What a treat staying in my old neighborhood hugging Commercial Drive! I wake up to seagulls calling to the morning breeze, wander the shady residential streets, house after house lounging beneath regally old trees, splashes of colorful blooms crowding front yards. So nice to reconnect with old friends and meet a few wide-eyed toddlers who've taken their parents lives by happy storm since I've been living the Asian expat life.
I spend three days digging through years of accumulated stuff , piece by piece finding its way to new owners or the recycling bin, with some hard-to-part-with bits weighing me down again. Oh, STUFF! It'll be nice to have a stereo again though.
On my last day the weather's still beautifully sunny, if chill with
the sea-kissed gusts of wind, so I hop on a bike and go for a mondo ride to see the fair city of Vangroovy. Aiming for the oceanside at Stanley Park, I detour along False Creek and haul uphill and along the Granville Bridge to visit Granville Island. Yay! There are totem poles in various stages of carving, shaved wood blanketing the ground,spirit faces emerging from the fallen trees. A whimsical potter is crafting a fantastic fish-and-human-face-encircled fountain as an afternoon project. An accordion player busks sauntering down the street.
Inside the Public Market,
it's Foodie Paradise - it's BC blueberries season and they're piled alongside heaps of squashes and peaches, there are cheese and olive counters, fresh pasta, seafood and famous BC salmon, teas, smoothies, fudge, home-made chutneys, bulk bins aplenty, foods and spices from around the world at the trendy South China Seas Trading Co. This whole enormous cornucopia of delights is at first seductive, but I slowly notice that the dangerously laden shelves
at one bakery after another are actually starting to become overwhelming... I finally leave feeling completely full after buying nothing... The ultimate diet plan?Outside again, I stop to buy some Haida art postcards and
admire huge masks, costumes and sculptures at one of my all-time-faves: Eagle Spirit Gallery.
Pressing on, I head to the beach. Dipping my feet into the ocean's salty waters has been put off for too long! People are lying around sunbathing, which I haven't seen in ages, and the newly-acquired Asian in me is appalled at their careless skin-sizzling in the high-noon sun. Water's freezing though, and anyone actually venturing in seems to be doing it with a lot of squealing.
I jump back on my trusty peddle-stallion and make one last stop in Chinatown. Then off to re-pack and de-own and donate things for the umpteenth time, with some small acquisitions (haha, I know, but it's to support the underground arts!) from my very talented and über-unique artist friends at Trypton Media.
My verdict on Vancouver: what a great city for enjoying life! (disclaimer: having money significantly helps)
Next stop: flying into Toronto on my birthday! Family, friends and nature time! My sister and I serendipitously wander into a Dusk Dances performance and two nights later take in some modern Japanese taiko drumming at the Musical Garden at the Harbourfront, after kicking back at Toronto's new Sugar Beach. There is so much going on in this city, doing just the things you are interested in would be a very very busy full-time job!
It's summer and minus Taipei
humidity, the outdoors is a wonderful place to be. One more week before another long flight whisks me back to the capital of Formosa.
No comments:
Post a Comment