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The rarely updated blog of Joel Dixon
Viewing blogs in section Travel
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Phuket, Thailand - 2010
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 20/07/2010 19:11:21Time for more random travel, this time to Phuket, Thailand.
The Setup
Similar to our last random travel, the destination of Phuket came in a round about way. Jules had two weeks off from work, and decided he wanted to go skiing or somewhere tropical. I joined him on the trip to the travel agent - in case his holiday sounded fun enough for me to ride upon his coat tails. When one week in Patong Beach, Phuket was decided upon - I jumped upon the afore-mentioned coat and road along
.Flights
Jules asked if there was any chance we could sit in an exit row seat, for the added leg room, and it was granted. When we finally sat down on the plane - we saw that the exit row seat comes with about two metres of leg room! Coupled with the fact that the third in our row of three seats was unoccupied - I can safely say best flight ever! Oh - and I saw a great Michael Cera movie on the plane, Youth in Revolt. Go and watch it now, I'll wait.
The Resort
The fantastic view from the back of the resort
We stayed at the Impiana Resort & Spa on Patong Beach, and it was fantastic. One of the few resorts that opens directly to Patong beach, it has a fairly upper-class spa and restaurant on-site and the staff were polite and helpful.
We splashed out on the first night and enjoyed a fancy dinner at the award-winning Sala Bua Restaurant. It was a pretty incredible meal, but got a little too romantic of Jules and I when the candlelight came out.
The pretty love-heart shaped rice that Jules and I shared
I was getting a little worried about the room-service bill towards the end. We each had a 2-hour spa massage, our fancy dinner, a few normal meals and around 25 drinks charged to the room. In the end - the bill came to around $200 each - I was expecting far more!
The Locals
On our first day we met two groups of locals that really helped us with suggestions for eateries and night-time activities.
We firstly walked past a Fisho Spa, where little fish nibble on your feet for ex-foliation purposes. The fish-spa was fun, but the girls running the place were quite nice and provided helpful tips on places to eat and shop.
The Fisho Spa
Also on that first day, we decided to have drinks at the Aussie Bar so we could play a few games of pool. The bar staff were quite nice (and not the type of "bar girls" you find in most of the places there) and we ended up drinking and playing pool at Aussie Bar for most night we were in Thailand.
Aussie Bar became our local
Phi Phi Island
We spent a day doing a speed-boat tour of Phi Phi island, which was fun. The weather wasn't perfect but we got to see some amazing islands, and cheeky monkeys. We also played a bit of beach volleyball, which was fun - but reminded me that I hadn't done much exercise lately
We went past some really nice looking islands that would be fun to retire to
At monkey beach the monkeys knew how to get their bananas
The monkeys were cuter before the tour guide told us they all had rabies
Summary
It was a great week, nowhere near as relaxing as I thought it would be - but I had a lot of fun!
Ronald doing a traditional Thai greeting
# Posted in the Travel section and tagged as: Phuket
Monday, June 21, 2010
Random Travel #2 - Thailand
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 21/06/2010 22:58:23Jules has a few weeks of annual leave coming up - so wanted to do another random travel experience. After getting approval for a week of leave from my team leader ("Well Joel, I guess I won't stop you - put it that way") I joined him on his trip to Flight Centre in-case his trip sounded like something I'd want to join in on.
His brief to the travel consultant was not incredibly focussed ("I'm thinking of skiing or something tropical") but with a bit of discussion Phuket, Thailand was decided on. It did sound pretty fun - so I also decided to join in on the adventure. So it's a week in Thailand for Jules and I in about three weeks time
# Posted in the Travel section and tagged as: Phuket
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - 2010
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 06/04/2010 21:20:06Updated by Joel Dixon at 07/04/2010 22:45:10 - Added photos from Jules
This past Easter weekend, a friend and I decided to spend the weekend in Malaysia. This is our story:
The Setup
Last Wednesday I was at farewell drinks for a co-worker, I was chatting with other work mates about living life and being spontaneous. How I should stop waiting around for things to happen (like when I can afford to travel overseas, etc) and live life for the now.
