Vancouver ILXors

what's in Bellingham? Dislike Seattle too,ha! like portland but it's not as convenient obv.

Bellingham's a nice little college town. I would totally live there if there were any jobs. I live in Seattle now. Way better than Vancouver and Portland, too.

jim, earnest question. what is your favourite city in the pnw?

Bellingham is chill and pretty.

xpost. I visited the pnw before i moved to vancouver and spent time in vancouver, victoria, seattle, and portland. i liked portland most.

subsequently ive only spent enough time in vancouver and victoria to really have any proper grounds to assess the cities. i actually like victoria and def feel like it could be a place to move to, but not at this stage of my life (im 30, married with no kids, if i was 40 and had a kid then it might make more sense). it's v parochial, white, small, and quiet. but i just really love being on the island, the climate is p great (it rains way less than vancouver), and its def p picturesque and charming in parts.

seattle i didn't really get much of an impression of but just have found it quite bleh and also somewhat similar to vancouver in a bad way. portland is obv smaller than those two cities, the least built up by condo development etc., and a bit easier to get to know just by walking around or whatever which may be why it struck me as the most pleasant to be in, ive also spent a couple more days there than in seattle. feel like in seattle i maybe just didnt ever go to a dece neighbourhood, was like downtown, belltown, capitol hill, around there, and like georgetown or something? yeah, didn't really make much of an impression.

been on two trips to seattle + portland, and spent like half a day in seattle due to flying through seatac airport and having forever between bus and flight. once i renew my british passport, and with my handy new canadian permanent resident card i'll be able to go back to both those places, getting out of canada for the first time in 2 years or so.

that's cool, jim.

i feel like most of my friends (they're from vancouver) really dig portland

Seattle, Vancouver and Portland are all about the same size: 580k to 610k people or so living within city limits. Seattle's metro area is almost 1.5m people larger than van and pdx, though.

oh hey yeah metro vancouver isn't much bigger than metro portland, i had always assumed that, hmm.

Metro Vancouver (22 municipalities) has a population of more than 2.5 million.

she's comparing the lower mainland/'vancouver proper' to portland, though. the wiki on it is kind of confusing/mixes things up

if you go here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_Vancouver

and scroll down to the table, you see that city of vancouver has a population of 603k

um thoughts on transit plebiscite?

The whole thing is a waste of time and money.
If politicians at every level are rooting for Yes, why didn't they just jack up sales tax themselves?
If politicians are convinced there is "no plan B" then maybe they could move aside and make way for some politicians with more balls/vision?

Voters have every reason to refuse Translink more money when they still, after 29 years, haven't worked out how to charge people for riding skytrain.

Yeah. Christy Clark is a fine blend of gutless and malevolent, and it's not going to pass. Voting yes anyway

shasta otm w ajisai. hachi was more convenient but i'll take the 41 to kerrisdale now.

best ramen fyi: tsukemen or cheese tonkotsu at taishoken franchise in chinatown, white miso at nanchu on alexandra in richmond, kintaro

More food talk please; seafood in particular.

octopus's garden imho

Go on...

Reasonable price and fun: Go Fish (near Granville Island)
Very cheap fish and chips: Windjammer on Commercial Dr
Expensive: uh...Joe Fortes? Feels like there are lots of higher end seafood places that I know nothing about.
Chinese: Western Lake on Victoria @ 33rd
Fresh seafood in general: Granville Island.

octopus's garden is ???overrated/overpriced and i used to avoid it but i had the tasting menu there recently and they have the freshest fish in town and creativity and FLAIR.
ajisai is my more traditional sushi choice.

those i can recommend enthusiastically

not really my thing/rarely have the opportunity or enough friends to really go but the huge cantonese high end places like kirin's richmond branch, empire seafood, red star. peninsula seafood, which is in a mall. but also bamboo grove in richmond even if they're known for maybe they're not known for anything except being in a horrible location and having a dirt parking lot full of maseratis but if you're pre-ordering a set menu, it's always heavy on seafood and always good. same with big chef, also in richmond.

more conventional, less enthusiastic but on a list of "known for seafood and i would take someone there that asked for seafood" yew seafood + raw bar, blue water, raw bar at vpr.

i never liked joe fortes.

i'll have to go to a few these places you guys are mentioning when i'm in town in august

I was being a bit facetious by mentioning Joe Fortes. The world of nice restaurants is largely unknown to me, though I have been there once.

in other news, i can't believe they're building a zipline at queen elizabeth park. i always liked the tranquility of that place.

