of course, i am busy !!!!

thats why i am not putting stuff up … to be uptodate, pls. see my facebook account and/or twitter.

the week in Whistler was brilliant, thanks so much eric, tracy and morgan, so much fun, so happy to met eric again, so proud to be part of the worca -party. oh gosh, i would have loved to stay longer, but … need working visa 🙁

thanks carrie for the great ride back to the city, went over to Nanaimo, Vnacouver Island and meet Sandy and Al, thanks guys, while going down to Torfino and Uculcet, hard times pitching my tent, then back up to Port Alberni (awesome hostel, the „fat salomon“) and then going down to Bamfield, on board the beautiful ship „Lady Rose“ ( but no luck with marine mammals, nothing damm it!)

Starting my hike on the West Coast Trail, ran into Michelle and Jason, who adopted me somehow. We startet in rain and finished with sunshine. very tough trail, slippy as hell all those logs and bogs and mudholes! i spend a whole day in my sleepingbag/tent, cause it rained the whole night, day, night – do it like the animals, so we hiked 10k on the next day – dont get my wrong. not big distances at all, but very hard walking, without poles and gaiters and raingear – your are lost .. of course if the weather is nice, u do the trail in 4 days … unbelievable scenic coastline, saw my first bear in the wild, fortunately no cougars, but mice 🙂 and yeah its time for some pro gear – need a 3lyer raincoat, cuase was just on the trail in a wet softshell, thanks James for giving me Raincoat and thanks to Bari for the free busride ( i made it!) – thanks to peter and the lighthouse keepers for nice talks and if anyone wants to do some wwwoofing in fuckin middle of nowhere u can do it at „chez monique“s right on trail.
besides that, had my first big „dungeness crab“ fresh as hell and a sealion keeped us busy the whole night at the crabshack. again thanks to jason and michelle for the great company on the trail and saving my thirst with your „waterpurificator“, btw bought myself one!
thanks to the pissed fishermen in port renfrew who gave my a ride and told me „u have fish, u have crabs and u have booze here! everything a man needs! daniel, get your dumb ass out of boring germany!“ so we had some beers and crabs again at „butchs place“ – got stinged by a hornet in my right calv, but

had my first cigarette after over a year and no, i am not addicted again, it was nice and joyful, but thats it. nothing i carve for. still strange.

i jumped on the bus to victoria, where i meet the 2 nice gentleman from oregon, portland again! and back to civilization, i booked a real hotelroom, soaked in the bath for 2 hours, just watched tv for hours, out of a queensize bed .. so nice after 7 days in a tent. went for a stroll in the morning, grsabed the NEW DOUGLAS COUPLAND BOOK and went over to the City again, to the airport, to pick up Leo, who just arrived.

had some day in vancouver, ri9ding the bike around stanley and later meet up with jesicca and friends, who is an ex-student co-worker of mine, now living in van for a couple of month. a night out to the roxy and today going over to the island again withg leo in a floatplane! awesome! super-cool! 2morrow heading up the eastcoast to telegraph cove to explore the east coast and then back to victoria and leaving canada with the ferry to Seattle 🙂

cheers and goodnight!

Day 5 – 25.8.2009

have breakfast together Jacob and i said goodbye, hope to see him in the Netherlands some day (he going ton study further on there) and i made my way to the Cambie, getting my backpack off.

i was enjoying myself more and more getting in this travel mood, no real planes, no to-do-list, meeting Jacob, learning a lot about and how this are on the coast here. feeling good about staying at the cambie, looking forward to a 8 dorm room, meeting people, probably gulping down some beers in the evening and then even eric send a mail i ould come up to Whistler, everything is cool, yeaah!

remember haven’t seen Eric for 4 bloody years since Tasmania, just in contact over the net. so will head out 2morrow to Whistler, with some coach, probably greyhound, should be just 2,5 hours up north into the mountains.

