Sunshine and fir trees

It’s pretty amazing when you go to the shops and this is your view.

I made today my ‘jobhunting’ day, so I went to the local mall and took my resume. I have an interview tomorrow and one for next week too, plus lots of applications. Cross your fingers for me!!

The only thing about new shopping centres (and this one in particular) is that its not easy to find shops and I think I walked past the same guy in the same shop about 10 times -back and forth. He was looking at me as if I was either crazy or just walking past to look at him. Hilarious!!

The buses are expensive over here, I just bought a month pass, which is one zone (only north van) and it cost me $81. Otherwise it’s $2.50 for 90 minutes. That’ll eat a hole in your pocket! You know what else is expensive? Cell phones! They charge you for incoming and outgoing calls AND if you go outside of van they charge you roaming rates! You could use them in the whole of Australia and no roaming! Ah well, I guess it’s all part of life over here.

It is such a beautiful day today in Vancouver. The temperature is I believe 16 degrees celcius and the air has warmed up a little bit to the point where I had to take my scarf and gloves off and undo my cardigan! Hehehe.
We have a gorgeous little deck out the back (where you can go for a walk along a trail into the forest area). I just sat out there and soaked up the sun, eating my apple.

I really want to go for a hike and find some other animals!

I get to go to yoga this afternoon, it has been far too long!! I believe the class is called ‘flow’ so hopefully it’ll be good. I miss my Iyengar Yoga!!

Hope your day is as lovely as mine!

Take me to the shops!

OK so this morning I looked outside at the rainy weather and I decided that I wanted to go somewhere inside. It’s not really a day to go exploring outside. So I got on the bus and headed off to Metrotown Shopping Centre in Burnaby. Yep Burnaby – otherwise known as Michael Buble’s town 😉 heh. I wanted to buy a winter coat and I thought that maybe there might be some on sale somewhere. I stopped at these iconic stores.

Zara was cheaper than I thought! Very nice. And I also liked Aldo accessories!! So I looked and I browsed and I touched and I only tried on one thing and bought NOTHING! There was just nothing there that ticked every box for me. I walked around and around and went in almost every shop.
I got sushi for lunch though – YUM!

The food court was huge and there were so many options. I also saw my first frozen yoghurt bar – I’m gonna have to try that soon too. Pizza and Tacos and Asian and Fast Food seemed to be the big ticket holders here. You should see how big the large coffee is! Insane. Their small is like our medium in Australia.

And I looked in several cell stores as I need to buy a basic one for over here. I’ll do some research before I buy. So much to look into!!

I called my homestay and it looks all set for moving in on Friday!
Exciting!!

The rest of the day

Where else do you go that you can make three blog posts about one day?! Gotta love travel and adventures!! Hope you’re still with me, peoples! Ok, so where were we? Thats right, I was at the platform. They have a thing with cleanliness in Japan – as soon as the train pulled up and the passengers departed a team of brightly dressed women boarded to clean. You can see them there in pink – and the guy in the blue with the white helmet was I think the leader? Or maybe he had another job – there was one of him for every cabin. I watched them work through the window and it was like magic. They had a special brush to brush the seats down, a cloth to clean the armrests and then they would clear the bins and just make sure it looked tidy. I appreciated the effort when I went to my (very clean) seat.
Unfortunately I had an aisle seat, so it wasnt as easy to take photos or look out but I did my best. I got the payload shot too that I was hoping to take and forgot about but then I saw it (more on that later).
Here are some random railway window shots.




We passed all types of terrain – at one point I think I saw an ocean or maybe it was a huge lake, mountains, cities, fields, everything. Are you ready for the money shot?

We passed a few mountains and I wondered… but when I saw this peak I knew without a doubt. Hello, Mt Fuji! I am so glad that it was sunny and I got to see the icon!
I just tried to relax and listened to my ipod and the 2 and a half hour train journey seemed to go quite quickly! As soon as we got off the train I headed for the taxi queue… after a few moments of feeling lost looking at all the screens to find the exit! Haha. On the way I was tempted by the bakery shop, so I picked these up for lunch.
Yeah, just like me to stop for cake. hehehe. I had no idea what these were – they cost me about $4 for both I think. This whole money conversion rate isnt too precise with me! Anyway, the triangle one tasted like a cinnamon donut but it had custard in it! YUM! And the round one had a different custard in it and it was sweet too. I thought they were nice. Now – I know I’m not doing too well on the whole ‘different foods’ thing, but hold on until you hear about my dinner!

After checking in to the hotel I decided to go for a wander around Kyoto. I went out into the street, thinking I’d go find some shops! I wanted to go left but as soon as I got there I noticed a huge amount of noise coming from the other way. At first I thought there was a fight or something as a mans voice was booming loudly. I followed the croud, crossed the road and then came across something I certainly didnt expect to see.

This was Kyoto town hall, and the banners said something special was happening today. Boy, was I lucky!!


It seemed to be some kind of dance competition or exhibition! There were many, many different teams dressed very uniquely – almost harajuku!

They were reeeeeally getting into it – so energetic and passionate!! I stayed to watch 3 teams before heading to the shops. I couldnt believe the crowds!! I think I was the only one there who wasnt Asian. Speaking of, several times people have thought I was! I have had to tell a few locals that I dont speak Japanese as they had been expecting me to answer them. I know a few phrases but thats it – all I have been game enough to say is ‘Arigato Gozaimasu’. My brother will love that story, he is always going on about how I look Asian even though there is none in the family.

Did someone say shopping?

I bought a few little souvenirs for friends and myself but Mum will be glad to hear that I didnt even really look at clothes. Maybe tomorrow? Hahaha.
I went back out to grab dinner and after walking past a few shops I ended up down an alleyway, where I was enticed upstairs to a Russian/Japanese restaurant. I ordered cherry juice (for a bit of Japan), Borsch (for a bit of Russia) and Naan bread (lets add some india too!). It was actually really nice!!

Ok, now that you are all caught up on the news I’m going to work out my plans for tomorrow. Shrines, cherry blossoms… we shall see!
Good night!