Revisiting a dear friend....... Meeting Zu in YUK-TOWN (Vancouver to Abbotsford & back)

I sleep and sleep and sleep.... until 9:30
Curing out the cold or just relief that I don't have to visit the house today?

It's raining and ugly outside again...

Noon.  It's still Grey and COLD and Wet outside...... I can't believe how much I DISLIKE this city.
But I'm packed and I've cleared the room to be cleaned while I'm gone.   
Time to go.
I quickly abandon my first choice for breakfast/lunch when I see that there is a HUGE line-up at the local Denny's and that even the chairs at the bar counter are all occupied.   I'll never get used to the fact that in this country it is the BAD restaurants that are packed and the GOOD restaurants that are empty.

But I'm too hungry to start the drive to Abbotsford without food, so I end up at Sushi-Man again....

...and I'm glad that Denny's was packed..... the food here is definitely healthier ;-)

I shouldn't have looked at Google Maps.... traffic over the bridge will be a nightmare again..... on a Saturday at noon...... 

Ugly

Traffic ain't all that bad after all...... a quick stop at Superstore to buy lotion, shavers, new shorts, of course I forget toothpaste & toothbrush

Uglier

The next hour is probably one of the most depressing of my life...... 

Trapped in an endless metal caravan hurtling over endless concrete & asphalt landscapes through heavy rain under dark grey skies.

Ugliest !

14:00
Abottsford! I check into my $95 hotel.... they give me a room in the Motel section..... with a giant Diesel generator working right in front of my room and not even plastic cups inside the room....  so I'm drinking wine out of a paper cup.   What a civilized country...... NOT !

Speaking of the wine..... the FIRST HIGHLIGHT of the day.....

I found it again..... after looking for it for 2 years ;-)
The liquor store opens tomorrow morning at 11:00, so I'm going to buy a box (or two?) of this heavenly elixir before heading back to Vancouver !

I walked to the liquor store...... apparently not something anyone does here.... an endless noisy and stinky flow of cars on the roads ..... the only other people walking are carrying "Help! I'm hungry!" signs.   What a HELL HOLE !  The amount of homeless people in this stretch of mercantile megalomania comes as a shock.  There are no homeless people in rural Vietnam.... the social structure is still intact and differences in income are not that extreme.   But Canada is such a RICH country... just imagine what all these people in their big cars spend money on all day long ..... but there doesn't seem to be any money for the less fortunate.

16:30
The reception is calling me to tell there that there is a woman to see me.   Zu is here!

It takes me a few minutes to wake up but it's GREAT to see her. Neither of us can remember when we got together the last time.... more than one year ago!

Time passes quickly..... many common acquaintances in all kinds of places between Quy Nhon and Saigon and between Winnipeg and Norderney.

 We even almost manage to finish the HUGE sushi platters.

20:00
I am sad to see Zu go..... but I have a plan to cycle to 100 Mile House in July ;-)
And I've just collected even more Karma debits......

I don't know how she does it. Zu finds First Nations bear things for me all the time .....

6:30
Wow lots of sleep again....
I skip the free hotel breakfast because I still have Salami & Bread from yesterday.....

Talking to Zu yesterday I realized that I have to DOUBLE my daily Vietnamese lessons...... and I DO....which leaves me with a sense of accomplishment......and I'm Dancing in My Room again ;-)

But that might also be the result of Les Fleurs du Mal going down EXTREMELY well, LOL.

11:00
I've checked out and I'm in the Liquor Store.   I would like TWO CASES of Les Fleurs du Mal, please...... NO, they don't have enough but I make my way back to Vancouver with 17 bottles ;-)

12:00
I'm back in my room and they DIDN'T CLEAN it....... I knew full well why I had asked Rainbow to tell them, but she thought they'd do it on their own..... Ah well, I get a new towel and more toilet paper from the Asian lady and I'll be good for a while!

14:30
What to do with the half-remaining day?  The weather is uncooperative again.  Dark grey at 10 degrees even though it is not raining YET...... 

17:30
I haven't had any decent food yet today.... maybe that's why I am so sluggish (or maybe I'm dying?)..... let's check that by having a curry bowl at Denny's (I'm too LAZY to drive anywhere else)

In the very last minute I get my act together, get the bicycle out, and ride to Pho Garden for Bun Thit Bo !  The place is almost packed .... and it's surprisingly full of Asians ;-)

The kitchen  (Mother & Father!) is slow catching up to the many orders (no skimping on proper preparation) but as soon as the food's flavour hits my taste buds, I feel like I'm back on a tiny red chair on my village street.

Bun Thit Bo Nuong 

The portion seems HUGE at first, but most of the content of the bowl consists of bean sprouts and other vegetables....  not only it is yummy, it is even healthy... it's like this restaurant is the ANTI-particle to Denny's, LOL.

Now that I have 17 bottles of fabulous Rose and enough yogurt in the fridge, there really is no longer a reason to go to Denny's in the morning.  And this Viet place opens at 10 am....   A change that will be beneficial both for my wallet and for my waistline .... the only drawback will be that I'll see Eda less often.... but that can be easily fixed ... ;-)

Let's see how long this resolution will last, LOL.

What's this in the news?
Pete Buttigiek (even I am tempted to make fun of that name), an openly gay US mayor is running for President in 2020. 

But consider THIS: he speaks EIGHT languages.  That's 7 more than Donald Dump can comprehend.   IMHO that makes Pete the much better choice ;-)


One more Vietnamese lesson..... and I'm SHOCKED.... because even the language lessons express why I am SO IN LOVE with that country:

Su than thien cua ban thay doi toi.

Your friendliness changes me !