A Travellerspoint blog

Jun 2005

Day 3 Vancouver, Canada

Saturday 11th June 2005

17.6.05 semi-overcast 20 °C

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statue in chinatown

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vancouver city

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Dr Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Garden

Yet another sleepless night and I take friday night back as the noise and new scottish roommates made this the night from hell. I woke up at 1am and was promptly woken up again at 4am and again at 4.30am.The hostel being bang in the middle of town was not helping at all.Vancouver is certainly very busy and lively at the weekends.Police sirens seemed to be going off every 30 minutes.Mind you after drinking to much the previous night that didn’t help and I had a banging headache.After breakfast the plan was to look around Gastown and Chinatown which putting it mildly was certainly an experience.It was certainly the dodgy and rough part of Vancouver and made certain areas of London look posh.The rundown buildings in Gastown were a complete mess and the people didn’t look like the kind to mix with.We even saw a guy in a wheelchair going backwards yelling at people (you fucking parasites) at anyone walking by.Chinatown though did have some some very nice parts especially the Dr Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden which was modelled after the gardens of the Ming Dynasty Suzhou.It was very peaceful and tranquil and I could have been very happy to sit there with a book all day.But the highlight of the day was was a trip across the water in a small boat to Granville Island where there was a festival with boats that had pirate flags and people dressed as pirates and everyone including us throwing water bombs at them as they passed.We found a restaurant overlooking the water and had yet another very nice meal.After a walk around the market simon wanted to find the car hire place where we are collecting the car from on Tuesday and after what seemed like a 20 mile hike in the heat we found it.Somehow he then managed to get us a free upgrade on the car and a lift back to the hostel ‘the guy could talk his way out of a prison sentence’.Later that night simon and I went to the hostel bar for a couple of beers and some food while watching Mike Tyson take a beating in the boxing match.It ended up being a fairly early night and I got in around 10.30pm praying some sleep of a good few hours was on its way.

Posted by -reece- 11:28 AM Archived in Backpacking | Canada

Day 2 Vancouver, Canada

Friday 10th June 2005

10.6.05 - 10.6.05 sunny 23 °C
View Reece´s Around the World Trip on -reece-'s travel map.

See the itinerary of this trip, and details about each destination.
That was possibly the worse the worst nights sleep ever.With the effects of jetlag,people coming into the room or people snoring and the noise of sirens and car alarms going off I got around 3 hours sleep.I decided to get up at 7am and we went down and had breakfast which had a very good choice of cakes and pastries to cereal and toast.After that we went for a walk down to the harbour where there was a magnificent ship.We were’nt to sure what to do for the rest of the day so we walked back to the hostel and picked up a few leaflets on various places to visit.Simon and Jill decided on going to the aquarium at Stanley Park whereas seeings that’s not my kind of thing I had a nice stroll around the edge of Stanley Park in the beautiful sunshine.In total I would say I walked 7 miles and caught up with the others at 3pm.The route around the park was very busy with walkers,cyclists and rollerbladers and although the views were not spectacular I could of got very used to running the route everyday.Even though I decided to try and avoid eating to much junk food I opted for a burger from a café on the way round.We got back to the hostel around 5pm and went out later for some food and a few of the local beers.The bar was just a short walk from the hostel and it had a very irish feel to it.After deciding on a pasta dish with sauce and garlic chicken strips and parmesan bread it was the best meal i think ive ever had.Tiredness then set in so I tried to get some sleep and got into bed around 11.45pm.
The added bonus of the day was talking to 2 very nice aussie women kylie and kayleen.

Posted by -reece- 17.6.05 11:26 AM Archived in Backpacking | Canada

Day 1 Vancouver, Canada

Thursday 9th June 2005

9.6.05 - 9.6.05 sunny 17 °C
View Reece´s Around the World Trip on -reece-'s travel map.

See the itinerary of this trip, and details about each destination.
After around 4 hours sleep I caught the 9.17am train from diss to London and eventually arrived at heathrow airport at 12pm.Simon and Jill turned up at 2pm and after checking in it was a case of waiting till we boarded the 5.10pm plane bound for Vancouver.The flight was a very exhausting 8 hours but we had a very nice beef lasagne and a couple of cold beers while watching a couple of films to pass the time away with.Eventually we touched down in Vancouver after a very smooth flight at 7.10pm local time.We hung around for my bag to eventually come along the conveyor belt after abit of panicking and caught a taxi to the central youth hostel.This was going to be our home for the next 5 nights.The rise in the taxi gave us a quick glimpse of what the place was like and my first impressions were nice but not what I thought of it although truthfully everything was still a blur and it didn’t seem real.We checked into the hostel and I was staying in a 4bed dorm,and tried to get used to not sleeping in a double bed.After putting our things away we headed down to a nearby bar for a couple of pints and were served by 2 fantastic looking bar maids.I got to my room around 11pm to try and get some sleep but then found out what jetlag is all about.

Posted by -reece- 17.6.05 11:22 AM Archived in Backpacking | Canada

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