I look forward to the day when some white teenager is working at the Crystal Mall food court cranking out classic Hong Kong cafe dishes likes baked pork on rice or Hong Kong French toast.

There have been lots of times when I went to an izakaya in DT, and there was a Caucasian person working as server. But then they are fluent in Japanese.

We have a trip just outside Osoyoos from Sep 4-7.

There is a non-essential travel ban from now until Sep 4 (until end of day).

Is it selfish of us to still leave on Sep 4?

The other family we're going with doesn't think it's a big deal, but my conscience isn't as clear... What do you guys think?

Also, I don't even know if it's safe to go. I don't want to be caught between any wild fires and there is a wild fire just West of Osoyoos.

I think with the smoke, displaced people, and possibility of being stuck on a highway closed by wildfires, I would not go.

But that's just me.

I also noticed a few east Indian employees at the new T&T in Coquitlam next to IKEA. It was a surprised at first but I guess if they can fluently speak English that's fine. Probably to communicate with non Chinese speaking customers if that arises.

East Indians in HK can speak fluent Canto!

I wouldn't put my family at risk by going on the trip. It seems insensitive to go when there are folks fighting to keep their homes from burning into the ground.

You can always go to the Interior after the wildfires are over.

Even if you decided it's ok to go, it's not going to be an enjoyable time unless things are drastically different. I'd say just keep an eye on the situation expecting not to go and if it's a totally different circumstance come time (lots can change in 2 weeks) you can go with a pretty clear conscience.

I agree with westopher. Keep on eye on the fire situation in the Okanagan area to see if things change. It may not be a pleasant experience even being in Osoyoos with the bad air quality and all sorts of things happening around you.

I know of some extended family members who had to cancel their trip to Kelowna this month. One uncle is pissed that his son, my cousin, cannot get his AirBnB reservation fee back because he did not cancel his stay before the start date of being inside a host's home. The host is not replying to that cousin's messages, because, hey, guess what that host might have already left their home because of the risk of loss of life from the wildfires.

That uncle is now fretting about money being lost and not being able to take his grandson, a nephew to that cousin, to Kelowna. Uncle, his son, and nephew, and other family members were supposed to go to Kelowna to buy wine and do some wine tasting. Not anymore. LUL

I was thinking "really?" Complaining about someone losing money from AirBnB compared to the risk of endangering the lives of three generations of a family from really wanting to visit Kelowna. One of his family members that was supposed to go on the trip to Kelowna has asthma too. #Priorities
:facepalm:

^ yah this. C'mon people ... what is a few hundred dollars to you and vacation inconvenience is someone else's life turned upside down. This is how we, as British Columbians who don't live in the area, can help and support in some small way. Just eat the rez fee.

Depending on the age of your kids and the stages in which the cleanup is, that could be the opportunity for a major life lesson. Go enjoy yourselves on a vacation with a little bit of volunteer work sprinkled in if possible.

You really don't want to be in Kelowna atm, the air is disgusting. I was outside for maybe 10 minutes and my clothes smelled like I'd been camping for 3 days. They've been able to ease some of the evac orders down to alerts but overall things are still considered out of control.

At the same time fuck AirBnB, they're refusing to accept that there's a travel ban here and the hosts are just using it as an excuse to screw people out of their money and ignore them. I'd fight with AirBnB or just do a chargeback through your credit card.

You can use this to look up the address and see if its under an evac order if you're really worried about the host though: https://www.cordemergency.ca/map#msd...komfQmTEdyrOzc

Thanks for the input everyone.

It looks like Osoyoos is mostly on Alerts now, changed from evacuation, but I think you guys are right, it's not worth it to be there. And the smoke dischrage will not be pleasant and dangerous for the kiddos.

I'm just going to tell the group we don't feel comfortable going. I'll suggest going to the island or the sunshine coast or something.

Does anyone know of a place other than Tofino that has sandy beaches? The kids really like the beach, but they only like sandy beaches.

Information about sandy beaches on the island:

https://vancouverislandview.com/best-sandy-beaches/

Yambury Beach sounds like a nice sandy beach. Qualicum Beach area.

We were suppose to go to sun peaks this passed weekend friend has a house there but didn’t because of the fires, ended up going to whistler and renting an Airbnb instead

Lol if you wonder how places in Vancouver are still so busy try whistler. Every patio full, $12-$15 for a beer, $18 glasses of wine. Every single good item is $25-$35 for somthing like a burger. There were 7 adults and 2 young kids and over 2 nights 3 days we spent like $1600 just going to eat and drink at simple patios like Amsterdam cafe, garibaldi lift co. Etc. It’s fucking insane

Not to mention I counted 15 cranes up in the hillside all working on brand new custom homes. Went golfing at the whistler G&CC and there are 6-7 brand new homes under construction on the course

The whole Qualicum area is fantastic for kids. Great beaches, tonne of kids activities and weather is very pleasant. Hard to find a good place to stay on short notice though.

:heckno: at those whistler prices

better off buying a case and cracking them on the balcony of your hotel :lol
i think i'll be doing that :lawl:

Yah, Parksville, Qualicomm are popular places for beaches (note we did not say Nanaimo :lol). Mile long beaches in Parksville when it is low tide ... can go clamming if no red tide. If I were you, I wouldn't venture to the other side of the island, Tofino, Long Beach, Ucluelet, etc. The one and only hwy there has been affected by wildfire and they've shut it down earlier in the summer so you'd be stuck on the West side.

Yeah call them a fork like you do in Vancouver and then get your ass kicked. :QQ:

Clicked on the Juan de Fuca beaches and the first one listed is China Beach ... :spamarama: @Badhobz ... have you ever be to Chinaman Beach?

No, but it sounds lovely. I can see it now… acres and acres of squatting mainland bitches on pristine white powder sands.

for some reason when you said squatting i'm thinking squatting and taking a dump :lawl: :troll:

i usually go to the qualicom beach side, don't think i've ever stopped by the yambury side, but i assume it's all the same

I just got back from Nelson yesterday. Left on Friday (before the travel restrictions), back yesterday. Friday the crater creek fire just started and we witnessed it beginning, but the wind was blowing south.

AQ got significantly worse on Saturday. We went from Belfour to Crawford Bay. It was not good. Sunday for our driveback, we went through Keremeos/Osoyoos and it is NOT a good look. The sky was thick with smoke, orange and dark. It does not give you a good feeling. If there are still active fires, I would not recommend it. It would probably be pretty terrifying for your kids tbh.

Tho if you are kidless/wifeless, I would reccommend going to Nelson.. those British women... #NBN. Or Revelstoke..

Rolls Royce Just released a new car that's going to cost 30 million. The car market is fucked.

https://nypost.com/2023/08/21/rolls-...30m-price-tag/

Rathtrevor is the one I used to like going to as a kid. Would do cub scout camping there too, and that was really fun.