Bilingual | 中英對照
It has been a while since I came up here and updated the travel experiences. Last few years has been so busy that even we had been to a lot of places, there seemed to be no time to actually sit down and bring back the memories ( -. -|||) Ce la vie! We've got to find time for leisure stuff and try to dig out the fun of life. Last year was kinda like a reorganizing year for me, so I had some chances to re-categorized the blogs and brought back some memories and inspiration.
好久沒上來更新PP的旅遊文章了，這幾年實在忙得連有東西都沒來回味一下( -. - |||) 人生咩，總是要忙裡偷閒、苦中作樂一番。剛好趁著過去這年心境的調整，又把之前的東西翻一翻之後，才把一些靈感又召回來。重新整理部落格之餘，也開始來把之前的一些東西慢慢放上來。
April 2015, PP visited Beijing and Toronto. This is our first time in Beijing. As for Toronto, it's been 12 years since my last visit, still there're lots of memories that felt like just happened yesterday. The main purpose of this trip was not for traveling but to visit Pat's family. Even though, we still took some chances to look around the area.
話說2015年4月，PP來到了北京跟多倫多。北京PP是第一次來，多倫多距離上次小P我來已經12年了，但很多記憶還是像昨天才剛發生一樣。這次來的主要目的不是旅遊而是探親。雖然說是探親，但我們還是偷閒走了一些地方:-P
It's not an easy task to make this trip happen. It's either the time wasn't good enough, or something wasn't right. After some twists and turns, we were both like: whatever, let's just book it! Every time we mentioned that we visit Beijing and Toronto, our friends would be like: Why? It seemed like a weird itinerary. The reason was because we wanted to book cheaper tickets. After some price comparing, we decided to go with Hai-Nan airline so we have to transfer via Beijing. Since we had to transfer there, and no extra cost to stay, why not took the chance to visit the city? So we decided to go ahead with this plan. After booking the tickets, came with the problem. There's no visa issue for me, but it seemed like Pat needed a visa for Canadian passport, also it seemed like it is not necessary. Strange, right? The thing is China government provides 72 hours free pass for certain nationalities in certain major cities under certain circumstances. PP were so happy when we saw that, but the more detailed we read, the more buts we saw, the more confused we were: Is that ok or not? In order to confirm, I had called so many places and the results were all like: Regarding to this matter, we are not 100% certain, but I can provide you with the following phone number, you may contact them...(*&^%^$#@...) At last we called Beijing boarder and explained the situation, then we heard the man said a word with his Beijing accent "Sure."
We looked at each other and asked "Are you sure?"
"Sure."
"Really?"
"Really."
WT, why on earth we spent so much time on this matter... Even though Beijing officials claimed yes, rumor about Beijing boarder made us worried. Finally Pat said "let's just drop it, we always have good lucks when we travel. What's the worst can happen? probably just sleep at the airport." Then I thought that's right. Perhaps it's the old habit of planning business trip, I've forgotten how spontaneous travel can be. And yes, we did go through Beijing customs with no problem.
這次要成行經過了好多的曲折，一下子這個時間不行，一下子那個東西不對。幾經波折之後最後我們兩個就說不管了啦，就給他訂下去了。每每跟朋友說到我們去了北京跟多倫多，大家都會覺得很奇怪怎麼會這麼走，主要原因是這次為了找便宜一點的機票。幾經比較之後，PP就選擇了海南航空，必須從北京轉機。那既然轉機了，又可以不加價停留，乾脆就直接待個幾天吧~ 好了，訂好了機票，問題就來了......小P我有台胞證加簽就好簡單，大P的加籍護照要停留似乎要簽證、又好像不用簽證。很奇怪吧，怎麼會好像要，又好像不要? 因為大陸官方有提供某些國籍護照在主要城市轉機停留的時候可以72小時免簽。一開始看到的時候我們超開心der，但是越讀條文細節，好多但書，產稱越多問號: 到底可不可以...? 為了確定，小P不知道打了多少電話給各單位，但是大家都說: 關於這件事情，我們無法確定，但可以提供您XX單位的電話，您可以詢問看看(心裡OS就是*&^%$#.....。)最後想說直接問北京吧，打電話給北京邊防，說明來意之後，只聽見對方操著北京腔說"可"
PP們相望了一下，回問"可以嗎?"
"可"
"真的嗎?"
