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Published: February 9th 2012
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Technically today is February 7, but I have been so busy this last week or so, combined with the wi-fi at the hostel going down, that I haven't been able to do these. I'll still be doing it in incriments to keep it shorter and simpler.
I did end up going out with Kathy and Janina on Friday night. We were joined by a German guy from the hostel. For the life of me I just can't remember his name. We went to the bar at SameSun backpackers to have a look at it and have a drink. I got talking to a girl from Camberwell at the bar and she said it was the quietest the bar had been all week. I got quite excited and decided to move there, which I was already leaning towards doing anyway. We left and finally found a bar that didn't have a cover charge because the girls were on a budget. Us guys still had to pay $5. It seemed alright but Kathy and I were wanting to dance and there was no real dancefloor. We both stayed longer than the others but we just got too tired. Getting home was such
a mission because Kathy kept going the wrong way until we got a "taxi" who charged me $20!! It was quite funny reminiscing with the girls the next day.
Saturday was a very lazy day. I just bummed around on youtube for most of the day and went to Deacon's Corner for a feed. On the way back to the hostel I bought an extra pair of neat casual pants in Chinatown. It was dirt cheap too. When I got back the girls were getting ready to go for a night-time walk through Gastown so I joined them. They had remembered me telling them how pretty it is.
Sunday I moved hostels. Kathy and Janina also checked out as they were couchsurfing for a night before heading to Victoria and Whistler. As they were the only friends I had made at the hostel, it was actually really good timing for the swap. I had to make two trips because of all my stuff (groceries just made it too much to carry). SameSun is a lot more expensive but it instantly seemed like a good change because I had an awesome chat with Adam and Steve (my new roommates)
when I was in between trips. I had to walk back to Chinatown in the afternoon to swap my pants as they were too small. They didn't have my size so I got a different pair that were cheaper and got a new hoodie as well. Some things will never change! I'm glad I went, though, because it was the Chinese New Year and the place was going off. I caught the back end of the parade which so loud: full of drums and marching bands and dragons. All around the district they had groups of people with a drum and a dragon and some old guy letting off firecrackers. It was definitely an experience. In the evening I went down to the Beaver (the bar at the hostel) and sat at the bar and just chatted to a few people. I saw Adam and Steve with a few other people in a booth so I went and joined them. I ended up staying with them until close and went and grabbed some pizza (it's really cheap across the road).
Monday I woke up around my usual time and went down to Beaver for the free breakfast. It was
predominantly fruit and toast but I was fine to replenish my fluids with all the fruit and coffee they had!! I bumped into Adam and Erin (who was also on the table I was drinking with the night before and from Melbourne) at breakfast and they invited me to go to a suspension bridge with them in North Vancouver. I thought they were talking about Capilano Bridge, which cost $29.95 entry and apparently not worth the money, but they assured me it was free. It was really easy to get there; we just walked to Waterfront station and got the Seabus across to North Van, then another bus that dropped us right in front of Lynn Canyon Park. We were joined by Mike, who is from London and over here to visit family and sight-see. Erin was in a really grumpy mood and I wasn't sure about her but when we went out later she was actually really cool. Lynn Canyon was the first time any of us had really seen the Canadian wilderness that we expected to see here, so it was definitely a camera-happy day. I was lucky that my phone had a half-decent camera and I was
still able to take photos of my phone. The bridge itself was nothing special but the creek below was beautiful. The water was soclear and there were plenty of waterfalls along the way. The place was just so green. A lot of the earlier photos I took were just because of that. Unfortunately we didn't see any wildlife because I have since heard about people seeing bald eagles there. We kept walking and ended up at Rice Lake, which is one of the most serene thing I've ever seen. As well as being freezing cold, it was just so quiet. It was as if it was an unwritten rule that you had to whisper when you were there. It was covered in a thin layer of ice and had mountains in the background. It would've been beautiful on a sunny day but by this point the fog was starting to settle. I can't imagine seeing a place like that again.
We went out that night to the Cambie because it was Steve's last night before heading back to England. The Cambie is another hostel with an even better bar than ours. It ended up being a pretty big night
after Adam did a round of a beer, bourbon and dry and a shot of sambucca each. But I kept it down!! I'll keep this section brief because I don't really want this blog to be full of things I did when I was pissed. It will get too long otherwise!
'Til next time!!
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kathy knee
non-member comment
good luck
Hi jason, sounds like your having a great time, good luck with your job interview, keep posting the photos as I believe the country is beautiful over there, you are doing what i had planned to do as a teenager (that's a long time ago), be safe and have a good time. Luv Aunty Kathy