The backyard of those houses that you can see hidden in the trees.

One of the little streams that we crossed.

Nothing but raw country and a few of these homes literally in the middle of nowhere!

The beautiful skyline

Day trip to Tottenham

Trip to Tottenham

Last Sunday morning we woke up and decided to do something different. It was a nice sunny day and the weather forecast looked pleasant enough......

After checking 'google search' for interesting day trips from Brampton, we found some information on a little town called Tottenham, about an hours drive from our home. Their main tourist attraction is a lovely train ride through the un-touched Country side. After reading about the train ride on the website http://www.southsimcoerailway.ca/, we decided to spend the day there with some friends of ours.

We also read about the town of Tottenham and this is what Wikipedia had to say:

"Tottenham is a community in the town of New Tecumseth, in south-central Ontario, Canada. It takes its name from its first postmaster, Alexander Totten. The Tottenham Conservation Area is a recreational facility in the village, which is also famous for its Bluegrass Festival. There is also a restored steam train that is a tourist attraction, taking passengers to Beeton and back.
The town was ravaged by a fire in 1895, which began at the McKinney foundry. Eighty structures were destroyed, including the foundry and a Methodist church. Despite warnings in 1884 that the town needed a fire engine, none was purchased. To combat the 1895 fire, the town of Allandale sent its fire engine, preventing further spread of the fire."

Once you get to Tottenham, the first thing you notice is that it is a little town with one main street going right down the middle. There you will find the bulk of the towns stores and restaurants. As the train ride was at 1.30 and then another at 3pm, we decided to first go to the station, buy the tickets for the 3pm ride, have lunch and then come back to the station.

THE RATES

2009 EXCURSION SCHEDULE and FARES:

Excursions begin Victoria Day weekend and run through to the weekend after Thanksgiving.
The train operates every Sunday and holiday Monday, departing at 10:30, 12:00, 1:30 & 3:00. In addition, the train also operates Mondays and Tuesdays in July and August, and the first three Saturdays in October, at 10:30, 12:00, 1:30 & 3:00.
Fares: Adults $12, Seniors $10, Children $7 including all taxes. Babies under 2, not occupying a seat, are free. Children's fares apply to age 15 and under; senior fares to age 65 and older. Visa, MasterCard & Interac are accepted for payment.

For safety reasons, strollers and infant car seats are not permitted on board the train

The Cedars Kitchen (#5, Queen st, South) was the little restaurant where we had lunch. From Bacon-lettuce-tomato (BLT) sandwiches, to hotdogs, burgers and wraps.....they had a nice spread and it was not very expensive either. The kids meals came with a juice or milk, and the kids got a cute cup with their drink that they could keep. Crayons and a fun sheet was given to the kids to keep them occupied before the food came. Food-excellent, service-friendly and fast, Price-reasonable.

At about 2.45 we walked back to the station (just five minutes away) and found out seats on the train. Seat numbers are printed on the tickets. There were three compartment ( I almost said the Indian term...bogie).....the first had a private birthday party for a three year old which is an option you have in case you want to have a party on the train. We sat in the second compartment.

No food or drinks are allowed on the train...so it is clean! Windows are open and the train only travels at a safe slow speed so you enjoy the fresh breeze and the open view of the country side. The ride takes about fifty minutes, you reach a half way point and then you switch sides with the passengers sitting on your side so that you can see a different view on your return to the station. All done quickly and efficiently!

Hope you like the pictures I uploaded...we had a great time and would definitely recommend this if you want a change of scene and just want to do something for the day.

The Africa Safari - Ontario

Last Sunday we drove about an hours distance from our home, to the African Safari in Sheffield.
It was a nice drive getting there, not much traffic and the weather was just perfect. Once we got there, we saw clear signs about where to go, pay for your ticket and where to park if you didn't want to go on the Safari drive first.

The visitors going on the Safari drive, had to drive past a huge double gate and just follow the signs. Driving into different areas, one could see animals like Lions, cheetahs, Zebras, Giraffes, Ostriches, many kinds of Deer, Hippos and wild birds. A very open area, it is easy to forget where you are while you gape open mouthed at the animals walking right up to your car window.
Of course, there are clear rules here......no opening doors and windows. You have to stay in the car at all times. They have security all over just in case.
The website for this attraction had this to say:

"African Lion Safari is a Canadian owned family business created in the name of conservation. Our manner of exhibiting animals is completely different from the traditional approach; that is, the visitor is caged in the car, and the animals roam in 2 to 20 hectare (5 to 50 acre) reserves.We first opened the gates to the public in 1969 with 40 lions in 3 reserves; today the park houses in excess of 1000 animals of over 100 species. After 39 years we have been successful with breeding 30 species that are considered endangered, and 20 or more species that are considered threatened. The original idea of "maintaining self-sustaining populations of species in decline" is still our priority."

