Vancouver On Video

This is my last day in Vancouver, so here I have a short video of my trip here. Tomorrow I leave for Alberta, where I'll meet up with my friends and have the second part of my Canadian adventure.

Walking To Granville Island

After the conference was over, Noldy and I decided to walk over to Granville Island to check it out. After all, according to Wikipedia it was named "One of the World's Great Places" by the Project for Public Spaces. That sounded intriguing enough to us, so off we went!

The walk was scenic, as we got nice shots of Vancouver as we walked and walked.

To get there, we had to cross this very long bridge. It was quite a long walk, and it was already late evening as we reached halfway across.

This is a view from the bridge.

We had reached the other end of the bridge when the golden rays of the setting sun hit this dome.

Here's Noldy!

This is me as we arrived at Granville Island.

Sadly, we couldn't find any establishments open in the evening. Whether it was due to us not being able to find anything, or if things really do close early in the evening on a weekday is up for debate. However, I was there, and I have the pictures to prove it!

More Adventures In Vancouver

Ah, beautiful Vancouver! Here are some more photos I took, out and about on the streets.

I'm in Canada!

This is the Vancouver Art Gallery, which I now regret not visiting. I didn't have the time, with the conference and all. Also, I had caught a mild flu and was struggling with attending the conference sessions, and they were tiring me out.

This is me near the Vancouver Art Gallery, during a conference break. It's very near the hotel where the conference is being held. You can see my USENIX name tag.

This is Howe Street, in the area where I was staying.

You can find many establishments for food and beverages here, from various cultures. It's a very metropolitan city.

Here's a restaurant that sells Indian food.

Stanley Park

Stanley Park is a park next to downtown Vancouver (where I was staying). It's one of the loveliest places in the world with a zillion points of interest. Okay, maybe it's more like twenty (according to this map anyway), but I didn't even have time to visit them all! Seagull, Noldy, Pingu and I spent most of our time at Vancouver Aquarium (which is inside Stanley Park), but afterward we walked around the park. Here are some of the photos I took there.

The trees! They're so beautifully red!

A trolley from the Vancouver Trolley Company wheels past us. You can go on sightseeing tours on these (we didn't, though).

Salmon! Mmm, salmon.

More Canadian trees.

This is the Lions Gate Bridge, which we saw as we walked down Stanley Park seawall.

From across the shore, you can see giant piles of sulphur on the opposite bank.

This sculpture is called "Girl In A Wetsuit", and was done by Elek Imredy. It was inspired by the Little Mermaid sculpture in Copenhagen.

These are some of the totem poles you can find at Brockton Point in the park.

Here are some more totem poles.

These totem poles are a major tourist attraction at the park.

Next we set off to the Lost Lagoon, with a big sploosy fountain in the middle. After sitting there for a while, we set off to look for dinner.

Vancouver Aquarium Part 4

Finally, I made a video of the cool animals I saw at the aquarium, complete with a waltzy soundtrack.

Vancouver Aquarium Part 3

The dolphin show was the highlight of my trip to the aquarium. The three pacific white-sided dolphins they have here were rescued from being entangled in fishing nets. Their names are Spinnaker, Hana and Helen. Apart from being valuable for dolphin research, these three are trained to do acrobatics. Nothing brings out your inner kid than the sight of a somersaulting dolphin.

Vancouver Aquarium Part 2

Here are pictures from the Aquarium trip. The first picture is a sea lion, and the ones after that are beluga whales with their trainers. Adult beluga whales are white, but younger ones are grey in colour.

The Vancouver Aquarium has a Belugacam available on the web if you want to take a peek at these guys.

Vancouver Aquarium Part 1

The Vancouver Aquarium is a very large centre that exhibits a variety of marine life. It is located inside Stanley Park. There are dolphin and whale shows, which were my favourite. I have a ton of pictures from the aquarium, and I'll be posting them here in four parts.

Coal Harbour, Vancouver

Today I met up with Seagull, Pingu and Sarnold and had an adventure around Vancouver. Seagull was gracious enough to take sizable portion of her day to show us around, and I thank her for that. Thanks also to Pingu and Sarnold for showing up in Vancouver!

Our first stop on our adventure was Coal Harbour, which is on the way to Stanley Park from where I was staying. It's a nice scenic walk, and I got some pretty sweet pictures.

Look, I'm in Canada!

The first time I've seen a seaplane in real life! These planes fly around Vancouver a lot.

There are a multitude of boats anchored in the harbour.

It's me again, underneath a shed on stilts.

This was taken at Cardero Park, where some sculptures were being displayed for Vancouver Biennale. It is a biannual ourdoor art exhibition in Vancouver. This particular piece of art is called "Meeting", by Wang Shugang of China.

These are some flowers along the harbour. You can see the city towering behind them.

This is Coal Harbour's Fellowship Bell, with a plaque on it with the names of people and companies that have helped build Coal Harbour and the community around it.

There are more pictures coming soon!

Walking About On A Saturday Evening In Vancouver

I'm still thrilled about being on another country, another continent, and in such an interesting city. Walking about the part of town where I'm staying, I took some street photos.

It's so nice and cool out here. I could walk for a long time without getting tired at all.

A woman is about to cross the street. Drivers actually respect pedestrian crossing lights here, even at busy intersections! I know that's how it should be, but I come from Penang.

Look, it's the Canadian flag!

Buildings cast shadows on each other as the sun sets.

These trolley busses are powered by overhead electric cables. You can see the funky electric terminal poles on the top of the bus.

At night, a long queue of people line up to watch the Vancouver International Film Festival.