BC Traveling

By Hon Kei (Macau, China)

I’m an international student, and I never traveled to another country before I came to Canada. This summer I traveled in BC from Fort St. John to Vancouver by driving. We stopped at many places, took a lot of pictures, and visited many people. I am lucky to have this experience, and thank my host family. It’s not often a host family will take their students on a holiday, especially a long holiday. I appreciate what they do for me. Now I point out three unforgettable places.

1.Chetwynd─ carvings all over the town

Chetwynd. building in Chetwynd.

There are over 60 wooden carvings in town for celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Alaska Highway. In this town, you can see sculptures everywhere. Each sculpture is very real. They carved it very carefully. I can tell each carver spent a lot of time on their sculpture. Not only are there many sculptures, but they also painted the buildings. I think it is more like an artist’s town. Even though we stopped there just few minutes for taking pictures, it also is one of my unforgettable experiences.

2.Barkerville─ used to be a gold mine town, but now it is a park.

Barkerville. Hiking in beside the town.
In this town, you can try gold panning, see the big water wheel, go to an old China town, learn at that time the building style, and hear about the gold rush history. Everyday there will be a tour guide to introduce every thing in the town, and there are some people who act like the residents to tell us about all about the gold rush history. In Barkerville, I suggest you should try gold panning. It is just $7.00. After that you can get some tiny pieces of gold for souvenir. In Barkerville, I learned one thing. When we hear “God Save Our Queen”, we are supposed to reply “God Save Our Queen.” So I agree with an old Chinese saying, “Study ten thousand books, cannot do better than travel ten thousand miles.” It means traveling also is a kind of study.

Mountain Rocks─ Jasper National Park and Banff National Park

Jasper National Park. Peyto Lake

When we went back to Fort St John, we went through Jasper National Park─ Rocky Mountains. We stayed in Jasper one day, July 19. We got up at 7:00. We went to Peyto Lake. Because it was dawn, there are just few people, and it was foggy, cold, and a little ice covered the ground. However if you see the picture, you will think it is worth it. And then we went to Athabasca Glacier, Athabasca Falls, and down town. The water in Athabasca Falls comes from Columbia Icefield to Arctic Ocean. The water fall is about 23 meters high. When I stood in front of it, I can see the water fall, I can hear the water drop, I can smell the water, and I can feel the spray. The other thing you can see in the Rocky Mountains is animals. In Jasper Park, it is quite often you can see wild animals, for example, elk, caribou, moose, mule deer, white-tailed deer, mountain goat, bighorn sheep, and grizzly bear. I saw some sheep, elk, and a black bear.

Three weeks later, we went back to Fort St John. I wasn't in school for three weeks, but I think what I learned is more than I would have learned in school. Not only did I learn English, but also learned more about the culture in different places.