2010 Winter Olympics: Qualifications Hockey Game, Switzerland vs. Belarus

On Feb. 23, 2010 during the 2nd week of Olympics competiion I attended the qualifications playoff game at Canada Hockey Place (GM Place) where Switzerland played Belarus. The winning team which was Switzerland would go on to play the United States in the quarterfinals and ultimately lose to United States and the United States would ultimately lose to Canada in the Gold Medal game today.

The game last Tuesday started at 12:00 pm. I was unlucky that I got the 12:00 pm tickets because if I had gotten the tickets to the 4:30 pm qualifications game I could have been the Canada vs. Germany game.

I went with my uncle and we walked from my house and over Cambie Bridge to the security checkpoint for Canada Hockey Place. Near the security checkpoints there were all these "Inukshuks" (logo for the games) built on the side of False Creek.

2010 Winter Olympics: 5 Hour Wait to Touch Olympic Medals

The Royal Canadian Mint set up a pavilion in Downtown Vancouver at a Simon Fraser University conference building during the Olympics where the public had a chance to touch the Olympic medals that were being handed out to victorious athletes.

I had wanted to go during the past weekend but there were too many people so I thought that lining up Monday morning on Feb. 22, 2010 would be a good idea as there would be a shorter line because it was the start of the work week.

I was totally wrong. I went with my mom and I budgeted a wait maximum wait time of two hours but it turned out that we lined up for five hours just to the priviledge to touch, give gloves on, the Olympic medals for ten minutes!

We started lining up at 10:30 am. This was the scene at 10:30 am.

2010 Winter Olympics: Visiting Pavilions on the Weekends

Last weekend on Feb. 19, 20 and 21, 2010 I went with my family to check out some of the free pavilions that various governments and organizations had set up for the Olympics.

On Friday night we visited the pavilions located near the Concord Pacific lands in Southeast False Creek.

This is Molson Canadian Canada Hockey House sponsored by Molson brewery where for the low price of $99.00 per night, you can enjoy watching "the game" inside a tent with complementary food and beer.

2010 Winter Olympics: Day 3, Victory Ceremony, Downtown Atmosphere

Last Sunday, on Feb. 14, 2010, on the 3rd day of competition of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. I went with my family to participate in the Victory Ceremony at B.C. Place Stadium.

The weather that day was more like spring than winter.

We started by walking to downtown because it was about an hour walk from our house and we didn't want to ride the congested transit system.

While walking across Cambie Bridge we passed by the Olympic Village.

Brunei: Empire Hotel, Tutong

On May 15, 2008, we went to the Empire Hotel and to the town of Tutong. It was only our third day in Brunei and we were already bored and we still had 4 more days to go because we booked our itenerary for a week in Brunei.



The Empire Hotel is the most luxurious and famous hotel in Brunei. Because Brunei does not really have many tourist attractions, the first question that any Brunei resident asks of the visitor is: "Have you been to the Empire Hotel?"