ASM at Toronto

Just got back from Toronto, Ontario, Canada yesterday afternoon. Yup, Ping has travelled to another country - Canada. 有特別嗎? Not really. When we first arrived at the Customs, the English accent is definitely more British like. It is definitely much easier than going through the customs at the airport - no checking your bags, no removing laptops out, no confiscating all kinds of stuff. They just asked us a few questions through the window while we're sitting in the car. But if you have vegetables and fruits you probably have to let them check it.

Just before we got to the customs, we have to cross the Blue Water Bridge. This is the first time Ping leaves US to go to a different country where Ping is not meeting with any family members. As we passed through the bridge, Ping thought of Penang bridge. 在想, 如果現在是過Penang 的大侨有多好呢. After the customs, it is just like Michigan. Flat, fields after fields, straight highway that never seems to end. But the first thing you see that tells you you're in a different country is they use the metric system like everyone else - speed limit is in km/h. M'sians always complain that the speed limit of 110km/h is low for our North-South highway but in Canada, or at least in Ontario, the speed limit at the highway is only 80km/h!! That's like the speed limit for Federal Highway? Wonder how often they catch ppl speeding at their interstate highways. Other than that, they always have different gas brand names, their rest stops are usually Tim Hortons and Wendy's.

It took us a total of 5.5 hours to get to our hotel near downtown Toronto. We stayed at one of the Holiday Inn chains. It was about 25 minutes walk from the hotel to the Metro Toronto Convention Center where the ASM General Meeting is held. It is definitely a great chance to be walking around. 也讓我想到以 前在Sunway College 的時候 - 每天走去學校. Ping was too lazy to bring extra socks so Ping just wore heels - mummy's hand-made manek eh - and proud to say that she can still walk in heels for a long time everyday like in college!!

The picture on the right is the main entrance of the convention center. See the recycling bin? That's one of the things Ping like there. There is a recycling bin every corner of the street. It is so convenient to recycle plastic and glass bottles and newspaper. They should do this in every country that can afford it. Hei..it can also create job opportunities leh.

Seen this thing on the left before? That's the first time Ping saw it. Didn't know what it was until someone parked their bike and then Ping realized that it is a bike rack!! There are quite a bunch of people who cycle - more than ppl in KL but definitely less than in China. The city is very much like KL but much cleaner. They also have hawkers by the road but they only sell hot dogs and fries. When crossing major intersections, it feels like in Hong Kong - lots of people crossing at all directions but thankfully, not as many ppl as in HK. It is also more multicultural than US - occasionally you pass by ppl who speaks Cantonese or Mandarin. 真的讓我很想回家阿!

Similar to KL, they also have a lot of "ki chiak ar" all over the place. They are much more "ho giak" than those in KL and braver too. They just sleep all over the place, even in front of big corporate buildings instead of under the jejantas or "ah boi lor". But what big cities don't have right? The one thing that feels different walking in KL vs. walking in Toronto is there are not many motorcyclist in Toronto, so it feels a little safer. At least for Ping since Ping got a phobia of motorcyclist coming from behind after that stupid incident in front of our Sunway house two years ago. In KL Ping had to keep looking back or Ping just walk between mum and dad when we all there this past trip back.

Hao le, wanna go back to work already. Later going to Suria for M'sian food!! Will tell more stories sometime. But overall, Toronto 真的不什麼特別. 跟美國差不多.