but first i went up East Hastings Street, corner Main St. – its called the dark heart of Vancouver, cause its „slum-time“. right in the middle of town, people over people, homeless, on drugs, talking to themselves, hookers and drug-addicts – a line 3 blocks in a row waiting for the detox- building. wow. i was not afraid at daylight, but a night i wouldn’t walk up here. unbelievable. just to steps away from all this business, banking, tourist-stuff. this is also Canada, its said that all the homeless creatures come to west coast, cause its warm, all year round. so they pile up and hanging around on the streets. of course people who went to states know those pictures, but as you wouldn’t believe it same here in Canada, even they have social/medial basic welfare, like we have in Germany, but the sheer amount of homeless people in own kind of own suburb is crazy,
so i left this horrible surrounding and went further on through Chinatown.

quite nice, authentic, hong-kong like suburb right in Vancouver, cool, grab some dim sums for lunch and heading further on to „the drive“ so called „Commercial Drive“ kind of trendy suburb/street. but of course noway comparable with cities like Berlin, Stockholm or London. waling up and down „the drive“, looking into shops, some coffee, a read and decided to go with the bus to the UBC.

whats the UBC – its „point grey“, a own city, its the University of British Columbia grounds, bigger then downtown Vancouver by itself. and its a state of its own, means kind of own little kingdom, compramising a big part of the peninsula on the West of Kitsan .. its huge !! i went down there to see the Museum of Anthropology, nice native works, like totem pole, statues and so on. pretty decent.

while i was there, still hot here 25 C and up, i though about go down beach and have a stroll on wreck beach, the „last“ remaining nudist, counter-culture beach. just few people, mostly dressed and a few kids „skimming“ boards, me again back to the pacific ocean, laying down, having a rest, seabreeze, some didgeridoo-player playing, smelled dope in the air, and some guys hanging around, people sunbathing, would be the right place for my housemate thomas.

anyway i went back „home“ to the Cambie, to check in and rest, have a shower, some quite beers, i just strolled into my dorm and just meet up one guy from oz, a dude from arizona and an canadian from whitehorse up north. of course we all insist of joining eachother for a round of drinks. to make it short, lot of stories, lot of fun, at 12 pm being pissed, falling down into bed …

as i said things worked out in the last 2 days!

Day 4 – 24.8.09

alright, getting things written down, otherwise i will forget the whole stuff. things are starting to work out in the next days, back to the old travelers flow.

i went up early to the Vancouver aquarium in Stanley park, wishing to see their famous beluga family etc. i made it till 11, while strolling trough lovely lush Stanley Park, watching the wild raccoons playing around, some sea others .. it was very impressive to see belugas live, with calf and everything, but on the other hand, horrible to see such large and intelligent marine mammals being held imprisoned to satisfy stupid kids and families and milk the cash-cow. and yeah research, blabhbah, if u wanna do research do it out in the wild or at least NOT in front of thousands . ah gosh. anyway after the „marine mammal show“ the aquarium just filled up like hell with kids and people, getting on my nerves, me rushing out back to Robson Street, VAN Downtown.

I went down to Gastown to book in my next night, but this time at the Cambie, in the middle of gastown, huge pub/hotel like in Oz. Looking forward to hang around there.

but Jacob gave me a call, said i could sleep as couchsurer at his place so i went up to the HI grab my stuff and a cab and heading down again to robson near stanley park to meet him, before he goes to yoga-class. so me hanging around at the local coffeestore waiting to meet up with.

remember we never saw as before, but he gave me his key to his appartment and say do wahtever u want, have shower, relax … thats whats couchsurfing is about, meeting people, sharing and trusting each other. so i was happy to VAN from above, cause it was on the 9th floor .. nice, scenic view over the city, sunset, big lights up, sea, mountains …

jacob came back at 22, so we went for some japanese dinner. we agree of having some other stuff then sushi/sashimi, ending up with a quite strange experimental plate of food. cool. talkingb eating and went back to his place, talking into night. awesome!

