It's called a Gaybourhood

Ice Hockey is a great game. It's fast, easy to understand and brutal to watch. It is entirely within the rules to fight on the ice and players are encouraged to slam each other into the walls. The season has just started here and the Vancouver Canucks are the local team.

I watched my first game over dinner in a busy sports bar on Granville St, a main street in downtown Vancouver. It was great night and the game tied at 4-4 at the end of the third period causing 5 minutes of golden goal extra time. Vancouver got up 5-4 and the pub erupted!

On Wednesday I wandered to the Fountainhead Pub to try to find a game to watch (they play on both weekends and mid-week). From the outside it looked like a pretty normal sports bar and was a little away from the main action. The pub was offering a $10 dinner special which included a beer - it was too good to refuse.

Alarm bells should have been ringing when instead of broadcasting the game every screen in the pub was showing "So You Think You Can Dance Canada". But I took my place at the bar and ordered dinner...maybe the game had not started yet.

I was clearly the odd one out. The only person sitting alone in a pub full of even numbered groups of men glued to the screens. When the kitchen hand tapped the barman on the bum I was sold...I was in the gayest pub in the gaybourhood.

The four men immediately to my right then broke the ice by saying hello and at the sound of my accent broke into hysteria and wavered there hands..."Oh a little Aussie Boy how adorable".

It was too late I was committed - I had already ordered and was sitting with a full pint!

What happened next was almost too much - an man in his forties moved alongside me, placed his jacket on the other side of me and struck up a conversation about the dancing and asking me all about Australia. I ate my meal in a flash, gave off as many "I'm not gay" vibes as I could muster and asked the barman for the bill.

When the barman returned with a full pint I looked at him in disbelief..."I asked for the bill" - I repeated myself. "Oh I know what you asked, for came the response, but we needed to work out a way to keep you here - this one is on me - I'll just get your bill"

I signed it in seconds, sank the free pint as fast as I could without appearing to scull it and made a beeline for the door...I was of course on Davie Street!!

Running parallel to Burnaby Street is Davie Street which by the distinctive rainbow flags (which are not obvious at night) is heavily influenced by the local gay and lesbian population. Vancouver is a modern city and Davie Street is its Gaybourhood.

It's quite a cool street with lots of shops, cafes and bars. I returned to Davie Street the next day and what had alluded me the following evening was now clearly visible. It's a cool area in downtown Vancouver that is transitioning from a rundown neighbourhood to one of the trendier and more expensive parts of town. Well worth a look but keep your wits about you.