San Josef Bay

I decided when I came back to the west coast that I would spend one long weekend camping at San Josef Bay on the island. I’d been once before when I’d hiked part of the Cape Scott Trail but that was a long time ago. Ever since I’d wanted to return and now seemed like the ideal time.

Cape Scott is a pretty rugged and exposed part of the coast that is frequently covered in fog or rain. The best time to visit is usually August at the height of summer but this year’s been pretty hot already so it seemed like the July weekend would be okay.

I wanted to go earlier than later so that I could also pick up my bike at my Dad’s place. Going on the July long weekend would give me an extra month of summer with the bike than if I waited until August. The downside was that July long-weekend is probably the buisest for BC Ferries, a shitty crown corporation that doesn’t have enough crew for the very few ships they have. It’s pretty disgusting that the CEO, making millions every year, has accepted that having 2 or even 3 sailing waits (4–6 hours) is normal on a weekend.

It’s possible to buy a reservation in advance but they sell out really quick and then you’re stuck gambling on what ferry you’ll take. Being in North Vancouver, I’m about a 20 minute drive from Horseshoe bay but BC ferries decided to shift more ferries out of Tsawwassen instead. So at noon on friday I looked online and Horsehoebay was backed up three sailings to an 8:30 ferry. Tsawwassen was looking like a a 2 sailing wait but because they were more frequent, I could get on a 4:30 or 5:45. So I cut my day short and drove through Vancouver just so that I could take a longer ferry and drive further on the island to go North but arriver 3 hours earlier. It was dumb, but not the worst to come.

Cape Scott is the northern point of Vancouver Island and fairly remote but not difficult to access. From Port Hardy it’s about 1.5 hours driving on well graded gravel roads to the parking lot, which was full for the weekend. I decided to camp at San Josef because it’s easy to get to — just 2.5km that takes about 45 minutes to hike. In comparison, the next closest beach, Nissen Bight is 16.8km from the trailhead at about 6 hours. Of the beaches, San Josef might also be the prettiest because of the sea stacks, some rock formations at one end.

On the first day I decided to hike Mt. St. Patrick. It was a pretty good hike, although not too long, but I was delighted at the views from the top. I’d expected the peak to be just trees but it’s actually exposed so there are views all around.

I didn’t take many photos on my trip and I wasn’t all that excited about any of them either. I think my photography is really languishing and I’m in a bit of a rut. That said, I did get some okay photos at sunset with the tide going out and the sun setting, casting a warm volume of golden light into the next bay.

I spent two nights at Cape Scott and on the second day I mostly just hung out on the beach reading. There wasn’t really anywhere else to hike that wouldn’t be short so I tried my best just to relax and enjoy being out in the woods.

It’s probably a good thing because on the return trip I made good time to Nanaimo and then sat in the ferry terminal for some 7–8 hours waiting for the ferry. Even though I got there at 4pm, there was a medial delay and just not enough boats so the 10:40 ferry I was scheduled to take didn’t leave till well after 11. By the time I got into vancouver it was 1:30 and I didn’t go to bed till 2:30AM. That made for a rough following morning but I consuled myself that I’d atleast had a good time on the island.

Long Weekend Camping at Cape Scott was originally published in Adventure Arc on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I’ve been thinking about materials and textures a lot, mostly from my architectural thinkings and so it’s no surprise that as I drove across the country I started photographing different materials and patterns. I hope you enjoy this gallery of textures.

Many, but not all, are the surfaces that I walked on, quite literally touching the different landscapes that I experienced. This is notable as it informs my understanding of the land and makes me think also of the history that I tread over.

Trans Canada Textures was originally published in Adventure Arc on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In Yoho National Park I made a stop at Emerald Lake to do a hike around the lake which was recommended to me by my friend in Calgary. Although the parking lot was overflowing, it was pleasantly nice walk around that didn’t take too long.

I was interested in visting Glacial National Park because it’s a place that I’ve driven through several times but never stopped at. I figured there would probably be some interesting hikes and stuff… but it turns out there really isn’t much. I was a little surprised that the main claim to fame is Authur’s pass and that’s about it. There’s a small info center and a monument to the completion of the highway through the mountains as well as a memorial to the people who died in an avalance while building the road. Surprisingly, most of them were Japanese.

Fortunately, Revelstoke isn’t too far and I’d never been so I drove up the mountain. There’s a number of lookouts going up and at one point the road was blocked off because there was snow further up so I got out and walked to the next lookout which wasn’t too much further for one last view.

The yellow sun setting behind deep blue mountains seemed like the quintessential BC image

I camped in Salmon Arm my first night back in BC but I was anxious to get to Vancouver and also to complete my trip because the first day of my new job was rapidly approaching and I still didn’t have a place to live. I’d been scoping out places online while in Toronto but Vancouver is a place where there’s so much variability in the older housing stock that you really need to be there to check it out before renting.

I decided to spend a morning at a starbucks in Kamloops doing some more research and I tried to line up a viewing but the listing and what the building manager said were quite different.

I was quite anxious so I drove down and in Hope I decided that I might as well call this one place. A week ago I’d posted a housing wanted ad because I figured there was nothing lost in throwing a lure out. Someone got back to me with very few details and a phone number so I decided I’d try it out and arranged to see it the next morning on my way to the island.

