The sun finally came out this weekend and on Saturday and Sunday I visited the small Crescent Beach in nearby Surrey. I parked in a small lot and walked past cottages with impeccably groomed yards and brightly colored flowers that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Dr. Seuss book.

^ One thing I’ve noticed up here is that a lot of time is spent on yard maintenance. Carefully trimmed bushes, eloquent flower arrangements, and shaded arbors are the norm, rather than the exception.

A few beachfront shops selling fish and chips clustered around the main public beach. As with the aforementioned houses, the effect was almost laughably idyllic, like the ersatz city in The Truman Show. A long gravel walkway followed the beach in each direction, and I walked on this, away from the people. The sand disappeared and the beach got rockier.

I was almost alone here, a few hundred yards from the main beach. I passed a volume-enhanced Baby Boomer sitting on a towel reading a book. He was cross-legged. He was naked. I walked faster.

I found a large flat stone and stretched out on it. It was just warm enough to enjoy the sun.

The high Asian population in the greater Vancouver area is understandably accompanied by an enormous amount of Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai restaurants. Even on the beachfront strip, signs advertising sushi and wanton soup are are numerous as those selling homemade gelato or fresh crab legs.

I haven’t eaten out much this trip, so for lunch on Tuesday I walked into one of the larger Japanese restaurants downtown and was seated. On the starched white tablecloth was a container of soy sauce, a glass of water, and a pair of paper-wrapped chopsticks. Uh-oh.

I ordered a teriyaki chicken plate that came with rice, a small salad, several large pieces of sushi, fried vegetables - squash, I think - and miso soup. Still no silverware.

In the end I think I did relatively well, considering that my previous experience with chopsticks was fairly limited. The rice was the hardest part, and I did resort to using my fingers for the sushi. I never figured out what to do with the soup so I left it alone. I searched online that afternoon and found that it’s acceptable to pick up the bowl and drink directly from it; I had guessed that in the restaurant but didn’t want to go down that potentially embarrassing route unless I was completely sure.

The food was good, though.

How cold are the winters there? What does the yellow sign above “30 km” mean (#528)?

I guess that sign meant that to watch out for joggers in the area; I’m not really sure. It was rainy and in the 50’s all week but the sun came out and it warmed up to about 70 over the weekend. This area definitely has one of the mildest climates in Canada: I think the TV weathermen reported snowfall this week for Banff and some of the other ski resorts. I’m not really sure how cold it gets during the winter here, on the coast.

Breathtakingly beautiful scenes. I would find it hard to give up a place with so much natural beauty available.

Yep it really is nice. I can see why people would move here, especially from other parts of Canada. There’s not many other places where a ski slope is just a few hours from a sandy beach.

Vancouver was also chosen to host the 2010 Winter Olympics and people here are very excited about that, especially with the recent publicity of the summer Olympics.

^ Clock in downtown Vancouver counting down to 2010 Olympics. Photo from Wikipedia.