The rest of my Labour Daybor VicTrip

So here it is, the all-time monster of all monster posts. Consider this fair warning: the photographs in this entry (121 in total) weigh in at 10.6mb, so if you’re on a slow connection, be prepared for a bit of a wait. Heck, if you’re on a fast connection, be prepared to sit a bit. So click that “MORE…” link, go get yourself a tea, relax, and enjoy the show. 🙂 Note — this entry continues where the last megapost left off. If you haven’t done so yet, go have a look.
PS — My ‘groffee pics are coming! Look for them to go up tomorrow sometime 🙂
Off we go!

A glimpse from a BC Transit bus. That’s Shelbourne Street, one of the main roads in the neighbourhood I grew up in.

Inside the bus, on the way downtown.

I had lunch with Craig and Erica — we went to Pagliacci’s. Soo good!

DJ Anger and DJ Surgery. Hopefully not at the same time.

Looking North on Blanshard Street downtown.

One of Victoria’s many coffee shops [Visit Mocambo’s website]

Looking West down Fort Street, towards the Inner Harbour.

Baan Thai restaurant; Cyberstation Internet cafe next door.

Mirage – another Victoria cafe; never been there, but it’s been said by those in-the-know to stay away.

Looking at the North side of Yates from Blanshard. That’s the Odeon on the left, one of the two major theatres downtown.

Formerly the City Hall building, this building turned into a bank… and now it looks like it holds some kind of provincial ministry.

Brickyard Pizza… another famous downtown Victoria landmark for 20-somethings everywhere. Brickyard sells great pizza. And beer. And they’re open late. ‘nuf said.

Garden State made it to a major theatre chain. Cool!

Whitebird: a DJ record store, and Lyle’s: a great second-hand CD store

Cheapass pizza!!!

Couldn’t help but laugh… the pun is so bad.

“Seek truth/seek life!/Your fight must be wize.”

Funk 4 Life.

Irony.

Tweaker?

Yates Post Office.

Victoria is a big cycling city — even here on Douglas, on of the main roads downtown.

Cathedral.

Formerly the Eaton Centre, now the “Bay Centre”. One of the bigger indoor malls downtown.

Sweatshop.

Douglas bus stop looking South

Looking North.

Mom asked me to take a few pictures of her flowers. Here’s one of them.

..and another…

..and another…

…and another.

Leaves of the giant oak next to my elementary school.

Signs of fall.

EvilNeil and EvilKrishen. We threw the disc around for an hour or so. View video clip [320×240, 2.7mb, 10 seconds]

The giant oak next to my elementary school (with Neil beside it for scale).

The west wing hall of my elementary school.

Later I’d meet Sudie at Shabu Shabu Young Young Tea House.

Shabu Shabu is split into a restaurant and a tea-house portion. This is a shot from the restaurant half, which Sudie and I both went to by mistake while meeting each other. Those red bowls cover circular cuts in the table, my guess is that they’re for fondue equipment.

Bubble tea! This one is mango-coconut.

Sudie’s vegetarian — he got fried tofu. I had some. It was like sponge. The dish in the foreground was mine, deep fried chicken (with some sort of cold, pickled veggies on the side.) The waitress was shocked when I didn’t want a fork. My guess is that Shabu Shabu caters mostly to foreign-exchange students.

Sudie and I after our meal at Shabu Shabu Young Young Tea House.

Another Victoria coffee shop, this one beside the Community Arts Council.

The Community Arts Council, CAC for short. There were more than 500 photographs submitted to Monday Magazine for consideration in their photo contest; all of the entries were put up here for display.

Church on Douglas.

Liberty Java and Juice — a new store… at least since I was back last. Looks pretty nice.

After viewing the photo exhibition at the CAC, I went to Silvercity to see Collateral with Hil and Bri.

There were maybe 15 people in the theatre. Guess the Thurs late show of a movie which has been out a month isn’t too busy…

Sunrise on the Pat Bay Highway. Up early Friday for the 1/2 hr ride to catch the 7am ferry to Vancouver.

