Monday, November 05, 2007

trip to toronto

It was a whirlwind 2 weeks - however, did manage to get a day off from the weekend. Drove around downtown TO, took a few snaps and met up with a few friends from the large social circle, I have in the Toronto area.

A few pics from the trip.

Snapped this, as we took off from NYC, love the colours of the sunset, just brilliant, subtle and, quite calming. Reminds me of sunset views from my home in SHJ (minus the elevation)


That city all lit up is downtown Buffalo, a city in upstate New York, which borders Ontario, Canada. It's just about an hour's drive from Toronto to Buffalo. Today, given the rise of the Canadian$ (or rather depreciation of the US$)many Canadians drive into Buffalo for quick shopping and huge bargains - some at half the Canadian prices.

The US portion of Niagara falls lies close to Buffalo. That dark black pitch, is lake Ontario.


The cluster of high rises is uptown Toronto (Yonge/Sheppard) area. I used to live in one of those buildings, whilst in Toronto, years ago.


View from the hotel room in downtown - the view faces north on Yonge street. I try and stay at this hotel as often as possible, and even try to have the same room - takes away some stress from constant travels.


Daily downtown Toronto traffic - there simply, are no roads!


A Falun Gong rally in downtown. Must admit, having grown up pretty much oblivious to live demonstrations/rallies, sighting one does make me a bit anxious - especially all that shouting by lead demonstrators. Feels so odd.



Fall colours in the city



Whilst taxing on the runway, I noticed this beautiful "lady", proudly draped in red, white, green and black - looking stunning at the Toronto's Pearson Airport.



Finally, glad to be home, sweet home.

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

Im really upset that I cant see the pics.. as you know most of DRLILLIY blog is about my travels and my podcasts are from my shots during sightseeing.. so you can imagine how much I like to look at pictures people take of places they visit.. but its blocked in Saudi.. :(
My pictures when I place them on my http://funlilliy.blogspot.com I cant see them when Im in Saudi but I know they are there.. when I place my pictures on DRLILLIY I see them becasue of my mac account.. :)
Looks like you had fun in the big TO.. lol..
No visit to Montreal ? I hope you get to see it soon before the winter..

rosh said...

Sorry to hear that Jovial - email me at lostuaeian@gmail.com. I'd be happy to email you the pics.

Nice to hear from you, hope you are keeping well :)

Anonymous said...

Oh Lord.. you made me flash-back Rosh with these pics..
I hope one day I become friends with Toronto again ! For now, the memories are still draining me!
Hope you had good time :)

Anonymous said...

BTW, not all pics are showing on the screen.. ???

rosh said...

I've reposted the pics IYM, hopefully these are now, visible.

Anonymous said...

Two pics are visiable to me this time.. I see the view from the hotl and the fall trees.. very nice! you have a good eye when it comes to capturing the pics.
Which hotel did you stay in in the big TO?

rosh said...

hmmmm, all pics are visble to me now? Will try and repost again - not sure what is going on?

Thanks Jovial :) I stay at the Marriot in downtown.

Amna_a said...

wow I like the pictures! Hope it was good, it looks like it :)

BuJ said...

PS: I Can see a lot of pictures.. possibly all of them.

BuJ said...

so Jovial = Lilly? i never figured it out.. hmmm i wonder why use the two names eh?

I missed the 307 incident.. but i'm getting more suspicious about IYM.. this woman has powers...

actually it ties in .. coz the pictures were taken from an elevation that's of the same order of magnitude as the 3rd floor, keeping in mind the americans name the ground floor as level 1.

and seven is a lucky number .. so it's all done :)

yalla IYM.. should we both pay Roshy a visit? You'll bring chocolates and i'll cook some biryani :)

Lilliy said...

