- Food! Asian food! I’m a lover of all foods Asian (and non-Asian). I live in Ricmond a.k.a. mini-Hong Kong and we have some of the best Asian restaurants around in my opinion— bubble tea included.
- The weather. Believe it or not, I actually LOVE it when it rains here. When we go 5+ more days without rain, I start to think something is up… I mean Vancouver being sunny? Dude, that’s weird. Not that it’s never sunny here (we in fact have a very mild climate) but I guess it makes it that much more special when it is.
- Granville Island in Vancouver and other market places near the water like Steveston Village in Richmond, Lonsdale Quay in North Van, etc. It’s all about culture and good food (and the best fish-and-chips in town). I love dragging boyfriend there on a warm summer day to browse the shops and eat perogies, fish-and-chips and ice cream in the market place despite the frustration we get trying to find parking. He knows he loves it!
Granville Island (Vancouver, B.C.)
- Close proximity to mountains and just nature in general. You can go snowboarding practically whenever you want during the winter, hiking anywhere year-round, camping, boating, mountain-biking, etc. Oh, you can’t forget that we’re also close to the US border so we can spend a weekend shopping in Washington or Oregon whenever we want.
Beautiful British Columbia
- Fresh air. Clean air. Thank god Vancouver isn’t covered in smog (yet). Luckily, we get to breathe in the cool ocean breeze.
Coming up next: reasons why Vancouver sucks… ass. 
What are some of the best things about where you live?
KATY:
I love to travel. I think one of the rainiest places I have been so far was London, and that was during the whole month of June. Almost every day, at least part of the day, it rained. However, it was nice.
I have been to Canada, but only Ontario and Quebec provinces…. never in the west. I am sure if I get a chance to go to, that would definitely be a destination.
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never been to vancouver. hmm looks pretty to photograph. maybe during the summer.
but for now NYC still kicks ass ^_^
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Katy
March 4th, 2009 |
It is pretty because we have the mountains as backdrop! There are a couple points where you can go up there and see the entire city.. looks pretty cool at night!
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Well… I do live a couple of hours away from you so it’s a lot of the same things. Haha
I definitely love the diversity of ethnic restaurants in the area. People think I’m crazy but I now appreciate the weather here. I love that we’re near the water AND the mountains. I love that everything here is so clean and fresh and that we can drink tap water. Oh, and I love Seattle’s hippies. They make this place amazing.
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Katy
March 4th, 2009 |
You live in Seattle right? I always go there to go shopping but I’ve never actually “been anywhere” there, ya know what I mean. Are there places you recommend? Beaches? Hiking trails? etc?
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I agree with the FOOD and the AIR! Every time I travel, I wish I was home, eating rice LOL. And I have bad lungs, so I’m extra sensitive to any difference in air quality. As for the rain I guess that’s what keeps our air fresh, but I still could use more sunshine. Do you think you’ll want to grow old in Van?
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Katy
March 4th, 2009 |
Actually I don’t see myself living in Vancouver all my life… I want to move away somewhere and maybe move back when I retire or something. What about you?
Home cooking is the best!
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Like Nile, I’ve not been to the westside, but I’ve heard awesome things about Vancity.
I loved many things about Toronto. The quaint cafes, the people, the food. You could find authentic food from everywhere. Shawarma, gam ja tang, burrito, injera – just anything!
As for Singapore, I’d say it’s the weather and the transportation system. Everything runs like clockwork here including the weather. We have two seasons. Rain, which almost always occurs only during specific months, and shine. Haha.
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Katy
March 4th, 2009 |
I want to go to Toronto just to see what the big hype is about… what I’m not looking forward to is the smog that covers the city though, mainly because I have respiratory problems.
I heard Singapore is a beautiful place. It’s definitely on my must-visit list when I go to Asia. I’ll be contacting you for suggestions on places to visit and things to see.
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wow the views are gorgeous, will u ever move?
for tokyo, i think its the people , culture, food and shopping
ok i am a bit biased
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Katy
March 4th, 2009 |
I will move away from Vancouver… but will move back once I retire. When I come back I think I’d want to retire in the rockies or somewhere that’s not in the city though.
I want to go to Tokyo! I think your so lucky that you live there!
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For Tokyo. it’s that you can drink pretty much anywhere in public legally
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Since I live in the same area as you, you said everything I wanted to say though another great reason why Vancouver is sweet is we aren’t buried in snow all winter long
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Katy
March 4th, 2009 |
Yeahh how could I forget that!! I freaking hate snow!! :@
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omgosh! i’ve always wanted to go to vancouver and i wanna move there after i get married. i’m so sick of snow. haha hopefully i’ll get to see vancouver this summer. thanks for all the info, btw! (=
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I’ve been to Vancouver long ago when in, ’91 maybe. I don’t remember much. I’d love to go back though…I didn’t really know much about it. But now that I love Asian food, that’s exactly what I’d do if I traveled there.
I was thinking about doing a post like this for Hawaii. I couldn’t think of many things. Well, basically all the touristy stuff. I might give it a shot later…
The few things I like about Hawaii is that the people here are of all sorts of races. The “Aloha” spirit that I don’t feel when I head to the mainland. The beaches, and weather…(although that’s why other states send their homeless here, because they can survive in our weather) The sucky part…airfare is an arm and a leg anytime you want to go anywhere! Not the greatest being stuck on an island.
