Nicholas Ho's Amazing Blog

The Giant Avocado

2007-04-16T18:33:00.000-06:00

I've been working for a while on a restaurant listing and rating website on the site. Check it out: it works well for Edmonton and Calgary. Stay tuned for some lucky draws for restaurant gift certificates! :) If you create an account, I'll email you when the draw starts.

http://www.giantavocado.com/

Oregon

2006-10-30T22:32:00.000-07:00

Here are some images of my trip with Tanya to the Oregon coast this past weekend. The pace is quite slow, but the scenery is sublime.

A windswept coastline south of Yachats

A beach/sand dune scene near Reedsport on the southern end of the Oregon coast.

A couple on the beach in Yachats

Waiting for a plane at the massive San Francisco Airport

A Puffin in non mating colours at the Oregon Coast Aquarium Aviary

Me vs. Crab

Oh god!!

2006-10-22T19:19:00.000-06:00

It's been 10 years since I graduated. Man, I feel old. But I guess its' a good time to get back together with some people I haven't seen in a while. If you went to McNally High School with me, check out this link:

http://www.mcnallyclassof1996.blogspot.com/

Larch Valley and Sentinal Pass near Lake Louise

2006-09-10T00:13:00.000-06:00

Waterton

2006-07-25T21:10:00.000-06:00

Waterton National Park is one half of the Waterton Glacier International Peace Park which straddles the American/Canadian border at the foot of the rocky mountains. Featuring stunning mountain views, an emerald lake, and a touristy town centre.

I think I've visited at least 6 UNESCO World Heritage sites in the past couple of months. It's either a sign that I'm really lucky, or they give out these designations quite liberally. The senery in Waterton, however, is definitely unique, and the fact that it's not as touristy as banff is definitely a plus.

When Tanya and I we arrived, I was enamoured with the sight of a deer crossing the road. In the city, the closest thing to wildlife I see is the homeless person that pees in my parking spot. The shock of the deer wore off quickly though once we found out the truth: the deer were an infestation. We saw nearly 40 to 50 deer in the town throughout our visit. Tanya figures that it has something to do with the lack of predators, and abundance of food around the town.

The Prince of Wales Hotel. (We didn't stay here -> $$$$)

The infestation...

Achtung!!

The shores of Waterton Lake

The townsite

The view from our hike

Pincher Creek

2006-07-11T22:10:00.000-06:00

An agricultural centre, and now centre of renewable energy generation, Pincher Creek lies in the windy Crowsnest Pass in southern Alberta. Named for a pair of pinchers found in the creek, the town is quite small, and surprisingly does not have a Tim Horton's outlet!!

On a recent car trip down to Waterton National Park, Tanya and I stopped in the region for a day. We originally intended to stay in Waterton for two days, but instead ended up in the Pincher Creek region since there were no park campsites available for our first night. This was a pleasant twist of fate since the country was beautiful and natural, and the campsite was quite nice. Here are some pictures from our trip. I will have some pictures from Waterton Park up soon.

Our lovely campsite at the Oldman River Dam

My dinosaur fuelled car looking and a windmill

The Oldman River flowing past our campsite

A Pincher Creek highway scene

The pincher of Pincher Creek

The Great Wall...Part 2

2006-06-29T12:57:00.000-06:00

Mr. Jiao crested the gigantesque turret at the end of the horizon. And the waiting started: we were a bunch of foreigners in the middle of nowhere...What could we do to help?

After about 10 minutes, we heard yelling in the distance: Mr. Jiao was trying to get a hold of someone in his village. Our group then knew that someone would be coming -- unfortunately not soon. Again, it dawned on us that we were helpless without our Chinese guide.

Half an hour later, a villager with a cell phone and a small first aid kit arrived without Mr. Jiao. In elementary Chinese, I tried to describing the injuries of the lady who fell. The tumble onto the jagged rocks and trees below had hurt her: she almost fainted from the pain in her hip when she tried to stand up, and her shoulder was in agony. The villager assured us that a stretcher was on its way. As the day progressed, the sun got higher and higher, and the temperature increased steadily.

