With that said, I ventured away from my mountains and rocky coastline for a flash weekend in the coldest place i’ve been in a long freaking time -and I live in Canada— Toronto.

Yes, I did look for the most unattractive Toronto picture I could find.

A&F Down winter jacket, $120USD; Steve Madden Leather Boots, $80USD; Scarf taken from mom’s closet, $0, Zoo york skinny jeans, $60USD, the disappointed feeling you have once you realize your winter wardrobe can’t even withstand the cold in Toronto or any winter weather for that matter as functionality is completely and utterly lost with fashion and a label: upsettingly priceless.

First thing I do is meet up with a bud I met at my sis’ wedding and we take the subway or train system or whatever it is that I was on from the airport to downtown Toronto. It’s mother cold. In Vancouver when it gets cold it’s a moist cold-so the moisture sticks to your body and it feels like you’re wearing a cold, soaking wet towel all day long. In Toronto, it feels like a wolverine bit off your face and continues to rip at your exposed flesh; the cold just bites at you all day long. Take off your toque and your scarf and just stand in the cold. Immediately, your face is dry, your lips get chapped, your nose takes a beating and most of all your ability to speak without trembling, wincing and jerkingyour body is lost in the unforgiving frigidness. Yes, I may be embellishing, but at the same time, I’m from Vancouver–we don’t get crazy eastern winters.

The next day I meet up with my sister who came from Ottawa to meet me along with my cousin who lives on a street in downtown Toronto called Spadina. It’s not pronounced Spa-deena, the em-PHA-sis is on a different sy-LAB-le. In fact, it places the same emphasis as the GI in the word that embodies the female reproductive organ. I secretly laugh when I hear Spadina, also Virginia.

I don’t like to compare but I will because there is always this unspoken rivalry between Toronto and Hollywood of the North. Toronto is like any other big city-there’s always something going on. Something is going on. In Vancouver, house parties are awesome because there isn’t always something going on. In Toronto, there weren’t any mountains. In Vancouver, I say good morning to my mountains every morning when I see them.

Notables in Toronto: Kensington Place -a colourful neighborhood of Victorian style omes selling eclectic goods from different designers, mom and pop operations with some really neat trinkets and stuff, music houses playing some pretty hot east coast French-Canadian hip-hop and last but not least, a mosaic of people interacting in a cohesive manner. I love Canada.

You might find something like this in East Vancouver, but I’d stay away from it. Thieves would be hiding in bushes ready to strike at any moment. you wouldn’t want to be caught in the crossfire.

This is not a hippy commune. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if they sacrificed babies at night….

However, there are those places where you see what people appreciate in them, and then you come home, review what you have done, heard and seen, and feel the need to take a long cold shower and gladly endure the practice of flagellation. The fervently religious would agree that Las Vegas is one such place.

Site where many a whore may or may not have found themselves perspiring profusely

Someone needs to market this better.

Acceptable marketing. I wonder if this prehistoric mode of cow herding is how they ship em…?

Pshh, whenever was there an obligation with asian girls, right guys? Knaw’m sayin’?

Guys snapping cards of naked ladies, T and A left, right and centre, contorted bodies on posters overtly suggesting the glamorous life of beautiful people engaged in coitus (yeah, i called it that) and gorgeous prostitutes who make you feel shitty for being witty and for neglecting your esthetic appearance, line the so called ‘strip’. You don’t need to pay for a show, there are colourful people everywhere! You can’t help to feel awkward—-especially when you’re walking around with your dad-and no, we don’t have that really neat relationship where every topic is comfortable!

Did I mention I went with my dad, mom, engaged sister, conservative younger sister and best friend who is madly in love with her ball and chain (err, bouncy ball and skipping rope)…? Not only was I curious about my surroundings, I was curious in secret…

As odd as many a situation of solicitations of the sexual kind were, what’s even more interesting was Las Vegas itself. It is, itself, a mirage. Approaching the city, all you see is a dry, arid landscape, and quite literally out of no where is this built, metropolitan landscape contained within a matter of miles. As its architecture is inorganic, so too is its culture: unnatural, synthetic, materialistic stuff of the narcissistic Gods. It is a place where the beauty of the natural desert is undermined by materialism and a culture of want and excess. But, that is why people come here. I suppose escape from the real world, into one where reality becomes a playground full of the taboo shit is a very real reason many people flock to Las Vegas. It might not be healthy, but nobody’s healthy these days-especially Americans. (nervous laugh

My favorite part of Las Vegas: waking up early and laying poolside. It’s quietER; all those hungover are still in bed.

Sitting at a carrol in the quiet of the musty bookshelves of my university library, I came across this passage and tried so intensely to make sense of it in the context of my life. Between a social life devoid of any substance, and the increasing feeling of disenchantment with my lack of direction, this quote by one of my favorite authors meant something, but I didn’t know what.

Now, 5 years later, armed with a degree and a diploma, its relevance bears its grinning teeth.

“…to feel the needs and hitches of our life more nearly; to come down off this feather-bed of civilisation, and find the globe granite underfoot and strewn with cutting flints.”

For me, traveling is what brings me closer to knowing myself and to knowing in general. I go without expectations and leave without judgement. What I attempt to do in travel is to experience genuinely, absorb fully and take some with me only knowledge, understanding and appreciation for place, space and time.

I hope to update this with each amazing travel experience, but we’ll see where it will lead. Hopefully it’ll be entertaining and a pleasant read for you. Enjoy!