Vancouver Bike Tour.

Aaron invited me out to a bike ride in North Vancouver with a meetup group this morning. We packed our bikes in his mom’s Rav4 and met up with other members there in Lynn Valley. After calling out to one member that we were going to grab a quick bite, we went to Subway sandwiches where I bought a footlong. After re-surfacing, we quickly realised that they had taken off without us. How rude.

We managed to do just fine without them and after a stroll around some forested dirt trails, we moved on over to the West End, mounted on our bikes once again, and did the Stanley Park Seawall, down along Beach Avenue, stopped for lunch and Gelato to finish, and continued westbound following the crest of English bay to False Creek and Yaletown.

Met up with Jamie after our run to pick up my suitcase they’ve been keeping for me since my arrival, before heading back on our journey home.

Vancouver Bike Tour #1

Vancouver Bike Tour #2

Vancouver Bike Tour #3

The Grouse Grind #2.

Andre and his kids, Jay, Sigrid, and myself and other members of the G54 club went up to do the Grouse Grind this morning. I had an objective for myself to beat my previous Personal Best (PB) of 75 minutes and come in at under 60 minutes, and I did it (but just barely!) 59 minutes is my all time best. Not bad for my second time!

Sigrid did her best on her first go. Though she had suffered through two asthmatic attacks along the way and nearly died when she surfaced to the top at just under three hours, she completed the hike, and for that, we were all proud of her. Suffice it to say, she will not be doing the grind any time soon, however.

Jay, Sigrid, and I met up with Alex (Frenchie) at Soma’s and treated ourselves to some rare and imported ham, cheese, and wine. With a knife and fork in hand, I began to consume my thinly sliced wild boar, Shinkenspeck, and Finocchiona and savored every moment of it for as long as it still remained as a solid in my mouth. This indulgence of ours wasn’t cheap, as one could imagine, but you can’t put a price on enjoying it with good friends, good conversations, in our quiet little corner of the cafe.

As if that wasn’t enough of a perfect ending to a day, we got together with Jamie and Leslie at the Cheesecake restaurant on Granville.

Vancouver CouchSurfing Party!

Jen and I were the first arrivals to Rebecca's house just off Commercial Drive. Someone posted that the party should begin in the late afternoon so, armed with raw steak from Safeway and a bottle of South African wine from BCL, we were ready for a splendid time.

We got acquainted with Rebecca during the hours that we were waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive. In fact, despite the "late afternoon" posting, people didn't start pouring in until closer to six! During the period we were waiting for the party to actually start, Jen and I decided to make use of the warm afternoon sun and take a stroll around Commercial Drive's quaint neighbourhood, looking for nothing in particular. Our long walk lead us to one of Vancouver's infamous Gelato parlour, La Casa Gelato, with over two hundred different flavours. It was then that we had witnessed, firsthand, an ice-cream thief! This guy was decked out in bike gear, spandex, water bottle, helmet, and all, and went around sampling all sorts of flavours and being very demanding. He finally settled for a waffle cone and a double scoop of some flavour, and like a cartoonish kind of way, he dashed out of the store with Roadrunner legs (minus the dust cloud) and took off with his bike without paying. Priceless. The double-scoop gelato on a waffle cone however, was $5 CAD.

The party was looking more like a party when Jen and I returned to Rebecca's after our jaunt around the drive. Socialising, mingling, drinking, and eating, was the order of the evening, followed by some improvisational dancing to tunes off Rebecca's iTunes jukebox. Meeting some of CS Vancouver's faces for the first time was really nice. Someone even brought in a cake which had "Got Couch? Summer 2007" written on it with blue icing! Most of it, however, wasn't consumed, but rather, used as face-paint and other forms of creative expression which got a little messy and out of hand. Blame it on the alcohol.

The party continued into the wee hours of the morning and a couple musicians among us were plucking away at the strings outside, much to one neighbour's displeasure. I hit the make-shift bed on Rebecca's floor at the crack of dawn.

Timon of Athens.

Kayla and I got together to watch a movie called “Rocket Science” which was playing at Festival Cinemas. It was one of my unusual and quirky coming-of-age films that I love so much, and we came out of the theatre satisfied. We strolled around Granville Island to pass time until Sigrid called me up to call us down to the Bard.

Like the Grouse Grind, Bard on the Beach was something I wanted to participate in for years on end but for one reason or another, I never got around to Vanier Park to watch a Shakespearian performance until I met up with Sigrid this evening. Siggy was working as a volunteer at Bard this year and informed me about this season’s lineup at my “Exalted Edwin’s Return Party” a few days ago.

