I arrived in Vancouver with no friends and even less dollars. The first choice I had to make was where to stay. I decided initially to stay at the YHA Hostel. This is where boring people stay. Across the road was the Samesun hostel, where fun people stay. Since I need to get myself sorted, I decided to stay at YHA.
When I first got there, the weather was relatively good, so I did some exploring downtown, which is the core of Vancouver and is almost an island. Here's a view of one side of downtown:
Here's a beach, in downtown.
There's also a giant park (Stanley Park) in the downtown area. I upgraded it's status from big to giant after running around it. Add to all this, the bays, harbours and marinas, with the mountains in the background, and you've got a very nice city. When it's summer and the weather is good, Vancouver is teeming with people walking, running, cycling, rollerblading, skating.. you name it. And the vibe is so good. People are happy.
So that's the good part of Vancouver. Now it's time to commence complaining:
The street my hostel was on, was the main street of downtown (Granville St). This street seems to have more homeless people and drug addicts, than 'normal' people. And don't even get me started on East Hastings St. And after applying for a gazillion jobs, I kept checking my resume to make sure the correct mobile number was printed on it, cos no-one was ringing. And that good weather I had when I first got here? Well it lasted almost a week, and then it started raining, each and every day. And it got cold. By the end of week two or three, I was quite literally looking at flights back to Australia.
I can't stress just how close I was to going back to Australia. In fact, for a few days, I had pretty much decided I was going back, and was just trying to work out the how and when. And, if it weren't for one conversation with my brother-in-law, David, I would be in Australia right now. I don't remember exactly what he said, but the point was that I needed to give Vancouver a proper shot. Three weeks is not a proper shot. And if after giving it a real shot, I still wanted to go back to Australia, I could do so with no regrets.
I knew one person in Vancouver, Andrew, who I had met on my travels in Vietnam. We hung out a lot when I first arrived, mostly sampling food and beer. Among other things, he introduced me to Japadog and poutine. Japadog sells Japanese style hotdogs, and this:
That's a deep fried bun with ice cream inside. Enough energy content in one bun to sustain the human body for years. This is how I believe Osama Bin Laden survived in his cave for so long without coming out.
Poutine is a Canadian 'dish', which is fries with gravy and melted cheese. This is an even less creative national dish than Australia's meat pie. Probably best to leave the Europeans and Asians to invent cuisine.
Andrew also introduced me to Wreck beach. This is a clothing optional beach near the University of British Columbia. Basically a bunch of naked people on drugs. Technically the drugs part is illegal, but it seems largely unenforced by police.
I also met Adriana earlier on, who is from Slovakia. Slovakia is of course the place where people check in to their hostel and wake up in a dungeon, whereupon people bid for the right to slice and dice you anyway they please (Source: Hostel film). Naturally, I was cautious when she invited me out into the woods, but it turns out we were just going to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park:
Here's another pic:
We also went to a few other things, including my first fashion show:
I took a photo of this lady. I don't care for her dress, but she was pretty hot, so that warrants a photo.
So here I was, after around a month. I had decided I was staying in Vancouver, and was going to do whatever it took to make that happen. I needed three things, and I needed them quickly. A home. A group of friends. A job. In case your wondering, yes that was a segue into my next blog.
When I first got there, the weather was relatively good, so I did some exploring downtown, which is the core of Vancouver and is almost an island. Here's a view of one side of downtown:
Here's a beach, in downtown.
There's also a giant park (Stanley Park) in the downtown area. I upgraded it's status from big to giant after running around it. Add to all this, the bays, harbours and marinas, with the mountains in the background, and you've got a very nice city. When it's summer and the weather is good, Vancouver is teeming with people walking, running, cycling, rollerblading, skating.. you name it. And the vibe is so good. People are happy.
So that's the good part of Vancouver. Now it's time to commence complaining:
The street my hostel was on, was the main street of downtown (Granville St). This street seems to have more homeless people and drug addicts, than 'normal' people. And don't even get me started on East Hastings St. And after applying for a gazillion jobs, I kept checking my resume to make sure the correct mobile number was printed on it, cos no-one was ringing. And that good weather I had when I first got here? Well it lasted almost a week, and then it started raining, each and every day. And it got cold. By the end of week two or three, I was quite literally looking at flights back to Australia.
I can't stress just how close I was to going back to Australia. In fact, for a few days, I had pretty much decided I was going back, and was just trying to work out the how and when. And, if it weren't for one conversation with my brother-in-law, David, I would be in Australia right now. I don't remember exactly what he said, but the point was that I needed to give Vancouver a proper shot. Three weeks is not a proper shot. And if after giving it a real shot, I still wanted to go back to Australia, I could do so with no regrets.
I knew one person in Vancouver, Andrew, who I had met on my travels in Vietnam. We hung out a lot when I first arrived, mostly sampling food and beer. Among other things, he introduced me to Japadog and poutine. Japadog sells Japanese style hotdogs, and this:
That's a deep fried bun with ice cream inside. Enough energy content in one bun to sustain the human body for years. This is how I believe Osama Bin Laden survived in his cave for so long without coming out.
Poutine is a Canadian 'dish', which is fries with gravy and melted cheese. This is an even less creative national dish than Australia's meat pie. Probably best to leave the Europeans and Asians to invent cuisine.
Andrew also introduced me to Wreck beach. This is a clothing optional beach near the University of British Columbia. Basically a bunch of naked people on drugs. Technically the drugs part is illegal, but it seems largely unenforced by police.
I also met Adriana earlier on, who is from Slovakia. Slovakia is of course the place where people check in to their hostel and wake up in a dungeon, whereupon people bid for the right to slice and dice you anyway they please (Source: Hostel film). Naturally, I was cautious when she invited me out into the woods, but it turns out we were just going to the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park:
Here's another pic:
We also went to a few other things, including my first fashion show:
I took a photo of this lady. I don't care for her dress, but she was pretty hot, so that warrants a photo.
So here I was, after around a month. I had decided I was staying in Vancouver, and was going to do whatever it took to make that happen. I needed three things, and I needed them quickly. A home. A group of friends. A job. In case your wondering, yes that was a segue into my next blog.
Summary
Awesome:
The thrill of arriving in a new city to live
Craptacular:
No money, no job, no home, no friends. The outlook was a bleak as the weather.
What's Next
Making friends and making money.
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