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Published: April 10th 2010
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Here it is, the first episode of what ever the hell it is I'm doing.
Well, after much needed catch up of movies for 14 hours, I flew into Vancouver coming in with a view over snow capped mountains. CRAP, I forgot just days ago I was at the beach in The Shire and will freeze as this town only recently hosted the WINTER Olympics. After some easy transport options I dumped my backpack at the old hostel I thought I had made a reservation for (apparently not - but no problems), picked up a map and went exploring on foot. I was still in denial about how cold I was for a while, and every few blocks I pulled out another piece of my snow clothing so that I was a walking giant marshmellow man from the movie "Ghostbusters'.
And whilst walking through the 'downtown' area I was in I saw the familiar rainbow gay pride flags, 25 cent 'peep' shows and homeless bums everywhere. CRAP - I've just swapped Oxford Street, Surry Hills for Davie Street, Vancouver (thanks for that hostel recommendation Carly...at least i didn't know the homeless guys by name like I do at work).
Grouse Mountain
Fresh snow fall Anyway, a bit of walking around and my nightshift mode kicking into gear, I thought I'd hire a bike for the day - and what a great way to see the city, and keep warm at the same time. I road that bike everywhere, around the gorgeous Stanley Park, Granville Island, and through the very dodgy China Town area where I only fell off once while trying to peddle fast to steer away from many very drug affected characters. But at least when I fell off I was offered some drugs by one local just in case I had hurt myself (though I haven't been offered drugs in a non-work capacity for ages and tried to remind myself I wasn't working). I did have a chat to a local cop, and told him he would never be out of business here.
So, in my 3 days here I also went up to the Capilano Suspension Bridge (misty), Grouse Mountain (unfortunately my intended snow-shoe trails and zip lining were cancelled for what they called 'Avalanche conditions'), and other touristy things, but I found another way to really get to know a town (other than obligatory hostel pub crawl -
which resulted in a saw head but wont go into that) is to attend a stand up comedy night. Here you learn what the locals think about the town, like the ever present homeless persons around the city, and you pick up on the suburbs that get hassled like 'Surrey', which i figured was being paid out as much as 'Mt Druitt' and Penrith should.
All in all, Vancouver is pretty, with lots of parks and great modern architecture surrounding the harbour, and without the snowy mountains in the background it's a bit like a cold, wet Brisbane. Grey skies and rain were predominant during my stay, but you can see like Sydney the city has benefited greatly from hosting an Olympic games with transport and facilities. The locals are pretty laid back which was cool, but more than willing to inform you when you're doing something wrong such as 'You're on the wrong side of the path/road again aye'. Happens.
Next stop - Toronto!
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Amaru
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Great read jules...
Hey Jules, it seems that you're having a blastsnd I'm very very jealous ;) Keep having fun and keep us updated! Cheers Amaru