Two New Mums: Vancouver

Vancouver

After more than 20 hrs of flight, we are finally in Vancouver!!! Note: Canada's Border Security is tight, so remember to print your hotels and return flight tickets before hand for them to know that you still wanna come back home!

Cab is expensive in here. And while public transportation is a breeze, we booked a hotel which is easily accessible.

Our Hotel Blue Horizon...15 mins walk from the train station. We chosen this hotel because it is one of the stop for "hop on hop off bus" which makes it convenient for us. The hotel location is good, it is on Robson Street, there are many shops and eatery nearby the hotel.

I booked a twin bed room because it is cheaper than double bedroom. The bed is actually a queen size bed so this room can actually sleep 4 persons.

We bought the hop on hop off bus which is our favorite way of transporting around the city. Do consider getting one if you are there as it is really convenient.

The Old Spaghetti Factory, the place is very warmly decorated with all the wooden furniture and yellow lights. They even have a train inside the restaurant!!

Walking down from the Old Spaghetti Factory..you will reach Gastown.The streets on Gastown is filled with souvenir shops. We had some good shopping while there as some shops are really quite interesting to walk into.

The old steam clock in Gastown. The steam is produced by a factory nearby for the clock to work. Interesting huh?

Farmers' Market will always be on my list when i travel so here we were...Granville Island. We spent 2 hours here watching street performance & trying out local food. This is by-far our favourite place in Vancouver!

World's famous Stanley Park! This park is huge and it is really amazing how they have a park right in the city of Vancouver! Be sure to explore the park as there are tons of things to see and feel!

View from Prospect Point

Look at the clouds....

One Old couple sitting on the bench...so sweet to see them siting on the chair..

This little cute tea house is a great place for an afternoon tea or brunch.

The view from the tea-house....Do visit this tea-house when you are in Stanley Park. The view is just too beautiful with some great food they have.

The mussels smell damm good...and they are amazingly "fat" and fresh. I can taste the freshness..有海洋的味道...but Nick is not a fan of 海洋的味道 so I have the whole plate by myself haha

Some Sorbet to clear our taste bud...

Smoked Salmon Egg Benedict

Ham Egg Benedict...Nick is totally in love with Egg-Benedict after he had this.

Price before tips...In Canada, the tips for server is 15% to 20%, which is much higher then Singapore. Tips will be kept by the respective server and that's why we thought that the services are generally good. Unlike Singapore where the owner keeps them all eh?

Chinatown...You can skip Chinatown. Most of the shops are closed...if you are looking at having some authentic Chinese food here...you will be disappointed. This place however, is full of homeless and mentally ill people around. And it doesn't help that the Chinatown is just beside notorious Vancouver East side which is a bad neighborhood so you will see a lot of drug addicts on the street as well. Warning: Do not visit here alone at Night.

If you are craving for authentic Chinese Food, go to Richmond, the New Chinatown. The street here is clean and you will find a lot of Chinese Student, Chinese Restaurant, Chinese Supermarket and Nice Cars. We had Ma La Xiang Guo for our lunch....very authentic

There is a night market nearby Richmond that I read from Trip Advisor, we decided to check it out since the review is good. Do go early if you are visiting Richmond Night Market as there will be a long queue. The place is like our Pasar Malam, quite cool to see Pasar Malam in "Ang Moh" Country. But it can't be compared to Taiwan Night Market. (Note: The place is open on weekend only and is closed during winter time)

We arrived early, the queue started to form up at 6 plus. The Night Market only opens at 7PM.