4/10/09

Yesterday...my troubles seemed so far away.

Quite true...I didn't do a whole lot except head down to the harbour to check out boats across the ocean..very nice and calming..quite enjoyed it.

Click Here to check out all my current pics ive uploaded to facebook

Prob head to Stanley Park tomorrow

Untill then..

The Big Day Out 3/10/09

Woke up feeling pretty ok...all 3 of my room-mates moved out.

Decided to go for a walk down the road and over the bridge to 'Granville Island'. Very cool place with plenty of shops and a big fresh food market. Market was busy yet heaps of fun..got some fresh stuff and plan to go back to get some more.

Welcome to Granville Island

Didn't really do much at night...quiet one..was pretty wrecked from the hours of walking but I managed to check out a firethrowing street performer..here was quiet humerous and pulled a decent crowd..

Oooh, Fire!

Thats all for now..Catch.

The Big Night Out 2/10/09

Today i seriously did SFA! It was a day to chillax and observe surroundings in and outside the hostel.

Few random things ill share about this place

• Canadians are so friendly. Out on the street, in the bars & they are always happy to help tourists out..and furthermore the majority are hot!
• Untill meeting German "dudes name i cant remember" and his nice girlfriend Mika (managed to remember that) most germans around seemed quite snobby/uptight. This couple were cool just had a chat before going out and now have changed my tune about ze germanz........shizen housen.
• "Mary Jane" is a very popular person here.
  
• Strict no-alcohol tolerance..you get 'patted down' at clubs mainly to stop you smuggling alcohol in..
  
• All prices are shown before gst. This is frustating at times when u look at stuff ur about to buy and then forget the tax gets added at the register..geeez get with the times canada this makes no sense haha

Ill add more later thats all I can think of right now.

So onto the evening..I thought id just have a quiet one I was in a cbf mood. I climb 3 flights of stairs to get to my room so after the first 2 sets it gets heavy. Managed to trip up the stairs on my way to my room...embarrassing much? Not really. Dude behind me asked if i was ok...started chatting..he was a pom from portsmouth. So ended up having a drink with him and his portsmouth/irish friends.

Then from the hostel we headed out to a gig downtown. Funniest blokes..kept trying to do the aussie accent but failed miserably..as did I with theirs. So we hit up this club and theres a pretty fkn big queue...stood in that for about an hour and a half..at this point it was prob 12.30am before we got in...and it was coldddd..cold for australia but nothin for them. Club/Pub was good..live band who played kind of alternate/disco mix..very different type of music but very cool.

Got home about 3am pretty toasted..the beer here is pretty good..tried 'Ox' last night. They also love jager over here...im fitting in way too well haha. Tomorrow should be interesting, all 3 of my room-mates are off elsewhere so 3 newbies headed my way for the night. 3 french canadians maybe? Fingers crossed..stay tuned =)

Day One 1/10/09

Ok...I hit bed about 12-1am

Cannot sleep whatsoever. Just lying there and its doing my head in..thinking about home too much and its only the first freakin night! At this stage im sharing with irish,swiss & jap dudes..random and awkward at this stage.. somehow managed an hour or so sleep and then woke up 3amish wide awake. WTF! Jet Lag 1 Alex 0.

So got up..came into the 'common room' with kitchen, internet etc. Logged onto facebook got in touch with peeps at home.

So now wtf do I do....its like 4am...time to go for a wander. Ended up wandering down the street the hostel is on (click it to check it out! omg how cool). Noticed a few things..theres no traffic crossing buttons over here its all sensored..would of looked like the biggest idiot looking around trying to push something..sensors pickup ur there and stop traffic. Might skip the story about a random rat running around in a clothing store window I saw.

View of the street im in

Ended up finding a 7/11 and hit up some water and energy drinks. So that wasted a bit of time..still pretty early. After loitering and not sleeping, showered etc went downstairs for breakfast (jam toast & oj ftw). Met this irish couple who were cool and had breakfast with them. After breakfast had to hit some more caffeine and tried starbucks (one on every corner) which was quite filthy as expected. Also did some shopping..got a power converter in a kmart-like store called London Drugs (wtf!)