100 things to do in Vancouver

#1 Go kayaking at Deep Cove and enjoy the scenery along Indian Arm
http://www.deepcovekayak.com/map/

#2 Go on a boat ride from Granville Island weather it is a speed boat, a
Aquabus or a False Creek Ferry

#3 Enjoy Jazz and Cheesecake at Cheesecake etc.
http://www.cheesecakeetc.com/Cheesecake,_Etc./Our_Story.html (They are
open from 7pm to 1am)

#4 Vancouver has countless sushi restaurants, try a cheap as well as a
luxurious restaurant before you leave. The luxurious list:
http://www.vancouver.com/things_to_do/top_fives/eat/13/

#5 Visit Piper Spit in Burnaby and experience „the best little duck pond
in British Columbia“
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-653665/Burnaby-Lake-the-best-little.html

#6 Lululemon yoga and fitness wear started in Vancouver. Check out their
outlet center near Commercial Drive. Mclean Drive and 3rd Ave

#7 Watch the fireworks around English Bay in July
http://celebration-of-light.com/

#8 Cross Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge – and have a swim in the pool a
couple of meters above.

#9 Try Bubble Tea

#10 Walk along English Bay with some Frozen Yogurt from Denman St.

#11 rent a bike in denman street and bike around stanleypark, or even
further around the whole english bay up to jericho beach

#12 visit wreck beach and enjoy a completely illegal beer/joint 🙂 while
optionally wearing clothing

#13 take the skytrain from Commercial Drive to Burrard and sit on the
front seat! (The view is even better at night)

#14 Walk up Commercial Drive and enjoy a coffee or something to eat in one
of the countless restaurants between shopping through the (countless too)
weird stores

#15 Ice cream at La Casa Gelato! Over 200 flavours..from wasabi, garlic,
apple pie, to vanilla 🙂 Soo good 😀 http://www.lacasagelato.com/

#16 Do the Grouse Grind and reward yourself by paragliding all the way down.

#17 Enjoy some fish and chips by the beach at White Rock or in Steveston
(Richmond)

#18 Monday’s Poetry Slam at Cirque Deux Soleil @ 8:30pm is always
inspiring http://vancouverpoetryhouse.com/

#19 Participate in the critical mass bikeride on the last friday of every
month

#20 During August, watch the theatre under the stars show at Stanley park
www.tuts.ca

#21 Go to improv theatre sports on Granville Islands, www.vtsl.com

#22 Go indoor go karting in Richmond www.tbcir.ca

#23 Check out a local band live at the Anza club www.anzaclub.org

#24 Go for Hot Pot in Richmond, look up Garden City Hot Pot

#25 Ice Skating or Snow shoeing on Grouse or Seymour mountain during
winter – www.grousemountain.com

#26 Zip Trek or Bungee jump whistler (not sure if this counts for the
Vancouver list)

#27 Rollerblade Seymour Conservation Reserve
(http://www.inlineskatevancouver.com/)

#28 Rent a motor boat or take an eco tour on a zodiak from Sewell’s marina
in Horseshoe Bay http://www.sewellsmarina.com/

#29 Watch the sunset from Burnaby mountain or Cypress lookout

#30 Check out a play at Bard on the Beach in Vanier Park (June –
September) http://www.bardonthebeach.org/

#31 Try Uncle Fatih’s Pizza at Broadway and Commercial

#32 Bike from Science World to Jericho Beach, along the Seaside Bikeway

#33 Check out the Richmond Night Market http://www.richmondnightmarket.com

#34 Take the Seabus from Waterfront Station to North Vancouver and check
out Lonsdale Quay Market

#35 Go to the Vancouver Folk Music Festival at Jericho Beach (3 days in
mid July) http://thefestival.bc.ca/

#36 Take a trip out to Squamish and climb the Stawamus Chief

#37 Try the all day breakfast at Bons Off Broadway for $2.95!