The Rates are as follows:
SUMMER ADMISSION RATES:SUMMER - June 27 - Sept 7, 2009
Adult (13-59)................$29.95
Senior (60+).................$26.95
Children (3-12)..............$24.95
SPRING/FALL ADMISSION RATES:SPRING - May 2 - June 26, 2009 FALL - Sept 8 - Oct 12, 2009
Adult (13-59)................$24.95
Senior (60+).................$21.95
Children (3-12)..............$19.95
Taxes not included. Prices in Canadian dollars.We accept cash, Mastercard, Visa, AMEX and Interac debit cards.Prices subject to change without notice.Children 2 and under are admitted FREE.All features weather permitting.Some features have height restrictions.

ATTRACTIONS INCLUDE:
Drive Through Game Reserve (9 km). Misumu Bay Wet Play area (open daily, WEATHER PERMITTING, May 16 to Sep 7, 2009, height restrictions apply, closes for season after Labour Day) Jungle Playground (height restrictions apply)

Parrot Paradise show Elephant Roundup demonstration
A scenic railway tour Pets' Corner Birds of Prey flying demonstration
Take a cruise aboard the "African Queen"

SUMMARY: Visit our large drive-through wildlife park and you will surely have a wild experience! View and photograph 1000 unique and rare mammals and birds who are roaming freely, waiting to meet you. The Safari Trail takes you through prides of lions, troops of baboons and herds of zebra. You will see big cats, baboons, white rhino, ostrich, aoudad, eland, giraffe and many other exotic and native species. Travel through the reserves in your own vehicle (Convertibles, motorcycles and other unsuitable vehicles will not be permitted to drive through the Game Reserves. Windshields with cracks are not permitted to drive through the Game Reserves. Keep your windows closed!) or park your car and let an informative tour guide drive you through this wild kingdom in our air-conditioned Safari Tour Bus (additional cost). The drive through tour will take about one hour and the average stay for a family visit is five to seven hours. Relax and enjoy yourself!Explore our thrilling mammal and bird performances. The shows include the Birds of Prey Flying Demonstration, Parrot Paradise show, and Elephant Round-Up, all weather permitting. Shows run throughout the afternoon. Upon arrival you will be given a Programme & Map which outlines the show times. Each show is approximately 20 minutes long. As the shows are very popular we suggest that you arrive early for seating. Take a cruise aboard the "African Queen" boat. Your guide will point out exotic birds and primates during your pleasant tour around Water Safari Lake. Inhabitants of this area include the Ring-tailed lemur, Ground Horn-bills, Spider Monkeys, and the endangered Angolan Colobus monkeys.
Venture off to Waterfowl Lake and take a journey on the "Nature Boy" scenic railway. As you travel through this natural forest you will see some unique wildlife, watch out for the snapping turtles! The boat & train tour are each approximately 15 minutes in length and open daily at 11:00 a.m. weather permitting.

Come and see our daily elephant swim. Here you will see Kitty, Jenny, Maggie and baby Chuck, frolic in the giant recreational lake.Visit Pets' Corner and come ‘face to ‘face’ with a variety of animals and birds. Take a moment to pet and feed some baby goats.

Children are encouraged to monkey around in the Jungle Playground featuring the Safari Venture, and Toddlers' Play. Then cool down in the Misumu Bay Wet Play area (open May 16 to September 7, 2009, height restrictions apply). Misumu Bay Wet Play opens at 11:00 a.m.
Hungry on Safari? Check out Mombasa Market Restaurant (licensed) offering flame-broiled burgers, fries, pizza, and snacks, or the Cabana Grill (licensed) on the back patio

This is definitely worth seeing and experiencing. A wonderful place to bring young children as well as older people. It is not that big and one can easily walk around comfortably. Bathrooms are spacious and clean.

Any questions? Please feel free to email me at chutney2maplesyrup@gmail.com or leave a comment after this post. Thanks!

Elephant show

A beautiful Hawk that sat near us.

The bird show

Spotted deer

My daughter loved this Giraffe...

This close to a Rhino

Hello there!

This beautiful buck stopped by to have a look at us! It felt like we were
the ones in a Zoo.

