Got up at 5 am this morning but did not need to as I was totally packed and organised ready to check out of my apartment by 10 am and depart Whistler on the Skylynx coach back to rainy Vancouver at 11.30 am.
My pick up was a little late and finally departed Whistler Village Gateloop at 12 noon arriving in good time back in downtown Vancouver by 2 pm.
I had downloaded the Uber app hoping to try it on its first day of operations but it was all too complicated so I rang and booked a Yellow Cab instead which arrived very quickly to pick me up from the back of the Hyatt Hotel. Traffic was horrendous today around the city so it took me a little more time and cost me a little more then it should have.
Yes Vancouver has finally got 2 share ride companies approved for operation launched today after about 3 years of trying to have them approved. I think most cities around the world have Uber or some sort of share ride now except Vancouver which was a little slow to adopt it.
So I will have to try it next time.
I have now checked in and am about to go out and see the city as I only have 48 hours here before flying back home to Sydney but first I need to deal with a few bills.
I walk around the downtown core of Vancouver down Robson Street the main shopping drag stopping off at most of my regular joints such as Rocky Mountain Chocolates, London Drugs (again) even Miniso and Muji both very new to Vancouver but well established and very popular Japanese chain stores in Australia. I continue walking down Robson St as it gets dark and the pretty street lights turn on - more have been added since the last time I was here. I walk past Hons Chinese Restaurant an intitution on Robson Street for decades and which I visited for mainly take away in my earlier years in Vancouver - I find that it had closed down permanently. I then walk down further to my favourite kitchenware store Chocolate Mousse which I visit at least once almost every year to purchase something , also an institution of many decades I find that it has also closed down permanently. Robson Street is now full of small to medium sized restaurants cafes souvenir stores ice cream palours Asian grocery stores chocolate and lolly shops branded clothing and footwear stores, beauty palours , cosmetic stores and hotel chains - the selection of stores along both sides of Robson Street are constantly changing a lot like Oxford Street in Sydney.
2 of the hotels I have stayed at in the past have long gone replaced with an empty construction site or redevelopment block - Robsinstrusse Hotell and The (Sheraton) Landmark Hotel are just 2 of them that have been knocked down and replaced as construction sites. The other hotels that I stayed at in the past The Greenbrier Apartment Hotel is still there although this little apartment hotel block has changed hands quite a few times and the "Apartment" has been dropped off its name and it is just now known as The Greenbrier Hotel. 2 giant lion statues have been added in the past few years to the front entrance to The Greenbrier Hotel. Same with the not so glamourous Tropicana Suite Hotel.
So far all I have had all day to eat was a BLT wrap from Tim Hortons. I was feeling a bit hungry again so kept walking down to the Safeway right at the bottom of Robson St - it will be a long uphill walk back tonight with any groceries I buy. I reach Safeway and find the escalator (in Vancouver, there is an awful lot of them) not operating! - same in Sydney.
At Safeway I purchase a bag of dry slaw, 2 potatoes, a piece of snaper ( which they call rockfish and it's wild and is really cheap) , and I could not resist it - my favourite Chinese Cantonese style takeout. ( refer my Facebook a few years back) usually yummy hot and fresh but tonight there was not much left and lots of people trying to load up their containers of what's left!
I could not wait to eat it back in the dining room of the hostel therefore stop at the Robson St " public markets" ( well it used to be a proper one) to eat my Cantonese takeaway from Safeway which was by now cold. A quick toliet stop then it was a long walk back uphill to the hostel.
End of my first night back in Vancouver . Time to sleep after unloading my groceries for breakfast lunch and dinner for tomorrow. So tired I have a relatively early night.
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