MyWestworld

An Educated Sip: Victoria’s Top Tea House

Posted on 21. Feb, 2010 by BCAA.

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The art of bellying up to the bar takes on new meaning at the Silk Road Aromatherapy and Tea Company in Victoria’s Chinatown. Co-owners Daniela Cubelic and Nancy Larose are offering not only 100-plus leafy imported blends, a dazzling collection of tea accoutrements and green-tea spa facials, but also an in-depth education at the world’s only linger-and-learn tea bar.

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Fraser Valley Roadtrip: Daffy Dally

Posted on 19. Feb, 2010 by BCAA.

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Founded in 1905 by Charles Maclure to house workers at his brick works, the Fraser Valley’s village of Clayburn has maintained its historic centre: a dozen old homes, a heritage school and church and a wonderful two-storey brick general store. Inside, the renovated building serves two purposes. On the right it houses an old-fashioned candy store and Yorkshire deli (Melton Mowbray pies, shortbread, cheeses and treacle puddings); those with a sweet tooth will be in heaven. The other half is an English tearoom with scrumptious sweets; its snow-crab soup and homemade scones are famous.

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Bowen Island: One Man’s Eco-Quest

Posted on 19. Feb, 2010 by BCAA.

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How I built an eco-shed, ditched my SUV, alienated the in-laws and changed my life forever
My name is James, and I drive an SUV. It is a golden-pearl Premium Edition Lexus rx-300, with all-leather interior, genuine walnut wood dash, seven-speaker Nakamichi sound system, seat heaters, moon roof and sport racks. It is a high-riding icon of luxury, a mobile conspicuous-consumption statement, a prosperity public-address system – the sort of vehicle that valets named Chip park in front of five-star Indian fusion restaurants. Let me be clear, though, that the rx-300 is not an indication of my hard-won success as a writer. It’s a hand- me-down from my father-in-law, who offered it to my wife, Elle, and me as a gift just as our 1994 Volvo station wagon threatened to die with our two tired babies in the backseat some night on a lonely New Mexico byway well beyond the fringes of Sprint-Verizon’s digital safety net.

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Stikine: The Great River

Posted on 19. Feb, 2010 by BCAA.

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Stikine River Country is raw wilderness. Its headwaters region, the wildlife-rich Spatsizi Plateau, is North America’s equivalent to Africa’s Serengeti Plain. In its mid-region, the mighty river continues to deepen the spectacular 100-km-long Grand Canyon, which has only once permitted the passage of humans. The Stikine’s estuary, with its broad-fanned delta of layered silt, is a vital and irreplaceable migratory bird stopover along the Pacific flyway.