On the ferry to Vancouver. If you squint, you might be able to make out a white dash to the left of the hill, just on the water surface. Let’s have a closer look.

4x zoom. Why… it’s mini-ferry! On the way to Saltspring I believe.

Davin catches the Vancouver->Victoria bound-ferry going the other way.

En route from ferry to Kitsilano (Vancouver West… not to be confused with West Van, or the West End)


Davin paying for parking in an underground parking lot beside the Vancouver Virgin Mega Store in the West End.

NO IDEA what this is all about. This is someone’s apartment window in the West End.

The West End is pretty to be sure. Pretty expensive too.

Travelling North across the Lion’s Gate bridge.

Looking East from the bridge onto Burrard Inlet

Davin’s new workplace!

AEC Computer in North Vancouver… avoid this place! This is Davin returning a monitor for a refund (it was not as described, and stolen too!)

On the Lion’s Gate Bridge again, this time heading South — on the way to GM Place for the Sarah McLachlan concert Davin treated me to 🙂

Still heading toward GM Place. Heading East, entering the West End, just off the Lion’s Gate bridge.

Downtown Van buildings.

More downtown Van buildings.

A few more for good measure.

There were probably 15000 people in attendance for the show.

Butterfly Boucher opened for Sarah. She opened for the Barenaked Ladies when I saw them, too! Quite the push my favorite Canadian groups are giving the rockerchick from down-under. Sarah apparently saw her in a New York City cafe and had to have her on her tour.

Sarah’s stage setup was neat — it looked like a forest, complete with trees, a rock bluff, and faux-grass. And two jellybean-shaped areas upon which lights, video and and visual effects played onto.

Closeup of Sarah (guitar, front-center) and the band. That’s her husband Ash Sood on drums.

Aforementioned jellybeans.

Sittin’ on the rock bluff.

At one point near the end of the show the stage was transformed into a starry night sky. The show was great, thanks again Davin. Excellent secret birthday present. 😀 [Read a review of her show in Toronto a few weeks before]

After finding an apartment Davin and I both liked, and sealing the deal, all three of us – Davin, Anand and I – jumped in the car and zipped out of town in an attempt to make the 2pm ferry back to Victoria.

A scene along the way. This is from the road which goes over the Second Narrows bridge.

L to R: Anand, me, Davin. Photo by Davin.

L to R: Anand, me, Davin. Photo by Davin.

INDIAN STYLE CHINESE FOOD. I kid you not.

High Occupancy Vehicle lanes, on the way to the ferry. Cars with 3+ people in them can use this lane. We could use these on the I-75.

Going through the $16M, 45-year old, 650m George Massey Tunnel along Highway 99, en-route to the ferry.

Cargo train.

Killing time while waiting for the 3pm ferry. The rocks help keep the ferry terminal, — at the end of a 1-mile long roadway out into the water — from washing away. That’s Anand and Davin up there. The water was five feet directly behind me.

Across the water from the ferry terminal, a tugboat pushed an EVERGREEN cargo ship into the dock.

Thrust as the ferry slams the boat out of reverse and into drive.

Davin and Anand figuring out voice recognition on their phones.

After an hour of taking ridiculously serious family group photos, we couldn’t take it any longer. That’s Dad with a hat Davin gave him.

About 6:15 AM on Sunday morning at the Victoria International Airport. I am so honoured.. everyone in my family — Mom, Dad, Neil, Anand and Davin — came to see me off. 🙂

Dad. Also Davin’s MD-recorder and stereo mic.

Mom, Anand.

Mom, Anand again. We were making silly faces into the camera.

Waiting to take off, Victoria.

On the side of a WestJet plane nearby.

Time to go!

Just after takeofff. You can see the airport in the background.

The southern tip of Vancouver Island and the Straight of Georgia

Flying over Port Angeles, Washington State.

The bookstores in SEATAC were a veritable political slime-fest.
Here’s a bit I wrote while waiting for my plane to Chicago: