Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival 2015

Not too long ago in Ottawa it was the Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival. If you haven't heard of it well the name describes it pretty well. It's a festival centered on Dragon boat races. Here's a picture I took of what they look like.

These boats are powered by everyone rowing in time to the beat of the drum in the front of the boat. Along with some commands that are yelled to keep the beat. These things combined make the boat move pretty fast.

The festival started in China over 2,400 years ago as a cultural tradition meant to make bountiful crops. The festival in Ottawa started in 1994 but was founded a year earlier. The first festival was half a day with 25 teams. This year it was over 200 teams and 4 day's long. Making it recognized as the largest dragon boat festival in North America. (for more information visits there website )

So as you see it's been going on a while and every year I hear about it through social media. And yet I have never attended it. So this year I decided I would. And I'm glad I did it was interesting and worth going to.

There's more than just the races at the festival there's also free concerts, activities, booths of food and more booths with some vendors and other with some information. Along with all that there's a children section with activities for them. And when I was there a bicycle stunt chow. But more on that later. Let's start with the beginning.

Part of my journey to get to the festival was a bus ride. It was a long one. The bus was packed and when I got to where there was supposedly a bus shuttle to the festival all I saw was a lot of people walking so not seeing a shuttle or anyone waiting for one I decided to follow the crowd. It was a bit of a walk but I'm so glad I decided to walk instead of wait and look around for a shuttle bus. Because of these guy.....

Living in Canada it is not uncommon to see these guys. But I usually just see them while driving I only get a quick look and then we have driven by. I have never really seen one much less two so close on a trail with so many people walking by. So naturally I stopped and too some pictures here's one last one.

And then we get to the festival

After a quick bag check there you are in the middle of it all. There was a decent amount of people walking around but not too many and a lot more people in the team and volunteer section of which I do not have a picture of. Here's the first view of the festival.

First I passed the Children section they had bouncy castles and a life size model of a cow people could try milking after which they got a sticker saying I milked a cow. I saw a couple children sporting them proudly in the festival grounds. Then on one side was the food vendors and further along some more booths with some wares to be sold, some causes that wanted support, and some centers publicizing there services. I spent some time walking around looking at all the sights. Like the main stage. Here's some pictures of the stage where concerts where going to be held later in the day. When I took the picture there was some people playing but I'm not sure who they where.

After that It was perfectly timed that I ended up at the bicycle stunt show right as the show was about to start. The show was sponsored by bell and it was partly about safety so the stunt man from new jersey would insert safety tips along the performance. And explain some tricks he used on how he did it safely. But he would also pretend he didn't know what he was doing at some points like bike towards the crowd and stop at the last second or do a trick of jumping the bike over a person and doing a cool move around him before actually doing it of course with room to spare.

Those weren't the best pictures I know. I had a good view at first but then the green hat child pushed through the crowd and went in front of me and well I figured making sure every one could see was a lot more important than taking the best picture.

Once the show was over I climbed the hill seen in previous pictures and took some neat pictures of most of the ground.

And then it was lunch and it all looked so good that I took picture. Chicken pad thai and freshly squeezed lemonade with watermelon flavor. Here's the photo of the stand I got the pad thai from and then of the food.

I ended my time at the festival with some time on the beach watching the races and taking yet again some more pictures.

All in all it was a good time and I'm glad I went. Lot's to see and do I stayed for about 3 hours or a bit more and I could of stayed longer if I found a place on the beach to sit, read and watch the races before going to see the concerts that started around 5. And if a person went with young children they could be there even longer since there was many things and separate activities for them. So there you have it The Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival. Free admission and interesting, worth to go have a look.

So what are you waiting for. Go out there and find some adventure big or small!

Montreal road trip

Hi I'm back.

I know I've been absent from posting on this blog for a while/ and there's not really a valid reason for that. Well there was a valid reason for a while but then when that passed over I could of went back to writing but I did not and don't ask me why I don't know. But like previously mentioned the blog is back and the tales of adventures big or small is too. So let's not waste any more time and get right to a recent adventure.

So not too long ago I went to Montreal, Quebec Canada a short little trip as I live less than 5 hours away from there. Someone in my family had work there and asked if I wanted to tag along. Naturally I jumped at the opportunity. Travel is travel and every opportunity might lead to an adventure that is amazing.

Our trip started with a long car ride and brings me to my first point I think you should know. Montreal driver's not the best. Now I'm not saying every driver is bad. But I think the driving style there is just different most people tend to drive aggressively. My tip when your there be confident with your driving and always look around. I say this because I've been to Montreal with different drivers. One was more of a timid driver and the other very confident both noticed that driving there was different than where we live but one driver the very confident one had less trouble. The other one, well lets just say it took us 25 minutes instead of 7 to get to our destination since we kept missing our exit our doing an unnecessary detour partly because of a faulty GPS but stress was also a contributing factor.

Our hotel for our stay was the Westin. First thing you should know about the Westin is that the entrance is pretty hidden here is a picture of it.

Photo taken from Google Images

What you see here is a picture of the entrance but that is not how it looks like from the street. That's an important thing to know since like us you might drive by it twice before realizing where it is. The entrance is somewhat hidden and when you enter it than it will look like the picture above the entrance is covered and part of the building. When you arrive there will be valets service for your car we took it since the only parking at the hotel is valets parking and if you don't take there is not really any parking spots anywhere near the hotel or in the general area. Any parking you might find if lucky would probably cost the same, close to the same or more. The way the parking works is that you pay for each day and can come in and out as many times as you would like. It takes up to 15 minutes for them to bring up the car so call in advance if your planning on driving somewhere.