The next day, we were having a few drinks at my manager's apartment (notice a pattern?) and I was still thinking on that theme. I had two more items to go on my 10 things list, and decided to knock one of them off. I then pronounced "I'm going to Singapore this weekend!"
Everyone was positive towards my idea (everyone was drinking), and I eventually realised that I'd prefer to go to Tokyo. Julian decided that he liked the way I was thinking - and said he'd join me. So I left the night early to go home and plan an impromptu Japanese holiday. As pretty much all flights to Tokyo were booked out for the next two days - we settled on Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia as our destination. We also decided that staying in a backpackers hostel would be a different experience, so we booked a few rooms at the Green Hut Lodge.
Everything was booked on the Thursday night - and we left for the airport Friday night to get into KL around 6am Saturday morning.
Arrival
When we first arrived at the hostel, we questioned our accommodation choice immediately. We went for a quick walk and saw the penthouse suite at the hotel across the street was only around $140 a night. While on our walk we also saw a heap of 7-11s, and heard a heap of car horns. I guess we looked weak-legged - as 75% of the taxis passing us would honk their horn and yell "Taxi!" out of their windows at us. We'd heard enough about dodgy taxis to remain pedestrians.
When we got back from our walk we decided to stick with our hostel for the first night - and upgrade the next night if needed.
I really don't understand the colour scheme for this room - maybe it's better I don't
The room could only just fit the bed, but the air-con worked and it was pretty clean
City Walk
We decided to go for a walk around the city, and went on a treasure hunt in a local shopping pavilion (just try to find some chalk in a very high-class shopping centre). Outside the pavilion there was a guy with a "Free Hugs" sign that I couldn't resist, but I was surprised to hear that I was the first person that took him up on his offer that day.
We had a look at the Petronas Twin Towers, checked out the monorail, drank some American-style root beer floats and ate a genuine KL lunch.
He wasn't that bad a hugger to be honest
The Milo nuggets are what I wish our Milo Bars resembled!
Our Malaysian lunch, very nice
Mono-d'oh!
The Petronas Towers. Tickets are free - and you can go at any time you'd like - but you need to line up from 7am to get the ticket.
Not Malaysian at all - but I love my root beer floats!
Almost more than motorcycles, Malaysians love their high-priced watches
Batu Caves
Although not too enthused - we decided to check out the local Batu Caves, mainly drawn to the promise of monkeys. We had great difficulty finding the bus to get us there (buses in KL don't actually run to a published schedule), then the bus took ages to reach the destination.
But when we finally arrived - I was so happy we decided to make the trip - the place was beautiful. Firstly, it was hard to not notice the giant statue of Murugan - but it was the cheeky monkeys that I enjoyed the most. They were running around everywhere, stealing food off tourists and climbing everything. The inside of the cave was pretty impressive as well, although a bit of a shame that people had scratched their names in the walls.
Even the giant statue of Murugan would struggle climbing all of these steps
The inside of the caves, really pretty!
"Milo the Monkey" stole my empty drink container
... and immediately dropped it when he discovered it was empty
Monkey on a post
Dinner
Dinner on day 1 was a huge highlight for me. We decided to eat at one of the street restaurants, and it was amazingly good food for the price we paid. It was also a thrill to see half the road blocked by the tables and chairs of the restaurants.
It must have taken a long time to drive down this street when dinner was on
Jaz, a local beer, was cheap and went down smooth
Sambal rice and chicken ginger, onion - very nice - and no annoying side effects
Night Time
We went for a few beverages at one of the local tourist bars. It started a little slow, but around 11pm or so the bars really started filling up. We weren't taking advantage of the cheap Malaysian beer, drinking a "fresh" German brew - Starkers. Because it needs to be drunken within 7 days there's no preservatives and apparently reduces the chance of hangovers (apparently).
