Chefprefers BLOG

Here we are, the last part of our trip. We plan on flying to Vancouver and taking a ferry to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. We are catching up with a couple we befriended while touring in Vietnam. We landed in Vancouver around 4 pm, and we had to catch the ferry around 5:30 pm, so we took a taxi straight to the ferry terminal. Our taxi driver was a pretty Iranian woman. She told us how she got into trouble for not wearing a hijab. With her family’s help, she finally left Iran for a new life in Canada. She had been there for six years and driving the Uber for many of them. It was unusual to see a female driver, although she certainly provided a first-class service in the vehicle. She had water bottles in the back pockets and attached to the seat were chewing gum and lollies within a teddy bear and, of course, a tissue box. Good for her.

There was a new passenger ferry service from downtown Vancouver to Nanaimo which was leaving from the same place as the seaplane terminal. It was a bit confusing to find where we departed since their signage was pre-mature. We ended up standing in one of the three lines on this dock only to be let on the boat last.

Let me digress to a rant.

I noticed that the airlines have priority boarding separated into zones. Now, from what I’ve witnessed, if you had Zone 1 on your ticket, you got on first and then the respective zone after that (Zone 2, then three, etc). Ok, now I noticed that Zone 1 was first class, which sits in the front of the plane. Zone 2 must be Business class, Zone 3 premium economy and so on. So, they are effectively loading the aircraft for passengers from the front. This tests my logic here. Would it be better, since when embarking from the front doors, to load the rear first? What was happening was that the people who sat towards the front would find their seats. Find somewhere to put their carry-ons and shuffle into their seats, which takes time. Because of this, it would take ages to load the plane. Of course, I complain here because we were always in Zone 5. It’s not fair!

Anyway, it appeared that this ferry service was adopting this same method, although on a ferry you are not stuck in a single line once you get on. But if you pay a bit more you can get on first.

Our ferry took only an hour and a bit and we were greeted by our Intrepid friends. They invited us to stay with them for three days and boy! They were the best hosts. They toured us around the metropolis with exploring walks, visits to Protection Island and fancy meals. We showed them the art of finding a geocache.

They were so fascinated by this treasure hunt game that they signed up calling themselves “the shady flippers”. Anyway, one wouldn’t go to Nanaimo unless they had tried the Nanaimo bar.

The desert slice originates back to 1952 with a recipe featured in a price cookbook. There are many types of these slices made elsewhere, but it appears that Canada has adopted this one on its own. Anyway, they were hard to pass up so when we passed a bakery in town it was in for another bar. Yummy!

Also, the other exciting thing we saw on the return ferry back to Vancouver was a whale. My wife was looking out the window and saw a spray of water coming from the service and with further scanning, we saw the whale lift itself out of the water flapping the tail. My first whale experience.

In the last part of our Vancouver trip, we caught up with my wife’s cousin and wife for lunch in Sylvia’s Restaurant on the water front. It was a short visit although she was able to catch up with the news from 40 years ago. Our next stop was to ferry over to Granville island. The island consist of a shopping district access by car from the south side of the False Creek. The highlight of this adventure was the Granville Island Brewery, we stopped there for a paddle of 4 pale ale type beers. I’m starting to get a taste for Hazy Ales, so look out.

Our plane to Sydney was departing at 11pm on the following day, so we managed to see the Vancouver Museum and a 3 hour (Killers of the Flower moon) movie in the afternoon. Next up Reflection.