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jorystory · 3 years

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West Coast Trip 2021 Journal Part 1 - Vancouver

Day 1

We walked around downtown, corner-to-corner, in about 4-5 hours. Prepare for a leg workout and wear good footwear.

Japadog on Robson. I got the “love meat-cheese” dog, hearty late night street foody, but nothing special. They open until 3AM. The store is small, be prepared to line up outside on the street. 7/10. Not worth the visit unless you’re craving something dirty and have stomach space.

Robson street is a nice bustling street with a lot of stores, worth checking out if on your first visit.

As part of the downtown walk, we passed through English Bay Beach, Sunset Beach and parts of the Sea Wall. It’s a nice walk. Not a lot of shade, bring sunscreen.

Canada Place is a bit boring, just walking and seeing, but not much to do.

We made it to Gastown for dinner. Gastown is a charming area to walk around with lots of restaurants, but the area smells like pee, you’ll start seeing more homeless people in this area. For dinner, we went to Gringo, located in a sketchy alley. It’s a tiny bar-style joint with Mexican fare. Of the tacos we tried, the brisket was superb. It was super juicy, flavorful, and wrapped with corn-style tortilla. The rest of the tacos were meh, nothing special. I would recommend just getting the brisket ones. We got their lemonade, which was refreshing and a nice sour, not too sugary. Super friendly staff that makes you comfortable. At $3-4 for a taco ($4ish for the brisket), it is definitely worth it, compared to other places. 7.5/10.

We walked back to downtown to meet up with friends and get dessert. We tried the gelato at Bella Gelateria. It was disappointing, too hyped and pricey at around $9 for 2 scoops in a cup. 5/10. Don’t bother. The gelato at Stella Luna in Ottawa is better.

For accommodations, we stayed at Days Inn Wyndham in DT. It’s bait and switch advertising, the room in reality looks nothing like in the pictures online. The price was cheap for downtown though, but the room is tiny with an even tinier bathroom.

Day 2

Morning coffee at 49th Parallel Lucky’s Donut in DT on Thurlow. Lot of room outside to sit with 90 min of morning WIFI. I got my favorite donut, a cruller, which has a really good sweetness and airiness to it. It was also big size-wise. The black Americano I got was also good; not too acidic/bitter. 7.5/10. I would go again if I had time in the morning to chill.

Walked to Chinatown. LOTS of homeless people here and it smells pretty bad. There’s not much to visit here other than the famous garden and New Town Bakery. See it on your first visit, but that’s it.

Japantown, which is next to Chinatown, don’t bother going. There’s nothing to see and even more homeless/crazies/druggie as you get closer to Main and East Hastings.

I tried the Bulgogi Burrito at Tako, near Chinatown. It’s Mexican-Korean fusion. It was on the smaller size for around $12-13 for a burrito, but it was flavorful and had a nice mild heat. It’s no Kogi in LA, but it’s okay. 7/10. Not worth visiting if you’re limited in time and stomach space.

I also tried the tacos at Tacofino, located in the same sketchy alley as Gringo in Gastown. Their tortillas they used for the tacos are paper-like; they don’t use standard corn tortilla. It was overhyped, busy, underwhelming and overpriced at $7 a taco. The fish taco was bland and dry and relies on the sauce to bring out any flavor. The meat of the crispy chicken is good with some mild heat, but it ends there. The taco is also on the drier side. Nothing special, Disappointing. 4/10.

We bused to Wreck Beach, on the far western end, near UBC. It’s a popular destination on sunny days, known for optional clothing. It was cloudy and empty when we went, but was still nice to sit and chill. There’s quite a bit of stairs to go down to the beach; was not expecting that for our tired legs.

Take out dinner at Sal y Limon Mexican. They used corn-style tortilla tacos, had good flavors, but something about all the meats we got were off (lamb > al pastor > pulled pork > chorizo). The churro was good. We also got a carnitas (pulled pork belly) huarache, which was flavorful, but the shell was not very deep fried, with too much sauce soaking it and making it soggy. For authentic Mexican, it was underwhelming. 6.5/10. Not worth your time or stomach space.

The Hive @ Strathcona is a small bouldering gym with a sufficient amount of climbs. The staff were friendly. They have a Friday night cheap night ($18), which was good since their regular admissions are on the pricier side ($25). The grading system wasn’t that intuitive. More importantly, it was super hot/humid with no AC and only a couple of fans running.

Day 3

We went for early morning bakeries at the popular local spot, New Town Bakery in Chinatown, before our day trip out to Squamish. We got: 2x egg tarts, 1x bbq pork, 2x pork steam buns, 1x coconut bun, 1x butter cream cone, 1x curried beef bun, 1x meat spring roll, 1x pineapple-coconut bun. All the items were quality, and exceeded expectations. 10 items among 2 people was a lot of food though. Prices are good, smells like heaven. 9/10 Worth visiting.

Originally, we wanted to do the Chief hike at Squamish, but as of this year, you need to buy passes, which they were sold out. Instead, we went to Shannon Falls. The main attraction at the lower falls is whatever and mostly packed with families and kids. We found an moderate/hard trail to Shannon Falls Pools that not many people hike and takes you higher and up close to the falls. Dangerous place to slip. There were some rope sections where you have to pull yourself up that were sketchy; definitely not family-friendly. Also, easy to get lost at the beginning if you don’t take the correct fork. Use the Trailforks app to not get lost. Once we were up close to the falls, we were treated to great views and a perfect spot to relax all to ourselves.