Buj.. its originally liliy but before i made a blog when I commented on IYM s blog I used Jovial because that always was my chat name.. when I started the blog I used my nickname which is Lilliy but I kept Jovial for the chat box and comments on IYM and kind of got known by it on her blog so I kept it..
Any how now because when Im logged in my blogger display name is lilliy I just post it..
I think I should just switch to Lilliy on bloggers comments and still keep jovial on the chat box with IYM and in mine..
yes yes I know I cant make up my mind Im a female and I can be given the excuse.. lol

BuJ said...

hey, at least it's an interesting story ya Lilly.. thanks for that.

Now I know, most importantly, that you're the same person.. and that's good!

Where are you now? USA or KSA?

awshubbar said...

Glad you enjoyed T.O. In fact I’m in Montreal, never knew you lived in Canada once upon a time...We have such similar stories it's scary...

That Emirates Airline is the new one-way from UAE to North America (cut Europe, the middle man, out!) great isn’t it?

Next time you're in Canada, drop by Montreal; it would be a pleasure to meet you!

Anonymous said...

Lilliy.. I like to call you Jovial on blogs.. I miss you big time girl:)
BuJ; you cook Biryani ? yumm yumm.. need a plate now, medium spice, the original style please..

BuJ said...

of course i cook biryani, thareed, (not harees, yet), couscous, hummous, many salads, all pastas, and my jewel is wara2 3inab :)

you gotta come to a BuJ dinner sometime.. they are yummy but not frequent unfortunately

rosh said...

BuJ - it's scary, you not only look like A'jad, but now "sound" like him, given that last comment hahahaha :)

Yes Mr BuJ - we'd love to have some of your home cooked Biryane, am sure you are a gifted cook mate :)

BuJ said...

which last comment ya Rosh?

you got me all worried!

rosh said...

Ahmed - thanks mate, pleasure to know you too. Yup Emirates direct to TO and to NYC JFK is brilliant. Etihad flies direct to JFK as well. Did you know, both Emirates and Etihad depart JFK one after the other? Yup, I've seen Emirates take off and Ethihad right next in que taxing to take off at JFK - both to the UAE :)

Qatar Airways now flies into Newark in NJ - am sure they'll put TO in it's list soon. Not to worry though, Emirates has DXB, Qatar has Doha - that's a miles and light years to catch up for Qatar Air :)

rosh said...

hahahaha lol! your on-line boy? The one to lilly aka Jovial :)

BuJ said...

yeap. that's me, and i'm online :P

rosh said...

Oh I didn't see your comment on Biryani :) Man you can cook all that? WOW, am beyond impressed ya rayaal :)

I make (bad) toast, coffee and oh yes, can COOK (read microwave) frozen dinners :)

BuJ said...

hala Rosh.. yeah I can attempt biryani and a few others.. just learnt the biryani earlier this year.. so not a pro.. but i can still order as quickly as i used to back in my university days :-)

and of course there's always mamma!

Amna_a said...

I can do all that, rosh, AND make eggs ;)

I'm so useless, I need to learn to cook if I'm going to get an apartment someday!

BuJ said...

eh, you don't need to cook to live by yourself! you just need to live near a few restaurants.. i find it better to choose an area with a selection of restaurants coz pizza everyday can get boring (and make you fat!)

happy flat-hunting!

al-republican said...

Hey, I am planning a trip to Canada (Ottawa) soon in sha Allah! I am going alone and hopefully coming back with my better half.

How is the place in february?

rosh said...

Si si a pizza has lotsa cals man, stay away from pizza's!

Al - Feb may not be the best time to visit Ottawa, unless you are aiming for it all on Valentine's day :)

Feb's bloody freezing + you've got white sh*t all over. I would recommend Spring, say early May or Mid-May or even June, just before summer sets in. Ottawa is quite pretty that time of the year - and it'd make a fantastic background/ambiance, should you take to the knees and pop a question : ) : ) : ) : )

Gooooooooood Luck mate!

Send us pictures please : )

i*maginate said...

OK, as usual, I miss all the action.

Some new chick(s) on the block, so highly jealous.

Additionally, the talk of biryani is getting someone's tastebuds rolling.

