Vancouver, Canada - Day 1

27th Nov 2008 (Thurs)

Today is Thanksgiving and me, Cynthea and Noon headed to Vancouver for our long weekend holiday. (which also means we had to give shopping on Black Friday a miss - where stuff can be super duper cheap, like 50% off)

We had booked a Quick Shuttle Bus online and the bus only left Seattle at 10.10a.m. so it quite a late start. But then we had to carry our bags from campus to the bus stop and take 2 buses before reaching the pick-up point, so no complaints :)

On the bus along the expressway to Vancouver, mountains again! :):)

At the customs at the US-Canada Border, while in line, we met a fellow Singaporean! hee.. she (Ann-Marie) was in front of us and spotted my red passport while i was taking it out from the cover! so qiao! and she was staying at the same hostel as us! woo~ the world is so small.. we did chat with her for a while before returning to our seat..

Entering into Vancouver:

The hostel that we were staying was HI-Vancouver Downtown and the 4 of us carried/pulled our luggage for about 4 blocks from the drop off point to the hostel. (in the drizzle)
After checking in, Ann-Marie went off to settle some stuff and the 3 of us set off to grab some late lunch and get the tourism card that we had booked in advance. With this tourism card that we had paid a lump sum for, we would be able to have access to various attractions and tours over 3 days. (very worth the money)

By then the time was already 3.30p.m and while walking along the streets, we found this place that said it sells authentic Singaporean food. (more abt that later) but it was close until 5pm so we continue walking in search of other food.

We ended up at this HK place and i had mapo tofu, Cynthea had tomato beef and noon had beef with vege.

After eating, we walked all the way to the shopping center where we can collect our cards. Downtown Vancouver is actually not very big so we can easily walk from one end to the other. But so happen the street that we walked through was filled with adult shops (both guys and gals) and motels.. lol.

We finally reached Pacific Centre and after collecting our cards, we walk around the shopping center for a while and took some photos.

We soon ended up in the high class branded section and was told by a staff that no photo taking was allowed.. and since we saw no reason in staying at the branded goods section, we headed out of the building and managed to catch a glimpse of the Vancouver Lookout.

Then we walked back to the hostel, stopping along the way at some shops where Cynthea and Noon bought some stuff.

We also headed to nearby supermarkets to buy some snacks, fruits and food for breakfast and other meals before gg back to the hostel for cup noodles dinner and study time (we all have exams after our trip -_-''')

So Day 1 at Vancouver was alright.. not very fruitful cause we did not do much stuff, but at least we got to walk around a bit. :)