8 THINGS OFF THE BEATEN TRACK IN VANCOUVER

As you guys know, I have spent the past five months travelling around British Columbia with no plans other than attempting to live like a local in all the best places that the province has to offer. Having spent a substantial amount of time situated in the capital, I think that I’m finally qualified to lecture you guys on the absolute favourite spots in one of my absolute favourite cities – Vancouver.

A WOK AROUND CHINATOWN

I’m going to start off this post with the absolute highlight of my trip – a Vancouver food tour. Over the past few months travelling North America, I have gone on a food tour in almost every city I’ve stumbled upon, and have come to the conclusion that this is the best way to see a new place. Despite the fact that I have been on a real plethora of food tours across the country, I have never been on one quite like this before. Instead of it being a usual two-hour, here’s-a-vague-bit-of-information-on-the-city-but-really-let’s-just-scoff-down-the-food sort of tour, it lasted around four hours and was a lot more in-depth than any other tour I’ve attended.

To begin with, we visited the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden – my favourite place in the whole city. Our guide, Robert, gave us a tour of the site, and regardless of the fact that I have been to the gardens an innumerable amount of times, I still learnt a lot of things about the architecture and the process behind the landscaping.  For example, despite the fact that I’d probably spent over 20 hours wandering around the gardens during my time in Vancouver, I didn’t actually know that it was designed to be a classic Suzhou garden, featuring traits from Taoism (namely, the balance within one’s life), Confucianism (the structure within one’s life), and Buddhism (which is primarily focused on being one with nature). These ideas are showcased within each element of the garden, from the flexibility of the bamboo to the perpetual growth of the flowering bush, to the rock and plant Penjing. Due to my interest in other religions and cultures, this insight was exceedingly interesting, and was a great start to the rest of the tour.

From here, we wandered Carrall Street and Pender Street, where we were given a historical narration of the area, along with being introduced to the smallest building in the world – the Jack Chow Insurance Building, which was built almost entirely out of pure spite.

From there, we headed over to Ming Wo Cookware, where we were shown the utensils and instruments typically used in Chinese cooking, and explained the proper way to use the tools. Due to the fact that Robert has studied the culinary arts and knows the industry inside out, it was useful to get an insight into how to properly season the wok vessel, and how to use the Chinese “chopper” knives. Having grown up with a chef as a parent, I have seen these items in action, and yet in the grand scheme of things actually know very little about them. Frankly, I didn’t even know that you could season a wok. This, mixed in with the food which we tried later on in the tour, has meant that when I finally stop travelling in late August for several months, I will expand my cooking abilities and learn how to cook a proper Chinese meal.

             

Our next stop was at Chinatown’s New Town Bakery – a place which I would stop at for food four more times during the week because I loved their products so much (also, everything there is very affordable!). On the tour, we tried their stunning apple tarts and were shown and given information about their savoury steamed buns, egg custard tarts, tapioca cakes, and rice cakes. The bakery sells close to 1,000 tarts daily – and they’re all up to a flawless, sweet, and flaky standard. Even just writing this, I wish I had one in my hands.

Following the devouring of the tarts, we visited a couple of the herbal medicine stores in town, with the most in-depth being at the Guo Hua Herbal Medicine Store. Robert told us about the ways in which the ingredients can be used to remedy certain ailments, going into detail about items that I had never seen before in my life. We were shown tiny animals such as krill, to medium animals such as gecko lizards on sticks, to large animals such as sharks (in the form of their removed fins). Some of the creatures were alive and glared at us from their displays, whereas others had been well and truly dried out. It was oddly intriguing, and I found myself passionate to try some of the remedies. Our guide would recommend ingredients which would pair well together in a meal, and we tried some spicy ginger sweets. It was all pretty interesting, although I truly didn’t think that I would suffer from culture shock in the heart of Vancouver. 

Our next few stops were at several food and symbolic stores across Chinatown, and we tried BBQ pork at one of the places selling barbecued meat, roasted ducks, and soy sauce chicken. The pork was absolutely stunning (can you believe I used to be vegetarian?), and was a million times better than the versions I’d tried at imitation Chinese restaurants in Europe. 

