Bicycle Mania (XIII):....Gulag-bound..... Nanaimo to North Vancouver

5:30

Yes, that is light outside..... even the pulp mill is already awake..

..I am hesitant to go for a cigarette outside because I'm willing to bet that the elevator is still out.

OMG, the elevator IS working again...


17 more sleeps until I'm back HOME... the numbers are tumbling and the length of time is getting more bearable!

8:00
I'm semi-drunk, am smoking illegally on the balcony, and am confident that I have LICKED this culture....

9:00


I clarify the check-out time with the new receptionist..... but when I ask "do I get a free bag of cookies for yesterday's broken elevator" I embarrass him.  He's not allowed!..... I like the Russian woman walking up and saying "Och, dochn't be a cheachp boych!"   At least someone still has a sense of humour !


I check the BC Ferries conditions....

....there ALREADY is a 2 ferry sailing wait (i.e. you won't get on this ferry and you will NOT get on the next one) !  They even tell pedestrians to be wary of a sailing waits.... Yeah, punishing car-driving climate-killers with sailing waits is perfectly acceptable.... but how DARE YOU making pedestrians & cyclists wait!

Fuck Third World Living!

11:20 check out

11:45
In the ferry terminal: Beautiful First Nations motives mugs .... Made in China.... the Departure Bay foot passenger lounge is just like YVR... everything is FAKE!

There are lots of food outlets here too.... I end up eating the healthiest food available.... a HOT DOG.... 

... FUCKING FAT Philistines !  No wonder almost everyone on this ferry sports a huge beer gut.

12:05
I've parked my laptop in the workstation area of the ferry..... the earlier we leave, the earlier I can get off this NO-SMOKING, NO-BOOZE commercial wonderland..... 



13:30
I am SO BORED..... the ferry is packed and the fat people stand in line for a whole hour to get more fattening BC Ferries Cafeteria food....

.....  Meanwhile, I am NOT allowed to smoke, I am NOT allowed to drink, the WiFi cuts out every 2 minutes and is almost impossible to re-engage,  what else...?  I'm sure there are more things I'm not allowed to do right now ....

I fall asleep for a moment.... but then my phone rings.... Granny's caretaker has called in sick..... WHAT possible good would do me this information if I was in Vietnam?

It's too bloody cold on the passenger deck of the ferry (they should turn down the a/c a bit!), so I hang out on the top deck for a bit.... but the view is too depressing (I realize that most tourists would LOVE this view ;-) .... I'm heading back to Vancouver....

Yes, that haze is man-made ....

Horseshoe Bay

the noise... the stench .... same old, same old.....

I have a tail-wind when riding back to North Vancouver.....

15:00
I'm in my hotel room.... and I can hear the people next door through the door between the possibly connecting rooms ;-(

 I'm back here (NOT a good thing) ...... but I rode a distance of 564 km by bicycle (YEAH!) ..... and I'm GLAD that I did ;-)

16:00
Time to buy more booze and to reserve a car for the next rainy day.....

They've finally completely razed my old hotel to the ground...

LOL, at my local car rental place, Joana's husband (why do I still not know his name after all this time?) mentions that I should have a blog...... I guess I will give him the URL when I pick up the car and HOPE that I've never written anything bad about them, LOL.

17:00
As for the cleanliness of this place:

Yes that is $2 'dirt' in the corner of the room .... 'nough said

18:00
I've picked up laundry powder at the gas station (much cheaper than buying it in the hotel) and laundry at this hotel is comparatively cheap at $2 per washer and $2 per dryer load..... and some of my clothes REALLY need a PROPER wash after 2 weeks of sink laundry ;-)

19:00
Time to get some food and speak tieng Viet..... it's the cute young guy at Pho Japolo, and I say "toi xin loi, toi se co gang noi tieng viet" ... and he actually understands me !... he even says "that's very good!".

Unfortunately they're out of chicken curry (for ever?) so I have to order the alternative ....


20:30

Tipsy & Tired.....