"真的"
噗，那我們花了這麼多時間是在幹嘛...... 雖說北京那方說可，但傳聞還是讓PP覺得擔心。最後大P就說，咱們就別再擔心了貝，我們每次旅遊不是都很順利? 頂多就是睡機場而已。小P心想也是，或許是之前辦理出差的職業病，已經忘了旅遊的隨性。最後的確，真的順利的入關北京。
Our flight was delayed, so the airport express to Dong Zhi Men was no longer available. While we were running around in the crowd and wondering we should take a bus or taxi, I heard a man shouted: "Dong Zhi Men~Dong Zhi Men~" I asked and it was a free shuttle bus! So we got on the bus with the fastest speed ever. Got to Dong Zhi Men, no internet no map, thank god Pat's built-in GPS worked perfectly so it didn't take us too much time to find our hotel. After checking in (Holiday Inn Express Beijing Dongzhimen, highly recommended,) we started our Lulu Tour (Fast Site-seeing Tour.) In these 2 days, we saw The Summer Palace, Great Wall (Badaling section), Tiananmen Square, Silk Street, Chaoyang District. PP got to meet with my upper classmate from college, Susan, and her family (It's really embarrassing, her whole family came all the way to Dong Zhi Men just to have a meal with us), had a drink with my online friend Gino who also had a walk with us around the forbidden city the next day. Although it's a short time, we were very lucky and did quite a lot with a slow pace. In addition, for those who haven't been to Beijing and are planning to go, PP recommend you to wear good shoes, it's really important! Beijing is way way way too big! Sometimes from A to B, you might feel like walking because there is no subway and too short to take a cab, but it would feel like indefinite walking. So, please wear good shoes. On the last night, Percy felt like it is absolutely necessary to have Beijing duck while we're there. However, Pat didn't feel like getting in a huge line just to eat a duck meal. So we found out that right across the street from the hotel, there's a Jingzun Peking Duck Restaurant. It was delicious, reasonably priced and no need to wait in line! This meal definitely gave us a perfect ending for the stay.
因為班機延誤，所以到北京的時候已經沒有機場快軌到東直門，正在超多人群間邊穿梭邊想說要搭巴士還是打D(計程車)的時候，小P聽到"東直門~~東直門~~"，問了一下，是機場免費接駁! PP馬上就以順雷不及掩耳的快動作把行李全搬上車。到了東直門，人生地不熟的沒有網路沒有地圖，好在大P腦子裡內建的GPS很強，我們沒有花太多時間就找到飯店。入住Holiday Inn(北京东直门智选假日酒店，推)之後，隔天就開始一天的Lulu Tour(快速景點觀光行程)。這兩天看了頤和園 - 萬里長城(八達嶺) - 天安門廣場 - 秀水街 - 朝陽區、也跟大學學姊全家吃飯(他們全家百忙之餘還撥空到東直門跟我們吃頓飯，超級不好意思der...)，還有跟網友Gino見面喝杯小酒，也陪我們走了紫禁城門外(最後太多人排隊買票，不爽排就沒進去了。)雖然短短的時間，碰到了不少lucky的事情，也悠哉地做了不少的事情。另外，給沒有去過的朋友一個衷心的建議，要穿好一點的鞋子，真的，很重要! 因為北京太太太大了，從A到B可能看似很近、打D不划算、又沒有地鐵，會讓你想要用走的，但會走到有一種無窮止盡的感覺。所以，穿好一點的鞋子。最後一個晚上，小P覺得來北京沒有吃烤鴨，感覺好像沒有來。大P又不想要去排隊，搜尋了一下，發現在假日酒店的正對面有一間京尊烤鴨，不用排隊評價也不錯。推! 吃完之後有種感覺是為北京之旅畫下一個完美的句點。
To be honest, we were kinda worried to fly Chinese airline, but we had a very nice experience. From Taipei to Beijing was the regular small airplane, so not much to talk about. From Beijing to Toronto, they used the new Boeing 787, comfortable cabin with VOD, flight attendants were very nice. Most important of all, there're the auto-adjust windows, so fancy! Even though it was kinda sad that there's no airplane models on duty-free, the whole trip was pretty comfy.
說實在的，第一次飛大陸籍航空有點擔心，不過PP很推海南航空。從台北飛北京是小飛機就還好，但北京飛多倫多是新型的波音787，客艙很舒服也有個人化影音設備，空服員也很熱心，重點是還有全機艙自動亮暗的窗戶，雖然沒有賣飛機模型讓我們很桑心，但還是覺得很fancy，整趟飛行旅程很舒服!
