Happy Father’s Day!

After breakfast in our hotel, we ventured out in a Lyft to China Town to visit the Dr. Sun Yai-Sen Chinese Park and Garden which our neighbor and friend Lois had told us about. Built in 1986, the Ming Dynasty-style garden-home is the first of its kind to be built outside of China. A collaborative effort of community members, the Canadian Government, and the People’s Republic of China, made this park and garden possible. They strive to bring together Chinese arts and culture through educational and public programs.

The grounds of the Chinese Garden encompass many walled garden spaces with ponds,
volcanic rocks, meandering paths and several rooms. Each room has a special purpose, like a study for brush painting, a tea room, an art studio gallery, gift shop and decorative arts. Many of the buildings and rocks were brought in from China to make the experience as authentic as possible. Next to the Chinese Garden is a free public park with gravel paths, beautiful landscaping, a pond and several shade structures.

After visiting the garden and park Mark decided to take a little walk around the neighboring streets while Kent rested in a chair on the street corner. Mark got more than he bargained for and was suddenly transported back to his college days passing skid row in Los Angeles on his way to school. In one short block there were homeless people, drug deals taking place, people urinating on the sidewalk, people drugged out in the alley while others rifled through their belongings looking for money, bone thin elderly people sleeping in wheelchairs and more. Definitely not the China Town I expected to find in Vancouver.

There was a World Cup soccer match taking place a few blocks away so many of the streets were already closed off for the day creating traffic problems. We headed back to our hotel for a rest.

In the afternoon, we took a 60-minute harbor cruise on a paddlewheel boat called the Constitution with our friend Bryan. We enjoyed the afternoon sunshine as we passed Stanley Park, the downtown skyline, the historic Gastown, North Vancouver and the North Shore Mountains.

As we walked back to our hotel from the harbor cruise, we stopped at one of Bryan’s favorite bakeries called Breka Bakery and Cafe for a sweet pick-me-up treat. Bryan enjoyed a White Chocolate scone; Kent had a cheesecake brownie crunch and Mark enjoyed a pistachio brownie crunch. All delicious!!

We enjoyed dinner in our hotel.