UBC
Student Lounge, Vancouver, Saturday, August 6, 2005, 10:10 pm
Hello from Vancouver (1) - Arrival in Vancouver
I left beautiful Victoria early yesterday morning at 8 am and took
the Pacific Coachlines bus/ferry combination back to the mainland.
It was another gorgeous day and I spent the entire ferry ride on
the top deck soaking in the scenery and the sunshine. At about 11:30
I exited at Broadway and Cambie as the bus driver had advised me
and caught the 99B bus to the University of British Columbia campus
and arrived about a half an hour later. First I found the student
union building where I picked up a bus map and a campus guide. Then
I asked my way to the student residence where I was staying and
checked myself into a comfortable reasonably priced student room
that is part of a 6-unit apartment at a very affordable C$38.00
a night.
After dumping my luggage and getting changed I had a few hours
until check-in for the Servas conference and I decided to use the
time by renting a bicycle at the local university bicycle co-op
to explore the area on 2 wheels. I rented a mountainbike and started
heading west to North West Marine Drive which is the road that is
parallel to the coastline, but the view to the ocean is obscured
by dense forest. In various areas trails and steps lead down to
to Spanish Bay.
Lookout point from UBC Campus
I then cycled eastwards and found a beautiful lookout spot from
where I could see the mouth of the Burrard Inlet and the mountains
of North Vancouver. The university grounds in this area have several
mansions that are surrounded by gorgeous flowers and this is a just
a superbly scenic area. From there I took NW Marine Drive down towards
Spanish Banks and kept cycling eastwards past Locarno Beach and
Jericho Beach which is a recreational paradise. The water level
was quite low, however, and people had to walk out quite a while
over the sand to reach deeper water. After a couple of hectic days
I figured I deserved about an hour of downtime and bought myself
an icecream which I savoured sitting at a bench while observing
the action on the beach.
Downtown Vancouver from Jericho Beach
Of course after this little respite I had to cycle all the way
back up, which ended up not being as bad as expected. The campus
of the University of British Columbia (UBC) is a beautiful facility.
It is very expansive with a large number of mordern buildings interspersed
by green zones and parkland. UBC is home to about 45,000 students
and it is the 3rd largest university in Canada. The UBC Campus is
also the home of the world-renowned UBC Museum of Anthropology,
the Nitobe Memorial Gardens, the UBC Botanical Garden as well as
the Rose Garden & Chan Centre. The First Nations Longhouse serves
as a gathering place for native students and features sculpted log
poles and various pieces of First Nations art. UBC also houses the
largest university bookstore in Canada as well as the Astronomical
Observatory, located beside the UBC Geophysical Observatory which
monitors earthquake activity.
The shiny buildings of downtown Vancouver
My first outing on the bike gave me the lay of the land and a first
glimpse at the Vancouver skyline which certainly has one of the
most stunning locations of any large city I have ever seen. I am
glad I had a bit of a chance to explore it before I return back
to the student residence to get ready for the Servas Conference.
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Useful Books:
Related Articles:
Hello from Victoria (1) - Reaching
the West Coast
Hello from Victoria (2) - Exploring
Victoria and its vicinity"
Hello from Vancouver (1) - Arrival
in Vancouver
Hello from Vancouver (2) - Wheeling
around Stanley Park
Hello from Vancouver (3) - The Grouse
Mountain Experience
Hello from Vancouver (4) - A Walking
Tour through the Downtown East Side
Hello from Vancouver (5) - Gastown
and My Final Explorations
Hello from Vancouver (6) - Covering
the Servas Conference
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