– Tunneling off to a new adventure on July 18th, 2022.
Was sitting around for a longer while than desired. Friend offered to pick me up to drop me off at Richmond area of Vancouver to go exploring some Japanese related landmarks, happenings, and just get to know the area better. I waited and agreed to do as he planned. A bit of context lost from how long it was till typing this blogging, just that it was a good time to explore Richmond area. My friend had his truck swapped to a new one, a beeping colourful truck, adding to our adventure’s craziness from the past days to this day, and those in the following blog postings.
– Of all the banner types I desire to see, it’s these normal types. These nice, lovely generic types. Not the faux types. It spruces the area up nicely. Makes things more formal and elegant.
– One of the numerous classic vehicles I could take a picture of. They’re genuinely hard to capture on camera. It’s frustrating. This specific truck lights up at night.
– Came to discover these trucks are used as sign holders in and outside of Vancouver. All across British Columbia.
– Friend dropped me off at the historical shipyards, a nice location I wouldn’t mind revisiting. Partially lost at first, gradually making sense of it as I went along.
– A museum treated as both a museum and a storage area. Interesting style of displaying stuff.
– One thing pictures fail to capture is the atmosphere and that specific “wood smell”.
– I love these boat types. I admire these boats. Nice.
– Now we’re talking! How do I get closer to it? Let’s find out.
– I love these older type boats. They have this lost admirable style newer vessels fail to capture. Newer boats fail to capture that command of respect that these older vessels command.
– Attempted panorama wideshot.
Yes, it was a cloudy day allowing me to wear my red Ferrari sweater. I would constantly be poked fun about wearing my sweater, I’m just used to it as an introvert. More pockets, more things to carry around. It allowed me to carry Renge and my camera around. And some Japanese treats.
– Fishing & Japanese house.
– Inside the Japanese fishing house.
– A genuinely beautiful looking hot bath. Onsen.
– Lovely displayed old kitchen.
– Nice. This genuinely captured my interest. Studying my surroundings, admiring it. Trying to imagine what it was like.
– Trying to take everything in from both outside and inside of this display; The various surprises, the happenings, and the ‘what-ifs’ of things following up after. Sensation overload.
– The antiques are insane. How neat they are, how valuable, how historical.
– That’s a traditional pattern I can genuinely admire. Nice and fancy. My Slovak side & Canadian traditional side both approve, admiring the beauty.
– I hesitated for too long. Time to bring Renge out! A few Chinese tourists observed, and they were roaming. I had to take these no matter what.
– Renge observing the historical shipyard with me.
– Even if I had to fight with the overly stubborn Samsung S21’s camera autofocus I was fixated on capturing these photos one way or another. Gimme! I need to see Renge happy in Vancouver! 🙂
– These ships are awesome in their historical context, even seeing it in IRL. I also can’t wait to see these sorts of boats in a building, survival game called ‘Rising World’. People heard of Minecraft, Rising World is a tier higher than that. I didn’t go deeper into this shed with people being inside.
– I’ve always had this fascination for older materials. They hold far more beauty and “command of respect” than any newer materials. With exceptions, of course.
– With how Japan admires their artistic manhole covers, so does Vancouver. I’ve been making note. I saw a few I’ve captured on camera. I’m happy Vancouver has these fancy covers. Ottawa is too boring, “a city that fun forgot”.
– Awesome shipyard launch. Tour guides were overly friendly, I respect that. I’m always socially awkward, they did their best to communicate with me. Thanks! I’m always socially awkward, special thanks to the harsh bullying done to me by Ottawa. Again, I admire this awesome launch and repair area. I need to make note of this for the ‘Rising World game’ on how to build boatyards.
– One thing I genuinely need to do is go canoeing. I need to obtain a waterproof camera (safely secured) and go canoeing. I genuinely want to go canoeing. My friend brought it up a few times making me want to go all that much more now. Whether here or on Ottawa’s overly polluted Ottawa River, I don’t care. Anywhere, anytime.
– Workshop keeping things up and running. The things we take for granted.
– Olden colour scheme and vintage items. Reminds me of [my trip to see HMCS Haida] seeing these sorts of colour schemes.
