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<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=452><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Published August 1, 2009
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>LETTER FROM VANCOUVER
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Where people really enjoy life
It is not the perfect place but it is a place where you can come and just be whoever or whatever you want to be without worrying about fitting in.
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Kobchai Phadoemchit
Student at University
of British Columbia
THEY say a picture is worth a thousand words so I won't delve into describing the picturesque setting that Vancouver lies in. The best word I can think of to describe Vancouver, which was recently voted the most liveable city in the world, would be 'diversity'.
You can watch hippies lighting up a joint while beating on their djembe drums, then have the roar of a passing Lamborghini catch your attention and check out a bunch of Asian girls decked out with the latest in Chanel handbags. On the other hand it is possibly the only place in the world where you could play a round of golf in the morning and by the afternoon be boarding down the side of one of the local mountains with a view of the ocean on your right and downtown Vancouver right in front of you.
Come to Vancouver and whenever you're at a loss for a topic of conversation, just start with the weather. Vancouverites love talking about it, simply because it always changes, and just to make it more exciting, the weather men never get it right. I've experienced snow one day and three days later I am out and about in a t-shirt and shorts.
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</TD></TR><TR class=caption><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>One of the epiphanies that I've had in Vancouver is that I do not know how to fully utilise and handle the freedom that I've never had. This is a city which allows and encourages the freedom of expression, choices, ideals, cultures, philosophies and movement. In a sense, I didn't really know what to do with it or how I could completely take advantage of it. After two years I find that I am still learning how to really use it to my advantage.
However, this freedom also means that the people here are active about protecting their rights. And if there are enough people who are not happy about something, there will be some form of protest. One that I saw was a protest against carbon emissions from cars by environmentalists - a good 5,000 who rode around downtown on their bikes naked one afternoon.
Freedom takes other forms, too. You won't find any foreign workers paving roads at 3am but rather, unionised workers who insist that they only work five days a week, eight normal office hours a day while getting paid $40 an hour. The result: roads the length of Holland village take months to pave rather than days.
I can't speak for the rest of Canada but in Vancouver I find that people really know how to appreciate and enjoy life, to enjoy the surroundings and to take things a tad bit slower so they have the time to take a step back and just get lost in the moment. Maybe it is the mix of the ocean breeze and the mountain air all coming together, but I think that it is because people here have learnt to live, rather than living to work, which is the mindset you see so much of in other metropolitan cities. With an eclectic mix of people and cultures, it is always going to be difficult to get everybody to get along so Vancouverites have come up with a compromise. People here are very friendly. But stay here long enough and you realise that the friendliness seems as though it has been perfectly rehearsed time and time again to the point where it feels genuine even though it is fake. It is like having to be in a constant state of obligated happiness so that everybody gets along in order to have a civil society. That is why the individual pockets of different races and cultures here are like a big part of huge mosaic. Alone, they don't make sense but together they make Vancouver what it is.
One very other important part about Vancouver's diversity is in its cuisine. Having a huge immigrant population, the food here is simply quite amazing with the added benefit of variety. I've met Japanese immigrants who, for the first time in their lives, can afford to eat toro on a weekly basis. I've had burritos and empanadas for lunch and then tandoori chicken and naan for dinner. Not to forget dim sum featuring har gows the size of a child's fist and steak-like char siew and the list goes on...
It is not the perfect place but it is a place where you can come and just be whoever or whatever you want to be without worrying about fitting in. It is a city where people will take the time to pursue the things they believe in, be it protesting against carbon emissions to just spending a weekend admiring the scenery.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>LETTER FROM VANCOUVER
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Where people really enjoy life
It is not the perfect place but it is a place where you can come and just be whoever or whatever you want to be without worrying about fitting in.
<TABLE class=storyLinks border=0 cellSpacing=4 cellPadding=1 width=136 align=right><TBODY><TR class=font10><TD width=20 align=right>
</TD><TD>Email this article</TD></TR><TR class=font10><TD width=20 align=right></TD><TD>Print article </TD></TR><TR class=font10><TD width=20 align=right></TD><TD>Feedback</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Kobchai Phadoemchit
Student at University
of British Columbia
THEY say a picture is worth a thousand words so I won't delve into describing the picturesque setting that Vancouver lies in. The best word I can think of to describe Vancouver, which was recently voted the most liveable city in the world, would be 'diversity'.
You can watch hippies lighting up a joint while beating on their djembe drums, then have the roar of a passing Lamborghini catch your attention and check out a bunch of Asian girls decked out with the latest in Chanel handbags. On the other hand it is possibly the only place in the world where you could play a round of golf in the morning and by the afternoon be boarding down the side of one of the local mountains with a view of the ocean on your right and downtown Vancouver right in front of you.
Come to Vancouver and whenever you're at a loss for a topic of conversation, just start with the weather. Vancouverites love talking about it, simply because it always changes, and just to make it more exciting, the weather men never get it right. I've experienced snow one day and three days later I am out and about in a t-shirt and shorts.
<TABLE class=picBoxL cellSpacing=2 width=100 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR class=caption><TD></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>One of the epiphanies that I've had in Vancouver is that I do not know how to fully utilise and handle the freedom that I've never had. This is a city which allows and encourages the freedom of expression, choices, ideals, cultures, philosophies and movement. In a sense, I didn't really know what to do with it or how I could completely take advantage of it. After two years I find that I am still learning how to really use it to my advantage. However, this freedom also means that the people here are active about protecting their rights. And if there are enough people who are not happy about something, there will be some form of protest. One that I saw was a protest against carbon emissions from cars by environmentalists - a good 5,000 who rode around downtown on their bikes naked one afternoon.
Freedom takes other forms, too. You won't find any foreign workers paving roads at 3am but rather, unionised workers who insist that they only work five days a week, eight normal office hours a day while getting paid $40 an hour. The result: roads the length of Holland village take months to pave rather than days.
I can't speak for the rest of Canada but in Vancouver I find that people really know how to appreciate and enjoy life, to enjoy the surroundings and to take things a tad bit slower so they have the time to take a step back and just get lost in the moment. Maybe it is the mix of the ocean breeze and the mountain air all coming together, but I think that it is because people here have learnt to live, rather than living to work, which is the mindset you see so much of in other metropolitan cities. With an eclectic mix of people and cultures, it is always going to be difficult to get everybody to get along so Vancouverites have come up with a compromise. People here are very friendly. But stay here long enough and you realise that the friendliness seems as though it has been perfectly rehearsed time and time again to the point where it feels genuine even though it is fake. It is like having to be in a constant state of obligated happiness so that everybody gets along in order to have a civil society. That is why the individual pockets of different races and cultures here are like a big part of huge mosaic. Alone, they don't make sense but together they make Vancouver what it is.
One very other important part about Vancouver's diversity is in its cuisine. Having a huge immigrant population, the food here is simply quite amazing with the added benefit of variety. I've met Japanese immigrants who, for the first time in their lives, can afford to eat toro on a weekly basis. I've had burritos and empanadas for lunch and then tandoori chicken and naan for dinner. Not to forget dim sum featuring har gows the size of a child's fist and steak-like char siew and the list goes on...
It is not the perfect place but it is a place where you can come and just be whoever or whatever you want to be without worrying about fitting in. It is a city where people will take the time to pursue the things they believe in, be it protesting against carbon emissions to just spending a weekend admiring the scenery.
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