Vancouver!

AILA Conference 2008
June 25 - 29, 2008

Wanna spend a weekend with thousands of lawyers discussing PERM and E-Verify and filing deadlines and other business immigration issues? Hmm... not so much. Rephrase the question please. Wanna spend 4 nights in a classy hotel in Vancouver paid for by the company, explore a vibrant cosmopolitan city in another country, try out exciting new restaurants, and visit with old friends and family? Well, when you put it that way... I'm there!

Jack and I drove our trusty Prius up to Vancouver on Wednesday afternoon, June 25, making it into town just in time to check into our hotel, chill out a little and then meet up with a bunch of old and new friends at Kingyo, the hip new izakaya in the West End. Here is a bunch of the immigration lawyers we met up with that first night...

While Jack spent the next day learning about new immirgration procedures and legislation in conference sessions held at the Canada Center, I roamed the downtown streets of this sophisticated and diverse city. Vancouver has quickly become one of our favorite reasons for living in the Pacific Northwest- the Canadian border is not only the boundary demarcating our country from the next, it also marks the gateway to a plethora of incredible food options, including the best dim sum we've ever had, rich and chewy ramen noodles, super juicy xiao long baos (soup dumplings) and fresh and decadent sushi and seafood. This close proximity to fabulous Asian food is so important to us, especially because we haven't found anything comparable in Seattle. Yes, we really will drive 2 hours to eat dim sum.

This trip happened to coincide with my parents' planned vacation to the Rocky Mountains, Richmond, B.C. being the jumping point for their Chinese tour. We planned to spend a day together in Vancouver before they left for their week long trip. Here, we share a hearty and satisfying meal at Shanghai Wonderful, home of one of the most delicious hot pots we've ever had. Check out that empty bowl... we ate it all!

We spent the next day exploring the artisan shops and produce stands on Granville Island, before heading back to Vancouver to check out the Chinatown Night Market, although at 7pm, the sun was still shining high! Love those northern summers! Rows of hawker stands set up over a few blocks on Main street in Chinatown simulated the raucous, steaming night markets in Asia, although Canadians aren't quite as rough and tumble in these settings.

The next day, I spent the morning strolling through Stanley park, admiring the blue-green, glass buildings along the sea wall, and the stunning, lush greenery in the park. How can you not help but love this city??

For lunch, I met up with Jack and his old bosses T & S who flew up from SF and LA respectively, and after a boatload of sushi and a spoonful of coffee jello (it was actually better than it sounds) bid the guys farewell and wandered over to Yaletown, an old wharehouse district that has been reconfigured to hold several long streets of trendy bars, restaurants and boutiques. Expensive, yuppified and a little contrived, but I totally love it! It has a nice urban vibe and the energy of a big city. I also happened upon a public performance of the Jazz Fest in a nearby park.

On our last evening, we met up with Jenny at Shambar, a super hip Belgian-influenced restaurant in Gastown and shared a unique, refreshingly creative, gluten-free meal enjoyed by all parties. But of course, no trip to Vancouver is complete without a dim sum run... we hit up Sun Sui Wah, our favorite place for Chinese small eats in Richmond, before heading home the next morning. The wait at the border delayed us by at least an hour and a half, but it was worth it!!