As soon as we got to Toronto, Pat's sister Lou and her husband came to pick us up with lovely coffee and doughnuts from Tim Horton's. The scenery on the way to Simcoe was quite bald and dead, Lulu probably sensed what I was thinking, she told me that I'll see a dramatic turn within this week, everything will burst and bloom at the same time. I didn't really expect too much until few days later. Literally it's too hard not to notice, everything was in bloom that I even asked: Did they just plant it? This is my first time to experience the continental weather with such a huge season change. Obviously I saw the good side, I was told that the day we arrived was the best day in months, it had been covered with snow for god knows how long. (Although I know it must be quite depressing to see snow for such a long time, I still want to see it, lol)
到了多倫多，Pat的大姊Lou跟他的先生拎著Tim Horton's的咖啡跟甜甜圈來接機。往Simcoe沿路上風景一整個就是光禿禿、了無生氣的感覺。似乎Lulu查覺到了，就跟我說目前是光禿禿，但這一個禮拜我會看到很戲劇性的變化，百花齊放。本來其實沒有甚麼太大的感覺，但是過沒幾天真的看到綠葉花朵一個個地冒出來，我還問說: 這是他們剛剛才種下去的嗎? 過了一個禮拜，真的景色完全不同，我第一次看到有這麼明顯的季節變化，大陸型氣候真是了得~ 當然，我看到的是好的一面，據說我們到的第一天是幾個月來天氣最好的一天，過去那幾個月全部都是被白雪覆蓋(雖然我知道一定很蕭條，但小P還是粉想看看那種白雪靄靄的景色。)
The trip continued with endless weigh gaining, when I got back to Taiwan, I broke the new record of my body weight, haha. I even told Pat at one point that I can literally felt my body growing. Why is that? Well, the daily three meals are standard packages, but as I mentioned, the main purpose of this trip is to visit family, so after almost every breakfast and lunch, we would go visit the relatives. There's one thing similar between traditional Taiwanese culture and Portuguese culture, that is we want the guests to feel welcome and make sure they are well fed. So chips, tortilla, cake and ginger ale are a must. That's right, the combination of carbs! Pat's family is so warm and welcoming, plus I like to eat, so we'll just leave the weigh loss project for later when we get back to Taiwan, haha. To be honest, PP has been together for 16 years, this is my first time to see so many of his family. Even though it's been long time since they immigrated to Canada, they still kept a lot of Portuguese tradition, it is really priceless. (Makes me want to go visit Portugal so bad.)
接下來就是無止盡的增肥行程，這趟旅程舒服到回到台灣的時候是我人生體重的巔峰，有一度我還跟Pat說，我感覺得到我的身體在長大......。怎麼說呢，三餐是一定要吃的啦，但這次是探親的行程，所以吃完早餐，就串門子；吃完中餐，再串門子。身為葡萄牙裔的他們家留著好客的血液，跟台灣的傳統很像，就深很怕客人沒東西可以填肚子。所以串門子時的基本款就是: 洋芋片、玉米餅、蛋糕、薑汁汽水。媽呀，一整個就是碳水化合物的結合~~ 盛情難卻之下，我又這麼愛吃，所以就把減重留到回台灣再說囉，噗。不過說實在的，PP在一起16年，這趟旅程是我第一次看到這麼多他的家人，雖然他們在加拿大定居很久，不過卻保有很多葡萄牙的傳統文化，這是非常難能可貴的。(搞得我好想葡萄牙看看)
We had a whole month this time, and the daily itinerary is mostly Simcoe - Brantford - Simcoe, malls, supermarkets, dollar stores. Super-sized malls, dollar stores are scattered everywhere in northern America, personally I would recommend No Frills, dollarama and dollartree, because there're lots of cheap stuff to discover, lol. Sometimes No Frills would come up with some ridiculous DM price like 1 CAD for 18 bottles of 300ml spring water. Isn't it ridiculous? There's also Value Village where you can get nice stuff for a very low price. PP got 8 crystal glasses for less than 10 CAD. Speaking of shopping, since we were so close to the American boarder, there went without saying that we must visit the outlets and malls. We had 4 visits in total this time, and bought lots of goodies including a vacuum machine XD. PP had been to the outlets in US before, and we started to think that the discounts aren't that appealing as before. Instead, some malls provided better deals than the outlets, such as the Eastview mall in Rochester (my god it was ever spacious,) also Walmart and Target. Most stores provide price match, so if you can find lower price online, they will sell it to you, too. (Although sometimes it's kinda pain in the b to spend a lot of time online just to save a few dollars.) Besides modern goods, antiques are also very popular there. There're home antique business and also large warehouses. If you're interested in antiques, it is quite interesting to spend some time in these places, you might find some treasures.
