Urbanite Girls' Night

Every girl enjoys an occasional 'girls' night out'. The last one I went on was particularly original. My girl friends and I went to Urbanite, an event put on by the Art Gallery of Victoria. It is put on approximately every three months, you have to check their website for exact dates.

Each night has a different theme. This time it was a Japanese inspired evening. After picking up a sake martini, you could wander through the art gallery looking at traditional and post modern Japanese art.

In the gallery there was a tea house display made of styrofoam Attendees were encouraged to make a styrofoam tea house of their own. I decided to add a personal touch - my initials.

There was a fun art display done by a local high school. They were papier-mâché avatars. Some of them were really impressive. See Betty Boop on the far left.

A very lovely evening indeed. And it only cost $20. Check it out!

A Wonderful Walk

The weather has been so beautiful recently that one weekend Scott and I decided to go for a walk - a four hour walk. Our first stop was to feed the seals at the Oak Bay Marina. I love feeding these guys! They're very fat and funny. They know who has food and sometimes they will try to splash you until you feed them. The gift shop sells cut up, frozen fish for about $2. I like that they're being fed fish because I would feel terrible if these friendly seals were being fed anything else.

After feeding the seals we walked along the ocean and occasionally stopped to enjoy the spectacular view or play in a drift wood fort.

One of the best stops on our walk was the Chinese Cemetery. This is something that I've searched for unsuccessfully in the past so it was a nice surprise to stumble upon. Prior to this cemetery the first Chinese here were buried at the bottom of Ross Bay Cemetery, but it was so close to the ocean that many graves were washed away during winter storms.  In 1903 the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of Victoria bought land at Harlington Point, which was a safer distance from the water, to serve as a cemetery. Chinese labourers came to Victoria to work in opium factories, the railways and as general help. Many of them died here without their families ever seeing or hearing from them again. The Chinese Cemetery provided not only protection from the ocean, but it also had better feng shui with mountains on either side. Also an interesting fact, it was general practice for overseas Chinese to exhume the remains after seven years, clean and dry the bones and then ship them back to China for burial. This allowed plots to be reused. This practice stopped in 1933 during the Chinese Civil War.

All in all, a wonderful day! The next time you have an afternoon to enjoy the weather, I recommend feeding the seals and walking along the ocean to find the Chinese Cemetery.