– Admiring the old beauty.
– Scuffed. Gives you a reason to go visit this area to admire the olden times.
– Nice blueprint of these fishing boats.
– Nice machinery. Can always get respect that.
– Various propellers, barrels, etc. Gamers probably see this as generic setting for ‘Half-life 2’, and various first-person shooter type games.
– What a view! I love this sort of view. Looking out the window seeing the other side of the building. Even the tools in the foreground.
– The various improvised tools made by shipbuilders to get the work done. I was told how in an overly specific manner, I genuinely respect that.
This tour guide was awesome. She knew why I was taking figure photography pictures later (I asked her and showed her my attempts) with Renge posing with the boat behind her. A few awkward moments, even noting how and why I was visiting Vancouver (from when to when) and with what to see (to eat) at a nearby park. I eventually took her advice, a few days later.
– Yes! I’m finally close to this beautiful vessel! Excellent.
– My various and numerous attempts at keeping her standing with the boat in the background. I struggled, especially with the gaps in between the logs. I made sure to go to where her parts wouldn’t slip through the cracks.
– Image came out mostly as I desired. Even the tour guide girl loved it. Sadly, I do not know her name. I’m however satisfied these images came out well. Struggling with the phone’s auto-focus was a pain in the rear before, during, and after this situation.
– Boat focus.
– Grew up influenced by Canada’s admiration for the East Coast settlements now seeing the western side at this shipyard museum. I love how these were build and displayed.
– A lovely pond to admire.
– Chicken coop. As an Anime Otaku I immediately thought of the various Anime school scenes relating to these chicken coops. I have a unique perspective on these simplistic structures. Nothing lewd, just nostalgic and amusing how my mind is shaped by Anime.
– A nice view from the Chinese bunkhouse. No joke, this view is overly amazing and stunning. I love how they set this place up.
More social awkwardness as I try talking to some Asian tour guides. Lovely young girls who I feel I may have accidentally scared, or frightened in some way, shape, or form. Once again, my social anxiety rising and being out of my comfort zone. It was a nice experience seeing and learning, I however feel so out of place. Anxiety, fear of being awkward. I’m overly conscience about it, especially when I’m being jabbed and poked at (for good reasoning). It just stresses me out further. I’m constantly “on alert” needing something to loosen me up. It’s why I took the trip to simply enjoy the scenery, and that I have.
I’m constantly thinking how much I screwed up, done stuff wrong, and it just keeps adding on. It’s just not something I can stop thinking about. This is life, and not a game. I’m constantly tensed up.
And again, I’m glad I ventured where I ventured. I’m glad I took the time to read the signs, to learn how hard it was for the Chinese workers, and the harshness the Canadians, the Chinese, and Japanese had to go through. They (all three) had to put up with crazy stuff, as with myself with social anxiety.
– The young Asian tour guides were dismissed for how quiet it was and I just roamed around trying to make sense of everything. Taking everything in. I’m happy with the hospitality with how people greet you a welcome and goodbye. That’s something that’s missing in Ottawa, and in general.
I wish people (in Ottawa, and in general) would be friendlier knowing how to say “hello”, “goodbye”, and the various other formalities. Even if it’s fake and forced, something is better than nothing. I miss the Slovakian formalities, people at least acknowledged you existed, even if they were zombi’ing their way life in auto-pilot mode. A few folks in Ottawa however are human, they do these simple things, there needs to be more of a push to treat one another with acknowledgement and respect.
No wonder people are secluded, introverted, and reclusive. Push for more formalities. Pardon the ramble/rant, it’s just a frustration I’ve had for a long while that I forgot about. I’m glad I made note of it. I admire British Columbia for acknowledging your presence, even when I (myself) and socially awkward struggling to be human again after the harsh treatment in Ottawa from the crazy amounts of bullying, etc.
– Checking everything out, documenting it, and admiring every bit of detail. Makes me think of the various old Canadian movies I’ve also seen in schools.
– Seeing is believing.
– Certain areas were off limits with an upstairs blocked off (no visible entry). I was genuinely paranoid I would walk into another tour-guide when I wanted to simply explore. My anxiety with tour-guides (as nice as they are) hit a high.
