Quartier Chinois (Chinese Quarter)
Why is it called Chinese Quarter instead of Chinatown like most other cities - 2 possible reasons - it was too tiny to be considered a "Chinatown" and/or there is no word in French for "Chinatown" . The "Chinese Quarter" as in the "Latin Quarter" probably sounds more sexy in French but not to be mistaken in English translation as a "quarter Chinese" or "China's quarter" - in which case there would be an "au, de, du, ne, le, la" or something grammatical in between the words "Quartier" and "Chinois" - and not to be mistaken as a drug lord's hang out!
Chinatown in Montreal is located behind - the Complexe Desjardins and is rather cute but tiny.
It has a typical Chinese "Arcade" where the outside looks better then the inside and half the shops inside the building are either empty or look like market stalls set up selling typical Chinese wares such as trinkets, ornaments, traditional Chinese clothing/costume (cheung sarm), slippers and other footwear to maybe a herbalist but always including a Chinese restaurant of some sort and/or a Chinese grocery store. Always available are free Chinese newspapers on help yourself newspaper stands/holders.
Nearby there is always at least one Chinese Bank - a small HSBC was around the corner from Chinatown.
There were several Chinese bakery cafes and restaurants.
More Chinese grocery stores and the all important Chinese Friendship Garden and Chinese Association Building - I am unsure which Chinese Association was present in Montreal but it wasn't the Chungshan Association.
I would now like to talk about these bakery cafes, banking and bubble tea in Montreal's Chinatown.
I went to the nearest HSBC in Montreal's Chinatown to use the ATM which failed to accept my Australian HSBC card therefore waited in line for customer service. One of the tellers was a French Canadian serving a Chinese Canadian. It was rather funny listening to a tri lingual French Canadian speaking fluent Chinese to a Chinese speaking Canadian customer at the same time as speaking fluent French and Chinese to his Chinese speaking Chinese work collegues who spoke to each other in fluent Chinese but responded to the French Canadian teller in Fluent French and speaking fluent English to me a Chinese Australian who speaks fluent English and Chinese as well as basic French. Confused? I was but intrigued! Were they able to help me in the end ? Nope. Let's move on.
I mentioned the number of bakeries, cafes and restaurants in Chinatown - there certainly were. I was surprised to find a Chatime bubble tea - Chatime is well known around the world especially around Australia - here in Montreal's tiny Chinatown it was a single tiny hole in the wall outlet - which is all is needed for producing bubble tea. Around Canada bubble tea is readily available however it is not mass produced at bubble tea producing chain outlets such as Chatime or the now defunct chain of Easy Way outlets like it is in Australia or parts of Asia.
Onto my visit to bakery cafes and patisseries in Montreal's tiny Chinatown and there was certainly no shortage of them although again not chain stores like Breadtop or 85 degrees which mass produce breads buns pastries and cakes around Australia. Montreal being a French Canadian city, it would be expected that the quality would be of a higher standard as well as producing a lower quantity of them.
I walked into the first bakery cafe I saw in Chinatown and spent so much time in there - there were cold pastries hot pastries hot buns cold buns loaves of different breads tarts flavoured mochis biscuits cakes etc. So much choice but what I really wanted was to try a Chinese custard or egg tart and a Portugese tart at the same time from the same bakery - something that does not exist in Chinese bakeries in Australia. Portugese tarts are sold at a local supermarket chain (Woolworths) back in Sydney and Chinese custard or egg tarts are only sold in Chinese bakeries.
Unfortunately all the Portugese tarts were sold out therefore I just purchased a Chinese custard or egg tart and asked what the difference was between the two in Chinese - apparently Portugese tarts are sweeter and made with a different type of milk - I think full cream or sweetened condensee milk whereas the Chinese custard egg tart is made with skim milk . Possibly a difference in type of pastry case as well - Portugese tarts tend to look more like a cross between "bruled" as in creme Brule and dry "caramelised" as in creme caramel. Altbough both tarts are yummy I think I do like the Portugese tart a little more.
In the end I purchased a few flavoured mochis, a Chinese custard or egg tart and a chicken bun of some sort.
I think I was really missing Chinese food that is readily available on the Western Coast of Canada but a rarity on the East.
Back to the IGA in the Complexe Desjardins to pick up some more delicious treats.
Ah more fromage turkey and mache ( or you may know it in English as lambs tongue which it actually isn't but a type of green leaf that resembles a lambs tongue). I haven't had this in years as it is not readily available in Sydney but one of my favourite greens. The fromage was goats cheese or liw lactose sliced cheese and the turkey was simply tre bon!