這次來總共有一個月的時間，我們每天幾乎固定的行程就是Simcoe - Brantford - Simcoe、逛大賣場、一元商店。北美的大買場超多，幾乎到每個城市看到的也差不多就那幾間，個人很推No Frills, 跟 Dollarama或是 Dollartree，因為有很多便宜貨可以撿，哈哈。No Frills有的時候會有DM商品，如18瓶300ml的礦泉水才1塊加幣，約台幣25元，扯不扯。另外還有二手市場Value Village，常常可以撿到不錯的東西，PP這次就帶回了8個水晶杯，不到10元加幣(約台幣250元。)說到購物，我們待的地方離美國邊界很近，當然一定要去Outlet逛一逛囉。我們這次總共去了四次，買了一堆阿哩不搭的東西，又帶了一個吸塵器回來，呵呵。PP之前都分別有況過美國的Outlet，這次發覺Outlet的東西越來越不便宜，折扣也越來越少，倒是一些比較大的購物商場或量販店反而比較有東西可以買，PP還蠻推的大型購物商場是位在Rochester的Eastview Mall (逛到會讓你腿軟)，量販店則是常常聽到的Wallmart跟Target，大部分的商家也都有Price Match，所以如果同時在網路上找到便宜的價格，他們也都會降價賣給你(只是有得時候要花時間找，會讓你找到有點倒彈(台語)。)除了現代商品的購物之外，在美加很盛行的是古董商品的販賣，有一些是個人家庭式的蒐集，有一些是大型的展示倉庫。對古董有興趣的話，有時間可以上網找找，花點時間看看，說不定可以找到一些寶物。
Other than Simcoe and Brantford, PP also visted Ottawa, London, Cambridge, Kitchener, Toronto and few other places. Saw a lot and took some pictures, too. It's been a long time since I took out my Nikon FM2. Ever since we hit the digital smart phone age, I felt lazier and lazier to use the SLR, it seemed so inefficient and uneconomical. It's heavy, you have to buy films, only 36 pictures available, can't see the pictures real-time and it cost money to develop the film. However, since PP started to use smart phones, we rarely go back and look at the pictures we took. We took them, deleted them, then took them again, no sort of feelings at all. PP only took about 200 pictures pictures this time, but we cherish single one of them. Til now, we still look at them from time to time and also get to experience the details of the journey once again.
除了Simcoe跟Brantford之外，這趟旅程PP也去到Ottawa, London, Cambridge, Kitchener, Toronto市區等等。也看了蠻多地方，拍了許多照片。小P把很久沒有用的Nikon FM2拿出來。自從智慧型手機的數位時代來臨之後，越來越懶得拿傳統的底片機，覺得既沒有效率又不實惠。相機笨重不說，又得買底片，一卷也只有36張，不能馬上看又要花錢洗相片。但說實話，自從開始用數位相機之後，很多的照片拍了都不再回去看，拍了又刪、刪了再拍，很沒有感情。這次雖然才拍了六捲底片，總共才200多張，但張張都珍惜，到現在還是不斷地回味，也可以不斷地重複旅程的每一個細節。
A month seemed to be a long time, but it went by quick. It's time to go back to Taiwan. After saying goodbye to the family, especially the 4 awesome sisters Lou, Rita, Paula and Anna (through the whole time, they keep telling us to move back soon.) we got on Hai-Nan airline and left for Beijing again. PP landed in Beijing around 6pm this time. We had to layover for the 9am flight the next morning. Hai-Nan airline put us in the Phoenix Hotel near the airport and even prepared shuttle bus at the airport lobby for us, very sweet. The hotel was ok, old hotel. We thought there was probably nothing near the hotel, but on the map there seemed to be a community not so far way, so PP decided to have a look. It turned out to be a night market and as soon as we approached the market, PP both looked at each other all in a sudden: STINKY TOFU! After a month of western food, we couldn't wait to get a taste of traditional Chinese food. It was Hu Nan spicy black stinky tofu, SUPER DELISH! (PP didn't really care if it's clean or not, as long as it's delicious, lol) Other than stinky tofu, we also tried the BBQ, little dumplings, and stir-fried crispy intestines (AMAZING!) Compare to the last sight-seeing tour in Beijing, PP both felt like, this is more of the Beijing that we wanted to see.