– A lovely set-up. I loved the tapping on the wood with the shoes. Has a nice soothing sound to it.
– Once again admiring the scenery, the bounds, and the Eastern-esque style of these buildings. I love these ‘traditional’ styled green set-ups.
– Renge admiring some purple flowers (behind her). A few of those around Richmond.
– Once again struggling with the phone’s auto-focus. Renge still admiring the flowers.
– Statue dedicated to Japanese fisherman.
– Was hard to pose Renge with the statue. She’s too bright, the sun was coming out. YOLO! I simply took the image (after many tries) in frustration and moved on.
– Interesting seeing these scattered around every few feet on the walkway leading to Gary’s Point Park.
– Renge’s anchor amusement (Azur Lane influenced).
– Renge’s teaseful “bleh~” moment.
– Renge sitting high on an anchor.
– Making me think of Netherlands. Vancouver sure has some interesting boat culture going on. Various structures, boat types, and colours to them. The true Canadian experience.
– Excellent. Look at that unique beauty.
– On one hand I’m happy these are scattered around on the pathway, on the other hand it sucks these are left to be destroyed by Vancouver’s wet climate. It pains me when I see Canadians treat historical relics with disregard, such as HMCS Haida and the Avro Arrow replica being left to rot away. HMCS Uganda/Quebec vessel not being kept as a museum ship as HMCS Haida was.
On a side-note to my caption above:
A news segment noted how the Avro Arrow replica was left sitting at Toronto Pearson Airport to be destroyed by the elements. It was left neglected, in disrepair. A commenter later (probably those handling the Avro Arrow) noted in a Youtube comment the Avro Arrow was never left in disrepair. I’m left puzzled by that comment. I don’t want to come off as snobby, nor arrogant. Conflicting information there.
Either way, Canadians need to respect their historical culture more. Cherish them.
– Snapping images of masts, anchors, and any noteworthy landmark. Shame it wasn’t moderate sunny weather to capture better images. Clouds ruined this shot. Yes, still cloudy after an hour or two.
– Found it! Now, I wish the parking lot was empty so I could have posed Renge with the Canadian flag. The true Canadian flag, not the fake rainbow coloured one I’m seeing back in Ottawa corrupted by faux-politics.
– Pistachio ice cream get!
– Timmy Kitchen. Hey! That’s my restaurant! I should have dropped by for the fun of it for my name sake reasoning. See what would have happened for the fun of it.
– I see I reached an eastern-Canada portion of Richmond Vancouver. This style is similar to that of P.E.I and Newfoundland & Labrador. The seagulls and birds being of curiousity for how foreign they are to me.
– Steveston – Fisheries and Ocean Canada.
– These navy boat appearing vessels caught my interest. Same with my friend. He was as curious as I was about these navy-grey vessels.
– Admiring every bit of these historical touristy areas.
– Gulf of Georgia Cannary.
– I had a nice laugh out of this. Mowing the grass while riding a Segway type vehicle.
– Canadian Fishing Company.
– Something I wasn’t expecting to see…. A forklift truck carrying an empty pallet across the walkway. I’m used to seeing these in Japanese media, not in Canada. I need to train my mind that this is also a Canadian thing.
– For someone who was known to eat Salmon almost every night pre-2020 disaster this mural speaks to me. This giant wall painting is awesome.
– Lookie what I found! A nice old Dodge vintage truck. I’m genuinely glad and thankful I visited both Vancouver and British Columbia.
– Gorgeous! I simply wish the fence wasn’t in the way. I want to see it unobstructed by fencing.
– Steveston Harbour – Fishing Forever!
Finally made it to Gary’s Point Park! At last! Not that it took too long, it’s both close, yet far, yet close. It was a nice scenic walk with some interesting detours. Encountered a cyclist disregarding a sign of having to dismount. They failed to dismount and walk their bike.
Tried to seek out a good placed to take more figure photography. This is a better place than any having re-realized there is a Japanese themed garden attached to this park. Excellent.
Kuno Garden:
– Renge’s greetings at ‘Kuno Garden’.
