Canada 20-22 Sept 2007

Ok, back again and a short summary of what I did for the last few days:

20 September 2007
- had dinner at the apartment. JH and her bf cooked. Very pretty presentation of the fried shrimp with honey mustard on a bed of olive oil and herbs-infused rice and fresh salad with Asian Sesame and vinigrette dressing. So nice!

- drove up to Cypress Mountain viewpoint after dinner to take in the night view of Vancouver.

- stopped at Robson to walk around. Starbucks closed early! 10pm, same as Chapters. Then again this is Canada where shops usually close around 9pm in the major cities.

21 September 2007
- went to the bank at Metrotown, trying to revive (re-open) my bank account. Can't be done on that day so made an appointment for Monday instead. So different from previously where there will always be someone to open an account for you.

- went to Granville to meet LG for lunch. We went to The Keg where I had the lunch special of grilled chicken on bread topped with melted cheese and peppers and onions with honey mustard and a side of fries. That was so good too! Simple but yummy.

- it was raining, so I didn't get to really explore Robson. Instead I hid out at Pacific Centre and checked out the stores. I love this off-gold bag at Le Chateau which looked like the Gauffre or similar runched design. But it cost C$49.95 + taxes. With the exchange at 1.5, I am definitely thinking many times when deciding to buy things. No more the good old days of an exchange of 1.1 now.

- then popped into The Bay and Sears. I think Sears has more things and better deals. The selection was wider. I saw so many brands - Nars, Decleor, MAC, Benefit, Make Up Forever, Crabtree, and lots more but amazingly I was not tempted to really check out the stuff. Lol.

- spent more time choosing gloves and contemplating buying scarf and looking at the hosiery. Sears was having sale of 25% to 50% off (depending on the number of pairs bought). In the end, I bought a pair of black gloves with tiny beads on the side. It didn't make my hands look enormous and fit perfectly. Also bought some woolly socks in purple! Great to keep warm and some knee highs too.

- Finally the rain kinda stopped, so I walked out to Robson and Burrard and checked out the stores on the street. I was heading towards Burrard station to meet JH to get the keys. Along the way, I popped into Coach and saw some items were on sale. The Japanese tourists were grabbing the stuff like they were free. After the 50% off, the wristlet and skinny were going at C$30+ taxes (13%), not that cheap IMO. Also saw an Aldo liquidation store where the items were of the past seasons (I saw my sandals which I bought in 2005/6 I think!) and some were going at "Buy 1 get 1 free" and others to get additional 50% off. I bought tights for a steal. Around C$3 for 2 pairs of tights. Usual price was C$15 each.

- Met JH and then met JC for dinner. We were to go to The Boathouse at English Bay. Nice view. We shared the steamer pot of clams and mussels and the paella, plus a seafood chowder for me. JC had the crab whiskey soup (very rich). The sourdough bread was so good. The steamer pot was very good, especially the clams. The paella was a disappointment. Too salty and watery like having the Teochew rice porridge.

- Walked over to Denman and saw Tanpopo (the Japanese restaurant which a group of us went in 2000 with mother). JC took me to Cupcakes. The shop is so sweet! All pink and girly. So pretty. I love it! Also checked out Mondo Gelato. I had the nutella (very nice) and dark chocolate (even nicer). Then JC sent me back where we shared the mini cupcakes from Cupcakes.

22 September 2007
- JC helped me get the tourbooks and maps for Eastern Canada/USA as I was thinking of traveling there too. So we met for brunch. Went to Pho Hong along Kingsway. The beef noodle soup was so good. Prices have increased. C$6 for a small, C$6.50 for large. The small was huge though, I only finished half of that. But it was so good. The Vietnamese coffee was the ultimate too. Strong, thick and sweet.

- JC then drove over to Metrotown area so that I can see my old apartment as well as Jon/Veron's apartment. Thought I would report back to Veron on her old place and new development. Lol. My old apartment was still the same. No change at all.

- Back to apartment and JH came back to pick me up to go to her bf's place for bbq. Food was so good. The 2 of them can cook. Home-made meatball vegetables soup, home-made sausage and wings to bbq. And grilled peppers to make salad. Simple but good.

- walked along Fraser River along Marine Drive, it was a nice walk. There were wild blackberries so we plucked some and had them on the spot. First time I did that :p We walked for about an hour.

- was "attacked" by a vine when I tried to take pictures of the scenery. It suddenly shot up and hit my leg and snagged my tights. I bear the mark.

So yeah basically that was my last few days. Will post pictures soon.