6/3/19 to 6/8/19 – Vancouver/Whistler, Canada
Crew – My quite dysfunctional Calculus 2 table! (Left to Right) Justin Kim, Anna Smegal, Vivian Hung, Niki Roseborough, me and Emily Wen.
A vegetarian, A lactose intolerant, a generally picky kid, a gluten-free kid, an aggressive carnivore and a boba addict walk into a bar. Goes about as well as anyone expects, I feel for those poor waiters. But let’s talk about the sights of Vancouver if the rumors about Canadian hospitality are true and some history jigsaw puzzles
So while I’m born and raised in Piedmont and a spoiled kid without a doubt, I do commute every summer into the SPCA as a camp counselor, which requires me to take West Oakland Bart (worst BART station on the east side of the Bay Bridge) to 16th street mission (the worst BART station in the city). My dad argues that Powell station will always be worse but his opinion remains invalid. Now, what does this have anything to do with Vancouver?
Vancouver has no litter, overfilled trash cans or half-constructed buildings that ring a BART station.
Call me spoiled, but at least I know what the glorious mix of commuter coffee, cigarette smoke and dead grass smell like. Past that the public transportation system even works extremely well and efficiently and is cheap! The Skytrain from the airport even gives a fantastic view of the entire city as you head in. Goddamn, the city makes a good first impression.
Every morning our friend group followed a pretty formulaic pattern of me being the first one up at 7:30 to take a shower and put away last night’s dishes while making hot chocolate and eggs. Niki would be up maybe 20 minutes later and the rest would shuffle in over the next hour. So glad I have an internal clock run by stress? Between 10 and 12 we would head out to do activities and encountered our first hurdle.
Walking! Jesus Christ this city was spread out and no rental car makes things hard Lot of buses and sky trains but being into hiking and a lot of fast walking was a lifesaver. Moreover, decided to do an impromptu run a few times to make ends meet or if I wanted to get back from groceries sooner.
The city itself was beautiful and the people were incredibly nice. Of course, there was the occasional bad egg but the legends of Canadian niceness were true to the point where I literally forgot my wallet at a Safeway, called the next day and the cashier (who was a great conversationalist) had given it to his manager who gave it back to me with all the cash remaining and refused a tip. Trust me that’s not standard in America.
We visited botanical gardens which were gorgeous and expansive bringing in plants from all over the globe. Justin even played classical tunes on a piano they have in the middle of the garden. I have no idea how they convince Ethiopian trees to not give up and die in the winter (answers would be welcome) but they were certainly amazing.
The sunsets remind me of the best ones I saw when I still rowed for strokes (thanks Emily for taking photos) and I could have spent an entire day in the museum of anthropology.
While I understand that reports on carbon dating from ancient rat dropping on old wooden beams does not seem exciting, the way archeologists have pieced together the past through incredibly small hints and oral traditions were impressive. Props to Anna and Justin for sticking with me through the puppet exhibit, that was just outright creepy.
Quick Sidenote: While Canada might be currently undergoing a very large scandal with native Americans (or First People as they call them), the museum of anthropology has done a fantastic job implementing the wishes and culture of ancient cultures across the globe and making sure that their traditions are passed on and remembered as unique cultures. Awe-inspiring does not begin to describe their work.
Of course, I was there with my friends and traveling in a foreign city with anyone you know makes the experience exponentially better. Everything from Vivian walking with me to the grocery store at 11 pm and discussing knife throwing to Emily asking me to juggle chainsaws made the nights memorable. Actually, those examples are very violent. Anna guessing who had a crush on her back in Sophomore year at 1 am remains A) hilarious and B) bit more pacifistic of an example.
Plus making ramen while talking to Anna while Vivian sits on a washing machine that I accidentally bleached my clothes in makes some fantastic stories. Made up for the nightmares of finding restaurants to eat at. But let’s get the descriptive part of Vancouver out of the way and start the reviews.
Sam’s Sermon Scales:
West Oakland BART similarities? – 9/10. The myths of Canadian hospitality are true it turns out. People were overwhelmingly time extremely nice, our Airbnb landlord even made us cucumber salad. As mentioned earlier: Lack of run-down buildings, homeless people and the city even had a pleasant smell. Actual public transportation was amazingly cheap and always on time and clean.
“I could make this better!” – 7/10. While the latte art of the fancy cafes, including one in the University of British Columbia, was exceptional, the coffee itself was good but not great. Pros included being very cheap and no lack of cafes. Cons included nothing outstanding besides a blue latte that Niki bought that was.. quite blue?
Folks of Culture? – 7/10 The museum of anthropology was mind-blowingly extensive (10,000 artifacts in one exhibit), and the aquariums research/dolphin show was adorable, but no outstanding activities besides hiking and museums
Golden Hour Opportunities? – 10/10. Whistler lives up to its legends and the city itself does not disappoint.
Did the vegetarian starve? – 7/10. Even for a bunch of cheap college kids food was quite affordable and tasty. A lot of Asian and pub food but always ample vegetarian options. Perhaps we were unpopular in the massive bar where we were cheering for the Warriors to beat the Toronto Raptors in the finals though.
“Hey boss, can I work more hours?” – 7/10. Not terrible by any stretch. Food was cheap and a good dinner cost $10. On the other flipside activities were fairly expensive at $20 per museum and $25 to get a ticket to whistler. Saved a lot of money cooking at home.
Cooler than Middle Earth? – 6/10. Canada was a good country to start with because Vancouver is so similar to the US. Highly recommend to anyone who wants to travel but needs an easy city to start with that reminds you of home, they even speak English! The downside of course to this was that the city was nowhere near as novel as Middle-Earth.
For a week, not a bad trip at all and quite affordable. Would recommend to anyone who wishes to see a very cosmopolitan and modern city. Visiting Whistler was a must.
Photo Credit goes to Anna and Emily.
Next up: Israel, Jordan and Egypt. This one will be interesting.
Best,
Sam
Dead Man Travelling 