Tuesday 25 August 2009

Your Japanese word of the week is...

"mizu-umi" 湖 which means lake. However, this is technically the term for "a body of water". In referring to a specific lake, such as the famous Lake Biwa near Kyoto, -ko is actually used thus Lake Biwa is known as biwako 琵琶湖. Don't ask me why, that's just how the Japanese language works heh.....

As such, I suppose that means this past weekend I went to Lost Lake-ko.... uhh...... yeah.... wait, that would be Lost-ko?? And since lost is mayotte 迷って, that means this lake is mayoko 迷湖?? But then that just says lost lake............ and sounds like "lost child".... nevermind heh......

Either way, Lost Lake and the walking trail that goes around it can be found a short walk from the centre of Whistler Village and is an easy, pleasant way to spend a few hours taking in the nature that Whistler has to offer. Including ducks!

The other interesting thing about going to Whistler is that in preparation for the 2010 Olympics, they've expanded and repaved nearly the entire Sea-To-Sky highway. The section from Vancouver to Squamish is entirely new, much wider with a usable hard shoulder, and two-lanes for a large portion of it. Now this is great because the old road used to be a treacherous little bugger with narrow lanes, unforgiving walls, and mid-corner bumps. And then when it got wet and slick it was worse. And then rocks would occasionally fall on people......

The new road, however, is much safer....... but in doing that, it also means it's much easier to go faster without noticing. Which in turns puts that danger element back in. So while the road itself is safer, it can lull drivers into a false sense of security and then it becomes dangerous once again. However, it's not like people didn't speed on the old highway and no road, no matter how good, can protect against uncontrolled drivers. Thus the new highway is indeed a huge improvement. And on a sunny summer day, early in the morning with no traffic, it's a dream to drive on =P......

Anyway, I spent the better half of the day up there with my friend from Japan including that walk, a bit of lunch, and a lot of laughs. A good day all around then =P......

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