Usually I publish travel articles in order of when I did them, but the Whistler, BC articles will be in next edition, closer to Whistler Pride. Though this one will center mostly on Richmond, BC, the accommodation for this trip was in Vancouver, plus we got a chance to visit the Vancouver Aquarium again.
Rob, Justin and I drove in following Whistler Pride 2017 and checked in at our hotel, the Burrard. The Burrard was the perfect place for us for this short stay. It allowed us to be right by Davie Street and check out the gay community. Since we had the car with us, we could easily drive over to Stanley Park and to Richmond for the main part of the tour.
When you only have four gay bars to go to in Alberta – three in Calgary and one in Edmonton – going to Vancouver is a refreshing experience. Not to say that our bars are disappointing in Alberta, it’s nice to see different faces with some friends from around Vancouver in the mix. Pumpjacks is always nice to hang out at too, though I did not get a chance to hang out there as long as I would have liked.
As you walk along Davie Street, you notice how multi-cultural it is. It feels like you can get food from just about every corner of the world along that strip. After checking things out on Sunday night as late as we could, we headed back to the hotel.
All our sightseeing was stuffed into Monday. We headed out first thing in the morning and drove over to Stanley Park. This park provides amazing views. It is lush with tall trees and vegetation. There is a road that goes all the way around the outside edge of the park, but it is best just to park and walk or bike the numerous pathways.
As you travel around the outside edge, you can see different views of Vancouver’s downtown core and, depending on where you are on the path, see North Vancouver or West Vancouver. If you are paying attention, you will see some aquatic life in the water. Stanley Park is a nice get-a-way spot from the hectic city, still close to the Vancouver core.
Inside of Stanley Park is the Vancouver Aquarium. We arrived just as they opened; lots of children were excited waiting out front to get in. It had been arranged for us to get a behind the scenes tour of the facility. I was really hoping it included seeing the sea otters, but sadly they could not accommodate it. At least we did get just over an hour to check things out before needing to head to Richmond.
From Stanley Park to Chef Tony Seafood Restaurant in Richmond, the drive was about from 50 minutes. When you are traveling to Vancouver by air and leave the Vancouver International Airport, you go north, and you are in Vancouver. If you go south, you are in Richmond. Located on Lulu Island, Richmond’s north side has the North Arm Fraser River and on the south side of Richmond is the Fraser River.
Richmond is home of the largest percentage of Chinese population in North America at 53 per cent. It also has the highest amount of immigrant population in Canada at 60 per cent. Most of the signage will be in either Chinese or another Asian language, along with English, so you can still get around. It gives you the feeling you have made your way to Hong Kong. Asian cuisine is everywhere. It can be kiosks in malls, to high-end sit down restaurants. Food served ranges from traditional and home-style to elevated or fusion. Every couple steps you find a new place to check out.
Tourism Richmond has capitalized on this, creatively showcasing restaurants through a dumpling trail. There are 20 restaurants along it and, I believe, there are going to be more. The restaurants can be Chinese, Korean, Japanese or other Asian country. You can try the dumplings boiled, deep fried, pan fried, steamed or baked, and each restaurant will have their own versions, so you don’t get bored. Go on an empty stomach because you won’t stop wanting to try more.
The dumpling trail is great for anyone who just wants to have a great meal to people who are experienced dumpling eaters like myself. Tourism Richmond offers a map outlining what to expect from each location. If you feel like you should try to work off some of the calories from eating too much, it helps that a lot of the restaurants can be two or three blocks away from one another.
During our trip, we started at Chef Tony Seafood Restaurant, in a strip mall, then headed across the parking lot inside Empire Centre to the Shanghai Station. After that was the Samsoonie Noodle and Rice, which serves Korean dumplings. We decided to drive so right after eating, we could make it over to Steveston. The distance from the two restaurants was a six-minute drive, or a 20-minute walk. Dinner for the night was at Hoi Tong Chinese Seafood. I love eating, but eating at four different restaurants in one day was a first for me.
Steveston is part of Richmond and a short 15-minute drive from Samsoonie Noodle and Rice. Steveston is also where the TV Show Once Upon a Time’s main-street is filmed. In the TV show, the town is called Storybrooke and is located in Maine. It’s interesting that in Richmond, you can go from the look of the east coast of Hong Kong, then to the look of East Coast, United States, while remaining in Canada on the West Coast. I can understand now why so many movies and series are filmed in the Vancouver area.
After doing Steveston, before heading for dinner, we did check out the Aberdeen Centre, which holds over 160 stores and eight full service restaurants. The main area has three floors and lots of parking. It is not the biggest mall in Richmond, but it does stand out from the rest. The mall boasts brand name stores that are the first flag ship stores from Japan, China and Korea in Canada.
The Daiso department store is like a huge Dollarama specializing in Asian products, with most of the products being around the $2 mark. Since I only had 30 minutes to spend in the mall, I did not get a chance to shop, or I could have easily spent several hours going through all the ceramic wares, handy house wares and more. The store is over 26,000 square feet and has an inventory of about 50,000 items! I hope they will open more locations across Canada soon.
I would have loved another day in Richmond, since I kept coming across things I wanted to do and food I wanted to taste. Richmond has me hooked to come back and do more of the dumpling trail. There are lots of cool, unique Asian stores that would be fun to spend time shopping in. Also checking out Steveston was a great experience, especially since we have interviewed some of the cast of Once Upon a Time at the Calgary Expo.
I know that most people in the LGBTQ Community will spend a lot of time on Davie Street, but I would recommend spending some time in Richmond while you are in the Vancouver area, too. It is best to go as a group, to share the food and enjoy the rich culture of Richmond, BC.
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Contributor Steve Polyak |
Locale British Columbia | Richmond | Vancouver |
Topic Accommodation and Lodging | Food | Travel |
Photo Gallery Richmond, BC |
