Oh, Canada!

Uh-oh! Another blog post with no photos. I'm going to have to make up for that when I get back in a week to my somewhat surreal life in Penang. At the moment, I'm on the final leg of this epic month-long journey across North America, having just washed up in a suburb of Victoria, British Columbia. I arrived here yesterday afternoon, though my luggage didn't. It did manage to get all across the US of A without a hitch, despite being grossly overweight. (No surprise there! One of them has a Singer sewing machine in it, still in the box and only US $30, if you can be believe that!) But because I was delayed in entering Canada, my luggage had to wait patiently for me to re-check it and therefore it missed the 13-minute flight from Vancouver to Victoria, though I miraculously did not.

The hang-up was the Immigration Hall at the Vancouver Airport,which was amazingly (and distressingly) crowded yesterday. There were HUNDREDS of people ahead of me and HUNDREDS more behind me in lines that hair-pinned back and forth, back and forth for miles, I daresay. The vast majority of those in line were Asians, and many seemed to be Japanese, so I assume they were visiting Canada during the school summer holidays or for O-Bon, since we're now in the run-up to that holiday period in Japan.

The only thing that saved the day was the fact that they graciously provide free Wi-Fi access there in the Immigration Hall. Most airports (at least in the States) won't even let you pull out a cell phone while you languish in line under pain of death or immediate deportation. But there in Vancouver they very hospitably allow you to use your phone and they even provide free wireless Internet access, which goes a long way toward making the whole miserable process less so. Kids were playing their hand-held games while they waited, businessmen were balancing their open laptops as they snaked along, and I? Well, I was watching America go into financial freefall, with the stock market plunging, and my country's financial reputation getting tattered and beat up. All courtesy of those thoughtful folks at Canadian Immigration!

And while I'm at it, I also have to commend the Vancouver Airport authorizes for providing an EXCELLENT display for incoming passengers to appreciate as they wend their way from the arrival gates to the immigration area. It's like a combination of a mini art festival and a folk crafts museum. They have a whole First Nations native art and handicrafts display and nature diorama complete with real water right there on the second floor! You see a handcrafted canoe bobbing in the water, hear water flowing, birds calling overhead and so on. It's a terrific way to welcome visitors and introduce them to Pacific Northwest culture as they pass by into the airport itself. I spent a bit of time there, taking it all in and reading the very informative labels on the exhibits, which is probably why there were SEVERAL HUNDRED more people in front of me in the immigration line by the time I wandered in. At least two jumbo jetloads full of exchange students from Tokyo and Osaka, all intent on perfecting their English there in Vancouver language schools before the new semester begins.

Oh, well! I didn't have to pay for my second suitcase because I was traveling internationally coming into Canada from the States. They didn't charge me for a decidedly overweight bag. They let me stagger onto small aircraft with unconscionably big hand
luggage and too much of it. Wholesome Canadian youths with straight white teeth and eating healthy snacks helped me get my luggage into the overhead bins. And the airline brought my delayed suitcases right to the door of the home where I'm now visiting, so how could I possibly complain?