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Gold along the
Fraser River
The way for Europeans was
prepared by James Cook who landed on Vancouver Island in 1778. Jose Maria
Narvez found the mouth of the Fraser River in 1791 and the following year
Captain George Vancouver returned having accompanied Cook fourteen years
earlier. In 1793 Alexander Mackenzie reached
the Pacific Ocean here after
crossing the Rocky Mountains.
When gold was discovered
along the Fraser River in 1858 thousands of fortune hunters answered its
call. One day in 1867 John Deigh-ton appeared on the southern shore of
the Burrard Inlet with a barrel of whiskey. He promised the lumberjacks
hard liquor if they helped him
to build a bar. The saloon
was ready in twenty-four hours.
While Gas town grew up around
the bar of Gassy Jack - as he became known - the Chinese built their Chinatown
alongside and on a small island in the swamp in False Creek Inlet on the
other side the lumberjack community of Granville arose.
The railroad crossing Canada
reached the settlement in 1886 which became a town as a result, taking
the name of the explorer of this coast, Captain Vancouver.
Now began the economic growth.
As early as 1887 the first ship from China entered the harbor and with
the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 the markets on the east coast and
in Europe became more accessible. |
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The tolerant and multicultural
society that makes Vancouver so fascinating today first developed after
World War II. This has been furthered by ten thousand wealthy Hong Kong
Chinese who moved to Vancouver before the Chinese took over the British
colonial enclave in 1997 and settled in the hilly suburbs.
The original Chinese life
throbbed in Chinatown, the quarter of snack bars, restaurants, and junk
stores. On its edge is the only classical Chinese garden outside China.
In the seclusion of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden one can follow the Tao-ist
principles of Yin and Yang in peace
There is one word to describe
Vancouver's weather, unpredictable. There is no such thing as a
reliable forecast for Vancouver. Local weathermen usually try to cover
all bases. A typical forecast sounds something like "Sunny with a possible
high of 25 C, a chance of showers, possibly turning into light flurries
or hail". It does rain a lot in Vancouver. Most Vancouverites are very
touchy on this subject and will likely be very evasive, or will simply
lie about it. If you are from the southern UK, you already have a pretty
good notion of what our weather is like.
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Vancouver holds the title
for the wettest major city in Canada, but still receives about 2000 hours
of sun a year. Despite its Northern Latitude (49 deg), the warm Japanese
current gives the city a mild climate, and the latitude also means daylight
till 10 PM in the summer months. In early summer or fall, days often start
out cloudy, due to marine air, but clear by noon. Climate changes rapidly
in BC as you move inland, 300 kilometres from the coast, its desert. The
best time to visit is from early June to early October, when there's less
rain, temperatures are warm, daylight hours are long and the transportation
routes are open. May to September are good times for whale-watching. The
winter ski season peaks in January and February, but at resorts like Whistler
the slopes are open year-round.Time Zone GMT/UTC -8 ()
We recommend all visitors use
Canadian currency when traveling within Canada. Visitors can exchange
currency at Canadian chartered banks, trust companies, credit unions, or
at offices of foreign exchange brokers, but it is advised to have local
currency on hand prior to arriving. Some hotels, merchants, restaurants
and suppliers accept US or other foreign currency at a pre-determined rate,
which may differ from the daily rate posted by financial institutions. |
Canadian one dollar coin ("loonie")
($) = 100 cents
Canadian two dollar coin
("toonie") ($) = 200 cents
Notes are in denominations
of $1000, $100, $50, $20, $10, $5
Coins are in denominations
of $2, $1, $0.50, $0.25, $0.10, $0.05, $0.01
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