If you ask someone what he likes about Vancouver, chances are he will tell you “the weather” (see the video). What he dislikes? Also …the weather! Truth is in sunny days Vancouver is gorgeous, temperatures are usually in the 20 degrees and the air is great to breath. But when it starts raining, it may continue like this even for a couple of days in a raw, it gets boring and depressing.

It rains mostly in the winter, but because of the rain, people may seem more quiet and depressed.

Vancouver is also nicknamed “Hongcouver“, because of the massive number of Chinese immigrants who continue to come from Asia. Diversity and multiculturalism is good, but it has its impact. Mandarin or Cantonese are required or preferred in lots of jobs. Some suburbs, especially south of the city, like Richmond or Surrey, saw their criminality rate going up, with ethnic gang activity.

Transportation is considered outstanding, but traffic may get congested at times, because there is no freeway crossing the metropolitan area north to south, and the downtown peninsula doesn’t have enough options.

Life is expensive as well, because of the natural beauty of Vancouver and the tourist attraction. Houses in the millions of dollars became hard to afford. Rent went up, especially in the downtown area, where it is very expensive to afford even a one-bedroom apartment. Some say Vancouver B.C. (for British Columbia) stands for “bring cash“.

Vancouver will host the Winter Olympic Games in 2010 and this already raised eyebrows of some ecological groups or residents, who often see their natural habitat destroyed and replaced by new freeways and construction.

Close to downtown and to Gastown there are some well-known bad areas, especially on Eastern Hastings, filled with homeless people, marijuana smokers and prostitutes. In fact, Vancouver has a bad reputation regarding both the consumption and production of marijuana and cannabis, as well as the amount of drug abuse done openly on the streets. The city always ranked high in international best city surveys in all other criteria except for the petty crime. The crime rate may be one of the highest in Canada.

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Tags: Canada, Vancouver, Worst Of

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