Nipple Sledding
Oct. 6th, 2012 12:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lupestripeWe are sat in our hotel room with the monotonous and incessant beat of a third-rate nightclub underneath us watching a programme called Silent Library on the television. It's one of those Japanese inspired torture shows which is quite addictive - I personally loved the challenge involving a man dressing up as a seal and being forced to catch sardines in his mouth but the usual eating challenges are often failed by the teams participating. The brusque tone of the Japanese guy presenting also adds a new dimension. The huskies pulling the guy's nipples was also another highlight but the number of advertisement breaks we have to endure here is so frustrating - at least four per half hour show. Ridiculous.
We are staying on Granville Street in the heart of downtown Vancouver amidst the sex shops and nightclubs. It's a neon strip, one of the main ones in the city, with its usual share of drunken ladies and pimped guys driving sports cars or letching outside bars. During the day, it's one of the main shopping thoroughfares but the man holding the snake is something I could have done without seeing repeatedly. On Tuesday evening, after our train journey to Vancouver and further difficulties through customs, the drunken women I could have done without, along with my broken suitcase. Still, we got to our hotel, which is nice and cheap but the bed isn't the most comfortable.
At one end of this street is the Granville Bridge, a huge concrete structure we walked across on Thursday morning on our way to Granville Island, a local community on a peninsula filled with quaint little independent shops. Built on natural sandbanks and landfill, this part of the city was industrial but in decay after WWII before the main public market opened in 1979. The place has thrived ever since and there's a wide range of shops there now, including trendy bars and bistros. The Granville Island Brewing Company is there - we intend to do their tour on Saturday - while there is a giant kids market with a shop called Knotty Toys. There is also Woofers and Meowz - Everything For Your Pet Under One Woof. The shops hug the shoreline of False Creek and even the concrete drabness of being under the Granville Bridge adds another charm to this bohemian part of the city. Walking over the bridge was scary in the autumn winds but like so many places in the city, the views are breathtaking and the juxtaposition of the skyscrapers with the scenery gives the impression that this city really does have it all.
Down the road from our hotel is the more salubrious Yaletown district, an old rail terminal now gentrified and home to trendy bars and stores as the yuppies have moved in. One of these is the Yaletown Brewing Company, an excellent beer house serving a range of fine lagers. We had another sampling tray on Thursday evening late on as we reflected on another fantastic day in this captivating city.
On Wednesday, we met up with Skavinski and toured around some more of the city, namely the West End. This is where the gay area is situated with its pink bus stops and rainbow flags fluttering everywhere. We went into a sex store, I lost my insoles and then we plodded down to Sunset Beach to look at the fantastic views over the bay towards the Museum of Vancouver and Vanier Park. Getting lost amongst the many skyscrapers is one of the delights of Vancouver, with the close proximity of many beaches adding a nice contrast to the hubbub of the metropolis.
We were soon walking over the Burrard Street Bridge with its stone facades at the top stating the city's motto 'By Land And Sea We Prosper' towards Vanier Park. The view from the bridge over the glistening water with the mountains in the background was nothing short of exquisite and even the wind couldn't deter us from taking pictures from such a great vantage. Descending into Kitsilano and towards the Park, we spotted the flying saucer shaped Museum of Vancouver with its giant water crab feature at its front. Due west of here was a huge totem pole, emblematic of the First Nation people who once lived here. This was adjacent to the Maritime Museum which was undergoing renovation but it's no exaggeration to say that the sea has played such a huge part in the city's history, as evidenced by the size of the bustling port and the sheer amount of water traffic on the waterways. Behind the Maritime Museum was a small harbour with many sailing boats, including a half-size replica of a Viking long ship, bobbing on the crystal blue sea, shimmering in the autumn sun.