The beer comes in it's own keg and is tapped onsite. Pretty classy, and the fact that the beer is served by a Japanese waitress in a German uniform classed it up some more
The night was pretty hilarious but we didn't get ourselves into any trouble, which I was happy with. Getting home around 3 am (having about 2 hours sleep in the past two days) we both slept for about 12 hours straight.
Day 2
Day 2 was pretty tame by Day 1 standards. We still had some fun, visited the KLTower, had an incredible meal at an Indian restaurant and had some drinks sitting outside the hostel for the end of the night. We decided that the hostel was actually pretty good as part of our whole experience. Cheap and clean was the motto - and they were true to their word.
Summary
Malay words learnt: 1 (restoran - pretty obvious)
Souvenirs bought: 0
Fun had: plenty
More Photos
Here are some more photos from Julian's camera
My free hug.
Getting towards the end of a long day
The German-attired girl serving us booze
We said hello to some random Belarus chick
# Posted in the Travel section and tagged as: Kuala Lumpur
Thursday, October 25, 2007
The Little Things
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 25/10/2007 09:47:18Updated by Joel Dixon at 14/07/2008 23:59:01
I've already blogged about some big differences between Australia and Canada - such as travel, customer service and language. But quite often I'm struck by some of the small differences that aren't much when looked at one-by-one - but they certainly add up.
Some things I didn't notice when I first wrote about differences in traveling are longboards and crosswalks. The number of people getting around on longboards is staggering - I'll see one at least every few weeks. Obviously this isn't a very high number - but considering I've never seen a longboard in use in all my years in Australia - it's pretty striking. Another potentially striking difference (HU HU - you'll see) is the cross walks over here - they are so dangerous. In the middle of the city, on a main road they have random cross walks setup. They have no traffic lights, the crossing lane marks are very faded (and they don't all have zebra marks), some are directly after blind turns and the only indication that they are coming is a small sign on the side of the road. I've already had the car I was traveling in screech to a halt a few times when a pedestrian comes out of nowhere.
A longboard
One of the crosswalk signs that you won't notice driving around Edmonton
It's also been weird for me to live in a place that doesn't value water above gold. Because of Canada's geography, water is an abundant resource and there's no real need to be a water saver. Water features and fountains are in common (and not drained), I've yet to hear the term "Wally" and they don't even have a "half-flush" button on the toilets.
While not related to water (but still important to the environmentally conscience) - plastic bags are handed out like candy here and I've even been asked if I want my items double bagged from time to time. I did however buy re-usable cloth bags - the Australian in me feels like a criminal whenever I'm given a plastic bag!
While they may be wasting water and plastic here, they seem to be doing the right thing about power saving. Almost all of the lights at work are operated on a timing switch, and power saving propaganda is frequently advertised on TV. I do remember some power saving going on at home - but it's nothing like Canada (in my experience so far).
The cool breeze of this energy-efficient fan almost makes up for the exertion you feel from powering it all day
Something that I had noticed a lot in North American sitcoms and school dramas was hand towel distributors. You can't just pull the paper out of the dispenser - you have to either hand-crank it, flick some switch repeatedly or press some button. I'm going to take a complete guess and suggest that this is to prevent somebody stealing the paper towel without supplying great annoyance (or to stop the kids from messing with it). It's taken a bit of getting used to - and I'll feel no great loss when I get back home!
You can see the small handle on the right hand side of this paper towel dispenser
There's also even smaller things that are different - such as stamps costing $1.10 here. Also, people have really embraced bluetooth headsets more than in Australia. It's appears people aren't ridiculed for this as much as they should - I've been playing my part - and usage is somewhat frequent.
But the biggest little difference that I've encountered here - is that everyone (about 5 or 10 people) that I have said "Maccas" to have no idea what I'm talking about. Even when I'm discussing fast food restaurants and say something like "Yeah, I really like Maccas nuggets" it's met with "Maccas?" (it's McDonalds if anyone from Canada's reading this
). They use Mickey D's (which I thought was more American) or just plain McDonald's. Thinking about it, if it followed the typical Australian nickname generation algorithm it should probably be shortened to Macco's (Jonno, Richo, Dicko etc). A quick look on Wikipedia lends a few more nicknames:The UK seem to be a cross between here and North America with "Macky D's", but "de Mac" is where I want to be eating!
