Steveston Village: buy your seafood fresh off the boat

It’s funny how some people I’ve met, who are from Vancouver, have never been to this part of the city. I think this a fabulous place to bring guests from out of town, rain or shine. Steveston Village is a beautiful little community in Richmond – about a 25 minute drive from Vancouver. The area is primarily residential, but Steveston Landing is where all the action is. On the weekends, you can find seafood for sale right off the boats! There’s always fresh fish and shrimp, and more recently we saw sea urchin for sale. Most items are either fresh or flash frozen at sea. Even if we do not plan to buy any seafood, it’s always fun to look at what the boats are selling.

There are also many shops and restaurants in the area that are worth visiting. Romania Country Bread is one stop you must make. The bread is baked daily in the large wood oven, which occupies half of the store. Try the free samples and you will definitely be convinced to purchase a loaf to bring home.

If you’d like to do some whale watching or you would like to go on a fishing charter, Seabreeze Adventures offers these tours. Personally, I have never taken one of these tours but I think they would be great for a summer trip.

One of the famous fish & chips stands at Steveston is Pajo’s. In the summer, you will find extremely long lines here. Your meal is made fresh and it is served in a cone. The portions are large and they make eating fish & chips fun.

Location: Bayview Street & 2nd Avenue, Richmond, BC (Map)

SkyTrain Stop: Aberdeen Station, then bus #410

More Info? http://www.steveston.bc.ca/

How to Use the Vancouver SkyTrain

SkyTrain 411 – what you need to know.

What is the SkyTrain? The SkyTrain is Vancouver’s rapid transit system, which is part of a larger public transportation system run by Translink. It is cool, because the trains are completely automated and driverless. The newest line, the Canada Line connects downtown Vancouver with the Vancouver International Airport (YVR). The trains start around 5:00am and stop at about 12:00am, check the schedules and maps for the first and last trains.

Fare Zones: The fares are based on the where you start and end your trip, check out the fare zone map. The system has 3 zones – named zone 1, zone 2, and zone 3. The fare you pay depends on where you intend to travel. For example, if you are travelling within one zone, you pay a 1 zone fare. If you are travelling from zone 1 to zone 3, you pay a 3 zone fare.

Fares: Fares can be purchased in four main forms: single fares, faresaver booklets (10 single tickets), day passes, and monthly passes. There are also student and employer programs that offer savings. Faresaver booklets and monthly passes must be purchased from faredealers, as there are only machines in the stations. The machines accept coins, credit cards, and debit cards. You can also pay exact cash fare when boarding buses.

Single Fares

	Adult	Concession (Students with GoCard & Seniors)	Accessibility Passengers (HandyDART)
1 Zone	$2.50	$1.75	$2.50
2 Zone	$3.75	$2.50	$2.50
3 Zone	$5.00	$3.50	$3.75
All Zones (After 6:30pm, Weekends & Holidays)	$2.50	$1.75
4 Zones or more (specially equipped vehicles)			$5.00
DayPass	$9.00	$7.00

Proof of Payment System: The whole SkyTrain system is based on a Proof of Payment System. This means all passengers must pay or validate their fare and have proof of this while they are on a train or a bus. Officers do random checks at the entrances of stations or on the trains to ensure passengers are compliant with the system.

Parking at SkyTrain Stations

Parking beside SkyTrain stations is only available at the stations below.  Translink has Park and Ride lots, where customers can park but they are not ALL located beside SkyTrain stations. Some are free parking lots.

University Station – Production Way (Lougheed Highway at Production Way, Burnaby)
Hours: Monday to Friday (except holidays) from 6am to 11pm. Saturday & Sunday closed.
Fees: $1 per hour; $4 all day 6am-6pm; $2 6pm-11pm; $85 monthly random spots; $140/monthly reserved spots

Bridgeport Station (8888 River Road, Richmond)
Hours: Available 7 days a week
Fees: $2/day

Scott Road Station (110th Ave. at Scott Rd, Surrey)
Hours: Available 7 days a week
Fees: $2 all day; $40/28-consecutive-day pass; $55/28-consecutive-day premium parking

King George Station (King George Highway, between 98th and 100th Ave, Surrey)
Hours: Available 7 days a week
Fees: Impark Lot#1303

TIP: Translink has a trip planner on their website, which is very helpful if you do not know your way around.

More Information? http://www.translink.ca

Best of Two Worlds: Ninkazu Japanese Restaurant

Ninkazu offers all-you-can-eat sushi and hotpot for dinner. The price is very reasonable: $19.95 / $22.95 for the lite or deluxe sushi menu, plus $3 per adult to add on the hotpot option. These types of restaurants are good for groups or large parties, because there are many options and everyone gets to choose what they want to eat. If you are not a fan of raw fish, there are many cooked dishes on the sushi menu (page 1, page 2) and there’s a hotpot menu, where you cook your own food. The seafood selection includes, prawns, oysters, squid, and of course salmon and tuna sashimi. When the boys were tired of eating the fish raw, they cooked it in the hotpot. Our final bill including two soft drinks came up to about $76 – an amazing price for a sushi/seafood dinner for 3 people. They also have a location in Vancouver on West Broadway called Tomokazu.

  

 

  

 Location: #205 – 4231 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond, BC (map)

Getting There: Highway 99 is the closest highway. It is on Hazelbridge, between Cambie and Alderbridge. There is FREE parking in the plaza.

SkyTrain Stop: Aberdeen Station or Lansdowne Station on the NEW Canada Line. Walking distance between the two stops.

Price: Dinner Adults $19.95 Lite/$22.95 Deluxe; Children under 12 $9.95; Plus $3 for Hotpot Option

More Info? Tomokazu / Ninkazu Website