At the same time, we could see the elderly Mr. Jiao down on the hill. He was ripping a path through the forest with his sickle...intended to be used to carry the injured woman down the hill to the village. With the energy of a man half his age, he continued for over an hour -- cutting a path through the wild brush.

Another hour passed, and we saw some figures in the distance coming towards us on the wall. They continued towards our position, quickly and steadily: a man and a woman..yet, to our dismay, no stretcher. Our afternoon was about to get longer, we thought. When they arrived we found out that the woman was actually an english tutor, and she had come to help us translate...her first command was to instruct the injured woman to get up..it was very important she said. After about 5 minutes of trying, an amazing thing happened. She was able to stand up..and hobble down the path. It was lucky that she had no problems with her back. Slowly, we went down as a group down to the village, and promptly took off to the Beijing Friendship Hospital.

.........................................................

Later that evening at the hostel, her son came back with some happy news: other than a few scratches..she was fine. A middle aged woman falling 4 metres onto jagged rocks without major injury was an amazing feat. In a bizarre way, I feel somewhat jealous of her: she probably is one of the few in the world who could say they fell off the Great Wall of China.

Exciting times at the Great Wall of China

2006-06-24T08:07:00.000-06:00

Just as I turned around, I saw something terrible: the sight of a middle aged lady slipping and plunging down a height of 4 metres. I was on a Great Wall trip organised by our hostel, and it we were in the middle of nowhere.

The trip was advertised as being "secret", meaning that there would be no other tourists. After having visited numerous chinese tourists traps, the appeal seeing a historic site with nobody spitting and yelling around was immense. We departed early in the morning, and arrived three hours later in the country hills of the Beijing Shi. We were greeted by our very fit, 65 year old, non english speaking guide, Mr. Jiao, and headed up the mountain. My travel companions, Yannick and Melanie, and the rest of the tour group were greeted by dense forest and steep inclines.

As we walked on the wall, the view was simply amazing. Unlike most other historic sites in china, the wall was untouched by modern chinese renovations, and was deteriorated in places, but amazingly preserved in others.

Our group trekked for approximately a few hours without incident, when suddenly the fall happened. The Israeli lady that came with us on the trip was tumbling down to the jagged rocks below. Being directly in front of her, I looked in horror, and could not help as she was already tumbling down below. She landed with a thud, and was screaming in pain.

I reached for my cellphone, and then suddenly realised something: I was in the middle of nowhere in China. Firstly, I had no idea who to call, and secondly even if I did, how could I tell them where we were since we were in a "secret" place.

In halting Chinese, I asked our guide, Mr. Jiao, what number to call. He responded by saying that calling was useless, and it would be better if he ran off to the nearby villiage. Seconds later, the old man was running with the agility of a teenager up the length of th wall into the distance.

To be continued.... (my internet cafe hour is up :) )

Me and Mr. Jiao at the beginning of the trip.

The endless wall

Hangzhou

2006-06-22T07:09:00.000-06:00

Here are my pictures of the Beverly Hills of China: Hangzhou. My initial reasons for going had more to do with me visiting with my cousin Lee who is teaching English there at a local school. It was a nice surprise, however, to see how the rich and famous live in China. It is a city filled with German luxury automobiles, italian supercars, designer boutiques, and other things that most mortals could not afford in a lifetime.

At the centre of the tourist area is the famous West Lake which is encircled by heaps of pagodas, boats for hire, and chinese tourists. I spent about 3 days touring the lake, and enjoyed the view. I hope you will too.....

Boats on the lake..

Bruce Lee posthumously promoting a restaurant

Live manaquins in a store window

HAVE FUN!!!

