Tempest7: Blogger

Vancouver - Mount Cypress!

So I was up nice and early yesterday, the 3rd, to get downtown to meet up with Iris. Due to traffic she was a little late but after we had breakfast at Tim Hortons and wandered around trying to find a way to get to the Cypress Shuttle Bus we managed to make it right on time for the next schedule departure.

The ride was about 40 minutes and on the way up we had to stand in the aisle. My Hong Kong friend Iris was pretty excited, this will be the first time she's actually seen snow. When we got off the bus I had to give her a formal introduction with my friend the snow ball.

We got her rentals out of the way (I didn't know you could rent jackets and pants) and finally out to a spot where I could teach her the basics. How to "skate" with the snowboard. The day was pretty much a compromise. I wanted to go snowboarding but I didn't want to go alone. I ended up with a beginner which means I really wasn't going to get a lot of quality snow time in. I was pretty frustrated at times, which is typically the case when you're sitting around waiting for the other person to move a few centimeters down to you. But I have to say in the end there really was some improvement on her part. I had to get use to Justin's bindings as well, he rides goofy which doesn't matter all that much but I didn't want to mess with his bindings. It doesn't matter though, I remember how much I love snowboarding up on the slopes. I had a few runs, when Iris was tired, to enjoy a little increase in speed. I never made it to the blacks but I got to touch the terrain park twice (don't worry Justin I stayed away from the rails!)

We called it quit around 6 and took the bus back to downtown. We wandered Robson Street looking for a pay phone. They are impossible to find! We eventually walked over to Sears and they had one inside the mall. We met up with Rui and waiting for my cousin to call me at a cafe. Iris' friend called while we were there and they had some sort of argument. Iris really wanted me to spend time walking her back to the Skytrain but my Vancouver trip was really short and I can't be wasting it since I don't know when I'll see my Vancouver friends again. My cousin eventually called and we met up at a Japanese restaurant for ramen noodles.

We had dessert afterwards together and I ended up leaving my snowboarding boots with my cousin in Vancouver. Lucky for me since I had to play with my luggage at the airport to fit under the weight limit at Air Canada.

I flew off today around lunch. It was such a long flight, I was lucky to have my brother's gift with me. I stopped off at the duty free shop in HK where I picked up something for Fanny. They asked to see my boarding pass of course and they asked me if I had a HK ID card. Of course I didn't tell them about my HK ID card. But I learned they don't accept debit/EPS there so I should bring cash next time.

Goodbye Canada! I'm going to miss my family, my friends, the nice people, the good food, the clean air.

Labels: Canada, Friends, Sports, Travel

posted by Tempest7 @ 23:59