One of the roughly 30 different energy drinks they had. Energy city.

11am came round..Josh & I got picked up by Carly (cute canadian) who works for the travel/job co. We went the office to meet other support staff. Talked about a tour that im going to go on..7 day bus tour which heads through Jasper & Banff..sounds like a travelling party bus with a couple days in banff and jasper at some hostels. Wicked. Cant wait, thats Tuesday canada time so I guess im stayin in hotel for a few more days. I can then decide whether I work there or come back to Van Bc. So after sorting that out we head over and organise a bank acct (debit card on the spot, much more effecient than you Australia) and a SIN number (centrelink type job card).

Disregarding the rail line im bussing from Van > Banff > Jasper > Banff and back to van

Did some more wandering after that..weather was rainy yet so fresh and nice. Also some of the buses here are electric..wtf! thats so not normal..why not just have trams. Ended up going different directions all resulted in facing the bridge towards the airport..its one big loop much like Melbourne. Later that night it was a big one in the hostel..although not a big one for me because of my overtiredness, bed at 9.30 for me! (and a nice 8hr sleep) But before that watched some Ice Hockey (or hockey because its like calling soccer grass soccer apparently) with the local team Vancouver Canucks vs Calgary Flames?. It is actually quite good to watch even though I dont know wtf is happening half the time, if one player gets in the others way its on! gloves and sticks down all out brawl between these 2 players they even stop the game. Fantastic! the crowd loved it...also loved when Van scored because everyone went nuts..much like watching a big footy or soccer game at the pub. I think they lost 5-3. Boo-urns.

Thats all i can think of for now..will update in the next couple of days. Oh but the irish guy left yesterday so now im sharin with the jap & swiss dude and a new guy from toronto who is pretty cool. Guy from Japan & Toronto leave tomorrow, so it'll be interesting to see who comes in next..hopefully 2 hot french chicks =)

Departure/Arrival 30-9-09

So where to begin...well, up at 630ish for the nine o'clock flight to Sydney. After packing the night before or half packing I ended up finishing it within seconds of leaving for the airport. Farewell to the family, boarded to Syd-oh no wait its delayed by 20mins...as in no boarding till 9.20am. Frustrated when you have little time to catch a flight to Taipei, needing to make it to the International terminal aswell. Was lucky to see the check in guy just as he was leaving to goto the flight area, phew.

mmm, pork & rice. it actually tasted better than it looks. true fact.

So the flight was ok..I was lucky enough to get an aisle seat with 2 empty seats between me & a larger aussie gentleman. Movies watched on way to Taipei: Star Trek (quite lame).
After roughly 10hrs (7.25pm) we hit Taipei with a humid breeze felt without leaving airport. Somehow managed to kill 4hrs, involved a little bit of wifi & plenty of walking around like 'ooo-aaa' at all the overpriced shopping..duty free looked orrite but didn't find a currency exchange. Noticed a few Aussies around..not many though.

Taipei flight was actually quite good (besides the filthy "omlette" i was given for breakfast). Ended up watching half hour of the hangover before falling asleep and waking up to breakfast. 7hr sleep? Sweeeeet.

Sapporo..very nice. Had a few of these.

Hit Vancouver at 7.30pm the same day....WTF...I arrived at Taipei at the same time, had a 4hr stopover and a 10hr flight...and its the same time...bloody timezones. So head over to baggage & customs, ended up meeting Josh, a guy from Canberra also going through the travel&work co I was..we end up sharing a 4WD to the hostel he is also staying at.

Already weirded out at this stage by the left hand driving..also enjoyed the view of all the neon lights everywhere. So got to the hostel, chucked our bags in our rooms (so far im sharing with an Irish dude.) We wandered out onto the street to take it all in. First person to approach us with a black dude telling us to name any word in the dictionary and he could define it. I stared blankly like huh? wtf is this dude on about...after failing to give him a word he asked for some change for pizza (big slice pizza store next door) mm, nice try dude. We went back inside and had a few brewskis (mooseheads, alexander keiths both nice & different). Bed time..the flight has caught upto us

Day 1 to be posted soon..