highlights

Qualicum Beach claimed the "Straford Upon Avon" of North America. So I visited here. It didn't remind me of the village I saw in Western England but it's still a nice place.

Campbell river is a nice place for diving and fishing.

Elks fall, the fall is not too special but the sky is very beautiful.

A not so beautiful waterfall looks much better with slow shutter.

A regular creek looks like a waterfall of silk.

Morning dews are the most beautiful dews among all the dews.

Red and green, so it's red and green.

Donkey engine. It's those strange machine that once logged the west coast.

After an hour of off road driving, I arrived at a secluded beach. The sound of the wind, the drum beat of the wave, incidentally, I heard the breathing of the whales and I taste the legend of Sointula. A group of philosophers trying to set up a utopia in a remote island. It didn't end well but their stories passed till the present generation. It's a magical island. It's a magical experience (even though this photo look nothing magical).

After a night's sleeping in my car, I woke up upon a secluded beach. The songs of the birds and an empty beach. Who needs a private island?

Some shell colong I saw along the beach. They were alive.

Correction: I was corrected by a specialist of molluscan fauna, so they were not shells. They were a group of barnacles (marine crustaceans with feathery food-catching appendages; free-swimming as larvae; as adults form a hard shell and live attached to submerged surfaces)

pebbles reminded me of the West Coast Trail which I just finished.

Sointula, Finish word for "a place of harmony". In 1900, a group of Finish philosophers and scientists claimed the island to setup a utopia. Their experiment failed after 4 years. Communism never worked. People never seemed to acknowledge the reality of science. Like it or not, the world works as it likes.

The Little Lake is the most magical place in Sointula. The mirror of trees and magical water.

The tree drink into the water for a moment of harmony.

I saw upon my own reflection. What's the purpose of my life? What's the purpose of my travelling? No, not those questions again.

Duck lake. I only saw a couple of ducks.

Carved by Stephen Bruce in 1995

Someone must have spent a huge amount of effort in setting up this trail and creating an excellent Interpretive Phamplet. It didn't seem the tourist center mention much about this trail. Didn't know why.

So someone tried to setup a dam and failed. The acidy of the stored water then killed all the trees creating a buzzard eco system that someone claimed similar to the Ever Glad of Florida.

Eagle leaving from the tallest totem pole in the world. It's very common to have Eagle perching on top of the pole. It's not a sign of anything. They are smart, that's the best place to catch food.

Eagle and monkey totem in the potlatch (a native carnival). The Potlatch had been banned in the early 20s because the Canadian Government called them "immoral" and "waste of time". It seemed to relate to church influence but people seemed to avoid mentioning that to prevent religious conflict. Anyway, the ban was lifted after the 60s and the natives were encouraged to take back their dance.

old building, old windows.

Face with closed eyes.

In old days, when people were kidnapped in tribal wars and later returned to their home village, the natives would say "Umista". Umista means return of the stolen treasure. The ceremony masks were confiscated by the Canadian Government (some church members thought the natives were lazy and their ceremony is a complete waste of time) and later (70s) returned to the natives, thus the name.

Totem with thunderbird and a killer whale (no, it's not a giant penis, it's only the fish fin of the killer whale)

House float in the ocean, people float in the house.

Boardwalks of telegraph cove. It's seemed to be a town for fishing and water related activites. Nothing much interesting for others. The resturant seemed to be nice (didn't try it).