VANCOUVER IN THE RAIN

In the Vancouver Sun yesterday was a review of the restaurant we went to two days ago, Din Tai Fung.  A few surprises.

• It just opened last week.

• Is Canada's first Din Tai Fung.
• Can serve 312 customers at once.
• Raved about their Xiao Long Bao, or Shanghai soup dumplings.

• 
  DTF XLBs feature Kurobuta pork, and each dumpling is 21 ounces with 18 folds.  Ten for 19.50 Canadian dollars, or divided by 1.39 to $14 U.S. dollars, or $1.40 each.

• 
  Remember how Japanese wagyu beef was made famous by Kobe?
• Kurobuta pork is a Japanese breed developed in Kagoshima of a Berkshire pig from the UK
• First given as a gift in the 1800s to the Emperor of Japan.

• 
  There is a history, for in the 1640s, Oliver Cromwell's English soldiers were wintering the Shire of Berk and loved the taste of this unique black pig with white spots on tis legs, ears and snout.

• 
  However, it was in 1930 that two of these pigs were brought to Kagoshima, and apparently all the "legal" Kurobuta (meaning black pig) derives from them.
• However, of the half a million of all Berkshire pigs now farmed in Japan, only 40% come from Kagoshima.  

• 
  Yet in the USA alone are 21 million Berkshire pigs.
• However, these Kagoshima Kurobuta are regarded as more flavorful due to their diet and free-range habitat.

So what about Vancouver?

• Metro Vancouver now has 3 million residents, with British Columbia, one of 10 Canadian provinces, being the fastest growing.
• The city itself has 690,000 people.

• 
  Vancouver began to develop from 1867, beginning with Gastown (photo from 1870), renamed Vancouver in 1886.
• Hosted Expo 1986 and the 2010 Winter Olympics.

• 
  Greenpeace was founded here in 1969.
• Vancouver is the permanent home to TED conferences.
• Lot's of filming here, earning the nickname Hollywood North.
• In 2022 was ranked as having the fifth-highest quality of living of any city on Earth.  Might be a different comparison, but in 2025, Vancouver was the fourth best of Canadian cities in quality of life, with Edmonton #1, Calgary #2, and Ottawa as #3.
• Irreligion is at 55.8%, Christianity 29.9% and Buddhism 4%

• Canada Place is the 4th largest cruise ship terminal in the world.

The cosmetic treatment Botox was invented in Vancouver.

• Stanley Park is 10% larger that Central Park in New YorkCity.
• The grey squirrels of Stanley Park came from New York City in 1909.
• 40% of the total population is made up of immigrants.
• The California roll (sushi) was invented in Vancouver by Chef Hidekazu Tojo.

It was raining all day.  Not so much, but continuously.  It was also cold.  However, we decided to walk a block for lunch to Kamei Royale, a Japanese restaurant.  A pleasant surprise.

Hot sake and cold beer.

A meal of udon, miso soup, salad, seared salmon belly and collar and rice.

One of the five best lunches on this trip, especially the salmon.

We still had a second day of the Big Bus, so in this storm, we went for another 1.5 hour ride around
Vancouver.  No photos or videos, for the rain on the window obscured filming.  I've seen more of Vancouver in two days than of Honolulu in years.

Our hotel executive club is as junk as most of those in the USA or Canada.  They charge $11 for beer or a bit of wine.  Whisky?  Too much.  So we took some appetizers from that lounge and used our own scotch, which accumulated in thermos bottles from the cruise.  Plus, the view from our room is far superior to the club.  That paper cup of whisky would have cost at least $25 in the lounge.  Here in our room?  Free.

I was still filled from our lunch today, so what you see above was more than sufficient.  Walked 2868 steps today.

-