Vancouver

I flew into Vancouver on Friday night and decided to stay at a Youth Hostel, as this was the cheapest option available to me bar sleeping on a park bench. Unfortunately there are two Hostels in Vancouver and I happened to go to the wrong one! Twenty minutes later I managed to navigate myself around the "blocks" of the city and managed to avoid any confrontations with the "Bums" (Canadian for Tramps) who were very noticeable, especially now that it was night time.

On arrival to the Hostel, I found that I was sharing a dorm with two Auzzies that were my age and a random strange man who did not talk to us, so we never did find out where he came from. I had gone from no friends in Canada to two friends: Luke and Daniel pictured below with their Auzzie friend Wendy.

The following day I took a short walk to downtown Vancouver to see the city in daylight and get my bearings. My first stop was the Sears shopping mall. If you thought that Blue Water or Lakeside were big, this is bigger. It is also mostly underground and right in the city centre which is pretty amazing. I was pleased when entering the mall that there was a camera shop, which provided me with the perfect opportunity to buy a new camera which I did and now you can see the results! Unfortunately I had not taken a ball and string into the mall and hence could not find my way out of this labyrinth. (Jason, Demetra, Diana and Anne take note). It was another half hour before I got out, the reason for this being that I was not going to look like a total idiot asking a shop assistant the way out!

The evening came and Luke and I went to see the city at night some photos of which are below:

On Sunday I decided to hire a bike and cycle around Stanly Island which is roughly 8 miles. I foolishly over looked the fact that this was an island with a small mountain which you have to cycle up because the road is one way-ouch. Nether the less this was a beautiful island which was a five minute walk away from the hustle and bustle of the city centre. The highlight of my cycle ride was seeing my first Raccoon :
Unfortunately as soon as you give these Raccoons attention they don’t leave you alone, which is a bad thing as the carry rabies!

That night Luke, Daniel, Wendy and I went downtown to the Buffalo night club to experience clubbing Canadian style. We all felt slightly out of place, mainly due to the fact that we were surrounded by cowboys and cowgirls in their full attire (or not in the case of the cowgirls!). To top it all there was also a buck and bronco next to the dance floor which we all avoided for reason which I will not go into... We all had a good night though and ended up sleeping on the beach for most of the night. On Monday afternoon we returned and sat in the hot sun watching it fall behind the mountains which was a real treat, because apparently most of the time it is raining in Vancouver.

On Tuesday I left Luke and Daniel and flew back to Calgary. We have vowed to meet up again though and do a road trip down to New York before September which would be great if we manage it.