After all of this, we stopped for lunch at the Jade Dynasty Restaurant, where our small group sat down to share dim sum. We tried small plates made up of things like Ha Gow (shrimp dumplings), Eye Gwa (minced shrimp in Asian aubergine), Ngoh My Faun (sticky rice parcels), and La Bakh Goh (steamed white radish cake). Each dish was absolutely delicious, and quite frankly, made me want to temporarily migrate to China merely to gorge myself on good food day in, day out. I learnt about how you should never pour your own tea, due to the fact that the other people around the table should be paying enough attention to you to notice when they need to offer you a refill. We spoke about how certain items of food hold a symbolic meaning for different attributes of life, and spent the time just eating delicious dishes and getting to know each other a little bit better. 

Our final stop consisted of watching a demonstration of a classic method of tea preparation at the Chinese Tea Shop, where we were introduced to a display of “Gung Fu” – the term for great mastery – as one of the owners poured us tea using the traditional methods. We were introduced to oolong, jasmine, pu-erh, and lapsang souchong teas, and tried several cups, tasting each strain in a similar method to wine tasting. Due to the fact that I am a massive tea fanatic, the whole process was really interesting – and I ended up purchasing a clay tea set and a pack of white teas to take on my travels. The people were the loveliest, and I learnt a lot about the art of tea-making – to the extent that I now want to dedicate some time to studying the craft.

The tour was hands-down the best food tour I have ever been on, partly due to the delicious food, partly due to the in-depth histories, and partly due to the good company. I have since decided that should I ever spend an elongated amount of time back in the city, I will be sure to sight-see again with A Wok Around.

CYCLE VANCOUVER

Eight years ago I was given a brand new bicycle for my birthday, and decided that the best way to wear it in would be by attempting a daredevil stunt in front of all my friends. It ended with me crashing right into a car and having to be rushed to hospital – and after years, the idea of cycling had developed into a fully-fledged fear. Having been too wary to ride anything with two wheels since I was a pre-teen, I thought that the best way to overcome such a minute fear was to go on a five-and-a-half hour bike tour in one of the best cities in Canada. That’s how I found myself exploring Vancouver with Cycle Vancouver.

After a fitting for a bike and helmet, our small tour group was ready to set off. It took me a while to get used to balancing on two wheels and steering straight, so for the first hour I was consistently swerving off-track and straight into pavements. “You never forget how to ride a bike,” my ass. At some point I got overly cocky, sped towards the curb at an angle, and almost completely backflipped the bike. Everything in the front of my cart goes flying and I’m left there feeling like I’ll never be able to ride a bike competently. But I persisted, directly facing dragging myself up and feeling glad that my bottle is the only thing caved in, and we left the main road to go onto smaller, less busy bike lanes.

I eventually learnt how to turn left and right without flipping the bike over, and despite the fact that my knees were shaking and the bike was swaying precariously as I gripped the handlebars, I gradually started to feel more comfortable. Every fifteen minutes or so, we would stop for a while so that our guide could tell us some history about the city, which always offered me a well-deserved break so that I could focus on getting my heart to stop pounding. 

I learned how to work the gears and once the views were engulfed by oceans, mountains, and skyscrapers, I felt so much better. Richard – our guide – is super nice and funny, and the group is very supportive about the fact that they’re basically cycling with an incompetent toddler, and I begin to love it all. Despite the fact that I’m using every shred of concentration I have to stay balanced, I find myself easing into the motions of cycling. At some point, I try to copy the others’ confidence by briefly letting go of the handlebar to push up my glasses, but the bike swerves violently to the side and I decide to keep my hands firmly on the bars.

The cycle isn’t necessarily easy, but that’s only because I’m utterly inept when it comes to cycling. At some point, I try to go up a hill in sixth gear and find myself slowly rolling backwards, and at another, we’re cycling on a path with a steep ledge and as I look down, my ankle gets caught in the peddles and I nearly fling myself off the bike in a moment of blind panic. Every now and then, however, I would look up to admire the views, and manage to hold my balance for a few seconds before I start flailing wildly and need to focus again.

We stopped for lunch at the Granville Island Public Market, where we all took a well-earned break. The rest of the ride carried on relatively smoothly, and despite that it was exhausting and terrifying, I ended up enjoying every second. I came out of it (relatively) unscathed, and now I’m pretty glad to say that I have more-or-less completely overcome my irrational fear of cycling. Maybe it is as easy as they say – maybe it is just like riding a bike.