– Renge waiting, observing.
– Various attempts were had to capture Renge’s moments.
– Admiring the simplistic beauty of Kuno Garden with Renge.
Like I’ve said a few times in my previous blog postings (Prologue, Day 1, etc) I came to Vancouver to escape Ottawa’s negativity, to visit my friend, and to most specifically admire a deeper side of Japan and its culture. Vancouver has a larger Japanese population (closer), more noteworthy, and just easier to access than in Ottawa. I live in a “city that fun forgot” being politically corrupted by faux-politics in the same way British Columbia is, just that you can easily immerse yourself into Japan’s culture in Vancouver through parks, restaurants, various mini Japanese museums, etc. Especially with all this faux-Covid and political corruption roaming around Canada I had to find an outlet to regain my sanity.
I’m well aware people shall view me as a radical, allegedly having “spicy hot takes”, and whatever. I try to be true to myself, unlike most people who try to pretend to seek clout on Twitter, social media, etc. Yes, I’ve desired followers, etc, pre-2017, just not in the way people scolded me for. My simple goal was to simply be acknowledged for being a human desiring to discuss my hobbies with others while other people propped up their faux-persona, hijacking hobbies for popularity. Even sending hate mobs at me for simply enjoying my hobbies. That’s beside the point of Kinu Park.
I simply admire Japanese culture, even when knowing its dark side. How Japanese teens are forced to be homeless, forced to suicide, sexually abused, etc. There are pros and cons to everything, even how Canadian government treated Japanese citizens as they now treat their citizens as a whole in 2020 onward in a corrupted Trudeau government. I needed my British Columbia escapism. Revenge traveling, as the media put it. People are fed up of being treated as slaves trapped in their homes, and not for the right reasons either, as social justice warriors love shaming people for.
– Renge admiring her own Japanese atmosphere. She is a robotic Japanese ninetailed Fox (Kitsune), this garden suits her well. Past, present, and future visited Japanese locals, it all suits her.
– “…Respectfully honour the courage and spirit of the pioneers led by Mr Gihei…”
– Struggling to capture the full beauty of both Renge and the garden, especially with people roaming around.
– Jiiiiii~
– Hey! It’s a tug boat! Niceu~
– This Ferry is awesome. Carrying all those trailers for trucks. What a nice style.
– My struggle to capture Renge with the Ferry. Very windy in this area. A lovely memorable moment, saved for admiration 🙂 “Renge was here!”
– Had to take multiple takes for how stressful these takes were. I’m happy these came out well.
– Tug boat and the Ferry. Get!
– Steveston Fisherman Memorial. Renge in a semi respect pose.
– My solo time with this memorial timed out. I struggled to capture images without people. What a nice memorial though.
– In memory….
– Washed up logs and charred logs. People setting logs on fire.
– A randomly build hut. Homeless? Natural? Either way, it’s neat.
– Admiring its beauty.
– A colourful rusting wreck of a ball. Hmm………
– Panorama time! I’m curious as to why Gary Point Park appears to be dried out. Why the brown grass.
– Flowers!
– Scenic boat admiration.
– This is damn gorgeous. What a view.
After seeing planes taking off from a runway I bolted to try to capture various planes on camera. I speed-walked from Gary Point Park, up the coast, and towards River Dr/Terra Nova area. My friend suggestion I shouldn’t walk through the dyke trail noting how long it would take. Suggested I should take a bike to do so.
– Feels like I’m somewhere else. This is Vancouver, eh? Impressive. This is on the Dyke Trail heading up towards Vancouver airport (still the early part of the walk).
– My friend frequented this area during his first year in Richmond, and Vancouver. I saw it for the first time in person.
– Panorama view! Woooooo!~
– Speed walking my way up towards the Vancouver airport area. Insanely long and far distance. Even an Asian dude who started off behind me walked faster than me ending up further. Had to pass numerous people while sweating a lot. Took my sweater off, finally. Zipped up my pockets with Renge and treats inside.
– Video – Plane spotting a Harbour Air aircraft on final while making my way towards Terra Nova, River Drive.
– Golfing area.
