[Christmas in Vancouver] Day 2 / Burnaby Shopping Guide (Part I)

I woke up feeling rather refreshed today.

And although this is completely unrelated, I ingested a glorious breakfast of cornflakes topped with two heaving tablespoons of reduced fat Cool Whip. And why Cool Whip? Breakfast just isn't breakfast without milk, but since there was no milk in the fridge, Cool Whip was the next closest thing =P ...besides coffee creamer, that is. (Oh god, how DISGUSTING would that taste though?! *shudders*)

So today we went to Metrotown and Crystal Mall in Burnaby. I had a long list of things I wanted to check out and though they weren't quite attended to at the Metrotown stop (blame the mass amount of distractions and pretty Christmas decor), the Crystal Mall trip was decidedly satisfactory.

Following the purchase of a camouflage jacket with furry lapels (which has the potential to be featured in a later haul ;)), we had lunch at Sui Sha Ya.

My parents went with the All-You-Can-Eat deal while I just opted for an Unagi Soba, which, might I add, was seriously the most amazing restaurant soba I've ever had in all my 19 years of running my tongue over Japanese food.

One of the things I really like about Burnaby is their multiculturalism. Sure, it's still mainly Asian-based, but it's not a number comparable to Richmond as yet.

Another thing I really like is their bubble tea. Like GOSH, freshly squeezed fruit smoothies that are just the perfect balance of sweetness and texture? Yes please! Not to mention that their drinks are MUCH, MUCH more wallet-friendly than that of the East Coast.

And one of my favourite things would have to be its accessibility to Korean culture and K-Pop goods.

1) ARTBOX
Metropolis at Metrotown, Area GK

This store can basically be summed up as a severely overpriced Korean goods retailer. With a limited range of posters priced anywhere between $20 - $40 as well as some cute stuffed animals and clothing (anywhere between $13 to $100; yep, no joke - I spotted a hoodie selling for $100 today!), ARTBOX is a nice quick place to browse around while your more elderly shopping partners enjoy a cup of afternoon coffee and fruit muffin at the bakery located directly across.

2) Piggy Bank Place
Metropolis at Metrotown, Area UA

Piggy Bank Place used to have something resembling an actual store before, but apparently at some point, they changed to this part-kiosk-looking thing.

Just as overpriced as ARTBOX, and if not even more so, Piggy Bank Place sells cute stationery, stuffed toys, and accessories from popular anime and cartoon series. Besides renown characters like Domo and My Little Pony, they also had products from popular anime such as 'Death Note', 'Fairy Tail', and the recently explosively-popular 'Attack on Titan'.

I was actually pretty tempted to get a small Alpacasso plushie due to its adorable demeanour, but the $12.95 price tag turned me off immediately. Either way though, I still love window shopping for plushies, so walking through their "stuffed toy tunnel" was quite a pleasure to me..

That's about it for Metrotown, if you ignore some of the deals going on in clothing and electronics.

But next stop is Crystal Mall!

To be continued in Part II !