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So today I left the United States for a sojourn into Canada and have arrived in Vancouver. I decided to catch a train from Seattle into Vancouver and it has got to be one of most relaxing ways to travel. For $49 I got a business class ticket and the carriage only had about 20 seats and it was very spaced out with plenty of room for people and baggage. The best thing about traveling by rail is that you avoid all the TSA queues at the airport. The Amtrak service I was on also had free wi-fi for the duration of the trip which is a good added bonus. Like I mentioned earlier, it was definitely a relaxing transit and the 4 hour duration didn't feel long at all and before I knew it we had arrived in Vancouver and I was through Canadian customs in a matter of seconds. I picked up my full sized Nissan Altima and first stop was to pick up a GPS unit as they had run out and since I had the car for 10 days, it was cheaper to buy one. I got a Tom Tom unit for $145 and was on my
way. Found my hotel and again prompty checked in and I was quite happy with my choice. The room is clean, modern and quite spacious. Straight away I decided to head out to Canada Place to check out the scenery as the skies were looking threatening and they were predicting rain for the next few days. Granville Street is the main entertainment street and there was heaps of people around and plenty of clubs, bars and restaurants. Made it to Canada Place and took some photos of the surroundings which remind me a little of Queenstown in New Zealand but the mountains aren't as close as they are in Queenstown. I also found the site of the Olympic cauldron where the 2010 Winter Olympic flame is kept. It is a nice spot along the waterfront and is great for a stroll.
Located nearby is the historic Gastown district and on my way there, I found JapoDog hotdog stand
and ordered a beef dog with all the Japanese condiments. It takes a little while to get your head around it but it is quite enjoyable. Gastown is a boutique area with fashion, gifts and quaint eateries and bars. I ended
up on the other side of Gastown and in a rather sketchy area of Vancouver between Gastown and Chinatown. There were numerous homeless, transients and mental patients walking around but it wasn't particularly dangerous during the day. Might be a little freaky wandering through there at night. Vancouver's Chinatown is apparently the largest in Canada and Vancouver does have a massive Chinese population but I didn't find it's Chinatown terribly exciting. Walking around the edges, I ended up at the Internation Market where there is a concentration of high rise apartment buildings located near a SkyTrain station and numerous asian shops. I caught the SkyTrain back to Granville Street which was only 1 single stop and did some more walking around and found the Art Gallery and another monstrous Fairmont hotel.
It was starting to rain by this stage so back to the hotel for a rest and had dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant which was nice and satisfying in the cold weather. Hopefully tomorrow isn't too rainy so that I can get out and about and do more sight seeing.
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