#38 Walk around Gastown, visit MacLeod’s books in Gastown and look through
the old Vancouver books, maps, visitor guides and postcards

#39 Go to FUSE at the Vancouver Art Gallery (select Fridays)
http://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/events_and_programs/fuse.html

#40 Check out Portobello West, a fashion and art market, at the Rocky
Mountaineer Station (Last Sunday of every month, March – December)
http://www.vancouver.portobellowest.com/

#41 Visit one of the many Farmers Markets around town
http://www.eatlocal.org/

#42 Try a Japadog http://www.japadog.com/en/

#43 walk or bike along 10th Avenue from Main Street to Cambie Street and
view all the heritage houses as well as City Hall

#45 have a picnic in Vanier Park on a sunny Friday or Saturday evening,
watch the sunset then head over to the Gordon MacMillan Southam
Observatory to see the stars

#46 visit Granville Island, take a ferry through false creek to Science
World for some science fun

#47 take a walking tour through Chinatown, eat at Kent’s Kitchen and have
dessert at New Town Bakery

#48 enjoy the best poutine in town at Fritz (Davie & Granville, take care
that the man is preparing the poutine, NOT his wife…somehow it tastes
different 😉

#49 Play a round or two of frisbee golf in Queen Elizabeth Park, Northeast
corner of the park.

#50 checkout karaoke at one of several places; Wednesdays at either the
Met or Main St. Legion Hall, Sundays at the Princeton Pub

#51 Take the Bowen Island Express from Granville Island to Bowen Island.
The return journey itself is the worth the ticket
http://www.giwt.ca/Bowen_Island_Express.html

#52 Fraser Valley Winery Association.. Take in a wine tour / tasting!
http://www.fvwa.ca/

#53 1001 Steps in White Rock
http://www.greatervancouverparks.com/1001Steps01.html

#54 Swim back and forth across the US/Canada border down at Centennial
Beach in Tsawwassen/Point Roberts.

#55 Look for whales on the Georgia Straight from the deck of the BC ferry
boat.

#56 Walk around all of Queen Elizabeth Park (aka „Little Mountain“)

#57 Walk around The Crescent and up Osler Street to King Edward

#58 Take the [very fast] elevator up to the top floor in the Marine
Building, Vancouver’s oldest skyscraper

#59 Ride the miniature train in Stanley Park

#60 Visit Heritage Village in Burnaby

#61 Visit Burns Bog or if only less time is available then Camosun Bog

#62 Walk or bicycle from Science World to the secluded beach west of the
Kitsilano Pool

#63 Walk from Jericho Beach to Fore Shores and back

#64 Hike from Lions Bay up to the base of the Lions

#65 Tour one of the Buddhist temples in Richmond

#66 Go pick your own fruit in Richmond (seasonal)

#67 Visit the Reifel Bird Sanctuary in Ladner

#68 P.S. I’d modify the tour of Gastown to take in the superb Sins of the
City tour: http://www.vancouverpolicemuseum.ca/SinsoftheCity.htm

#69 Walk along the seawall in West Vancouver

#70 Visit the Capilano Fish Hatchery (seasonal) before climbing the Grouse
Grind

#71 Walk the trails of Lighthouse Park

#72 Saturday Dharma Talk & Meditation (in English)
Every Saturday 9:00am – 11:00am at the Buddhist Temple in Richmond.
http://www.buddhisttemple.ca/

#73 The Sutton Place Hotel has CHOCOHOLIC BUFFET for ONLY $26.00 Every
Thursday, Friday and Saturday
http://www.vancouver.suttonplace.com/Chocoholic_Buffet.htm

#74 Dessert fans check out Sweet Obsessions www.sweetobsession.ca or Sweet
Revenge www.sweet-revenge.ca

#75 Check out the International Jazz Festival, both paid and free
concerts, late June to early July
http://www.coastaljazz.ca/td_canada_trust_vancouver_international_jazz_festival