I was far and above more than I could hope for and a fantastic place. Situated in West Vancouver in my ideal location, it was brightly lit and had a magnificently inspiring view of the Lions Gate bridge, Stanley Park and the downtown skyline. Immediately I knew that it was the place I wanted to make home for the forseeable future and I was fortunate enough that the landlords are a wonderful elderly couple who were willing to accomodate me. This was one of those times when I had a deja vu moment and the stars aligned. I knew this was the place I was meant to be and I think it’s a place where I can thrive.

I “moved in” immediately and decided to stay the night so I could take measurements of the studio space and plan a new desk area. With about a week left before my job began, I went to the island for a few days so that I could complete my cross-country trip.

It’s been a long time since I stopped at Cathedral Grove on the way to Tofino. It’s a pretty great space with lots of old giant western red cedars. We used to come here as kids a lot and there was one section of trail beside the river that I remember fondly.

In Port Alberni I also made a stop at McLean Mill National Historic Site which is an old logging mill. It’s getting pretty run down and rotten but there’s still a bit to see and it’s free to wander around so definately worth checking out.

Although Tofino isn’t technically on the Trans-Canada highway, I’ve associated it with the end of the road ever since watching the movie One Week. Its also on the west coast of the island, as opposed to Cape Scott at the North end and Victoria at the south end, so that gives it more credit too.

Having arrived in Tofino and stepping out on the windy beach, I felt that I could now say that I’d driven coast to coast from Cape Spear in Newfoundland to Tofino in BC, having crossed all 10 provinces. That’s an acheivement I’m proud of. It might have been shorter on the western side and I would recommend spending more time in the Maritimes and NFLD/Labrador but I still felt like I experienced each province in a well-rounded trip.

I celebrated with a small lunch and then headed back, preparing for the next thing to come.

Coast to Coast Travel was originally published in Adventure Arc on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Dinosaur Provincial Parks is close to the Trans Canada highway and along the way to Calgary so it’s definately worth the stop. I didn’t know anything about it so I was surprised that the ground, which had been flat for some time suddenly dropped way into a valley of badlands at the edge of a cliff.

There is one trail through a protected area but I was also surprised that the majority of the park is open to wandering. The hills can be climbed up and down and all around.

A lot of fossils were excavated from the area and the concentration of bones it so high that without a doubt I was walking ontop of still buried bones. That was pretty exciting and I tried looking for some but I didn’t really know what to look for. A few times I thought I might have found a bone fragment but it was probably petrified wood.

From Dinosaur Provincial Park I drove towards Drumhellar to the Hoodoos, an interesting rock formation created by errosion. I was again surprised that while the main formations are protected, one can walk around pretty much anywhere. Considering that it’s all limestone that’s erroding anyways it’s probably not a big deal, but it was a surprise.

I also stopped at the Atlas Coal Mine National Historic Site to see an old coal mine from the exterior.

In Calgary I stayed with a good friend from engineering. Originally I planned on just staying for a night but I decided to make it two so that I could go downtown without rushing and see the new public library. When it opened it made a big splash in the architectural world — and for good reason. The museum was designed by Snøhetta, a famous Norwegian architectural firm and they did a very good job with it. It’s obviously a high profile and expensive project, but it also shows in many ways why you shouldn’t cheap out and the value for having nice things.

There were lots of interesting moments, both on the interior and the exterior. The building is primarily framed around a grand atrium but even around the edge there are lots of nice seating areas.

On the flip side, I also saw the bridge designed by Calatrava and was less impressed. It also has a reputation of being very expensive but I don’t think the value is there. It’s a great connection across the river to downtown but although it was under refurbishment at the time, I wasn’t overly impressed.

I was pretty anxious to get to the coast so I skipped over Banff National Park. I’ve driven the Ice Fields Parkway twice and I would like to do it again some day, but not alone. It’s the kind of drive that I’d much rather do with someone to accompany me. So the only place I stopped in Banff was a short drive near the town to see the Vermillion Lakes since I noticed it on the map as I was getting gas.

It’s quite picturesque, as is the whole region.

Walking on Dinosaur Bones was originally published in Adventure Arc on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I have made it to all 10 provinces plus one territory. I That’s a pretty exciting acheivement.

In Saskachewan I awoke to overcast skies and grey weather so the endless expanse of a flat landscape was visibly limited. This would continue for most of my time in the province and at one time I drove through a thick cloudbank at ground level where I could only see about 20 feet.

I was a little sad because along with the clouds came a lot of dew and wetness. Although it didn’t rain, I was less inclined to trample through a wet field or slog up a muddy trail. It didn’t always matter though because I came across more trails that were closed until summer (June 1st) a week away so even if I had wanted to hike them, I couldn’t.

I mostly drove through southern Saskatchewan where the uniform grid of the roads, paved or gravel, generally ignored the rolling of the landscape landscape that was like a bunched up rug. I also missed out on the mile-long trains and I only saw a scattering of grain silos. I think I was in the wrong part of the province.

To my surprise, the gps frequently put me down gravel roads because to get to a paved road would be a detour of more than half an hour going north to hit the asphalt only to come back directly south after a while to reach the destination. I generally didn’t mind the dirt roads but I figured it wasn’t ideal with my lowered Element and street tires but I cruised along just fine.

Whether because I’ve been inspired lately by some Japanese photographers who look to sky or the openess of the prairies, I’ve also experimented with tall vertical images and attempts to capture the cloud formations. Generally speaking I’ve had mild success, though they don’t feel as tactile as I would like.

