learned:

Hike: Get moving

Easy: Slow down

Whoa: Stop

On by: Pass another team from the opposite direction

Whenever the puppies did a good job in obeying the commands, we said "good puppies!" These puppies are very tame and smart. We had six huskies for our dog sled, the two puppies in front were the leading dogs; whereas the puppies closest to the harness were among the strongest.

Some other useful commands I found:

Gee: Turn to the right

Haw: Turn to the left

The sled dog breeds at the Snowy Owl:

Canadian Inuit Husky: "Original" sled dog, the closest living relative to the wolf
Alaskan Malamute: Very similar to the Canadian Inuit Husky, also a close relative to the wolf
Canadian Indian Husky: Indigenous to North America, the closest living relative to the coyote
Siberian Husky: The most well known sled dog breed, typical "Hollywood" Husky with blue eyes

(From left) Julian, myself, and Annie posing with the puppies during a short break.

Good puppy!

Trip to Lake Louise

A visit to Lake Louise is a must when visiting the Banff National Park. If only I had sufficient time to travel all the way to the Jasper National Park, that would be nice... Nonetheless, I was really glad to be at Lake Louise, one of the most scenic sites in Canada! It was simply spectacular! I wouldn't mind skating there either, if I had my skates with me :P

People were adventurous enough to walk on the icy Lake Louise, despite the noticeable thin ice caution signage.

The prominent Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, one of the Canada's grand railway hotels. It's a luxury resort hotel built in the early 20th century by the Canadian Pacific Railway.

The Chateau Lake Louise Ice Castle, built on the frozen lake. Simply gorgeous!

Drumheller & Airdrie

The town of Drumheller is the dinosaur capital of Canada, with its richest fossils and dinosaur bones in North America. The world-famous Royal Tyrell Museum is one of the many tourist attractions. It's 90-minute drive from Calgary, and about 3.5 hours drive from Edmonton (West Edmonton Mall to be exact).

The World's Largest Dinosaur is actually four times the size of a real Tyrannosaurus rex. She weighs 145,000 lbs and is constructed mainly from steel. She is 86 ft tall and 151 ft in length.

From left (clockwise): Scenic drive to Drumheller, the entrance of Royal Tyrell Museum, dinosaur display at the museum, and the world's largest dinosaur.

On our way back to Calgary, we attended the Festival of Lights in Airdrie, a city situated just north of Calgary. During the festive season (month of December), Christmas lighting runs from 6 p.m. till 9 p.m. This is an annual event open to the public. Different activities were held each evening, such as local band performances. The beautiful and exquisite lighting was particularly charming! I haven't seen such attractive lighting before...

It was a cold evening. The temperature was well below -20 degrees Celsius. We stood around the bonfire with a cup of steaming hot chocolate. I was glad to be there despite the cold :)

Trip to Edmonton

I had the opportunity to visit Edmonton, during my trip to Calgary. Edmonton is the capital of the province of Alberta. With its population of more than 750,000, it boasts to be the second largest city in Alberta. Edmontonian is the term used for a resident of Edmonton.

Edmonton is well-known as the home to North America's largest shopping mall, West Edmonton Mall (6.1 million square feet, which was the world's largest mall from 1981 till 2004). It reminded me of the largest shopping mall in Malaysia, Mid Valley Megamall, which has become of the main attractions in the Klang Valley. The 4.5 million square feet complex with its 430 shops certainly has lots to offer.

The University of Alberta is founded in 1908. The university's current enrolment is over 36,000, placing itself among the five largest universities in Canada. The main campus consists of more than 90 buildings, located across the North Saskatchewan River from downtown Edmonton.

From top left (clockwise): The Butterdome (Universiade Pavilion), TELUS Centre for Professional Development, Stollery Children's Hospital, HUB Mall, parking parkade, overhead walkway, residence building, and Arts building.

After the campus visit, we explored around the city for a bit.

From bottom left (clockwise): The Old Strathcona Arch, Fairmont Hotel MacDonald, Public Library, Chinatown, City Hall, Muttart Conservatory, and LRT station (centre).

Next, we visited the West Edmonton Mall. We reckoned it'd be quiet on Christmas Day. It worked out great for photo shooting :)

From top left (clockwise): Christmas lighting and Venice architectures, Galaxyland Amusement Park, T&T Chinese Supermarket, a replica of Santa Maria, Bourbon Street (a taste of New Orleans), indoor mini golf course, and World Waterpark (centre).

The following day was Boxing Day. We seized the opportunity to shop at the West Edmonton Mall, before heading to Drumheller. We were there before 10 a.m., when the crowd was less busy. The best deal I've got? A pair of jeans from Urban Behaviour for $5 (original price was $40)!!!

Top: Long lineup outside a sportswear store observed on the street, before 9a.m. Bottom left: One of the many entrances at the West Edmonton Mall. Bottom right: Busy crowd at the mall around noon. Long lineup outside Abercrombie & Fitch.

The Past, Present, and Future

The moment I decided to leave home to study abroad, I knew that I had to be on my own from then on. It was a tough decision to make as there was no turning back. The detailed story was posted previously. I'm grateful for the way I was brought up and all the love & care I've been receiving from Mom & Dad, who have been faithful supporting me through the ups and downs in life.

It was one of the my best moments in life, when both parents attended my graduation in May 2008. Graduation is not the end, but the beginning of a new journey of life. After all, there is a long haul ahead.


There are always challenges to encounter, people to meet, places to visit, dreams to fulfill, prayers to say... Are we willing to step out of our comfort zone and take the step of faith to explore what lies before us? Do we listen closely to the soft whispers of our inner voice?

There is a new hope, new vision, and new direction for the new year. Wishing everyone Happy 2009!

Under the hot sun, in the cold breeze,
I wander aimlessly with a bit of unease.
What has in store for me may not come by easy,
continuously searching though it sounds crazy.
The day is young and sun is bright,
fulfill your dreams before the time is tight.