一個月的時間看似很長，但很快的就過去了，又到了回台灣的時候。告別了Pat的家人們，特別是照顧我們許多的大P姐姐們Lou, Rita, Paula跟Anna(還不斷地一邊叮嚀叫我們要趕快搬回去)，我們搭上海南航空再度前往北京。PP這次抵達北京的時間是大約傍晚六點多，必須在機場旁待一晚，隔天早上9點的飛機回台北。海南航空很貼心地幫我們準備機場住宿(豐榮君華酒店)，並在接機大廳安排了接駁車。飯店很基本，老飯店。原以為機場附近沒有甚麼東西，但查了地圖，大約走個15分鐘似乎有個社區，就前往看看。結果發現是一個夜市，有各省美食的餐飲店。走進熱鬧的街口，PP兩個人突然互相的對看: 臭豆腐!!! 媽呀吃了一個月的美式食物，一聞到臭豆腐兩個人馬上跳了起來買一份，是湖南的黑臭豆腐。超、好、吃(這時已經不管乾不乾淨，好吃就好了，哈!) 除了臭豆腐，也吃了燒烤、水餃跟炒脆腸(O.M.G.!超推的拉!又便宜!) 上次進來北京走的市區觀光行程，我們到覺得，這才是我們比較想看到的北京。
It has been a while since I came up here and updated the travel experiences. Last few years has been so busy that even we had been to a lot of places, there seemed to be no time to actually sit down and bring back the memories ( -. -|||) Ce la vie! We've got to find time for leisure stuff and try to dig out the fun of life. Last year was kinda like a reorganizing year for me, so I had some chances to re-categorized the blogs and brought back some memories and inspiration.
好久沒上來更新PP的旅遊文章了，這幾年實在忙得連有東西都沒來回味一下( -. - |||) 人生咩，總是要忙裡偷閒、苦中作樂一番。剛好趁著過去這年心境的調整，又把之前的東西翻一翻之後，才把一些靈感又召回來。重新整理部落格之餘，也開始來把之前的一些東西慢慢放上來。
April 2015, PP visited Beijing and Toronto. This is our first time in Beijing. As for Toronto, it's been 12 years since my last visit, still there're lots of memories that felt like just happened yesterday. The main purpose of this trip was not for traveling but to visit Pat's family. Even though, we still took some chances to look around the area.
話說2015年4月，PP來到了北京跟多倫多。北京PP是第一次來，多倫多距離上次小P我來已經12年了，但很多記憶還是像昨天才剛發生一樣。這次來的主要目的不是旅遊而是探親。雖然說是探親，但我們還是偷閒走了一些地方:-P
We looked at each other and asked "Are you sure?"
"Sure."
"Really?"
"Really."
WT, why on earth we spent so much time on this matter... Even though Beijing officials claimed yes, rumor about Beijing boarder made us worried. Finally Pat said "let's just drop it, we always have good lucks when we travel. What's the worst can happen? probably just sleep at the airport." Then I thought that's right. Perhaps it's the old habit of planning business trip, I've forgotten how spontaneous travel can be. And yes, we did go through Beijing customs with no problem.
這次要成行經過了好多的曲折，一下子這個時間不行，一下子那個東西不對。幾經波折之後最後我們兩個就說不管了啦，就給他訂下去了。每每跟朋友說到我們去了北京跟多倫多，大家都會覺得很奇怪怎麼會這麼走，主要原因是這次為了找便宜一點的機票。幾經比較之後，PP就選擇了海南航空，必須從北京轉機。那既然轉機了，又可以不加價停留，乾脆就直接待個幾天吧~ 好了，訂好了機票，問題就來了......小P我有台胞證加簽就好簡單，大P的加籍護照要停留似乎要簽證、又好像不用簽證。很奇怪吧，怎麼會好像要，又好像不要? 因為大陸官方有提供某些國籍護照在主要城市轉機停留的時候可以72小時免簽。一開始看到的時候我們超開心der，但是越讀條文細節，好多但書，產稱越多問號: 到底可不可以...? 為了確定，小P不知道打了多少電話給各單位，但是大家都說: 關於這件事情，我們無法確定，但可以提供您XX單位的電話，您可以詢問看看(心裡OS就是*&^%$#.....。)最後想說直接問北京吧，打電話給北京邊防，說明來意之後，只聽見對方操著北京腔說"可"
PP們相望了一下，回問"可以嗎?"
