It takes about 4 hours in all to get from Vancouver to Kelowna. I think it’s about 400 km in all. We took Highway 5, which is better known as the Coquihalla Highway. This is the more scenic route as it climbs up very rugged and spectacular scenery.

Along the route, there are a lot of creeks and rivers. We stopped by one of them for a few minutes.

There are hundred of miles of greenery along the route. I am always amazed with the sheer size of the forests in British Columbia. BC is beautiful because of the abundance of nature.

For the past few years, the mountain pine beetle has infested much of the forests. It is a major concern in BC because there is no effective way to contain the infestation. The only effective way to contain the beetles is to have a prolonged freeze of -40C to kill them off. Winter never gets that cold in this part of BC.

You can see that the infestation has taken root with the forest turning flaming red. This is the beginning of the end of the tree and within a couple of years, they will completely die and turn the scenery grayish.

The Coquihalla Highway is the only road that is tolled in British Columbia. The rate for a passenger car is $10. Many cars stops at the toll plaza for a kidney break and to stretch their legs.

We just gotta blog about food. Here is the little bucket of snacks that we brought along.

We want to share with everyone a popular Malaysian snack called Ground Peanut Cookies. We bought this from the Big Crazy grocery store in Richmond. Each pack of 12 “cookies” costs about $2.

Although the English word translates to Ground Peanut Cookies, I think it’s more apt to describe this as a candy. This is a sweet snack with the outside crunchy with a crumbly insides.