Photoplex

Haven't heard a better description of Vancouver than this before!

Lychee

Haha, teaches me to be hasty in my response!

Shakyuk

On holiday in Vancouver recently I was on Granville Island and then said to my girlfriend 'there's a lot of Asian's here so I bet there's some great Chinese restaurants, lets go to China town'...

The next day when I told my friend who lives in Vancouver that line her face dropped and she said 'oh my god you didn't go to China town'

Well we did. One street was lined with drug users clearly off their faces and selling things (I presume stolen goods). A couple asked me for a light, some asked me if I wanted to buy some things. It was entirely uneventful and I didn't feel threatened at all. The area was clearly deprived, plenty of litter and many drug users. My girlfriend described it as like the stereotype drug area from American TV and I thought that was a good description (minus the shootings).

I am from an area in the UK were if you crossed the street to avoid people they'd cross over and kick off, if you lowered your head you showed weakness.. they'd kick off.. if you didn't lower your head you showed strength... they'd kick off... if you didn't cross the street.. they'd kick off. So admittedly I probably am desensitised to areas like this. However my girlfriend is from a nice area and she also said she was surprised by how unthreatened she felt. So yes I'd say there clearly is an isolated drug problem in downtown Vancouver, but it wasn't very intimidating and the people actually seemed quite nice in comparison to were I grew up.

Shakyuk

I completely agree with this and couldn't have said it better.

Moses2013

Bang on but don't forget Jersey. At the end of the day it's important what you make out of the weather and being in a drier sunnier location doesn't mean anything. You could have 500 more hours sun annually but pointless if you end up in a tiny apartment in the city without a balcony. And high rise buildings often block the sun too, so pretty depressing if you come from an on paper less sunnier location in the countryside with garden that gets evening sun. Be it Vancouver, London, Paris, Rome you have people, houses and streets.

BristolUK

That's interesting, I see a similar difference in on-street behaviour here compared to my previous life.

Bristol has had a big homeless/drug problem for decades. Begging can be...not so much aggressive, but persistent. And it's more than a little intimidating when their spot is right next to the cash machine. They also have their patch and 'time slots' and share the dog, sometimes a child, for sympathy.

There were regular reports of muggings and syringe threats.

Even the Big Issue sellers have their share of the disreputable where some sellers are often properly housed (I know this fact from my old job) and there's a regular con where one has their last copy and has no change to give you and then asks if he can have it back to sell again as he needs the money to get in the night shelter - a lie, because it's free.

Contrast that with here, where the presence of a rehab centre, methadone clinic and needle exchange indicate a drug issue but there are no outward signs of their presence - other than the drug centre sign

Even where there are drop-in centres and hostels they are not congregating points for drinkers and drug users to hang around making you wary upon passing.

There are a few beggars in the downtown area but they are more the proverbial "got the price of a cuppa, sir?" from the stereotypical old feller rather than the "got any spare change" from the hungry and homeless person who's not interested in the just bought M&S sandwich or the 'change' that someone does give.

It's as if that bland, outwardly or surface Canadian friendliness that many comment about still applies to people suffering addiction problems.

dbd33

In Moncton, ok.

That is absolutely not true of Guelph or the parts of Toronto I know well. Aggressive beggars, especially aggressive traffic light beggars, are the norm. People do not stop at the light outside the hooker Harvey's for fear of getting some toothless, wasted armed, lunatic on the bonnet bending the wiper blade arms. Everyone on the street wants money "for the bus back to" somewhere. It is usual to see groups of wasted people in Allen Gardens or St. George's Square and to hear people, who have often cast away their clothing, howling at the moon. I saw one such person first thing yesterday morning and another first thing last Friday morning.

My daughter who works in Vancouver at Hastings and Main described the are as "tame compared to where we went to school" (Jarvis Street, Toronto) but it looked a bit scuzzy to me, something like Cricklewood Broadway.

I should say that I don't feel directly threatened in any of these places but I don't, for example, take the underpass under the train tracks in Guelph because it's a bother to deal with the drugs and beggars. I would prefer not to visit the, very nice, dog park in Allen Gardens after dark. I've no doubt similar prudence would be sensible in Vancouver though not, of course, to a greater or lesser degree than in any other medium sized city.

Howefamily

we took a greyhound bus from Niagara to Toronto. Never again!
There was some guy clearly off his head who stare past my husband at me without blinking. I felt very uncomfortable. There was some other guy somewhere behind yelling a conversation in his phone in Swahili or similar.
I suddenly had a flashback to that news article about the person who had their head chopped off on a bus.

BristolUK

That doesn't really surprise for Toronto though. It does have a certain reputation (unfair or not). I imagine it doubles as New York City in the movies for more reasons than it just being cheaper.

Sounds like Stokes Croft Bristol.
The point Shaky was making about where he was from and similar to my Bristol experience compared to here.
That seems to be the difference.

I was half expecting you to say something about a better class of addict/beggar in Canada.

I've done Toronto to the Falls like that twice (before flying home from Hamilton both times, first time to Montreal and second time to Moncton). The only reason for concern was at the Toronto bus station and seeing more and more people arrive and worrying that there are too many for the bus. Both times.

dbd33

I went to NYC on the bus which involved having to get off and hang around the Buffalo bus station in the middle of the night. At first I was alarmed and then bored. I wondered how to fill the time. The daughter now in Vancouver faced the same dilemma between buses in Detroit. She resolved it by taking up with a man at the bus station and moving to Alaska with him. That was a surprise to us all and somewhat inconvenient; I had to go into the US forum to find a lawyer to get her legalized in the US.

JamesM

Oink is best qualified to talk about drugs.

Especially those of the recreational sort.

Oink

I there is a nice selection of Japanese ramen noodle shops and izakaya in the city these days. Just the job to bring a little spicy and warming comfort to the blanketing grey skies and the endless wet and chilling climate of a Vancouver winter.

BristolUK

scrubbedexpat091

Some odd characters on greyhound, I used to use them often for travel within BC and some very odd folks on the bus at times. The only route that wasn't too bad was Vancouver to Whistler, mostly just Australians and British 20 somethings going to/from skiing.

beckiwoo

That's nothing.

Try Vancouver to Calgary - that was brutal

even worse...

Seattle to San Francisco

I wouldn't care about a trip from Niagara to Toronto as you aren't on it for that long