I’d been crusing down a dry gravel road for the better part of 50km or so and was nearing an intersection to the pavement when the road suddenly dipped down to the level of a small creek and the gravel was wet making a small pool of mud. With enough momentum crusing along at 60km/hr I slid through but knew that I’d lost traction. Only momentum had carried me through. Up over a short rise, through a junction, and another muddy section appeared. I didn’t think it was a good idea but the paved road was just beyond so I continued down and then up again. Only, I could not make it up the other side. My wheels started spinning and my car started sliding and I knew that even if I made it to the top, the next muddy patch would do me in.

So I made a quick pull of the wheel and turned myself around to backtrack. Only now that I’d stopped halfway up the far side I’d lost my momentum and though I got down, I didn’t get back up out of the mud. It was a thick soupy mud of fine silt that caked itself all along the bottom half of my car. My tires spun, spraying up a tall rooster tail but without really moving. I thought that maybe if I could get to the edge of the road it might be a little drier or the grass might give me a little bit of traction so slipping and slidding I edged the element over but went too far and sank into the ditch on one side. The street tires had no traction so I could do nothing to get out.

I’d been warned a few times about making sure I had enough gas and topping off so that I didn’t get stranded in northern Ontario or Manitoba but getting stuck in the mud hadn’t come up. Fortunately, there was a farmstead I’d just passed so I took a little walk down the road. It just so happened that the husband was dropping off some ice cream because the store where his wife works had a freezer that broke. I asked him if he could help me and he was very kind to bring his supersized Ram truck around with lifted and supersized wheels.

All it took was a small tug and I was pulled free, happily grateful that it wasn’t any worse. Unsurprisingly, if I’d taken a left about 25m back I would have come to the paved road sooner than if I’d continued on but the gps didn’t recognize that for some reason. My suspicion is that all of these gravel roads in Saskachewan are classified as highways so the gps and even google maps doesn’t realize that they’re unpaved.

I was trying to reach Grasslands National Park before it closed but didn’t quite make it. The visitor centre didn’t seem like it had much in terms of a display anyways and there was still enough daylight that I could do a hike and tthen the scenic drive which appears to be the main attraction but the hike was down a dirt road that was also muddy. Although it was relatively flat, I felt that my tires had zero traction and I’d lost my appetite so I decided to turn back for fear of getting stuck again. This is the first time I’ve had to turn back which is a pretty good track record considering all of the travelling I’ve done in the Element off road so far but it was unfortunate that I missed out on the park.

I also missed out on Fort Walsh National Historic Site which was an RCMP camp because it is closed on Sundays and Mondays before June 27th. I still went to it and looked at it from a distance to see what it was like. I was surprised to find that it felt very much like what I’d imagine a pioneering fort on the prarries to be like with small buildings enclosed by a wall of timber piles. Like several other national historic sites, I thought it weird to find that in it’s heyday there was a town beside it and thousands of first nations camped in the surrounding hills. But then things changed and the fort closed down and everyone moved away. Sometimes I’m surprised that these national historic sites were abandoned and didn’t prosper into towns and cities but I suppose it depends on the changing economics.

The last place I visited in Saskachewan was a giant sand dune. I almost turned back because it was down a (dry) dirt road that turned into a sand trail but the sand was compact and I seemed to be getting enough traction so I ventured on and was rewarded with a fun time standing on a bush covered sand dune. In hindsight, it was good to regain my driving confidence and not be dissuaded.

It was one of several experiences during the trip when I wished that I had someone to share the experience with, to run around with, and maybe slide down the hill. Alas, it was just me and my camera taking photos to post to instagram.

I got stuck in a Muddy Creek was originally published in Adventure Arc on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

A TransCanada Roadtrip

I was a little annoyed that the welcome center at the border had been closed for what appeared to be years, if the weeds growing through the cracks in the asphalt was any indication, and I was super annoyed that the provincial parks required day-use passes to be bought either at a gas station/convenience store or online and printed out. In the 21st century it seemed that they couldn’t implement an online license plate system but had to be printed out. I suppose I could have gone to a gas station but that was really inconvient and to top it off several online forums suggested that many gas stations stopped selling the passes anyways.

This inconvenience is perhaps further reinforced by Whiteshell provincial park being right along the east boarder where the highway enters.

Without a pass I limited my time in the provincial parks to quick stops just to check out what was going on. After driving through Whiteshell I tried eating at a highly rated restaurant out of a food truck but when I asked about dairy-free food the owners clammed up and refused to serve me so I was left to figure something else out. Across the road was a park that had pelicans so that was cool.

I stopped at Grand Beach, a popular weekend getaway a few hours north of Winnipeg but didn’t stay long and instead camped for free on a sand spit. The next day I went to Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site. Whereas in the Maritimes all of the historic sites had to do with cod fishing, I was somewhat caught off guard to be thurst into the fur trade. The site was however very informative and gave me some good insight into the Hudsons Bay Company but it also raised further questions.

Though the history of the grounds was interesting, it was actually the facade of the welcome centre that caught my eye. This isn’t the first Parks Canada building I’ve really liked and I hope to get drawings of them somehow, I just need to figure out how…

An exiciting pullout east of Winnipeg is the Centre of Canada monument that’s definately worth a photo.

Winnipeg was pretty nice, with a fun food market in a renovated warehouse building and the Museum of Human Rights, an interesting architectural project with an equally important content. The museum was quite large, much larger than I expected, and by the end I was pretty exhaused.

By contrast, the Manitoba Art Gallery was quite small and although it had an interesting facade that reminded me of the Contemporary Art Gallery in Athens, the gallery was quite small and somewhat underwhelming.

