Sunday, July 05, 2026

Day 7 - Stanley Park + Granville Market + Lonsdale

she's always trying to find another place to go
cruising to the music on the radio
and they'll try to understand her but they'll never know
Madison - Drugdealer

I finally got a day where I could wake up late in Vancouver. For breakfast, I went to the nearby Tim Hortons and ordered their loaded box combo to go. I didn't realize the loaded box already had two hash browns inside it that I chose hash brown as my side - should have chosen the donut :( I chose tea as the drink. They asked me if I wanted a brewed one; I said yes and they put cream and sugar and I think they call this double double and gosh that tea was good. I was like darn Tim Hortons, you make good tea. So I got all that back to my room. I can't say I like the loaded box much. I don't think they do scrambled eggs well. I tend to eat rather plain so I also didn't enjoy all the sauces much. It's a big portion that I didn't manage to finish it all.

After breakfast, I needed to go and start the day. I already planned and studied about cycling in Vancouver and yet that day I was still rather nervous about it, despite of my cycling success in Banff (all the pain from that day was completely gone). You cannot be defeated by fear though, so off I went. I got to the bicycle rental store at around 11 AM and unlike in Banff, they got me out quite quickly and here I did a mistake. I didn't take a moment to make sure all were okay. The helmet they gave me was too big that it was like falling out of my head often throughout the ride :( Then they also didn't teach me how to use the lock; I was like dumb you, sigh. At least here they could put a basket in the bicycle though. The street in front of this bicycle rental store was so crowded with traffic and people that I confided to the staff, it's so chaotic out there, and asked how to get started. He instructed me to walk the bicycle first until the junction, turn right, then I would find the start of the dedicated bicycle lane. It sounds easy now that I had done it, but I was pretty much blanking out on his instruction, I just recalled walk the bicycle first. The customers in front of me were these three Indian bros and they were setting off not long before me. This was perhaps one of the reason why I didn't check all my equipment first and quickly set off, I wanted to follow them. They led the way correctly and I was thankful.

I started with the dedicated cycling lane near Canada place. The dedicated part was actually what assured me that I could do this when I was studying for this, but darn I was a bit wrong. The place was so touristy and people were walking in and out the lanes that I felt like I needed to be careful more. My braking skill is not graceful at all, I couldn't just suddenly brake. Even when I wanted to stop to take pictures, I was rather awkward. Anyways, the people were watching all the little planes landing and departing from the water. They were interesting. The floating platform with a structure that has Chevron logo on it is where I think the planes get their fuel. The day was overcast, but luckily there wasn't any rain.

Following the cycling path brought me to Stanley Park. It's nice that these paths are all connected, so it's all safe, but you really need to watch out for people walking and crossing in. This is an example of the path I was on in Stanley Park.

The path is on the outer perimeter of Stanley Park so I don't really know what's inside the park. It's also one way which means that you cannot just turn and backtrack. I was so consumed in trying to figure out if I can cycle safely that I didn't really study and plan to do things inside the park. I didn't even take a deeper at the map the bicycle rental shop provided. It was actually quite useful. When I stopped (awkwardly), it was to take photo, and it was made more awkward by the helmet falling off my head :( By luck I stopped at one point and then I saw that there seemed to be many people on the other side of the road. So I walked my bicycle and crossed the road and found that's where the totem poles are. The bicycle rack was full and there's no point of me using it because I didn't know how to use the chain lock given to me anyway. So I just put my bicycle next to the full bicycle rack unlocked. Luckily it was okay. There are other sculptures near the totem poles if you walk out a bit. The totem poles themselves were very interesting though my pictures of them were rather blurry - I do not know what happened.

Other things seen on this cycling path after I left the totem poles are the Girl in Wetsuit sculpture and the Lions Gate Bridge. When I saw the Girl in Wetsuit sculpture, it reminded me of the Copenhagen's mermaid which I'm sure many people think too.

Looking at map, it is rather sad that I didn't explore the inside of Stanley park because there seems to be quite a lot of interesting things in it - maybe one day I'll get a chance to go there again? I just followed the cycling path in front of me and I knew that I had left the park when it's looking more crowded with people. There was a time where I literally stopped because there's this clueless guy tourist who wandered into the cycling lane and was like taking his time and then a guy behind me came and was like saying loudly it's a cycling lane! People walking in and out of the cycling lane really made me nervous. Anyways, one of the things I saw from a distance after leaving the park was this A-maze-ing Laughter sculpture by Yue Minjun.

