Vancouver Night Life Part II: Tender is the Night

Once again, everyone dressed to the nines for a final night in Vancouver. Before we left the Renaissance, we presented a cake for Stephanie’s 20th birthday surprise. Aside from Stephanie and I (the only sober ones throughout the vacation), everyone else celebrated with drinks and chasers. We then headed to Gossip Night Club via taxi. Arriving too early, everyone headed to the casino/bar next door to kill time. Cuong was in love with her limes, Ami was passed out, and Akina was having the time of her life. When we got back in line for Gossip, we discovered that everyone—including the girls—had to pay for cover. Because of these charges, Gavin somehow negotiated with the staff to get us a VIP section stocked with lollipops and champagne. Because the night was still young, virtually nobody was on the dance floor. With suckers in our mouths, we decided to start the action, and soon enough, random people joined in the dancing.

Apparently, lollipops are a choking hazard when it comes to dancing...

We returned to the hotel after quite some time, and everyone was out of control (leave it to Heng and Akina to liven up the party)… Everything started to settle down once everyone split into groups: Cole/Gavin/Ami was asleep, Wilson/Tim/Nanda/Akina was at the hot tub, and Team Sundona/Carsen went to the Olympic Torch to take pictures with the glowing glass shards and the triumphant flames. Afterward, we returned to the hotel where I tried to fall asleep alone; I woke up overheating with five other people in my bed. Stephanie was attempting to learn a foreign language from Heng/Frankie, Tim/Richard was cuddling with Nanda/Nancy, and Ryuji eventually slept next to Wilson for the sake of bed-space distribution. What a night.

Olympic torch at night, barricaded by a fence