When I left Winnipeg, I entered the parries and the vast flat lands of the middle continent. The distance between points of interest continued to be far but with audio books and some good music I had a fun time. I thought I’d see a lot of endless trains and grain silos but that didn’t end up being the case and I’m not sure why. I suppose I just wasn’t driving in the right places.

The one provincial park where I risked a ticket was the Spirit Sands where there are some massive sand dunes amongst thickets of bush. It was hot and humid and a little muggy but otherwise wonderful.

I was told that there was a choice between Whiteshell and Riding Mountain to make a National Park of Canada. They chose the latter because it was more central and accessible to people. I thought there’d be more to it than federally reserving a plot of land for people to enjoy but apparently not.

I did see several black bears, small by west coast standards, and a heard of bison that are kept within an enclosure that one can drive around.

Although I didn’t see that much in Manitoba, I thought it was a pretty nice place. I think I went at a good time in early summer when there’s a breeze to keep things cool, there weren’t too many bugs, and people with kids hadn’t yet gone on vacation. On the other hand, I’m not sure what else there really would be to see or do. I did a bunch of research beforehand and I didn’t come up with much so I felt like I covered the province pretty well short of going to Churchill.

Visiting Manitoba was originally published in Adventure Arc on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

It’s been a busy few weeks and it all started with receiving an offer for a job in Vancouver. I was pleasantly surprised that this firm appreciated my engineering background and so I asked for a few weeks to close shop in Ontario and drive across the country.

One of my first long-term goals was to drive across the country after I graduated. The goal came about sometime in grade school decades ago when I thought it would be a wonderful trip — little did I know at the time that I would get the opportunity now, a year after graduating.

I was a little sad to be leaving the Lake House, especially after Jenna and her family’s wonderful hospitality but I was eager to get on the road. I figured that the sooner I left, the more time I’d have to travel and experience the countryside. I was already pretty much ready to go. Most of my things had already been prepared since I’d been applying to jobs for nearly two months — I just didn’t know if I’d be in Toronto or Vancouver. With this job in Vancouver I closed out my storage unit and sent my 7 boxes across the country via Canada Post. It’s the cheapest way to move boxes and freed up room in the Element to be able to still sleep in the back.

My first stop was the Bruce Peninsula National Park, about a three hour drive northwest. Rather than drive straight up from Barrie to Sudbury, I thought it would be nice to revisit Bruce Peninsula and hopefully see the main grotto which I’d missed on my earlier trip.

Unfortunately, like my previous trip, it was raining so while I caught a glimpse of the grotto I couldn’t safely descend on the slippery rocks. Still, it was nice to see a little more of the park, including the lookout tower while hiking around. Then I took the ferry to Manitoulin island and camped under pretty drewry weather that persisted in the morning and made me skip the hike I had planned. I did spot a short hike after the island which I stopped at to stretch my legs but there wasn’t much of a view because of the clouds.

There wasn’t much along the way to Sault Ste. Marie other than a giant Looine, one of the many larger than life trans-Canada highway roadside attractions. I tried to stop at most of these along my way for no other reason than to take a quick selfie.

Continuing on my quest to visit as many parks Canada sites as I can, I went to the canal locks but it was closed because it was the weekend or I arrived before June 1st. Several times along this trip in late May I ran into signs that said summer hours didn’t begin till June so I was out of luck. The grounds of the canal were still open to wander around and I tested out a used 35mm lens I’d bought but I didn’t see the exhibits. I was pretty impressed with the lens and started to look at textures and materials a little more.

Chippewa Falls along lake Superior is an interesting rest stop that’s considered the mid-point of the Trans Canada Hwy. It was apparently one of the last sections of the highway to be completed and also a place where the group of 7 painted.

More interestingly, not much further along in Lake Superior Provincial Park are the Agawa Rock Pictographs. The Indigenous red ochre paintings are centuries old and curiously on the edge of a sloped rock face. They seem incredibly well preserved but a little hard to see because of the narrow sloped rock.

The provincial park had some interesting hikes but I prefered the Pukaskwa National Park. It’s smaller but with more interesting rock formations and nice beaches. Plus, I didn’t have to pay day-use because I had the annual national parks pass.

The shores of Lake Superior were surprisingly northern to me even though I’ve seen many maps of the country. The ruggedness of the countryside was a surprise considering that it was the southern edge of the province and not even close to Hudsons Bay but it goes to show how much of Canada is truely remote wilderness.

As I continued on to Thunder Bay I made a few stops at Aguasabon Falls that was a torrent of water, Nipigon cable-stayed bridge which I’d done some engineering work on, and Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park which has a fantastic canyon along a very short walk. None of these stops were very long and I was soon on my way again.

Just outside Thunder Bay is Sleeping Giant Provincial Park. My friend had mentioned it during a roadtrip he’d taken so I thought I’d stop and hike around. At first I wasn’t that impressed. To get to the top of the giant was a long 8km hike which meant that it would also be 8km back along a road that was frequently covered in muddy puddles.

I didn’t know that at the every end of the hike is Ontario’s tallest vertical cliff until some other hikers asked me for directions. This was actually quite impressive but I didn’t get very good photos because I didn’t want to get too close to the edge.

Thunder Bay was as rough and rugged as I imagined it to be and I stopped in for the night at an AirBnB because I’d been having pretty terrible allergies for the past week. I thought having a clean shower and fresh bed might help. To an extent, it did, but I continued to have allergies throughout Ontario and into Manitoba.

My last stop in Ontario was Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park on the other side of Thunder Bay where a torrent of water poured over the side. I really thought there’d be more stops in Ontario considering everyone told me it takes 3 days to get through and I took a few more but there really wasn’t much other than long stretches of empty highway. I didn’t mind it too much because I was well stocked on audiobooks but it was still a bit of a surprise because I was in Mantioba earlier than expected.

