Location: kamloops, British Columbia, Canada.
Time of Writing: 10:00
Morning all from beautiful Kamloops BC, the high Rockies are now to my back and the Pacific ocean awaits in front of me but first i have to talk about the last few days spent in propobly the nicest place I have ever been lucky enough to witness.... Banff!
Where do I even begin to blog about Banff...... It seems rather tragic and unfortunate that the most commonly known fact about Banff is that it is the STI capital of North America! Being a 28 year old male I'm certainly in no position to take the moral high ground here but it is sad that one of the worlds most picturesque places is associated with such a blasey attitude to sex as it is a serious injustice to the place. That said it is easy to see why high spirited young people are attracted here as there is certainly an air of appriciation in the place for all things adventureous and picturesque and a lust for adrenalin fueled sports like mountaining climbing, snow boarding, skiing, ice climbing and white water rafting! There is a joke among Canadians that the letters HBC which stand for the the "Hudson Bay Company" which "settelled" this region by building railways to aid fur trading actually stands for Here Before Christ! But not in Banff I don't think as while I am not overly relgious there was certainly something devine and "higher power" like involved in it's creation! Sourounded on all sides by 3000m peaks Banffs loacation between the Ice Park way and Bow Valley park is naturally perfect and it's beauty is matched only by the pride held by it's locals in keeping the town architecturally compliant with it's suroundings. The town is quaint with a population of only 7000 but This however swells to over 25000 in peak summer and winter seasons when the tourists flock in! Being a tourist in Banff is an absolute pleasure as no matter where you stay everthing is on your doorstep. We checked into the Samesun Backpackers hostel on Banff Ave, an excellent place that had been recommended to us by Kiwi Chris and Dutch girl Phil whom we had met Sat night in the wilderness hostel near Jasper. It wasent the cheapest hostel I had stayed in but is was certainly the best and seeing as it was Canadian Thanks Giving they were offering thanks giving dinner for $10 so I couldn't resist! 2 Germans. 3 Irish, 4 Scottish, 5 English, 6 Kiwis and 17 Austrailians sat down to Thanks Giving dinner in the hostel bar (yes bar!) at 8pm and it was one the greatest things I've experienced in Canada! It was also nice to meet a couple more Irish travelling but even that was short lived, one of the guys was from Cork and he was grand but the other guy who was from Kildare had the social skills of an amradillo and his only claim to fame was he could polish off a whole bottel of whiskey in 2 hours............. He could have done that back in Naas.... Why he had to travel half way around the world to do it is beyond me! Great to see the stereo type of us Irish being continued!!! Not! Afterwards we went to check out the town and celebrate Phils bday (the Dutch girl). Surprisingly Banff was really quite (no STIs were going to be transmitted tonight!) but never the less we had a good night in the Gate Irish Bar (yes there is an Irish bar everywhere!) and the Rose & Crown bar which had live band. Had hoped to drink in Wild Bills Bar (named after a Bill Peyto the hardiest of the Hard immigrants who settled here and used to trap wild bears and let them loose in the bar just to amuse himself while he drank a pint!) however the only thing wild about the place was the tumbleweed blowing through it.... Monday was my first oppertunity to fully experience the hiking Banff has to offer and so we went to climb Sulpher mountain just outside the town. Not a tough hike by anymeans and any feelings of having conqured anyting were surpressed when I was greated by half the population of Japan at the top who had taken the gondella (cable car). I have met so many Japaneese and Germans on my travels that I often wonder why Japan and Germany ever bothered having a war when all they had to do was wait 60 years and they would have taken over the world anyway! The top of Sulpher mountain has a fantastic observation tower and a restaurant making it the nicest top of a mountain I ever climbed to! It also has a weather station at the top which used to be climed to everyday by a local man to record the weather, aprantly the national weather office in Ottawa had sent the man a 33 year supply of recording documentaion (1 sheet per day) as a joke when he first bulit the station but not only did he eventually run out of sheets he needed a further 5 years supply! That's climbing the mountain everyday for 38 years!!! He wasent married......... aint it amazing what the lack of a woman (and an STI!!!) in Banff can acheive!!!
Monday night was spent in the hostel as they were running a trvia night in the bar which the entire hostel was invited to participate in. It's worth nothing that the quiz was sponsered by the local sexual health center (just shows the extent of the problem!) and as such many of the question had a similar theme! Being the only person to correctly answer that Alcohol and not rohipnol is the most commonly used date rape drug might have won me free drinks for my team but it certainly didn't endear me to any of the women present!!! Ah well guess you can't win them all.... and anyway I'm happy to leave Banff with only the deases I came in with!!! ............ That's a joke by the way - Mother or anyone else who is reading this!!!
More later.....
