End of cruise, Vancouver

Sunday, August 6, 2006

We got up at 7:15, got dressed, and by 7:45, we were out of our room, never to return. They needed us out by 8, and the breakfast places closed at 8:30, so we had to get moving although we would have rather slept in. In turns out all the haste was for naught for us though. We docked at 8:45 and our disembarkation time wasn’t until 10:45. They were running late because we weren’t actually let off the boat until 11:30ish, so we found a quiet corner and slept for a few hours after breakfast (waffles, yum).

After our tag was called (Purple, 12), we were off the boat inside of 10 minutes. Customs was a non-event and we soon found our bags. A staff member asked us if we were planning on catching a taxi. We replied that we were, and she pointed at an enormous line and said that was the line for taxis and it would take about an hour and a half. Then she offered salvation, she told us that since we didn’t have much stuff, we may want to consider going past the bus docks and up a ramp to the main street level. She said hardly anyone will be there and it will be easy for us to catch a cab.

We had nothing to lose, so we started to follow her advice. Near the bus area, we ran into Aunty Miki and the rest of family who all got off before us due to their 2pm flight. We said our goodbyes and went on our way. We owe that staff member a huge thanks as her advice was right on. Inside of five minutes we had a taxi and about 10 minutes and 10 dollars after that, we pulled up to our hotel, the YWCA Hotel on Beatty street.

The hotel is great! While simple, it’s clean and not ickily pretentious as that Howard Johnsons we stayed at our first day in Vancouver. We checked in, and got the ymca member discount without even showing our card as “I have an honest face.” We dropped our stuff off and headed to Chinatown where we encountered a festival.

We wandered amongst the stalls, watched a bit of entertainment and eventually stumbled on a walking tour that was about to start. For five dollars each, we got a 45 minute tour where we got a little bit of Chinatown history and sampled some food. We tried Chicken wings at a Vietnamese restaurant, had a formal Chinese tea in a tea shop, and a pork dumpling (manapua) and another roll that I can’t remember. A great deal overall. Our guide’s name was Ken, and along with another participant, John, a native of Vancouver, we were the first people they had take the walking tour all day.

Some of the highlights, besides the food, and the really cool tea experience, were the world’s narrowest building at 1.8 meters (~6 feet) wide and the Chinese Benevolent society. I got a kick out of the Wong Benevolent Society in that in order for then to help you, you had to be of Chinese ancestry with the last name of Wong. There was another group for a different last name across the street and nearby was the generic Chinese one that we went in to.

We went back to the hotel for a bit and got our coats as it was starting to get dark, and then we headed to Gastown. This was a mistake. Gastown seems like nothing more than a tourist trap. Lots of stores selling kitchy stuff and overpriced restaurants. Besides being pretty and having the “musical” steam clock, there isn’t much else there. The real problem is that it’s near the main “druggie” street. I guess all the services for drug addicts are nearby and the police don’t bother with them, so they come down to the area where all the tourists with money are and accost them for money. It gets tiring to see people coming that are all strung out and determined to hit you up for money. One or two isn’t a big issue, but they’re everywhere. So we beat it out of there fairly quickly and took tour-guide Ken’s recommendation and tried a Chinese restaurant on the third floor of the mall we started the tour in. It’s obviously designed for large groups/family style, but we still enjoyed what we got. I gather that there was wedding in the other half of the large divided hall, so we got to listen to some Chinese karaoke.

After leaving the restaurant, we got dessert in the ongoing festival downstairs. We ordered a skewer of chocolate covered strawberries. They had the strawberries already skewered and sitting in a container. A young girl, about 10 years old, picked one up, and headed over to a chocolate fountain. She paused and asked if I wanted to do it myself. Sure! So she told me to spin it as I put it in and pulled it out, then to shake it off. She held up a small container for me to put it in and then asked if I wanted a white chocolate drizzle on top (also sprinkles, but I said no to that). She then repeated the whole process with Mike. The whole time, her parents were watching her every move and they looked sooo proud. I got a kick out of it. She did a great job.