Beautiful Banff and Lake Louise...!

My trip in Banff in 2011.... I went to Banff because a friend of mine, Youichi came to Canada from Japan for few weeks to travel.  He started in Vancouver, then took the bus to Banff and we met there.  I also caught the bus to Banff.  Vivian and I took the overnight bus, just so the 8 some hours journey to Calgary was not so painful.  Along the way to Calgary is nothing but flat lands, so, after a while it does gets tiring to see flat lands, then you started to get really bored.  Solution to this is to sleep on the bus, hence why we took the overnight bus.  I hated driving, especially long drive, that's why we caught the bus there.  If we have a better bus system, let me tell you..... taking the bus especially for long journey is nice! It's really nice just to sit there, read a book, listening to music, playing games, not having to pay attention to other drivers, sleep, basically do whatever the f@#k you want on the way to your destination.  I really enjoy that convenience.  In the winter especially, not having to worry about snow and ice on the highway? Hell yeah that's already a big incentive for me to catch the bus.  A good train system would even be better..... I don't get why people love to drive SO MUCH here, then complain about all the ice and snow they have to put up with in the winter.  ALLRIGHT... IMAGINE.... freezing cold... blizzard... icy road.... and all you have to do is worry about walking 2 blocks away to hop on the bus or train that will get you to your destination so you don't have to worry about slipping and sliding and crashing on to another vehicle..... sounds like a delicious idea to me! Also environmentally friendly because we don't have all these people wasting gas to take their own self to where ever they wanna be.  To go to Banff, one way ticket is $85 if you buy it at least 21 days in advanced.... sounds good to me .... Anyway..... that will be another thing I'll talk about, now it's about Banff!

We arrived Calgary early morning, around 0500, and as someone who's first need in the morning is coffee, this sucks because the cafeteria at Calgary bus terminal doesn't open until whatever time and their coffee suck ass.  Nevermind, we soon got on the bus to Banff anyway.  The trip from Calgary to Banff definitely worth staying awake for, as the Rockies are GORGEOUS! Very very pretty, love the ice on tips of it (^^).  I will tell about our trip as the pictures goes.... everytime I thought about this trip to Banff made me want to go to other places in Canada.... oh.... anywhere but here basically :D .... enjoy the pics!  

Gorgeous sunrise on the prairie.... this was already in Alberta, approaching Calgary.... I woke up to this beautiful prairie sunrise.  I gotta admit, the sky is beautiful here in the prairie, you can see sunrise and sunset from any directions because nothing's blocking your view.  However, I was born in the place where we have ocean and mountains, so those are still the kinds of things I love, plus I love hiking..... The prairie sky is beautiful, but to me that's a beauty that lasted very very short time.  My favorite is to see sunset in the prairie during the dead of winter.... very eerie, along with the shades of dead trees.... I imagine vampires and demons will start flying out as soon as the sun goes down :D 

The colour was so pretty that day, I really love waking up on the bus to this beautiful sunrise!

What a gorgeous view of the Rockies as we approached Banff 

.... and here too.... 

Here's the Banff center, where Vivian and I spent the first few hours trying to wake up and freshened up.  Our hostel was kinda far, possible to walk to it though, maybe about half an hour walk to the town center.  We had a bit of a trouble checking in, because the hostel insisted that they need some sort of photo ID for Vivian.  After all the hassle and tried to phone his grandma to fax his passport, they told me they didn't need it because I got my ID and he's a minor .... F@#$kers....  oh well.... My appetite usually was good when I'm travelling, somehow.... not that good in Banff.  I wonder because all the food are ... umm.... your typical Canadian food, nothing I can't get in Saskatoon that's for sure ... :D  I had to say I didn't eat as much here compared to other places I traveled to.   

Very expensive here in Banff.  All the stores, they sold the finest candies, chocolate, maple syrup but..... holy crap they cost arm and leg!  Eating out? Forget it! Overpriced crap food.... On the first day ended up went to grocery store and make our own supper which cut down the cost by a lot.  

The Rockies as we saw from our hostel.... (^^)  We stayed at umm... can't remember what the hostel called, but most accommodations in Banff cost arm and leg too.... comparable to Japan I guess.  I think for our dorm (which we had for the two of us only even though it was a 4 bed dorm) it cost 20 some dollars per person per night! It was clean though.  Receptionists was also travelers, mostly guys who were traveling to Canada and got free accommodation for working there.  Good way for them to save money on accommodation.   

As soon as I freshened up with some coffee and Viv was fed, we went up to hike one of the mountain right away, can't remember which one it was..... I was surprised that it was Vivian's first time seeing things up from the top of a mountain!  This is one of my favorite moment.... to look at things below from the top of a mountain.... what a peaceful feeling.... The Rockies just absolutely gorgeous! 

