Canadiasians

After Toronto, Vancouver is the most multi-ethnic Canadian city. There are a lot of Asians in Vancouver, making up over 35% of the population. The Chinese alone make up about 17%.

The first Chinese came over in the mid-1800's for the gold rush, and then the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

As Jamie put it, Vancouver's Chinatown is spread out and not as crazy as New York's. I thought it was a bit desolate and we walked by a few uber-sketchy crackheads on our way over there. However, there is a very nice Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese garden which was quite well done.

Why Sun Yat-Sen, you ask? Well, apparently, the "father of modern China" spent a lot of time in Vancouver while touring the world trying to raise awareness and funding for the Chinese Nationalist Movement. British Columbia helped fund the movement's overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 and Sun Yat-Sen became the first president. The garden was built in 1985 and utilizes principles of feng-shui and taoism. Good ol' yin and yang balancing each other out. My favorite part was actually this turtle stretching out his back leg in arabesque.

On our way home we were starving and stopped by this Japanese hot dog cart. In Vancouver, most of the hot dog carts are run by Asians. This one, the JAPADOG stand, was voted the best in Vancouver. Or at least that's what the guy in front of us said. They have your standard hot dog, but also some crazy toppings, including one with japanese mayo, teriyaki sauce, fried onions and nori (seaweed) strips. I got the miso-mayo dog, with special miso sauce, japanese mayo, and sprouts. I have to say, it was quite delicious!