Sunday 1st September
After quite a few hectic days, today was going to be a little more relaxed...of sorts. Dan came to pick me up and the plan for the day was to head out of downtown and go east, out towards where he lived in a place called Coquitlam.
On the way out, Dan drove me around some of the more unfavourable areas of downtown, it was quite staggering to see the change within just a few blocks. One minute it's nice clean and modern, next it's run down and the streets are swarmed with down and outs, crack heads and prostitutes. Quite sad really...
Our first stop was Buntzen Lake. It's 4.8 km in length and is fed from Coquitlam Lake which is higher up in the mountains. The area is beautiful, settled in the rainforests. Dan had bought his dog with him so we took him for a walk around the lake, roughly an 8km walk... So much for taking it easy ;-)
It turned out to be a really nice hike, a bit hilly at times but enjoyable none the less. Dans dog, Cooper, is a 2 year old springer, with bounds of energy and adorably cute! I think he wanted to go round twice but Dan and I were exhausted so we went to his house where I got to meet his wife Ebony, and their 3 month old daughter, Evie. They kindly treated me to Dim sum at a local restaurant ... It was delicious and the first time I have seen them bring the food out on trollies outside of Hong Kong! (and yes, we ate more squid)
After lunch we dropped Ebony and Evie off and took 15 minutes to chill out before Dan and I headed out again with Dudley. An older springer that belongs to friends of Dans that they are dog sitting for. Dudley has recently had a broken leg so he's not yet up for long walks so we took him out for a shorter walk at a different lake and just let him have a bit of a run about.
As we headed back Dan drove me around his neighbourhood and was pointing out some of the nice mansions. There are some seriously nice houses in Coquitlam! As we passed one, Dan suddenly stopped the car saying "Oh my god, I've just seen a bear!"
It's not uncommon for bears to drift into residential areas, but for this one to come out this way it had drifted quite far and would have had to come across some pretty major roads. Signs all over Canada say not to approach bears and to always keep at least 100ft away. Dan drove the car close to the drive he'd seen it go down, and parked up...Just as the bear stuck his head out from behind a tree. Dan managed to get a quick picture, but I was too late. We were now on bear watch, camera at the ready. Neighbours started to come out and show an interest, with a few asking who had a shotgun! Next thing we know this old Italian (or, as Dan thought, Russian) guy with a walking stick appears, saying he was off to find it. He goes marching down the driveway, shouting and banging his walking stick on anything that would make a noise. He jumped back as he saw the bear move, but then went in shouting louder. Looking back it was hysterical but if the bear had attacked he wouldn't have stood a chance.
After a few minutes of this we were set to give up, when all of a sudden the old guy rushes past us shouting "There he is, there he is" we look round to see the old guy waving his stick around, running after this bear which suddenly darted up the nearest tree and cowered in the branches! Mental! We didn't hang around after that so we never did get to find out what happened but I did manage to get some photos!
Back to Dans and we rounded of the day with a sushi feast before Dan drove me back. Such a great day out and it was also really good getting to catch up with Dan. He's been here 3 years now and he sounds very settled and loves it.... I can see why, it really does feel like an easy place to live...(if you forget about bears!)
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