"可"
"真的嗎?"
"真的"
噗，那我們花了這麼多時間是在幹嘛...... 雖說北京那方說可，但傳聞還是讓PP覺得擔心。最後大P就說，咱們就別再擔心了貝，我們每次旅遊不是都很順利? 頂多就是睡機場而已。小P心想也是，或許是之前辦理出差的職業病，已經忘了旅遊的隨性。最後的確，真的順利的入關北京。
Our flight was delayed, so the airport express to Dong Zhi Men was no longer available. While we were running around in the crowd and wondering we should take a bus or taxi, I heard a man shouted: "Dong Zhi Men~Dong Zhi Men~" I asked and it was a free shuttle bus! So we got on the bus with the fastest speed ever. Got to Dong Zhi Men, no internet no map, thank god Pat's built-in GPS worked perfectly so it didn't take us too much time to find our hotel. After checking in (Holiday Inn Express Beijing Dongzhimen, highly recommended,) we started our Lulu Tour (Fast Site-seeing Tour.) In these 2 days, we saw The Summer Palace, Great Wall (Badaling section), Tiananmen Square, Silk Street, Chaoyang District. PP got to meet with my upper classmate from college, Susan, and her family (It's really embarrassing, her whole family came all the way to Dong Zhi Men just to have a meal with us), had a drink with my online friend Gino who also had a walk with us around the forbidden city the next day. Although it's a short time, we were very lucky and did quite a lot with a slow pace. In addition, for those who haven't been to Beijing and are planning to go, PP recommend you to wear good shoes, it's really important! Beijing is way way way too big! Sometimes from A to B, you might feel like walking because there is no subway and too short to take a cab, but it would feel like indefinite walking. So, please wear good shoes. On the last night, Percy felt like it is absolutely necessary to have Beijing duck while we're there. However, Pat didn't feel like getting in a huge line just to eat a duck meal. So we found out that right across the street from the hotel, there's a Jingzun Peking Duck Restaurant. It was delicious, reasonably priced and no need to wait in line! This meal definitely gave us a perfect ending for the stay.
因為班機延誤，所以到北京的時候已經沒有機場快軌到東直門，正在超多人群間邊穿梭邊想說要搭巴士還是打D(計程車)的時候，小P聽到"東直門~~東直門~~"，問了一下，是機場免費接駁! PP馬上就以順雷不及掩耳的快動作把行李全搬上車。到了東直門，人生地不熟的沒有網路沒有地圖，好在大P腦子裡內建的GPS很強，我們沒有花太多時間就找到飯店。入住Holiday Inn(北京东直门智选假日酒店，推)之後，隔天就開始一天的Lulu Tour(快速景點觀光行程)。這兩天看了頤和園 - 萬里長城(八達嶺) - 天安門廣場 - 秀水街 - 朝陽區、也跟大學學姊全家吃飯(他們全家百忙之餘還撥空到東直門跟我們吃頓飯，超級不好意思der...)，還有跟網友Gino見面喝杯小酒，也陪我們走了紫禁城門外(最後太多人排隊買票，不爽排就沒進去了。)雖然短短的時間，碰到了不少lucky的事情，也悠哉地做了不少的事情。另外，給沒有去過的朋友一個衷心的建議，要穿好一點的鞋子，真的，很重要! 因為北京太太太大了，從A到B可能看似很近、打D不划算、又沒有地鐵，會讓你想要用走的，但會走到有一種無窮止盡的感覺。所以，穿好一點的鞋子。最後一個晚上，小P覺得來北京沒有吃烤鴨，感覺好像沒有來。大P又不想要去排隊，搜尋了一下，發現在假日酒店的正對面有一間京尊烤鴨，不用排隊評價也不錯。推! 吃完之後有種感覺是為北京之旅畫下一個完美的句點。
To be honest, we were kinda worried to fly Chinese airline, but we had a very nice experience. From Taipei to Beijing was the regular small airplane, so not much to talk about. From Beijing to Toronto, they used the new Boeing 787, comfortable cabin with VOD, flight attendants were very nice. Most important of all, there're the auto-adjust windows, so fancy! Even though it was kinda sad that there's no airplane models on duty-free, the whole trip was pretty comfy.
