Good Morning Maple

Just yesterday we bused from Seattle to Vancouver. The moment we got out of the bus terminal, we were welcomed by Michelle, a trans link official, who passed to everyone these beautiful fare passes. Thank you Michelle!

I noticed the sky train station loosened their security as all gates are open and the only enforcement are live-cameras and signs saying the station expects people entering to have bus fares. The first day at Vancouver and we're riding the Sky Train which almost crushed my feet because I tried to stop it from leaving us behind. That's when I learned I made a terrible mistake and got separated from the rest of the gang who didn't race for the bus. Geez, I felt like an idiot but everybody didn't look at me as if they understood me as a struggling tardy traveler. Within a couple of seconds we made it to the next stop and got off to wait for the others. Then a train heading back to where we came from arrived so we went back to the others who stayed behind. I realized that these trains come very fast and aren't kind enough to pick up late goers. They leave every exact minute and they're actually artificial intelligence so no wonder they wouldn't consider circumstances for late passengers.

Fourth day morning, we quickly got up and set out for an adventure in this new city! We walked out through the peaceful and sunny Richmond district to the Brighouse Station. I saw many business people and students coming in and out of the station, everyone is on a rush. We left on time thanks to the sky train's accurate arrival time.

We met up with the magnificent Michelle again with her friend Nat for their tour of trans link, Vancouver and gentrification prevention.

We started out with the tour of trans link by riding the sky train many times and I noticed, after the third time riding the sky train, that we stopped at a mall every stop. This system is very convenient for shoppers as the station is connected directly to each mall. When we stopped at Olympic Village, Michelle pointed out that this station was specifically where they wanted the Expo Line to be made at to fit the Olympics demand.
Fourth day morning, we quickly got up and set out for an adventure in this new city! We walked out through the peaceful and sunny Richmond district to the Brighouse Station. I saw many business people and students coming in and out of the station, everyone is on a rush. We left on time thanks to the sky train's accurate arrival time.

We met up with the magnificent Michelle again with her friend Nat for their tour of trans link, Vancouver and gentrification prevention.

We started out with the tour of trans link by riding the sky train many times and I noticed, after the third time riding the sky train, that we stopped at a mall every stop. This system is very convenient for shoppers as the station is connected directly to each mall. When we stopped at Olympic Village, Michelle pointed out that this station was specifically where they wanted the Expo Line to be made at to fit the Olympics demand.

Nat gave us some brief history of Chinatown and information about a freeway being built by the waterfront to allow drivers to go from Downtown to Chinatown district easily. He said everybody from Chinatown were against it but the city government tore down buildings within the district and made a highway (In the picture of above. Nat is on the left and Michelle is on the right. The highway is behind them.).

Then that concluded the tour and we went back home for the days to come.
I really liked the brief history Nat told us about Japanese Canadians being incarcerated by the government and selling their property for military funds because I was once a tour guide for SF Japantown.

Trivia: Vancouver get their waters from rain water reservoirs, making the tap water slight cleaner then ours.
Trivia: Vancouver dumped land into the Pacific Ocean to make itself bigger.


-Andrew(Liang Fu) Wu