Fun fact: In-store coupons are (redundent but) popular here.

Went walking by myself down Broadway and Commercial Drive, pretending to be a dodgy character looking for people to mug, so that people won’t mug me. Rubbing your stomach while passing a cheap fast food restaurant never fails to take other dodgy characters’ eyes off me. I do get stares from normal people though, but that’s safe, and I don’t care much about them. Explored all the bargain shops and eateries around, taking pamphlets here and there to compare prices. The cheap thrill of finding good buys is... cheap thrill, but it never fails to make me excited.

Somehow I like to walk around by myself compared to traveling in groups. I don’t feel the stress of ohnoisthistherightwaytogo or alamakIthinknoteveryonelikesthis. Perhaps I am too much of a communist who looks for majority agreement before coming to a decision on anything. I don’t like to make decisions for others. The freedom to stop, look, go, getmyselflostandnotworryaboutpeoplecomplainingbecause Iamtheonlyonewhoislost makes me glad I am alone at times, but then there is also the drawback of not being able to share the joys and feelings of exploration. I think I am the type that would survive best with a dog, but then again, a dog does not respond to cheap buys (though it responds to food). Maybe I should not care so much about how my companions feel, but that’s not me.

For friends in Singapore who wants to buy anything, please email me of what you want to buy. Some things to consider include jackets, shoes, backpacks, and other clothings. Timberland, Columbia, MEC (check out mec.ca!! Good stuff!) are some of the good buys here. Whether I get them for you depends on how good a friend you are and how much commission I get from it. =P

Fun fact: Vancouver has a large chinese population due to China's taking over of HK

Today is Eugene’s birthday! Happy birthday to Eu! Had a big makan session (lunch) before we proceeded to Stanley Park for sightseeing. Stanley park appeared to be an island north of Downtown, much like Sentosa which is linked to Singapore by a bridge. It’s famous for the seawalls and beach scenery and an Aquarium which contains quite a large number of sea species. We didn’t visit the Aquarium, but rented bicycles to cycle around the island for the sea views. Overcycled like siao and ended up near Downtown (dun ask me how we did such an amazing thing), and had to cycle back. Spent 9 dollars on that and went for nice Korean dinner on Denman road after that.

Interesting things that happened::
From our house to downtown, we witnessed a gang fight (or 1 person kena hantam by a few...) on Hastings from the bus.
At downtown while waiting for bus to Stanley Park, I kena bird shit on my head and my beloved GoreTex jacket (for the Nth time, I kena birdshitted... I must be a shit-magnet)
We hollanded like siao while cycling.
Met a funky dude from Japan at the beach. He was backpacking (he has basically everything with him then) with a year to spend in Canada, for studying/holiday purpose. It must take a lot of courage to come to a foreign land not knowing what to do there.
We got driven out of the Korean Restaurant because we stayed to play big2 and bluff (for an hour?) after finishing dinner.

Fun fact: Vancouver doesn't snow much. It rains a lot in winter

Went to school at 11am today. Overslept for an orientation that I don’t mind oversleeping for, and found that I missed nothing much in all my lateness. Sweet. But felt a bit bad cos played out Yanying who went to see the school’s anthropology museum instead. Just a bit bad, cos nothing much can make me feel bad for very long. =P

Window shopped along Broadway after that with the guys and bought a table tennis bat for 50 cents. Nice. Also acquired some household stuff at those cheap loonie-toonie shops. (A loonie means 1 dollar, and a toonie means 2 dollars. This is because the 2 denominations are dispensed in coin forms. Google on Canadian denominations above for more info on this! )

We (7 of us) ordered one humongous plate of sushi (106 pieces) for lunner, but it turned out to be not so great in quality. Must find a better sushi restaurant…

Dai-dee can virtually be played anywhere. We played in the school at the resting area near the food area while waiting for time to pass, played it on the grass patch near the school’s bus loop while waiting for Serene, played it while waiting for the sushi, and could probably play it on the road pavement if there was nothing better to do… It’s such a flexible game, that all you need is a pack of cards and some bored crowd (>= 3, <= 10). If you want to know more about the game, google on ‘Big 2’. =P

On the way home we waited at the corner of Barrard Street and Broadway for the stupid bus 16 (which never came within our 30 minutes wait), boarded bus 9, sat beside a vagabond that was smelling of something in-the-process-of-fermentation, ate a slice of 1.20 pizza.