Yeah, that's gross. It's the fault of the Parks Board, who have a majority of members in the business-friendly (aka. fascist LOL) Non-Partisans Association. It's just a tiny reminder of why we are better off with the current municipal government instead of these fuckwits.

Thanks y'all

I love queen e park, that zipline thing is dumb!

the smoke has been a real drag. sunday was just totally horrendous. wish it would rain :(

i know! i'm hoping no more major fires before august, because that's when i'll be showing the missus around town (her first time in canada, as well)

i heard it's going to rain this weekend, though?

I never trust the forecast past a day or two in the future but fuck here's hoping

Anyone know a store called H Mali on Granville st?

never heard of it!

I got rained on this morning <3

http://hiiammali.com/
HIIAMMALI
3030 Granville St

going through a rare period of quite liking Vancouver! july 4th was 3 years since I moved here. today I was very happy to see an absence of smoke in the sky and just enjoy the cloudy but clement weather and the partially obscured view of the mountains on my walk to catch the 99. and yesterday I was enjoying how great the bicycling infrastructure is, you can really get around this city without having to do too much riding on really car heavy streets. I move into a new, less divey apartment in august, and I finally got a contract of work that lasts for more than a few months.

ok no more blogging.

cool man, congrats

congrats, jim!

thanks!

awesome! it's funny how up and down my love for this place is

Yo...

The Richmond "Night" Market was a trip... it was hot af & still ridiculously light out when we were there. Had some great curry squid legs, takoyaki, fried crab balls, and one of those ridiculous potato things.

Also ended up at AjiSai based on the recs on this thread... super good value for the quality.

Alibi Room was great for a burger and a beer after the Grouse Grind... nice "hike".

did u wander around richmond at all?
glad to hear u liked ajisai!

Yeah we started in/around Steveston then went to Richmond Centre to pick up a couple things then basically walked up #3 Road to the Night Market from there.

stoked to be back with friends/family in a few days

Alibi Room is my favorite. Was there for brunch on Sunday! The owner recently opened Brassneck Brewery on Main St., over by the Whip.

the beer list is v good. best in vancouver.

Yeah good beers on tap; Driftwood and Storm Brewing made my favorite local (BC) beers!

Whistler was rad as well, topographically vast and naturally stunning. Foodwise: Creekbread pizza was very, very good. Even the touristy mid-scale Italian place in the village was surprisingly tasty.

People are so nice too! <3

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/vancouvers-housing-costs-no-problem-for-entrepreneur-living-in-a-van/article25982115/

is it just me or this article sickening/bemusing?

I know this dude's van from 5th and Columbia.

He wanted to create a shared space for the bitcoin community.

yeah, bitcoin atm attendant: i had no idea that was a job

i haven't lived in vancouver permanently in about two years but compared to other large canadian centers i've lived in... vancouver wasn't more expensive to rent in and the good transit infrastructure and walkability even in the suburbs made it less expensive. 1 room apartment in richmond #3 road across from mcdonalds -- $600 // transit pass $120 // shopping at richmond public market // walk to richmond-brighouse and take a skytrain ride into the city // gentle rain and soft coastal breezes vs. 1 bedroom apartment distant northern edge of edmonton $1160 // car note: $400 // gas: $200 // parking: $200 // shopping at suburban superstore and downtown farmers markets // 30 minute drive to work everyday // 8 months of -30. i can't afford to live downtown in either city or buy a house.

why don't they create a shared space for the bitcoin community in winnipeg or saskatoon?