From the east to the west

9th June 2010

MP3 track of the day: When you were young - Killers

Weather: Very overcast but hot at the same time.

My hostel is really nice, what's more there is only two of us currently within my dorm (and he doesn't snore, and he's tidy) and therefore I got a really good nights sleep.

After getting ready I sat down with my netbook to look up my 'MP3 player manual' off the internet, to see if I can fix it. For the final time I plugged in my MP3 player into the mains, in the vain hope, that it will charge and come back to life ... and it did, few ... saved me bit of money.

I continued to go on my netbook until around 2pm. After this I headed out; I had to do a bit of shopping...

• 1x bottle of shampoo


• 1x tube of toothpaste


• 1x set of earphones (as mine were broken)


• 3x 4GB camera memory cards

Thinking in British prices, I reckon this lot should cost me around £35.00 / £40.00. I went to get some cash out of a bank, HSBC, which had this huge swinging pendulum going straight across the entrance hall ... I waiting for it to swing passed me before running across ... just encase it fell. As I left the bank (missing the pendulum once more) three Canadian policemen stormed the building straight past me ... I thought 'ummm ... someones in a spot of bother'

£50.00!!! £50.00 for my shopping (and I only purchased 2 instead of 3x 4GB camera memory cards). Well there goes my daily budget; after shopping I went back to my hostel to make sure the earphones and camera memory cards worked correctly and then headed out again to do a little bit of sightseeing. Having spent a fortune (when I was trying to use my Vancouver stay to knock down my daily budget) I decided to do some 'free' sightseeing. I first went to 'Dr Sun Yat-Sen Garden'. Situated in China town it's a Chinese garden; the garden is split into two sections, one that is $15.00 (£10.00) and one that is free. As I'm going to China next year I decided to stick to the free garden and take a couple of photos.

After this I headed to the harbour where I walked along the 'Canada Place'; a building that was designed in the style of a boat. It was a little emotional; I stood there looking into Vancouver harbour realising that I had crossed the mainland of the 2nd largest country in the world. From Halifax to Vancouver I had stopped off at thirteen places, walked on glaciers, seen walled medieval cities and taken stupidly long coach trips but I had done it; I have to say that the harbour at Halifax is much, much nicer ... however the comparison is a little unfair as Vancouver harbour is one of the busiest within north America.

Walking back along 'Canada Palace', on the floor, there were the names of all the major places within Canada in location order. I therefore took a photo of all the places I had visited (and some I hope to visit later on); lots of people thought I was bonkers as I was running around, looking at the harbour floor, taking photos.

After this I headed into 'Gastown'; the oldest part of Vancouver and quite seedy. However there is the worlds only 'gas powered clock' located there which, on the hour, whistled the Westminster 'Big Ben' tune ... which was highly comical.

Finally I went into a food court for tea (pizza) and then headed back to my hostel. First job was to wash some more laundry; as I was stood there, one eye raised over my book watching the washing machine take off, some guy asked me how does the washing machine work? How ironic; however being a 'laundry veteran' of three washes I then explained the fine arts of the 'washing machine' and told him that this machine had no 'google' either.

For rest of the night I planned to update my blog and look at my photos ... however Bill Gates had other plans as he sent through the biggest update known to man, which froze my netook. I therefore let the update run ... cursed Billy a few times ... and went to bed.

Tomorrow will be another lazy day and, depending on weather, I will either go to the park or the museum ... or something cheap.

Toodle Pip!