super fun time Vancouver

Ahoy,

On the morning of July 5, we made the long and arduous 2.5 hour journey to get from Seattle to Vancouver. We scrambled around all morning picking up and prepping all sorts of stuff we probably should have started the day before, but we are adults of the irresponsible sort so you can't tell us what to do. We picked up L, our last companion, probably about 2 hours late. So punctual we are. And thus we were on our way! Shortly after, we were at the border patrol line. This is an hours long line where everybody has their cars running because border patrol just loves the environment. This ate up so many hours on our trip I don't even want to know how long it was actually that we were in the hotbox. Probably forever. A and I were in the back with the sun approaching from behind and onto my lap. Also, my window had stopped working. So in a state of roasting, I scrambled onto A's lap and stuck my head out his window, like I had seen a dog doing earlier, effectively usurping A's seat. After making it past the border, it seemed like within minutes we were in Vancouver.

Our first stop was for boba at this place that totally played us for suckers in so many ways. First, it was cash only. Second, their conversion ratio was .9 USD to 1CD (it was actually 1.08 USD = 1CD). And then, staying there meant the drinks cost more. We were a bunch of suckers. After this blast of sugar, we went hunting for a cash exchange place at the mall. Success. I gawked at the market, and got hurried out to check in to the hotel because I would have eaten everything had we stayed a second longer. We watched hotel tv (read: Food Network) for a while and headed back out to the Afghan Horsemen for dinner where everybody loaded up on a lot of meat. We tucked in for the night to head out bright and early for Squamish the next day.

Our final day in Vancouver, we had realized that Chinatown in Vancouver did not actually hold any cultural or culinary significance. We opted to find dim sum in Burnaby, near our hotel, and apparently where the actual Chinese people live. This was probably one of the best dim sum places I've been to, and my companions will agree. We ate a ton of food and didn't regret any of it. The restaurant is in a mall, and we picked up boba before we left to do more things in Vancouver.






Our first destination was Queen Elizabeth Park. They have a conservatory there that I walked into (read: snuck), but seeing the boys did not follow - came back out to walk the grounds. The water feature is excellent for playing. You must go! And don't forget your swimsuits like we did. We went back to the neighborhood of Gastown where the boys were super impressed with the coffee. Also, we got to drive through Stanley Park (bathroom break because the boys have bladders the size of a pea) before heading to the Granville Island Public Market for dinner. O and L were still full from dim sum (unimpressive pansy appetites). A and I got some bread at the market, which promptly got snatched right out of my hand by a seagull as soon as I stepped out on the patio. Imagine taking candy from a kid. I am not kidding. There were witnesses. This really happened. I went inside and explained my situation, they were sympathetic and gave me a new one I quickly stowed away because the seagulls are aggressive and I wasn't about to let them make a sucker out of me twice. A and I finagled the end of the line to get our final order of fish & chips before we headed back to America. And no seagulls stole our food this time.

I learned about Vancouver when I was a student at Berkeley, so it was super interesting for me to see this city. There's an incredible amount of money and development here influenced by Hong Kong. I've never been to HK, but from pictures I've seen - the architectural styles and glass high rises everywhere could be a page out of HK, no?

delightfully fed,
jt