Question is

1)Why no harees, Buj?
2)Is Al Republican hooked on Golden Fork?
3)Is 7up addicted to Pepsi?
4)Has rosh recovered from his flu?

Peace, love and mwaaaaahhhhs to all ;-)

Al Sinjab said...

Buj, I wish I could high five you. It's all about living near good, affordable restaurants and having an excellent home delivery phone book.

Five beautiful reasons I stopped cooking when I moved to the UAE:

1. Al Sahari
2. Al Farouj
3. Ranoosh
4. The Grand
5. Saif Khaleej Cafeteria (formerly King of Berger, the double 'e' is its charm)

Amna_a said...

we're waiting for a new post, rosh! :)

BuJ said...

hey Al Sinjab, surely you can still high-five me.. especially given your musical talents :)

Al Sinjab said...

No musical talents, only appreciation :)

Okey dokey smokey, here is your virtual high five. *thwack*

No, no. A virtual high five just isn't the same :(

BuJ said...

Lol al sinjaba.. how old are you? :P

you want the real deal hi 5 :P

hey didn't u say somewhere that you're a pianist too.. or did i just read your poems?

Al Sinjab said...

Early twenties. A bit old according to most taxi drivers, but with a year or two left for marriage due to my youthful looks.

Buj, you have to understand it's basically my job to high five people. Some read personalities by their handshakes, I go by the high five.

No poetry, unless you consider a
> vanilla ice parody
lyrical magic. As for music, you very kindly wrote out one of your compositions for me, which I really really appreciated. So when is your songbook coming out so the rest of us can take the joy of playing your pieces?

BuJ said...

so it's true, you're a girl?!?!
i had my suspicions but it's confirmed.. that's so weird, coz for many months, especially after reading the beautiful vanilla ice rhymes i thought you were a guy :)

can i please have your job too? hi fiving sure beats engineering any gloomy day!

as for music, i guess you refer to http://bujassem.blogspot.com/2006/07/mkd-piano-album-5.html

wow, glad you still remember :)

I read in the comments that you're a grade 3, which is good enough in my books to record for us a small composition!

i still can't believe ur a lil girly :-) my lord!

will try to publish more music.. but u know it's kinda hard since i see my pieces more as variations/improvisations rather than compositions.. but hey, i'll do my best :)

Al Sinjab said...

"Lil girly"!?!

Oh my word Buj, you don't know how bad that sounds to my Canadian ears! Just assume from now on that I am 400 pound monster squirrel.

Anyways, don't you think that women listen to Vanilla Ice? :) Ok, ok, it's my older brother's influence...

Plus, men don't usually get excited about Hrithik Roshan or complain about marriage propositions. :)

I am serious about you doing a songbook. Couldn't you hire a company so you don't have the tedium of writing out every note and crescendo? Your music tickles my fingers to play again.

I was using the grade 6 songbook when my teacher left, but it's been so many years since I've played regularly that I don't know where I am anymore. Besides, I don't think composition is something that necessarily follows with good technique. If only! But I'll tell you what - if you do a Dubai-Bollywood-Musical I will help you with the lyrics ;)

And of course I remember, I really appreciated all the work that goes into writing that out!

Al Sinjab said...

Oh yeah - Eid photos are on their way. They disappeared so I am waiting for my Dad to send me his...

ps. I think you could probably make high 5s part of your job. Whenever good things happen you can bring in the high 5, and as long as it's done with respect and solemnity I think it always goes down well :)

BuJ said...

I think we got ourselves a nickname for you my RAK Piano Rookie :-)

You HAVE to play something plsssss.. anything!

hmmmmmmm al sinjab

"Plus, men don't usually get excited about Hrithik Roshan or complain about marriage propositions. :)"

hmmm ya sinjabaaaa.. I think you got me mistaken with someone else.. I won't say who just now :)

khalas i'll start working on the writing down of my music.. just the themes though.. btw i've written a few but not published them yet.. and one last thing.. i do not do musicals.. especially for bollywood!