Me, my cousin Lee, and his girlfriend Wendy

Shops I cannot afford to shop in

Some tourists looking at the lake

Again, things I cannot afford to buy

Me and a Dairy Queen green tea dipped cone

Shanghai

2006-06-16T05:52:00.000-06:00

I was only in Bund, (60Y/nightght = $9 CAD), I was watching the Ukraine/Spain World Cup match in the upstairs pub when I heard explosions. In fact, it was sensational: the sky was alight with fireworks for a recent meeting of asian leaders at the

Here are some other pictures from my walk about town:

The old French consession. Now neat, clean, Gucci store laden and a haven for tourists.

A Chinese sculplture from the excellent Shanghai Museum. Containing historical pottery, jewlery, jade, gold and other countless artifacts covering the last 3 millenia.

A view of Pudong: Shanghai's new modern centre.

The famous shopping district of Nanjing Road

I'm off to visit my cousin in Hangzhou next. I'll post another update soon. Keep emailing: it keeps me sane!!

Hong Kong

2006-06-15T10:04:00.000-06:00

I just had a great week in Hong Kong. I was able to spend a lot of good time with my relatives and got to see a lot of changes since last time I visited 10 years ago.

Here I am sampling some Thai food with my family in a nice restaturant in Causeway Bay.

Insense burning at the Tin Hau temple at Yau Mat Tai

A new dim sum item: the Bolo/cha siew bao. (BBQ Pork with crusty top). Fresh out of the oven!

Ferries in HK harbour

A Hong Kong street scene

Walking down from the Peak

A city view from the Peak

Opera and Pandas

2006-06-05T23:13:00.000-06:00

Last night, we went out to see the famous Sichuan Opera. It was quite nice, and there was a lot to see. It was a bunch of different acts including a live sichuanese orchestra, acrobatics, marionettes, an er hu solo, and the famous Face Changing show. It was about an hour and a half, and had some chinglish subtitles so I could kind of follow the plot.

Here are some pictures.

We also went early this morning to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding located on the outskirts of nothern Chengdu. I turned down the chance to have my picture taken holding a baby panda, however, after learning that it was about 200CAD...well, that and they told me I couldn't take it home with me after.

Mail's working again

2006-06-04T20:13:00.000-06:00

Phew! I was shaking for a bit!! My email is back!

Emei Shan

2006-06-04T05:26:00.000-06:00

Whew. I've just gotten back to Chengdu, and i'm super tired. We spent the last couple of days ascending the famous Emei Shan, and it's been interesting. Our ascent lasted about 9 hours the first day and 1.5 hours the next. My legs are killing me, but I think it was an enjoyable experience.

Emei Shan sits at about 3099 metres, and has Buddhist temples and monkeys all along its path. Although it was foggy quite a bit at the end of the day, I was able to take some OK photographs. Please have a look.

Oh yes, I'm not able to connect to my email for some reason, so if you need to contact me for some reason, please call my chinese cell # at +86 871 13529221409

Emei town at night

Nine hours of this!!!

Iconic, misty Sichuan mountains

A temple view

Elephants at the top

I'm a big fan of Chinglish

Photos from Litang

2006-05-31T22:12:00.000-06:00

Hello from Chengdu!

I arrived here safe and sound..although a bit rattled from the hazardous roads. Here are some pictures from the very tibetan city of Litang and my trip through the mountainous roads of western Sichuan.

Eating shui gwo rou (spicy pork) and eggplant at a
sichuan restaurant with Melanie & Yannick from Montreal

Our bus trip. Looks a bit like Alberta..except for the
waterless squat toilets in the outhouse on the right.

Litang from the top.

On the way to the temple.

I'm in Sichuan!!

2006-05-28T06:28:00.000-06:00

It's been a jarring exercise, but I've finally reached the city of Litang in Sichuan. Eight hours of bouncing up and down in a motor coach on some unpaved mountain roads, I am enjoying the tibetan side of China. I don't have a way to post pictures, but I will put some up soon. It's really a treat to be here, and see somewhere that is not so touristy.