The performance we had the honour of watching this evening was one of Shakespeare’s little known play called “Timon of Athens”. Rarely performed as a result, this timeless story had the premise of a wealthy man who offered monetary support to those in dire need, but when he himself fell victim to trouble and called upon his friends for help, his cries fell on deaf ears, and the hard realisation that they were not really friends to begin with sparked contempt, anger, and revenge.

Overhearing a conversation between a mother and her two young children who sat in the row in front of us, I was surprised to hear that they came all the out from Edmonton to see Timon of Athens. Now that’s devotion and dedication.

Exalted Edwin's Return Party!

Jamie had organised my welcoming party as soon as I told her my day of arrival about a month ago. Today was the cumulation of all expectations and the grand reunification with the friends I left behind when I decided to fly to Beijing and live there for a year. Nearly everyone I had known in my great past came out to greet me, with a host of new faces of CORE Vancouver.

After wining and nibbling on snacks at J&J’s, we went out to the Lotus Club where we danced hard. That’s when I realised that I wasn’t carrying any ID on me to get in (not that I look under age). Just then, Georg phoned me on my mobile using Skype, so I handed my wallet over to Jamie who began a thorough search for any photo ID. She pulled out a condom instead, and I turned to the bouncer and convinced him to let me in because “I’m really friendly”. This, and the fact that all eighteen or so people who came out to my welcoming party were already in and I was the guest of honour!

I couldn’t have asked for a better welcoming. I felt like a royalty!

The Grouse Grind.

Just a few days after my arrival, I went on a CORE event with Jamie, James, Alex, and Andre to do the Grouse Grind. I’ve always wanted to do it, but have only done it vicariously through others until now. I took my time, as I only had one objective: to finish! This wasn’t a race to the top either, so I just wanted to see how long it would take me to climb from the base of the mountain to the top, taking breaks when necessary. I was still ahead of Jamie and Andre, however, and my final time came in at 75 minutes. Not bad for a beginner!

Can’t wait to do it again.

Home Sweet Home.

Vancouver will always be home for me. There was a change in the air (literally!) when my Boing 767 flew around New Westminster towards Richmond in preparation for landing. I have an awesome 6 minute long video of this, clear as day. I was tearing up behind the camera screaming "HOME! HOME! HOME!" in my head. While waiting at the customs line at the new arrivals terminal, I heard the familiar English and French spoken by people among me, not the disconcerting "ching chongs" I was getting all too used to back in Beijing. Other little big things like bilingual signage, manners, efficiency, people queuing up in an orderly fashion, fresh air, and high sanitation standards, ethnic diversity, high fashion, and Bill Reid’s extensive Haida wood carvings were all subtle indications that I’ve returned to the greatest city in the world. Watching promotional videos of Vancouver 2010 on the jumbotron made me realise how patriotic I am to this land of free, and how much better we are than everyone else (no arrogance here)!

Further proof that I've returned to the land of the free: Free Speech. I had stumbled upon a large group of protesters blocking an intersection in the downtown core protesting against the SPP.

Home Sweet Home.

Landing at YVR

Triple Orgasm.

Friday, August 3rd - 80s Night at Alfa.
Yet another wild night with the gang just a week after our last visit. The fun never ends in the Jing!



Saturday, August 4th - Hutong Haus Party
Went out to Professor Greg's unique hutong for a little more than a chill. :)



Sunday, August 5th - Houhai CS Gathering
"Come one, come all!" is my general philosophy when hosting parties, and came they did. Had the whole roof-top terrace at the Buffalo Club in Houhai all for CouchSurfers!

80s Night Fever!

Last week (for those who were in the know) was a blast, as we danced the night away down memory lane (for those who are old enough to remember).

Although my request for The Pet Shop Boys fell on the deaf DJ's ears, the 3 DJ's in rotation kept the energy going with The Eurythmics, The Proclaimers, Men at Work, INXS, The B-52's, Pseudo Echo, Bananarama, Bow Wow Wow, Cyndi Lauper, Simple Minds, The Police, The J. Geils Band, Human League, Madness, A Flock of Seagulls, A-Ha, U2, Toni Basil, The Romantics, Nina, and the likes!

Sweating through our brightly coloured spandex and headband attire (and some of us making a fool of ourselves with our improvisational dance moves, ahem) we relished in the flashback time warp like Kimmy Gibbler and friends on E!

