Dr. Sun Yat Sen Garden - an Urban Oasis Amid the Concrete Junle in Vancouver

Feb. 27, 2016

Today was the last day of our stay in Vancouver. We arranged to meet with J. and his girl friend this morning and have brunch with them. J.  just moved to Vancouver to study at UBC. Since our son was here to visit us, we always try to make use of opportunities like this to bring the young people in the family together.

J. and his girl friend 

Not long after we finished packing and checking out of the hotel, J. and his girl friend, M. came to meet us at the hotel lobby. 

From there we walked to the downtown Chinatown.

Dim Sum Brunch at a Chinese restaurant in Vancouver Chinatown 

Like most big cities in North America, there are always the old original Chinatown where Chinese people first settled in that city.

 Then there is another new Chinatown where recent and more affluent immigrants buy their new homes and start settling in the suburban area.

The cousins got together in Vancouver 

In the downtown old Chinatown, we did not see a lot of nice dim sum restaurants as a lot of the recent immigrants have settled in Richmond. 

We headed out to the Chinese Restaurant recommended by one of the residents and enjoyed a dim sum brunch there. The food was pretty good! But the price of the dim sum dishes was at least 30% more expensive than they were in Toronto!

The Dr. Sun Yat Sen Park

We passed by the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Chinese Garden on our way to the restaurant stopping by for some pictures.

An urban oasis amid the concrete jungle of highrises  

I remembered this garden vividly as soon as we entered it. We were here thirty years ago when  the Expo’86 was in Vancouver. 

Not much seemed to have changed in the park since we visited it years ago

I was a young mother with two boys, aged five and nine respectively. Though curious about everything and desiring to explore new things, our children were well behaved. 

My husband was very excited about this garden and he went around the place and taking pictures on his own. 

I was left with our two young children and thank goodness for they didn’t run off on their own. Having to look after these on my own, I was glad that we didn’t lose them!  

Now, our children have grown! However, this urban garden did not change much.

 

It still looked the same without much improvement done to it by the city. It is a nice oasis in the middle of the downtown concrete jungle of over built and over priced high-rises and condominiums. 

I really hope that the city would pay more attention to it and improve the facility a little more. It is a nice urban park for the residents and visitors to enjoy amid the skyrocketing real estate properties!    

Sculpture in the Vancouver Airport

Yes, Vancouver is a beautiful city, but probably one of the most expensive cities to live in for Canadians.  The house princes here are outrageous!!! 

I always wonder how Vancouverites cope with their high cost of living in their city. The housing price alone is  a prohibitive factor for would be dwellers to Vancouver.

Totem Pole in the Vancouver Airport

However, one thing we did appreciate Vancouver was the efficient and low cost of ground transportation by Sky Train from a station called City Centre Station (close to our downtown hotel) to the airport for merely $ 4.75 per person.

The train ride was only twenty minutes and because we rode the train on a Saturday when the fare was discounted, it only cost $4.95 for both of us to the airport!

We have traveled in many parts of the world and this was the cheapest fare we paid for a ride from our hotel to the airport!

  Great job, Vancouver for making airport transportation to downtown so affordable and efficient!

We were glad we visited the city and got to experience the mild weather and spectacular scenery of Vancouver!

R.T.
Vancouver
British Columbia

Vancouver at Night

Week of Feb. 22, 2016

View of Vancouver Waterfront at Dusk

Canada Place at Vancouver Waterfront

After our bike riding in the park, we spent sometime at the waterfront and watched the sun going down.

The Vancouver Convention Centre lit up as the sun was going down 

Every building around us started to light up and the the scenery at Vancouver's waterfront was just as beautiful at night as it was during the day!

Canada Square at dusk!

The Cactus Cafe at the Vancouver Waterfront - a very popular hangout spot

We walked by the Cactus Club Cafe and the place looked nice and interesting.

The Cafe was packed with patrons in the early evening

The place was busy packed with a lot of young people enjoying their  after work hour drinks or an early dinner.

Happy Hour by the fire!

We caught up with each other by the fire

Since it was early evening and the cafe was offering a happy hour special we went in for a drink.

View of the street from the Cactus Cafe during Happy Hour

We planned for a dinner with our son and talked over our meal to catch up with him what has happened in his life.





The time we spent at the Happy Hour was just as good when E. talked about his work.









We learned that his recent marketing campaign went so well that the site could not handle the unexpected volume of orders. Great to see him so excited!

As the weather was mild, we decided to walk back to our hotel enjoying the night scene of this beautiful city.