Another view from the top of the same mountain.... gosh.... There's a hospital in Banff ya know..... and it was really tempting to put in my resume and just work here.  However, Viv told me something very umm.... unusual for a child his age (he was 11 years old then)... he said, if we live here, we then won't appreciate the beauty of the Rockies anymore because we'll see it all the time.  True enough (^^)

Yaaaaappppp..... Quite the breathtaking view.....

Haha.... trying to hitch hike Viv? :D

During the evening, Youichi arrived to check in at the hostel, and we hung out and made plans for the next day.  Since the place was far but not really from the center and the bus fare was expensive for such a short trip to the center, we decided to walk.  It was downhill to the center anyway.  When we got to the city center, the cloud started to rolled in.  That day we planned to take to Gondola up to one of the mountain.... Sulfur Mountain maybe? I can't remember..... Actually..... I rather hike it, but I was glad we didn't.....

As you can see.... the big bad cloud started to rolled in and the wind picked up, suddenly it gotten very cold.... this was a picture I took from the gondola..... I can't tell you how pretty and breathtaking the landscape from up there

Add caption

Here, it really started to get very chilly..... still on the gondola..... brrrr 

And this as we approached the top (-_-)..... Basically, when we got to the top, it was blowing wind and snow..... glad we didn't hike it up there :D..... By the way... did I tell you that this was in July? :D Yes... it snowed in July!!! 

When we got back down, suddenly it became sunny.... so we went for a walk..... 

We went for a walk along the Bow river....  there's a
hotel there that kind of looks like the Bessborough
hotel we have in Saskatoon

And we saw him..... 

The currant was really fast.... we went through the side of the river, then the trail got really dangerous... I had to call Vivian back and we took a different trail.

We decided to walk through the woods to get back to our hostel.... after a while, I got sick of seeing the same trees... :D  It is advised to carry bear spray and have bells on you, since there are bear and other wild life around the area.  We didn't see any bear (good....) 

We played at this river for a little bit, just hang out here ... can't really swim though, cuz the water was FREEZING.... it was glacier water after all..... It was very tempting, because the water was so pretty and clear, and it was hot then, especially after walking for so many hours!

The next day we decided to go to Lake
Louis, we had a high expectations of
ourselves to walk from Lake Louis bus
station all the way to the Glacier plain....
So off we went on the bus to Lake Louis! 

The trail was so beautiful... this may be one
of my favorite hike, beside my hike in Miyajima.

Haha.... yapp it was a fun trekking and hiking

Just had to play with everything do ya Viv? 

Long hike, but this view sooooo worth the time spent.................. 

Haha, Vivian was doing a Japanese candy commercial.... :D

After about 3 hours walking, we finally made it to Lake Louis..... What a gorgeous lake... the water was greenish, with the background of the Rockies..... Viv, Youichi and I stop for a bit to take a break and rent a canoe to go around the lake.... it was sooo much fun! Haha, we didn't do really good at it, but we had fun!  The water was cold though (-_-) .... glacier water.... brr... see the ice on the background there? 

We decided to get going, and hike up to Glacier plain...... 

Just gorgeous trail along the way........... 

Aaaaaawwwwh...... I really wanna go back to Banff now :( 

Swamp... not sure what made the water milky colour... sulfur?

This was the squirrel Vivian was looking at in the picture above on the left..... 

Of course, even though it was July, we still see some snow along the trail.... and some more to come... it was hot though ! 

All the mountains looks so majestic and beautiful.... yapp.... we still have quite a ways to go :D

The trail basically became more and more challenging.... of course by this point we saw less and less tourists :D  It was really hot, and good thing I had my cowboy hat on me.... Vivian fill it up with some glacier water and pour it on himself to keep himself nice and cool.... of course, he dried out quickly because it was hot up there! 

As we get closer to the top, I kinda wished I brought a spikey attachment for the shoes.... :(   Manageable though! Thanks to our experience with Saskatoon's winter and snow pile :D  It was a little challenging though, I did had to get my bum dirty for sliding and climbing on the mucky snow :D 

After another 2 or 3 hours or so , we finally made it to the top, where there was a tea house where you could sit and have expensive tea at the top of the glacier plain.... We were tired, but again, this view really worth the hike! 

After 4 days or so in Banff and had so much fun, finally it's time to hop on the overnight bus back to Saskatoon.  Youichi went on further east, and I went back to this s@#thole.  Gosh I love taking the bus..... I just wish they have nice buses just like my Willer bus :D 

Time to say goodnight and goodbye... another one of my favorite things to see.... Sunset!  And sunset in the prairies is beautiful... nothing to occlude your view!  Really looking forward to another bus trip somewhere in Canada!