 

INTERNATIONAL BUDDHIST SOCIETY

Due to the fact that I’ve been travelling for so long, I haven’t been able to visit my local Buddhist temple since December. When I came to Vancouver, I was ridiculously excited at the prospect at finally being able to visit somewhere that resembles my second home again – and the International Buddhist Society welcomed me the second I walked through the door. The temple itself is absolutely gorgeous, and filled with incense and chanting and golden statues. I was the only foreigner on the whole compound, and when the monks all lined up and chanted loudly together, walking one-by-one down to the basement, I assumed that I could probably just follow them to see where they were going. One of the monks turns to me and states (ominously), “you can’t leave once you go downstairs,” and with that, I followed. The next few hours I’m surrounded by Mandarin songs, and together we eat a meal and listen to the Abbot as he chants in several languages which I can’t understand. At some point, I look towards the nun next to me to figure out how we are meant to drink the tea from the bowls, and as I glance over, she pulls out her dentures, swills them in the tea, and puts them back in her mouth. By the end of the ceremony, I am feeling refreshed. I feel lighter than I have in a while, and feel deeply glad that I’ve finally returned to temple after all these months. It’s because of this that the International Buddhist Society is one of the best things in the whole of Vancouver – it makes you feel better than any other place in the city.

DR. SUN YAT-SEN CLASSICAL CHINESE GARDEN

This classical Chinese garden is easily my favourite place in the city. I have visited it almost every single day that I have spent in Vancouver, and have been on not one, not two, but three tours of the garden – solely because they’re mega interesting and I learn something new each time. Coming here feels like I’m returning home, to a place where there is endless jasmine tea, gorgeous quiet surroundings, and the loveliest people ever. It’s the ideal place to escape the city, where you’re surrounded by tranquil Suzhou architecture rather than tall grey skyscrapers, and people welcome you back like family.

They offer several tours of the gardens a day, where guides talk about the Taoist concept of Yin and Yang which is evident in the garden, and by extension, life. There’s the female (cool) energy and male (hot) energy, in the water and mountains, the light and dark, the smooth and the rough. Over time, soft elements like water can be strong enough to even reshape the strong elements like rock. Similarly, over time, worthless items such as broken China bowls can be made into priceless relics – as is the case with this broken material being used in the detail design of the outdoor flooring. 

On my first ever tour of the gardens, our guide spoke about how, at the very centre of it all, all humans want is peace – be it in 2000 BC or 2000 A.D. or 20,000 A.D., which had resulted in the esteemed Scholars’ Study being re-created. Here, you are surrounded by stone and rock Penjing (pronounced pen-jai), small decorations which resemble the “essence of nature in a container.” Also, structures such as this are built entirely without the use of electric tools or nails – instead, each building material is cut and indented to fit together perfectly.

I have been to one tea ceremony at the gardens (as they hold many events here), where I learnt about how the making of the tea can be considered as an act of meditation. So much time and precision is put into the making of each cup, that at the end, it only tastes better for the hard work and care. Due to the fact that I’m an absolute fiend for a good cup of tea, it quickly became one of the best things I had done during my whole time in the city.

The Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden is rated as the World’s #1 Urban Garden by National Geographic, and whilst I was dubious about this title before entering, the second I walked in I understood why. I have been travelling the other side of BC for the past week now, and quite frankly, I keep thinking back to this garden. I have booked one last night in Vancouver before I fly over to Alberta for the summer – and you can bet that my first stop will be this garden.

MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY

Due to the fact that I’m currently feeling as though I’ve chosen to do the entirely wrong degree scheme (I’m only two years in, and I’m steadily losing passion for completing a language qualification), I’ve developed a real interest in anthropology. Spurred on by this new-found interest, I decided to travel two hours out of the centre of Vancouver to this utterly out-of-the-way museum – and it was definitely worth the effort. There is so much to see, a person could easily spend days taking in every exhibition and learning about all aspects of life from all aspects of the globe, and it’s all deeply interesting. You are able to learn about things which are region-specific, such as certain First People Nations, along with getting a glimpse into cultures across the world. One of the best features that this museum offers is the bi-hourly guided tour, where you get a more personal, in-depth view of the plethora of artefacts surrounding you. Whilst typically only lasting half an hour, they offer a lot more detail than you are able to take in from the exhibitions alone – and if you end up spending a whole day here (I’m guilty as charged), then you get to tag along to several tours, immersing yourself in every single corner of the museum.