Hmmm, (fast) food for thought
# Posted in the Travel section and tagged as: Edmonton
Monday, October 22, 2007
Waltzing around West Edmonton Mall
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 22/10/2007 08:01:10Updated by Joel Dixon at 07/03/2008 11:00:57
A few weekends ago I took a trip to the West Edmonton Mall with my camera to provide content for this blog. Even though it was the world's largest mall for a 23-year period, it didn't really feel that much bigger than large shopping centres in Australia.
World Waterpark
Apparently the blue water slide starts higher than the red one - but I'm sure you pick up a little extra speed on the red one!
Another yellow water slide in the distance
The Wave Pool - not very wavy at the moment
A bit of beach atmosphere, parents can watch their kids on generic white deck chairs
There is a small enclosure with a few flamingos tooling around - quite a shock to see when you're in a shopping centre
Galaxyland
Galaxyland is an indoor theme park, why not?
My kinda ride - I've only felt like throwing up on three ferris wheels in the past
A pretty impressive indoor rollercoaster
It feels a little unsafe walking directly under the rollercoaster track
Deal or No Deal is extremely popular here (and hosted by Howie Handel). Here's the arcade game version (it dispenses tickets instead of cash)
Sea Life Caverns
Sea Life Caverns is an indoor lake with a daily seal show as the main attraction
The lake also houses a big-ass pirate ship
The coolest part of Sea Life Caverns (IMO) is a submarine-ride. The subs go down a few meters and drive around on a track
Some kind of ride, these things seem to be driven by the ride-taker
Bourbon Street
Bourbon Street, a small section of the mall themed to resemble the Bourbon Street of New Orleans
One of the classy restaurants in Bourbon Street
A comedy club - though in the real Bourbon Street I'm sure this would be a strip club that features comedians taking their kit off
Movie Theaters
The mall has two movie theaters, and this is what was playing in one of them the day I was there
I had to take a photo of this awesome Yoda statue/thing hanging from the roof
General
The movie Christmas in Wonderland was shot in the mall, and the Christmas decorations haven't been taken down. Pity I missed my chance to meet with Carmen Electra - one of the actors in the movie!
NHL regulation sized ice rink in the mall. The Edmonton Oilers used to train here occasionally back in the Gretzky days. I remember when Knox Shopping Centre had an indoor ice arena which was about the size of my apartment's living room
West 49 (a skate shop) has a small skate park downstairs
It's weird, directly above Bourbon Street is Chinatown
The mall is host to two mini-golf courses - this one is a "putt in the dark" experience
The second mini-golf course - apparently this one is based on Pebble Beach
The in-mall hotel - is it just me that finds the name a little suggestive?
A casino inside the mall. They had a few table games (Caribbean Stud poker, roulette) but no proper Hold'em table - it was mainly pokie machines
A little course was setup to test-drive Segway Scooters
The Dollar Kingdom, where everything is "$1 or more". Does that sound stupid to anyone else? Their selling point is that they sell nothing under $1
Every good mall needs a police station
# Posted in the Travel section and tagged as: Edmonton
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Customer (dis)Service in Edmonton
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 20/10/2007 10:31:01Updated by Joel Dixon at 23/02/2008 12:36:27
As I may have already mentioned, Edmonton (and Alberta in general) is going through a boom right now. Fueled mostly by the natural resources in the region, Alberta has the lowest personal and corporate tax rates in all of Canada - and Albertans don't have to pay sales tax. This has caused the job market in places like Edmonton go wild.
Driving around the streets, it's impossible to miss the high number of "help wanted" ads. Everyone is hiring, from typical industrial types working with Alberta's resources (mostly oil) to fast food joints and department stores. My local doctor's office does not provide any late appointments anymore, as they do not have enough staff. It's hard to get a taxi around here as they are currently low on drivers (not a problem I'm used to experiencing in Melbourne). This is great for the job hunters, but not so good for the companies.