Bicycle Mania (XII):.... Crofton to Nanaimo

5:00
a bit early.... maybe it's the muscle pain in my shoulders that is responsible.... ....was it the bed or was it carrying the bike up the stairs ?

8:30
That's better ;-)


9:00
'Beautiful British Columbia' has caught up with me again ;-(
When I carry the bike back down the stairs again, the ferry line-up stretches all the way up the hill to my motel..... the cars are just sitting there and half of the drivers are too dumb to turn their engines off.....

.... but the unpleasant smell I notice in the air is NOT from the exhaust this time because the latter is overpowered by the reek of pulp-mill wafting in on a very slight wind from the North.


10:00
I'm shaved and showered but it's still too early to leave.... check-in time does not start until 15:00......





.... and I notice that another change has taken place .... maybe you noticed it.... I no longer bother with North American time notation.... none of that a.m. / p.m. nonsense anymore ;-)





In the news:
Absolute record-breaking temperatures (> 40 degrees Celsius) in Germany wreak havoc in agriculture and forestry, snap Autobahn surface concrete, and even bend railway rails..... HuH? This is like the THIRD record-breaking summer IN SEQUENCE ..... could Global Warming be real ?  

And what do Germans do about it this threat to the world and to their grandchildren's future ?????

They drive their cars ...

A hard rain's gonna fall !

10:45
I've been on the road now with the bicycle for 14 days.... and I am enjoying life.... during a phone call with Chantal I realize again that Vancouver is coming closer and closer again... and I realize how I am dreading that....

on y va!

Good Bye to the stupid car drivers in the ferry line up 
(looks like a 2 sailing wait ;-)... 

.....and Hello to almost empty roads with eagles 

Just before Ladysmith:  Instead of the LEVEL road of the highway, the "bike route" goes WAY UP, down a STEEP decline into a valley, and WAY UP again.... I'm sure that the RETARD who designated this as the "bike route" never actually rode a bicycle along here but only knows this route from driving it with his pick-up truck....


In all my days of island living, I forgot how BAD all that highway traffic really is...

.... so I detour away from it through the country side... 

....towards the town of Cedar.

13:00
Time to eat some food... the Cranberry Arms Pub & Hotel might fit the bill.

OMG, Instead of $17 in Fanny Bay, 1 piece Fish & Chips here only costs $10.  Get off the fast highway and life becomes quieter and much cheaper..... the perfect analogy for life!

13:15
Check in is not until 15:00... but I don't really want to wait that long here.... this pub ain't all that comfy.... I leave at 14:00 after paying my bill.  CAD$ 14.50 for a tasty glass of win and a very edible Fish & Chips.... that's more like it!

15:00
The smell in the hallway to my room is already a warning.... it smells like Grandma...old and not quite clean ....

 YUK !  And this SEEDY place costs $150 per night !!!!

And the NO-SMOKING on the balcony says it all..... I'm getting closer to Crazy-Town again....

The great VIEW that Booking.com promised? :

A view of the parking lot

 Look further out and you glimpse the pulp-mill in the distance ....

15:30
nap time!

17:30
The elevator no longer works..... and I live on the top floor.  A newly arrived Dyke on a Bike is her Vancouver true self.   She is rude to me (I simply don't understand why local lesbians HATE me) and she SHOUTS at the receptionist.  Rather that standing next to this vacuum for positive energy I walk up the stairs.

18:00
Time for another smoke... YUP, the elevator is DEAD, LOL.  THANK GOD, I didn't have to carry my heavy saddle bags (3 bottles of wine) to the 4th floor, LOL.

18:15
Feeling peckish and being almost out of cigarettes forces me to go explore Nanaimo....
On my way out, the receptionist tells me to lock my bike to the railing right in front of the office.... we talk and she says that she has had it with the life here.... she is going back to New Zealand....  

18:30
Nana Sushi..
I order a Bento Box and THIS....

is the included Dynamite Roll....this is going to be TOO MUCH FOOD !

