Here at last...

I've finally made it to Canada!!! Yayy!!!

My flight from to Los Angeles took about 16 hours, plus a 2-hour transit in Taipei. I then had a 6-hour wait in LAX before my connecting flight to Calgary. By then I was just running on pure delirium and not much else O_o

Am now in the hostel in Calgary. We just got back from two nights in Banff, where the Rocky Mountains are. Banff is a beautiful, beautiful place. The view is amazing and there's plenty of outdoor stuff to do. I managed a 5.5km hike up Sulphur Mountain, which took me about 2 hours and abit (versus an 8-minute gondola ride!). It was a steep, upwards trail ALL THE WAY - my knees are hating me for it today! *ouchies* But, whatever pain it caused, the view on the way up was well worth it. Got some cool photos, will try to post them later cuz this internet terminal doesn't have a USB port.

Despite Susie's travel guide saying that there is nothing to in Banff at night, there is in fact plenty of bars and restaurants to go to. We managed to check out a good variety of bar "genres" - we started off at the Rose and Crown, an Elephant and Wheelbarrow type place with pub food and a rock cover band, then moved on to Aurora, which is like a cross between Next Blue and Frostbites (eww). It's one of those places where everyone just sits there and looks at everyone else until they get drunk enough to dance :P The music wasn't too bad though - a mix of top 40, hip-hop, Latin and doof. We finished off at the Devil's Gap - a heavy metal bar! Unlike its name, it was actually a pretty chilled-out place, the kind that people finish up at after a night of dancing.

Haven't been updating this blog as much as I would have liked. The lack of a laptop has made accessing the internet a lot harder...I can't use the free wireless internet that most acoommodation here in Canada offer. Boo!!! I have to either look for an internet cafe or wait to use the hostel one, which is cheap but doesn't have a very user-friendly operating interface. Ah well, one can't complain.

Heading off to Quebec City tomorrow via Montreal. I've only heard good things about those places, so can't wait to get there. By the way - Calgary is a hole. More on that later...