Taupok in Vancouver

5th Jan (Fri)

-Got back at 11PM or so, ahead of schedule, and boy was there a welcome party at the airport!  Thanks so much everyone for making time to come receive me home in spite of getting lost or having to make alternative parking arrangements haha.

-It was supper at Changi Village, with some good ol-fashioned Singaporean hawker food, and then back home.  I actually unpacked a little before going to bed can you believe it haha.

But it’s good to be home.

4th Jan (Thu)

-Woke at 730AM, did QT, had a shower and the cookie and finished the packing.

-Sun got up at 8+, but the rest were still asleep when my taxi came at 945 to bring me to the airport.  Everything went smoothly at the airport and on the flight back.  What surprised me was the really short stopover in Seoul.  After clearing security, I went to the washroom and had a short walk, and by then they were already giving the final boarding call!  Think they only stopped to refuel and have a crew change.  The flight was ok, I watched “Chariots of Fire” and a bit of “Open Season”, but the latter was pretty slow going and I didn’t finish.  Oh and I did finish reading Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger!

3rd Jan (Wed)

-The check-in counters opened at about 4AM, so check-in and went into the secure area, and there were some seats there so I lay down and slept for an hour.

-Flight departed at 7AM, and arrived at Chicago O’Hare airport about two hours later.  Had a cheese omelette with toast and hashbrowns for lunch, and bought a banana muffin for the next leg of the flight to Vancouver as well.

-Arrived in Vancouver at about 1PM and went back to Huey’s.  Unpacked/repacked my stuff and little and went to Koerner Library to use the internet.  As I walked around the campus I was feeling kinda nostalgic.  Kinda funny cos it felt as if I knew that place so well and was so familiar and at home there.  And just outside the library I saw this huge rainbow, there largest and probably the clearest one I’ve ever seen.  A very nice farewell present eh.

-After the library, took #4 to Kits to meet Chelsea and Dawn for dinner.  Got off too early and walked a few blocks before taking #17 the rest of the way heh.

-Ate at the Chinese/Jap place, and was sharing as much about Vancouver as I could.  We ate and talked till past 8PM, then I took a bus back to UBC and stopped by Blenz Coffee to pick up a hot apple cider and a cookie for the next day’s breakfast before heading back to Huey’s.

-Used the internet in Sun’s room and slept on his bed for an hour before Simon came in to say Sun was coming back that night, which Huey had gotten mixed up about.  Slept on the sofa in the living room, which was actually quite comfortable (I had gotten some practice in my own house heh), and Huey was so nice as to actually cover me with a blanket whilst I was half-asleep!

2nd Jan (Tue)

-woke at 745AM and did QT, had breakfast, a shower and off to the bus station it was!

-Had a ticket for the bus to New York at noon, but wanted to get back to New York earlier so I planned to get to the Boston bus station before 11, and thankfully they did let me on the 11AM bus.  Bought McDonald’s for lunch before we left, since I (now) knew there wouldn’t be much food along the way.  I was happily eating at the rest-stop and a guy came up and asked me where I had bought it!  He must have missed his fries heh.

-Arrived in NYC at 3PM, couldn’t contact Jianhao or Lifang, so just headed to Bryant Park and sat down an dread/watched people ice-skating for almost an hour.

-Headed down W 42^nd St to the cinema to catch a movie.  Decided to watch “Eragon”, and thought the ticket would be cheaper since it was a weekday, but no it was still $11.  Just as I entered the hall for the 510PM show, Jianhao sms-ed to arrange to meet for dinner.

-So after the show I headed down to East Village/Chinatown to meet Jianhao at the “House of Congee” (yes, where I ate the last time).  The place was very crowded despite it being a weeknight, and there were not one, not two, but three birthdays being celebrated there that night!  And we knew cos they played the birthday song on the house sound system each time!  We had quite a lot to eat: 炒饭，皮蛋粥，上海小龙包，锅贴.  And we even had dessert, though we kept saying 甜品，but the waiter didn’t for a while til he finally he said “甜水”.  Apparently that’s what they call it in Cantonese?

-Headed to Jianhao’s hostel on W 101^st St (Upper West Side) after dinner to check email.  Left slightly after 11PM to take the M60 bus to La Guardia airport.  Note that all this while, my large backpack was with me—in the cinema and restaurant as well!

