{"id":5648,"date":"2025-08-10T22:08:49","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T22:08:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/?p=5648"},"modified":"2025-08-10T22:08:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T22:08:49","slug":"canada-week-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/?p=5648","title":{"rendered":"Canada Week 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Canada was calling me. I’ve been wanting to go to the Canadian Rockies for a while. This year’s Canada Strong Pass (free park visits and discounted camping) made it irresistible. From borderline being obese to being healthy again even just for 2 weeks – I lost 8 pounds in these 2 weeks. Days were fulfilling even just by myself. Too many things to do, and when will I be free from corporate handcuff? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Took back road instead of interstate heading towards the Canadian border<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Would not see Imperial units for a while!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Got harassed at border crossing a bit. Even though I had Nexus, the agent grilled me hard on my itinerary where to stay and searched my car as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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First Canadian stop. Apparently, Indians came in masses a while back<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After that, another small town to stop at<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Already started to see some Rockies vibe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Arrived at Merritt, BC to see this cute little historical house<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s a washing machine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The owner was a Blacksmite<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Another 2hrs or so, I arrived at a major resort city Kelowna<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That’s where the weather took a sudden turn<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Near bumper to bumper traffic on a Saturday<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A little view point hike<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Well I decided to get out of there and headed towards my accommodation. Originally, I planned on biking until sunset-ish. Due to the weather, I decided to take stroll through downtown Vernon, BC and ate the best Indian food! (and of course, too many beers! It’s a fruit country after all. So all the sours!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Entering Vernon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Rough map for the road trip of the day!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Day 2<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Got up and chilled with some fellow travelers before headed to the bike park<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s my first 50km ride!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I think my strava recorded more in distance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Now it’s time to head to Revelstoke!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Revelstoke!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Revelstoke has also quite a cute downtown as well. Quick dinner and beers! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bulgogi bowl from a food truck that’s cooked by a white woman. Amazing…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Sunset from my hotel room!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Because the lack of sleep the night before (room was too hot and I had too much to drink), and I slept 12hr straight. Life is good<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Drive for the day<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Day 3<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Hotel breakfast. I normally dont eat breakfast, can never say no to free food though especially with the view~<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The town came to existence due to the Railway and I am a big train nerd. So naturally, I had to go to this museum <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Last shot of the town before leaving<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Continuing towards Glacier National Park<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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First hike of the trip! Great Glaciers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After finishing the hike, continuing on towards Golden, BC<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The hostel in Golden was really cool. Big massive kitchen and friendly tourists (almost all the staff I encountered this trip is from Europe for some reasons)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After some great beers, and made myself a big portion of stir fried beef noodles!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I am impressed of my first Canadian cooking<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Drive for the day<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Day 4<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Weather just deteriorated and temperature dropped massively, in the single digit in Celsius. I was definitely under prepared. I also signed up to camp today, so not the best idea. Waited until the storm somewhat subdued before continuing drive to Banff<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, Yoho National Park<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I think out of the all the alpine lakes, blue colored one tend to get the most attention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Finally saw a bear in person <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Did a hike near the campground<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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First camping in Canada!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ribs and noodles!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Drive for the day<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Day 5<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The weather showed some improvements. I felt a bit under the weather for some reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A quick hike in Banff<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some local attractions<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Redioactive water<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Later, I decided to bike to town. The town advises against driving <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Of course, happy hours!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Later, before weather turned around again I biked to the Bow river<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Road side dears<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My campground was right by a very popular lake as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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my camp site unfortunately, didn’t have a fire ring. I had to go sleep early as a result (couldn’t cook either)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 6<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Morning lake stroll<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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More dears <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Decided to bike on the Legacy trail to Canmore<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Canmore is really cute and bike friendly. I wish I stayed there a bit longer instead of camping 3 days in a row in Banff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I have access to fire again!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I don’t know why I didn’t take that many photos of the day. I think I was still a bit lack of energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 7<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Drive towards Lake Louise<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ahh the weather. I also was underprepared. No rain gears. So i was soaked! At least I got my energy somewhat back though<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I definitely wish I had better weather, I would have stayed there much longer and doing a much longer hike instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I was so cold. So I had to rush back down to go to my hostel’s SPA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stay tuned. The coming week around IceFields are epic! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expenses<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Canada is expensive, though I camped so many nights and only stayed one night in hotel. I did have to stay a bit more on food due to having to get camping necessities. Canadian gas is also pricy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Week 57<\/td>Currency:<\/td>CAD<\/td>1.37535<\/td><\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
Day<\/td>Food&Drink<\/td>Lodging<\/td>Transportation<\/td>Other (tickets\/tours etc)<\/td>Day total<\/td>Country<\/td><\/tr>
1<\/td>$54.96<\/td>$60.81<\/td>$65.61<\/td>$5.11<\/td>$186.49<\/td>Canada<\/td><\/tr>
2<\/td>$20.14<\/td>$190.00<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$210.14<\/td>Canada<\/td><\/tr>
3<\/td>$74.50<\/td>$35.42<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$10.74<\/td>$120.66<\/td>Canada<\/td><\/tr>
4<\/td>$66.37<\/td>$32.99<\/td>$36.35<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$135.71<\/td>Canada<\/td><\/tr>
5<\/td>$26.17<\/td>$21.45<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$47.62<\/td>Canada<\/td><\/tr>
6<\/td>$74.23<\/td>$29.45<\/td>$43.63<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$147.30<\/td>Canada<\/td><\/tr>
7<\/td>$40.21<\/td>$70.92<\/td>$0.00<\/td>$7.27<\/td>$118.40<\/td>Canada<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>$356.58<\/td>$441.04<\/td>$145.59<\/td>$23.12<\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
<\/td>Total<\/td><\/td>Grand Total:<\/td>$966.32<\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canada was calling me. I’ve been wanting to go to the Canadian Rockies for a while. This year’s Canada Strong Pass (free park visits and discounted camping) made it irresistible. From borderline being obese to being healthy again even just for 2 weeks – I lost 8 pounds in these 2 weeks. Days were fulfilling… Continue reading Canada Week 1<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vacation","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5648"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5746,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5648\/revisions\/5746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.buyuchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}