I woke up around 10 am in the morning. Berck was irritated that I’d gotten up so early. Berck had to do laundry, so I found the nearest laundromat on Google maps, and we hiked over to it. We explored the mall across the street during the washing cycle. Vancouver has an enormous amount of Asians in it, and the area around the hotel was full of businesses with Chinese signs. We were about the only Caucasians in the mall, which was full of Chinese herbal medicine shops next to the normal type of stuff you find in a mall. The food court had a Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Indian, and a place that only served empadas along with the KFC and Orange Julius. We went back to the laundry to put the clothes in the dryer and then back to the mall. There was a grocery inside with a variety of Chinese vegetables. The meat department had every part of a pig possible, wrapped up in cellophane and labeled: pork brain, pork feet, pork spine, and congealed and cut into squares pork blood. Berck was impressed by the price of the meat.

We went back to the Dew for lunch/supper, taking advantage of that 15% discount. I got the shepherd’s pie, which was very boring. Then it was time for Berck’s mock check-ride. I told him I would stay up, so I watched the Discovery channel for several hours. I was very sleepy by the time Berck got back around 2.

The next morning I didn’t have much trouble sleeping in until 1. Berck took me over to the closer mall across the street from the hotel. In the food court was a place called New York Fries where we ordered a cup of poutine. This is a traditional Canadian dish of fries covered in cheese curds and then gravy. It was actually a pretty good breakfast dish.

Next we explored the indoor market two blocks over. It was full of Chinese stores selling groceries, Chinese books, and a whole lot of what looked like very authentic Chinese prepared food. We were the only Caucasians there.

We went to the Dew for one last time for food. I got halibut and chips, and Berck got his steak instead of hamburger patty (they’ll cook the steak to order, but the hamburger will only come well done). Then it was time for Berck’s check ride. I promised to stay awake again, and celebrate with him when he got back. I watched Snakes on a Plane, which was surprisingly unedited, but after each commercial break I was warned that the following program contained violence, nudity, and course language. Berck got back at 1 with enough time to get a couple of drinks before we got kicked out of the Dew. Berck was hungry, so we walked up a few blocks to the White Spot, but unlike Denny’s, they had closed hours before. So we just went back to the hotel, bought some chips in the vending machine, and went to bed about 3. I got up two hours later to head to the airport.