Sunday 21 August 2016

End of an Amazing Journey

The dreaded week has arrived. We would have to pack and leave beautiful Vancouver. We did some touch-ups on our projects and fingers-crossed for good results. I received my sequencing results on Friday (the morning before we leave) and my project was a success! I was elated! All my hard work paid off.

With the ICED-T crew!

Proudly showing off our certificates!  With Dr Alex

With my mentor, Arnab Ray


On Friday night, we went to Theatre Under the Stars for a final time to watch West Side Story before we leave for the airport. That never failed us. We enjoyed every bit of the show.

At 12am, we drove to the airport, and bid farewell to Chee's Aunty's family, who had taken such good care of us in Vancouver. We were having such fun in Vancouver and we didn't want to leave. But I guess that we are lucky because we had the chance to experience something so amazing that would live on for a long time. I will definitely keep these memories close to my heart and I want to be able to pull them our on a rainy day years from now and remember. I want to keep this memory of this amazing place forever.

Fun times in the lab


Sightseeing in Vancouver

Reminiscing our Rockies trip







Goodbye Vancouver. Till we meet again.






Tuesday 9 August 2016

Rockies Trip

On Friday morning, we departed from Vancouver at 8am. We stopped at Roger's Pass and The Last Spike. After a 10-hour bus ride, we checked into our hotel in Golden and had a barbecue dinner prepared by our tour guides! Later at night, we had a campfire and they taught us how to make smore's. It was delicious!

Roger's Pass

The Last Spike

Campfire


On the second day, our first sightseeing spot was at Natural Bridge where we saw the beautiful Kicking Horse River. Then, we continued our journey to Banff. We had a buffet lunch at Lake Louise. It was a magnificent lake. After lunch, we took a gondola and the view from the top was amazing! The gondola ride was exhilarating. After that, we moved on to Moraine Lake. The weather was not on our side that afternoon, but we managed to climb up the rock pile to have a top-view of the lake. The tour guides and some passengers were so helpful that they carried Chee all the way to the top! In the evening, we checked into our hotel at Banff, Mount Royal Hotel. It was the best hotel that we stayed in these past 4 days. We then had some free time, where we got to explore Banff. We took a long walk to Bow River Falls, had dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory, and last but not least, some drinks in a nightclub, Hoodoo. It was my first visit to a nightclub and it was a moment to remember.

Natural Bridge

Lake Louise

Gondola ride at Lake Louise

Moraine Lake


Mount Royal Hotel, Banff

Having a drink at Hoodoo

On the third day, we started off with Johnston Canyon. The hike up was a little challenging, but we were so close to the scenic waterfall and that was worth the hike up. Then, we headed off to Bow Lake. The water in the lake was crystal blue. Three crazy people from our tour including one of the tour guides, went swimming in the lake. The water was 5 degree Celcius! Later, we went to Peyto Lake. It was shaped like a fox. Then, to the highlight of the day, Athabasca Glacier!! We rode a Snowcoach/Ice Explorer up the glacier and got to drink the glacier water. It was very refreshing. In the evening, we reached Jasper and had dinner there. After dinner, we checked into our hotel in Valemount.

Johnston Canyon

Bow Lake

Peyto Lake

Athabasca Glacier

Steep road to the glacier

Snowcoach

Jasper

The dreaded last day came. We had so much fun and wished that this trip could go on forever. We checked out from the hotel in the morning and started our journey back to Vancouver. We had a few stops on the way. First stop was at River Safari Bear Tour. Next was Spahat's Falls where we had a picnic lunch. The last stop was at Kettle Valley Railway where the film Rambo was shot. We spotted quite a number of wildlife throughout the trip. We saw 1 grizzly bear, 3 black bears, 1 deer and 2 elks. This trip is definitely worthwhile and will be in our memories for a long time.

River Safari

Spahat's Falls

Kettle Valley Railway


We will be heading back to Malaysia on Friday. Our trip here to Canada was so wonderful and definitely a point in life to look back to in years to come.

Cheers!

Week 6

Week 6 was an eventful week. We were called for the the second part of filming where they interviewed us. It was fun and went smoothly.

On Wednesday night, we celebrated my mentor, Arnab's birthday, in a restaurant in Richmond. Then, we went to River Rock Casino. It was my first trip to a casino and it was a fun night.



On Thursday night, we went to watch the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra in Canada Place. It was fantastic! They played the themes from Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Wars, just to name a few. Then, there was a performance by a talented 17-year-old girl who won a competition and got to perform a solo on that night. And finally a grand finale.