It wasn't all 80s though (as with the Kimmy Gibbler reference), as I heard some Ace of Base and Aqua in the mix, but it was great fun...

...so we're doing it again this Friday night! YEY! (Hands up! Baby, hands up! Gimme your heart, gimme gimme your heart, gimme gimme...)

So here's an open invitation for all those interested in upstaging the 70+ year old Chinese man who was there shakin' it and stealing my thunder (and the ladies)! Now there's a way to get free drinks... all in good fun!

See you there!


Alfa Club @ 2200h.
Across from the Workers Stadium, North Gate.

www.cityweekend.com.cn/beijing/events/7349/

NZ, AU, and SEA.

This past month has been the best yet. Travelling to new destinations and meeting new people along the way had solidified my love for travelling and continues to be the drug I need to live life to the fullest. From Christchurch, New Zealand, to Sydney and Perth, Australia, and from Singapore City, Singapore, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and further-on to Phuket and Bangkok, Thailand, and Xiamen, China, mere words just can't even begin to explain how important this trip was to me, how it had affected me in ways I hadn't imagined, and the love I have for the people who helped made this journey possible. It is with sincere gratitude in which I thank the network of CouchSurfers whom I'd met along the way, who took me into their homes and gave me the red carpet treatment.

Thank you, thank you, thank you all.

For more pictures from this magnificent journey, please visit my "Explorasia" image gallery at www.couchsurfing.com/PETSHOPBOY

Cathedral Square, Christchurch, NZ

Waimak Alpine Jet

Snorkelling in Thailand

Popping CSta's Cherry.

Buying anything from IKEA warrants a little happy dance on the spot just before checking out, just after checking out, and again when you bring it back home with you. The acquisition of a KLIPPAN couch calls for a party, and that's exactly what Kyle and I did.

Because we are both proud members of CouchSurfing and well connected within Beijing's vibrant CouchSurfing community, we nicknamed the KLIPPAN "CSta", a clever play on CouchSurfing's acronym and the word siesta (and yes, it's a she). After calling up a number of people and posting an event on the Beijing Group, we had a good number of people come out to break the seal and pop CSta's cherry at her party we threw for her this evening. CSta was whoring it out there, alluring us with her voluptuous red dress and sleek lines, then swallowing more than the standard three she was made to take in. We all wanted to sit on her!

Late into the night, we played a game called "Apples to Apples" to which EXPATSTEF was kind enough to bring and had many jolly rounds of fun. The serving of alcoholic beverages continued as the night went on to the point when SUSTAINABLEJOHN just couldn't take anymore of it and broke a glass full all over the floor when he raised his bottle with my cup. All in good fun, though I feel terrible about what happened to the "Apples to Apples" cards which had some spillage on it. Captured on SD, there's a video of this momentous event, which doesn't say much about the quality of IKEA's glassware division.

Here's to CSta, and to a future sibling, CSter. Bottom's up!

Popping CSta's Cherry

MIDI Music Festival.

The MIDI festival itself wasn't terribly special, as I was hoping to discover some unknown talents and failed to find any. What was notable, however, was how we got in...

Having to take the taxi to Haidian Park, we had the good intentions of paying our way in like every other lemming, which meant queuing in line and waiting patiently at the box office. We were quite disappointed when we were turned away with an explanation that they had sold out concert tickets. Sold out? How on god's green Earth could an outdoor event held in one of Beijing's LARGEST parks, which by the way is the go-to place for people in the Haidian district in an event of an emergency such as a natural disaster, turn away people? We didn't want to take NO for an answer, so we walked around the entire park which was fortified by temporary retaining walls used in construction sites for a mole hole. As we had anticipated, there were security guards stationed at various points all around, so we had to be a bit more discreet about our intentions.

After sizing up our challenge, Barry and I found a section of the wall that gave way ever so slightly from the bottom. It was only wide enough to stick a leg in, so we took a corner of the sheet metal fence and bent it around like dog-earing a page in a book and gave each other a high-five when we got to the other side successfully. Our jubilation was short-lived, however, when we discovered a secondary barrier around the park. Sneaking around in the bushes, we made a dash for the supporting log beams leaning against the fence once we got close enough. This sudden commotion caught the eye of a security guard manning his post nearby, but we pulled a ninja, scaled the log, and jumped safely onto some soft green grass on the other side. Barry should be commended for his stealthy ninja-ness as it isn't as easy for a tricenarian to scale fences as it is for those who are younger. Way to go, Barry!

Where there's a will, there's a way. =)

MIDI Music Festival 2007