Canada Trip II

The journey continues today with the next two days of my trip. I’ve tried to budget my posts around the amount of pictures taken – and Tuesday and Wednesday were absolutely laden with photos. One of the unfortunate things during my stay was the weather. Apparently, it hadn’t rained for month before I arrived. However, a few days after my coming, the skies opened and rained off and on for most of my time home.

This was duly the case on Tuesday. I trudged on though, as I wasn’t going to let rain limit what I wanted to do. Thankfully, Ryan and Sam came out to support me and we trekked into White Rock to snap a few pics and have what I was really after: fish and chips. Due to the rain, we certainly didn’t have to fight for a parking spot and we most definitely did not have to wait for a seat at the restaurant. The fish and chips were satisfying – if you wanted to know.

After a quick meal, Ryan and Sam were kind enough to continue with me home to take part in a small family dinner with my Aunt. It was altogether a pleasant experience but the highlight surely was my nephew Liam, my cousin Tom’s child. He had grown up so much since I had left and it was awesome to play with someone who appreciated Transformers. I did enjoy seeing family again as well – I think it put everything in perspective. It was good to know that people still remember who I am!



Wednesday was by far the busiest of my days back home. To be fair, it was rather ambitious to begin with. This day was set aside to accomplish all my shopping needs. Incredibly enough, I think we accomplished pretty much everything on my magical wish list. Let’s back up a bit though. We had a nice little shopping unit in the end. I asked John if he was willing to infiltrate and destroy – and to no surprise – he was up to the task. Surprisingly though, my sister wanted to come along – and brought her friend Kim.

This foursome absolutely raided Metrotown first and then ravaged downtown afterwards. I think the girls didn’t know what hit them in the end – as we probably walked more that day than they would walk in a week. Metrotown was really the daunting part as it’s just so huge with too many choices. Luckily, we had John Kwon to lead the way. It would have been a great deal more messy and chaotic without this fine young gentleman. Downtown was much more straightforward but tiring nonetheless.

Us four ate a quick dinner at a small sandwich shop before walking down to the beach for the annual Vancouver fireworks show. I think we were quite fortunate as we got to witness China’s fiery dominance of the air. Their finale was unlike anything I had ever seen…or at least can ever remember. We were joined by a larger crew down by English Bay. Ryan and Sam, along with Nathan, Lydia, Lucas and Kenji (accompanied by girlfriend) all joined us on our blanket to experience the spectacle. It was a grand time but somewhat overwhelmed by drunken teenage spectators. There are some things I don’t really miss about Canada.

This concludes Part II of my Canada Trip. Do not fear – there will only be one more installment in this series. Coming soon!

-Paul