Boonstock - Thursday

The main stage was still closed but the smaller stage did feature CCR (Creedence Clearwater Revisited 10:30 - 12:00) 


The main event this evening was Gabriel and Dresden with a break before Ferry Corsten, I didn`t get as much dancing in as I wanted to but in the end it was great to see both of them. Having seen Ferry Corsten before I had an idea of what I should be expecting from him. G&D on the other hand I had no idea, they even threw down some dubstep which I didn`t think that they would, but we all have to conform even if it is a little but when playing to the masses.

I do have to mention that due to going to Sasquatch as my first music festival this year nothing really compares.

Boonstock - Wednesday

There were many obstacles.... by about 6pm we started making our way around the city picking up things that we needed for the trip. Army and Navy for propane and some groceries, back to my house to pack up the cooler, hit up Safeway for fresh foods, made two stops to retrieve all of Jordan`s camping gear and lastly gas, smokes and coffee.

We were only on the road for 40 minutes before we arrived. Next to the town of Gibbons a town in Alberta with almost 3000 people. Boonstock is less than a 5 minute drive from Gibbons.

After getting a minor disagreement with the people that said we couldn't camp next to them, Danny convinced me that moving would be for the better. By about 11pm we were all set up and ready to check out the stages, the dance tent was already going hard, the smaller stage (Budwiser tent) were playing some music and the main stage wasn`t set up yet.

Visa Applications

As you all know my journey lead me home to finalize my decision about working in the UK and enjoy the company of my long lost friends and summer in Edmonton. After Danny's stay in Edmonton I whole heartily stand by my conviction that it is time to travel to Europe.

In the following posts are some of my experiences with visa applications that I have faced over the years.

UK TIER 5 WORK MOBILITY VISA: Level of difficulty 4/5
An immense amount of work went into gathering all the information and paper work together to even be qualified to apply. It took me months. Then funds and reading pages upon pages of 'how to/what you should know' off of the UK boarder Agency website.

Requirements: Application, Self Assessment Forms, Biometrics (90CAD), Official Bank Statement, Photos, Fee (190 Pounds = Approx 340 CAD, Maintenance (1600 Pounds= Approx 2550CAD), Passport, Appointment with a Visa application personnel

Now I wait for two weeks.....if approved and granted a working visa for the UK, I would get 24 months working visa but I can only work for 12 months of it. Lucky for me I have some travel plans placed in the middle of the 2 years.

In comparison to all the other visas that I have ever had to apply for this one was the more headache inducing one I have ever come across.

CHINA WORKING VISA: Level of difficulty 2/5
This is different than the usual working visa a normal traveler would apply for since I was going to teach English, I had a sponser. The school sends their sponsorship paper work to you then you take them to the visa office. Since I wasn't located in Edmonton at the time (where you would have to send them or drop off the application in Calgary) I was lucky enough to have been in Vancouver where they have a visa application centre right in the city.

Requirements: Application, Sponsorship papers (Orginials), Passport, Fee (30CAD), Photos

It took 4 working days, you could drop in anytime and pick up but the hours at this particular visa office was a bit unheard of. Something like you could only apply from 9am-noon and pick up is from noon-2pm....and if I recall correctly they are closed one of the working days during Mon-Fri.

CHINA TOURIST VISA: Level of difficulty 1/5
This visa is what I would have assumed the standard for all visa applications should be like so I didn't run into any big surprises.

Reqirements: Application, Passport, Fee (30-120CAD-depending on the duration of your stay) Photos

As for myself doing this in China from HK is really quick about 4 days 220HKD. In Canada it took awhile longer I cannot even remeber the turn around time anymore I believe without the rush fee it would take 7-14 days.

THAILAND TOURIST VISA: Level of difficulty 1/5
First off you don't need to pay if you are from Canada for a visa, if you fly in you automatically get a 29 day visa into Thailand. If coming into the country from land you get 14 days no problem-O.

Requirements: Photos, Passport, Application

When I wanted to get a new visa we traveled through into Laos straight the Thai Consulate(remember kids you have to leave the country to apply for a visa)  from there I photocopied my paper work and my passport. After standing in a line for awhile your application gets checked, filed with a bunch of other applications and you get a tiny little receipt for your next day pick up. The next day you just show up with your ticket and you wait luckly this room had someone of what we woulc call AC.

Done and Done I got a double entry for 3 months at a time = 6 months travel time for free.

LAOS, VIETNAM & CAMBODIA TOURIST VISA: Level of difficulty 1/5
Each visa listed only takes a couple days to get whilst traveling abroad so you can be backpacking/partying while you are waiting for your visa to come back around. Mind you the locations 'visa application centres/travel agencies' in South East Asia are very questionable. Espeically if you are someone who doesn't like handing your passport (your most impoartant documentation while traveling) to someone who runs off one computer and a sign on the wall stating the prices with sufficent but not the best English skills while playing WOW [most likely] with their shandles kicked off.

