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theducksHi Interwubs,
so, thus far, Vancouver has been interesting. We arrived on Saturday and spent most of the afternoon fighting off sleep. Slept on and off through the night, then got up at 4:30 and hopped online for a bit. Had breakfast, did laundry, then we met up with my old friend from Western, Ajit. Ajit went from being the head of UWO's Linux user group to working for Microsoft. Can't have everything. Ajit, Liz and I had a wander around Gastown and the harbourfront area. Ajit headed back to Seattle in the afternoon, then Liz and I went to have dinner with my not-uncle Les and one of my not-cousins, Janet. They're like the not-bacon tofu equivalents of relatives. [ For those of you following at home, my mum's sister married a Canadian guy. His sister and two brothers live in Vancouver, and we keep in contact and say hi whenever I'm over here. ] Not-cousin Janet is great company and very funny, I wish I got to see more of her. She got the not-cousin bit straight away. She's also a mac user now. She's working at Cornell, doing stuff for the NASA Mars lander program. We went back to their place after dinner, and helped Les set up a printer, and visited their adorable enormous cross eyed cat.
I bring sad news for Highlander fangirls.. since the series was filmed in Gastown in the early 90s, the area has started undergoing gentrification. What this means is that the building used for exterior scenes of the Dojo no-longer looks like it did then. It's still mostly recognisable, but it's now a store and doesn't have the dingy look it used to. We also found "Blood Alley", which is used as the street with Duncan's antique storefront. Again, the antique storefront has been remodeled, and doesn't resemble the one from the series all that much anymore. Blood alley was also used for a number of other scenes, and parts of it still do look as they did back then.
After Gastown, we headed to the Sun Yat Sen classical chinese gardens, also used as a Highlander filming location.. the front entrance had been re-modeled as well, but it still looked fairly similar. We had a bit of a look inside, but it was literally filled with vagrants harassing us for money.. we went inside the gift store and it was filled with staff harassing us for money. I don't know which is worse. On the gift store, they sold various chinese things, including pictures of chairman Mao cut out of paper. Forgive me, I didn't do that well in year 10 history, but weren't Sun Yat Sen and Mao Zedong not the best of friends? I'm sure they'd both be rolling in their graves over the inclusion of one's pictures in the other's giftshop.
So on that note, I finish my highlander rambling, and commence complaining about the presumable lack of social welfare programs and law enforcement here in Vancouver. We have it pretty well off in Perth, I've always known that. My first visit to Toronto in 1998 was a bit of a shock due to the number of people living on the streets, and it's not all that atypical for north american cities. When I last came to Vancouver in 2003, I stayed at the place we're staying now, and I knew it wasn't a good neighbourhood. Let me say, it's now actively BAD. The store next to the youth hostel has a sign in the window saying "We don't sell crack pipes". I'm not doing any interpretation here, it literally says that, as well as disclaiming sale of several other types of drug paraphenalia, including brillo pads (used for smoking crack, I am led to believe).
I'm also concerned about the sheer number of people on the streets here. You can't walk a block in the downtown area without seeing about 5, either sleeping, begging or shambling down the street in some way. I say shamble, since like Zombies, they do walk aimlessly looking like they are trying to eat your brain. In Gastown, there was a jazz festival, with thousands of people visiting.. literally one street away was filled with homeless people, and in the middle of the day with two other people, I didn't feel safe walking down the street. I could rant more, but what's the point. I'm disappointed in the lack of law enforcement attention. No, lock em all up isn't the answer. However, the way to tackle this is to lock up the people who are dangerous, then help the people who are just unfortunate. Then raize much of downtown and start again :P
I think Vancouver could do better. I find it hard to blame the powers that be, even though the current premier of BC was mayor of Vancouver from 1985.. not just because he's also a not-uncle, but also because this crappy downtown experience is mirrored elsewhere.. At least here they generally aren't shooting each other like Toronto, which is a good start.
All in all, Vancouver is not as great as it used to be. I am heartened to see that it's not just me. The newspapers have all been running stories this week about how bad crime has got in downtown Vancouver. Hopefully this will spur someone into action.
so, thus far, Vancouver has been interesting. We arrived on Saturday and spent most of the afternoon fighting off sleep. Slept on and off through the night, then got up at 4:30 and hopped online for a bit. Had breakfast, did laundry, then we met up with my old friend from Western, Ajit. Ajit went from being the head of UWO's Linux user group to working for Microsoft. Can't have everything. Ajit, Liz and I had a wander around Gastown and the harbourfront area. Ajit headed back to Seattle in the afternoon, then Liz and I went to have dinner with my not-uncle Les and one of my not-cousins, Janet. They're like the not-bacon tofu equivalents of relatives. [ For those of you following at home, my mum's sister married a Canadian guy. His sister and two brothers live in Vancouver, and we keep in contact and say hi whenever I'm over here. ] Not-cousin Janet is great company and very funny, I wish I got to see more of her. She got the not-cousin bit straight away. She's also a mac user now. She's working at Cornell, doing stuff for the NASA Mars lander program. We went back to their place after dinner, and helped Les set up a printer, and visited their adorable enormous cross eyed cat.
