Prince George: Treasure Trove Casino

Shawn and I were going out of our minds with boredum this evening so we decided to head out for a bit. We went to the mall, wandered around aimlessly and then on our way back home made a quick detour to the Treasure Trove Casino.

I withdrew a $50 from the ATM which had a ridiculous service fee of $1.75 and we proceeded to wander around. Honestly we weren't there to be gamblers, we were just bored and neither of us had stepped foot in the place before.

So we played a cheap slots and both of us were down. After about 30-40 minutes and down about 30-40 dollars we were on our way out the door when I decided to throw my last $10 in to a $0.25 machine. I kept hitting max bet which was $0.75 per play and on the second last hit before I would have lost it all I got three full bars across.

So 45 minutes in the Casino left me down $2.75 (most of which was the ATM service fee).

The Casino in general is nothing special, it's mainly slot machines with two texas hold'em tables and a variety of other table games (about 12-15 tables in total).

Prince George, BC, Canada

As most of my readers probably know already, after I returned back to Canada from my year long vacation I headed up to Prince George, BC, Canada.

I have some wonderful friends up there who opened their home to me while I was getting back on my feet after decimating my entire savings.

I got up there in the middle of January 2008 and ended up leaving in April 2008. Though it was nice staying with friends I can't say that I really enjoyed my time there.

There isn't a lot of IT industry which is my primary background and I found myself installing security, cable and communications infrastructure in new homes. Unfortunately things didn't work out with that job and I ended up quiting around two months after I started. After hearing about some family problems down south in Vancouver and finding work difficult I decided to make the move back to Vancouver.

Below are a few pages, mostly related to restaurants while I was in Prince George. I found the service industry severely lacking and wanted to try and get the point across to the city of Prince George by drawing some attention to the fact. I find that people get so used to the poor treatment that they after some time fail to realize the substandard service because they think it has become normal.

1. Treasure Trove Casino
2. Vaisakhi Parade 2008
3. Clean up the VLA (Prince George Ghetto)
4. A VLA Crack House
5. Kalo Donair
6. Ricky's - Prince George
7. The Carmel Restaurant
8. Huskey Diner
9. Prince George Service Industry
10. Sledge Hockey Tournament
    

Tourist Information Tallinn Estonia

Arched Doorway
Originally uploaded by kden604.

Tallinn is a beautiful city in the northern part of Eastern Europe. The "Old Town" is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is very well deserved. Tallinn is quite a modern city in the downtown area, which makes a beautiful contrast to the "Old Town" only a couple of hundred metres away.

Tallinn was first mentioned in history in 1154 by an Arab geographer named Al-ldrsi on his "map of the world." Today it is a developing city of just over 400,000 people according to a 2007 census. Tallinn is an important Sea Port city and has multiple daily ferries running between Rostock, Stockholm and Helsinki.

Tallinn is an extremely touristic city. There is roughly 4-5 hostels operating in the Old Town area as well as one in the Kristine area. The airport is only a short 10 minute ride from town with a city bus that runs twice hourly for 15 EKK.

There are several tourist information centres in Tallinn, in the city centre there is a large Viru Plaza Mall just across the street from the entrance to "Old Town" which has a tourist information centre on the main floor. This is also the same building that houses the public city buses (not international ones).

The other Tourism Information Centre is located near the main square in the Old Town:

Tallinn Tourist Information Centre
Kullassepa 4 / Niguliste 2, 10146 Tallinn, Estonia
Phone: +372 645 7777
email: turisminfo@tallinnlv.ee
web: www.tourism.tallinn.ee

The Tallinn card

If you are staying in Tallinn for any length of time, it might be advisable to try and save money buy purchasing the Tallinn Card. This card gives you free admission to many of the cities tourist attractions and it generally a good value. There are several cards you can purchase, from 6 hours to 72 hours.

The Tallinn card can be purchased from the tourist information centres or you can find more information about them at their website.

General Information

Population: 400,000
Currency: EEK (1 Euro = Approx 15.5 EKK)
Time: GMT +2
Emergency Phone: 112

Language

Hello - Tere
Goodbye - Nagemist
Please - Palun
Thank You - Tanan
Sorry - Vabandust
Help - Appi
How Much? - Kui Palju?

More Interesting Language

Hello my dear - Tere, Kallis
Cheers - Terviseks
Hello, I love you - Tere, ma armastan Sind
Marry me - Tule mulle naiseks
Give me a kiss - Anna mulle musi
I can't understand a word - Ma ei saa muhvigi aru
You have a nice ass - Sul on kena tagumik
I am not a stupid tourist - Ma ei ole turistinass

Money Matters

Tallinn is very touristic, sadly that comes at a price. You always pay a premium when you are in a high tourist area. But here are a few prices to give you an idea of what to expect.

Hostel Room (Dorm) - 19 Euro
Hotel Room (Private) - 30 Euro
Hotel Room for 2 - 42 Euro
Apartments - 60-160 Euro
Fuel - 1 Euro / Litre
0.5L Beer (Restaurant) - 3,25 Euro
Slice of Pizza (Restaurant) - 3,50 Euro
Slice of Pizza (Grocery Store) - 1,25 Euro
Cigarettes - 1,50 Euro - 2,50 Euro

Hostels

Tallinn Backpackers - 12 Euro
Old House Hostel - 19 Euro (VERY POSH)
Viru 5 (Part of Tallinn Backpackers) - 20 Euro
Old Town Backpackers - 13 Euro
Chillout Apartments - 12 Euro

Popular Bars

Hell Hunt
Pub With No Name
Scotland Yard Pub
Woodstock
Depeche Mode Bar

Adult Entertainment

There are loads of strip tease and sex clubs in Tallinn, there is about three in the "Old Town" area and at least five more in the city centre. The women are hot and the drinks are reasonably priced, or at least similar to the high tourist prices in most of the Old Town area. There are also many casinos of different sizes in the city if you are in to gambling!

Transportation

The city of Tallinn is very small and can easily be walked across in less than one hour. However you may still need to get public transportation or a taxi from time to time. The airport has an express bus that leaves from the bus terminal in Viru shopping centre for 15 EKK and there are loads of trams and buses to take you to all corners of the city.

Taxi service can be a little bit frustrating, and I would like to share a little quote from the tourist information office.

Tallinn's taxis are somewhat notorious for overcharging - even locals get ripped off. Ask for an estimate of how much the ride will be beforehand. If it is more than 150 EKK then you must be going out of town or they are cheating you [normal price 1km = 6-8 EKK, starting rate 35-45 EKK].