Haven’t settled accounts for the day yet.

Fun fact - UBC is the 35th top ranking school in the world

Went to UBC for 1st day orientation. Also bought textbooks. Nothing else interesting here, skip to the next blog please.

Fun fact - Hastings Street has nice viet, and chinese food

Came back to Vancouver today. Ate Viet dinner. Spent the whole day doing laundry, and nothing else. Wait... is there something else that slipped my mind? Wait... no. There isn’t. So there.

Fun fact - Mountain Equipment Co-Op is formed in Canada

Morning went to Eau clair market and Prince Island Park. Played dai-dee there. Also bought bread to feed the animals, only to see a sign in the park later that tells people not to feed animals (in case that they get dependent on human).

Broke off with the group later while at downtown. More freedom that way. Went to the beautiful Devonian Garden located at the top level of Devonian Shopping Complex. It is a transparent-ceiling-air-conditioned indoor garden that comes with its own birds and pond (yes, there are fishes in there for you to feed, and several coin-based fishfood dispensers conveniently located nearby...). There are people sitting around eating their lunches, reading books, or simply enjoying the calm that abounds so abundantly in that serene garden. Tres Bien.

Shopping! Bought a Gore-Tex jacket at CAD$150, the biggest expense paid out for my stay in Canada till now. But it was only 150/340 that of Wenzheng’s jacket. Why? Cos my jacket is the Youth’s version (but it fitted me snugly! Does that mean I am YoUtHfUl??) though same in design and intricacies as the adult version. Drool over it at http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=711437&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=522039&bmUID=1094527314793
Also bought a nalgene bottle at CAD$7.25. This one has a bigger mouth than my bigger-capacity green nalgene bottle. Hope it doesn’t talk so much.

Fun fact - Calgary was home to the Blackfoot

Went to visit Tyrell Museum to see dinosaur bones and such. There’s such a wide collection of bones there any dogs will salivate at seeing them. Also went along the North to South Dinosaur Trails that led to many badlands and superb sceneries. Recommended tourist place. Endorsed by Frank.

Had dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Calgary. Superb 5 course meal at 3 course prices.

Fun fact - There are no more buffaloes jumping down in Head Smashed-in Buffalo Jump

Went to visit Head Smashed-in Buffalo Jump (google for it!) located near the town of Fort MacLeod. Err... not my cup of tea, but must admit that it would be interesting to those who are interested. Wanted to have a buffalo burger to complete the experience, but did not manage to squeeze in one for lunch. Had some other burger instead.

Went to Lethbridge after that to sightsee. Wanted to visit the cornfield maze at Robinpick Berry Farm and get ourselves silly-lost inside, but it was closed. Went to Helen Schuler Coulee Centre, a centre that leads to several small coulee trails, mainly a nature-touristy place. It turned out to be an uninteresting hike in an uninteresting park-grassland. Perhaps we went there too late (4+pm), but it wasn’t good. =(

Fun fact - Calgary means 'clear, running water' in Gaelic

Today went back to Calgary and had a Viet dinner along uptown 17th Avenue. Later went to Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) to look see look see for camping stuff and jackets and bagpacks. Wenzheng bought a super expensive GoreTex jacket (MEC Zenith Jacket (Men's)). He’s flying off in the middle of the night, so won’t be seeing him for long long time.

Fun fact - Calgary is building up for Olympics 2008.

Ice-walking today! First time walking up snowy mountain (Athabasca Glacier). Very shiok experience. Also found out how dirty snow can be. There were a lot of sediments on the snow that accumulated from impure melted top-layer snow. Happy day.

Witnessed two elks happy crossing a road and a driver happily running over one of them (it died, by the way) tonight. What a happy day. We didn’t talk much that night, as we each pondered over how all of us would die one day and other such happy stuff.