Scary Scary Experience

Today - I saw heaven on Earth as I zipped through two peaks of the rockies. Truly breathtaking!

Yesterday, however, I saw hell. Vancouver is a beautiful city. Two well-known spots in the this city are Gastown and Chinatown. The Chinatown is the oldest in N. America and Gastown is full of souvenir shops, specialty shops and restaurants.

As innocent tourists, we walked through Chinatown and decided to walk across Hastings to Gastown. This area got bad REALLY fast. I'm talking just a few blocks. I have never seen anything like this! I am from Detroit. I live in Cass Corridor and "blood alley" of Vancouver was the scariest thing I have ever seen. I have seen many cities but have never seen anything like this. The smell - urine. The people - skinny, skinny, total addicts with track marks all down there arms. One guy was riding a bike and his arm was just holes in skin. It was so sad. People were intoxicated out of there mind. Not in a party way but in a really sad, horrible, scary way. There eyes were sunken in and hair was falling out. Mostly all caucasian.

I could not believe my eyes. I was sweating. We were ALL sweating. Mom put her scarf over her nose because the smell was horrible and a man said "you think this is bad, yea, this is what I live in because the bank doesn't want to give me any loans. You don't know bad." He is right, we don't know bad.

I don't know if this was poverty. It seemed like it was a mix of addicts and prostitutes. PEople were staring off into space. One guy quickly shoved a bag of cocaine down his pants and looked up at me. I just kept walking. I have never felt this sad/scared in my ENTIRE life. Some of these people may have had good lives until they were exposed to these hazardous chemicals.

Some testimonials I found AFTER we experienced this and I searched it on google:

" am 16 now and I used to live on East Hastings as a drug user.

Vancouver is a beautiful city and not one to ignore or miss out on when traveling. You will be warned time and time again not to go to Main or Hastings (A.K.A Downtown East side). Ironically enough these streets are right between China Town and Gas Town. Both great tourist sites.
I lived there for a little over a year in a run down apartment with no bathroom and part of the floor missing. I know how hard it is and the people living down there don't deserve to be gawked at like sideshow freaks because WE'RE not.
Everyone there will frighten you, I'm sure. It's not every day you walk down a street that smells of urine and is stained with blood. I myself suggest not to walk around the area at night but you won't find trouble unless you really go looking for it.
I lived in ground zero and I even went looking for trouble. The very worst that may happen in the day time is someone will look at you and ask for some money."

"As well-travelled Australians, my husband and I have been to the big cities - Paris, London, Rome, New York, Tokyo, Sydney, etc. But we can honestly say that we have NEVER experienced poverty in a city like we saw in the Eastside of Downtown Vancouver. Like many tourists, we were innocently wandering the streets in search of Chinatown from Gastown. And before we reached the infamous East Hastings Street, we came across an alley named "Blood Street" - it was dark and dingy, and we should have headed its warning. Within a couple of minutes we found what appeared to be hundreds of people living in poverty. The homeless, the drug addicts, the prostitutes, and the just-plain-dodgy were all out in search of who-knows-what - and it was only 3pm! Never have I felt so terrified as a tourist. No law enforcement could be seen, and if it wasn't for a bus, and a very kind bus driver, I don't know what would have happened next.

Just stay away."

"My wife and I went to CHINATOWN and thought we could just walk the few blocks on Carrell st. to qucikly get to GASTOWN. Wrong. The area goes from bad to worse real quick. Best described as what it must be like to see the Plague in real life, right in front of your face. Hundreds of people thin and obviously sick. Open Sores. The smell of the place was stuck in my MOUTH for probably 10 blocks after. NOT GOOD. If your in Vancouver on a nice vacation do not go here! Avoid it at all costs. You do not need to see this. It is not just some bums sitting around, its full blown drug addicts. It felt like a wicked sick place. I spoke with police later in the evening about the situation on East Hastings, they said the druggies pretty much leave the tourists alone (dont take comfort in this). He said its been like that since the 60's but lately there are more people. Don't let your curiosity get the best of you. I wish I had never walked thru. I am 6ft. and weight 225 muscular. I have no pictures because my hands were wet with sweat and I was walking so fast, pulling my wife along."