Vancouver Aquarium and Dr Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Gardens

Two particular highlights of Vancouver today- the Aquarium, and the Dr Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Park and Gardens. Let’s start with the aquarium.

Located in Stanley Park, not far from the Totems, this is the largest aquarium in Canada, and well worth a visit if you happen to be in the area. Its exhibitions on local marine environments are particularly interesting. It also boasts an arctic section, and a sizeable outdoor area with penguins, seals and sea lions.

The main Amazonian section contains some very impressive specimens, some of which I don’t think I’ve seen before.

This was a few weeks ago, though, so I don’t remember what they are/were. Should have taken notes, really, but it didn’t seem important at the time. I’m new to this whole journalism thing, you’ll have to bear with me.

Unusually for an aquarium, there’s also a rather good indoor rainforest:

And a delightful collection of bats! I couldn’t get any decent pictures of the bats, sadly, but they were there, and very cute, as always.

Further on, I found a long time favourite of mine, and one that I'm not sure that I've seen in an aquarium before- garden eels! Or lesser spotted sand noodles as I prefer to call them, for reasons which should be fairly obvious:

Feeding time in the main tank was quite a sight. A particular highlight for me was getting a good look at this magnificent wolf eel:

And then outside for sea otters, seals, and sea lions!

There were also walruses, which were very impressive, but not doing much… so… I sort of forgot to take any pictures. Sorry about that.

And then after a wander around the amphibian section, highlights being the false tomato frog

As opposed to the real tomato frog?

And the axolotls

It was time to exit via the gift shop

I wanted it but didn't have room in my luggage...

Despite the impressive scale, and variety of exhibits, I would have to say that it lacked something of the ‘wow’ factor of, say, the sealife centres at London or Newquay. Perhaps that is the effects of age and nostalgia at play, but although an excellent visit, I can’t say that I was quite as engaged as I have been at other aquariums. This is possibly an unfair assessment- I have a strong suspicion that jetlag was still at work that day. Either way, it’s the difference between ‘spectacular’ and ‘very good’, so which ever it is, I can certainly recommend that you visit and find out for yourself.

That having been said, for those of you interested in marine biology, they have apparently had groundbreaking success in the sphere of breeding captive jellyfish, and as a direct result have a truly fantastic collection.

As per usual, more pictures on the tumblr!

The Dr Sun Yat-Sen Park and gardens, however, are one of the best places I have ever visited, and I cannot recommend them highly enough.

The history of these gardens is a rather interesting one, the formal gardens in particular. First, the public park.

Built as an accompaniment to the formal gardens on the other side of the pond, this is a replica of a Ming dynasty public park, constructed under the direction of master craftsmen from China.

The private gardens, however, are not just a replica in appearance and construction technique, but also had all of the materials, right down to the river pebbles in the floor, imported from China.

And as you can see, there are a lot of those.

Construction took place during 1985-86, to coincide with Expo 86 and the centenary of Vancouver. It is named for Dr Sun Yat-Sen, pioneering Chinese nationalist, who visited Vancouver several times during his exile from Qing dynasty China. Apparently, funds raised by the Chinese population of Vancouver were also a key part of financing the revolution that eventually ended the imperial dynasty. To round out the selection of reasons Vancouver was chosen, it also has the same winter climate as Suzhou, the location of the gardens used as a template for this one, allowing for many of the same plants to be used.

Such as this rather lovely little plum tree

Ordinarily, the pond would be full of koi, but unfortunately, an otter recently made its way into the garden and managed to catch and eat a number of the fish and evade capture. Apparently, the rest have been evacuated to the safety of the aquarium, though I didn't see them there.

Still very pretty though

An interesting feature of the pond is the bright green colouration, known as 'jade water'. I didn't have much success capturing it on camera, but it adds a real vibrancy to the area, as well as ensuring a good reflection, even on a dull day. This effect is achieved by lining the bottom of the pond with a specially imported clay, which then colours the water. It's these sort of extra details that really made this such a special place for me.

A fascinating detail of the walkway, seen here from the other side of the garden- as well as the zig zag concealing the whole journey, in a manner that is supposed to symbolise the journey of life, it is apparently supposed to deter ghosts. According to traditional Chinese mythology of the time, ghosts have no joints and thus can only travel in straight lines. (I've done a little bit of research, and this seems to be something broadly believed only of the Jiangshing, or 'hopping vampire', but since Chinese folklore covers several thousand years of history, some variation is to be expected). Apparently, this is a common feature of the architecture of the time, and similar features can even be found in modern Chinese restaurants. Not all of them, obviously, but I'm certainly going to be looking for that in the future.

The design of the gardens as a whole is guided by the principles of feng shui, balancing yin and yang elements such as the different geometric shapes in the windows, dark and light colours, rough and smooth surfaces, plants and rocks, and so on.

On top of that, there are bats incorporated into almost everything, as a symbol of good luck. Have a close look at the end of the roof tiles in the picture above.

The approach of mirroring the natural world in miniature and balancing all of the relevant elements has created one of the most tranquil, calming, and delightful spaces I have ever been in. I'm sure it won't appeal to everyone, but if you like this sort of thing, then I cannot recommend these gardens highly enough. If you're in Vancouver, I'd say that this is an absolute must-see.

As an aside, there was also a delightful display of Chinese calligraphy in the exhibition hall, which I found rather inspiring. Having settled down a bit in Jasper, I did a little more research into the architecture and calligraphy, got distracted (as per usual- the joys of a butterfly mind) and started teaching myself Tibetan. Just the script for now, but it passes the time.

Next time, some more on Jasper itself! Hopefully. Possibly in video format. We'll see what I can get working.