Dr. Sun Yat Sen

Fern and I took a "busman's holiday" on Saturday and went on a guided walking tour of Victoria's Chinatown. The tour, led by local historical raconteur Chris Adams, was fascinating and taught me new things about an area of the city I thought I knew well. I fully intend to take some of their other walking tours and recommend them highly. If you are planning a visit to Victoria don't hesitate to spend a few hours on one of their walking tours. You can find out about the tours they offer on their website, discoverthepast.com. One of the things I discovered was the statue pictured above, Dr. Sun Yat Sen. The statue was erected by the Chinatown Community as a mark of respect for Dr. Sun Yat Sen. Many of the Chinese people who came to Victoria in its early days came because conditions under the imperial government in China were so bad. As they became more successful here they continued to have a strong interest in improving life for those who remained in China. For many the best way to do that was to support Dr. Sun Yat Sen in his efforts to overthrow the imperial government in China. To make a long story short, Dr. Sun succeeded in ousting the Emperor of China, became the first President of China, and the rest is history. I will refer you to Wikipedia for more details. Suffice to say that Dr. Sun is immensely important in Chinese history where he occupies a place not unlike Nelson Mandela in Africa.

Fishing on the Breakwater

We went for a walk on the breakwater yesterday afternoon and came upon this fisher just in the final moments of reeling in a sizable lingcod (I'm guessing). It was pretty exciting to see it come up out of the water just thrashing around like crazy. I have to admit though I was happy when he put in back in the water. - Fern

Langford Street

I drive down this street almost every day and at this time of year I have to stop and photograph it. This is an ordinary suburban street, but when it's like this, what splendor!

Red-Breasted Merganser

As the weather warms up we are beginning to see birds of passage on their way north to their summer breeding grounds. Above are some birds I always like to see, a Red-Breasted Merganser drake and some females and juveniles of the species. Wikipedia touts this species as the fastest flying duck, clocked at 100 mph (160kph). No wonder his crest looks a little frazzled.

Blossom Explosion

Victoria is blessed with a large number of blossoming trees and they are now bursting into glorious bloom. Forgive me for passing along only half of the experience. The wonderfully sweet and spicy scent of these blooms is fully as intoxicating as their appearance.