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I would love to visit Vancouver. I’ve been talking to my husband about it. We’ve driven up to Seattle before… We just need to get passports so we can go to Canada.
I’m not sure what’s so great about where I live. I live in Northern California. I guess I love that I can drive to the beach and I can drive to the snow, all within the same day. I love that I live close to SF, all the shopping there is great.
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Katy
March 4th, 2009 |
I’ve been to San Francisco and Sacramento… I like the big houses there and the hugeee pieces of land (well mostly in Sac). You don’t see that in Vancouver because everything is sooo crammed together. I also love how you guys have Carne Asada fries in Cali.
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OMG Katy, that sounds fantastic. Mini Hongkong? That’s certainly good!!:D What I love about where I live are pretty much a lot, I’ll list it in my blog next time. You totally inspired me.
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I love vancouver weather as well, its never too cold or too hot like toronto. Speaking of richmond.. in Toronto there is a place called RICHMOND HILL.. and that place is chinese land as well! You know how on no3 rd is where everything is?? in richmond hill theres a road called highway 7 and it has everything as well, all the restaurants, bbt etc. Kinda wierd if you ask me..lol
In vancouver theres mountains, and hills where you can go up to and look down on the city lights and stuff, in toronto its fucking flat land, HIDEOUS i tell u haha
But no matter how much I love vancouver its freaking BORING! Not enough clubs / they all suck, BOSS? lmao wtf is that? There are also only TWO weekly raves basement and upstairs, those places are so freaking ghetto..
oh and you can’t forget all the wanna be gangsters hanging out at joyce station and 7 eleven..haha
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I kinda like rain, too. Then again, we don’t get it that often in O-Town
Some of the best things for me about where I live are the transit system and… hm. I can’t seem to think of anything else XD
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And I totally commented on the wrong thing, thinking they were at the bottom. Ha. Well to reiterate briefly, Vancouver is awesome!
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I just thought about it…you mentioned food, Asian food. ..but where is that poutine sold at?! Or shall I say, “the best” poutine?
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Katy
March 3rd, 2009 |
Poutine talk.. I likey.
Well I’ve only ever hard “fast food” poutine because we don’t usually eat at restaurants that serves them (although I think I need to find some). My favorite one is from New York Fries mainly because they have the best fries in the world and I love the taste of their gravy. Some of my friends don’t like the gravy though. My BF likes the KFC poutine but I don’t because the gravy tastes too “mild” and I swear it was a slight chicken taste to it (probably why he likes it so much).
Anyway you can probably find poutines at any fast food joint except for McD’s which discontinued it a couple years ago.
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Katy
March 3rd, 2009 |
Oh also, you can probably find the best poutines in Eastern Canada… definitely not Vancouver.
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I agree, one of the best things about Vancouver is the asian food!! Everywhere you go, there’s some different type of Asian food!! One thing I never leave Vancouver without, is Beef Jerky!!
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a few things i love about “hawaii” is the many different cultures of food that we have here…hawaiian, samoan, chinese, korean, japanese, filipino, etc..you name it…we got it…and the “aloha” spirit many people have here. the beaches is a must and our sunsets…amazing…the weather…yes, depending on where you go in hawaii, it can be paradise…
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Katy
March 6th, 2009 |
Thinking about Hawaii is paradise. I would LOVE to live there!
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What are some of the best things about where you live?
I live about 15min away from New York City, need I say more?
The food is great, the night life is great, the fashion is odd but it’s NY. The apartments are small & expensive, the streets and traffic are horrendous. Other than that, it’s diverse and a great place to have fun.
I haven’t been to any part of Canada, but I will def try to go there this year.
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Harem pants? never knew they existed…hehe
Best things about where I live?
Night life, bars and clubs …. the beers … beaches (although the really good ones are far, like some 5-hr drive, some an hr-flight), my friends, the food spec. street foods! And oh of course, lechon.
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This is nice. I’ll be visiting Vancouver next month. hmm now im intrigued about what you dont like
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Vancouver reminds me a bit of the NW (Portland, and Seattle), especially with all the points you noted except for Asian food of course -_-
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I’ve never been to Canada, nevermind Vancouver! wanna go one day!!! sounds beautiful!
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Definitely the view of the mountains as a backdrop to downtown, when viewing from the south (Cambie, South Granville, wherever)
Awesome. People are going to be *very* impressed with our city next year!
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ok so.. the one that got me was FRESH & CLEAN AIR. haha. I live in Los Angeles, so we are definitely far from having fresh & clean air. haha. The culture is cool, the nature isn’t hard to find if you know where to go, asian food .. yes! .. but we have SMOG. lol. brown/orange/gray-ish smoke. I think I would probably live longer living in a different place. lol.
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Van sucks. Rain, rain and more rain. You need an Prozac IV drip to feel human here. Days, weeks go by without sunshine and you start wondering whether you are alive. Eff the fresh air and mountains, they are not visible in the thick perma-cloud anyway.
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