Stopover Vancouver

It was such a smooth flight. Barely any turbulence, and the tailwinds blew with us across the Pacific. I fell asleep almost immediately after boarding, waking only to eat, turn my body a little. Most of the flight I was deep asleep. Perhaps the massage a few hours before the flight, despite leaving dozens of bruise marks all over my back, has really made me more relaxed and sleepy.

With four hours to spare, I ventured into the downtown area of Vancouver. It didn't take much effort, and a bus ride and half an hour later I was at the port area. Towering skyscrappers, lights reflecting in the sea. A cold chill, colder than in Taipei, but, as someone texted me and mentioned, may very well just be a little preparation for the frigid cold waiting for me back in Montreal. It seems like the further east you go, at least when flying from Asia, the colder it gets.

I felt a little strange in Vancouver. Wandering around the downtown area, which was no more like any other North American city, there were all these Asian(-looking) people. On the bus, on the streets, on the billboards of restaurants and shops, signs and evidence of the large Asian community here in Vancouver. It seems strange, so bizarre even, that having just left Asia and arrived in Canada, I would be surrounded by people speaking in Mandarin, Cantonese, and by people though Chinese(-looking) speak in such a way if you did not see their physical appearance you would think they were Canadians, down to the very "eh?". And they are very likely born and bred Canadians, just... perhaps having lived in Europe for much too long, the notion of race and nationality is still very much engrained in my thoughts and consciousness.

Not that I saw much of Vancouver... but from what I saw and experienced, it is such a peaceful city, such an organised and English (-speaking) city. Right on the Pacific, surrounded by mountains. Even from the air at dusk as we approached in the changing twilight, there was a serene beauty about the city and its surroundings that make Vancouver somehow attractive.

Now... soon back to Montreal.