– Constantly seeing and hearing planes taking off. Even seeing Beaver and various other sorts of planes roaming around, the Harbour Air type planes. Looking between trees you can even see a Harbour Air plane flying by. Almost heading past a bend.
Took me just slightly under an hour to reach this point. If I hadn’t stopped to take pictures I’m willing to be 40 minutes. I timed my walk to be 57 minutes; An hour walk. I’m not doing that again, not unless I can talk to someone along the way, or have a bike to do so.
– FINALLY! I finally reached the Terra Nova & River Road lookout area.
– A De Havilland plane taking of.
– Double plane landing. A Canadian Surveillance plane and an Air Canada.
– Not the best of zooms, though happy I captured something over nothing. Seeing a plane I desired to capture landing at Vancouver airport.
– Lufthansa taxing to take-off and the Canadian Government Survey landing.
– Various Beavers, and other sorts of planes taking off and landing. Good place to spot them.
– My Samsung taking weird contrasts and image captures of these planes.
– Unintentional black & white capture.
– Unintentional Black & White capture.
– Video: My Samsung phone doing weird edits, ones I never intended to do. Also, fingerbomb at the end.
– Video: That’s a lovely melodic low rumble of a great engine. THAT is what I intended to capture. That raw vintage beauty of a sound.
– Video: The lovely vintage sound of a Beaver roaming around on take-off. THAT is what I desired to capture. The lovely low rumble of a properly made Canadian plane.
I genuinely can’t wait to start flying the Beaver aircraft in Microsoft Flight Simulator. A 40th anniversary is to release on November 11th with helicopters, various old vintage planes (Spirit of St. Louis, Beaver, DC-3, among others), including many others. I’m curious to see how these Beavers handle, sound, and behave in the Microsoft Flight Simulator. I wasn’t aware at the time I was there, I am when typing up this blog post about the 40th anniversary.
– I spy, with my little eye, a familiar Twin Otter with a float plane configuration.
– Plane spotting more of Vancouver’s aircrafts. Air Canada flights taking off.
– Hey! It’s my friend! The Canadian themed aircraft. WOOOOO!
– A curious Blackhawk appearing helicopter roaming around.
– The glorious 747 Lufthansa aircraft heading back to Germany!
– Waiting for my friend while capturing this.
– Trying to capture both planes in one shot.
– Video – Lufthansa 747 taking off. Near the end can even see an overly curious Crow/Raven roaming around.
– This cute Crow/Raven hung around long enough to be a special bird marking my trip. Both me and an Asian dude making note of him as s/he lurked.
– What a lovely bird.
– Capturing, what I believe, to a Finnish plane.
– KLM! One ay or another, this gorgeous plane has been captured. Another one knocked off my checklist of planes to capture. Friend picked me up, we drove, I captured this enroute to elsewhere.
– My favourite part of Vancouver, and this airport bridge, are these banners. These neutral banners, not your faux-politics people are corrupted with being morally corrupted.
– Visiting the inner airport area for the lookout. I desired to check it out on foot, too far. Fed-Ex planes. We were waiting on the A380.
– My favourite plane out of them all, the lovely Beaver Canadian themed aircraft.
– Another impressive float plane.
– Various half-cars towing vehicles, float planes, Beavers, etc. Beavers are awesome.
– More glorious Beavers.
– Fed-Ex taking off.
– The CargoJet I’m seeing more of, ones I’m now all to familiar with.
– Admiring the various smaller prop-jobs. How they unload, load, and various handlings of them.
While my friend and I were planespotting an older guy came up to us (having walked from his home to this area) curious about the happenings. He walked up to us, greeted us, curious about some sort of plane happening. Maybe relating to the Lufthansa 747, or even the KLM plane. We talked (the three of us) about various things, even how I’m from Ottawa. We discussed planes in Ottawa, what sorts I spot. My memory failed me forcing me to show images instead.
– The BAe Avro RJ100 type aircrafts spotted in Vancouver. Saw them flying (on flightradar24) around Kamloops, in pairs. Seeing them in person is awesome. These types (or similar) can be found as payware add-ons to Microsoft Flight Simulator. CargoJet can be seen in the background.
