Chinatown, Vancouver

We took the Skytrain (a subway) to Chinatown; visited the Chinese Garden; wandered around Chinatown and into shops for a gratuitously long time; had lunch at Jade Dragon, a traditional and dim sum Chinese restaurant (and hot green tea is very pleasant after you’ve been walking around on a cold, rainy day).

After lunch we walked some more around Chinatown, I looked at a map at the Chinese restaurant and told Dad about the Vancouver Police Museum and figured out that it’s on the outskirts of Chinatown, and he got excited about it and said let’s go there. So we walked over to that museum, which is in a charming old building. Best of all, a TARDIS figurine was in a display case full of police-related toys.

We did some more wandering (including past the gorgeous domed Carnegie Library, near the Police Museum) and wandered back in the general direction of the Chinatown Skytrain. (It’s a subway despite its name—it goes up and down depending on which train you’re riding.)

Carnegie Library

On the way to the train station—we were within sight of it—I persuaded my dad to go to an Asian supermarket I’d read about in my Vancouver travel book. We wandered around the shop and got four black bean-filled sesame balls; they’re the same size and shape as the sesame balls at Jade Tea House, but with bean filling instead of coconut filling. We also bought a tray of six little rice balls for an evening snack. Two of the little rice balls are pink, two are beige with sesame seeds and black seeds, and two are white rice balls. My dad figured after having such a huge lunch in Chinatown we wouldn’t want to have a full meal in the evening.