After a trip to a local chain takeaway called Vera's for a beer, we headed towards the Sky Train for a trip into the pristine suburb of Burnaby to meet some of Skavi's friends at local restaurant Fish on Rice. Fearing a no show, the three of us popped into the bar downstairs for another delicious IPA but once we went into the sushi bar on the top floor, three furs were waiting for us - Trapa, Gizmo and Loial - and a great conversation ensued over some very cheap but very high quality sushi. We ordered a huge range of items - from sushi, sashimi and Mizo soup to a load of things I had never heard of - all for the princely some of 28 dollars. We talked a great deal about the convention as Trapa is on staff while we also conversed about a range of cultural differences between North Americs and Europe, which was very interesting too. So much so that the night soon passed and we arranged a meet-up the following day to further our deliberations.
Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-10-06 09:05 am (UTC)That belongs on the "WTF?!" section of Reddit.
no subject
Date: 2012-10-06 06:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-07 03:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-07 03:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-07 03:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-07 03:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-07 11:45 pm (UTC)I've heard very little about their bunnies. =:)
but the number of advertisement breaks we have to endure here is so frustrating - at least four per half hour show
It was quite frustrating, back when I received broadcast TV, in San Jose in 2000. (I didn't really care for the constantly degrading TLC et al, so it seemed pointless to pay for stuff that was free - well, no extra cost - over the air) I used to record the Simpsons onto Hi-8, and I'd have to constantly keep an eye on the TV, whether by keeping it on mute or just hopping back, to exclude the constant ads. Seeing the perpetual state of panic Congress loves to keep PBS in, I can only look at the Conservatives in the UK, and see the very same glint in their eyes. The BBC might not be cheap, but the license fee does provide multiple TV channels filled with original programming, not just relentless imports, including many regional stations, all with local reporters, and sometimes, regional specialist units, such as the inestimable wildlife folk of BBC Bristol. And then there's all the national radio, and local radio.. no wonder Murdoch spends every waking moment trying to kill the instutition off!
Yaletown Brewing Company, an excellent beer house serving a range of fine lagers
Ahh, more lagers!
Actually, that sets me to thinking.. maybe some of the top-tier brewers could band together to try promoting "heavier" beers, especially porters. The gold standard, as far as I'm concerned, has to be Bath Ales' "Festivity", regrettably only available from about mid-November until sometime in January - it's every bit of love a rich ale might have for you, just bundled up into one pint. Absolutely beautiful. ^_^
the drunken women I could have done without
And so say the residents of just about every city. =:) But that's alcohol for you.. stuff a few pints into someone, and their real nature emerges. Strangely, that tends to be very loud, in a lot of cases, male or female, just with the expressivity varying between hollering and screaming. (I've long thought political debates, of the US variety, ought be mandatorily preceded by a heavy afternoon's drinking. Then we'd really get to hear what they think, not the endless platitudes that so enthrall the pundits and what pass for journalists)
Fish on Rice
Hee! Cute. ^_^ Reminds me, I should check out the local sushi joint sometime - supposedly pretty decent, but it's a little north of the heart of town, and I come from the south end, so it's never just on the casual path. There's a good place for low cost sushi in SF, We Be Sushi. =:9 Trouble is, it's fairly tiny, so you don't want to go there with a big group. But all the rolls are around $4 or so, nigiri around $3, so you can emerge pretty stuffed for $20-25. It's hardly the last word in sushi, but they don't skimp on the fish. (For the other end of the scale, I can point you to a particular place in the South Bay.. just throw yourself on Steve's mercy, and you'll enjoy fishy delights you may never have known before, and the availability of sake hand imported from Japan, of complexity you'd normally associate with well aged Scotches. But yes, you will definitely pay for it =:)
no subject
Date: 2012-10-15 10:01 pm (UTC)I have a hit and miss relationship with porters. Some are really nice but some taste far too much like coffee for me. It's an odd one. I generally love IPAs though and there was a vast number where we were on holiday. Really loved sampling them all. I'm not sure alcohol does bring the real person out, if it does it's a wildly exaggerated form. Drunken political debates would be brilliant.
We Be Sushi sounds brilliant - must try it when I'm in SF in 2014 :)