#76 Play beach volleyball at Kits, Jericho or Spanish Banks

#77 Wander around Granville Island, check out the artists at work, eat at
the Public Market and drink at the Granville Island Brewery

#78 enjoy the view in the Cloud Nine Restaurant on Robsonstrasse (rotating
restaurant with awesome view – no entrance fee)

#79 enjoy a hot chocolate (or other chocolate delights) in the
„Schokolade“ Cafe near Nanaimo and Hastings:
http://www.schokoladecafe.com/

#80 Take in some almost always excellent live music at the Railway Club.
http://www.therailwayclub.com/

compiled by the vancouver couchsurfing group.

day 4 – 24.8.09

today was a good day. i sleeped well, i had a good hearty breakfeast in the morning sun, i went down to stanley park again with fresh coffee and wet feets, standing in the pacific again, after such a long time, 4 years since i left Sydney. First time i realized, that i am finally on the road again, something i wanted to much, probaly thats why i was giving a shit about the fuckin job in Hamburg – who cares? I am standing right know in the morning sun in vanouver , british columbia, canada, whit as much as i9 want (of course money, but), without plans, without „duties“, without any responsibilities to care for. awesome!

i made my way to the Vancouver Aquarium, while having some fun with more or less wild racoons and squirrls in the park.

the museum was packed with kids and to noisy. of course it was more then a pleasure to see the belugas so close and the calves and everything, but again i start feeling bad for those marine mammals, so close to the water , yet in a tank. i know research, i know conservation, but .. its hard to see these creatures in captivity. they should be free to roam the vast ocean of the icy north, same with dolphins and seaotters … i spend some time there and left, cause it was to full. i asked for some papers or book on the aquarium and research, but nothing just shops full of merch. thats what i am mean, its a all about entertaiment, sic !

but as i said today, the flow was coming back. eric wrote me i should come up to whistler, can stay there for as much as i want, we should hike etc. great! and jacob wrote i can stay tonight at his place as couchsurfer.

yeah! thats what i mean. so i went down to check out the „cambie“, cause the „Youth Hostel“ was shit too, and end up in a real cool place. booked in for tommorrow! a big pub downstairs, old, rusty and loud. reminds me of the great pubs in australia. and on wednsday i will drive up into the mountains to whistler.

so! verythings is perfect. me just sitting in a cafe, writing, jacob just gave me a key to his appartment. he has yoga lessons now and will be back for the 22. probably we will have some dinner. would love to try some cheap japanes stalls here on robson street. isnt it amazing with couchsurfing. i mean, we both know each other and he just gave my a key, invited me to stay at his place. so much trust, how cool.

so whats up 2morrow? checking out „commercial drive“ (should be kind of former kind suburb to be and the moa- first nation culture) then heading to the Cambie, and at the evening there is the regular CS meeting in town. wednsday to whistler and beyond.

Day 3 – 23.8.09

ok i checked out of the „samesun“ hostel, to loud and made a stroll on a shiny sunday morning, couldnt sleep in again, to the next HI youth hostel – lets give this on a try. my cs place dint work out, dosent matter, but from monday to tuesday.

this sunday i made it over flase creek to granville island, nice public market with great food and arts&craft stuff, esp. the brewing company was my favorite an i sample some beer from the microbrewery. meet some english guy and we both we saking about the raspberry beer. holy! after chilling in the sun, i made my way to „mountain eqipment co-op“ the hike gear place to be! guess what., this is the new world and every bloody shop is OPEN ON SUNDAY. and its packed with people. is brilliant! spend some money on some gear to get me prepared for vancouver island and the west coast trail. need to call the rangers on monday !!

back in the west end i made a stroll through this nice pink suburb and it feels great to see all the gay boys hanging around. at least some kind of alternative or counter-culture.