說實在的，第一次飛大陸籍航空有點擔心，不過PP很推海南航空。從台北飛北京是小飛機就還好，但北京飛多倫多是新型的波音787，客艙很舒服也有個人化影音設備，空服員也很熱心，重點是還有全機艙自動亮暗的窗戶，雖然沒有賣飛機模型讓我們很桑心，但還是覺得很fancy，整趟飛行旅程很舒服!
As soon as we got to Toronto, Pat's sister Lou and her husband came to pick us up with lovely coffee and doughnuts from Tim Horton's. The scenery on the way to Simcoe was quite bald and dead, Lulu probably sensed what I was thinking, she told me that I'll see a dramatic turn within this week, everything will burst and bloom at the same time. I didn't really expect too much until few days later. Literally it's too hard not to notice, everything was in bloom that I even asked: Did they just plant it? This is my first time to experience the continental weather with such a huge season change. Obviously I saw the good side, I was told that the day we arrived was the best day in months, it had been covered with snow for god knows how long. (Although I know it must be quite depressing to see snow for such a long time, I still want to see it, lol)
到了多倫多，Pat的大姊Lou跟他的先生拎著Tim Horton's的咖啡跟甜甜圈來接機。往Simcoe沿路上風景一整個就是光禿禿、了無生氣的感覺。似乎Lulu查覺到了，就跟我說目前是光禿禿，但這一個禮拜我會看到很戲劇性的變化，百花齊放。本來其實沒有甚麼太大的感覺，但是過沒幾天真的看到綠葉花朵一個個地冒出來，我還問說: 這是他們剛剛才種下去的嗎? 過了一個禮拜，真的景色完全不同，我第一次看到有這麼明顯的季節變化，大陸型氣候真是了得~ 當然，我看到的是好的一面，據說我們到的第一天是幾個月來天氣最好的一天，過去那幾個月全部都是被白雪覆蓋(雖然我知道一定很蕭條，但小P還是粉想看看那種白雪靄靄的景色。)
接下來就是無止盡的增肥行程，這趟旅程舒服到回到台灣的時候是我人生體重的巔峰，有一度我還跟Pat說，我感覺得到我的身體在長大......。怎麼說呢，三餐是一定要吃的啦，但這次是探親的行程，所以吃完早餐，就串門子；吃完中餐，再串門子。身為葡萄牙裔的他們家留著好客的血液，跟台灣的傳統很像，就深很怕客人沒東西可以填肚子。所以串門子時的基本款就是: 洋芋片、玉米餅、蛋糕、薑汁汽水。媽呀，一整個就是碳水化合物的結合~~ 盛情難卻之下，我又這麼愛吃，所以就把減重留到回台灣再說囉，噗。不過說實在的，PP在一起16年，這趟旅程是我第一次看到這麼多他的家人，雖然他們在加拿大定居很久，不過卻保有很多葡萄牙的傳統文化，這是非常難能可貴的。(搞得我好想葡萄牙看看)
We had a whole month this time, and the daily itinerary is mostly Simcoe - Brantford - Simcoe, malls, supermarkets, dollar stores. Super-sized malls, dollar stores are scattered everywhere in northern America, personally I would recommend No Frills, dollarama and dollartree, because there're lots of cheap stuff to discover, lol. Sometimes No Frills would come up with some ridiculous DM price like 1 CAD for 18 bottles of 300ml spring water. Isn't it ridiculous? There's also Value Village where you can get nice stuff for a very low price. PP got 8 crystal glasses for less than 10 CAD. Speaking of shopping, since we were so close to the American boarder, there went without saying that we must visit the outlets and malls. We had 4 visits in total this time, and bought lots of goodies including a vacuum machine XD. PP had been to the outlets in US before, and we started to think that the discounts aren't that appealing as before. Instead, some malls provided better deals than the outlets, such as the Eastview mall in Rochester (my god it was ever spacious,) also Walmart and Target. Most stores provide price match, so if you can find lower price online, they will sell it to you, too. (Although sometimes it's kinda pain in the b to spend a lot of time online just to save a few dollars.) Besides modern goods, antiques are also very popular there. There're home antique business and also large warehouses. If you're interested in antiques, it is quite interesting to spend some time in these places, you might find some treasures.
