Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Park

Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Park was a tourist magnet with as many as six million visitors annually, but it was about time for another visit starting with the rose garden. The park was established back in the 1930s after a mountain had been quarried for rocks for road building. To cover the eye sore left from quarrying, two sunken gardens were established. 

Vancouver’s Chinatown

Vancouver’s Chinatown covered more than three square blocks. Its heart was either side of Pender Street East but there were other streets where I glimpsed every kind of remedy inside Chinese herbal stores, grocery shops stocked a variety of Chinese vegetables and tea shops with a distinctly different aroma.

Stanley Park

This is my daughter’s favourite park in the world. I get the attraction. It’s a huge 400 hectare site with nearly nine kilometres of walk/cycle/roller blade trails that skirt the park plus internal trails. The view of the sea and surrounding coastline is to die for and I’m impressed too. I hiked the ocean view trail and liked the two paths—one for walkers and a separate for the faster cycle users. For me, it’s an impressive park but far from my favourite. 

Bukit Batok nature park

Set close to the centre of Singapore Island, I hiked towards an abandoned quarry site in Bukit Batok Nature Park. Not only the sound of birds hovered in the air, but a distant wooden flute breezed a relaxing melody through the park that was established in 1988. When I reached the old quarry, now filled with water, a man faced the lake, his flute notes echoing off the cliff face opposite. His melodies rang through most of the park which was in the process of eliminating all plants that weren’t native to Singapore so that it would truly be a nature park.

changi parks

Returning on the bumboat from Pulau Ubin Island, Changi Village and the nearby parks beckoned. At the ferry terminal I headed to Changi Point Coastal Walk first. A trail wrapped its way over the shoreline where I was one of only a handful of other hikers. 

tainan city’s parks

I entered Wu garden positioned between city buildings that blocked out the sound of traffic. Unfortunately for me, a band started playing and it was no longer the peaceful nook it had been when I first entered.

Taitung’s wetlands

Complementary bicycles were available at the place I stayed at in Taitung, so I took full advantage and cycled towards Taitung’s Forest Park. I passed the fifth person in Taiwan I’d seen peeing at the side of the road — two had been women!

Gardens by the Bay’s Super tree grove

I arrived at the most photographed place in Singapore and lucked out on two counts — it was nine in the morning before tourist buses arrived and a weekday.

Busan’s Dongbaek Park

I climbed to the highest point in Dongbaek Park expecting a view of the East Sea from this southern part of Busan, but dense forest gave this section an enclosed feeling. Descending the steps on the southern end of the peninsula, the sea stretched out with a 180 degree view.

Yeouido Park

Amidst shimmering highrise buildings and the constant hum of traffic sat a rectangular oasis of calm — Yeouido Park. I planned to avoid Seoul’s tourist meccas that fine morning and picked the perfect location.