That's how I heard about the place, by the way. Canadians. I got a free geography lesson just for mentioning the Northwest Territories within earshot of my Ottawa-born friend Jeff. We were sauntering down a back alley in Korea one day with our English friend Adam and our English-speaking friend, Charles. These four steadfast gourmands were on their way to try a little sannakji (live baby octopus, eaten while it's still wriggling). Somehow or other we got to talking about places we'd all like to visit someday, and I mentioned that the Northwest Territories sounded like an interesting sort of place.
Jeff promptly informed me that, well, the Northwest Territories had been split up a few years back. I believe it had something to do with Inuit tribal claims to the area, which the Canadian government decided to honor. The western portion retained the same name, but the rest of it, including Baffin Island (pictured above), became Nunavut. It's officially its own place now. Got some representatives in Canadian Parliament, its own postal code, even its own official territorial bird (the rock ptarmigan, sweet!). The place still covers three time zones, even though it's half the size of the former Northwest Territories. It's pretty much a lot of coastline and Arctic islands.
Looks pretty wild, doesn't it? And now it has the significant distinction of being the newest Canadian territory: double the reason for checking the place out.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
random travel destinations - Canada
At the urging of a fellow blogger, I've revived this serial sooner than expected. (The original second-release date was 2059.) I've picked a place that not many people have heard of, and even the ones who have find hard to pronounce...unless they're an Inuit or a Canadian. It's called Nunavut.
That's how I heard about the place, by the way. Canadians. I got a free geography lesson just for mentioning the Northwest Territories within earshot of my Ottawa-born friend Jeff. We were sauntering down a back alley in Korea one day with our English friend Adam and our English-speaking friend, Charles. These four steadfast gourmands were on their way to try a little sannakji (live baby octopus, eaten while it's still wriggling). Somehow or other we got to talking about places we'd all like to visit someday, and I mentioned that the Northwest Territories sounded like an interesting sort of place.
Jeff promptly informed me that, well, the Northwest Territories had been split up a few years back. I believe it had something to do with Inuit tribal claims to the area, which the Canadian government decided to honor. The western portion retained the same name, but the rest of it, including Baffin Island (pictured above), became Nunavut. It's officially its own place now. Got some representatives in Canadian Parliament, its own postal code, even its own official territorial bird (the rock ptarmigan, sweet!). The place still covers three time zones, even though it's half the size of the former Northwest Territories. It's pretty much a lot of coastline and Arctic islands.
Looks pretty wild, doesn't it? And now it has the significant distinction of being the newest Canadian territory: double the reason for checking the place out.
That's how I heard about the place, by the way. Canadians. I got a free geography lesson just for mentioning the Northwest Territories within earshot of my Ottawa-born friend Jeff. We were sauntering down a back alley in Korea one day with our English friend Adam and our English-speaking friend, Charles. These four steadfast gourmands were on their way to try a little sannakji (live baby octopus, eaten while it's still wriggling). Somehow or other we got to talking about places we'd all like to visit someday, and I mentioned that the Northwest Territories sounded like an interesting sort of place.
Jeff promptly informed me that, well, the Northwest Territories had been split up a few years back. I believe it had something to do with Inuit tribal claims to the area, which the Canadian government decided to honor. The western portion retained the same name, but the rest of it, including Baffin Island (pictured above), became Nunavut. It's officially its own place now. Got some representatives in Canadian Parliament, its own postal code, even its own official territorial bird (the rock ptarmigan, sweet!). The place still covers three time zones, even though it's half the size of the former Northwest Territories. It's pretty much a lot of coastline and Arctic islands.
Looks pretty wild, doesn't it? And now it has the significant distinction of being the newest Canadian territory: double the reason for checking the place out.
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3 comments:
Well, I don't feel very Canadian anymore after reading this. I had no clue about any of it. Fascinating! The name Nunavut alone makes me want to go there.
So you'll eat live octopus but not asparagus - I don't quite know what to make of that :)
Well, it's possible this is all an elaborate hoax perpetrated by the highest levels of the Canadian government, and Jeff is their special agent in the field...but it sounds pretty convincing. Yeah, I forget what the name Nunavut means but just the IDEA that there's a NEW TERRITORY in the FAR NORTH of CANADA makes me say "cool."
Come on. Octopus beats asparagus any day of the week. Tastes better. Texture's better, too. I'll take rubbery over slimy and stringy.
Beautiful. And I find it very interesting that a place with less than 30K inhabitants has four official languages.
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