Visiting Vancouver: A heart touching experience

Ritayan Kashyap

Junior Research Fellow, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Tezpur University, Tezpur (India)
Mobile: +91 887 624 4284

This summer, I and my family made a maiden visit to the city of Vancouver. Vancouver, a port city located in the western coast of Canada is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. This year it was the venue of the 17th World Sanskrit Conference organised by the University of British Columbia. The  research paper of my mother,  Prof. Mukta Biswas was selected to be presented at the conference and we were very much excited to experience this trip. Our preparations for the trip had begun well before a month which included buying food items, suitcases, travel pillows besides a host of other items. Finally the much awaited day had arrived when we boarded our flight to Vancouver from Kolkata via Hongkong. After a long and enjoyable journey we reached Vancouver on the morning of 7th July. As we got out of the airport, we found that the weather at Vancouver was very pleasant. The summer was mild, with temperature hovering around 170c and a cool breeze accompanying throughout. We left for the University of British Columbia in a shuttle bus where we were provided accommodation. The university was not very far from the airport and the campus was spread over a huge lush green area. As we explored the campus, we were thrilled to find the sculpture of Rabindranath Tagore at the department of Asian Studies. We also visited a very beautiful Rose Garden located in the campus. The view of the blossoming roses in the garden against the backdrop of the Pacific Ocean was just breathtaking.

The city of Vancouver has a picturesque landscape- beautiful, clean and green without the hustle and bustle of traffic. The cottages near the countryside are beautifully decorated with flowers. Vancouver has a lot of places for sightseeing. The first day we visited the Vancouver Maritime Museum and the Kitsilano Beach located closeby. The view of the Pacific Ocean there was mesmerizing as we enjoyed the cold wind blowing from the ocean. We could see a lot of people relaxing in the beach and enjoying their time with their pet dogs. The following day we headed to Stanley Park which was the largest park in Vancouver spread over an area of over 400 hectares. It served as one of the major tourist attractions in the city of Vancouver. The horse drawn carts that provided live commentary was a lovely way to explore the park. The Rose Garden inside the Park was an absolute treat to the eyes. Next we walked across the street to reach the English Bay which seemingly resembled the Marine Drive of Mumbai.

Another very interesting area of the city is Gastown. It has a historic clock tower which has a steam driven clock, regarded as the first in the world to have been built, attracting a lot of tourists.  An exciting bicycle race going on in the area with the crowd cheering and the ringing noise of bells made the whole atmosphere very lively resembling the Tour de France event.

Canada Place, located in downtown Vancouver is the heart of the city and the home of the Vancouver Convention Centre, the Pan Pacific Vancouver Hotel as well as the World Trade Centre of Vancouver. It also houses the Flyover Canada, which basically provides a virtual tour of the country. People are made to sit in seats designed to elevate before a large, spherical screen. Special effects, including wind and aroma, are used to enhance the visuals, creating the illusion of actually flying over the landscape. Right next to the flyover Canada was the Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre. This is where one could sit back, relax and enjoy the breathtaking view of the seaplanes taking off from and landing at the majestic blue waters of the Pacific Ocean. The whole view of the area along with people sitting in the restaurants lined up and cycling around was enthralling. The Capilano Suspension Bridge and the Grouse Mountain located in far north Vancouver added further beauty to the natural landscape. 

However amidst all the beauty of the city it was the beautiful gestures and the amicable nature of the people that had touched our hearts deeply. We observed that the people driving cars there were very cautious about the pedestrians. Unlike our country where pedestrians find it difficult to cross the roads and have to keep waiting for the traffic to subside, it was a pleasant surprise to see the cars halt on their own just to allow the pedestrians to cross over to the other side of the road. The city buses over there have a number of seats reserved for the physically challenged people as well as for the parents carrying toddlers.

Whenever an elderly person would board the bus the driver would wait for the person to get seated before starting the journey. It was also heartening to see the young people always offering their seats in the bus whenever they saw a senior citizen standing by. Most of the passengers usually greeted or thanked the driver whenever they boarded or got down from the buses. In the public places another very overwhelming gesture to find was that of the local people coming up all of their own offering to click the pictures of the tourists in their phones.

Finally after a lovely stay of ten days, it was time for us to depart. Though the trip had come to an end, the lovely memories of Vancouver will forever remain in our hearts. We will always cherish the visit to this beautiful city and look forward to visiting it again.           

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