-There was no place to really lie down and sleep at the airport, so sat in the foodcourt and tried to sleep as far as possible.  Did doze off a bit.

1st Jan 2007 (Mon)

-Woke at 9+, and stayed in to do QT and read a chapter of Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger.  It was rained the whole morning, and it was still raining when I left at 1145AM.  Got a great value lunch of two pizza slices and a Coke for $4 at the nearby pizza joint, then took a subway to Park St. and took some photos of the ice sculptures.  Didn’t get to do that the previous nights cos of the crowds. 

-Was looking for a coffee place to sit and pray, and found Seattle’s Best Coffee in Borders, across the street from Filene’s Basement at Downtown Crossing.  So bought the coffee, sat and prayed, and after that went to browse the books.  Found Brian Greene’s The Fabric of the Cosmos, and was so enthralled by it I sat down and spent the next 3 hours reading the first half of it!  Very interesting book!

-Left at about 5PM, walked over to the Fanueil Hall/Quincy Market area, and then over to Hanover St., where I had a slice (more a square) of Tiramisu at Café Vittoria, another Lonely Planet recommendation.  It was nice, with a soft base and fluffy texture.

-Went back to the hostel and cooked dinner, then played Medal of Honour on the Xbox in the TV room.  Watched TV with this doctor form Indian who was there to do his M.D., and we were watching “Scrubs” of all shows—how apt haha.

-I met Nick from Law VCF and some other Law exchangers.  They were studying on the East Coast and had been in Times Square for the New Year’s Countdown and had just come up to Boston that day.  It was quite cool being able to meet them!

31st Dec (Sun)

-Went to Boston Chinese Evangelical Church.  Almost couldn’t find it heh.  Mostly Chinese (duh).  Service ended by 1030AM, went back to hostel to take a short nap.

-Walked down Newbury St., sort of a shopping street, but of course without malls (there aren’t any in the city of Boston itself), rather individual stores.  Had lunch at a Tea Place, had a sandwich and Kashmiri Chai!  Was still hungry so went back to the pizza place near by hostel for another $2 slice.

-First Night activities began at 1PM at Hynes Convention Center (near my hostel).  Went for a trivia session by this guy called Morgan White Jr.  He was asking various trivia questions with prizes for audience members who got the answers.  Then wanted to go for a magic show but it was really popular so the room was full.  So went for “Airborne Comedians” performance instead.  That was pretty cool, a pair of guys were juggling things like deck chairs and knives.  And even on unicycles!  After that went for “Girl Authority”, with these young girls (like age 10 or something) singing out songs by girl bands from the 70s and 80s.  Watched for a while but got a lil disgusted—didn’t seem right for girls so young to be dressed in tight fitting clothes and dancing around like they’re teenage stars.  Went to watch a film about consumer-rights activist turned 2000 and 2004 US Presidential candidate Ralph Nader, all the way till 5PM.

-The First Night Procession was to start at 530PM. so I went out onto Boylston St to try and find a good spot to view it.  It was quite Chingay-like, with floats and people in costumes and on stilts and all.  And they even had a Chinese lion and dragon dance!  The whole thing was over in about half an hour, and everyone started heading off to get dinner.  I thought of going to a McDonalds near the Hynes Convention Center, but as I walked I saw a food court so I headed in and got Chinese Mixed Rice. 

-After dinner, headed down to Boston Common on foot (about 7 blocks) along Boylston St, which was still closed to traffic after the procession.  The fireworks that went off at 7PM were really beautiful!  Much nicer than the ones at the Esplanade during National Day.

-After the fireworks, walked all the way back to Hynes again, for the next segment of the First Night programme.  There was a performance by this theatre group called True Story Theater, where a member of the audience was asked to share about a miracle in his/her life in 2006.  And the actors (3 or 4 of them on stage at one time) would do an improvised dramatization of the story that was shared.  So we had a guy sharing his experience studying in Australia, and a Israeli Palestinian sharing about his experience in Haifa during the Israel-Lebanon conflict in the middle of 2006.  Very touching and meaningful performance.

-After that, went to show improvised comedy by this group called Improv Aslyum, and then watched Zhang Yimou’s “Curse of the Golden Flower”.

