Yukon Jay - 小祥

Back in the Yukon

Yukon Jay is back in the... well, the Yukon. Calgary was fun over the weekend, my second time being there. Also reminded me of Texas... lots of highways and wide 4 lane roads.

I was on the plane reading a Yukon magazine, and read about Toyota's trip to the Yukon to drive their 2008 Land Cruiser while documenting Yukon's terrain and wildlife - grizzly bears!!! (To see the bears, click Yukon Territory Canada and then on the front page panorama go the the picture of 3 guys and the fire - click on bear camp.)

Gotta run now, spending the day shopping for a kayak(s) for myself and Andrea... and also need camping gear. How cool would it be if I get a photo of a grizzly bear? Also hoping to get a digital SLR camera soon.

Off to Calgary

In honour of Queen Victoria's birthday, I am flying to Calgary with Andrea on Friday for the long weekend. We will be visiting friends who are also getting married in Halifax, one week before our wedding.

Looking forward to spending Monday night in Vancouver before returning to Whitehorse Tuesday morning. Mmmmm, sushi in Vancouver... sussshhhiiii... SUUUUUSSSSSHHHHIIIII.

One Week in Whitehorse

Once again Burma makes the headlines. The difference this time is that it is not a human induced disaster/conflict, but a natural disaster. What remains the same is the fact the West - the media and government, in particular the US, Canada and EU (and I guess Japan since they've been more assertive and involved in their foreign policy in Asia and ASEAN) - don't execute the necessary actions to truly facilitate political change. And now the public are disheartened to see aid blocked, or slowly trickling inside the country as a result political barriers erected by the military regime. The only effective humanitarian response now is relying on those aid organizations that have an establish presence inside Burma, prior to the cyclone. Perhaps it is more sustainable for donors to continually make conscious donations before and after a disaster strikes with the realization that long-term presence of aid and humanitarian work is better than a one time donation? Yeah... good luck with that one. Thats the kind of world we live in.

Anyways, onto my original topic, it has now been a week since I moved to Whitehorse. Still not quite sure what I think of this town, there's pros and cons. On my daily commutes to work, I am reminded of just exactly how small this town of 24,000 really is. This of course means not many stores and compared to Vancouver, not many restaurants either. The sad reality is, according to my colleagues, the fine dining found in Vancouver such as sushi, Korean BBQ, Indian, and seafood is something I will have to let go. However, I must say the bison burgers here are quite good...

Despite that, I think the standard of living is still better in Whitehorse than Vancouver, once you get use to the town. What I mean by that is that the stress levels are down, partly due to the reduced commuting time. I've certainly noticed that I got more time on my hands to do what I want, and less things to worry about as one hurries to get from one place to another. There's also the outdoors such as camping, fishing, kayaking, swimming, hiking and wildlife like wolves, cariboos, bears, beavers, moose and etc. A co-working told me they go camping and fishing every weekending starting May, and so really excited about doing that in 2 weeks.

As for the job, I am working for Gartner Lee, a environmental consulting firm involves with projects in mining, oil and gas, manufacturing and other energy sectors. The first week was a bit overwhelming. It was also announced a few weeks ago that the company is merging with AECOM, a US based consulting firm. AECOM is also merging with many other firms to add to its previous mergers with other international firms to form the world's largest consulting firm. I am pretty excited because this brings an international focus to the office, and AECOM International Development works on humanitarian response, governance and conflict resolution - pretty sweet. In looking at the global distribution of offices, it is present in all corners of the globe and pretty big presence in China and other parts of Asia. So who knows where I may be in a couple of years?

Yukon

I am now in Whitehorse, and I must say... I've had better road trips. This was because I ran into unexpected snowfall. As I mentioned in the last blog entry, it snowed in Prince George on day 2. I made it as far as 100kms north of Fort St. John only to be advised to turn around because the vehicle I was driving was not sufficient for the snow.

The next morning the temperature was warmer and I left Fort St. John again and ran into the snowy conditions from the previous day. I had a rough time around the Pink Mountain area, which was about 200km south of Fort Nelson, the town I wanted to get to the day before. I did spin out of control once but got control pretty quick thanks to the AWD.

Anyways, the snow threw off my plans and I ended up staying in different towns.

Instead of staying overnight in Fort Nelson, I stayed at the Northern Rockies Lodge in Muncho Lake operated by a Swiss lady (their restaurant only offer Swiss/German food). Here is the view behind the lodge... This is still in BC, about 1.5 hrs from the Yukon border.

About 30 minutes from the lodge, you start to run into herds of buffaloes.

And here we have one of the few buffaloes resting just next to the highway.

I drove all the way from the lodge in Muncho Lake to Whitehorse, and this is the village of Teslin, about 2 hrs away from Whitehorse. As usual in the north, the views were just absolutely stunning.

And here is my place in Whitehorse, just for May. This owner of this house is a co-worker's and he said it was available in May, so I snatched since I was having a hard time securing one after I got back from Taiwan.

Not the best place but it's only temporary. I'm also thinking about buying a house/condo here in Whitehorse - some of the homes here are quite nice. Unlike the outrageous markets in Vancouver, real estate here is actually affordable from $200,000 to $350,000. For example, just a 900 sq ft condo ranges from $500,000 (suburbs) to $900,000 (downtown).

Anyways, life here is pretty good I must say... I will save that for the next blog in a few days after I settle down here.