Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Our Skytrain day

Typical shop in Chinatown, Vancouver BC
In anticipation of some friends coming to visit next month, today Smart Guy and I went over the border to Vancouver, BC, and rode the Vancouver Skytrain to Chinatown. Although the two of us have visited Vancouver in our car a time or three, it's a whole different experience when you ride the wonderful Skytrain to your destination. You are not encased in the walls of your car but are out there sitting with the populace, listening to Mandarin, Cantonese, and what I think was Portuguese on the Skytrain. Not to mention Canadian English, eh?
We had lunch at a Chinese restaurant (see above), and the view out the window shows Pender Street, unless we took a turn that I forgot. Anyway, the food was fine, but next time we will try Foo's Ho Ho Restaurant on Pender. It was closed when we wandered by, and we ended up in this place, but after checking out the menu, next time we will try Foo's.

The Skytrain was really an experience. For $6 we parked our car in the Surrey Skytrain lot, where we could leave it for up to 12 hours. We bought an all-day ticket for the Skytrain, which cost us each $7, and it includes all-day transfers up and down the line, as well as unlimited rides on any Vancouver buses. The unfortunate part for us is that by the time we wandered around Chinatown, getting lunch and taking in the sights, we didn't have much energy left over to catch a bus to, well, anywhere.
Once we returned to the Skytrain terminal, we checked to find what train we would need. At the top is our current stop, Stadium-Chinatown, and we only needed to catch an Expo line train, which would take us back to King George, the last destination on the line. We found our car easily, and after having almost six full hours on our adventure, we drove across the border with our trusty Nexus passes and headed home. It was a great day, and I want to say thank you also to Jo, a blogging friend who lives in Vancouver, for her supportive and descriptive phone conversation last night.
Our first, but not our last, Skytrain day! On another note, I ordered this light beer for lunch, which I learned to love during my trips to China. Now I'm home, needing to rest up for tomorrow's hike to the Mt. Baker High Country!
:-)

14 comments:

  1. I am so glad you and your husband had such a great time. Your life is far from boring. Way to go, Jan!

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  2. You and the Smart guy are a good looking couple! And China town looks fun. Glad you had a good time.
    Enjoy your hike tomorrow.

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  3. Thats a great photo of you both DJan, you have a lovely smile. I agree that was a great outing!

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  4. There is so much to do in your neck of the woods!

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  5. Oh what a lovely day, so interesting and informative. Your meal looked delicious and abundant! Did you eat it all? and the beer - so refreshing. I find, as I get older, that I run out of steam too after a few hours.
    Why is it called the Skytrain?
    Blessings, Star

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  6. Your description sounded so interesting that I searched Vancouver Skytrain images on Google. It is on my list of things I would like to do. I have not explored Vancouver before, just flying in and out isn't long enough to see enough. Your area sounds like a wonderful scenic place to live and you really enjoy a lot of it.

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  7. Sounds like a fun adventure. You have so much to see and do there. It must be a wonderful area to live in.

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  8. I think parking and using public transportation is big cities is a great way to go. We have done a lot of it in Europe, and with city passes, it's so easy to just hop on, hop off various modes of transportation. I did not know about the sky train. sounds great.

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  9. Hi DJan!
    Gosh, if you started out at the King George sky train station, then I'm sure you passed very close to my house on your way up there. So glad you had a good time in the city. China town is something else, eh? Last time I was there was with my daughter's grade 5 class.....about 13 years ago. I think I remember seeing an entire flattened pig hanging in a window...

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  10. Sounds like and looks like (from your great picture) you had a great time. I have never hear of the sky train! Would love to ride on it one day!

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  11. Lucky you to be so close to Vancouver. I have been there a few times and it is such an easy place to walk around and find things. Chinese food was always my choice too. Now when your company gets here you will know your way around in Vancouver.

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  12. That looks like a fun trip, the Skytrain must have been a pleasure compared to driving to Chinatown. I haven't been to Vancouver in awhile maybe we will try the Skytrain next time.

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  13. sounds like the two of you had a great adventure...we love chinese...matter of fact taking my wife out on monday to eat some...the skytrain sounds like a cool experience...

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  14. Vancouver is a great city. I enjoyed their park and museum last time we went. I also cannot understand why there are so few good mass transit in the US – it is so much better for the environment and it costs less. In my county, west of Atlanta, if you don’t have a car you have to stay home. Time and time again the voters refused to have mass transit come here.

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