I see people
We’re in Vancouver this weekend. S is off to run the marathon while I’m catching up on work and planning our upcoming vacation. We were last here a winter long ago. We’re staying at the same hotel on Robson Street. Last time I didn’t like the neighborhood. I remember hearing, up in our 20th floor room, a loud verbal disagreement down on the street not long after the bars closed. This morning, a few hours ago, not long before the sun rose, someone pretended to be a ourang-outang.
I suspect I’m laughing it off this time because without the clouds, the rain and the early darkness, the city is a lot livelier. What a difference spring makes.
The diversity of cuisines is still as amazing: brunch yesterday was dim-sun at Sun Sui Wah; dinner was at a Japanese diner followed by a slice of cake at True Confections (on the recommendation of M). On the block across the street from that restaurant were a Mexican restaurant, a Korean restaurant, a Japanese restaurant, a Vietnamese restaurant, an African restaurant, and an Italian Gelato shop. Across from our hotel is a konbini, which is open from 11 AM to 2 AM and sells fresh onigiri.
The diversity of ethnicities is more striking than before. Everywhere we go we hear Japanese speaking people, most of them young professionals. Last time it was Cantonese speakers, which are still as prevalent. There’s a fair number of Koreans and I’ve heard some French, in addition to the ubiquitous charming British accent.
We’re enjoying this city. Our conclusion yesterday, as we were eating our sponge cake looking at passersby, was that we were looking at passersby… people of different background, races, ages, and many dress codes. We saw a Buddhist monk quickly shuffling is way somewhere, couples window shopping, and many others, like us, looking for a place to eat. We were crowd watching, a rare activity in Seattle.
May 6th, 2007 at 11:15 am
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