Ostrich feathers up close

Amazing is not the word

This Ostrich was trying to get some food from my kids who were sitting
in the car in front of us. We spent at least twenty minutes just looking
at this magnificent creature up close. It is much taller than you think!!

Ostrich trying to get food from a car in front.

Where else can you see and Ostrich and a Zebra up close and grazing togetherÉ

You can see lions like this one, up close.

You can drive through at your own pace, take as much time as you want gazing at
these amazing creatures and taking pictures.

Clear signs everywhere.

We're back!!

We are back in Canada, after our first holiday back to India. It was two and a half months of family time, catching up with friends and traveling around the Country with our children. It was great to be back in India, amongst the familiar sights and sounds. It was also strange....

Strange in the sense that....we felt like we had to eat every biriyani, dosa or paani puri in sight, take a ride in an auto and actually enjoy the hustle and bustle of a crowded store and hearing every Indian language spoken at one time. The traffic was insane to say the least, and of course we were back to some things we forgot in our one year in Canada. Power cuts and no water coming out of the taps!! Things you start to take for granted in Canada. I mean here, you even have seperate taps for hot and cold water!!

The one thing we discovered during our trip back to India, is that no matter how many years you live abroad or what kind of lifestyle you lead....if you have lived in India at some point of time, you will miss something about it. At times it can be just the sound of dogs barking, flower sellers yelling and water pumps being pumped at 5am. Here, it is so quiet, you can actually hear yourself breathing.

We are lucky. Lucky because we live in two different worlds. So different that it is hard to explain. One world called India. Third world, noisy, polluted, crowded, cheap,charming, mysterious, great food, and something different in each and every state. The other world, Canada - hardly any people, every state seems to be a copy of the other, difficult for immigrants, expensive, great infrastructure, one of the best cities to live in (Toronto) and hundreds of well planned things to do on the weekends.

These are some of the differences you may feel, comparing both Countries. We left India feeling sad...not knowing when our next visit would be. But you know what? We got out of Pearson International and caught a cab to take .....home. Yes, home. It was great to see the clear, big roads, the open Country side and how clean everything was. Yes, we miss India.....but I guess we missed Canada a little too.

Sleeping Crocs

Elephants in their natural environment

Can you see the elephants? Almost all the animals are in contained areas like this one.
Large, spacious and tree covered areas for the animals to roam freely and not too close
to where visitors can bother them.

Monkey drinking a bottle of water it grabbed from a tourist

Interesting sign at the Vandalur Zoo, Chennai India

Main sign at the Chennai zoo

The Vadalur Zoo as it is called, is one of India's most well kept places for animals, covering
over 600 acres in area. Most of the animals are not kept in cages, but in natural surroundings.

Chennai police car

Chennai police cars on the roads...........

The old and the new face of India

This pictures shows how the old (which never goes away) and the new (which has come to stay)
ply together on the same crowded roads of Indian cities.

Kathipara junction's new flyover!

The changing face of Chennai city.....the famous bottle neck
Kathipara junction is now a series of beautiful flyovers heading towards
Adyar, the Airport, Ashok Nagar etc.

'The Canadian Dream'

This tongue in cheek article I wrote for Garamchai.com was published a couple of months ago on their website.

"The Canadian Dream”

We moved to Canada, our family of four, in July 2008. It is almost one year since we left Chennai airport and flew into Toronto with our PR cards in hand and looking for the end of the rainbow. Well, we haven’t found it yet.

Why have I titled this article, "The Canadian Dream"? Because if you are planning on moving to Canada, from India or the Middle East or wherever you live now, thinking that your life is going to be like what you see in foreign magazines or English movies . . . wake up . . . you are dreaming!!

We live in a relatively mixed neighbourhood. Indians, Canadians, Philippino’s and Pakistanis. We have met many Indians who have moved both from India and from other countries, especially the Middle East. One thing in common with nearly everybody you meet? Their opinion of having moved to Canada quickly becomes apparent. Conversations normally begin with, ‘So, have you found a job yet?’, or, ‘Are you still living in a basement?’

Let me set the picture straight: When you went for your PR card interview and the person behind the counter nodded and said the magic words, ‘Here is your visa’, like all of us, you must have breathed a huge sigh of relief. Glad that the stress of filling in all those forms, taking those endless Xerox copies and making all those pocket pinching money transfers is finally over! Now you can start booking your tickets and packing your bags!

You sell your assets, throw or give away your household goods, get your children’s transfer certificates from school and travel across the ocean to reach your dream destination.