Overall the Westin was a nice hotel with ideal place right next to old Montreal. The rooms where nice and the pool was interesting ( some parts of the pool had a transparent glass bottom.).

Photo taken from Google images

My family member's work was in the hotel and so we explored the surrounding areas pretty well. Like I mentioned it was next to old Montreal so we walked through it. I have to say it was not what I was expecting I had imagined something similar to Vieu Quebec(which is gorgeous by the way with old buildings and buskers and cute little shops) but it was not even close/ It had not many shops I was interested in, most where clothing shops and high end art shops with many tourist shops mixed in. Nothing very unique that I saw. Saying this it still had it's Montreal french Canadian flare in some parts and some buildings where very cool looking though they weren't the majority. I still enjoyed walking through it and in the tourist centered spot in the old Montreal there was little caricaturists booths one busker doing something that was not too amazing(sorry but it's the truth) and some balloons along with many little stalls with paintings from local artists. There where a fair number of people there and I think that in summer it must have lot's more things going on, more people and a better atmosphere than the day they we went.

For lunch we went to a place called Boucherie Charcuterie at the corner of the road Saint Paul in old Montreal it looked like a cute little restaurant. 

Photo from Google Images

The service however went from great to bad. Most reviews of this place on travel websites such as tripadvisor mostly say it's excellent or very good. With a few one star or two star reviews We went in not knowing any of this just stumbling on it and deciding to stop.

Like I said it went from great to bad. At first we came in got a seat right away and the server was a guy with lots of energy. He was nice and always throwing in some jokes. All was looking good. 5 minutes in it changed it started with microscopic things that if that was all that happened it would not have mattered a bit but when you add it all together it was somewhat irritating. My mom ordered a sangria with white wine and was brought one with red wine. The server assured her the red wine was better after she informed him that she preferred white. But with his suggestion she stuck with it. I noticed however at 2-3 other tables with people who also had ordered sangria that it was all red wine. Whether that’s a coincidence or that they where pushing the red wine sangria I don't know. But it was no big deal my mom informed me it tasted fine not great but ok.

Then came the next part we ordered soon after we sat down. When we asked about the deserts(since they where supposed to have fresh pastries there) He said they where probably out. It was only about 1 in the afternoon so that surprised me, still it was no big deal. We ordered our meal and started talking but we realized after a bit that it was taking a long while for our food. When we saw someone who came after us get there food before us than a man sitting next to us who got his food shortly after we sat down eat and leave before we where even served we were not too happy. After a few more minutes we asked how much longer it would be and the server said he would check and came back saying that it was coming soon. We waited some more with the server passing a couple times telling us again that it was coming but it was getting ridiculous more people came in someone who came in at the same time as us was getting ready to leave. My mom's theory was that he had forgot to put in our order until we had asked him about it 15-20 minutes after we had ordered.

At first I didn't mind waiting and so I told my mom to be patient and give it some time, that we weren't in a rush and to not ask again just yet. The point where I started becoming irritated again was when our server decided to take a break and go for a smoke outside. We saw him walk out cigarette in hand.

I gave it 5-10 minutes thinking maybe he was just going for a quick smoke and would be back soon but when he did not. I was like that's it and so this time we went to another server and asked again with him his response was “ who's your server I'll let him know” We informed him we saw him go out a while ago cigarette in hand. With that he said he would check for us and finally a couple minutes later our food came. We where very hungry by then and the food was sadly mediocre I had had high expectations for it it was supposedly a place with fresh meat and cheese made there but it didn't taste like it. When we where done eating we waited for the bill as we saw that at other tables it was brought to them before they could go pay at the front. But our server was still not back from his break so we went to another server once again. He told us “ I'll let your server know. Who is he” And we had to inform them that we hadn't seen the guy since he walked out of the restaurant cigarette in hand. We got the bill and let me say we were looking forward to leaving the crammed restaurant. When we got to the cash what do we see well what do you know pastries, when there was supposedly none. For some reason unknown to me my mom bought one a brownie, after all that and that at least the brownie (which we found out was made by another company) was good.

All this to say maybe we where unlucky and just had a bad server or came at a bad day but it was not a nice experience at Boucherie Charcuterie. And seeing other reviews on websites where not the only people it happened to. One review was saying they where not served because they did not speak french but me and my mom speak fluent french and we did nothing wrong and still waited there way too long.

The rest of he trip was good though. After that lunch we walked around some more and for supper went to a place suggested by the hotel concierge called Nolana. It was a nice restaurant with very good food. They where accommodating and the restaurant had a cool little style. When we asked about desert we were informed they where out of there normal dessert so they made a smore, caramel pizza with nuttela. It was so unhealthy but so good. If they still do that make sure you share it with someone we where two and didn't even eat half of it.

Overall Montreal was ok we didn't see much of it but what I saw was nice. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had had more time to explore than a day and a half. I know from research that there is a lot to see. There was some nice architecture and it was fun to be in a more french environment for a bit. Overall a great little weekend trip and I now know for next time what I want to see and what I won't go back to.

Little tips and information:

You should know is that even if it is a french place and a lot of the signs are in french most people do speak English so you won't be too stuck if you don't speak french.

Bring good walking shoes since walking is the easiest way to get around. ( I didn't have them and ended up with many painful blisters) There is very little parking in the busy area's such as old Montreal and downtown unless you are willing to pay a fair price. There are many attractions within walking distance from each other so that's another reason to go with walking.

That's all for this adventure

So I'll leave you with this as always.

Go out there and find adventure. Big or small.