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Vancouver uncovered

Spending a few days in the Canadian Northwest, Roger Norum learns that there’s no place like the home of the Canucks

All right culture mavens: time to get out the pencils for 
a pop quiz. Which of the following is NOT Canadian? 
A) Matthew Perry; B) Basketball; C) Avril Lavigne; D) BlackBerry; 
E) Frank Gehry. I could go on — Kim 
Cattrall, Michael Ondaatje, Alice Munro — but you catch my drift. The answer, of course, is F) None of the above. They all hail from Canada.

As an American, I had long presumed that the above cultural exports were all made in the US — more a testament to Canadian modesty and humility, I hope, than to ignorance on my part. If you grew up in 
the States, you could be forgiven for occasionally buying into the myth that Canada is just a more affordable version of the US. They speak just like we do. Their houses look like ours. They eat the same breakfast cereals. Canadians: they’re just like us! But there is much more to the Other North America than meets the eye, and nowhere is experiencing this epiphany more exciting than in Canada’s reigning capital of culture and leisure, Vancouver.

While the city may sometimes be overshadowed by its bigger, brasher urban brethren such as Chicago or LA, when it comes to saddling up close to Mother Nature, nowhere else on the continent can rival this place. Ever wonder where BC-born Michael Bublé gets inspiration for his dreamy, earthy renditions of classic jazz tunes? Well, it’s not New York or Austin.

While I spent a good number of winter holidays as a kid skiing at Whistler, north of Vancouver, I’d never spent any substantive time in the city itself. So when I arrived this autumn to experience Canada’s warmer season, I checked into my hotel and then headed outdoors to see what the city had going for it.

Hopping in a speedboat for ten minutes to emerge in a slender, silent wilderness of evergreens, a 
few fishermen and the 
odd bear? Check. Tandem 
biking for hours in a verdant park set adjacent 
to an active seaplane marina? Check. Hours spent out on a lazy island sipping on pints of locally-brewed lager, walking old fire roads and gazing out to the open sea? Check. Mountain biking along exciting trails barely a mile out of the city? Vancouver’s North Shore is quite 
possibly the most accessible and challenging mountain bike area in the world, so check.

Given its mild year-round temperatures and invigorating nature just paces away, it’s little wonder that Vancouver is a consummate outdoor sports heaven. In addition to taking advantage of the cycle trails and walking paths all over the city, visitors can kayak around the coastline or climb the Grouse Grind — a steep, 3km-long hike beginning at Vancouver’s harbour that has been known as “Mother Nature’s Stairmaster”. A rite of passage for Vancouverites, the Grind usually takes about two hours to climb on a good day.

Still, you’d be wrong 
to think that it’s all just Mother Nature here. 
Vancouver has plenty of cultural heft to it, with a range of nicknames to prove it: “Hollywood North” (it is home to the third-largest film and television production industry in North America); Hongcouver (a burgeoning Chinese community immigrated here prior to the 1997 British handover of Hong Kong); and “Vansterdam” (parts of the city are said to hold lax attitudes towards recreational marijuana use).

This ocean-side cultural powerhouse has always been able to stand on its own against other Canadian destinations — its attractions definitely outdo the swagger of sexy-quaint Montreal or the look-where-I-am-on-the-map exoticism of far-flung locales such as Whitehorse and Yellowknife.

A case in point is cuisine. A golden horde of celebrity chefs that include David Hawksworth, Dale MacKay, Nico Schuermans and Hidekazu Tojo have descended upon the city in recent years to turn it into a place worth visiting for the dinners alone (MacKay, to take an example, won Top Chef Canada and trained with Gordon Ramsay; Hidekazu Tojo is credited with inventing the California roll in the 1970s).

Even run-of-the-mill downtown now holds some great little hideaways such as Uva Wine Bar, which pours exotic, excellent-tasting wines and serves innovative bar food. Still, to get to know the city’s real gastronomic secrets, you’ll want to explore Vancouver’s nooks and crannies.