Then a problem came. Initially I had thought, could I cycle to Granville market? I could not. I studied it, checked Google Maps, but on the day I just couldn't figure out the way. Based on the Vancouver cycling map I got, I also couldn't understand if the cycling paths are connected all the way there. In the map, the path was like on top of another, what does it mean? I do not know. I ended up just following the path in front of me. I passed by George Wainborn Park, David Lam Park, saw the sphere of the Science World in the distance, all the while thinking how do I get back?!?! I didn't study the important part. I knew I didn't want to go to Science World and I didn't want to cycle aimlessly. I finally stopped and checked Google Maps on how best to get back. Hornby street gives the most direct line, so off I turned and got there. My Vancouver cycling map told me that there's a part where it's a steep uphill and yes I couldn't do it. I walked the bicycle. Embarrassing? For sure. There was a guy in a bicycle who turned to look at me - yes, I see you dude. In Hornby street the cycling lane is separated from the car lane so it's safe, no worry there. After that section where I had to walk, I could cycle the rest, but because I wasn't fast (by design), I stopped at every junction because I met a red light. It gave me time to rest and see things. I saw that there's a protest happening in Robson Square (if I'm not mistaken). I don't know what the protest was for. The flags were not Palestinians, so my guess was for Iran. At that time I didn't know the different version of Iranian flags, so I really don't know what it was for. Was it to stop the war? I did see one Israeli flag, so maybe it's to support regime change? Anyways, I reached the end of Hornby street, now what. I decided to still go straight to this small park which I already walked through the morning before on my way to my day tour meeting point. I was met with some stairs going down, oh my God! Thankfully God heard me even before I went full on panic and I saw a ramp by the side, so I could walk the bicycle and at the end of the park I turned right and I got back to the bicycle shop easily. Thank God!

I still wanted to go to Granville market, so after I dropped off the bicycle I figured out a bus to get there. The bus stop wasn't clear so I had to ask a staff at the Waterfront station. The Granville market area was happening. I don't know if it's because it's a Saturday. I would be so confused if somehow I had made it with a bicycle. Because there's so many people, I actually didn't explore the surrounding area much. I went to the market and it was packed with people so that's not comfortable at all, but I have to admit there's so many interesting food in the market. I wanted to try a lot and after going here and there and got turned off by the many people I decided on pies, but which pie? So many interesting options. I went with banana pie which was good, but the meringue did have an egg smell which I didn't quite enjoy (and I actually love eggs) so I didn't finish the meringue. I found a seat outside and ate it there. After that, I decided to just leave. I could not handle the crowd. Granville market is something that I would like to explore again if I'd be so lucky to be in Vancouver again.

After I was back in Waterfront station, I decided to take the SeaBus accross the water to North Vancouver. I didn't really explore much actually. There's the Lonsdale Quay Market which has less shops than Granville and way way calmer. Maybe it was busier in the morning, it was quite late when I got there. Then I walked around the area, the pier.

Then I decided to go for dinner. The place where I wanted to go to is kinda away from the quay and a walk up a slope. They made me sit in at the bar. There were other people around me and suddenly these strangers made conversation with each other and the staff shucking oysters at the bar and I was just listening about their lives, kids, schools. I chose lobster mac and cheese and when it came I had to make sure it was correct because that was not what I expected. Just googled the place again and only now I realize they put mac and cheese inside " ". It was really good all the same. After that, I decided to just go back across the water. Back in my side of Vancouver, I walked a bit around the area where I started cycling that morning. I didn't see any plane taking off, but there were a few landing. I could also see some mountains covered in cloud.

Last stop was Gastown. I wanted to get some stuff for myself and check out the clock one final time. I was leaving the next day so yeah things were ending. I also stopped to take pictures of the pink alley before I went back to my hotel, just as a final thing to do. There's also some last pictures of the pink alley at night from my room. Vancouver has been interesting. For pictures from the day go here.

:) eKa @ 12:45:00 PM • 0 comments