"Sharrie's Vancouver Aura" a Vancouver Travel Page by Sharrie

VANCOUVER is a modern city in the province of British Columbia (BC) which has some of the most spectacular & beautiful landscape in the world! Victoria is the provincial capital of BC but Vancouver is its pulse. It's here that 1st-timers from the Pacific & Eastern regions of Asia first approach Canada. Mine was quite sometime ago when I first landed here, went through the immigration & custom (a grueling process as many would attest!) enroute to Toronto for my undergraduate studies. My first thought? Wow, Canada is expensive! I remembered as a poor student (well, not as poor that I've to work or be hungry; but, my parents did stipulate an annual budget as to how much I get to spend) Coke cost more than twice it costs in Asia! And food, generally, didn't quite taste like in Asia either but a lot more expensive! EVERYTHING was very expensive! But things have since improved as Asia becomes more prosperous; the currencies strengthened against the C$ & we get to see & buy more. It was only after I started working, had some money of my own that I began to travel & enjoy Vancouver more.

But, what I love most about Vancouver is in fact FREE! (It's one of the irony of life, lol...) Free & anyone can get to enjoy it! It's the freshest air that you could get + a pleasant weather for you to take a nice stroll. I do not like to walk that much (partly because it's hot & humid & air is polluted in Asia) but in Vancouver, I revel in it. I enjoyed it so much so that I'll just spend my precious time (...time is always precious when you are on holidays; in that one will try to see as much as possible) walking around doing nothing but capturing the essence of the place. I may not be on a very beautiful street or anything but the fresh air & light breeze were enough to make it a lasting experience. That's why I think Canadians are one of the luckiest people in this world. Fresh air & a safe street to walk on, relaxing lifestyle & the most friendly & pleasant people (...in fact, at times too pleasant that chatting at the bank counters are so prevalent & I'd have finished an entire chapter of my novel before it's my turn, lol...). The secret to enjoy this city? Have time & always have a good book with you. Spending a leisurely afternoon at the cafe is a fantastic experience! I remembered reading my favorite book "Real Moments" by Barbara DeAngelis in one of the downtown cafes & it was such an encompassing experience that I could recall the incredible feeling even today. One of the real moments in life!

Living in Vancouver has to be one of the greatest blessings in life. To its east is the ROCKY MOUNTAINS, one of the very most spectacular & magnificent sceneries in the world! Imagine this: Driving up to Kelowna for its sunny weather in the Winter & camping in Rockies in the Summer! Wow, nothing can beat that! In Vancouver, lifestyle living is the key. Afterall, it's a place where the weather is milder than most cities in Canada & many rich Canadians choose to retire here. This is where mountains meet the ocean; lakes, vineyards & orchards can all be found within a few hours drive. For those who love winter sport, skiing at Whistler is another reason to be living in this small but very cosmopolitan city.

In addition, yeah... there are more :-):
1) Vancouver is Canada's 3rd largest city with a population of 1.6 million. Hosted Expo 86 in 1986 & summit meeting between Boris Yeltsin & Bill Clinton in April 1993.
2) BC economy has been closely linked with the Pacific-Rim countries like Japan & Hong Kong in the last decade due to the large investments from these Asian countries. Forestry is BC's largest industry. More than 5 million tourists visit annually contributing about $4.5 billion while mining contributing about $4 billion.
3) The large Asian community means that you get a wide variety of excellent Cantonese & Vietnamese cuisines here. The world's best restaurants set up by the many Hongkongers who migrated to Canada due to the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to mainland China have made Vancouver a gastronomy's delight. I especially love the Sushi & Sashimi in Vancouver, they are excellent & very fresh! For those who have been here, remember the Vancouver crabs? Gosh, I'm so hungry now... YUMMY!!!

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Facts about British Columbia

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Population: 3,532,700.
Area: 948,600 sq km.
Capital: Victoria.
Largest City: Vancouver (pop. 471,844, Greater Vancouver pop. 1,647,806).
Origin of Name: "British" added by Queen Victoria to avoid confusion with Columbia in S. America.
Motto: Splendor Sine Occasu (Splendor without diminishment).
Info: Tourism British Columbia:
Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C. V8V 1X4.
Tel: (1800) 663 6000; (604) 663 6000.

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Web Resources

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Area Code: 604
Yellow Pages: YellowPages.ca
Newspaper: Vancouver Sun