30 Aug - Wednesday - Vancouver

Yeah.. More trees and more trees. Been seeing so many forests here that I am numbed. I have to agree that the view is so much nicer as compared to Singapore. But Singapore doesn't have resources so it is really quite amazing how our ancestors built everything up from scratch. Being overseas really made me appreciate Singapore but it also made me feel that Singapore is too small. Life in Canada is super relaxing, maybe because school has not started.. Hahha..

Had to carry all our barang barang out, we only stayed 2 nights in the hostel and we had to leave Vancouver. It was super tiring and mafan. Poor Rebecca carried my laptop. So we learnt another important thing, memory cards are super useful. Bringing the laptop to upload our photos was a wrong thing. Touring as a "backpacker" isn't fun for 2 small sized girls. No guys to help us carry stuff. :(

We went to Stanley Park, didn't really want to walk too much as we were carrying so many things. So we decided to just find the main attractions and one of them is the Vancouver Aquarium. By the way, Stanley Park has 1000 acre of land. So it is super huge, not possible to go everywhere. And it will be more fun to cycle around Stanley Park instead of walking around.

The aquarium was so good. I guess the underwater world in Sentosa and this is different. So i really cannot compare them. The Vancouver Aquarium is more educational, tells us what each fish are. There were so many weird fishes that I didn't see, more colourful and some will ugly too. I felt a bit disgusted looking at fishes. Maybe it is because I see them as something on the plate to eat and not in tanks. But these are the fishes in Mother Nature and there are many more not yet discovered. My camera wasn't good at taking pictures as it had to use flash, should have gotten a camera with high ISO. Just that when the night mode needs a tripod to work better. But I can't complain as I am quite happy with how most of the pictures turn out. This camera is partially sponsored by all my friends who gave me hong bao for my 21st birthday. So thanks to you guys!

Anyway, I took video of the aquarium, in fact, it turned out better, though the view is not so sharp but at least I still can see. We stay like 2 hours in the aquarium as we went out in the outdoor to see seals, dolphins, beluga whales. (snow white whales that look funny, looks like a mix of luohan's head with a white whale).

After the aquarium tour, we wanted to actually go back and it wasn't feasible to carry our stuff to go tour. But we saw the shuttle bus that actually drives around Stanley Park. So it was really cool. We "toured" most of Stanley Park. hahah.. Actually, cycling along Stanley Park is good as the view is what most cyclist wanted. Anyway, the free shuttle bus is good for us as we need not carry our barang barang. Enjoyed the good view and also understand more about Stanley Park. The bridge in the picture was once owned by the Guiness Family. They were so rich to built that bridge and to buy most of the land behind the bridge. And they sold the bridge for $30m back to British Columbia. All this was said by the driver, not sure, if the information is really true. Anyway, he thought us a piece of good knowledge, everytime we see Grouse Mountain or face in that direction, we will be facing north. This is really good for us as we need not keep turning the map and figure where exactly are we.

But I guess Canadians are really honest. In fact, you can be dishonest and not pay for the sea bus or sky train fare. There are no machine like our ez link machine to deduct money as we passed by the gantry. In British Columbia, the transport system works on the proof of payment basis. When the inspector asks or checks, then you will show him or her the tickets. Eg. We can choose to be dishonest and not pay for the tickets but if we are caught, we will be fined for $150. No point for us to be dishonest too, since we bought the day pass which has unlimited rides for buses, sea buses, sky train.

Decided to travel to Richmond as we heard that it was a good place to shop. Recommended by our landlord's son, B. I like to call him Ah Boy or The Son behind his back. hehehe.. Seriously, 19 years old boy not in NS, really not that mature as compared to my friends who has been to the army. So Ah Boy is good. heheh..