BLOEDEL CONSERVATORY

This conservatory is the sort of place that I would expect to have tons of visitors – and yet during my visit was practically devoid of all human life (honestly, this makes it better as you get the whole place to yourself). Not only is the place super pretty, but it is also filled with bird species from all over the world, who are so used to humans that they’ll saunter right up to you. This is the only place in the city that can transport you to the plains of Africa, or the forests of the Amazon, or to the warmest areas of Asia – and only partly to escape the concrete jungle that is Vancouver and the cold weather outside. They offer several guides and check-off sheets where you can look out for particular species of bird and plant, and it’s really a perfect way to spend an afternoon.

BEATY BIODIVERSITY MUSEUM

Due to the fact that I am currently seriously doubting my degree choice, I have also developed a real interest in zoology (to the extent that I’m honestly considering changing my major entirely, so that I can live the fantasy of studying South American animals in the wild)*. It is because of this reason that I trekked all the way to the Beaty Biodiversity Museum (which by all means is not local), so that I could spend the day studying their exhibitions. A trip which I had planned would only take several hours ended up taking up nearly a full day, as I kept getting drawn into the exhibitions and spending an insane amount of time staring at each taxidermy. It was all ridiculously interesting and only furthered the idea that I should drop everything and study to become a Zoologist – an idea which was only further concreted when I went on their tour.

The tour itself was only meant to take half an hour but ended up taking longer than 60 minutes, due to both our guide and our tour group being inherently passionate about the subjects. We were able to look at the subjects in the research lab, and were told detailed stories about several of the exhibitions – and honestly, it was a lot of fun. I left feeling even more amazed at this glorious planet we all live on, and more determined that whatever I do in my future, it should, at least to some degree, work on the conservation of the species’.

GROUSE MOUNTAIN

Despite the fact that I’d read a lot about the “busy peak of Vancouver,” I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were only about five other people that were visiting the mountain at the same time as me. Regardless of the fact that I was visiting a mountain in a dress (which I quickly realised was a dreadful mistake), I ended up spending a good half day meandering about the place – especially loitering outside the bear enclosure. Due to the fact that I’d planned my arrival right in-between ski season and tourist season, the majority of things were closed – except for the best feature of them all.

Ever since I touched down on Canadian soil, I have wanted to see a bear. I haven’t wanted to travel to a zoo to watch them mope around, as I wanted to get a more authentic glimpse at these magnificent creatures – and Grouse Mountain is ideal for that. They have two bears which they have raised from cubs, which saunter about in the kind-of wild, (almost) entirely free from human contact. I stood there for hours watching them play, find food, bathe, and nap in the sun, and honestly, it was a truly incredible experience to be that close and know that the animals are entirely content. Not only do they live longer than the bears you find in places which are completely devoid of human interference (due to the lack of threats and stress), but they are able to interact with each other in ways which male bears usually wouldn’t dare, solely because they’ve grown up together. It’s a really beautiful experience, and one which I will treasure forever.

After my visit, I found out that there are free shuttles from the city centre to Grouse Mountain. You can thank me later.

If you’re really determined to stay on the beaten track in Vancouver, then the best things I can recommend (and the only real things worth going to) are:

• The Capilano Suspension Bridge – a truly gorgeous view, plus their Lodger’s Grill does the best quinoa salad in the whole city
• The Vancouver Aquarium – they have otters! And sea lions! And turtles which challenge you to staring contests!
• The Vancouver Lookout – offers views of the skyline which you won’t get anywhere else in the city
• Science World – solely for the Mirror Maze, where you get to pretend that you’re six years old again
• Stanley Park Horse-Drawn Tours – both magical and informative – plus you’ll end up in approximately five other photos from random tourists that think you look cool from the street
• West Coast Sightseeing – ideal for if you only have a limited time to see the city (it’s also super interesting and saves you money on bus fares!)
• The Museum of Vancouver – despite being pretty central and jam-packed with interesting information, there’s never a real abundance of people here, so it’s perfect to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city

Key bit of advice for these places though? Before you visit any of the galleries or museums, check on their websites to see if they have any days where they offer discounts. For example, the Vancouver Art Gallery offers admission by donation on Tuesday evenings from 5pm to 9pm, and the LeSoleil Fine Art Gallery currently offers free admission every day.

And so – have any of you guys been to Vancouver, or plan on using my guide to visit this absolutely gorgeous city in the future? Let me know in the comments below!

*This is currently a big dream of mine. When things seem tough, what could be better than running away to the rainforest and living with the monkeys?

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