A Trans Canada Road Trip in Northern Ontario was originally published in Adventure Arc on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

My Actual Travel Costs in Numbers

First a thanks to my new followers :D I’m trying to reach 100.

Now that my 90 day (3-month) backpacking trip to Japan is over I was able to crunch the numbers. For context, I decided to go to Japan on September 29th just days after Japan announced that it would be reopening it’s borders after a lengthy covid closure. Japan opened on October 10th and I left for Japan October 19th. In total, I spent 90 days in country backpacking through Tokyo, Kyoto, Fuji, Kochi, Yusuhara, Takamatsu, Hiroshima, Kumamoto, Kagoshima, Kamakura, Nikko, and Utsunomiya. Some of these places were new but the vast majority I’d been to previously. The trip was focused primarily around visiting contemporary and traditional architectural projects, both buildings and gardens.

Total Costs

The total cost for my trip was $9,200 over 90 days which works out to a convenient 101$/day with the flights and 87 $/day excluding flights. 101 $/day Canadian backpacking is a really good rate. I look at both numbers because the first is good to judge how much I’m spending in total and the second is good to understand how much to budget for food, transportation, attractions, etc… This trip was a little different in a few ways though. For one, I spent $700 in books and souvenirs for myself and friends which I’ve never really done before. I also spent $200 on clothes because it would be cheaper to bring back than buy in Canada. That Excluding these my daily cost down to 77 $/day which I’m quite happy with.

These numbers can be compared to my other trips this year. In the spring I’d spent two months backpacking through Europe that cost132 $/day all in and 92 $/day flights excluded. I then returned to Toronto and was a bum staying in airbnbs and couch surfing until I bought a car and turned it into a camper to road-tripped through the Maritimes for the summer. That two-month trip cost 222 $/day all in.

It’s not surprising that Japan was much cheaper but it also helped that the yen is “weak” which is to say that 1 $CAD = 100yen so it’s about a dollar to a dollar. On previous trips 1 $CAD = 85yen, a 15% reduction. But there’s another thing. Generally everything is cheaper in Japan. Due to inflation, Canadians spend more but the cost of living is also higher than in Japan where the yen is worth less but wages are also less. So a Canadian dollar goes a lot further in Japan just like a Euro does in Canada.

Cost per Category

Flights

I paid $1,300 for a roundtrip flight from Vancouver to Tokyo. This was decent and about $200–300 less than usual due to a low demand at the time of booking despite being so close to the flight date. On the other hand, I also found out afterwards that I could have booked a round trip for about $960 if I’d done a sneaky stop-over in Taiwan. Since flights are 14% of the total trip cost (it was also 14% of the Europe trip), this is no small change. Then again, I was pleased when I originally scheduled my trip for two months but changing my return flight to a month later didn’t cost anything.

Transportation

I may have spent a little more on transportation than needed. I took the shinkansen quite a few times and while it wasn’t the cheapest option, it was the most comfortable and convenient. I considered the extra cost something like the privilege of enjoying the ride, not all that different from paying to go to a museum or temple. There’s an unquantifiable value in not spending the whole day in transit and being rested when you arrive in a new city. This is evidently a change from the backpacking years of ultra-low cost budgeting to a more liberal ability to spend on convenience.

Accommodations

I spent most of my trip in private rooms at guesthouses with shared bathrooms. A few times on short stays I stayed in a capsule hotel but I didn’t really like it because there was always someone coughing and I didn’t want to get sick or get covid — both would disrupt my travels. So not only for the privacy, but for the safety I was willing to pay more for a private room. This resulted in an average nightly cost of $32/night which I thought was pretty good for a solo traveler. When you travel as a couple you get a scale efficiency of two people in one room. Some of my stays such as Okayama and Kanazawa had two beds but I only used one.

Another way to look at it is like this: over one month the accommodation stays of 32 $/night is $960. The average rent for Toronto is up 22.7% this year to $2,775 while Vancouver is $3,080 at 21.2%. It cost three times more to have a roof over my head in Canada than to backpack in Japan. In fact, I spent about 3,000 $/month in Japan which is the same as the average rent in Toronto never mind the cost of utilities, food, transportation, etc…

how I wish I could live in Japan

I noticed that the cost of accommodations gradually increased over time. I believe this is because when I first arrived there was a lack of tourism so most accommodations were suffering and had lowered their rates. By the end of the trip, tourism had partially recovered. There were noticeably more tourist in Tokyo and combined with a reduced supply, this caused prices to go up. This is factually evident in the first and last stays which were at the same place but the second time cost $15 more per night, a 60% increase.

The one other anomaly is the Yusuhara hotel. This is a small hotel designed by a famous architect (Kengo Kuma) in a tiny town with practically no other accommodations. I was excited to stay and see the hotel, but it was also the cheapest of less than a handful of options. You can read about my time in Yusuhara here. For being so remote and such a small town — you could walk the length in 10 minutes — it was a little on the expensive side.

Food

Since I was traveling alone I didn’t eat with others often so my food expenses were minimal. This is a bit of a shame because Japan has so much good food but it’s not really a pleasure to be dining alone so I mostly stuck to the fast food and grocery stores for my meals.

