So, if you haven’t heard, about a week ago I was with the dragonboat team in Vancouver. The team did well, we got a medal, lots of good food, all that.
But only after I got back did I realize that I really, really did need a vacation. I like to think that I never burn out, that I can slog through it day after day. But I’d grown a bit too cynical, short-sighted. Too local, even. I needed to get out.
So, besides all the places the team went, I made two very important stops on my own: coffee and a tailoring shop.
The first was, according to some obscure poll, Vancouver’s best cup of coffee at Turks/West/Milano [I've heard it called lots of different things]. I got up early on day two and took the skytrain over.
It was a pretty good view. And a pretty damn good cup of coffee, of which I imbibed several. Sometimes it’s all you need to calm your nerves, which tend to fray with the flow of ongoing projects or rounds of interviews. The view helps, too.
Later on I walked up towards North Vancouver, made the obligatory stop at the Olympic cauldron [which was having some work done but was impressive regardless] before going up Pender, through the Chinatown gate, through the urban oasis of Sun Yat Sen Park [now a mandatory stop on future visits] and, after doubling back, finally arrived at Modernize Tailors.
This shop was in a documentary I came across at the SF International Film Festival 2 years ago, whose employees were approaching their 90s and were looking for a younger generation to continue on the craft.
With a new $650 suit just a little out of reach, I was hoping to at least buy one of the family cookbooks advertised on their website, but the man who opened the door, who turned out to be Bill Wong himself, implored me to return the next day. The problem is i didn’t have any extra time to return, so off I went.
So, that concluded the Chuck-specific portion of this vacation. The team’s successes culminated in a gold-medal performance and meeting a ton of new people, with some highlights below, and the whole album here.
But at least I got to have my own adventure, even if my own personal version of “getting away from it all” didn’t involve an excess of trees and streams and the like.
