Did Ewoks have Ropes of Bras?

This place sounded like a katiland-mustdo, a suspension bridge in the middle of nowhere, in a rain forest, with a treetop walk. We got the sea bus from the Waterfront and the 238 bus in North Vancouver to get to Capilano. It’s a 30dollar admission, way well worth it to me. The scene is fabulously beautiful – and it is Halloween time, so they had hundreds of carved pumpkins around the area. Very beautiful indeed. Makes me think that Finland is loosing out on the pumpkin fun, but I suppose that’s due to it always being too cold outside at this time of the year.

I took some photographs from the observation deck and we then passed the bridge to the other side to do the forest walks. I’ve never been to a rain forest before, let alone a Northern rain forest. It feels like the trees are weeping and there is huge amount of moisture in the air. It wasn’t raining while we were there, but it was pretty wet anyways. I am sure it’s like that all the time there. The Autumn colors are perhaps at their best currently, going on red, yellow and brown. I have seriously taken so many pictures of leaves on this trip that I might need to do a leaf show when I get home.

The trees in the Capilano rain forest are seriously old, but the oldest is Grandmother Capilano, — years old. They had had an accident of one of the huge trees falling on the bridge in a storm… Somehow the cables held its weight though, the bridge was unharmed. We walked on top of that tree, which seriously had been one of the big ones. It made you really trust the bridge not to fall down though. I am not scared of heights anyways, but I think my husband was having jitters.

It was also the day to help the breast cancer victims, which meant that they had decided to decorate the bridge with ropes of bras all over it. This told to us by the cash register woman: “Don’t be intimidated by the bras all over the bridge. ”

In the forest, there is a pedestal walk among the treetops, just like the villages you see in ‘Return of the Jedi’. And as I am a serious Star Wars fan, what better way to spend your day than to visit the Ewok way of living? It went very well with my theme visit of the film world, even if it wasn’t filmed here. However, it was filmed in Northern Vancouver, so there you go.

Last but not least we shopped with the incredibly tempting Haida art again, getting some more Christmas presents to the family. There was a soup and sandwich stand to enjoy before getting the bus, sea bus and sky train back to the Broadway. I was also determined to visit the local branch to do some Shorinji Kempo and learn about it in Northern Europe.

I made a call to the branch master Hajimoto sensei, who concurred that it was okay to visit. This branch had their spirits high and we trained together for almost two hours and then went for a pint and a pizza. It was Friday night, after all. I can recommend training in Vancouver: Excellent teaching and many high level sempais to practice with. Most of them were Japanese – But that can be expected as Vancouver is very popular destination for Japanese and Chinese immigrants. Of course to me, this seems like home. I wonder if I am going to feel weird about not being around Asians all the time…

This was the last full day in Vancouver, well spent again if I may say so myself.