I personally believe that this is why I've found the customer service in Edmonton to be sub-par at best. With so many opportunities, the jobs that would generally be viewed as not enjoyable (customer facing roles) are left unfilled - or filled by whoever's available. This has put me on the annoying side of customer service issues, which I am going to whine about now:
- My first example of this was attempting to hook up my IV (Internet, Cable TV, PVR and phone). I called to book an installation almost as soon as I got here - at which point I was told it would take two and a half weeks before a technician can visit (and I needed to be home between 9 am and 12 pm). When the technician finally arrived (2 pm), he had forgotten to bring my new fangled PVR device, so he had to install a regular set top box. I wasn't too upset (as I finally had Internet), so I organised another appointment (in another week and a half) for a new technician to come with the PVR and swap it over.
When a technician didn't turn up at all on the scheduled day, I gave Shaw a call. After verbally wrestling with the automated assistant (see below), I was told that an extra work order was never made against my account - but I was welcome to make another appointment in two weeks to get a technician to my apartment. I ended up going to a Shaw dealer and picking up the PVR and "installing" it myself (by plugging it in). After a few complaints on my behalf - I did receive a discount on my first month's fee, but I would have much preferred to have it all setup a few weeks earlier. - As mentioned earlier, customer "help lines" are very difficult to navigate (much worse than Australia). Everything's automated ("Why don't you tell me the movie you want to see"), even though the voice recognition is terribly dodgy (perhaps it's my accent). What really annoys me is when the help line has voice prompting without the backup of pressing numbers on the keypad (the good ones at least offer "If you wish for me to sacrifice a goat in your honor, say 'goat' - or press 4"). Sure, if you mumble garbage into the phone for long enough, you'll eventually get to speak with an actual person (5 to 10 minutes later) - but it's very inconvenient. At least get voice recognition right before forcing it upon us.
- Product knowledge is definitely lacking in some of of the staff that I dealt with. For example, I saw an ad on TV which featured some dashing Sidney Crosby casual gear that was only available at SportChek stores. I went to SportChek to pickup a Crosby jacket, asked a kid in the clothing section where the blue Crosby jackets were, and he took me to a non-Crosby (and not even blue) rack of jackets. I explained that it was a new line of Crosby clothing that SportChek sold - and he informed me that they only sold T-shirts at this store. Fair enough - to make sure I went to the hockey section, when I was told that they only sell Crosby sticks and gloves - no clothing. Still not convinced (especially as the store had signs posted advertising the new gear), I went to the front of the store and found a "new arrival" table to be full of the Crosby gear. Sure, they were new items - but considering the amount of TV ads done by SportChek you'd hope they would invest in a little training for staff.
- Stopping at the local electronics store one weekend, I asked if they had a certain Xbox accessory for sale, which they didn't. Fair enough - I asked if they knew when they were getting it in, "nope" was the non-commital reply. OK - "I shop here a fair but, and I'm willing to come down and give you my money if you just give me a ring when this product comes in" to which the kid replied with "Sorry, we don't do that". Is it just me - or is it not a normal request for a customer to be called when a product comes in? Sure, it wasn't the most expensive product - but I've already spent a few hundred dollars in the store, and will probably be taking my further business elsewhere.
The strange thing about this is, pretty much all government employees I've dealt with have been great. From my quick and easy immigration process to applying for and receiving a Social Insurance Number (SIN) - I've received helpful and friendly service. Government workers in Australia don't have the greatest reputation for customer service - but here they seem to be great.
# Posted in the Travel section and tagged as: Edmonton
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Bi ... Lingual
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 16/10/2007 13:16:24Canada's official languages are both English and French, even though virtually nobody speaks French in Edmonton (the Francophone population are mainly living in Quebec, and other areas in the east). It's the first time I've lived in a country with two official languages, and it's been an experience.