-The movie ended at 11PM and I walked down to Boston Common again by the countdown.  This time was slower cos the road has been re-opened to vehicular traffic.  Got to the Common at 1145PM, waited for a while, the countdown started…came and went.. And it was officially 2007.  But like that lor.  Kind of anti-climax in a way.  Am starting to wonder if countdowns become all “like that” after a while…I mean, year after year it’s the same thing right?  Oh well, in any case I scooted off to the subway quite soon after the clock struck midnight—didn’t want to get caught in the hordes of people.

30th Dec (Sat) 

-After breakfast, took the subway north to Harvard University.  Not much to see, just the buildings.  School was out anyway.

-Kept getting lost trying to find the Lonely Planet recommended lunch place (didn’t have a good map with me), and when i did find it, it too expensive.  So ate at Au Bon Pain (bread/coffee shop).  The Chicken Sonoma wrap was excellent!  Very fresh.  Dunno what a sonoma is though, but hey, it tatsed good haha.  Went to look for Lonely Planet recommended ice-cream place after lunch, but it was closed!

-Started snowing.  Some flurries cos of the wind, snow kept getting behind my spectacles and on my eyelahses.  Funny feeling haha.

-Took the subway back to Fenway, where the baseball stadium for the Boston Red Sox is.  And also where they have the last remaining swampland in Boston–the rest were reclaimed long ago. 

-Went bakc to hostel (about 2PM) and did laundry and CORS stuff.  Went out again to Boston Public Library and Trinity Church in Copley Square area.

Library courtyard.  Feels like something out of Romeo and Juliet:

-Went back and made my own dinner (instant pasta with tuna).  But still hungry after that so went out to get a pizza slice from the joint just outside my hostel.  Only $2–good deal!

-Watched "2006’s Funniest Commercials" on TV.  Was quite popular cos the crowd grew to more than 20 people as it went along!

-Went to bed early, cos had to wake early for church the next day.

29th Dec (Fri)

-Had a quick breakfast and ta-powed a bagel out, and headed for the Luckystar Bus meeting point.

-Was a comfortable ride, and took four hours, one hour ahead of schedule.  Slept on the bus mostly.

-From the bus station, took the subway (they call it the “T”) to Hostelling International Boston and checked-in.  Pretty nice place, more about it later.

-Put down my stuff and looked around, then left while it was still light, went to the Visitor Center on Boston Common (a big park in the city center, kinda like Central Park but smaller in area) and bought the badge to First Night.  (More on First Night later too).

-Walked around, went into Macy’s and Filene’s Basement.  Contacted Jianhao and arranged to meet at Fanueil Hall/Qunicy Market.  Took a 15min walk there and had dinner together.  Had New England Clam Chowder, Boston Lobster, Philly Cheesesteak, Raspberry-flavoured hot cocoa and Vanilla-Almond coffee—my most expensive meal of the whole trip!  But it was really nice.

-After dinner, walked around looking for a 7-Eleven cos Jianhao needed to get cash from a Citibank ATM, which are found mainly in 7-Eleven stores.  Took the subway to Chinatown (well Boston’s downtown is small enough that we could have comfortably walked, but well, wanted to maximise the day-pass we bought), and had supper at a Penang Restaurant.  Yes I was hungry cos all I had for lunch on the bus was a fruit bar, some chocolate and a bottle of Snapple haha.

-Got back and went to bed.  But couldn’t sleep so went out and looked at the First Night programme and decided which activities to go for.  Ok, First Night is a Boston tradition, where they celebrate the New Year by having various performances by theatre groups, comedy groups, choirs, dancers, storytellers, film screenings etc.  They also have ice-sculptures, a parade and nice fireworks!  More later!

28th Dec (Thu)

-Left hostel too late to catch the 10AM Circle Line Cruise, so instead used internet at NY Public Library.

-Shopped a little at the makeshift stalls at nearby Bryant Park, then headed to LES/Chinatown for lunch (in the daytime).  Ate at “House of Congee”, recommended in the Straits Times’ review of New York City.  And the food was nice!  Large serving (I couldn’t finish).

-Walked down to Chinatown and cheked-out the meeting point for the Boston bus.  Didn’t plan on it but turned out to be quite useful in the end cos I didn’t get lost when I actually had to catch the bus!  Walked along Chinatown and saw wet markets, people selling fruit and vegetables along the streets, and fresh seafood and meat in shops—didn’t feel like America man! 

At Columbus Park, saw people (men) playing games of Chinese Chess!  Felt so familiar!

