So here i am in Vancouver...i arrived on Friday (2nd May), the bus journey here was ok - but it is the first time i have made a night journey and not slept on the bus! It is also the first time i have had to share my seat with someone on a night journey!! haha! When i was waiting at the bus station in Banff it was lovely - i just got to sit and watch the sun go down - and then it started to get a little chilly, so the bus coming round the corner was a welcome site!! However - when the driver got off the bus he asked everyone where they were heading and then made a phone call - it sounded suspisciously like he was requesting another bus! He was!!!! His bus was full and so had to call through to the office and ask for another bus to come to Banff and collect all of us! He assured us the bus would be there within the next hour. Then just before he left he got another phone call and he then told us that the bus would infact be just a few minutes as there was a driver on call and he was on his way! I think its a pretty good service - they put extra buses on if needed and have a driver or 2 on call for all services! When the next bus arrived (and it was just 10 minutes we had to wait) the driver was super jolly and friendly!! He was chatting to us all on the bus - he said he was just about to settle down for the night with a film when his mobile phone started ringing!! aw bless him! We then had to change buses at a place called Golden and get on the bus we would have originally been on - we were able to make up the time and arrive at the same time as them because we didnt have to make any stops! I though it was about 3am at this point (we left Banff at 9pm) but it was in fact 2am because we had crossed another time zone and gone back one hour!! surprisingly - i was confused! haha! I slept a little bit sitting up for about 3 hours and had a really stiff neck when i woke up!

We arrived in Vancouver 10 minutes early!! not bad considering!

My bum and my arms were indeed aching lots from snowboarding!! Oh i thought - how will i carry all my baggage! I made my way out of the bus station and headed for the hostel - my hostel was only about 200metres form the bus station so it was easy enough to find...i still went to the wrong building though!! haha! There are 2 of the same hostel on the same strip of road just on opposite sides! I didnt know this - but the guy at the front desk obviously thought i should have realised when he asked me which number i was supposed to be in??!! I dont generally go by numbers - just look for the big hostel signs when im in the right area! haha! Ah well! When i got to the right hostel there was indeed a reservation in my name and the chap that greeted me was lovely - in my ignorance i still dont know his name - he never told me and we seemed to be chatting about everything else so that i never got to ask. He was really informative about the city but not so much so that i was going to just forget everything he said - just enough information to be going on with! I liked the hostel but wasnt sure about the area and it was right on the east edge of town - a good 30 minute walk form the downtown.

My first impressions of Vancouver were a little mixed maybe - or just unsure. It was a place that i had built up inmy own head to be quite spectacular. The east edge of town is far from that!!! China town is ok - it really is its own little community and its cute! When i had arrived at the hostel - the guy at the desk educated me a little on the homeless situation in vancouver. I think it may be among the worst in Canada, however it is very well managed. The homeless also have their own part of town i guess. They are allowed to have their drugs and the police turn a blind eye in return for help and information from the streets and from what i can gather it works. Basically the state does look after them. I was told that they may approach and ask for change but just say no and they leave you alone. They arent harmful and there has never been any incidents of violence or anything like that with homeless people. They just keep to themselves. I was just warned not to go down any side streets purely because i would see them with their needles shooting up; but not because my personal safety would be at huge risk. I felt maybe a little uneasy about all this but i guess that why he told me all about it - so that i dont feel overly scared. I headed out for a walk into to 'downtown'. Well it was true - the homeless community is very much there but; it was sad to see really and i guess this was novel for me and i had to get used to it. I walked along towards "Gastown' (the historic part of town) from chinatown and this is where the homeless 'hangout' mainly. Oh - it was horrible - i did get a bit of a shock but just remebered what i had been told. No one bothered me at all.

So i got into what i thought was the main town area and wasnt that impressed reall - but i was really tired and couldnt really be bothered; so i just walked back to the hostel and felt a bit deflated. I decided to stay one more night in this hostel and then move to one closer to the downtown area. I checked hostelbookers to see where had availability and decided to check them out the next day.

On saturday Jane was working in the hostel - she was lovely too. She was from New Zealand and was working in the hostel to support another job she has while staying in Canada. We chatted about New Zealand and she was from Auckland! She was telling me all about the Auckland marathon and the route and how her dad does it every year!! I headed out into town later that morning and had a look at some of the hostels - the samesun backpackers only had a bed available for the first 2 of 5 nights that i wanted. I stayed at Samesun backpackers in Banff so i knew they were good hostels - but it wasnt to be in Vancouver! The second one i had to look at was above a bar and looked quite dark and dingy - so i headed to the third one on my list - 'American Backpackers' - only $10 per night and they had a bed for the next 5 nights! It looked a bit grubby but for some reason i booked it anyway!!!

