Calgary, Canada - Rocky Mountain High

Welcome to Calgary. The land where your butt literally freezes over. This is the story of my trip to Calgary, Canada with my wife, Malina.
It all started sometime at the turn of the century when my wife began to speak to me about her mum in Calgary and how she was getting old and whether she would ever get the chance to see her. Meanwhile, she was also talking to our daughter, Mel, about perhaps visiting her grandma after the final exams of her degree programme. Being the adventourous girl that Mel was, she hopped to the opportunity. So it was that in 2002 when I got a little of my savings from the EPF, I booked her a ticket to Calgary to visit her grandma, aunties and uncle who are permanent residents there. She left in 2003 September and stayed in Calgary for sometime (about 3 months) before returning via Vancouver where she stayed with her cousin Pam for a couple of weeks. Well, to cut to the chase, Mel loved Calgary every bit and has plans to return one day.
So we began to plan our trip to Canada. Meanwhile, my wife had also received news that her mum was now to undergo a heart bypass at the age of 81. The doctors had said that if she did not, she would not survive, so the desicion was made to go ahead with the operation. The survival rate was less than 50% but she made it. We now had to go and see her. Again the EPF can in handy, my wife received a reasonable sum and she said that we should use it to see her mum.Tickets were bought and bags were packed. The children were informed and leave was obtained from the office.
We were booked on the Cathay Pacific airlines from KL to Hong Kong and then on to Vancouver. From there we were to take a Westjet flight to Calgary. It was going to be a long haul, about 18 hours of flight but with the transits and waiting time it was more like 24 hours.
The day came in late November 2006 and we headed off to the KLIA. The flight to HK was ok but then we got onto an Airbus which had very little leg space. Boy, we sure had a rough time but landed in Vancouver in freezing weather. It was like minus 40 and snowing. We had just seen snow!! It was bedlam in Vancouver airport as the whole airport was snowed over. Our flight to Calgary was delayed and we got in to the little town of Calgary just after 1 am. My sis in law had heavy clothings for us as we dashed into the car to get away from the cold.
My sis in law stays alone but has borders in her home. It is a cosy house and warm. The first few days were spent just gazing at the beautiful landscape - just like the Xmas cards you see on sale or receive. My wife was so excited to see her mum and siblings. The next week we went to a little resort town in the Rockies called Banff and spent two nights there . We also toured Lake Louise and saw glaziers. Passed some wildlife like elk and deer before we returned. Banff is a resort and ski town nestled in the famed Rockies. Needless to say it was cold like minus 20.
But the best part of Canada is the food and booze. I just went ga ga over the fantastic range of sausages, salmon, nuts ( not human) and the beer and ale. We just guzzled down pints of ale and beer every day. And I kind of put on weight in the few weeks I spent there. Mum in law was looking good after the operation and health care is just amazing there. She was also good enough to give a couple of thousand Canadian dollars for our expenditure while there. So we never stinged.
Christmas was also drawing near and the decor of the houses in Calgary was so beautiful. Lights were on the Xmas trees outside the houses and it was just like a picture.
Soon it was time to leave and this became the most difficlut part as the wife had to leave her mum. But sis in law kinda put it well, " Just remember your real family is in KL and they are waiting for you."
And so it was that we packed our bags and said our goodbyes to all and left Canada.
It was a bitter sweet ending to our sojourn in Canada.

What are we fighting for?

In 1957, Malaya got its independence. I still remember the day although I was only 8 years old. It was nostalgic. We had become an independent country, off the clutches of Great Britain which had ruled the country for almost a century. But the British gave us a good educational system, good roads, transport and an excellent legal system. They also took away a lot of stuff from us but I do not intend to get into that here. There are many publications on the British rule in Malaya which are available at the bookstores. In 1963, Malaysia was formed and Sabah and Sarawak joined us to form the new entity. Singapore decided to break away. Today Singapore is far ahead of us and is a country to be reckoned with in many ways. Their universities are ranked higher than us. Their dollar is higher than our ringgit. Their cars are better than ours. Their transportation is better than ours. Their economy is doing better than ours. They have property in Malaysia. But we started earlier. How come?
I am not a politician but sometimes it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why. It is simply because we are continuously badmouthing each other. As Malays, Chinese and Indians we are preoccupied with who is having what. We have not learnt anything at all. Our forefathers were much better. They fought for independence, not each other. It is a sad situation. We are getting deeper and deeper into the quagmire. Racial tones are becoming more apparent. Religion is taking centre stage. There is a great divide between the races, although we pretend its not happening.
My children, wife and I were born in this country. We do not have any other. Wewant to live here. We have no desire to migrate. Our fathers toiled to carve a foothold in this country. Why can't we do something about this? Why can't we live together peacefully? I said in my earlier blogs that the 50's in my area was such a beautiful place to live. It was kind of a 'kampong' quarters for government servants. All races lived there, and happily too.
I wish for this country to become more united. I wish that we could all go about our daily lives without fear of our neighbours. I put a twist to what Dr. Martin Luther King said, "I wish that one day our children would be judged by their content and not their ethnicity'. I wish for a lot, really.