A little bit of China in America.  Or is it America in Little China ?

-After Chinatown headed over to Central Park by subway.  Took some photos and went to the zoo, but didn’t enter.

Picture in the subway near Chinatown.  Oh in case ypu’re wondering, all the subway stations have the mosaic tiles like that–it’s not just cos its near Chinatown:

Central Park by day:

The penguins from the Central Park zoo were probably away sun-tanning in Madagascar:

-Tried to go to FAO Schwarz again but there was a queue that snaked around the block just to enter, so I didn’t heh.  Walked down 5^th Av, and it was sooo crowded.  I actually took off my outer coat at one point cos it was so warm!  And I still felt comfortable, not cold.  Needed to go to the loo, so went into Saks.

-By this time it was already 3PM and I wanted to catch the 4PM sailing for the cruise I missed in the morning, so took a subway down to Times Square and wanted to take a bus to Pier 83, cos it’s like five or six avenues east of Broadway.  But man the streets were so packed with people and vehicles alike, I figured it would be faster to walk.  And it was.  Walked for 20 or 25 min, and no bus appeared along the street all the while!

-The two hour was very nice, got to see the city light up as night fell (430PM), and the commentary was excellent too.

-Walked all the way to Times Square from Pier 83 and took the subway to FAO Schwarz.  Got there at 710PM and it closed at 7!!  Decided to give up on going in hahaha.  So took a subway back to Times Square and had pizza slice and subway sandwich for dinner.  Walked to the Hershey’s store also, but didn’t get anything.

-Went back to hostel and packed for the move to Boston the next morning.

27th Dec (Wed)

-Woke late, missed breakfast

-Went to the nearby 96th St. Public Library to check email and do CORS bidding.

-Bus and subway to H&H Bagels (Upper West Side), a Lonely Planet recommended place where they sell huge bagels for only $1.10 each!  So bought two and headed to nearby Central Park for lunch.  Fed the sparrows just outside the American Museum of Natural History.

-In the museum, there was sooooo much to see! Was in there from 130-630PM and still didn’t got through all the exhibit halls.  I especially liked the Hayden Planetarium and the dinosaur exhibits.

-Took a subway to downtown and walked across SoHo, down to Lower East Side.  Hoping to get some dinner, but most of the stores were closed by then, and looked kinda shady so i left and went to Manhattan Mall (near Macy’s) via subway.  Went to a Sephora nearby to pick up some stuff for Joey.

-On the subway back to the hostel, got disturbed by a group of Afro-Americans.  They came into the train and started asking everyone in sight, "Hey nigger, u from Harlem?"  Didn’t know what they meant but of course i just answered no heh.  So the guy replied, "Ah so you from Asia eh, nigger?"  And they asked the same question regardless of ethnicity.  Then one of the guys who sat across me threw a portion of his Snickers bar at me, and it hit me on the cheek.  Didn’t know whether he was aiming at me or at his friend who had sat next to me.  Then his friend apologised and offered to shake my hand, but of course then he withdrew it as i was about to shake.  I got off at the next stop, and they were like "Oooo, nigger’s scared..", and as i walked out they threw another portion of the Snickers bar out of the train carriage but it missed me.  The people waiting on the platform gave them weird looks though.  Thankfully it was just a bunch of guys clowning around in a relatively populated subway train, so nothing serious.

26th Dec (Tue)

-Went to Times Square, expecting Boxing Day sales, but there was none heh.

-Went to Sephora, huge Toys R Us (its so big they have a ferris wheel INSIDE the store).  Played XBox Lego Star Wars.

-Went to NY Public Libary and got a Library card for booking and using Internet terminals. (Yes this was when i posted the previous entry on my blog).  The inside felt a lot like D.C., marble and Grecian columns and painted rotundas and all.

The outside:

Close-up of one of the lions.  Think this is one of e nicest pics btw:

The inside.  Notice the ceiling:

-Lunch at nearby Grand Central Station.  On the way, caught a glimpse of my favourite building in NYC, the Chrysler Building:

View of Grand Central from the outside:

-Took subway to Guggenheim Museum.  The feature was a display of Spanish painting starting from about 1500 till present.  Quite nice, more meaningful because of the auido tour, which explained the background of the main paintings as they were viewed.

