For people that live in vancouver...

[steve66 45]

I'm moving to Vancouver for 12months in October. I'm wondering if those of you with personal experience of the city and surrounding areas could help me out with which area to be looking to live.

If you could name the district that offers the best hockey links and the best facilities in that area... I play an equal amount of Ice and Roller Eg. Langley- Sportsplex, Burnaby- 8 rinks...... and reasons why.

If you feel like droppin in which has the best bars n other amenities that'll be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance guys/ gals.

[kosydar 0]

I've had the pleasure of going up there about a half dozen times. I can't help you out with the specifics, but I can tell you its a real nice city, and you should be very happy there. I like it so much that I'm looking into going to UBC.

[steve66 45]

Yeah i might be doing some post grad stuff, or research at UBC if i can swing some... can't wait to go, from all accounts it is an amazing place.

[kosydar 0]

Just be prepared to become a Canucks fan. They're everywhere up there. Bertuzzi and Naslund will become your new best friends. Might I suggest picking this up http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...item=2794228847 . I got mine last week.

[Dangles 0]

Where I suggest not to live is Gastown, which is the "old" downtown. I've been there probably 15-20 times ( Vancouver in general ), and stay away from there. If you want to spend the big bucks, try West Vancouver by the Horshoe Bay ferry terminal, some big houses there. Modern day living, North Vancouver is a good bang for your buck.

[cgin6 0]

West Van is way way out of the budget of grad students and recent grads. North Van is too far away from UBC and most everything, all of my friends who lived there originally moved because its too far. If your thinking about working at or going to school at UBC I'd highly recommend getting a place around the kitsilano or pt. grey area. Its close to transit lines and lots of students live around there. Its also close to a retail district and some bars, oh, and the beach! Rents are somewhat reasonable also. Vancouver has a ton of bars from the posh and pretentious kind to neighborhood pubs. Since I dont know what kind of places you typically go to I can't really give u a good suggestion yet, although I personally have a blast at Biminis and the Blarneystone.

The rinks at UBC have lots of pick-up hockey scheduled, however the rinks arent as nice and 3/4 rinks are undersized. For me, its good enough. For roller in the winter you have to drive out to Langley which will take about an hour which is too much of a hassle for most. In the summer roller is much more available.

Let me know if you have more specific questions I can help you out. And out of curiousity what kind of research are u thinking about getting in to?

[BPPdankplayer21 0]

Make sure you check out hastings street.

[Kobe 0]

Make sure you check out hastings street.

.... if you're looking to buy some dope or be mugged by a bum

[kosydar 0]

Oh man, I've been there...don't even get me started on it. We're going up a few years ago to go to a Wings/Canucks game (Wings won BTW), and as we pull into town, we see that the mapquest directions are all screwed up. So we stop at a gas station and my mom asks the guy for directions. He gives them to her, but he tells her "don't turn right on xxxx street, you'll end up in the really bad part of town, its so bad, I really don't want you to have to go down there with your children, its easily one of the worst neighbourhoods in Canada." So of course my mom turns right on accident and we get down there at like midnight. Not exactly what I'd call ghetto...minus some guy washing our window at a stoplight.

[Kobe 0]

It rains more than what's considered average but it never gets too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter. The cultural diversity is awesome down here. You probably won't find a more diverse population anywhere else in the world. That being said, every type of food is good because there's at least 10 restaurants of each style. Anywhere around UBC is going to be up there. A house in the UBC/Kits area will probably run you around $700,000+ . Burnaby would probably be your best bang for buck. It's the closest suburb of Vancouver and the land/rent is fairly reasonable when compared to VanCity. Oh yea, did I mention that the babe population is insane?

Gastown isn't bad at all. It's just oldschool. A lot of the road in that part of town is still made of cobblestone. Lots of good bars in that place. The newer bars are downtown though on Granville or Robson st. You've got the Shark's Club for all your Canucks games. The Stanley Park/English Bay area is extremely beautiful. I rollerbladed around the seawall (a huge wall that goes all the way around the edge of the waterfront) once at around 5am, just around sunrise, and the scenary blew me away. I'll never forget that for the rest of my life.

Great town to live in. Give me a call if you're looking to play some beer league :P

[JR Boucicaut 3793]

Oh man, I've been there...don't even get me started on it. We're going up a few years ago to go to a Wings/Canucks game (Wings won BTW), and as we pull into town, we see that the mapquest directions are all screwed up. So we stop at a gas station and my mom asks the guy for directions. He gives them to her, but he tells her "don't turn right on xxxx street, you'll end up in the really bad part of town, its so bad, I really don't want you to have to go down there with your children, its easily one of the worst neighbourhoods in Canada." So of course my mom turns right on accident and we get down there at like midnight. Not exactly what I'd call ghetto...minus some guy washing our window at a stoplight.

LOL Squeegeeman...