Books and Souvenirs

I bought 32 manga, 27 books, and was given 1 from new and used bookstores. This, and the souvenirs I bought for friends and family meant getting a duffle bag to bring it all home. I regret none of it, but it and the clothes I bought is a significant portion of the total trip cost. Interestingly, I found a really nice wool jacket at a used bookstore right at the end of the trip for about $9. I felt very stylish in Tokyo for a few days but when I came back to the west coast I didn’t fit in because everyone wears sweaters and raincoats. Wool coats are a little more popular in Toronto though so it’s alright.

Exceptions

These costs don’t account for my continued cellphone plan (27 $/month) nor the cost of insurance on my car that’s just sitting in a friend’s driveway (268 %/month) nor my boxes in storage (56 $/month) that are overheads I carried while away.

Travel Credit Cards and Cash Withdrawals

It’s worth noting that last two weeks before the end of my trip my HomeTrust visa was locked because of fraud so I had to default to my backup BMO credit card and cash. Most credit cards charge a 2% foreign transaction fee but my travel visa does not. In reality, when I compare it to the exchange rate on google I’m still being charged about 1.10%. It’s hard to know for sure because it can take up to three days for the transaction to be posted so I don’t know at what point the foreign exchange occurs. This uncertainty in the time affecting the rate makes it hard to compare to Google which I think posts a daily average; it could be the close of day too but I don’t know.

I tried to look into this further so I made some graphs. Who doesn’t like a normal distribution? My comparison between what I paid and Google’s rate range from a 0 to a 3.3% markup. This is still better than the BMO credit card which is about a 2.70% markup (but does have 1% cashback). Going down the line, using my debit card overseas to withdraw cash averages 2.90% avg and the cash I got before the trip at the Eaton Centre money exchange was 3.91%.

I had to clean up the data some but what these graphs tell me is that even if there are some hidden fees with the HomeTrust card, it’s still the best conversion.

The worst way to get cash was when the HomeTrust card was locked for fraud I asked if it could be used once more to get some cash from an ATM thinking that it would be cheaper than using my debit card. That turned out to be a 6.01% markup because of a cash advance fee and finance charge fee on top of the ATMs withdrawl fee. Whoops!

Spending in 2022

Since the year’s over I was also able to collect my expense data for 2022. I’ve tracked my expenses since 2013 and this year was more expensive on record but for a few understandable reasons:

1. The last few years hunkering down during the pandemic is over so there was more going out and more spending.
2. I was kicked out of my student housing in April so I spent 8 months traveling without an address to return to. Travel is usually more expensive than living “at home” but I also went to more expensive parts of the world than “home”.
3. 2020 marked the begining of living alone where I was no longer splitting rent, food, utilities, etc… in half with my significant other. Even though I’ve historically lived in well-below-average apartments, rent in Canada is typically atleast 40% of living expenses. I’ve anticipated atleast a 50% increase in spending just because I live alone now.

For reference to the above graph, I was in Vancouver with my ex working between 2013–2017. In the summer of 2017 we quit our jobs to travel the world for two years and our spending increased. In 2019 we both went back to school which is why that year cost so much (tuition). 2020 was less because of covid but we also broke up and I began carrying the full rent and utilities. Fortunately it was a cheap student housing. Now in 2022 alone, buying a car, and traveling — I’m spending a lot.

I’m not surprised that my expenses were more in 2022 than 2021 but I was little surprised by how significantly more it is. So I took a look at the numbers. It turns out that tuition was a big chunk in 2022, as was buying a used car. Even though the car was only $4,000 — about as cheap as they come — the taxes, and outfitting it for the roadtrip and insurance and everything else added up. Also, returning to Toronto in July 2022 but not having a place to live meant that I spent a lot staying in absurdly expensive and terribly dirty airBnBs.

But 2022 is over and now I’m suppose to start my architectural career by getting a job. It’ll be interesting to see how the salary and cost of living are compared to when I was in engineering… I’m anticipating lower salary and higher cost of living than back then, even adjusted for inflation…

Thanks for reading, and to those who follow :D

How much does it cost to Backpack Japan was originally published in Adventure Arc on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Book shopping at Book Off

I was so happy to be back in Tokyo for the last week of my Japan trip and I ended up staying at the same guest house that I begun the trip at because it was the right balance of cost, convenience, and comfort. It’s located close to the Sumida river and on my first night back I went for a walk down it’s western bank.

The last week of my trip in Japan was spent back in Tokyo for the purpose of book buying. Some friends requested sweets as souveniers but for myself, the only thing I really wanted was books — architecture and manga. Books are knowledge. Seeing as this trip was about experiencing architecture, and I wanted to bring back as much knowledge as I could so that I could further develop my own architecture. As well, it became readily apparent when I met my friend in Kagoshima that my Japanese is woefully insufficient and I promised myself that the next time we meet, I’d have better Japanese so we can commune better. To that end, I decided to purchase mangas as I thought it would be a fun way to learn the language.

The biggest used bookstore is a chain called Book Off found all around the country. While it’s generally hard but not impossible to find architecture books, there is a huge amount of manga that’s sold for 110yen/book. About a dollar each. For reference, when newly released, a manga book costs around 600yen ($6). As a form of entertainment, it doesn’t get much better than a dollar a book. So having mapped out all of the Book Offs in the city, I proceeded to walk between them. This allowed me to find books as well as see the backstreets, which is my favourite urbanisim in the world.

There were also a few more museums that I visited in Tokyo, but there always seems to be more. The Nezu Museum was important because my Kagoshima friend had been and we’d talked about how it was designed by Kengo Kuma. I thought it was a pretty good building architecturally and was also happy to find a garden behind it, though it wasn’t that spectacular in the winter. Funnily, the Nezu museum’s most iconic view is a pathway along the side of the building before the entrance.