It's interesting how dual languages affect product packaging and signage around town. Even though I never hear the French language, I certainly do see it. By law, products have to have the text in both English and French which really clutters up their look (I think). Some products have each word copied a line below with the same word in French, whereas others use the front back of the product's packaging as the "front" for labeling purposes.
An example of the kind of bi-lingual packaging I see a lot. It's not too obvious, but does crowd up the packet a little
Also, every automated help line I've had the displeasure of using asks what language you want to use as soon as you start. Maybe that's why I've been having problems with customer service over here - perhaps they're expecting me to speak French!
This environment is actually a good place to start learning the French language. Obviously it would be more advantageous to be living in Quebec (with a lot of the population French and English), but I've been picking up a few words here and there. It's useful having a translation of simple words on each of piece of product's packaging (such as menthe underneath mint, or fromage under cheese).
Some of the translations are quite funny, or the product names are very different for the French label. For example, Chips Ahoy! is translated as something like . Appetizing! There's also occasions that I see the French side of an item and it throws me a little. Like a soda that is raisin flavoured (grape), or a gel that is labeled for the douche (that one put me off a little - it means shower).
I feel like a chocolate nugget right now!
I don't expect to be wearing a beret and hanging garlic around my neck in a striped shirt when I get back to Australia, but I should at least understand Jean Girard a little more the next time I watch Talladega Nights.
Ah, oui oui - I'm home
# Posted in the Travel section and tagged as: Edmonton
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
More Calgary Impressions
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 03/10/2007 14:05:43It's my second day in Calgary, and I'm really enjoying it here. The people I'm working with are extremely nice, and I'm sure the 5 minutes it takes to get from the hotel to work is helping too!
A co-worker took me down to Stephen Avenue during our lunch break - and it's a really pretty part of town. It's got a bit of a Bourke Street Mall feel to it (no cars allowed on the street) but looks a little nicer to me.
The start of Stephen Avenue (which is really just a section of 8th Ave)
Bad lighting - but this shows most of the Avenue
I also stopped off at the local sports bar, Flames Central. I had a quick look inside (unfortunately they had a private function so I couldn't sit down for a bevvy), and they had the biggest television I've ever seen. They also had about 400 smaller TV sets tuned into various sporting events. Didn't see any replays of the AFL final though!
Flames Central
To be honest - I think I prefer Calgary to Edmonton (and Banff is about 30 minutes away by car). I would recommend it to anybody that is traveling to Alberta! I fly home tomorrow after work - so I'd better start packing!
# Posted in the Travel section and tagged as: Calgary
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Visiting Calgary
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 02/10/2007 10:10:30Last week my boss told me that there would be a three-day opportunity in Calgary for some development work. Excellent for me, as they pay for my flights and hotel while I see the sites of Calgary (well, some of them, I only have three after-work sessions).
So, off I go to Calgary.
No jet engines for us!
Because the flight was so short (40 minutes), this trip marked the first non-jet flight I had taken. I must admit the twin propeller engines didn't fill me with confidence (especially when they started making loud vibration noises) but did make for a smooth ride.
My hotel room in Calgary - pretty standard, really
The hotel they put me up in is average (and on a dodgy corner), but has a nice restaurant downstairs. The actually city itself is very nice, nicer than Edmonton. I would say it is more like Melbourne as well. Edmonton is more a government and oil town, Calgary is a capitalist center.
I wasn't able to do much sight-seeing, and before long it was day 1 at work. The foyer of the building had an awesome pond full of giant mutated fish:
These fish were about as big as my hand ...
... while these were as long as my arm!
After being impressed by the fish, I went up to the 21st floor of the building to be impressed by the incredible view from the reception desk.
This view looks very impressive first thing in the morning
You can just make out two rivers joining, forming an island. Apparently property around here can get expensive!
After my busy day at work, I legged it home (thankfully I got a place about 5 minutes from work!), and caught the following mural on the side of a building.
Imagine ... how long that would have taken to paint
So that's it for day 1 in Calgary. Nice city - would love to come up here for a week or so on a holiday.