Another day over. Back to the hostel. Food and sleep. Tomorrow another big day out to the Biodome.
Espace pour la vie montreal
biodome
insectarium
jardin botanique
planetarium rio tinto alcan
Because of the limited time I had in Montreal I only selected the tourist attractions and places I was most interested in visiting or seeing.
Out of all the above attractions, the one attraction I had on my list to visit was the Biodome housing thousands of varieties of plants and animals from around the world from each of the 4 climatic regions of the world. To get to the Biodome it is a ride on the Metro subway to "Station Viau" on the green line which is also the location of stade oympique (Olympic Stadium).
The Biodome is not to be confused with the Biosphere which is to do with sustainability and recycling and not plants and animals located elsewhere at "Station Jean- Drapeau" on the yellow line near the ports of Montreal. The Biosphere was not open during Winter.
I loved my time at the biodome. It was divided into 4 sections
1. Foret Tropicale
2. Foret Laurentienne
3. Saint - Laurent Marin
4. Monde Polaire
My favourite section was of course Monde Polaire as you all know from reading my blogs I love the cold!
I spent most of my time watching what we call Penguins. There is much confusion between the words "pingouins" and "manchots" in the French language. You would think that the word "pingouins" in French would be the same as "penguins" in English but it is not the case it is actually "manchots" - it's actually a lot cuter when you hear parents and children yelling out with excitment " manchots, manchots, manchots!" when they see them. Whatever the word - it is basically a black and white coloured flightless bird with funny feet and beaks to me.
I must have spent hours watching and photographing the penguins. I even sat through about 4 or more mini lectures given by staff about the penguins just to watch the zoo keeper at feeding time which did not happen until 2.30 pm. They certainly eat a lot of fish!
I was taking photos of the penguins swimming in the water as they tried to get up close and personal against the glass window when a little boy with a camera phone photo bombed my photo so I just took the photo - obviously he was just trying to get even more up close and personal with the penguins. Very cute! The penguins are exactly like the different types of penguins in "Happy Feet".
Apart from spending a larger portion of my time in Monde Polaire I also spent equal amounts of time in the other 3 sections inside the biodome.
I loved the illuminated jelly fish in the tanks and my other favourite displays was Foret Laurentienne . It was actually my not my favourite in the morning because some of the animals were absent as they are nocturnal. One of the things that I found quite humorous was in the morning there were a pair of very active raccoon like animals and they were very photogenic climbing around their tree habitat in the Foret Laurentienne and I took a few photos. After my time in Monde Polaire I decide to go back to the Foret Laurentienne which was now later in the afternoon for another look in case the nocturnal animals had decided to emerge from their hiding places and venture out into their habitat - no still disappointed. I then went back to where the 2 raccoon like animals were and there was no sign of them but I did spot 2 zookeepers , one with something in a white sack slung over his shoulder and another with a crate that had something in it leave the enclosure. Everyone was looking for animals of any sort in the Foret Laurentienne and were all disappointed when there just wasn't anything to be seen. I mentioned to some people looking around that I think the zoo keepers just took them away in a sack and a crate. Disappointed I did not get to see the 2 very active raccoon like animals again, I quickly took out my stuffed possum placed him on a rock near some branches and took some photos of him in the Foret Laurentienne. People must have been desparate to see an animal -any animal and disappointed at not seeing any animals at all in this section of the biodome as I could see them walking and looking over to my stuffed possum. I quickly removed him before anyone came over and left to spent some time at one of the other sections of the biodome and have a snack and a toilet break as well as taking photos of the animals crossing signs. Kangaroos koalas ducks deer etc but no possums.
I then decided to return to the Foret Laurentienne one last time and what did I see in place of the 2 raccoon like animals I saw earlier this morning ?A big fat animal that resembled a wombat with whiskers standing on a tree trunk rearing its derrière! What was it? Was it a ground hog? I could not work out what it was as it would not show its front end. Surprised that the animals in the biodome are changed throughout the day!
Loved every minute of the biodome. Will miss the manchots though!
Final stop a look at the biodome's boutique (shop) before heading back to the city in time for the 5.45 pm Acquafit class at the YMCA.
Rating 9/10 fun for the whole family. Indoor activity therefore warm and dry. Close to the Olympic Park fitness centre and Imax Theatre if you would like to do something before or after the biodome.
POST SCRIPT - Apologies but unfortunately all my photos were destroyed on my backup Sony camera. The only surviving photo of my trip to the Biodome is the one of the little boy who photo bombed my photo of the penguins getting up close and personal which I posted on my Facebook page.
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