At about 4000m in elevation, it's super cold here (about 5C) and doing anything physical is somewhat exhausting due to the altitude.

http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/56257.html

Also, I'm travelling with some nice people here from Montreal: Yannick and Melanie. It's great to speak some french while travelling. Check out their blog here:

http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b321/yan1428/Yunnan/

Tiger Leaping Gorge

2006-05-26T00:33:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures from my 2 day trip to the Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan province. We encountered spectacular views throughout our trek: the first day was about an 8 hours, then the second only 5. Over the past few millions of years, the mighty Yangze has cut a 19,000 foot cut into the mountain.

The Tiger Leaping Gorge is so named because it is said that one time a tiger had jumped over the narrowest bit. Unfortunately, an earthquake in 1999 tore off the aforementioned outcliff, and it now lies at the bottom of the river. The trek is lined by several guest houses who offer meals and accomodations for reasonable prices. I suggest anyone who goes to Kunming take some time off and go to the gorge.

My travels will now take to Zhongdian, the so called "Shangrila", and then on to a 2 day bus ride to the Tibetanesque city of Li Tang in Sichuan Province. I will then travel North to the Emei Shan mountain, and then to Chengdu where I will fly to Hong Kong. I hope to be in HK in the first week of June.

Please keep sending me email :)

The mule that followed us all the way up the high part.
They offer rides if you get tired for a price

Walking through/over a waterfall that falls into the gorge.

A farm and clouds.

Me overlooking the gorge.

A villiage.

Lijiang

2006-05-21T03:55:00.000-06:00

So, I've come up finally to the nice, but touristy city of Lijiang. It's quite nice, although things are a bit expensive. (A coffee is 20Y which is a lot in China) As a UNESCO heritage site, there's a lot to see though, and I hope you enjoy my pictures. It's only about 2 hours north of Dali, and the food here is great. Most of the tourists here seem to be Chinese, and so it's a bit difficult getting around but I'm managing with a lot of pointing and use of very halting chinese.

I probably won't be able to post for the next 2 or 3 days since I will be trekking in the famous Tiger Leaping Gorge. The trip should take about 2 or 3 days, and I'm really looking forward to it.
Again, my site is blocked, so I hope these pictures show up well for you:

The rooftops of the old town. This style of architecture held up during the large earthquakes of 1997, where modern buildings did not.

Some kids

Mao Says Hi!!

Dali

2006-05-18T18:46:00.000-06:00

So, right now I'm in Dali in Yunnan province. It started out quite rainy, but the weather seems to have picked up a bit.

Unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to view this website in China, but I can somehow post to it. Here are my travel pictures. Hopefully it looks ok for you.

Dali is quite a nice place..kind of like Banff, but with more chinese food. Yesterday, I met up with some people I met here, and we went up to the Gangtong Si peak.

Tomorrow I'm off even further North in Yunnan to Lijiang.

Cheers for now.

Better Chiang Mai

2006-05-13T02:26:00.000-06:00

OK. Here's some better pictures. Man, some of these internet cafes are terrible. They run these ancient, virus ridden machines, and don't give a damn whether they're working properly or not. But I think it's partially my fault too: I should be less forgiving of them.

Here's the Muy Thai match I went to last night at Gawilla Stadium

The musicians

A "Monkey Farm" where they have animals perform. If you gave them little shirts it'd be a bit like Office Space.

Me up overlooking Chiang Mai at the temple on the Mountain: Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep Rajvoravihara.

I'm flying off to Kunming, China tomorrow morning. I hope people will understand my mandarin mispronouciations and lack of diction :(

Chiang Mai

2006-05-11T21:28:00.000-06:00

Bah..this internet caf sucks. This stupidcomptuer only has 128MB of RAM and is running XP!! Jesus.. I will addsome better picutres later. there are mor than just chickens here!! :P

Thailand pictures..more to come

2006-05-07T22:04:00.000-06:00

OK. I finally got the pictures working. Here goes nothing:

Wow it's hot

2006-05-05T04:23:00.000-06:00

I just got to Bangkok yesterday after a day and a half of plane travel. Having travelled on Air China, I think my mandarin skills have improved substantially.