-Finished at 5PM but dark already, bought "instant Pad Thai" back to hostel for dinner, but not enough.  So bought Subway sandwich on the way out again.  Went to Central Park, saw people ice-skating at Wollman Rink–very pretty sight. 

Wanted to got to FAO Schwarz (another huge toy store) nearby but it was already closed (8PM).

-Took subway down to Macy’s (34th St) and got something for Huey.  Then walked down to Empire State Building.  Lovely views but was really cold and windy.  Spent like more than an hour up there man.  Got a free audio tour with my Citypass which again made viewing much more meaningful.

Chrysler Building at night: 

More views from top of the Empire State: 

Yup, arrived in the Big Apple on the night of 23rd Dec, safely and well.  Thank God for His keeping.  Took the public bus and subway from La Guardia airport to my hostel on East 94th St.

Now typing this on the free internet station at the New York Public Library.  (Yes the builiding with the two stone lions at the entrance, featured in the movie Day After Tomorrow).  Can’t use for long (15min left!) so shall update in point form.  ^(Pics were added after return to Singapore)

23rd Dec Sat

Arrived La Guardia airport 7PM, bought 7-day Metrocard (unlimited rides on subway and buses) and headed to hostel.  Settled in and went to sleep.

24th Dec Sun

-Christmas Eve service at Times Square Church.

-Visited MoMA (Museum of Modern Art)

-Late lunch at Rockefeller Center, followed by viewing gallery (Top of the Rock) with great views of Central Park and most of Manhattan, and even Queens.

Central Park in background, on the right:

One of the few pics with me in them:

Empire State Building in the sunset:

-Watched people ice-skating at Rockefeller Center rink, and saw the famous Rockefeller Christmas tree.  Just across the street was Saks 5th Ave. Department Store, and they had nice light displays too.

The famous Rockefeller Christmas tree:

People ice-skating in the Rockefeller rink.  My hostel-mate said he saw a guy kneel down and propose to his girlfriend in the rink!

-Went to St Patrick Cathedral across the street from Saks, where they were having a Christmas Eve Mass.  Stayed for about 15min then left to back to hostel.
-Made dinner–instant pasta (yes the one i brought from Singapore!)
-Met Joseph (not UBC Joseph, another old friend) and walked around Grand Central Station and Times Square.

The inside of Grand Central Station:

Me in Times Square:

-Got back about 11PM, went to sleep.

25th Dec Mon

-Woke up, had breakfast at hostel (it’s included)–bagels, muffins, cornflakes, juice. V nice!
-Wanted to visit this church near my hostel, but couldn’t find it in the end.
-So took subway to City Hall, walked across Brooklyn Bridge, and explored downtown (lower Manhattan).  Saw City Hall Park, St Paul’s Church, WTC Site, Trinity Church, Wall St, Federal Hall, Stone St.

View of downtown Manhattan from Brooklyn Bridge:

Brooklyn Bridge, connecting the bouroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn across the East River.  Longest suspension bridge in the world when it was built in 1879.  Back then, New York and Brooklyn were still seperate cities!  The five boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island) were merged at the start of the 20th century:

World Trade Center site (Ground Zero): 

A plaque on the nearby fire station:

Inside of Trinity Church:

Wall St and Broadway:

NYSE:

Stone St.  One fo the historic streets amidst the "Wall St canyon".  Notice the cobblestones: 

-Took the Staten Island Ferry, which goes past the Staue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  But was quite tired so took a short nap on the ferry too haha.

The ferry going in the opposite direction:

One of the best shots i got of "her".  And from inside the ferry too:

-Came back to Manhattan and walked around Battery City Park for a bit.

-Took subway to Times Square, decided to watch a movie, so bought tix to "Casino Royale"–$11.  That was at 5+, movie only started at 7PM so walked around Times Sq, 7th Av. and Broadway areas first. 

More pics of Times Square area:

Had dinner at a Sichuan Restaurant.  Nice Spicy Beef Noddles in the cold weather.  Got to cinema at 630PM since it was free seating, watched till 930PM then headed back to hostel.

Yesterday (Wed) was supposed to bring Lifang to Metrotown so she could do some shopping.  But she fell sick and was puking for most of the previous night.  Her tummy didn’t feel bad but she was feeling weak and had a slight headache.  So offered her some Panadol and Feb and took the day slow.  By afternoon she was feeling better though, so we headed over to Metrotown by bus and skytrain.

