Summer Night Market (Richmond): In Pictures

Went to the Summer Night Market in Richmond tonight with some friends. As usual, the market was packed with people, counterfeit goods, and delicious Asian food. We mostly stayed around the food.

Xin Jiang Man BBG. "Ten Lamb Skewers, please...

...Extra Spicy!". Delicious.

Not much special about these waffles, except that they're shaped like fish.... well, I guess that's pretty special.

Japanese Takoyaki - balls of deliciousness. Quite a cooking process...

... but worth every minute.

Hurricane Potato Fries - Potato's "Renovation"...

...amazingly popular at the night market... basically a single potato that has been cut, fried, speared, and seasoned.

Deep Fried Cheesecake - The signage could use some work...

... but the end product looked delicious.

When I took this shot of another patron's purchase, the vendor asked "who I was with" - after being confused for a few seconds, I realised she thought I worked for the media... I quickly replied that I didn't, at which point I think the vendor lost interest in giving me a free try =(

Negi Boys - I'm not sure what their specialty is, but I thought their sign looked neat. I ended up trying the Green Onion Pancakes...

... actually pretty good!

The Roaming Dragon - Mobile Asian cuisine.... Note the Korean Short Rib Tacos, and the Chinese Pork Belly Sliders.

This place had some interesting skewers...

...I ended up trying the Quail Egg Wrap...

... pretty tasty.

Sumo Bites - Japanese Burgers! The "buns" are made of rice, and the insides are styled after traditional Japanese cuisine. Was tempted to try.. maybe next time.

Why restrict yourself to just Japadogs when you can mix in some Thai, Korean, and Chinese flavour?

Chicken Hearts...

... I don't have much to add.

Deep Fried Oreos - Time for dessert... Indulgence to the maximum.

I ate one of the "cookies", and was actually pleasantly surprised. The Oreo cookie had started to melt, creating this warm gooey chocolate with cream filling, battered and fried.

Cross-section of a Deep Fried Oreo.

All in all, a delicious experience. Definitely worth a repeat.

Grouse Grind Updates

I've done the Grind twice more since my last serious attempt - both times with co-workers, and neither attempts to set personal bests. On today's Grind, clouds covered the top of the mountain, so I decided to snap a few pics with my phone's camera.

First, the latest handiwork of the crew currently upgrading the trail: A bench, no less than two minutes in.

As we got futher up, we could see the clouds slowly creeping upwards through the trees - the pictures doesn't really do the scenery justice.

Latest addition to the top, for keeping cool. I think I might have appreciated it more if I wasn't already cold...

The top of the grouse grind: for some, A saturday morning hang out spot.

I thought it might be interesting to see how my heart rate on more relaxed attempts compare with one where I'm trying to set a good time.

June 24th - The sharp drops show breaks we took - the first two well defined ones indicate longer breaks at the 1st and 2nd quarter. The later breaks were much shorter and much more frequent, thanks to the insects that seemed insistent on turning us into dinner if we stayed still for too long.

June 26th - I took an easier start to the grind for today's hike before to stepping it up a bit. In addition, I took a few breaks, which I don't normally allow when trying to set a personal best (slow and steady usually produced my best times). In the end, I was pretty happy with my time - despite the lower intensity and the breaks, I was only 3 minutes off my PB for this season.

Grouse Grind - Rate Hikes (pun intended)

I swear I didn't start this blog to just talk about the Grouse Grind... Yesterday, Grouse Mountain announced that it would be doubling the price of of its single download ticket - effective June 28th, the price will increase to $10 per ride down. The price of an annual membership is also increasing by $20 to $100 per year, effective July 18th.

The silver lining in this is that they've temporarily introduced a new 2-year membership (quite a commitment) for $163, which works out to about 18 grinds (after tax) at the new rate. After July 18th, the price of this pass will also increase to $180.

So while I was originally contemplating just doing the grind on a pay-as-you-go basis, I will now definitely be buying the new 2-year membership at the discounted rate.

But, I suspect it will be nearly impossible to convince friends and coworkers to do the Grind with the new rates - $10 is simply too much for a frequent workout, and the passes require too much of a commitment. Unfortunately, the Grind will likely only be trekked by avid hikers, and the occasional tourist.


*Assuming purchase of 2-year pass.

Source

First Serious Grind...

After work, caught a bus to North Van in order to set a pace for myself for the Grouse Grind for this season. It was a bit overcast... doing the grind in those conditions actually makes for a kindoff surreal experience - the mountain pokes up into the clouds, which gives you the feeling you're walking through some Tolkein-esque enchanted forest... totally different experience from a few days ago. And I'm not gonna lie, I definitely appreciated the cooler temperature.

While Grouse was covered in clouds, Downtown was still getting some rays.. Actually made for a really neat effect. I didn't have my camera, but I managed to snap this shot on my phone:

I think I need a new phone with a better camera...

Now for the stats:

Time: 1:03:43

Highest HR: 190 bpm

Average HR: 182 bpm

Recovery: 13 mins

Energy: 1,499 kcal

Suddenly, getting under 48 minutes seems like it will be far more difficult than anticipated... Here's a graph showing how this time, my first official "Personal Best" of 2010, compared with 2009:

Grouse Grind - Opening Weekend

Great weather this weekend, so I decided to head to North Van and do the Grind.

Mid-June is quite late for the trail to open - the delay was due to some trail work. I did notice that one section of rock had been cut so that it was easier to climb, and other sections that used to require giant step-ups have been replaced by freshly cut, regular size steps, making the trail ever so slightly easier.

Time? 1hr20... this was the first time that I actually stopped to look around and take pictures while climbing. Last season, I managed to get my personal best down from just under 1hr to just under 54 minutes. I'll go ahead and post my goal for this season - I think I'll be a bit ambitious and say that this year I'll go for under 48 minutes.

The iconic Grouse Mountain Skyride..

The entrance to the Grind, complete with the verbose exclusion of liability waiver that no one reads... (okay, maybe I read it once. In my defense, I was waiting for the trail to open.)

Similar waiver a couple minutes in. But those are some tiring minutes - I'm sure this sign has convinced quite a few to turn back.

The sign that lets you know that even though you feel like you should be done more, you're only 1/4 way to the top. Actually, it's 1/4 way by height, but closer to 1/3 of the distance. The first quarter always takes me the longest.

Some steps... lots of opportunities to take pictures of those.

Some rocks... again, not in short supply along the trail up the mountain.

I ventured off route to an opening and took a gorgeous shot of the Capilano river - natural source of most of Vancouver's drinking water.

The halfway mark... usually comes up quite suddenly, probably because of how brutally long the first quarter is, but also because the trail changes up a bit during the second leg, which makes it more interesting.

When I was taking these pictures, I thought, "Hey, that would make a neat shot." But while reviewing my pictures, I realised... "No, it's just more steps."

Glimpse of downtown between the trees... you'll have to zoom in to see it.

Some rust-coloured, jagged rocks.

Spotted a Blue Jay near the 3/4 mark. Normally, I'm so focused on trying to finish with a good time that I don't even notice anything but the trail.

View of Stanley Park and Downtown from the top, with the Skyride support tower in the foreground.

View of North Van with the Chalet in the foreground.

The skyride, about to finish uploading.