Vancouver Revisited

On Saturday Gordie drops me at a hostel and we say our goodbyes (for now?) The hostel is in an old barracks building and is in a nice  location out of town at Jericho Beach.

Hostel at Jericho Beach

I am planning to stay in Vancouver for a couple more days, to do a bit more sightseeing and because I am waiting for the main post office to open on Monday, so that I can collect some post that Katie has sent me, before I move on from here. After my burglary in New Zealand I was left with only 1 functioning credit card, so a 2^nd one is now on its way to me. The other thing I am expecting is a new driver’s licence. I had hoped to be the last person in England left with the old-style paper licence, but that wasn’t to be. However I was impressed with the process of applying for a replacement one. My photograph and signature could be captured digitally from my passport and Katie received my new one within a week.

It is raining heavily and I spend most of the day around the hostel getting used to the idea of being a single traveller again and recognising the effort required, but the freedom to make my own decisions and plans. Later in the afternoon it stops raining, although it is still overcast and threatening to rain and I venture out for some fresh air and to stretch my legs. I follow the waterfront for about an hour and a half towards the city until I am right across the water from Downtown. The weather and my mood reflect each other.

Downtown Vancouver from Vanier Park

The next day the weather and I are much sunnier and I take a bus to Stanley Park to mix with the Vancouverites and tourists at leisure on a Sunday.

Stanley Park is the largest urban park in North America. It is located on a small peninsular, jutting out into the sea. Much of the interior is a semi wilderness of rainforest. The main attraction seems to be the 8km circuit around the perimetre and I join the many cyclists, skaters and walkers parading at various speeds anticlockwise around the seawall. This gives great views out across the water in all directions – to Downtown, across the strait to the Northshore, down the strait and then back across to Jericho Beach where my hostel is. Here are some pictures of the changing views as I walk:

Downtown Vancouver from Stanley Park

Totem Poles in Stanley Park

Tourist Transport in Stanley Park

Piles of Sulphar in the Docks

Container Port

Girl in a Wetsuit Statue

Lions Gate Bridge

Third Beach

Dancers on the Beach

Cairns

When I have completed the circuit of the park I feel like continuing to walk and carry on back towards the city along the shore of English Bay. Being closer to the city, it is even busier here, with Sunday strollers and the more serious physical enthusiasts are playing beach volleyball and roller hockey. A street is closed to traffic and has a lively market.

English Bay

At a busy road junction there is a sculpture of laughing men, and tourists take pictures of themselves and children hang onto their hands. Everyone is laughing.

Laughing Men Sculpture

I take one of the small ferries across False Creek to Granville Island and mingle with the crowds in the market and on the open air decks where buskers play.

False Creek Ferries

On Monday I take a bus Downtown on my mission to the main post office to collect my post, but when I get there only one of the two envelopes has arrived. I now have a back-up credit card; but still no driver’s licence. What to do now? I have no idea how long it will take to come. I take some time to decide that I will leave Vancouver tomorrow and travel to Whistler for a few days, which is a 2 ½ hour bus ride north. I’ll then come back into the city on Friday and hopefully the missing driver’s licence will be here by then. If it hasn’t arrived, I’ll worry about that then. In the meantime, I’ll do some more touristy things in the city. I wander down to Canada Place, which is where the cruise ships arrive in Vancouver and then along the street past the original railway station.

Downtown from Canada Place

Central Pacific Railway Station

Next I go up in a lift to the Vancouver Lookout to get a 360 degree panorama of the city.

Downtown and Stanley Park from Vancouver Lookout

Just along the street is Gastown, which is an attractive, if slightly tacky, pseudo Victorian area, whose main attraction is a steam-powered clock. Tourists hang around waiting for 4 o'clock when the clock lets out four little toots.

Steam Clock in Gastown

I have the time and the energy for one more tourist stop. Consulting my guide book I now head for a Chinese garden on the edge of China Town. As I walk the tourist area turns into a more edgy district, where people on the street are talking to themselves and flinging their arms around. I think this is the area Gordie told me to avoid. While I am looking at my map a nice woman asks me if I need help and she advices me not to go through the park and points me in the right direction.

This is an authentic replica of a classical Chinese scholar's garden and is the first to be constructed outside of China, using materials shipped from China. It is a little oasis of calm.

Chinese Garden

I take the Sky Train for the first time for the first part of my journey back to my hostel. While I am trying to make sense of the ticket machine an amiable bum tries to sell me his ticket for $1. He is standing next to  anotice which says that it is illegal to resell your ticket. I tell him I would rather buy my own and he says he could really use a dollar. He helps me with the machine and I give him $2.

Some observations of Canada:

Traffic can turn right on a red light, if it is safe to do so

Pedestrians have right-of-way at an intersaection with no lights

Tipping at least 10% is the norm, even for a beer in a bar

The printed text on all packaging is in both English and French