There is a young hot couple (early 20s?) sitting at the table next to me.... when I'm done pigging out, I notice the silence.... they only talked to each other earlier when ordering, now they are BOTH doing stuff on their cell phones...  OMG, that silence is oppressive... need to get out of here....


19:30
back in the hotel, the elevator is still not working, and the chicken teriyaki is in the fridge.... that's going to be breakfast....

21:00
....TIRED

Bicycle Mania (XI) or Mr. Kim's Convenient Motel:...Parker Island - Galiano Island - Salt Spring Island - Crofton

6:30
It's quiet out here..... very quiet..... the only thing I hear is the call of a big bird.... and then I see the eagle that roosts on this property....


8:15
I need to catch a ferry at 9:55 beyond the big hill on the other island behind the ocean..... so J gives me a lift in the boat this early...

 Cycle up that hill..... there are cyclists WITHOUT motors going up that hill...

Oh WOW, the miserable DIRT-HAZE of Vancouver is visible from here...

I need a new camera..... there is a speck of dirt among the lens elements ....

10:00
I'm on the Polish-built Salish Orca again.... we're a bit late... but I'm on my way to Long Harbour on Salt Spring Island.

OMG, that's Parker Island, where I've just come from !

and somewhere in there is the house...

 

11:30
Moby's Pub again..... I feel sluggish and want to eat something before I take the next ferry.... also I have to waste some time so I don't get to my hotel way too early.  Unfortunately that also means that I have to spend more than TWO HOURS on Salt Spring Island before I can hop on the next ferry.

The Calamari are edible... but nothing special....  

WTF is that French Fry doing my Calamari ?

12:30
2 glasses of wine later.... and my time on Salt Spring has been reduced to 75 minutes.....

Approaching the ferry terminal, I cycle past a HUGE line-up of cars....that's AT LEAST a 2-ferry wait ....

"NO DISRESPECT, But Asian people have a different mentality", says the raisin-faced old lady on the passenger waiting bench to her conversation partner.... She tells the tale that friends of hers from Richmond think they've gone to heaven when they come to Comox... because the COSTCO there has so many fewer Asian shoppers..... 
This country keeps DISGUSTING me... blatant Ignorance and that HICK-type Racism are far too wide-spread.
On the other hand.... Old Raisin-Face is right.   
Asian people DO HAVE a different mentality... THANK GOD for that, LOL.

The ferry departs late by 10 minutes (I can't figure out why... they just don't want to go yet ?)

Again, the ferry reminds me of something that would operate in a country known for many ferry sinkings....

The strangest cloud shapes greet my arrival in Crofton !

Mr. Kim, the owner of Croft Inn Motel is just such a darling.... and I have reason to rummage through memory to dig out a long-forgotten way to say Thank You.
Kamsa Hamnida !



16:00
I'm TIRED...even though I didn't cycle that much today.... maybe it's the realization that from now on the trip is going downhill.... ... NOT in an elevation-related meaning... but because there are no highlights left on this trip... because tomorrow I'm cycling to Nanaimo (mini-hellhole) and the day after back to Vancouver (the Mother of all hellholes !)..... 

NO, I'm not going to a Pub in this town (there are two) to eat.... the trip to the grocery store is short.... but the shock about the selection will last for very long.... yogurt?   3 choices... but at least NONE of them is lactose- or fat-free ;-).... The cheese selection is GREAT....

....as long as you like cheddar, LOL.  I actually surprised that they sell olives.... but the shelf is packed, so I guess no one is buying them.....

When I unlock the bike after shopping, a local tells me that around HERE it is VERY wise to lock one's bicycle...... GREAT... just what I wanted to hear..... so when I'm back in the hotel..... at first I decline amazing Mr. Kim's offer to store the bike in his apartment overnight (I didn't even ask..) but instead I carry the bike up the stairs to the second landing to be able to put it into my room!

18:00
I am SO TEMPTED to just crash into bed.....

20:30
Now that all the guests are back in their rooms, WiFi is ATROCIOUS....or let's just call it almost USELESS...

23:30