[alex 0]

i was thinking burnaby as well...

it's about 30 mins drive to langley (for rollerhockey) very close to 8 rinks(for ice-it's where the canucks practice) and 30 mins out to UBC. plus the rent isn't too bad. burnaby is pretty big though, so it really depends where you like. i lived near the metrotown area...and that was really central. close to skytrain, 2 major grocers, a huge mall and all your amenities.

[steve66 45]

i was thinking burnaby as well...

it's about 30 mins drive to langley (for rollerhockey) very close to 8 rinks(for ice-it's where the canucks practice) and 30 mins out to UBC. plus the rent isn't too bad. burnaby is pretty big though, so it really depends where you like. i lived near the metrotown area...and that was really central. close to skytrain, 2 major grocers, a huge mall and all your amenities.

That sounds pretty promising... Thanks for your input guys! Its always hard to tell from maps aside form physical distances which areas offer the best mix.

[flaming_june 2]

theres like rinks everywhere...

dowtown, ubc, kitsilano or richmond are great areas to live, with great axcess to beautiful women, hockey rinks, and good food.

i wouldn't go for burnaby though, esp if you don't have a car. i dun like the neighbourhood, although they do produce great hockey players.

[steve66 45]

I know this is major post trolling, but just wanted to update things, and to maybe see if the beer league offer is still open!? :D

Will be flying out this Wednesday.... Still no apartment rented, decided to shack up in a hostel for a few nights whilst spending the day trawling around to find my rents. Still looking mainly at renting in Burnaby close to a skytrain route. The job situation is about as advanced as the rents situation, but no biggie. It's often better and easier to assess things in person, and openings are not always on the net, so we'll see....

As far as hockey goes i'll just get into things with pick up at where ever is closest to my new place.

Hopefully bump into some of you guys out there!

[mickz 107]

I live on the East side and it's not bad. and NO, it's not the downtown east side. Killarney area. My fav. places to go to for hockey is 8 rinks burnaby, 6 rinks north van, or britannia community centre. 8 Rinks leagues really suck, I played spring hockey there last year. 6 Rinks has a pretty good stick and puck. Britannia Community Centre has drop-in adult hockey at times.

[nazzy19 0]

Be careful at those sky train stations man, a haven for dealers and people often get mugged there too. Sky train gives them a quick exit.

AS far as neighbourhoods go, i suggest richmond, although its like.....60% asian (feels like 90) its definately more quaint than burnarby or van. And the richmond arenas are awesome, 5 bucks lets you play hockey from 9-3 monday to friday!

For quick access to UBC, theres lots of places to rent for relatively "cheap" in kitsilano. like basement suites and so forth. Thats where most students rent thier places usually sharing with people. WHen y ou get here, check out the ubc bulletin boards on campus, LOTS of ads for renting and stuff.

if you are planning to bus from burnaby to UBC, be prepared for it to take like 1hr15 or so....

I go to UBC and live in richmond, so if you got any Q's about the school or whatever, gimme a shout.

[mickz 107]

I hate going to Richmond, stupid bus lanes hogging the middle of the road.

[flaming_june 2]

I hate going to Richmond, stupid bus lanes hogging the middle of the road.

its not the bus lanes, its the bad chinese drivers who never really passed the road test but owns a drivers license

[Perry94 0]

damn Mickz...you live in the killarney area? you in high school?

I love driving in richmond...all those ricer cars that are so frickin loud when they're goin like 30km/h. It's good for a laugh. Richmond is like an artery...people don't know how to drive "somewhat" close to the car in front of them...leaving guys like me to weave in and out of traffic. It's awesome actually.

[InbreD PoisoN 0]

I've living in vancouver all my life and i'm 16 right now. I know where all the rinks are pretty much, make sure you don't go to trout lake(granview) worst ice there. Best ice i'm not sure exactly which ones yet but i know britannia has an awesome rink. what part of vancouver do you live in? Me and mickz go to the same school, lol i've got like 4 classes with him

[all-star 0]

I hate going to Richmond, stupid bus lanes hogging the middle of the road.

its not the bus lanes, its the bad chinese drivers who never really passed the road test but owns a drivers license

HAHAHAHA! oh wait im chinese... actually vietnamese but haha still funny. some are really bad at driving. BUT im not one of those. ahah

[mickz 107]

damn Mickz...you live in the killarney area? you in high school?

I love driving in richmond...all those ricer cars that are so frickin loud when they're goin like 30km/h. It's good for a laugh. Richmond is like an artery...people don't know how to drive "somewhat" close to the car in front of them...leaving guys like me to weave in and out of traffic. It's awesome actually.

Yea I go to Killarney. haha I don't like those Ricer cars either. Nice body kits on them but I guess they think putting "Type-R" stickers on them will make them go faster.

[Perry94 0]

Yea I go to Killarney

hey me too...

[mickz 107]

Yea I go to Killarney

hey me too...

= O what grade? I'm in 11.