Raiveran

If you pay for the headphone tour, take everything off your schedule; you’ll be there for hours. There is simply too much information per place of interest for any human to take in. I suggest just walking through, though the lady further down the review list is right; once in the castle, you have to follow its winding halls with everyone else.

It’s an important part of Scottish history, but don’t get too caught up in seeing everything. Take it in as it is.

I’ve been to museums in almost every major city in the UK. This one was the best. The exhibits were lovely and interesting, and the notecards on them were in plain English. This is also a museum children are allowed in, and an effort has been made to have the exhibits make sense instead of posturing them for pretension’s sake. The architecture is absolutely fantastic. I loved this place far more than the Royal Museum in London or the Gallery in Inverness.

Meaford is a quaint little town with nice shops. The only issue is a love/hate relationship with the soldiers who come in from nearby CFB Meaford. Other than that, it’s a typical, nice, little town.

As bases go, not bad, though I suggest that’s because of its nearness to civilization. It’s well-kempt and orderly, has a McDonald’s and a surprisingly good sports bar. It’s quite well maintained for an army base. The best part is, you can drive to Toronto in only a couple of hours.

If you’re white, go to West Van. If all you want is a beach, go to West Van. If you want ridiculously laid-out roads and traffic laws, go to West Van. If you want the most inconsiderate drivers in the area, go to West Van. If you want ancient malls with repulsive bathrooms, go to West Van. If you want people to stare at you if you’re not driving a nice enough car, go to West Van. If you enjoy xenophobic old white people with a lot of money and time, go to West Van.

By city bylaw, not even a convenience store is allowed to stay open past 9PM in West Vancouver. The lone exception is a 7-11 which secured permission to stay open until 11PM. Please don’t disbelieve me when I tell you that if you are not white and a police officer sees you in a residential area, they will stop you and ask what you’re doing there. This city is run by and for old, very wealthy people who are mostly very white. They have their own police and their own buses apart from the rest of the Greater Vancouver Regional District, which is supplied buses by the provincial now-private company, Translink, which also runs the SkyTrain and is responsible for maintaining roads. In the most expensive area in the most expensive city in Canada, what do you think those people pay to keep their little area safe and secure?


Go to visit, there are some amazing houses and nice beaches. Just remember you’re only a guest, and can’t stay long. Welcome to the true face of West Vancouver.

Who would brag about having gone to Abbotsford? It has per capita the highest population of gangsters in BC. It’s split between church-goers (there are a LOT of churches there!) and gangsters. It’s not worth stopping in; there is nothing here that you can’t get somewhere else.

Every time I go there I must say I’m really surprised at how polite and friendly people who work there are! It’s beautiful, the valley is stunning, and it gets really nice and hot in the summer!

It’s surrounded by mountains and full of eerily silent townies. That’s fairly it.

I went to this place in 1994, and I have to say it was terribly old, broken-down looking and boring. Homer Simpson was right when he decried having to go there. Hopefully it’s changed since then and they’ve updated something If you’re far too young to know the difference, I’m sure it’d be just as exciting as something else with creepy rides from the 60’s.

Zihuatanejo is the poverty-stricken airport town down the road from Ixtapa, a government-planned resort town n the state of Guerrero. Despite the “5000 rooms” available for tourists in Ixtapa, or the fact that cruise ships stop there, or that the staff for Ixtapa probably comes exclusively from there, the people of Zihua live in abject poverty, which apparently is “normal”. Zihua is a good lesson for tourists who don’t usually spend a lot of time thinking about where their services come from. There are many shops and artisans. Beware the haggling of vendors – the prices are inflated. The prices are not in perspective, they’re in American dollar values. This means that you won’t get very much at rock bottom prices – goods are just as expensive as in any American resort town.

Beware the conversion problem you’ll have; prices are listed EVERYWHERE in pesos, then American dollars. If you’re using Canadian money, you’ll get confused. 500 pesos is $5.00. 5000 pesos is $50.00. Look at the bills you have and make sure you understand how much you really have left.

There are some places of subdued beauty in Zihua. I suggest the beach. The town itself is crowded, low-rise and decrepit. The people are mostly polite, though I personally wondered how they felt about their lives and town being invaded by white tourists. Keep in mind that 95% of the population is Catholic; try not to walk around in your bikini top, wear a shirt or tank over it. The families seem happy as units, and the community does plays (I think mostly morality plays) and other types of things.

I think the last bus to Ixtapa leaves at 1AM. If you miss it, it’s a $15.00 cab ride for you. Wander in the tourist district down side streets between the “tourist” market and the military base. There are lots of small, nice, bars and restaurants.