Shanghai Czech-in: Semester 14 Chapter XXI: Views Everywhere

Hey y’all. Checking back in from Canada. It’s been nearly a week since I arrived here. Last couple of days I’ve been getting familiar with the place. Getting used to the time difference, figuring shit out in the area and, thanks to my lovely people over here, exploring pretty much everything there is to explore here.

When I started getting my shit together in terms of energy and sleep deprivation, I established a workout schedule. Since I usually finish work sometime in the morning, I almost always have the apartment for myself until my friends get back from work. So I have plenty of time to do some push-ups, sit-ups and some meditation. They also have this wooden thing above the door frame you can use for pull-ups which is not really a bar tho. It’s more like a board with different holes in it so you can’t really fully wrap your fingers around it. Apparently, it’s by design. It’s not only about the actual pull-ups but also about your grip which comes pretty handy if you’re into climbing. Which they are. For me it means that I’m on about 50% of my regular amount of repeats. I keep sliding off. To compensate for that, I got back to planks. Been couple of years since I stopped but it still kinda goes. Kicked it off with 2 minutes and I’m raising it by 10 seconds every day. Let’s see how far I make it. I also had figure out running. The plan of the city is pretty typical for North America. At least in my experience. You got couple of main roads (avenues) crossed in a pretty regular manner by numbered streets which makes orientation quite simple. However, it’s a bit of a nightmare for running. There’s a junction like every 100 meters. If you take it all the way down the sea tho (about 1.7 km from the apartment), you get to the Spirit Trail which goes by the water all the way west to the ocean. So that’s my shit now. Every time I go there, I run for a bit longer. It kinda reminds me of running and cycling trails in Shanghai. Very well designed, offers really nice views, goes through various neighborhoods and parks…. And it’s rarely disturbed by the city traffic.

As for the exploration… Thursday evening, we went to West Vancouver. From what I’ve learned, it’s the poshest area around here and it totally looks like it. Lotta buildings over there look like money. We went to the beach area where lotta people sunbathed, played volleyball and generally enjoyed good weather. The weather has been great since Wednesday btw; sunny and around 25 degrees. Friday, my guys took me downtown. It’s all very lovely over there. Seems like public space actually works. All the parks and beaches are full of people. Public transport everywhere (including these cute little boats and shared cars), lots of areas to hangout, many cool bars and restaurants. The actual city isn’t massive (compared to other megacities I’ve had a chance to see) but it is still pretty fucking big, it has the skyscrapers, the modern vibes, a fucking apple store… But in the combination of nearly Scandinavian surroundings, it all seems pretty people-friendly. We walked for quite some time and we wrapped the evening up with a beer close to the Seabus station. We crossed the river right after and took a bus back home. See, everybody has a fucking car over here but when it comes to the city itself, public transport is totally a feasible alternative.

Saturday morning, we packed some shit in the car and went for a trip. First, we stopped by in Squamish, a city around 60km away, to visit some of my people’s friends and get cable car passes. From there, we took it to Sea to Sky Gondola, got in the cable car and went up the mountain for a pretty epic trail. Everything here looks gorgeous. There’s abundance of forests, mountains, crystal clear lakes. You get amazing views almost all the time and the beauty never ends. We spent couple of hours up there, got back down and drove for some dinner to this A Frame brewery with a burger truck right next to it. Both beer and vegan burgers were bomb. After that, we moved to our final destination. At that point, I understood how important it is to have a solid car if you’re into shit like that. We climbed pretty fucking steep hills completely off road like it was nothing. See, when you drive Pluto in Tenerife all the time, sometimes you forget that there actually are normal cars with strong engines that climb up without any problems. And the monster my people drive can handle some solid terrain too. Anyways, we made it to a spot they like with (again) some epic views, met up with two of their friends, set up fire and then talked and drank till late night. The night sky was crazy too. By midnight I felt pretty tired so I got into my tent and called it a day. And that was the best sleep in Canada so far. Woke up around 9, let some of the morning scenery sink in, got some coffee and food with everybody, and then we went back down. See, I’m a fucking amateur when it comes to camping. I enjoy it but I haven’t really done it for real. So yeah, I’m grateful for this experience and I’m grateful for being accompanied by people who know what they’re doing.

Well, after all that we went more up north, stopped at some waterfalls and then proceeded to the town of Whistler, where we got some coffee and walked around. Pretty regular small town with some more cable cars and bike trails right by it. Afterwards we moved couple more kilometers north to this Beer Framers joint. As the name suggests, it’s another brewery with a farm attached to it. Yet again, good beer, nice views, great time. There’s one interesting things with the farms over here. In some areas there’s quite a lot of them and they often have a little hut by the road where you can go a take whatever produce they offer. The amazing thing is, there’s nobody there. You get what you want and you send them money for it. Can’t really see this model working in the Czech Republic. It’s lovely. We stopped at one of those for some veggies and then we started moving back to Vancouver. Apart for about 40 minutes of some slow traffic (apparently due to an accident), the journey was smooth. Got back home, had some dinner and got ready for some work before I go to bed. Weekend was fucking bomb.

So yeah, back at my temporary room, back at the laptop, another week ahead of me. Even though Canada has never been on my bucket list, I’m super happy I eventually made it up here. There’s definitely something about it. So yeah, shout out to my people here. All of this is highly appreciated. Also sending some love to everyone who needs it. One!