Walked around a bit, and i was surprised that i actually bought something–a beanie/head covering from Old Navy.  Was on discount too.  I think i really look more like a Korean with it on haha.  Check out the pics slightly further down.

Walked around for a bit then headed back.  David was back from  NYC and was waiting for us for dinner.  So got back and made some fried rice.  And David showed me some of the pics he took in NYC and gave some tips on travel there! Thanks David!

Today Lifang was still feeling somewhat unwell, so took it slow again and left the house only at 2PM+, and David joined us too.  Wanted to go to Sun Yat Sen Gardens but they closed at 430PM in winter, so just stood outside to take some photos and went on to Gastown. 

At Gastown, we went back to Waterfront Station Starbucks to get some holiday-flavoured coffee, and so i asked the lady at the counter, and yes, that was the first Stabucks store outside the USA!!  You were right Joseph!   After Gastown headed to Van Dusen Gardens for their Festival of Lights.  Met David (UK) there after his snowboarding at Grouse in the day, and Huey joined us as well! And the lights were really beautiful man!  Loved it, though it must have taken a fair bit of power to light up the whole place. 

And there were different choirs singing on different days–when we were there it was the Vancouver Orpheus Male Choir.  And they sounded real good man!

After that headed to nearby Kerrisdale (41st Ave) for dinner at this Japanese restaurant.  We didn’t know about it, but just walked in and turned out to be not bad.  Had a Bento box with quite a spread: gyoza, chicken teriyaki, three types of sushi, cold prawn noodles and miso soup.  Though i had a slight tummy-ache after eating, maybe cos of the vinegar with the gyoza.  But it much better as of the time of wriitng, so thank God for that.

Tomorrow gonna send Lifang off to the airport, then come back and cook a final dinner and move my stuff to Huey’s, then off to the airport at 11PM or so to stay the night and check-in at 4AM for my 630AM flight to Chicago en route to New York!!

This was the final final farewell dinner.  This time only Karen, Hiroko and Saori were "left".  And Lifang joined us too.

Made baked Lemon Teriyaki Chicken, and rice.  And Hiroko brought vegetables (yay!! Hadn’t had real veges other than tomatoes the last few days haha), and Saori brought brownies.  "Dangerous," as she said, for each contained 190 calories, and each bag was a whopping 2000 calories! Haha.. Saori is really quite a funny person.  She should really join the Osaka Comedy Competition as Huiping puts it.

(L to R): Saori, Lifang, Hiroko, Karen

So it was dinner and watching Full House on TV, and looking at some photos of Sun on my laptop. Took some photos, and it was a final goodbye.  Kinda sad cos we had to say goodbye, yet really glad and thankful too for having been able to make such good friends during the short time here.   I do hope we’ll all meet again someday (for the non-Singaporeans), and that we’ll stay in touch (Singaporeans) in spite of our other commitments and Codes of Conduct (you know what i mean haha..)  Maybe all go on a trip to Japan together eh!

Final pic with my Japanese friends: 

Woke up to go for my last IFG Prayer Meeting this morning.  Am so thankful for this bunch of people who have been so welcoming, and who have really taken the effort and gone out of their way to make international students feel more comfortable and at home here in Vancouver.  Thank you all for praying for me and for being an encouragement!

Had to leave the prayer meeting slightly early cos Jo, Jianhao, Abdul and Yukiko (Huiping’s friend) were leaving to take the greyhound to Seattle to catch a flight to Las Vegas.  So sent them off on the 99 with Lifang, though we got off at Granville and West Broadway to go to Granville Island.  So we went to the Toy Factory and the Public Market.  Though i think we were a little early (10+ AM) so many stores weren’t open or just opening for business.  Didn’t stay very long, took a bus to downtown.  Walked around Canada Place and then down to Pacific Center, where we had lunch at the foodcourt.  Window-shopped a little and saw the trees at Four Seasons Hotel, then walked down to Robson Street for more window-shopping.

Were quite tired by this time but decided to go check out Stanley Park.  Heard from Jo and Abdul that the windstorms had felled some trees but decided to go see anyway.  Walked along the southeastern section of the seawall, and saw some felled trees.  And a nice view of downtown.

It started raining more heavily and we were really tried from all the walking, so headed back.  had to go and cook anyway since Karen, Hiroko and Saori were coming over for a final (final) farewell dinner.