I spent one afternoon strolling around central Granville Island and (window) shopping for native trinkets before taking in 
a tasting tour at the island’s microbrewery. As the sun dipped below the mountains to the north and the evening air-cooled things down, I lingered on several pints of (yummy) pumpkin-nutmeg-cinnamon Pumpkin Ale and (yummier) bitter caramel malt Kitsilano Maple Cream Ale.

From there, I headed to gritty, young Gastown, home to Vancouver’s first jailhouse and its erstwhile meatpacking district. Now, the entire area is packed with chic, pulse-pounding dining experiences that are much less corporate than Yaletown, the city’s other main restaurant district. I filled up first at Judas Goat Taberna, a tin-ceilinged, marble bar tapas joint with inventive and affordable dishes such as duck confit foie gras terrine (the gambas al ajillo are also good) and a simple, unpretentious wine and beer list.

Afterwards, I staggered my way across the street to L’Abattoir for the evening’s French fusion main event: loin of rabbit with cabbage, fillet of local ling cod with spicy chorizo crust, and fricassee of mussels and clams with sauce américaine. And for dessert? Bubble tea with berries, tapioca and earl grey granitas. It wasn’t cheap, but then it wasn’t exactly fish n’ chips, either.

My last day in Vancouver — originally, my real “last day” should have been the day prior, but I missed my 7am flight home, which is another story for another time — was a Sunday and about as perfect as you can get. I slept in, lingered for a few hours on a pancake-and-Irish-coffee brunch as I did the crosswords, then hopped on a ferry out to quiet Bowen Island, where by complete coincidence the residents were holding their annual one-day festival. There was popcorn, hillbilly music, cheap (watery) beer and elderly folks dancing around in a circle.

Bowen was long used 
by the Squamish people, who lived in cedar longhouses on nearby islands, for fishing, whaling and hunting deer and duck. Today, strewn about with Douglas fir, red cedar, hemlock trees and swampland, Bowen is a small, magical island whose residents include a handful of Vancouver commuters who know what’s good for them. The island is 20 minutes away from Vancouver, but feels eons away from the real world.

Leaving the musical jamboree just before dark, I walked up to a small escarpment that looked down to the shore. A svelte American girl in faded jeans was standing there in the reeds, clutching something small in her hand. She turned her head around and stared back at me with piercing blue eyes. “Shhhhhh!” she said. I’d not realised that I had been humming one of the festival tunes.

“Keep it down. You’ll scare them away.”

For an instant, she smiled. And then she tromped down to the shore, stripped to her skivvies, dove into the water and swam away. - wknd@khaleejtimes.com

TRAVEL ESSENTIALS

ARRIVING

Emirates (www.emirates.com; 600 55 55 55) fly daily non-stop from Dubai to Toronto, from which it is a short flight to Vancouver.

STAYING

The Times Square Suites Hotel (+1 604 684 2223; timessquaresuites.com; from Dh480) is set just near Stanley Park and features amply-sized one- and two-bedroom flats with full kitchens and dens. Upstairs is a rooftop patio with a BBQ, and there is free Wi-Fi plus secure parking for cars and bikes. Perfect option for a longer stay, or for families or groups of friends.

Located downtown adjacent to a strip of shops and restaurants, the Wedgewood Hotel & Spa (+1 604 689 7777; wedgewoodhotel.com; from Dh679) is a classically-decorated Relais & Châteaux property. The 83 elegant rooms feature flowers, fine antiques, original artworks and private balconies, while a basement spa features a fitness centre with a eucalyptus steam room. Also has an excellent on-site restaurant, Bacchus.

Set in the city’s tallest building, the Shangri-La Vancouver (+1 604 689 1120; www.shangri-la.com; from Dh732) is also its newest luxury hotel. It offers 119 sizable rooms in Asian-inspired decor, with amenities such as mirror-mounted LCD screens and multi-head walk-in showers in the bathrooms.