We passed by many beautiful buildings, some with Greek
designs while the design of the Vancouver Public Library building reminded us of the Coliseum we visited in Rome.

Downtown Vancouver at night

The Vancouver Public Library

Vancouver is truly a magnificent city blessed with spectacular natural beauty; it also has an abundant mix of old and modern buildings with awesome architectural designs. If you are interested in architecture, Vancouver is a must visit city in western Canada!

R.T.
Vancouver
 British Columbia

Bike Riding in Stanley Park after Thirty Years

Coal Harbour, Vancouver 

Coal Harbour, Vancouver

Thirty years ago, as a young family we visited Vancouver during Expo'86. 

However, we were so busy visiting the exposition that we did not have much time to explore the city of  Vancouver.

A Bike rental shop at Vancouver Waterfront

One thing we did do was renting a bike and taking a ride around the beautiful Stanley Park.

People walk, stroll and run in the park

Bike riding in Stanley Park was a fantastic experience and  I would never forget that summer day!

Our younger son was five years old at the time. He just learned how to ride a bike by himself in Thunder Bay prior to our trip to Vancouver.

It was his first time riding in a huge park like Stanley Park without having to worry about much traffic.

When I saw the meandering path, I could still see vividly our young son riding on his three wheeler - his tiny body with legs pedaling as fast as he could flying towards the park, with bright smiles like the rays of the shinning sun, happy and carefree! 

Totem Poles, Stanley Park, Vancouver

Shore to Shore Sculpture, Stanley Park

Our older son was flying from California to meet up with us on Thursday night and then go bike riding again together the next day.

We saw Cherry Blossoms in full bloom in the middle of February!

We went to stroll in the park trying to recapture those precious moments years ago.

The first time we visited Stanley Park was three decades ago.

Our kids have grown and we thank God that they are leading productive and independent lives.

Light house in the park

Thanks to the efforts and dedication of the people of Vancouver,

we could still enjoy the beauty of nature and the breathtaking scenery of Stanley Park.

There are so many beautiful spots for picture taking that Stanley Park

is a photographer's delight!

View of Vancouver from Stanley Park

I was glad that we took a stroll and had ample time to stop and take pictures of the magnificent scenery in the park.

The next day we had brunch with E., Motoki and his wife near where our hotel was.

Afterwards, we went bike riding for a little while in the park. E. just launched a new campaign at work and it did well. 

A Kids' Play Area 

Since Friday was still a working day for him, he needed to return emails and made some phone calls, therefore we didn't get to spend a lot of time to finish riding around the park once. 

Whenever we could spend time with our grown children who live far away from us is always a happy event.

To revisit Stanley Park and took a bike ride with one of our sons after thirty years was truly a blessing!

R.T.

Stanley Park

Vancouver, B.C.

Week of Feb 22, 2016

A Spectacular Scenery - Vancouver's Waterfront

A fountain in the court of one of the buildings at the Vancouver Waterfront

Vancouver's Waterfront is spectacular! Even though it was in the middle of our Canadian winter, we could not believe how mild the temperature had been while we were in Vancouver.

Canada Place, Vancouver, British Columbia

A balmy 12 degree C in the morning and up to 17 in the afternoon!

Stairs to the Canada Place

It would have been a crime not to take advantage of this fine weather and walk around the city.

The Canadian Trail at the Canada Place

We decided to walk from the Sandman hotel where we were staying downtown and walked to the waterfront.

We were in Vancouver before, somehow, I  could not remember the place being so pretty.

Vancouver was the host city of the 2010 Winter Olympics

I think because of the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver, it helped to speed up some of the big construction project.

Walking on West Hastings, it did not take that long to reach the Waterfront considering how many times we stopped for picture taking along the way.

Carol Huynh - won a gold medal for Canada in Olympics' Women Wrestling

One thing that was not there when we visited many years ago was the Canadian Trail with display boards introducing some outstanding Canadians such as Carol Huynh at the Canada Place.























                               
                                              This time, the Vancouver waterfront wowed us!

Water planes taking off from the Waterfront Terminal

We were in the Canada Place and enjoyed a concert years ago when we were here for Expo 86.

To our pleasant surprise, there were so much more to see this time!

We  watched water planes taking off at the Water Plane Terminal at the Vancouver Waterfront.

Water Plane Terminal at the Vancouver Waterfront

Elijah McCoy gave us the expression " the real McCoy"!

Besides learning a bit about the Canadian history, we also learned who was the real McCoy!