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Hey Vancouver!

 
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xo
Site Admin


Joined: 09 Feb 2002
Posts: 466
Location: Los Angeles [comcast]

PostPosted: Mon Aug 16, 2004 6:23 pm    Post subject: Hey Vancouver! Reply with quote

So I just got back from a trip to Vancouver this weekend. I'd been planning on going later in the summer but things kind of converged out of my control and it ended up being kind of spontaneous and, sadly, short.

Thanks again to all you guys for responding in this thread. I had planned on posting while I was there but my hotel ended up not providing internet access. DOH!!!

Suffice it to say, I'm even more in love with your city than before. Stayed downtown and hung out on Robson St a bit (I love that place!). One day each in the park, Kits/Granville Island, and Victoria. So much more I would've liked to have done, but that just gives me a reason to visit again.

Some random notes:

    * TOO MANY STARBUCKS.
    * Accents. The "aboot", of course. I didn't know you pronounce the "o" in progress/process/project long. One shopkeeper pegged us as Americans for how we pronounced "nice". Hmmm.
    * No boba/milktea/bubbletea places - wha??? I would've thought given the high Asian population there would be a ton, like there are here in Asian enclaves. Maybe I was in the wrong parts of town (though Robson seemed like a candidate).
    * Tim Horton's donuts - yummy. In fact, most food quite yummy.
    * You guys will be in a world of traffic hurt in a few years as the population increases. The lack of left-turn lanes is going to come back and haunt you in a big way. Also, the blinking-green business needs to be reconsidered. Take it from me - I'm a closet traffic engineer Wink.
    * Stanley Park thumbs up. Victoria thumbs down. Ferry ride to Victoria - 2 thumbs up.
    * Vancouver women are the most beautiful I've ever seen. This is from an Angeleno, so that's saying something. I'm glad the weather was warm Smile.

Anyway, in case you can't tell, I'm still bubbling with enjoyment from the trip - hence this babbling post. I'm jealous of you guys.

-xo
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Melchior



Joined: 19 Feb 2002
Posts: 190
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

PostPosted: Sun Sep 19, 2004 3:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Heh, glad you had a good time in our city!

Right now I'm living in East Van, but my fiancee and I are buying a place in Kits and moving back there (good vibrant youthful neighbourhood).

Starbucks: somebody told me that we have the highest ratio of Starbucks-per-capita of any city in the world. It wouldn't surprise me.

Accents: you Americans pronounce things funny. Us Canadians don't understand why you think we say "aboot"!

Bubble-tea: for whatever reason, it hasn't caught on big-time here yet. There are bubble-tea shops around, but there aren't so many in Vancouver-- if you go out to Richmond (suburb with a high Chinese population), there are quite a few more there.

Left-turn lanes: the city has, for as long as I can remember, always had projects going to add more left-turn bays on major streets. A few more get added at major intersections each year, according to the city's analysis of where they're needed most. Locals who commute lots know good routes around the busy intersections that lack left-turn bays.

Ferry rides: I'm a project manager with BC Ferries. Glad to hear you had a good ride! If you travelled on the M/V "Spirit of Vancouver Island", you may have noticed the fancy giftshop. That was my major capital upgrade project last spring. Don't worry about not liking Victoria, I don't like it much either.

Yes, Vancouver women are great, especially when it's warm out! (good thing my fiancee's out of the room right now!)

Later,
-Melchior
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xo
Site Admin


Joined: 09 Feb 2002
Posts: 466
Location: Los Angeles [comcast]

PostPosted: Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Melchior wrote:

Right now I'm living in East Van, but my fiancee and I are buying a place in Kits and moving back there (good vibrant youthful neighbourhood).

Yah, seemed like a great place to live - though the parking situation was pretty bad...

Quote:

Accents: you Americans pronounce things funny. Us Canadians don't understand why you think we say "aboot"!

It's so cute how you guys don't realize it! Wink

Quote:

Bubble-tea: for whatever reason, it hasn't caught on big-time here yet.

That's so WEIRD, given the strong HK/Taiwan influence. There must be something over 30 places within like a 3 mile radius of me here. I'm not kidding. It might be closer to 50. I love it.

Quote:

Ferry rides: I'm a project manager with BC Ferries. Glad to hear you had a good ride!

