For a quick conversion of Celsius into Fahrenheit, double the Celsius temperature and add 30.  So if it's 14 degrees Celsius, you'd double 14 and get 28, then add 30 to get a Fahrenheit temperature of about 58.  This formula will usually get you within a 2 or 3 degrees.  If you wish to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit more precisely, take the Celsius temperature, multiply it by 9, divide it by 5 and add 32.   

Downtown Vancouver has very good shopping, most notably the boutiques on lively Robson Street (right), the stores at Pacific Centre Mall, and the shops in trendy Yaletown.  If you arrive by Skytrain, get off at the Granville Street Station, which will put you at the Pacific Centre Mall, a good place to start.  Pacific Centre Mall borders Robson Street, making access to shopping there handy, too.

Robson Street

Vancouver is well-known for Stanley Park, Queen Elizabeth Park, and the Pacific Spirit Park. 

But if you really want to get into nature, the many parks of the North Shore (right) are not to be missed.  In some locations you can hike for miles through these parks and experience the Pacific rainforest without encountering a soul. 

Typical British Columbia Coastal Rain Forest

Ocean walks can be found closest to our office in the community of White Rock in South Surrey.  White Rock's beach is characterized by many shops and restaurants on one side of the street, with the beautiful beach and views to the U.S. on the opposite side. 

Vancouver also has beaches.  English Bay's beach begins in the West End of the downtown, then turns into the Stanley Park Seawall (right), which circumnavigates Stanley Park. 

Stanley Park Sea Wall

Long Beach on west side of Vancouver Island offers long expanses of empty sand and pounding surf.  Locations on the east side of Vancouver Island like Qualicum Beach offer much quieter and protected shoreline. 

Jericho Beach
 

Vancouver City Tour  Gray Line offers entertaining tours of the top Vancouver sites. 

This is a great way to get an overview of the city and see the major sights without being on your feet.

Downtown Vancouver
 

Animals The Greater Vancouver Zoo is a 20 minute drive east down the Trans-Canada Highway.  (Take the Aldergrove Exit at 264th heading south and you'll find it on your left.)

The Vancouver Aquarium, in Stanley Park, is worth a trip to downtown Vancouver.

Vancouver Aquarium
 

Golfing is very good in the Vancouver-Surrey metropolitan area, and with over 50 nearby courses, it's plentiful.  And with our temperate climate, you can hit the links nearly all year long.   

Here's a link to area courses. 

Furry Creek Golf Course

Whistler

• Museum of Anthropology (right) at the University of British Columbia
• Vancouver Art Museum
• Vancouver Museum chronicling the history of the city
• Storyeum, a theatrical rendition of Vancouver history
• Vancouver Maritime Museum
• H.R. Macmillan Space Centre and Planetarium
• Science World, a hands-on science experience
• Fort Langley, B.C.'s early trading post on the Fraser River, (a 15 minute drive from our office), is maintained by Parks Canada as a living museum, much as it was in its heyday (1827-1927).  

Museum of Anthropology

Gastown is the older portion of Vancouver, just east of the current downtown.   Noted for its cobblestone streets, Victorian architecture, the steam clock (pictured to the right), good restaurants, and many shops, Gastown makes for a nice stroll. 

Take Skytrain to its last stop, Waterfront Station.  Then walk east a couple blocks. 

Granville Island, (which is really a peninsula, not an island), is a favorite stop for locals as much as it is for tourists.

Gastown
 

Art studios and workshops, street performers, and the wonderful public market (far right) is filled with the freshest produce, fish, meats, cheese, and bakery  are the major draws.  There are also restaurants, house boats, a theatre, a book store, small shops--you can even rent a kayak. 

Parking can be difficult, so why not arrive by Aquabus (shown to the right)?

Granville Island Public Market

North Shore The North Shore consists of the Vancouver suburban communities of West Vancouver and North Vancouver.  Hemmed in by the North Shore mountains and the sea, the scenery is spectacular and there's lots to do.

• West Vancouver  Canada's wealthiest community is built into the slopes of the North Shore Mountains.  West Van has good shopping in the shops along Marine Drive and at the Park Royal Mall.   

• North Vancouver  Explore the stores along Lonsdale Street and the Lonsdale Quay Marketplace on the waterfront.  The Quay offers lovely views across Burrard Inlet to Vancouver, and it's easy to get there from Surrey by Skytrain to Waterfront Station, then hop on the Seabus across Burrard Inlet. 

• Lions Gate Suspension Bridge is the historic main gateway bridge from downtown Vancouver and Stanley Park to the North Shore. 

• Grouse Mountain  Take the tram up to the top of Grouse Mountain for a spectacular view of the Vancouver metropolitan area.

Capilano Suspension Bridge

• Capilano Suspension Bridge (above) spans a river gorge, and is one of the biggest tourist attractions in British Columbia.  Just minutes from downtown. 

• North Shore Parks offer very scenic hikes, some very challenging, and mountain biking through the rainforest of British Columbia's coast. 

Located nearly very near Gastown, (discussed above), it's worth a trip to find a concentrated collection of interesting shops and good food.  Visit on the weekend, when it is particularly energetic.  You'll find the Dr. Sun-Yat Sen Garden worthy of a stroll--and keep your eye out for the world's narrowest building at Pender and Carrall Streets. 

