This weekend I decided to tag along on Andrew's business trip to Canada. Since I was free, I figuered an impromptu day-trip to the frozen north would be a fun alternative to sitting around the house complaining about the lack on adventure in my life... The frozen north was actually suprizingly pleasent (please examine exhibit A, a spectacular view from Stanley Park of the Lion's Gate Bridge.
We left early in the morning, meaning 9:10am - or more like 9:30 after pleading guilty to a McDonald's breakfast.. And again we swore we would never do it again. We marvelled at the rolling hills, the lakes, the ample trees and the mountains. We saw a quaint little lake community where we thought we should buy a house - provided we could pay for gas on our daily seaplane commute into Seattle. Ahhhh... that would be the life.
Anyway, over the border and through the woods - we found oursleves in Vancouver, city of, Asians. I counted 21 Mercs BEFORE we made it into the city center and traffic was also laced with plenty of BMW's, Audi's, Jag's and the occasional Ferrari. Quite fun to watch. But the BEST car HANDS down was this one - a vintage tree-hugging hippie VW Bug. It was decked out in flowers, fountains and calming quotes about freedom and spirituality. Go Canada, eh!
Venture down the road a little more, and there is a strange arctectural sculpture that has been the venue for photo shoots before... Except this time it wasn't January, and I wasn't dressed in a Parka and gloves. The weather totally changes the lighting, and our beloved red spring was a great place for us to sit, flirt and soak in the sunshine. For those of you who want to visit this magical red spring, its across the street from the Starbucks... Ummm, that won't help. It's across the street from the MAC makeup store (which is next to a Starbucks) right in the core of downtown Vancouver on Robson St. Look for protestors for whatever cause, and you're probably in the right place.
Ok, so you knew the corny couple's picture was coming up. But you know what? Screw you. Worse comes to worse, we break up, and we're back to square one - Best friends who love to argue for the hell of it. I think that deserves a cool picture of us with the Lion's Gate Bridge in the background. What you can't see, is that couple a couple (he he he) of stairs below us, with their tongues down each other's throats. At least we're not *that* bad.
So, the night ended with us inevitably getting lost trying to find the restuarant we had made reservations at. Having grown up knowing how to abuse the system, we had stopped by a five-star hotel to ask for directions and to get reservations. Getting reservations through places like these is ALWAYS a good idea - they usually skip you through the line and give you a cool map with arrows to show you the way. =)
So we made it to our restaurant, called The Banana Leaf, which has THE BEST FOOD IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. It's a malay-style restaurant with all the comfort food I crave. I even eat with my hands there, and surprize surprize, no one looks at me funny. We eat Roti Cenai (a yummy bread with curry sauce), sambal greenbeans, red snapper in a carmelized ginger and Kecap Manis sauce and tiger prawns. I am full and satisfied as we leave, with me bent over clutching my sides because I ate too much.
So, homeward we go... Waving goodbye to our friendly northern neighbors and hoping our traffic never gets as bad as theirs.