Requirements: Photos, Passport, Application, Fee (approx 30CAD)

All of them took about 3-4 days each. I do need to mention that for the Cambodia and the Laos visa if I remember correctly you have about 3 month gap to use these visas. For Vietnam on the other hand you only have a month before your visa expires.

If you have any questions, message me.

Backtracking to Edmonton

We rose at 6:30am for a 30 minute drive down to Swarts Bay to catch our ferry and say our good-byes. Thanks Heather and Travis for letting us stay with you, we had a blast.

Now we need some breakfast making our way to the cafeteria on the ferry to pass the 1:40 ride back to Tsawwassen. I put jam on all my food <3. After slathering everything in jam it was time to disembark to the bus stop. From there a 45 minute bus ride back to Bridge port station. Hop onto the Canada line to the airport, after one stop we were kicked off the train due to maintenance problems.

Waiting again.

Yay, a short flight home only 1:12 that is quick. Now we have bought our shuttle bus tickets back into the city, the shuttle dropped off but one gentleman and then returned to back to the airport. Well that was counter productive we could have bought our Tim Horton's coffee in that time we were driving in a full circle. Grrrr. More time passes, at least while on the ride back home I got the great idea to pre-order pizza for pick up right when we get back in. Since Road Runner is a block away from my house. Yum, pizza and Invader Zim, I had left to the dream world.

Until my next adventure.

More Island Fun

Yay, Dim Sum. I couldn't believe that Danny had never tired dim sum before, either way he has now. I felt fantastic after lunch what a wonderful way to start a day. Time to relax for a bit before we head to the beach with Travis.

The beach was on one side of us, filled with old washed up trunks of all different kinds and sizes, dead crabs, people walking their dogs and a nice sea breeze. I do love the smell of salt water and the sound of waves crashing onto the beach.

It has been ages since I have sat in a jam session, I remember watching people jamming together use to be such a regular occurrence. Not anymore. Heather shared some of her peach cider with me, damn that was some good shit. While they were playing I read a short story by Neil Gaimen - The Witch's Headstone, I was also reminded that when I 'watched' people jam together that I would just end up reading. I also learned that there are a lot more word games that I thought there were on this planet and I am not good at them.

I can't believe we start making our way back to Edmonton tomorrow. These two weeks sure went by quickly. I really wanted to stay on the island for a little while longer.

Langford, Victoria Island

For lunch we drove over to where Heather works, too many noodles later time to create what we named a....

"Slobberknocker"

Vodka Rockstar with Jagermiester, drop shot of a 5 hour energy drink

This was our creation since I was so tired after Sasquatch, I just couldn't seem to catch up on my sleep. When Heather came home we took a nice walk around the near by lake, it was like the river valley in Edmonton but much prettier. Whilst walking Cali (their pooch) Danny ran up and down trees and hills, I think the slobberknockers were working. I poked some snails!

When we got back in Travis ordered some pizza with these delicious cheese bread thingies. Man they were tasty. Heather downloaded an old favourite of mine that I hadn't watched in forever. 'Cecil B Demented'

Vacouver -> Victoria Attempt #2

I completely agree with Danny on how good it feels to have a warm, soft, space-filled bed again. Sure we initially over came the freezing-cold clifftop campsite problem at the Gorge, but it was at the cost of free space. In a nice bed there are no such worries, we do love civilization sometimes.

Anyway, today is our second go at making it to Heather and Travis's place over the water in Victoria, and it was going well. We got up leisurely, had Vietnamese food and ice Vietnamese coffee. YUM :) Since I was so cruelly denied this pleasure. Made out way over to the sky train, making good time until we reached Bridgeport Station. This is where we discovered that we had just missed our bus and that the next one wasn't for 45 minutes, thereby killing our chances of making the 2pm ferry.

We were finally aboard the 3pm ferry. Yay, we are finally united with Heather and Travis now it is time to find some din-din. While driving aimlessly we passed a Korean BBQ restaurant we all agreed to eat there, what a great decision. (In north China where I was living there were tons of Korean restaurants since Jilin was filled with nothing but Han, Manchu, Korean, Hui  So there was an abundance of Korean food to be had there, this was a nice reminder that the things that I missed from China more accurately Jilin can be found here in Canada and enjoyed with a different group of people.)

Where was I, oh right, combo C for 4 people was tonnes of food!! I have to say that we shouldn't have been able to finish all that food but we did. Talk about manin' up. Good work team. From there we dropped off our bags did a little bit of pre drinking before we went to the bar for a drum and bass show at a place named 'HUSH' Soon after our arrival they started playing dubstep [crap, it found me] time to head back and start a game of poker.