More Chill, less Wack

We arrived in Chilliwack to a fantastic, warm reception from Maggie and Steve. Once settled on their driveway we chatted for hours over great food and wine. It genuinely felt like we’d known each other for years and we’re sure we’ll always be pen pals at least! Do pens still exist? The epitome of Canadian hospitality, we hope to return the generosity when we have a house again! Despite Canada moving a lot of freight by rail it doesn’t seem to have a great people moving infrastructure that doesn’t mean using a car. So we resorted to a rental, asking our hosts to taxi us about would have been a bit much really!

Driving into Vancouver was an eye opener, firstly it took forever, the traffic was immense but more of an issue for us was the sheer number of homeless/drug addicted people on the streets. We’d been made aware about the community at East Hastings but it still belies belief that a city with so much wealth, and a lot of it on show in the multimillion dollar apartments etc, can treat its citizens with such disregard. We’re no experts by any stretch, nor do we particularly know what the solutions are, but it was a shock all the same that has stayed with us.

We parked up in Gastown, one of many trendy parts of the city, lots of coffee shops, restaurants, bars and indie shops, a far cry from what we’d just seen. Seriously gentrified, it’s attraction for want of a better word is The Steam Clock. Tricky to get a picture as it was surrounded by tourists but it is powered by a steam engine and is one of only a few left in the world. Gastown is a fun place, the old commercial district of the day, there’s great buildings and it’s a good wander.

In the harbour area it was a flurry of float planes, or maybe a flock?! There were so many coming in and out, many chartered for tourist trips around the bays no doubt. Never seen one taking off and landing so it was interesting to sit in the sun for a bit observing the sky life. Near the airport on water,
is the gorgeous Marine Building, built in 1929 just before the Wall Street crash, and once the tallest building in the British Empire, now dwarfed by its neighbours. Is there an analogy there?! Still, one of the best art deco buildings and not dissimilar to NY’s Chrysler.

The business downtown area was awash with shiny new high-rises, a few older buildings had been preserved for good measure it seemed. Lots of old signage on a lot of worn out buildings that had seen better days, directly next to tower blocks glistening in the sun. It was a haven for the less well-off in the shadows of the super wealthy at the same time. Odd. We don’t understand the blind eye on this. The buildings were wonderful and probably shelter for many.

From one zone to another, we took a water taxi to Granville Island. Busy on a summers day it’s another rejuvenated area, smart food hall and market and an eclectic mix of older repurposed warehouses/workshops full of creative types. A very strong arts and crafty vibe, quieter away from the food stalls, and surprisingly sitting in the shadow of an operational cement works with its own creations on its silos.

Yaletown was our final zone to explore, it reminded us of the Meatpacking district of New York. Old warehouses with enormous loading dock canopies repurposed as swanky and expensive restaurants and bars and microbreweries. We felt very out of place in our ‘traveller wear’. Good to see though and however much it grates against other aspects of the city, seeing buildings preserved and repurposed has to be better than tearing them down.

Vancouver is apparently, one of the ‘top 5 places to live’ in the World, we regularly see that in polls etc. To be honest, we didn’t get it. If you can afford a multimillion $ shoebox then maybe, and yes, it’s a clean and tidy city where it wants to be, but there was too much of a disparity of wealth in our opinion. A homelessness and drugs crisis butting up against ridiculously high costs of properties and living, and it all feeling very new and sanitised, it felt like it had no soul. It was great to visit but we feel it lacks depth.

Having taken possession of our StarLink at the Chilliwack Boondock we watched Tim Horton’s share price plummet. World got around quick that the English couple travelling across Canada with a cat, were no longer going for their ‘double double’ wifi shots on a daily basis. (That will mean nothing to anyone not Canadian!) Having been internet starved for 3 months and having taken out a small loan for mobile data in Canada we were a-live once more! Excited by the event, Steve took photo’s for the local newspaper before kidnapping us for a road trip.

In the hands of locals is always the best way to get to know an area. In Steve’s shiny new big rig we headed out. We were made to wear CSI suits though so as not to get it dirty 🙂 We headed out past fields of corn being smoked by the wildfires, on the Hope River Road with some really smart houses to Harrison Hot Springs and to Green Point on Harrison Lake for a walk on a beautiful unspoilt beach. Not sure if it was named because of it, but the area was gorgeously green, despite the high temps and dry summer and is a popular day trip spot. Close to the Fraser River delta at the foothills of the mountains surrounding Chilliwack we could see the distant snow on Mount Baker (in the US) and the melting snow of The Angel of Mount Cheam. It is said by the First Nation people that if she melts, famine is upon us. What foresight eh?

We had some fun Sasquatch spotting. They are mythical creatures like Big Foot or The Yeti that no one has ever seen, well we saw loads! The origins are in First Nation folklore we think. Shame we didn’t take more pictures as there’s a lot of Sasquatch groups looking for them all over Canada, very much like those looking for the Loch Ness monster. We could have shown them where they are…. there’s even road signs!

In such heat there’s not much to be done other than bits and bobs so that’s what we did/lounged around in the garden. As the afternoon cooled off we drove to Steveston near Vancouver. Named after our pal Steve its a really sweet, old fishing port with a cannery come museum that’s turned itself over to tourism. Lot’s of fish and chip shops but not a ‘kiss me quick’ hat in sight thankfully. Genuinely a great place for a look around and to be fair, it has kept its charm.

Richmond Night Market was a ‘must do’ in the guide book so we did. Getting there involved avoiding (due to frustration) running over high viz jacketed people with lollypops, for an hour to get parked up, to then queuing for another half hour to get in. Such a disorganised affair for something that is on every week. On the whelming front, we have to say it was under not over. Expecting a bit of an entertainment and foodie extravaganza it was all very meh to be honest. Hyped beyond reality, it was crammed with people and food stalls with neon signs, amusements, and stalls selling socks…. yes socks! We wondered that too. Apparently Canadians have a bit of a sock fetish when it comes to gifting, so we got a blue pair for Steve and a pink pair for Maggie (or was it the other way around?!) as a thank you gift. We thought it was better than fluffy bunny ears off the hook a duck stand. The whole evening was notched up to ‘an experience’ anyhow and even not the crazy event we’d expected, we did enjoy our overpriced cheesy Chilliwack corn!

It was Canada Pride the following day and Chilliwack Pride was vibrant for it. Lot’s of colourful stalls downtown, people dressed up and a celebration feel. Street food and crafts for sale, plus live entertainment all over ther the place, there was a relaxed, fun vibe. No edginess at all which can be the case, it was just a broad group of people and felt very inclusive within the community. Not a protestor in sight and certainly no judgement. It’s a rejuvenated downtown, lots of fabulous street art too. Heading back to the van we discussed how much we’d enjoyed Chilliwack and the wider area, we’d packed a lot in. Anyhow, now time to sell some shares….

Jigsaw has reminded us that she’s not been able to contribute in the last couple of blogs. She just wants her fan base to know she’s fine and has been lounging around a lot with the aircon on. She’s not been particularly active generally with the heat but does get out and about when she can be bothered. She tried a tree as she didn’t want to leave. As you can tell, she can’t be fussed putting paw to paper either… she said to leave her be while she has a siesta!