We discovered a Sri Lankan grocery shop in Surrey, BC in June. It sits very close to the current terminus of the SkyTrain track near Surrey Central. We'd known of its existence for a number of years but had never stopped until this summer.
Jay suggested he could pick up a few things if we went today.
From a map, I knew there is an Urban Forest Park very close to Colombo Stores. However, it also happens to be a place we'd never seen. So today, we drove to have a look at it first. The city of Surrey's park was quite busy with dozens of families picnicking, bicycling, and walking.
It is a pleasure to see marshlands that are appreciated and protected. The area didn't look large on Google Earth, but it extends over a large portion of land bounded and crisscrossed by highways. Surrey itself is enormous stretching all the way from the Fraser River to the US border. It is seeing growth which will make its population larger than the city of Vancouver within a decade. The part of the city we visited today is only about 10 kilometers from our apartment in New Westminster.
We walked only a few kilometers around Green Timbers' Lake. Quite a number of people were fishing as it is stocked with rainbow trout. Now, the daily temperatures reach a maximum of around 22°C. It was a nice little bit of exercise. I've always appreciated nature wherever we've lived be it the woods or desert. Still, I have to admire the Lower Mainland of BC because it is an urban area surrounded by forests. Even within its cities lie large swaths of wilderness.
Jay did get a number of items at the Sri Lankan ethnic market. He got curry leaves, red rice, horse gram, and a bottle of palm treacle.