Viva Vegas - Adios Ryan

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Picture the scene........

It's 11.03pm Canadian time, I have just exhausted the bar's supply of lagers that I have never tasted before, including one which the barman insisted hanging an orange quarter on. I am now sitting down to update the travelblog. I am accompanied by another 7 geeks of all shapes, sizes and nationality. The one thing they have in common is smell. The kind of smell you get when visiting video games shops - or as Susie puts it - Hamster-Cage-Stench.

My fellow nerds are all typing away furiously as I try to remember where the keys are. I fell asleep earlier today causing my contact lenses to weld with my retina's. This combined with Vancouvers' varierty of ales makes typing an exhausting test of memory.

Today, I woke after a good 10 hours sleep. The online reviews for the HI Hostel Downtown all included the problems with noise downstairs from the club. Well, I slept right through - a combination of my weary-ness and my drunknen-ness made sure I couldn't feel any of the thousand or so peas beneath my mattress, and I slept like a Prince.

Today has been spent wandering through the Vancouver streets, trying to establish why Vancouver is a must see destination.

After a good 6 hours and God knows how many miles, the best comparison I can come up with is with Broughty Ferry.

Lots of nice walks along the coast - much like the walk along past Ravenscraig and the RTYC. The town itself is full of upscale shops with people discreetly spending a LOT of money.

The real money is in the hills and suburbs where the inheritance has trickled down over the years, where as at the waterfront the towering glass fronted condo's take over. As now doubt the borrowing does.

Everything I have bought so far has been expensive. A pint of the local tap lager costs the equivalent of 3 quid. A sandwich from their equivalent of the Spar was nearly 4 quid. Who would of thought that there could be a country more costly than Scotland. After the US, Canada is a big shock. So far, only one day in, I cannot think of any reason why I would visit here rather than the States.

Tomorrow for me means a trip across a mega touristy suspension bridge, Capliano. And an Ice Hockey game, Vancouver Canucks versus Calgary Flames in the evening. After another night in Vancouver I hope to engineer a trip to Victoria, Vancouver Island and Seattle before returning here for Sunday's flight home.

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