A late-afternoon visit to the popular Earnest Ice Cream on Saturday was perfect. No crazy lines like you would see at peak hours and after dinner hours. We tried the Cookies & Cream, London Fog, Whiskey Hazelnut and Milk Chocolate. The first three were highly rated ones on Google, and they were true. I loved the first two the best. The price for double scoops was around $6, but you get a lot. Compared to other places, this was really good value for size and excellent ice cream. 9.5/10. I highly recommend this place and would go again.

For dinner we went to Ajisai Sushi Bar in Kerrisdale. They were only offering takeout during the pandemic and you had to call to order. Expect 2 hours order times during peak dinner times; this place is BUSY, their phones are constantly ringing. We ordered around 5pm and got our food around 7pm. You can see the chefs working non-stop from the store front window. We got the Spicy Roll (Salmon/Tuna/Scallop) combo that includes 24 pieces for around $13. Great price for the quality. We also got the Assorted Sushi combo which includes around 9/10 items, mostly nigiri and some special rolls for around $19. The sushi was QUALITY and FRESH. The salmon and tuna were melt-in-your-mouth quality. For around $40 for 2, this wasn’t too expensive relative to other meals and surprisingly filling. If you love sushi, this is perfect mid-tier sushi (higher than budget sushi places, but lower than expensive top-tier places like Miku/Minami). 9.5/10. Worth visiting and would get again.

To digest, we drove around and ending up relaxing at Burnaby Central Park. Nothing touristy, just a local park in Burnaby to say that we’ve been to Burnaby. At night, we just drove across Lion’s Gate bridge back in DT Van to check out the bridge lights and night views. Driving in busy Saturday-night traffic is tough, you need some confidence, aggressiveness, and focus (there’s a lot of bright lights) especially when you have day-trip fatigue.

Day 4

We tried the red velvet cake and ice americano at Breka Bakery on Denman St in DT Vancouver. The cake was moist, light, airy; and the cream not too sweet, which was perfect. The chocolate pieces in the cake were a nice touch. The ice americano was good, a hint of bitterness, but refreshing. It’s a 24h café with a couple locations. 8/10. Worth visiting.

Today was bike day around Vancouver. This was probably the best way to get around since public transportation is slow (not much better than Ottawa’s), walking is tiring and ride share for 2 isn’t that cheap. Spokes bike rental, $40-50ish for the day, provided solid Trek hybrid bikes, helmet, lock and phone holder. The staff were friendly and helpful. It seems expensive compared to the city Mobi bikes, but its definitely more fun and flexible in my opinion. It will be around the same price as an attraction somewhere (like Capilano bridge), but you get all day fun. Worth.

Riding leisurely around Stanley Park, took about 1-2 hours. Great views. Worth visiting.

We biked to Granville market and walked around lunch time. It’s a cute and charming market. This place is busy, lots of fresh fruits and the local strawberries were perfect, not too sweet and good tartness, but expensive at 2.5lb for $13.

Lee’s donuts - high quality donuts, jelly, chocolate, honey dip, Dutch. Good size. Pretty good compared to what we have in Ottawa. Long lineups. 7.5/10. Worth visiting.

Biked to Kitsilano beach - extremely busy large and bumping beach. Definitely a popular spot in Vancouver. Worth visiting.

Biked to Jericho beach - smaller beach, more old people and families with younger kids. Good for swimming.

Rain or Shine Ice Cream Kitsilano - large portions like Earnest, get the waffle cone (it’s good), malt chocolate honeycomb flavor was A+++, slightly more expensive (~$1) than Earnest (at $7 for a cone) but just as good. Busy, expect long lineups. 10/10. Worth visiting. We came twice ;)

Kook Korean BBQ - We got the Combo A for 2 for around $60-70, lots of side dishes, 4 types of meats, which were marinated well, soondobu soup was spot on, meets expectations. Busy - reservations of 2h wait times. 8/10. Worth visiting if you’re craving Korean BBQ.

Day 5

Walked around Yaletown, pretty bougie, not much to see.

Lunch at Phnom Penh, Viet/Cambodian, popular local place. Must tries: butter beef, beef lok lak, crispy chicken wings, usually lines, around $15-20 per dish. We got the three dishes for 2 people, we were full. 9/10. Worth visiting.

I went to climb again but at the Hive North Shore location, far from downtown (~50 min by multiple buses). The gym is clean, spacious, has AC, a nice store, and high climbing walls (feels pretty sketchy up high, higher than Altitude Kanata’s), so they make you do an orientation and practice falls. I booked for 2pm on a Monday, not much people, which was nice. I prefer this location over the central Vancouver one.

Afternoon snack at La Casa Gelato, they have too many flavors (238 to be exact) in my opinion. It was empty when I went, I tried their popular flavor, the durian, but I wasn’t a fan, more sugary sweet than anything. I think it’s overrated. And for around $6 for one scoop cup, its not that cheap. Decent size though but not too big. Seems very gimmicky to me. The building exterior is entirely bright pink, good for Instagram I guess. 5/10. Not worth.

We had dinner at Ramen DANBO in Kitsilano (DT location was closed for renos) For around $10-14 for a bowl of noodles only, the tonkotsu broth, which was rich and flavorful. The thin noodles were perfect, two pieces chashu included were meaty/fatty/juice. The Negi-goma broth (sesame oil, specialty-roasted sesame seeds and fresh scallions, tonkotsu) which adds a nice sesame-oil flavor to the broth was excellent as well. I choose standard options for noodle firmness, broth thickness, broth richness (lard), karadare (umami spicy sauce), can get really spicy depending on what you choose. 9/10. Worth.

Day 6

We had an early morning flight to Calgary, so we stopped by Breka Bakery again at 4AM. This time at the more popular location on Bute St. in DT Van. We got croissant sandwiches and loaf cake slices. They weren’t that good, but not surprising since they weren’t fresh at 4 in the morning.

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