Winnipeg Day 2

Winnipeg Day 2 Sept 6th

[The hostel kitchen]

[The busy streets of Winnipeg]

Couldn't find my credit card, so it looks like a new number [The new card will be shipped to Ottawa].  I packed up and checked bus times and the paddleboat cruise.  The ship leaves @ 1pm, so I said bye to Dominic, and might meet him in Jasper (he's renting a car and staying there till the 19th). 

I wandered into chinatown and saw a restaurant that said $6.99 buffet lunch.  When I went in however, it was a dim sum place. [I think all dim sum places are made by some big dim sum restaurant factory... the interior was royal red with the dragon/pheonix gold statue on the wall... like ALL dim sum places]  I had some dim sum (4-5 dishes) and packed half.  It was good, nothing amazing, but surprising for such a small city. 

The whole city is pretty much shut down, but you can always count on chinatown being open.  After a bit of wandering, I came to the paddlewheel cruise an hour before it leaves, and I am writing this as people are filling in.  I'm going to call Nita with a phone card tonight I think.  also, I just found bird shit on my jacket.  Aaand my guitar zipper pull is broken. [The bird shit was on my guitar case strap too, but it was a small deposit either way]

Winnipeg

Sept 6th Monday (Labour Day)
Winnipeg



Last night I met with a dude from Switzerland.  He was on the same bus, but in the back.  After our 32 hour bus ride, we both headed to the same hostel.  I met a Winnipeg-an named Marnie on the bus from Kenora.  She gave us some suggestions on where to go, and directions to our hostel street.



Busy streets of Winnipeg



When we got to the hostel, I was surprised how big it was.  The main lobby is attached to a bar [The bar was blasting some music, luckily it could not be heard from my 3rd floor room].  As soon as we got there, me and Dominic (Switzerland dude) embarked into Winnipeg.  We quickly realized there were no people in the downtown area on a sunday night before the labour day Monday (asides from a few drunk/high natives).  After walking about 20-30 minutes, we hit the Red River, and realized we walked straight through downtown.  We quickly walked back at night because it was still eerily empty, and I was worried about getting mugged. [I don't want to say that I was justified completely, but I could have gotten stabbed in the middle of the downtown area in the evening with absolutely no witnesses.  Add to that some dirty looks from some unsavoury types]



One of many of my blurry ass shots



The city is nice but a bit sketchy.  I did my laundry in the sink, and blew through 3 tide packs... and made a mess [I have since gotten better at washing clothes in a sink].  Not wanting to annoy Dominic and the other roomie any further, I sucked it up and paid 1.50 to dry my clothes... mostly.  I hung up my semi-dry clothes and went to bed. [It's really odd how much I spent on some things, and still stressed 1.50 to save me heaps of trouble]

[This actually turned out to be the best of all the hostels to come.  Not to say that all the others were bad, but this one was especially good]

This is downtown people...

The long trek... ENDS!

[Cedrick has discovered WINNIPEG, gained 270 exp]

Left Ottawa Toronto Sept 4th 12:00 noon
[ ]-------------------------------->
Arrived Winnipeg Sept 5th 7:00pm

32 Hours!

[Pretty glad to get off the bus at this point]

The long trek... ew.

Land's getting flat.

We reach Kenora and I realize I left a greasy head mark on the window. ew.

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Whoops! her names Melissa.  Also, Kenora is beautiful, I should go back someday.

The long trek... socializing.

Sept 5th (cont'd)


One of many fast food stops.



Met a native man travelling from Dryden.  He's really nice and has a lot of interesting stories as a trucker.  He just finished building a log cabin with his dad.  Also carried a cool stick he carved by hand... neat.  His name is Dell.

On top of this, another passenger joined in, she is coming from a NYC trip.  She had lots of good suggestions for Vancouver.  I think she said her name is Helen