Nearby is another Kengo Kuma project, the Sunny Hills Cake shop. It’s quite iconic for the facade that is made up of little sticks and that it is a semi wood structure building. I didn’t realize until I went inside that there’s a free tea and cake tasting on the second floor. It was quite nice, but I didn’t think the Taiwanese cake was anything special. It was good but I’ve had equally good in Vancouver I think.

Another museum I went to was 21_21 Design Sight by Tadao Ando. I wasn’t originally planning on going to this project but having seen other Ando projects on my trip I have a new found appreciation for his work. The museum regularly changes exhibitions and the current program was about Christo and Jeanne-Claude ‘L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped. These french artsits wrapped the structure in metalic cloth. It’s pretty cool but I was really there to see the building which was also interesting. Most of it is underground but is still well lit by large windows into a sunken pit. Similar to other Ando projects, there’s a strong circulation route through the building that made it enjoyable to walk through.

Later that day I went to the National Arts Center designed by Kisho Kurokawa. It’s an older building but no less fantastic. It’s actually a huge building with 12 exhibition galleries each the size of gymnasium, maybe bigger. I first heard about it from the movie, Kimi no na wa where the architecture is prominently shown, that being two invert concrete cones in the attrium which have cafes on top. It’s a wonderful space with lots of light. At the time, there was caligraphy on display.

The first time in Tokyo I stumbled on the GA gallery where I saw Yo Shimada’s houses. Afterwards I looked and found that there’s another architectural specific gallery called the MA gallery where I saw an exhibit on sustainability and bikable cities. It was interesting because it had some diagrams about recycling materials, something I’d looked at during school, and it was free so I didn’t have to pay. They also have an architectural bookshop but because they don’t offer a tax discount I didn’t buy anything.

Foreigners in Japan on a short stay visa enjoy a 10% tax exemption at certain stores with purchases over 5000yen ($50). This includes clothing stores like Uniqlo where I stocked up on some clothes that are also about half the price for the same thing in Canada, pharmacies for skincare, makeup etc… and the bigger bookstores. Some Book Offs, the used bookstore also have a tax exemption but I never made it over 50$ at once.

As for the big book store, I made two trips and bought about $400 worth of architecture books,on top of having picked up a few at the used book stores. The thing is, most of these books are impossible to get in Canada and even when they’re available on amazon, they’re marked up about 3 times. Plus in Japan, the books are cheap to begin with. Whereas an architecture book in Canada would be cheap if it were below $50, I bought a whole bunch for around $18 each and the most expensive was $45.

Needless to say, I felt pretty giddy getting all these books, like a kid getting candy or Christmas presents. This and buying people souveniers is something new to me. On my previous trips I’ve rarely bought anything. Even two years backpacking around the world, I came back with only 5 books and a stack of free city maps/brochures picked up along the way.

Once I’d finished my shopping I intended to walk around the streets of Tokyo some more but it began raining and cooled off so it wasn’t so fun. I thought I’d visit some museums but they were closed on Mondays so I mostly wandered around malls looking at pottery I’d love to buy if I had a home and thinking about what it would be like to live in Tokyo. I revisited Tokyo Station and sought out an underground path between it and the international forumn to avoid the rain — not becaused I needed to get there — but because I was curious if it was possible.

I was sad to leave Tokyo and Japan. I’m not sure when I’ll be back next, but atleast for now I have plenty of reading material to go through and I’ve also committed to studying more Japanese so that I can communicate with my Kagoshima friend.

Walking Tokyo Backstreets was originally published in Adventure Arc on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

An underrated city on the Sea of Japan

Kanazawa might be one of the more underrated places in Japan. It’s reasonably well visited by tourists because Kenrokuen, one of Japan’s three most famous gardens, but being along the Sea of Japan it’s a little bit out of the way. That’s to say, It’s not near either Tokyo or Kyoto.

When I extended my trip, I had to figure out where to go. I wanted to visit Kanazawa but it seemed like a ways away and I wasn’t crazy on the cost of getting there and back to Tokyo but I really wanted to revisit it because the last time I was there I’d only seen Kenrokuen. Fortunately, travel in Japan doesn’t require much pre-planning so while I compared the cost of flying to taking the shinkansen, I opted for the train because it would be easier, more enjoyable and more flexible abit at a slightly higher cost.

My first order of buisness was to see the three historic edo-era streets, Nishi Chaya, Kazue machi, and Higashiyama Higashi Chaya Districts. These were entertainment districts that historically were located just outside the city limits where geisha performed songs and danced. I saw geishas in the Nishi Chaya District but the Higashiyama Higashi Chaya district is so popular with tourists it’s become more of a tourist destination.

When I arrived at the Higashiyama Higashi Chaya district, the weather had turned for the worse and it started to rain. While it was a nice area, the amount of tourists was substantially more than the other two places and that sort of detracted its appear. Not that there were a lot of tourists, but it did feel a little more touristy.

Along with the three historic commerical streets there’s a fourth district called the Naga-machi District which was where samurai lived. This was my favourite area and I walked through it several times (both because it was on my way and because it was so beautiful). The area is significant for its preserved earthen walls and water canals surrounding the residences.

I was fortunate enough to get good weather on the first time and spent some time taking photos of the different material textures with the sun and shadows. Other walks were raining or sunny, depending on the day.

