Beet

October 3, 2005

I have a really big blister on my toe.

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I think I am getting over the worst of the jetlag, of which I have always been sceptical actually exists, as a kid travelling to the US I'm sure I never used to get it. Must be like hangovers, gets worse as you get older.

So Vancouver, yeah nice place. My wild adventures on Saturday night, after landing at 5pm (thanks Manchester baggage handlers) and getting to the hostel at 7pm I didn't feel up to much so took a short walk around the local area. Which I have since been informed is the cities gay district. Go me.

I tried to get to bed early, having been travelling for 20 hours, but a hostel is a pretty dramatic downturn from semi-luxury Oxford bachelor pad, and even further from parents palaical comforts. I was feeling pretty down, christ, you would too if a 60 year old dude from San Fransisco woke you up at 1am telling you you're in the wrong bed. I wonder when they dropped the "Youth" part of Youth Hostel? I have since reached the conclusion that this guy is here for the local scene only, but am thankfully yet to see any evidence.

I didn't get back to sleep after 1am so if you're keeping tabs, I've been up since 8am GMT (midnight PST), sneaked 4 hours sleep at 9pm (PST) and am back awake listening to the chorus of snores in the dormitory. Morning finally comes and I head straight out avoiding the complimentary breakfast (I cannot begin to imagine what it consists of), Starbucks is within crawling distance and the first coffee hit of the day comes into force.

At this point I should state I had no real plan of what I intended to do for the day, albeit going to the tourist office downtown seemed a smart idea. Somewhat suprisingly, downtown is small, I don't mean Oxford small but it's all pretty much walkable. The hostel is a 5 minute walk to the epicentre. After wandering around Canada Place, which is oddly similar to Chicagos Navy Pier, I realised that Vancouver doesn't get up on Sunday mornings and I'd have to wait it out. Someone told me they do good doughnuts here and a 9am Sunday morning continental Maple Syrup and Classic Glazed Tim Hortons awaits, along with another coffee.

Flicking through what I picked up at the tourist office, I'm told Gastown makes for a moderately popular Sunday haunt so I lugged my backpack back onboard and set out. For the record, laptops are heavy. My Rough Guide makes out Gastown to be kind of historic. Briefly, it became the original centre of the city (before burning down) due to some clever minded chap setting up a large drinking establishment, for the loggers to frequent after lumberjacking all day. Historic in Canadian terms meaning over 100 years old, so it'd not be unreasonable to expect some large Victorian architecture, maybe a bit of cheap tack thrown in for the tourists? Well not really, there's a 200 yard road which has a steam clock on it, a bunch of native art shops and the Storyeum, which after closer examination (I figured the hour long show might waste some time) is a live action representation of Vancouvers history. Yes it does sound amusing but the place was full of kids so I got the idea and moved on.

Chinatown is nearby and claims to be the 2nd largest outside well, erm China I guess. All chinatowns tend to be the same I find but who doesn't enjoy looking at roasted animals and various other odd foodstuffs strung up inside elaborately decorated windows? I should have followed my instincts, again the 300 yard stretch of Main Street wasn't very exciting, I popped into the Cultural District which consisted of a small Chinese garden, very pleasant and relaxing until the American tourbus arrived. Heading back out is where I made my first mistake. They say East Gastown (verging on Hastings) gets seedy, that's the guide book way of saying you'll be dodging hobos, syringes and crazed freaks. Seriously, this area of Vancouver has some serious drug and homeless issues it needs to address. It's a shame because the actual area isn't so bad.

After my excursion into the worst of Vancouver, I thought I'd head into the shopping district, well, road, as you might be beginning to gather, Vancouver is small, Robson and Granville probably make up a mile or so of shopping, I guess with the large Mall tossed in there is a fair deal of shopping to be fair but I'm not really one for meandering pointlessly around clothing boutiques although I do need a jacket (I forgot to bring mine). It wasn't a caffiene fix I needed now, after carrying my laptop around for the best part of a day, it was Internet.

Luckily the only person I actually know is available later in the afternoon and went on to show me some hospitality that is worthy of an Ambassador status. Maybe that's just how they do it in Canada but I can't imagine many Brits meeting up with a holiday maker from the Internet, taking them to a bar for a couple of beers (good choice in bar too, I thought All Bar One had some good waitresses) escorting me back to his house and letting me crash on his bed for an hour (there was no buggery, he assures me). I wake up to pizza and quality Canadian television before we head back downtown to Sonar to see if we can score an extra ticket for a show he's going to. Luckily we do and head in, the venue is smoke-free, clean and there's no queue at the bar, take note English music venues. The National play a pleasantly suprising set with musings of Suede vocals, a Canadian synth sound and a voilin thrown in for good measure. Time update, assuming I'm still running on GMT, it's now 6am and I've had 4 hours sleep in the past 48. Apologies to Tyler for the lack of energy and enthralling conversation while we wait for Clap your Hands and say Yeah to come on stage. They're nothing out of the ordinary live and they did nothing to back up my initial thoughts that the singer just warbles into the mic.

And to bed. I managed 8 hours sleep and am awake feeling a little more with it, the plan today is head into town and catch up with Tyler before work so I can bore him with more Canadian/British comparisons.

Posted by Mark at October 3, 2005 1:57 PM

Comments

Posted by: Greg at October 3, 2005 1:03 PM

Posted by: Greg at October 3, 2005 1:04 PM