That afternoon i went for a run right along the harbourfront and the sun came out - it was warm and beautiful!! I still was undecided on how much i really liked Vancouver.
On sunday morning i checked out of the first hostel and moved into the American Backpackers....oh my god! What had i done??!!! The hostel was erm...dirty, scummy, the stafff were rude and it was a smoking hostel - which i hadnt realised. the only place where smoking wasnt allowed was in the rooms themselves but i soon discovered that the rules didnt apply!! haha! I took my baggage upstairs and went to the dorm i was told i was sleeping in - room number 12!! well - there was apparently no free bed! There was a girl in there sleeping; she woke up and she pointed to a bed that she said was free. It was the top bunk near a window (thank god!) The room was a bit smelly - like - well i guess a bit like an old persons house where the furniture has been there so long that it gets too foisty and like stuff hasnt been washed and the walls reminded me of the living room in my Grandmas old house because it was a ll yellowy and my gandad used to smoke so it was the same. I dumped my stuff - there was no space on the floor - i had to move some stuff around - i dont like touching other peoples things - incase they think im going to steal something!! I tried to climb up onto my 'bed' - haha! It swayed so much i thought that the whole frame was going to collapse! The girl sleeping in the bed below me was still sleeping and her stuff was all over the floor - literally there was no floor space! I just left all my bags on my bed and took ALL my valuables with me in my small rucksack and decide to go to the supermarket fro some food for tea and then go for a walk. Eventually the sun came out again so it was nice being down on the beach and now i was begining to like Vancouver a little more. I love being by the ocean. When i got back to the hostel i felt like i needed a shower but when i checked the bathrooms out i decided that i didnt need a shower - i could last another day - maybe even abother 5 days til i left there. I was begining to wonder if i had it in me to stay for 5 nights. I got my food out of the 'fridge' in the room (which was full of rotten food and wasnt very cold!! As i went down to the kitchen i could feel a blanket of smoke laying on me! It was awful. In the kitchen - well i soon realised that i probably wouldnt be cooking in there again! There was loads of dirty pots, pans and plates in the sink; must have been there for days! I couldnt find a clean 'anything'! In the end i just used the tin opener to open a couple of tins and ate out of the tins! When i evetually unpacked a little and got into bed - i found that the matress springs were actually sticking out of the mattress - i put my sleeping bag over it but i still ended up with marks on my hips where they were all digging in! This was turning into a real experience!! Funnily enough though i still slept really well - i didnt dare move in case the bed collapsed though!

Monday 5th May

Today i just went walking - out along the beach and through Stanley Park and also checked out the main shopping areas - for when mum and dad come!! It was really nice to get out and i felt the beach was even more of a blessing as i would spend an endless amount of time there in any weather so not wanting to be in the hostel wasnt too much of a problem! However - the hostel was getting more interesting and as i knew i was only there very short term i was starting to enjoy it in a strange kind of way! I could have really made a documentary about it - it would have been far better viewing than big brother! one of the girls staying in the same dorm as me (they had all been there at least 1 month and were staying at least another 2) was having a big drama queen episode with her 'boyfriend' who was also in the hostel - although i got the impression he didnt think he was her boyfriend! Oh dear! She was storming in and out of the dorm shouting and crying and then she flung herslef on the bed and put her head in her hands and started sobbing until all the other girls came to see what was wrong! It was comical; it was just like i used to do when i was 5 and i didnt get my own way! Her 'boyfriend' - Gareth was his name - had apparently asked her to pay for her own coffee as he had no money!! I was really begining to see why she was wasting so much energy on getting upset (sarcasm). The more males seemed to be appearing and they all seemed to gravitate towards a particular girl...in a strange kind of way - i cant describe - it just didnt seem right. I slept through anymore of the shananigans - i was however woken up this morning to the hostel owner/manager (Vince - the name says it all!!) coming into our room (yes the girls dorm) and ripping existing bed shhets and belonging from 2 of the beds and throwing them on the floor - "these girls dont stay here anymore" he said - "these bloody mexicans" He brought in a new girl and put her stuff on the top bunk opposite the one i was on! Vince then asked me where these mexican girls were - i told him i didnt know and he said they were NOT staying here anymore and they had to leave! With that he stormed out. I got up and got dress and headed out for the day. Today i have been up to the North shore of Vancouver. I took the seabus it was a 15 minute crossing and it was lovely. i really do love being near the water at all. The weather was dry - it was a little overcast but the sun kept trying to come out! I had heard that there was a good market on the north shore quay. It was quite busy around the harbour and the quay as i got there.......