Our second day in Vancouver. We started the day off by walking down to Reckless Bike Store and renting bicycles for the day. We biked up to Chinatown and visited Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Garden, then had lunch in Chinatown. I still had a long list of Highlander locations I wanted to visit, so I left my cousins to explore on their own and met up with them again in Stanley Park at the Vancouver Aquarium. They had already explored Stanley Park a bit before going to the aquarium, so I split off from them again after the aquarium to see the Stanley Park locations and then biked along Beach Avenue back toward Reckless Bikes. I turned the bike in around 7 pm (which I thought was when they closed -- turns out they are open later hours during the summer, so I could have taken my time instead of rushing back. Oh well.) I walked back to the hotel, rested a few minutes, then left a note for my cousins, who weren't back yet, and set out on foot to visit the Highlander locations closer to the hotel.
Taylor Street
[49.280344,-123.105894] | Episode: 4x11 Timeless |
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| This is where Claudia almost gets run over, at the intersection of Taylor and Pender. |
 | Looking down Taylor St toward Andy Livingston Park. All of the buildings on the right were an empty lot when 'Timeless' was filmed. |
| After almost hitting Claudia, Walter drives toward the park, which is where Methos and Alexa talk later in the same episode. |  |
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Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Park
[49.279916,-123.103418] | Episodes: 2x08 Revenge of the Sword, 4x11 Timeless |
 | Entrance to the free park attached to the garden. |
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| Inside the entrance to the park. |
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| Looking from the park across the reflecting pool toward the garden. |
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Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden
[49.279651,-123.103913] | Episodes: 1x03 Road Not Taken, 2x08 Revenge of the Sword |
 | Admission to the garden is ~$14, and they have guided tours hourly during the summer. |
| The China Maple Hall was Kiem Sun's laboratory in 'Road Not Taken'. |  |
 | Moon door near the China Maple Hall. |
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| MacLeod and Grandfather Lao sit in the 'Colourful and Cloudy Pavilion' during their talk in 'Revenge of the Sword'. |
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| A composite view of the garden from the northeast corner. |
 | MacLeod meets Kiem Sun (and his bodyguards) in this front courtyard. |
| The yin & yang mosaic cobblestones in the front courtyard. |  |
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| This is the Jade Water Pavilion, which straddles the koi pond / reflection pool. The round door represents Heaven, and the square door Earth. The vase represents peace. It also looks like a face wearing a scholar's hat. The plants & flowers carved into the fretwork represent aspects of a scholar. Bamboo, for instance, represents the ability to bend without breaking, and its hollow center represents being open-minded to new concepts. |
 | Looking out at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Park from the Jade Water Pavilion. |
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| The rear courtyard, where the Scholar's Study and Hall of One Hundred Rivers are located. |
| Jade Water Pavilion from the rear courtyard. |  |
 | The yin & yang mosaic cobblestones in the rear courtyard. |
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| The Scholar's Study was Chou Lin's living quarters in 'Road Not Taken'. |
| Tortoises represent longevity to the Chinese. Stones shaped like a tortoise shell are thought to impart longevity upon those who stand on them and are therefore often place at thresholds. |  |
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| Koi feeding time at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Garden |
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| The gong vibrations call the koi to dinner. |
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| No, he isn't fishing for koi. The pole is to keep the duck away from the fish food. |
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| After lunch in Chinatown, I ditched my cousins and headed out on my own to find Highlander locations. I figured they would prefer to explore on their own rather than follow me around to places they didn't really care about (especially since I planned to scout out some parking garages as possible locations for a scene in 'The Colonel'). I met back up with them later in the afternoon at the aquarium in Stanley Park. |
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Wing On Photo
[49.27957,-123.099174] | Episode: 1x03 Road Not Taken |
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| This is at 215 Keefer St – the Fido store is where Wing On Photo was in the montage of MacLeod driving around looking for Kiem Sun. There are other locations around Chinatown from that montage, but this was the most recognizable and the only one I visited. |
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Helliman's Antiques & Nikki's apartment
[49.281757,-123.097692] | Episode: 1x09 The Sea Witch |
 | Gore & Hastings -- Richie walks up Gore through this intersection, looking for Helliman's Antiques. |
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| Success Orange Hall was used as the exterior of Nikki's apartment and is conveniently right next to the store used as Helliman's. |
| And just up the street from Helliman's is the back of Firehall Arts Centre, where Richie & MacLeod fight Drakov's thugs “behind” Nikki's apartment. |  |
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| Behind Firehall Arts Centre -- this used to be a wooden fence... | |
 | Across the street is the church seen from the "back" of Nikki's apartment as the T-bird drives away. |
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Vancouver Police Museum
[49.28214,-123.098223] | Episodes: 1x12 Eyewitness, 4x04 Leader of the Pack |
 | Just around the corner on Cordova (next to the *front* of Firehall Arts Centre) is the Vancouver Police Museum that was used for establishing shots of police stations in a couple of episodes. |
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Alexander & Gore
[49.284047,-123.097888] | Episode: 2x09 Run for Your Life |
 | Intersection of Alexander & Gore, where Charlie & MacLeod talk about Chinese food, appropriate since this is in Chinatown. |
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| Across Alexander from the previous photo. The derelict in the center, next to the Burrard Ironworks building, used to be the auto service centre seen several times in the episode. (It was painted white then.) |
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