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.

I'm In Vancouver!

I touched down in Vancouver about an hour ago, and now I'm at the hotel. Vancouver looks so green, even in fall. I guess the Pacific northwest doesn't have interesting weather.

The first thing I notice is that everyone drives the "wrong" way around here, and the cab I took had the driver's seat on the left (that is weird). The city is beautiful, and I can't wait to go exploring.

Transit In Hong Kong

About half an hour ago I landed in Hong Kong. I am just passing through on the way to Vancouver. This is the farthest I have ever been from home. I feel like Samwise at the beginning of LOTR.

To Canada!

In a few hours time, I'll be boarding a plane to go to Canada! I'm going to be attending OSDI 2010, then off to Canmore for some adventure.

Canada, here I come!