1st my apologies, my girlfriend (Min) doesnt like the idea of her pictures being on here, its too open. Facebook was ok, a little more private there with the right settings. I will try and post a few pics of things we saw, I know, it's not the same.
We had a great weekend in Vancouver. From the airport we drove downtown. The meeting at the airport was nice, big smiles from both of us and a big hug. I was so glad she was in Canada, her 1st vacation outside of China. The customs guy asked her a lot of questions, but no problems. On the way to the hotel we stopped and walked around English Bay for an hour. It was Vancouver in the winter so it was raining and cool, but that didn't bother us. It was just nice being together again. Min was amazed at how clean the water in English Bay was.
By the time we got to the hotel she needed a nap, she had no sleep on the 10 hour trip from Shanghai. A couple of hours later we grabbed an umbrella and took a walk around Canada Place overlooking Stanley Park, Coal Harbour and Burrard Inlet. Cloudy and wet but still impressive. One thing I love doing is just chatting with this lady. I guess that comes from all our time on the internet. In person, its even better. Her face just lights up when she smiles.
We decided to take the seabus across Burrard Inlet to a place called Lonsdale Quay. We walked around the marketplace then had a late lunch that also became our early dinner. We went back to the hotel for a nap that turned into a long sleep, something Min needed.
The next day we went for a drive through Stanley Park. This is a park you can appreciate even in this kind of weather. We stopped and walked around a few times, watching the boat traffic on the water, the people jogging and cycling in the rain and just enjoying our time. We followed this with a walk down Robson Street, the Nanjing Road of Vancouver. Not quite as many people, not even close actually, but almost as interesting.
The evening was the 1st family introduction. My niece and her boyfriend had dinner with us in a very "Westcoast" restaurant in an area of downtown called Gastown. Great food, great atmosphere. It went very well. I'm sure Min was nervous but she has a way of making people feel very comfortable with her. Min is a very genuine person, her personality just makes it easy for people to relax and have fun with her, so it was a great night.
The next day, Sunday was fantastic. The clouds were gone, the sun was shining. For those of you that dont know Vancouver, when the sun shines its one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Min wanted to sea Stanley Park in the sunshine so we did that again, walked some of the park and English Bay again, just a great day to see the city. Vancouver has an outdoor skating rink in the core of the downtown. Min had never skated before so we had to do that. By the end Min was skating around the rink without holding on to anything, she loved it. After the skating we were joined by my sister, brother-in-law and 4 friends. We went to a coffee shop and sat and chatted. It was great to just be like that with friends and family, it meant a lot to me. I will always remember that afternoon, a special time for me. We had dinner with another couple I had never met before. A friend of a friend who had met Min in Shanghai. It's a long story but it went really well. A chinese couple who's family have a large business in China but they live in Vancouver. He spends half his year in China, we had some very interesting talks about the differences in the two countries.
On Monday we left Vancouver and stopped at my nieces on the way to Vernon, my hometown. My sister, brother-in-law, niece and her husband and my mother were all there. We had a great visit. All my family members were quite taken by Min. If I needed a thumbs up I got it from everyone. My mother told me Min is welcome in Canada any time, she really likes her.
Now it was time to take Min home and introduce her to my kids. I'm tired so I'll do that another time. So far the trip has gone very well.
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I'll post more pics later, seems they are too large. I'll figure that out.
