Sun, sea and parks

WARNING....spelling and grammar in this blog is extremely bad....but I'm to tired to really care :)

Love the comments on my other blogs and the emails that I am receiving!

Time for my third blog...

highlights: Sunny weather, no longer white, explored more of the city and discovered Vancouver is a bike friendly city!

lowlights: am now red, no bag, have sore feet and a sore bum.

What do you give a person with sore feet....a bike.

The result, a happy person with sore feet and a sore bum!

I don't think I'm going to be able to find the energy to type a blog in one go, so I will start now. It is 5.40 pm and I am exhausted!

I also just realized that the only thing I have had today was a muffin at 8.15 am. Whoops.

I'm to busy exploring this amazing city!

They must be super muffins because I do not feel hungry at all! Although it's prob also cause my body is trying to adjust to the warmth. I know...my life is so hard!

So I had set my alarm for this morning, but I got woken up by my english room mate. She was due to leave Canada today and said she has had an amazing time! She was very jealous of me, cause I had only just started my trip....mwahahaha

This morning I finally scored my free breakfast! A muffin!

After that I wanted to organize a simcard and get a bike from somewhere. The guy at the front desk told me where to go to hire a bike....it was ONLY a 20 minute walk from the hostel.

Normally that would have been fine, but my feet were killing me!

I had seen a phone shop on my way back from the fireworks last night, which was only 2 blocks up from the hostel so I thought I would give that a try first.

By the time I got there it was 8.40am and the shop didn't open till 9. I happened to look around for a bit and what did I see.....a shop that rented bikes out for a lot less then the guy at the front desk told me about!!!!!

So I got a bike for 24 dollars and don't have to bring it back till tomorrow 10am! I also got an amazing helmet :( a lock and a great backpack!!

I think I might have to find a way to borrow this backpack for the rest of my life for free....it's amazing!

So at 9am the Rogers shop finally opened and I could ask them about a simcard.

It was possible with my phone, but they had to activate it and it would cost me an extra 35 dollars! What happened to the nice Vancouvernites? (I have decided that would be a cool name for them)

After I looked a bit worried the Vancouvernite told me that I could get the simcard at another rogers shop and I could activate it online myself. He promised me that it was a straight forward process and it would not be as back to front, over the top and ridiculous as the telstra process.....o don't get me started on activating simcards in australia!

By that time it was 9.15 am and the other shops didn't open till 10.

This city is amazing! There shops are open from 10am till 10pm....how cool is that!! Vancouvernites know how to live!!!!

Anyway...I couldn't be bothered waiting around and seeing I had my awesome bike, I decided to ride to Stanley park and around it. I think this was an 8km ride and it was great! I will try and add some photo's again.

While I was riding my bike I was thinking about how to describe the views and feelings I experienced. But I came to the conclusion that I can't and you will all have to go for yourself!

Feeling the nice warm sun and the gentle ocean breeze with the smell of the ocean and forrest. Hearing the water planes (or what ever you call them) take off and the birds flying past and seeing big ships, amazing mountains, raccoons and squirrels all withing seconds is pretty amazing!

O by the way...if I don't survive this trip (you know how people are worried about a girl traveling by herself) it is because some Asian person stepped back, without looking, while taking a photo and pushed me off a cliff! Seriously.......the amount of times I nearly landed in the water today!

When I had rode around the park I looked for the Aboriginal village that was supposed to be in the park somewhere. It was rather hard to find...but I found it in the end. It is a lot cheaper to go there then to go to the aquarium and it was a lot nicer as well! They had some sort of ceremony where they blessed each other and they showed a few old dances. You could also see how they make totem poles, jewelery and baskets.

I ended up talking to one of the people there who was originally from a tribe from new mexico and it was sad to hear that also hear the Aboriginal people are struggling with racism, injustice, homelessness and drug and alcohol addictions. Like the woman said to me: if only people from different backgrounds are willing to help each other out, we will be able to have a good society.

Afterwards I rode my bike back to organize a simcard. The Vancouvernite at the other Rogers shop was very helpful and activated my phone for free!

I have a phone number now which is: 778 985 4587.

I have no idea about the area codes and international codes, but I'm sure you can google it if you would like to get in contact with me. It seems a bit crazy to have a phone number just for 6 weeks, but the main reason is so my parents can get in contact with me if they need to pass on some news.

I have been texting Kym and its crazy to think i'm in the same country she is in!!! Only a few days until I see her! Lets hope she is prepared ;)

After I got my simcard I went back to the hostel to see if my backpack had arrived....nope, nothing.

Luke and Matilda, you could have warned me that the backpack has it's own will! I better show it some loving discipline when I get it back!

I rang United Airlines and they told me that the backpack should arrive before 5pm today!

I was sooo excited...until I talked to the guy at the front desk and he told me that the backpack had arrived, but the delivery guy was in a hurry and when the front-desk-Vancouvernite couldn't straight away confirm my name, he ran of and took the backpack with him again.....NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

My backpack has been in the same building as I am in......sigh.

So I rang united airlines again. It took them 15 minutes to work out what I meant when I said I had flown to Vancouver.....man o man...i was ready to reach through the phone and strangle someone!

After a while they finally understood what I was trying to say and they put me on a conference call with the delivery people and they told me it should arrive AGAIN today. Well it's 6.15pm at the moment and I have simply given up hope!

If I don't have it by tomorrow morning they will just have to bring it to Neerlandia!

Actually....I might just ring them tomorrow morning straight away and tell them...saves me dragging the backpack along tomorrow during the day [evil grin].

United Airlines did however promise me that I will get all costs reimbursed. Hmm I have to see that happen before I believe it.

Anyway...after that I went down to CHINATOWN!!!!

It was just down the road...it's great to have a bike!

I went to a Chinese garden and had a tour around it...very interesting.

My next trip might be to china... A country with an interesting culture and history!

I was planning to get lunch in china town, but it was dinner time before I knew it and I was to stuffed to find a nice place to eat.

So I came back to the hostel and still no bag!

So now I should probably get some food from somewhere. I was hoping to ride my bike back to Stanley park and watch the sunset, but right now I really don't know if I have the energy for it. I might just have an early night, especially cause tomorrow night I will be on the train to Edmonton so who knows how much sleep I will get! Somehow I think my body might be having trouble trying to keep up with me!

That's all for now :)

Annette

Down town Vancouver seen from Stanley Park

my awesome bike!

In Stanley Park


Bike path next to the water

indigenous dance

just before indigenous ceremony

Chinese gardens





Watching the sunset, just me...and my bike :)