Vancouver Day 3

Dear Diary,

Ok, I didn't update yesterday. But I did change the comments settings so that now anyone can post comments (except spammers), so please do so. So picking up where I left off...

After a bit of the confusion of finding his way around downtown, Alex Wood showed up in his on-the-verge-of-breaking-down-but-still-funcitonal VW. Alex was on my floor in first year at Western but dropped out to start flight school. It was a little scary to find out that he's already a flight instructor, but I guess that's the way it works in his business. He says some of his students are more experienced than him, but I think it's all based on certification and the fact that he was among the top in his class (like the movie Top Gun).

It was raining. I think it's always raining here. The pilot on my plane put it best when, mid-flight, he said "Conditions in Vancouver are rainy because... well, because it rains in Vancouver from October to May." It almost never snows in Vancouver. In fact, Alex said that it snows so infrequently that you're advised to stay off the road when it does since no one understands what to do and everyone just slides around and gets into massive pile-ups. Although the warmer temperature sounds nice, I think I'd rather take a winter of deep snow over constant rain.

Alex and I went for Thai food on Robson Road (Downtown Vancouver's main strip) - some new variation of Pad Thai and a spicy chicken dish. Asian food in Vancouver is plentiful and delicious. He then showed me around the UBC campus (really nice area right by the beach) and then went to the university residential area for some Kokanee. I updated him on what everyone from first year was up to. Well I only still keep in touch with a couple of them, but it was more of a "last I heard" type of discussion.

After drinking enough to allow me to sleep in a hostel, he dropped me off and I went back to my room. It still smelled like hockey gear and someone was asleep already. After going to clean out my suitcase (my contact solution apparently opened mid-flight), I returned to find that the person from the bed below mine had shown up and was staring at me as I climbed up the ladder. "Oye," he whispered. "Don' worry 'bout it mate, I jus' got in, I did." ...I think I've heard more Australian here than anything else.

I woke up around 6am feeling miserable, but it passed and at 8:30 I happily made my way downstairs for my complimentary breakfast. Hostels with free breakfast are great because you can stuff yourself with as much food as possible and have that much less to buy later on.

I picked up a bowl of oatmeal, toast with peanut butter, a bran muffin, apples, bananas, and three glasses of orange juice, and sat down with a Japanese guy reading a map. He introduced himself as Kana from Sweden but he was born in Japan and was able to fill me in on what to do while I'm there (no new information though, everyone just says Tokyo, Kyoto, hotsprings, etc.).

After breakfast, I went to use the internet, picked up a map and headed out to explore in the rain. The waterfront has a great set of walking/biking paths and I was able to walk along the beach to Stanley Park, a huge park taking up as much space as downtown. I cut through the woods in search of something I'd found on my map called "The Lost Lagoon", but it was overly easy to find and the rain was getting heavier. I found a giant plant that looked like the type that eat people and got my picture taken in front of it, I'll upload it when I figure out how.

I ate a big greasy Chinese lunch at The Flaming Wok. I like how here the Chinese people are all speaking Cantonese like back in Hong Kong (rather than in Halifax where they speak Mandarin) because I can understand a couple of the words and can eavesdrop on exciting information such as what they're going to order to drink right before they actually order it.

I continued up Robson Street to find some clothing to buy. Most of the stores were either of the variety available in Halifax or higher end places like "Armani", so I soon remembered how much I dislike clothes shopping and decided to take my chances in Japan. I did, however, stock up on drug store items (shampoo, ziploc bags, bandaids, toothpaste, etc.) -- what an exciting post this is turning into!

With my newfound shampoo and soaps, I went back to the hostel to take a long shower and went to the internet since I'd kind of fulfilled all the things I could think to do in Vancouver on a rainy day. I drank some chocolate milk and returned to the hostel around 6pm and met two of my roommates - Dave from Australia and an older Spaniard named José.

Dave is a 23 year old electrician who arrived Friday on a one-year working visa. He says that his accent has already enabled him to make half a dozen local friends and everyone he meets has been inviting him out with them. José is a mysterious Spanish guy and is probably in his 40s, though he won't tell us anything about himself except that he's possibly in the Spanish mafia. We think he's retired and seems to spend his life just traveling, I flipped through his passport, issued earlier this year, and saw stamps from Namibia, South Africa, India, Japan, Korea and Australia. And he says he's been to most places in the world, other than Russia.

Dave, José and I went to get some sushi and beer at a nearby restaurant. The sushi in Vancouver is plentiful, cheap, varied and delicous. I ordered a "Canada roll", which involved avocado, lettuce and bacon. I also tried some Japanese beer (starts with a 'k') and it was great. Next we went to a pub off Granville Street called 'The Moose & ___' for a couple of drinks (for me, the others stayed out until 4am).

I headed back to the hostel around 11:30pm and relaxed in the TV room, discussing The Apprentice Martha Stewart with a guy from Ontario, then almost falling asleep during the Shawshank Redemption. It feels great to be tired at night-time again, I think last night was the earliest I've slept since the summer.

This morning I got up at 8:30am. Walking down the hall I saw a confused Asian repeatedly sliding his key in the door upside down with a frustrated expression on his face. I turned his card right-side up for him, it worked and he thanked me profusely. All in a day's work.

I ate the exact same for breakfast again this morning, then went back to bed. My roommates and I all went down to the travel agent around 11am, they were each trying to figure out what to do in the next few days. José is now heading to Seattle tomorrow and Dave is going to Las Vegas for the weekend. I'm a little jealous of both of them, but keep having to remind myself that I'm going to Japan tomorrow. It all seems surreal.

The weather today is beautiful. Somehow, the sun miraculously broke out in Vancouver and the sky is completely blue. The city looks much nicer like this (it was beginning to look a little slummy yesterday) and I can actually see the mountains across the backdrop of the city. I could defintely stay and live in this Vancouver.

At lunch-time my crew and I headed to a Brazilian restaurant that José had been talking about non-stop since the night before. For those of you from Hong Kong, it was just like Brazilian BBQ in Victoria Park -- Chinese guys come around with heaps of meat on skewers and cut you off whatever you want. I just wanted something light (and didn't want to spend my day's budget on lunch) so I snuck out and made my way to Subway. I savoured my Sweet Onion Chicken Terriyaki toasted sub with the realization that this might be my last one for the next year.

This afternoon I'm going to make my way back to Stanley Park, check out some other harbourfront areas and maybe hit up Granville Island or Chinatown. To find out what exactly I ended up doing, check back soon!

Ryan