On foot

Toronto is a green city both in landscape and in spirit. Large pockets of green spaces dot the city and because houses here don't have fences, the flower gardens of homeowners seem to blend in seamlessly with the streets creating a borderless garden in the city (Singapore's tag line in the past. Now it's "city in the garden"). Best of all, they are really into recycling here. Recycling bins are found everywhere and people actually carry shopping bags around even though there is no tax on plastic, i think.

Cui and I had a tofu burger for breakfast from this little Chinese bakery tucked away on Baldwin St. Not as blend as it sounds, the giant bun was toasted and fluffy while the pan fried tofu sandwiched between was tastily seasoned. Perfect for a chilly morning!

The city is a charming mix of old, historical buildings and modern steel structures. Naturally I was wowed by the stone and bricks Gothic looking colleges of the University of Toronto, complete with turrets, domes and climbing ivy! It's a very unique mish-mash of ancient colleges and new school complexes sprawled over the city (they have no shuttle buses so imagine hopping from one fac to the other). Since Cui has access to almost everywhere, she took me on a most in-depth exploration of common rooms, library, grand halls, courtyards, chapels, classrooms and toilets (they have the coolest vintage stable doors!). Everything is old-school cool and very English. Apparently the Grand Hall in one of the colleges is modeled after Cambridge and Oxford so it appears very Hogsworth-ish. In fact, the spooky corridors and plush libraries are totally reminiscent of Harry Potter! Ok, I tend to go a bit ga-ga over architecture but the U of T is really picturesque.

The oxymoronic weather - chilly sunny - is the perfect climate to live in. You get a tan, don't perspire and get to wear nice sweaters and leggings. We had lunch at Ginger, a Viet cafe, with reasonable prices, generous helping and delicious BBQ lemongrass prawns. Of course we ended the day with a round of shopping down the very, very long Yonge St (pronounced "young" not "yong"). I unleashed my shoppaholic powers at the Dollar Shop (the best creation after Daiso) and bought alot of useless things (whoppers!) while Cui patiently waited and tried to stop me. She's a really understanding tour guide especially when she is not used to carrying her own shopping bags haha.

We had to retire at 6 plus in the evening cos we were tired and I was feeling a little jet-laggy. The sky in Toronto looks different, more brilliant and nearer to us. I wonder why. Cui says it's cos the buildings are more spaced out and lower therefore we see more of the sky. Perhaps. Dinner was a home cooked meal of chicken curry and prata, courtesy of Simon who is a pretty decent cook. Cui doesn't want me to blog about the next thing (she's afraid it will show badly on her hospitality but it's NOT her fault duh) but I find the matter utterly hilarious so here it goes.

The drain in our bathtub started bubbling and regurgitating its liquid waste last night when none of us have bathed yet. Sediment and coloured water filled the bathtub but there was surprisingly no smell. The guys went to call for maintenance while I decided to poke around the hole. Cui REFUSED to let me enter the bathroom even though I reassured her that I've seen worse. Guess what I fished out? Endless clumps of hair! Gross Gross GROSS! Totally like Sadako's hair *shudder* from her watery grave. But it was fixed eventually.