I haven't figured out how to get my digital pictures to the internet cafe computers yet since I do not have a suitable USB calbe..so if you have any ideas on how I can get my SD card pictures to the interent, let me know!! My idea righ tnow is to burn them to a CD at a photomart, then copy them up.

I'll do up a proper post soon..with pictures too!!

Sleeper movie of the year

2006-04-24T11:38:00.000-06:00

Wow. If you get a chance, take a look at Thank You For Smoking. This has to be one of the most clever movies that I have seen this year. Centred around the live of a tobacco lobbyist, Thank you for Smoking investigates the personality and amorality of the protagonist in his quest to get everyone smoking. It's a very funny and entertaining movie and worth a watch! I think it's still in theatres, so watch it ASAP. (Athough I'm not sure if it's playing in Nigeria Omar! ;) )

UPDATE

2006-04-02T21:51:00.000-06:00

I guess I'm last but least to get in on this Snakes on a Plane phenomenon. Check out this blog. I'm so behind in the times -- I need Cable TV! :(

OMG!!!

2006-04-02T21:39:00.000-06:00

Snakes..........on a PLANE!!!! This has to be a joke!

2006-03-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

Tonight was a good night: Andrew and I went out and had some Korean BBQ at this restaurant near my place called "The Flamingo". We asked the waitress if she had some Korean beer, but alas no. Instead, she suggested, that we try this white sakeish kind of stuff with a Korean label. We did, and it turned out pretty well. If you know what this label above means, let me know!

Man, Korean BBQ is so good. Especially the chicken when it's done right. Hopefully I'll have more culinary delights to share with you on my upcoming trip.

Here's some more pictures.

2006-03-19T13:07:00.000-07:00

Since Tanya is gone for a few weeks to Oregon, she has left me with her Crested Gecko named Echo. (I beleive Tanya's next pet will be named SLK 55 AMG Coupe)

Surprisingly, Echo has turned out to be quite photogenic as you can see here.

As described in wikipedia:

The New Caledonian crested gecko or eyelash gecko (Rhacodactylus ciliatus), is a type of gecko found only on the southern end of the island of New Caledonia. This species of gecko was thought extinct until it was rediscovered by a team of biologists in 1994. This gecko, along with several other Rhacodactylus species is being considered for protected status by CITES. Crested geckos were first described by Guichenot in 1866 and is sometimes also referred to as Guichenot's giant gecko.

Its tameness is most definitely a liability in the wild, but is definitely an asset in captivity!! Hooray for biologists!

The cure to back pain

2006-03-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4782492.stm

The travels of a heroic amateur

2006-03-04T19:45:00.000-07:00

I took the big leap: I booked my air ticket to southeast asia for June and July. My preparations for this trip will include the exciting tasks of includes lineing up for visas, receiving multiple vaccinations and the practice of going to the bathroom while squatting! Oddly enough, I'm looking forward to it.

My trip will start in early May in Bangkok, and will take me overland through Laos, Vietnam, Hong Kong and China-- finishing in Beijing.

My hope is that this site will help you check out my progress while I'm on my trip. Hopefully you will find it more exciting than watching Red Shoe Diaries on Showcase on a friday night, but I'm not hopeful: I cannot guarantee any nude scenes on my trip.

2006-02-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

Aha. My computer's been fixed. It's been quite a few trips back to the mac place, but it was finally fixed under warranty.

I guess a lot of these original iMac G5s have been having issues with their displays. There seems to even be a recall out there for both power and video issues with the iMac..and unfortunately I experienced both of them on seperate occasions.

Once, I was having some friends over at my place, and it started to smell like plastic burning. I wondered if the stove was left on, but, alas, it was my iMac! :( Following that incident, my poor little mac started scrambling video which required the monitor to be replaced a couple of times!

But, in the end, I don't live in Iraq or sub-saharan africa..so on the bright side of things, it's not so bad!! :(