這次來總共有一個月的時間，我們每天幾乎固定的行程就是Simcoe - Brantford - Simcoe、逛大賣場、一元商店。北美的大買場超多，幾乎到每個城市看到的也差不多就那幾間，個人很推No Frills, 跟 Dollarama或是 Dollartree，因為有很多便宜貨可以撿，哈哈。No Frills有的時候會有DM商品，如18瓶300ml的礦泉水才1塊加幣，約台幣25元，扯不扯。另外還有二手市場Value Village，常常可以撿到不錯的東西，PP這次就帶回了8個水晶杯，不到10元加幣(約台幣250元。)說到購物，我們待的地方離美國邊界很近，當然一定要去Outlet逛一逛囉。我們這次總共去了四次，買了一堆阿哩不搭的東西，又帶了一個吸塵器回來，呵呵。PP之前都分別有況過美國的Outlet，這次發覺Outlet的東西越來越不便宜，折扣也越來越少，倒是一些比較大的購物商場或量販店反而比較有東西可以買，PP還蠻推的大型購物商場是位在Rochester的Eastview Mall (逛到會讓你腿軟)，量販店則是常常聽到的Wallmart跟Target，大部分的商家也都有Price Match，所以如果同時在網路上找到便宜的價格，他們也都會降價賣給你(只是有得時候要花時間找，會讓你找到有點倒彈(台語)。)除了現代商品的購物之外，在美加很盛行的是古董商品的販賣，有一些是個人家庭式的蒐集，有一些是大型的展示倉庫。對古董有興趣的話，有時間可以上網找找，花點時間看看，說不定可以找到一些寶物。
除了Simcoe跟Brantford之外，這趟旅程PP也去到Ottawa, London, Cambridge, Kitchener, Toronto市區等等。也看了蠻多地方，拍了許多照片。小P把很久沒有用的Nikon FM2拿出來。自從智慧型手機的數位時代來臨之後，越來越懶得拿傳統的底片機，覺得既沒有效率又不實惠。相機笨重不說，又得買底片，一卷也只有36張，不能馬上看又要花錢洗相片。但說實話，自從開始用數位相機之後，很多的照片拍了都不再回去看，拍了又刪、刪了再拍，很沒有感情。這次雖然才拍了六捲底片，總共才200多張，但張張都珍惜，到現在還是不斷地回味，也可以不斷地重複旅程的每一個細節。
A month seemed to be a long time, but it went by quick. It's time to go back to Taiwan. After saying goodbye to the family, especially the 4 awesome sisters Lou, Rita, Paula and Anna (through the whole time, they keep telling us to move back soon.) we got on Hai-Nan airline and left for Beijing again. PP landed in Beijing around 6pm this time. We had to layover for the 9am flight the next morning. Hai-Nan airline put us in the Phoenix Hotel near the airport and even prepared shuttle bus at the airport lobby for us, very sweet. The hotel was ok, old hotel. We thought there was probably nothing near the hotel, but on the map there seemed to be a community not so far way, so PP decided to have a look. It turned out to be a night market and as soon as we approached the market, PP both looked at each other all in a sudden: STINKY TOFU! After a month of western food, we couldn't wait to get a taste of traditional Chinese food. It was Hu Nan spicy black stinky tofu, SUPER DELISH! (PP didn't really care if it's clean or not, as long as it's delicious, lol) Other than stinky tofu, we also tried the BBQ, little dumplings, and stir-fried crispy intestines (AMAZING!) Compare to the last sight-seeing tour in Beijing, PP both felt like, this is more of the Beijing that we wanted to see.
一個月的時間看似很長，但很快的就過去了，又到了回台灣的時候。告別了Pat的家人們，特別是照顧我們許多的大P姐姐們Lou, Rita, Paula跟Anna(還不斷地一邊叮嚀叫我們要趕快搬回去)，我們搭上海南航空再度前往北京。PP這次抵達北京的時間是大約傍晚六點多，必須在機場旁待一晚，隔天早上9點的飛機回台北。海南航空很貼心地幫我們準備機場住宿(豐榮君華酒店)，並在接機大廳安排了接駁車。飯店很基本，老飯店。原以為機場附近沒有甚麼東西，但查了地圖，大約走個15分鐘似乎有個社區，就前往看看。結果發現是一個夜市，有各省美食的餐飲店。走進熱鬧的街口，PP兩個人突然互相的對看: 臭豆腐!!! 媽呀吃了一個月的美式食物，一聞到臭豆腐兩個人馬上跳了起來買一份，是湖南的黑臭豆腐。超、好、吃(這時已經不管乾不乾淨，好吃就好了，哈!) 除了臭豆腐，也吃了燒烤、水餃跟炒脆腸(O.M.G.!超推的拉!又便宜!) 上次進來北京走的市區觀光行程，我們到覺得，這才是我們比較想看到的北京。
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