We were all looking forward to our trip to the Rockies in the weekend. Our amazing experience is in the following post. :)


Tuesday 2 August 2016

Week 5

The week zoomed by quickly with plenty things going on in the lab. Everyone was busy with their own projects. We are all almost reaching the end point of our projects. Praying hard that everything goes smoothly.

On Wednesday, Honda Celebration of Lights, which is a national fireworks competition, was held in English Bay. We took a cruise from Canada Place, went under the Lions Gate Bridge, to English Bay and got to witness the spectacular 25-minute fireworks by Australia. On Saturday, the competitor was the USA represented by the Walt Disney Company. So, the fireworks were accompanied by Disney songs. We watched that fireworks from the Queen Elizabeth Park, which was quite far from English Bay, and parts of the fireworks were covered by trees.


Lions Gate Bridge
Australia Fireworks

On Sunday, the annual Pride Parade was held in Downtown, celebrating the unique spirit and culture of the LGBTQ2+ community. It was a pretty loud and fun parade. I enjoyed myself very much and we got loads of freebies!




Monday was British Columbia Day. So, we had a long weekend. We went to Steveston for Pajo's fish and chips which was really good, but the line-up was crazy - almost an hour long! In the evening, we went to a Vancouver summer event called Theatre Under the Stars in Stanley Park. We watched Beauty and the Beast. It was an impressive Broadway show with live orchestra.

Pajo'ss
Fish and Chips!

Theatre Under the Stars

Beauty and the Beast

That pretty much sums up our week. Can't wait for the Rockies trip next weekend!

Monday 25 July 2016

Week 4

Week 4 was a pretty busy week. Time zoomed by with us working 9am to 6pm every day on our projects. I did quite a number of procedures. Some did not work that well, nevertheless, I did a few tweaks and got everything running smoothly.

On Wednesday, a UBC marketing staff, Justin Ohata, came in and did a filming session with the three of us. He asked us about our projects and our time here in UBC and Vancouver. The filming went well. I did a demonstration on one of my procedures. Chee and Chui Ting demonstrated their computer work.

Finally, the weekend has arrived. We went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge on Saturday. The view from the bridge was breathtaking. We also did the Cliffwalk and Treewalk. There were a lot of tourists and we joined the crowd. We had an enjoyable time at the park. In the evening, we headed to Chee's aunty's house for a barbecue dinner. Chui Ting and I celebrated our birthdays there. They surprised us with a birthday cake and dinner was amazing.

The famous suspension bridge

Cliffwalk

Treewalk
Garden barbecue

Birthday girls!
On Sunday, we had brunch at Denny's. I got a free meal for my birthday!! Then, we took the Seabus to North Vancouver and back. After that, we went souvenir shopping in Gastown. We got to witness the famous steam clock in Gastown too. It was a great day with the sun out and shining brightly. For dinner, we went to The Keg Steakhouse. We had some amazing steak and cocktails. Such a great way to end my birthday.

Steam clock
Monday has arrived and we are back in the lab trying our best to proceed with our projects. It's Chui Ting's big day today and we'll probably have a delicious birthday dinner with her.

Cheers to another great week ahead!

Monday 18 July 2016

Week 3

Week 3 was an eventful week. We proceeded with our projects and adapted well to the lab environment. I started on my mutagenesis where I did my first PCR (polymerase chain reaction). All my PCRs were successful. The weekdays went by quickly as we did our work. We found a new favourite spot for lunch, Tim Hortons. They served cheap and filling sandwiches and not to mention delicious doughnuts and specialty drinks.

Chui Ting on her computer work

Me doing PCR
Tim Horton's chicken salad sandwich

On Wednesday, Fairview Crescent organised a movie night. We watched Zootopia and enjoyed ice-creams and snacks.



On Saturday, we joined a one-day trip to Victoria in Vancouver Island. We took a ferry to the island. The ride was fantastic and we got to enjoy scenic views throughout the 90 minute journey. We went Downtown and to the Butchart Gardens.

On the ferry

Butchart Gardens

Italian Garden at the Butchart Gardens
On Sunday, we went to White Rock and took a long walk by the beach. It was a very relaxing day and we had a heavenly plate of fish and chips for dinner and not to forget gelato.

White Rock

Huge plate of fish and chips at Moby Dick's
Till the next week!! Cheers!