There several preserved houses taken care of by the municipal government that can be entred and the district also has a nice garden at the Nomura-ke residence, which used to be a samurai house. The garden was a surprise because it is a Z shape and the central pond is quite low, almost like a pit. There was good lighting and I also noticed that the engawa was thick wood planks.

Down the street are two museums, one is the Shinise Kinenkan which is a restored pharmacy. This was an interesting museum because it had a tea room and garden as well as some artefacts. Notably, there were Kaga Temari (embroidered balls) that are a Kanazawa traditional craft made by mothers and given to daughter’s for their wedding. They’re quite pretty.

On one of the later walks through the district I filmed it, so you can take a look here:

There are a few other historic buildings in the city and at the Kurando Terashima House it was recommended that I get a one day pass to all of the city’s museums which led me to going out to a small town of Kanazawa Yuwaku and the Edomura museum. This is a series of ten historic buildings that have been collected by the local government to be preserved. It’s pretty cool as there’s samurai residence, farm houses, an inn, and four thatched roofed buildings. I was the only visitor that afternoon and so I just wandered between buildings freely. But being the only one around, there were some dolls set up as residence that were kinda creepy.

Kanazawa has a surprsingly large number of museums, all clustered in a generally small area which makes getting to them pretty easy. I only visited like half of them. Probably the most famous is the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art designed by SANAA. Architecturally it’s quite famous as a circular building with rectangular rooms inside. From the outside it looks like a spaceship, completely foreign, but the interior feels like going to an aquarium only instead of fish one looks back out at the city. One of the strongest moments is a long wooden bench that looks out to the city. From the interior, it at once connects to the city with a view but also remains distant. For most people it’s in a prominent location, right at the entrance to Kenrokuen, and pretty eye catching. My first attempt was on a rainy day that turned to snow, but later on I passed by it again at night and took some better photos. The paid section of the museum is in the central core but all around the exterior perimeter is freely open to the public.

A famous architect from Kanazawa is Yoshiro Taniguchi and his son Yoshio. They have a museum which has a recreation of a tea room they made for the Japanese-Style Annex of the State Guest House in Akasaka Palace, Tokyo. It is an incredible room with beaitufl wood finishes. Fitting for a palace, it is an incredible example of Traditional Japanese interior aesthetics and one I didn’t expect to see in Kanazawa.

Taniguchi Yoshio also designed the D.T. Suzuki Museum which I visited afterwards. It’s dedicated to Suzuki Daisetz Teitaro (1870–1966) who was a prominent Buddhist philosopher. It is notable for having a large water garden and a place for contemplation. I’m not sure if the overcast weather was a factor, but I wasn’t very impressed with it architecturally. I thought the central building for contemplation was too massive and imposing, and the materials — steel, concrete, and white plaster— too cold.

I did however, come across a great quote:

“Emptiness which is conceptually liable to be mistaken for sheer nothingness is in fact the reservoir of infinite possibilities.”

When I read the quote, I thought of the book I wrote and how I could have quoted this. From what I can gather, this comes from a chapter to a book that I can’t access so there’s probably a lot more to it.

While in Kanazawa I also went to the Ohno Karakuri Memorial Museum which was designed by architect Shozo Uchii. It’s a pretty building and is a museum about mechanical puppets and wood puzzles so it’s also pretty fun. There were a number of puzzles to solve and they were just the right difficulty to be fun but not impossible.

That day I bought lunch at a convenience store and went to a green space on the map that turned out to be a fabulous park with a small pond. Along the edge of the pond was a really interesting rest area and further along a really cool public washroom.

If I could be paid to do research, I would undoubtably spend it researching Japanese garden structures and public washrooms. There’s such an interesting variety of both that I’m constantly finding.

Another architectural gem in Kanazawa is the Umimirai Library. It’s a fantastic building but has some weird querks. For one, photography inside is not allowed. For two, I sat down at an empty bench to read and was told that I couldn’t. Instead I had to register for a two hour slot and an assigned seat in between two studying school kids. The guy on the right fell asleep and started snoring which reallly bothered the girl on the left, but she didn’t know what to do so she kept staring, as if willing him to wake up. Funnily, he did.

If you’re wondering when I’ll show Kenrokuen, you’ll be sorely disappointed. Although I was in Kanazawa for six days, I didn’t go for two reasons: 1) I didn’t enjoy it that much the first time I was there, and 2) the weather was fairly poor and unlikely to bring out good views in the garden since it was neither blossoming flowers, autumn leaves, or covered in snow. That said, I did find an absolutely stellar garden.

Just across the street in the Kanazawa castle area is the Gyokusen’inmaru Garden. This is a top tier garden in my books because it is unique. It’s history stretches back to 1634 when Toshitsune Maeda, the third lord of the Kaga Domain had it constructed. In 2008 reconstruction work began and the garden oppened to the public in 2015. The garden features a large pond in the center and pathways around it. Since it is backed by stone walls of the castle, there is a unique depth to the garden that I haven’t seen anywhere else. I was fortunate to have the sun appear when I was there around sunset too and I also saw it in the evening when it was lit up.

Kanazawa City should also be applauded for the number of free attractions it has. Not only is Gyokusen’inmaru free, but most of Kanazawa castle is too and I saw four restored and preserved houses turned into museums. This makes it a great place to visit and that I highly recommend it.

I ended my trip to Kanazawa with the annual Firefighters New Year’s ceremony. Firemen gather in the park to celebrate the new year and put on a show of acrobatic stunts performed on tall ladders. It was quite impressive to see and ends with water sprayed up into the air.

The Old Streets of Kanazawa was originally published in Adventure Arc on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.