Standing outside the airport, you get the first of many shocks. First - the weather. If you have landed anytime between the end of September and the beginning of April, the cold will hit you like a ton of bricks. Be prepared! The second shock? The taxi ride (unless you are lucky and know someone who is picking you up) to any place is going to cost you at least $60 CAN. Plus tip. If you have come with a ton of luggage….lucky you, you get to take two taxis, because most of them don’t have the space for our world famous, Indian luggage capacity! Remember, if you have also come with ten members of your extended family, each and every one of them is going to need a seat belt. So, forget the days of traveling in crammed up Ambassadors or cheap autos.

Once you get to where you are staying, jet lag will hit you. This is a good thing. This means that you will have your only good nights sleep in the near future, as you will be too tired to even think about the fact that you now have no job, no home and no income. Sweet dreams.

Day two of reality checks: The family member that you are staying with, who is still giving you that welcoming smile while handing you the mornings cup of coffee, is actually thinking, ‘When is this guy going to get a job, find a house and leave our house?’. So don’t get fooled by the smiles. Unless, that guy too happens to be an immigrant who moved just before you did, and is still staying in the same Uncles’ house that sponsored you plus the other four families.

You take the newspaper to read the ‘jobs wanted’ section. You circle the ones you think are interesting, the ones that require your skill and knowledge. The ones that will earn you the dollars you had been dreaming about.

You send out your resumes and give them your Uncles address and phone number. Then you wait. One week, two weeks and three weeks later . . . you think, ‘Okay, maybe the post office lost my letters. How come no one has called me for an interview??’.

Your name happens to be Dharminder Singh. Your Uncle suggests you change the name on your resume to, ‘Danny S’. The first week you get three calls.

The first interview morning, you are riding the bus with forty other people to get to the other side of the City. Remember, you don’t have a license to drive, or a car yet. If it is winter, you will be layered in two or three sets of clothing, boots, gloves and hat.

Let’s skip over to the interview. You shake hands; you sit down and then stand up again. You have been asked only one question, ‘Do you have any work experience in Canada?’ The second you say, ‘no’, the interview is over. You get back on the bus and head home. Oops. Your Uncle’s home.

Three interviews and rejections later, it slowly sinks in that maybe all your experience and qualification in India . . . are worthless here in Canada.

You quickly find out that all your neighbors are immigrants too, and the guy next door knows of an opening where he works. He can get you in. You don’t even have to know English or have any previous experience in Canada. Sounds good!

Your new place of work is huge! You get your own id badge and employee number. Maybe even a uniform! Then someone hands you a broom and asks you to start sweeping the floor before the customers come in. ‘What?’ you start to say, ‘But I have a PhD in physics and I worked for a car company in India for thirteen years’. But no one is listening, especially the lady with the Medical degree who is cleaning the table next to you.

When you first come to Canada, be mentally prepared to slide down the corporate ladder. From working at McDonalds or working at the airport as a security guard . . . you may just end up doing something like this for the first couple of years. It pays ok. Enough to put food on the table and . . . well that is it. If your spouse works too, now you are talking. Two incomes here can quickly get you out of your Uncle’s home and into a basement of your own. Then you work your way up, literally, to the upstairs of a home. Then someday, the entire home. By this time you would have gone through the process of failing a few driving tests, (no you cannot pay the guy Rs.200/- like you did back in India) and finally getting your license (another cause of great celebration here).

Then buying your first second hand car, putting your kids in the school that falls in the same housing district (and finding out that you live too close to the school and therefore are not eligible for the free bus service) and installing an un-authorized satellite dish.

Then the real Canadian dream starts – clearing your very own driveway of snow in winter, (clearing the same driveway of leaves in the fall), mowing the lawn, doing all the laundry, cooking and house cleaning by yourself. Because guess what? Your maid, driver and ironing guy are back in India, enjoying a cricket match on TV and telling their family about what a nice time you must be having in Canada!

And while you are doing all of the above, plus trying to fix that leaky kitchen pipe (a plumber will charge $100 just to have a look), telling your kid who gets no homework to go study something, and wondering what kind of cereal you want for breakfast . . . keep telling yourself that you are happy because you are now living the Canadian Dream . . . . . .

by Nalini Raj

Authors note: This article is a tongue in cheek story about what many Asians go through in Canada as new immigrants. Don’t despair. There are many nice things about Canada too, and you can check out what some of them are in my blog: www.chennai2canada.blogspot.com