absolutum dominium

how is tt line relevant, you ask...?

well. it's gotta do with the junction of main st and hastings st in vancouver.

but first things first...

woke up this morning coz my dad opened my bedroom door and jumped onto my bed... right onto my leg. it FUCKING hurt.

but my mom fried crispy bacon and sausages for breakfast along with toasted bread and really creamy peanut butter.

mmm.

now tt was good.

anyway after tt we went over to royal bank of canada to open a bank account, and then took a bus down to ubc to check out the campus.

i think it's at least twice the size of nus.

it's really fucking huge. it's like an entity in itself.

worse. the shuttle bus service has been suspended till at least september.

so my tour of the campus was on foot. and we didn't really know where to go, so we had to follow the map.

but it was a pretty campus.



above and below: the straight road of East Mall.





my dad insisting i take a photo of him.



me and the faculty of law school. whoopie i found it!



and chan's centre of performing arts. i think tt's the equivalent of our ucc.

anyway after tt it was over to chinatown back in vancouver.

my dad was disappointed coz according to him, there was "nothing in chinatown".

well. what do you expect? one chinatown in one country cannot be too different from another chinatown in another country. there will still be the gaudy cheena temple-like/pavillion-like signboards saying "welcome to chinatown" at the front and back of chinatown; there will still be the chinese restaurants with the silly names like "hon's house of noodles" and "little peking restaurant" tt will be run by cutthroat argumentative honkeys tt even my mom can't out-argue (yes. she did get into an argument with a waitress over a mistaken order and the waitress just proceeded to argue back); and the little medicinal shops and hardware stores and bakeries where they sell chicken pies and cream cakes and still greet you in cheerful cantonese or heavily-accented english reminiscent of "be a man. do the right thing."

anyway we walked down to main st and hastings st. well. mom and dad got into yet another bicker session about directions. dad said "walk straight". and therefore mom stormed all the way down main st. even though it was odd to me tt people and cars generally turned back at the junction before entering the st. i had stopped at the junction to take a shot of chinatown (the one below)...



...so i only caught up with my parents coz she had stopped.

and then after passing a back alley, i understood why. welcome to the drug area of canada.

this alley was crowded with people in thick pullovers (even though it was summer and even *i* was in a tank top), and they were standing around sniffing something. and whoopdeedoo, my mom chose this time to pull an "i told you so" and blamed my dad for walking into a questionable area, while my dad lost his temper and snapped at her loudly, causing everyone in the alley to look in our direction.

talk about stupidity 101.

anyway my mom decides to quickly walk out of main st, and turns left into hastings. which, unsurprisingly, looks like a continuation of main st.

well. tt's coz we're just wandering FURTHER into drug area.

and here's where the homeless sleep in the streets, people push weed on street corners, and as you go on the hookers stand around too. crime area, drug area, sex area, you got it all here. fortunately we manage to get a cab (and my dad insults the black cabbie by calling him indian. he WHOLE LIKE fucking racist. it's embarassing enough tt my dad is acting bloody swaku all the time. it's WORSE when he starts being openly racist when it's not even his own country. told him a hundred fucking times canada is not like singapore. guns are legal, and you don't get thrown in jail just for throwing one punch. and considering the size of the people here, one punch is more than enough to break my dad's face. and i don't think a black belt in taekwondo alone is enough to save him if he acts like he owns this place), and then the cabbie told us about the untold truce. feels like 'old town' in sin city. in drug area the cops stay out. it's controlled. everyone who wants to do something comes here and stays here and dies here. there's a park with an ambulance parked next to it to collect the bodies of the people who die there. as long as you stay to your side of the street, the cops don't care. but cross the invisible boundary, and you get arrested immediately.

well. now tt was an eye-opener. now i know why downtown vancouver is so safe compared.

anyway we have wendy's burgers and chicken for dinner. YUM.

see ya guys again. :)