Entry 2: YVR to North Vancouver

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Arrival in Canada

So, it has been three weeks since I last updated the blog. I often find myself sitting down ready to write and being stuck. Not being stuck in the "mind being blank" sort of stuck rather, "when someone reads this they will think it's stupid" sort of stuck. I need to just write and stop thinking the writing needs to be perfect. I'm not a writer for Christ sake and I have never been taught. The goal of this blog is to tell people what I am up to and hopefully lightly entertain along the way.

I'm glad that is off my chest. It's funny how my mind must be clear of obstacles before I can really get anything done. I am sorry for that somewhat useless and probably uninteresting rant.

I arrived in Vancouver shortly after 1pm. The sun was out and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I was still in the warmth of the airport so I had no idea what the temperature was. I saw some stunning dark blue mountains as I was walking towards immigration. They were like nothing I had ever seen before. The emotion of the past few days hit me like a fist and before I knew it there were tears streaming down my face. I managed to pull myself together before getting to the mercifully short line at the enormous immigration desk.

The printer decided to shit itself when it was my turn to have my papers printed. I wasn't too worried, I had been sitting down for the past 13 hours, another one or two wouldn't kill me. Thankfully one bright spark realized (after 50 odd minutes waiting for someone from IT) that there was another printer they could use.

After immigration I breezed through customs without them even opening my bag. I was finally free to explore a brand new country. By this stage I stunk like three hobos. I whipped into the dunny (they call it washroom) and used some hand soap to have a very primitive shower. Unfortunately this was in full view of a party of Japanese businessmen seemingly having an urgent 3pm meeting around the sink. I changed my jocks, socks and t-shirt and left the men to their meeting, apologizing for my nakedness as I left.

I needed to offload some Australian (and NZ) dollars. I was ripped off severely by a money exchange agent but I really didn't care. I just wanted get out of the airport and get myself sorted. The weather outside was mild for Van; about 12 degrees. I found my way to the Skytrain, bought a ticket and sat myself right up the front. The Skytrain in Vancouver is completely automated. So when I say I was sitting up the front, I mean I was sitting right up the front with a big window. Metro could really learn a thing or two from these guys.

The first thing I noticed in Canada was the size of the utes. Now, to be honest, I had been told about them by others but I had no idea they would be that big. I also had no idea that everyone drove one. The last fact about their utes I didn't know was that they aren't utes at all. They are trucks. That made sense. They are frickin huge!

The train line headed north through a large industrial area and then underground. I wasn't sure if I was going the right way but the fact that I was on the downtown train made me feel OK. When the automated announcer told those on the train we were now downtown I got off. I walked up the stairs thinking "they do it here too" whilst looking at the people standing still on the escalators. They are there to help pedestrians move faster people; they aren't there so that you can have a little rest because you are lazy.

I came to the top of the stairs at the famous Granville Street and looked around for a bit like a typical tourist.

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