Vanco

We took a weekender to Vancouver BC. We went by Amtrak, which is like third world travel right here in the USA. Wacky bureaucratic ticketing, multiple desks to go to, poor service... after Japan it really is embarrassing. Hire 100 people from Japan, fire everyone else, and have the 100 rehire and rebuild the whole system. Train travel is still novel enough for me to be fun regardless of the hassle and slowness.

We went for a bike ride around Stanley Park, a float plane was taking off.





Vancouver has changed a lot in the last 5 years. It is now an international jet-set boutique city. Real estate prices are very expensive, a regular house on a 5k sqft lot going for over 1 million US. Seattle is still cheap compared to this and California.



They build thin towers, not like the ones in Seattle that take the whole block. Every unit gets a view that way, and the views are a bit better, less congested feeling but with the density, kind of like Hong Kong. Lots of Chinese there, but there are lots of people from everywhere there, v e r y international. 2010 Winter Olympics will be in Vanco. Its a great city to visit.


-e