Still, while Vancouver's Chinatown is the best-known Chinese community in the metropolitan area, Vancouver's southern suburb of Richmond has now become host to the largest Chinese community in the metropolitan area.  40% of the population there claims a Chinese descent. 

With a population of 80,000+, the second-largest visible ethnic group in the Vancouver Metropolitan Area is the East Indian community. 

At either location you can experience the sounds, smells, sights, and tastes of India as you visit stores selling jewelry, saris, and unrecognizable food and spices.

Sea to Sky Highway A great way to spend a sunny day is the drive up the "Sea to Sky Highway.  It starts in West Vancouver on the North Shore, then winds up the fjord known as Howe Sound to Squamish, then on to Whistler.  Along the way are breathtaking views of the Sound and the mountains and Shannon Falls.

Howe Sound

You'll likely see rockclimbers on the face of the Stawamus Chief (an enormous face of granite great for rock climbing or hiking) and windsurfers on the waters of Howe Sound.  Squamish has some interesting shops, and you'll find lots of stores and good restaurants in Whistler. 

Victoria, on Vancouver Island, lies a scenic 1.5 hour ferry ride away from the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal south of Vancouver.  Downtown Victoria is tourist- and walking-friendly, with scores of restaurants and shops. 

You'll find concerts, comedians, plays, musicals, opera, ballet--you name it.   Pick up the free newspaper, the Georgia Straight, for information. 

Our facility is in the Guildford portion of north Surrey.  This area is pretty well self-contained, and you can walk to many facilities.  But if you wish to travel outside the Guildford area, the easiest way is by car. 

Skytrain is Vancouver's rapid transit system.  The first fully-automated and driverless system in North America, Skytrain is a handy way to get from Surrey to downtown Vancouver for a reasonable price without a car. 
 

Skytrain crossing into Surrey

At the last Skytrain stop (Waterfront Station), you can connect with the Seabus (right) to take you over to the North Shore community of North Vancouver.  

Sea Bus crossing Burrard Inlet

Lee Yuen Chinese Seafood Restaurant  (Chinese)
14755 - 104th Avenue, a half-dozen blocks from our facility; Open for supper only. 604-583-1399

With particularly large Chinese populations, Vancouver and Richmond are the areas most noted for Chinese food, but in North Surrey, you might wish to visit Lee Yuen.   Beyond the unassuming exterior is arguably the best Chinese food in north Surrey. 

Akasaka  (Japanese and Korean)
15110 - 101st Avenue; 604-588-1244
Akasaka is quality Japanese and Korean restaurant located at is a half block off 152nd Street on the south side of 101st Avenue, a short walk away from our facility.  It's across the street from Hanago (discussed below).  

Maguro  (Japanese)
10090 - 152nd Street, near Jade Valley above.
Also located in the Impact Shopping Centre Mall, a block south of our facility.  Maguro has a variety of Japanese dishes.  Good quality sushi and sashimi.
 

Hanago  (Japanese)
Hanago is on the corner of 152nd Street and 101 Avenue, a short walk away from our facility, just behind the Wendy's Restaurant. 

Guildford Sushi House (Japanese)
10330 - 152nd Street in the Guildford Place Mall, across the street from the Guildford Town Centre Mall and a block north of our facility.  This is a family-run restaurant offering inexpensive sushi and a few other Japanese dishes.
 

 Jade Valley  (Chinese)
10090 - 152nd Street, quite near Maguro below. 
Located in the Impact Shopping Centre Mall, a block south of our facility,   Jade Valley offers good Chinese food, speedy service, and reasonable prices in an unpretentious setting. 
 

Kim Hoang  (Vietnamese)
10330 - 152nd Street, just a block north of our facility.  Reservations not required.  Kim Hoang serves a variety of Vietnamese dishes, including Pho, (the name of Vietnamese noodle soup). 
 

Pho Hoa  (Vietnamese)
14357 - 104th Avenue, two blocks north and eight blocks west from our facility.  Reservations not required.  Specializing in Pho, (the name of Vietnamese noodle soup), the Pho Hoa chain serves up excellent soup, served very quickly at inexpensive prices.  Particularly good on cold, rainy days.   
 

Desserts

The Vancouver-Surrey metropolitan area is Canada's 3rd largest after Toronto and Montreal.  We have some 2.2 million people in the metropolitan area.  Vancouver has about 565,000 of those people; Surrey has the next largest portion, about 400,000. 

Vancouver

And with more than 1,000 people arriving each month, Surrey is one of the fastest growing cities in the nation.  In fact, Surrey will pass Vancouver in size about the year 2020.

The Vancouver area consistently ranks in the Top 5 in most worldwide rankings of cities.  For example, according to the Mercer Human Resource Consulting Firm, which ranks 215 cities worldwide in terms of quality of life, in the last half dozen years, we've ranked 1st (1999, 2000, 2001), 2nd (2002, 2003) or 3rd (2004) in the world.

With it's unique combination of snow-capped mountains, beautiful ocean and verdant forests, Vancouver has one of the most spectacular scenic settings of any city in the world, frequently compared with Cape Town, South Africa--Rio de Janeiro, Brazil--and Hong Kong, China.

Vancouverites have the longest expected life expectancy in Canada, on par with perennial world leaders, Japan and Switzerland.  Not coincidentally, and not surprisingly given the climate and physical beauty of the area, Vancouverites are the most physically active Canadians.  But we also read the most and watch more TV than any other Canadian city.  (Perhaps it's during our winter rainy season.)