Post 26.2: Welcome to Vancouver - Night 1

After a very warm welcome from Amanda, we ventured our way through Richmond, an insanely Asian city outside of Vancouver where YVR is located.  Every store in Richmond proudly displayed Chinese characters atop, under, or next to the store name in English... from small cafes to auto mechanic shops to Staples.  Yes, even the major office supply chain store wrote "office supply specialty store" in Chinese.  I flew for almost 3 hours for over 1,000 miles, and I landed in Vancouver's version of the San Gabriel Valley.  I felt right at home.

Sugary sustenance. 

A simple milk green tea and lychee green tea.

Because of our utterly failed attempt at finding Pearl Castle, we stopped at a small boba shop called Twinkle 2 to catch up over some sugary drinks and salty snacks.  Amanda swears she is a good driver (which she is... with perfect back-in parking skills) and has a great sense of direction.  She explained, "I never come to Richmond! Burnaby girls don't come here..." So... we blame Pearl Castle's horrendously hidden store for not being able to find it. 

Fobby fun.  Taiwanese salty and crispy popcorn chicken with basil.

It's served with a sweet chili sauce and Chinese-style dim sum mustard.

Laughing while typing (the epitome of multi-tasking) I still think it's ironic that the first food I encountered in Canada was minorly fobby and majorly Taiwanese though I'm sure there's something much more Canadian that awaits me.  Thanks, Amanda, for picking me up from the airport.  And thanks, tilted axis, for providing unexpected sunlight at 10:00 p.m. and thoroughly tripping me out. 

Next post: How much breakfast can I eat?

ML - 20100701/20100712