– Yukon Air North.
– Delta Airways taking off.
– Delta Airlines during take-off.
– Air Canada during take-off.
– Off it goes.
– Video – Air Canada taking off, a unique luggage handler roaming around waiting for a plane capturing another plane during a take-off. Loved my camera work on that one.
– Alaskan Air taking off.
– Busy image with Central Mountain Air unloading, business Jet taxiing, and Air Canada taking off.
– Air Canada taking off Again!
– N410FX – Embraer Legacy.
– Air Canada Dreamliner.
– Air Canada & Summit Air.
– Off it goes! Dreamliner flying off.
– WestJet.
– Westjet De Havilland being towed.
– Once again, captured another Lufthansa Airline aircraft. This time, upon take off.
– Friend spotting an Austin Martin. Bond Spec Vantage.
– Capturing a Fed-Ex almost in an artistic manner. Blurriness ruins it. Seagull on the lamppost
– An old vintage car pointing the other way. What a tease.
– Looking back trying to capture a take-off. An interesting blur I haven’t seen before.
– Having fun eating quickly at the Flying Beaver waiting for the A380 British Airways to land. We were in a rush.
– My meal, a salmon burger with crispy fries and a coke.
– A unique BMW I’ve never seen. An i8 Bimmer.
SpeedBird! SPEEDBIRD! SPEEEEEDBIRD! MAKE WAY FOR THE SPEEDBIRD! As we rushed and struggled to reach the viewpoint. My friend was overly excitable, for obvious reasons. Unsure if we were listening to the ATC on the radio in the truck. This is attempt two of three.
– Video – Planespotting the A380. The British BAe Avro landing first, followed by the British A380.
At this point we relocated from this lower viewpoint to the actual viewpoint we should have gone to. It was over-populated with other cars which forced us to this lower point. Below images are from the viewpoint we should have claimed for ourselves earlier.
– China Southern. Lovely colourful plane, another marked off the checklist.
– Xianmen Air.
– A380 British Airways parked. Nice!
– ??? , Air Canada, and Philippines Airlines.
– Lynx taxiing with an Air Canada taking off.
– Air Canada taxiing to takeoff.
– Air Canada Jazz landing.
– Double taxiing of Air Canada and the gated A380.
– Video – Air Canada landing during a sunset.
– These clouds over Vancouver still get me. They appear blurred, as if done through photoshop.
– Beautiful Vancouver sunset.
– Video – Plane spotting the all too common De Havilland aircraft, West jet.
– Viewing back my A380 video grabbing this screenshot on my phone.
– Another screenshot from the A380 video I’ve taken during this day.
– Third screenshot from the video. Tried to take the best one nice and centered.
After this, struggled to find a good Chinese restaurant for take-out. For both Vancouver & Richmond being both Chinese heavy, it sure is damn difficult trying to order takeout, especially with a debit card (no cash) in this city. We eventually found one, ‘Sing Yee Chinese Restaurant’. That was the only place that would welcome us, especially when being insanely busy. I was craving Chinese food, thus Chinese food was sought after. We went in, my friend called the restaurant to order seeing which waiter took the call. Just a few feet away from us. While he called I saw on the TV screens hanging above the chefs making the food in the back. The kitchen area had cameras to show food being prepared.
Time had elapsed, we went back to pick up our order, was told to wait just a little while longer. I nearly was ran over by a table being rolled to the back, something my friend witnessed. It was a chaotic, if authentic, Chinese experience. As long as I obtain my Singapore noodles I’m fine. Tried ordering it from ‘Circle 9’, they refused to screw them. ‘Sing Yee Chinese Restaurant’ should have been the fall back.
– Curry Rice Vermicelli – Singapore Noodles. Yummy~– Singapore Noodles from ‘Sing Yee Restaurant’ in the Richmond Neighborhood.
With that, we headed home with my friend going to sleep. I ate my noodles leaving the rest for the next day. A nice rewarding eventful day. I’m also even highly suspecting my adventures from today would hurt me on Day 5th’s adventures. I’m glad I had my Singapore noodles.