I bring sad news for Highlander fangirls.. since the series was filmed in Gastown in the early 90s, the area has started undergoing gentrification. What this means is that the building used for exterior scenes of the Dojo no-longer looks like it did then. It's still mostly recognisable, but it's now a store and doesn't have the dingy look it used to. We also found "Blood Alley", which is used as the street with Duncan's antique storefront. Again, the antique storefront has been remodeled, and doesn't resemble the one from the series all that much anymore. Blood alley was also used for a number of other scenes, and parts of it still do look as they did back then.
After Gastown, we headed to the Sun Yat Sen classical chinese gardens, also used as a Highlander filming location.. the front entrance had been re-modeled as well, but it still looked fairly similar. We had a bit of a look inside, but it was literally filled with vagrants harassing us for money.. we went inside the gift store and it was filled with staff harassing us for money. I don't know which is worse. On the gift store, they sold various chinese things, including pictures of chairman Mao cut out of paper. Forgive me, I didn't do that well in year 10 history, but weren't Sun Yat Sen and Mao Zedong not the best of friends? I'm sure they'd both be rolling in their graves over the inclusion of one's pictures in the other's giftshop.
So on that note, I finish my highlander rambling, and commence complaining about the presumable lack of social welfare programs and law enforcement here in Vancouver. We have it pretty well off in Perth, I've always known that. My first visit to Toronto in 1998 was a bit of a shock due to the number of people living on the streets, and it's not all that atypical for north american cities. When I last came to Vancouver in 2003, I stayed at the place we're staying now, and I knew it wasn't a good neighbourhood. Let me say, it's now actively BAD. The store next to the youth hostel has a sign in the window saying "We don't sell crack pipes". I'm not doing any interpretation here, it literally says that, as well as disclaiming sale of several other types of drug paraphenalia, including brillo pads (used for smoking crack, I am led to believe).
I'm also concerned about the sheer number of people on the streets here. You can't walk a block in the downtown area without seeing about 5, either sleeping, begging or shambling down the street in some way. I say shamble, since like Zombies, they do walk aimlessly looking like they are trying to eat your brain. In Gastown, there was a jazz festival, with thousands of people visiting.. literally one street away was filled with homeless people, and in the middle of the day with two other people, I didn't feel safe walking down the street. I could rant more, but what's the point. I'm disappointed in the lack of law enforcement attention. No, lock em all up isn't the answer. However, the way to tackle this is to lock up the people who are dangerous, then help the people who are just unfortunate. Then raize much of downtown and start again :P
I think Vancouver could do better. I find it hard to blame the powers that be, even though the current premier of BC was mayor of Vancouver from 1985.. not just because he's also a not-uncle, but also because this crappy downtown experience is mirrored elsewhere.. At least here they generally aren't shooting each other like Toronto, which is a good start.
All in all, Vancouver is not as great as it used to be. I am heartened to see that it's not just me. The newspapers have all been running stories this week about how bad crime has got in downtown Vancouver. Hopefully this will spur someone into action.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-27 03:59 pm (UTC)Dearie me, sounds like 'The Zone' is spreading across Seacouver :(
House continues to be well and happy. Your toaster rocks my world :)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-28 12:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-28 01:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-28 03:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-16 05:25 pm (UTC)ANYWAY, thought I'd just say Hi :) Nice photos you've got going.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-16 05:20 pm (UTC)re: Highlander stuff. OMG, it was filmed in Gastown? Dude, I was just living in Vancouver for months and Gastown was where I went for beers! That, and you know, I got taught how to handle firearms & knife fighting (for the actor - hey, when in Vancouver, sign up with an Extras agency!) by the swordmaster for the HL tv series :D
Vancouver is terrible for crime - they've got a drink spiking epidemic going on at the moment - and the downtown area (East Hastings, etc) is the worst I've seen. I'm including London, UK in this. Poor Vancouver. We love you lots, but we hope you do better.