# Posted in the Travel section and tagged as: Calgary
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
God Bless the United Provinces of Canadia
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 26/09/2007 12:38:46This trip to Edmonton has helped me in shedding some of the generalised misconceptions that I have had about Canada up until now. An obvious example is that very few of the population here ice fish during their lunch break. One of the biggest surprises I've experienced since staying here is the level of patriotism of the Canadians.
During my years living in Australia, I have formed the (generalised and stereotypical) opinion that America is a very patriotic country. I don't think I'm going out too far on a limb here - television, movies, and sport all point towards Americans being very "American-focused". Things like the "World Series" of baseball comprising of 29 American teams and 1 Canadian team, and the typical American-only travel pattern of a large percentage of the population help reinforce this. But I didn't expect Canada to reach the same level of inward-focus.
My perception of Canadians were of a nice, hockey-loving people - and perhaps a little slow-moving (I'm not alluding to intelligence here, but suggesting a relaxed attitude). For the most part, this perception has been pretty correct. It's definitely a little slower-moving around here, the people are very nice, and the level of interest in hockey is as high as I had hoped. I also expected Canadians to have pride in their country (they seem to be doing a few things right) - but not to the extent that I have experienced.
Firstly, they love their maple leaf. When walking around the city in the afternoon, or on a weekend, the Canadian flag is everywhere. A lot of people wear clothes with a huge maple leaf on it, or even just "Canada" emblazoned very prominantly. Some people wear tracksuits with a huge flag of Canada on the front, and some patriotic message on the back. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't think back to a time where I've seen somebody wearing an Australian flag as regular casual wear. Scratch that, there is one dope that occasionally walks around with an Australian tracksuit - but he's a special case.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if people wore the same kind of patriotic clothes in Australia (with the Aussie flag or Southern Cross displayed front and center) - they'd be viewed as dorks (at least by me). And I'm not talking about sporting attire (although the number of people wearing Canadian sporting gear is definitely higher than those wearing similar Australian gear back home), these are just items of clothing that bear the Canadian flag, a maple leaf, or "Canada" in huge letters.
It doesn't stop with clothing, I've been on walks with Canadian flags hanging from windows, on the front of cars and even on the pattern of a dog lead. I'm positive this doesn't happen with the same frequency at home.
The prevalence of the maple leaf is increased ten-fold when you start looking at various companies' logos around town. I've been told that, at one point, a Canadian company would be given a tax rebate for designing their logo with a maple leaf symbol in it. Even though I can find no Internet evidence of this (after google searches), I can only assume it's correct as the Canadian companies certainly have responded! Even McDonald's have altered their globally omnipotent, multi-million dollar symbol to chuck a maple leaf in the center.
Another stereotype I have acquired in my years was a general dislike between Americans and Canadians. Admittedly most of my evidence has been from the America side (Blame Canada, Canadian jokes, etc), but I just figured Canadians harbored a distaste for Americans as well. Maybe that one time a few Canadians burned down the White House in the war of 1812 had a little something to do with that. But the reality of an anti-Americanism sentiment from the Canadians was a lot less than I had expected.
Certainly - there is a definite desire of Canadians to remain independent of the American identity, there's a distaste towards American politics (specifically George W) and I have heard "Yankee" being used in a derogatory manner a few times. But apart from that, Canadians don't seem to have much resentment towards the U.S. of A at all. In fact, I'm given the impression that a fair number of Canadians are trying to emulate American culture (much the same as in Australia). In general, there seems to be a respect from Canadians towards Americans - with the obvious exception of the "leader of the free world".
Now, I may have given an impression at the start of this entry that I'm not a proud Australian, which is incorrect. This trip has definitely reinforced my view that I'm glad I was born in Australia, and given unlimited funds I would retire in Melbourne (and only visit North America in the hockey season)! I can also support the impression that Canadians love Australians, from my limited experience so far. Although since arriving a few people have said that I don't have an accent, and they didn't know I was from overseas. I might have to start wearing a tracksuit like this to advertise my homeland a little more!
# Posted in the Travel section and tagged as: Edmonton
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