ChitChat #36

Post 40th Reunion Eastern Canada Tour
Bob Chen

This is a belated write-up I promised Pang Woo-Tong for the Lighters with no Chinese readers. He will write a Chinese version of the same. First of all I wish to make it clear that the following will not be as good a read as May Mei's for the Greek Island tours.
Nevertheless, there are still enough information to renew the 40th reunion attendees' happy memories. The group went on the one-week bus tour were in alphabetical order by last and first names: I, myself, Chen Tak-Soong ( a Sharper, class of '58), Mr & Mrs Cheung Wang-Chou, Mr & Mrs Luk Chi-Chung, Mr & Mrs Pang Woo-Tong, Wong Lawrence Yue-Kai, Mr & Mrs Joseph Woong-Sang and two daughters. It is exactly a quarter of the 52 that went to Greece.

The places we visited are: Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. If one does not count Prince Edward Island which became a Province much later, the four Provinces are the equivalent of America's first thirteen (13) states. Again, the ratio is between a quarter and one-third. However, the fun we had, I believe, far exceeds a quarter of the Greek tour. For starters, we had three Chinese dinners in Montreal, Charlottetown, and Halifax. I doubt the 52 had 12 Chinese dinners on their tour. The three or four wonders of the world the 52 saw do exceed ours by miles. We can chalk up may be one -Anne of Green Gables- a fiction that's taught in most Canadian and American high schools started a commercial wonder that made Prince Edward Island a tourist attraction. In the heydays of booming Japanese economy, bus loads of Japanese tourists came to PEI direct just for the Green Gables!

The tour started on 8/8/99 checking out of Metropolitan around 11:00 AM, moving to Howard Johnson's in Scarborough. Had Dim-Sum lunch, and good Chinese dinner in Scarborough. Left Scarborough on 8/9/99 7:00 AM in a Safeway tour bus with 54 passengers. Ours was the second largest group. The largest was twenty plus people from St. Mary's of Kowloon. I and a St. Mary's second generation young man sat at the last two seats next to the on-board toilet. Luckily, the seatings were arranged on a rotation basis, and we were the chosen ones to improve as days go on. The dinner in Montreal China Town was quite good with lobsters, steam fish, fresh gin-seng and chicken soup, etc. The hotel was Sheraton, and in down-town close to a famous night club. Too bad Monday was lights out for that joint. 8/10/99, early morning, leaving Montreal ahead of the cross town traffic to get to the Olympic stadium to take pictures. Arriving in St. John, New Brunswick,checking into Hilton, and had Lobster dinner in a restaurant cross the street. 8/11/99, starting early to cross a long bridge (second to the one down Florida) to Charlottetown, PEI and Anne of Green Gables' Land. Went to dinner in a small Chinese restaurant that served real good food. We had a steamed Arctic Shard (Atlantic Salmon), lobsters, and other dishes. The lobsters were a replacement for some local shell-fish that was promised, but not delivered from the fishmonger. Tonight we stayed at Holiday Inn, and I did my laundry. The big hotels don't have laundries for guests, and the bus tour people cannot give the dirty clothings to valet service as they will not be back early in the morning. 8/12/99, leaving early to catch the ferryboat to Nova Scotia. Visited the museum in Halifax with lots of Titanic historical displays, and a hugh explosion in the harbor during WWI (World War One). I was surprised at not a single word for TWA Flight 800 and Swiss Air Flight 111, the two most recent airplane disasters nearby. I guess they must be too new for museums. Checking into Hotel Halifax after a so-so Chinese dinner. There was a compensation awaiting us at check-in free chips to play a slot machine at the casino in Sheraton next door. Chen Tak-Soong played Black-Jack into the wee hours and won quite a bit. 8/13/99 leaving early as usual, to Fredericton, New Brunswick. It is interesting to point out that Prince Edward, Fredericton, and Charlotte were the eldest son, second son, and wife of King George lll of Great Britain. He sent people to PEI to plant potatoes for the war against the French. The second son was a brave soldier, or general, so that he got a town named after him since the mother got "Charlottetown" by merely being the queen, and the older brother was named for a whole Island, for being the first-born. The Friday dinner buffet at Fredericton Sheraton was the tops for the town. Chen Tak-Soong was very nice in treating all of us to that from the winnings. 8/14/99, leaving early to Quebec City, checking into Hilton, and walked to the restaurant row to have a French dinner. 8/15/99, visited Nortre Dame Cathedral, before the 800 km drive back to Scarborough. 8/16/99 morning, Lawrence Wong and I went to the airport to catch the planes back to Vancouver, and Los Angeles respectively. It is ironic that he has to change plane in O'Hare, Chicago from flying United, and has to go through the customs just like I did. Luckily we all got through without missing the planes. For awhile, it seemed too close.

Now, I've turned in my report to the Lighters, I hope Pang Woo-Tong's
Chinese version will be on the web-site soon.