So awesome! Thanks, for whatever role you had in it. Definitely the highlight of the trip, that ride. It's what stood out in my memory from my visit a decade ago, and it was just as I remembered.

I forget which one(s) we rode on, and to be honest, we bee-ined straight from the parking decks to the outdoor observation decks, so I missed noticing any gift shops.

I guess I can say it wasn't the Spirit of British Columbia, at least not on the way back:

http://abma.x-maru.org/images/20

-xo
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Melchior



Joined: 19 Feb 2002
Posts: 190
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada

PostPosted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 3:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

xo wrote:

I guess I can say it wasn't the Spirit of British Columbia, at least not on the way back:

http://abma.x-maru.org/images/20


Nifty image gallery program! The "Spirit of Vancouver Island" is the sister-ship to the slightly-older Spirit of BC. From your photo, I'm nearly certain that you were travelling on the VI-- the other two vessels on that route (20-30 years older) have a somewhat different railing on their passenger decks, but I'm less-familiar with those vessels.

I'm glad you got sunny weather-- the province is often a little less-beautiful when it's pissing rain out. This past Saturday's a prime example-- we broke our own record for the most rain in a single day on record. Nearly 4" of rain! It was wet, to say the least!
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Gorunova



Joined: 10 Feb 2002
Posts: 318
Location: Burnaby, B.C., Canada

PostPosted: Mon Oct 11, 2004 4:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

xo wrote:
Melchior wrote:

Accents: you Americans pronounce things funny. Us Canadians don't understand why you think we say "aboot"!

It's so cute how you guys don't realize it! Wink

If you want someone who says "aboot", you want a Scotsman. We pronounce it properly! Smile

(Yes, I'm back. Did an upgrade and full reinstall a few months back and lost my Mozilla setup, along with email and passwords. Just restored it today.)
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xo
Site Admin


Joined: 09 Feb 2002
Posts: 466
Location: Los Angeles [comcast]

PostPosted: Wed Oct 13, 2004 11:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey, welcome back. Was wondering where you went off to.

Quote:

If you want someone who says "aboot", you want a Scotsman.


OK, I admit, Canucks don't exactly say "aboot". It's kinda in between "aboot" and "a boat". Definitely not the American "a bout".

Hmm, now that I think about it, I recall Minnesotans and, to a lesser extent, Wisconsinites also said it like that.

Cold weather thing, I guess.

I'm headed off to Japan next month - I guess it will be "ah bah oo to"

-xo
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Gorunova



Joined: 10 Feb 2002
Posts: 318
Location: Burnaby, B.C., Canada

PostPosted: Sat Oct 16, 2004 5:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

xo wrote:
I'm headed off to Japan next month - I guess it will be "ah bah oo to"

Now that's cool. A friend of mine is over there on a 2+ week vacation right now and having a blast. Be sure to ride the shinkansen! (As if you could avoid it)
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xo
Site Admin


Joined: 09 Feb 2002
Posts: 466
Location: Los Angeles [comcast]

PostPosted: Sun Oct 17, 2004 2:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Aah, there's so much I'd like to do and see, but I'm limited to a week there and I'm a guest of a friend. But we'll see!!!

Any other recommendations in/around Tokyo and surroundings?

-xo
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Gorunova



Joined: 10 Feb 2002
Posts: 318
Location: Burnaby, B.C., Canada

PostPosted: Tue Oct 19, 2004 8:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not much for Tokyo; I'm sure there's a lot to do there since it's a city larger than many nations. My friend found it a bit too much and has had a much better time (touristically, culturally and educationally) in Kyoto and Hiroshima.

In the Tokyo area: Shibuya. Akihabara. The Imperial Palace Gardens. And especially the Tokyo National Museum.
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(inc)



Joined: 18 Feb 2002
Posts: 356
Location: San Diego

PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2004 8:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'll ask daughter #1 for some more off-beat ideas -- she went to school for 6 months about 60 miles west of Tokyo (in Tsuru, just N of Mt Fuji http://www.tsuru.ac.jp) last year and spent a lot of time in the city.

Just off the top of my head here's one: she'd been a avid reader of Hikaru no Go -- she loved going into the place it was set. Obviously wouldn't be number 1 on most people's list though, lol.

(inc)
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