while eating some pacific salamon burger teryiaki style i was not in a good mood. dont know why but the first 2-3 days seems kind of struggling, no flow, now response from some couchsurfers, downtown, quite boring and .. i dont know. maybe being alone again, seeing so many no things, cant share theme, maybe my age (most travellers you meet are around 20 – 30), but in the e4nd, i decide to just give myself, my body and mind more time to adopt to the wild again.

at least infrastructure here is brilliant. everywhere coffeeshops (of course starbucks, …) and wi-fi access for free. refill of your own mugs and 7eleven and dr. pepper and pizza slices for 1 dollar and sushi and and and …

so i went to bed early again, but tried another beer in the famous „railroad club“ pub, no live-band, be i will come back. nice „alternative“ pub/place to see bands and listen to some music.

Day 2 – 22.8.2009

aaah, woke up at 6 in the morning, bunks very noisy like hell and i couldnt sleep anymore. up and downstairs, got some good english breakky and meet fellow travellers.

i started to exploring Vancouver! down to the seashore. it is really beautiful, mountains, the sea, ceder woods, i made my way to stanley park, and surrounded it. beaches, waterplanes, the pacific, totem poles and a lot of vancouvians just being sporty. in general, it fells like being in the us, but there are so many asians around it feels more like tokyo. and everybody seems to be active: running, cycling, walking.

after surrounding stanley park, i when up to the „west end“, the gay-suburb, quite nice and open, lot of small buildings, bars, nightclub and specific shops. just think san francisco. arriving back at the hostel, i tried to relax an plan a little bit, but i was again very tired and even that it was saturday night, i went to bed at 23. before i had a few beers with some Aussies. the put a Aussie girl in our room, which didn’t show up until the next morning. i discovered that the „long-term“ Aussies, where partying hard in a kind of „back-room“. i got in some arguments with this German guy when he starts again complaining. i said, when everything is so shity, why he is stil here? that it is his choice to be on the road. if he don’t likes it, just fuck off … stupid assholes, of course it was is plan b, cause his apprenticeship didnt work out and today everybody just need to pimp his CV. blabhabh.

tell u what, i had those people so much. traveling is far more then just „having a sabbatical“ or shit like that. how should i respect people, who just be around cause the boss or the parents say its good for you? bloody hell.

Day 1 – 21.8.2009

Everything went well, flight was good, but boring (no movies, i means just crap) and the xxl-super-seat, was a joke. no big advantages, anyway its quite a distance from germany.
i saw my beloved icy island down there, and tought, how strange to fligh over RYK now – yeah is miss iceland.
lucky mushroom i am i saw quite a lot of snowy greenland, awesome how the glaciers made their way down into the water. iceblocks everywhere. its cool to fligh at daytime. and then canda, so vast, so big , so many lakes and it seems it never ends …
the 16-year-old right next to me, was quite strange. i just read one „sportbild“ magazin in 9 hours and even resist to smalltalk with me. the youth of today, without internet they are nothing. menawhile i finished SPEX, NEON and MONOCLE , starting again VINELAND and was quite happy at all. some chitchat with the the stewardess (yes, finally afters years no guys in my row) and we talk about airberlin, ltu and so on.

me arriving in vancouver, b.c., canada at 14:00 local time, means 22:30 back home, i made it through customs with a smile and heading into down with the skytrain – easy as hell and so „natural“ being in an different environment, getting all things together. i wonder, why so many people struggle ..

made it to the „samesun“ backpackers. just packed with aussis. cool, no worries and even „aussie rules football“ at the „beaver“ – the pub. good signs.

meeting my roomates, bad signs. 2 germans. no problem at all, but those kind of germans, who just complain about the country, they travel. horrible, just horrible. its not cheaper, then home, there is no this and that, blabhabha.

to make it short, i asked the reception, if it was a joke to put me to the grumpy germans, they laught any said, the next perdson in the room, will be not german.

anyway, it had a walk around downtown and of course, its same like everywhere in the new world, skycrappers, all the chains, blocks and squares and … boring.

somehow i made it till 22 localtime, which is 5 in the morning – german time …