Anni Adventures

I'm so happy to share with everyone this new campaign from BzzAgent. This one is for the Secret Clear Gel Antiperspirant.

A couple of weeks ago, my close friend had a birthday celebration. Instead of the usual dine out or party at home, she wanted to do something unique. In the end, she decided that she wanted to go to a Paint Nite. Paint Nite is an event where you go with friends to paint, order drinks and have a good time. The portrait for the night she selected was a whale tale amidst a sea of water with the sun setting in the background. 

A huge package came in the mail today, and I was so surprised. I was expecting this to come, but not so soon since the website's status was "Ship Soon".  What a nice surprise! When we signed up for the campaign. I was given the option of French (I think) and Chinese. Obviously, because of my ethnicity I opted for Chinese. 

The gift card had enough for two bottles so I bought a Chardonnay and a Dry Red. I was surprised they're actually not that expensive. The 750 ml size came out to be around $8 whereas the 1.5L was about $14.


I've yet to try the Chardonnay, but had a sampling of the Dry Red. Its initial taste was good, but the aftertaste left little to be desired. I'm usually not a fan of wine taste to begin with so to me I wasn't all that fond of it. That's alright though because I know someone who will. It's always good to try new things and see what you like and don't. Tonight, we'll have the Chardonnay and see.

It has been over a month since I've returned from my trip to Japan and Korea. Things have been just so busy that I hadn't had time to share. The trip was a three week vacation that I embarked on solo. It being the first time that I was doing so, I was frightened and didn't know what to expect. Had I prepared enough? would the language barrier be an issue?  Is it safe for me to travel by myself? All these questions and more ran through my head. Especially because the highlight of my trip would be my desired Mt. Fuji climb. I really wanted to climb to the top of Mout Fuji and watch the sunrise. Crazy I know, but as they say in Japan, "He who climbs Mount Fuji once is a wise man, he who climbs it twice is a fool."

The official climbing season for Mount Fuji is July and August but because I wouldn't be around. I pushed my climb to the latest date possible, June 29/30th. I had brought along my winter jacket and headlamp pre-trip. Everything else I planned on buying at the fifth station. The few days leading up to the climb was nerve-wrecking. Weather forecast for Mount Fuji for the chosen day was considered poor for climbing, especially for a night climb. At such high altitudes, weather was a key factor to the climb. But because my accommodations had been set already, I had to go and figure things out from there. I caught a morning bus in Shinjuku that took me right up to the Yoshida 5th Station. 

I arrived around noon and went straight to the information center to get as much information as I could regarding the climb. The man there recommended against doing the climb. 
There were so many things that could go wrong, such as the weather, the key component. It wasn't looking good. He also said even if I made it to the top, the likelihood of seeing the sunrise was small because of weather conditions. He recommended that if I absolutely had to do it, to book a stay in one of the huts on the way up. But for staying just a couple of hours, it would cost 80,00 yen. 

In the end I decided I was going to try and if weather didn't cooperate, I could always turn around. As luck would have it, another lady came into the center asking about the climb as well. We ended up talking and it turns out that she and her boyfriend, who were both intending on doing the night climb, were also Canadians! What luck that the only Canadians I would meet on the trip would be when I needed it most. We decided to do the climb together as on a climb like this the more the merrier. 
After we bought a bunch of food and supplies for the climb we prepared to set off. We ended up running into a European who was also planning on doing the climb. He had a lot of experience under his belt and agreed to climb with us. It was a good thing he did because he ended up being a lifesaver. 
We set off around 6 pm, even though it would still be 10 hours before sunrise. The climb would only take about 5-7 hours. As we started our climb, we could see a mixture of clouds/fog. As we made our way up, we encountered many that were coming down. They shared their experience with us and gave their encouragements. as we made our way past the sixth station and towards the first of many huts along the trail, the sun started to set. We stopped at the first hut that would sell us hot water for our instant noodles. As luck would have it, it starts to rain as we waited, so we took shelter inside the hut. We ended up waiting out there until 9:30 pm when they were closing for the night. By then, the rain had subsided and we could see the night sky. With seven hours still to go, we made our way up, taking small breaks at each of the huts we came along. Once we were above the clouds, we got to see the most amazing of views. The sky was filled with stars as far as the eyes can see. Because we were so high up, there were no light pollution to ruin the view. You could see the milky way and the occasional shooting stars. We sat in awe just taking it all in. You rarely get to see such a spectacular view. As we moved up higher and higher, the wind picked up, but we managed to stay above the clouds and any possible rain. If it wasn't for the European with us who had brought extra jackets that were windproof, I doubt I would have made it. But not only did he lend me his jacket, he was a great motivator. As we reached the ninth station, we found a few huts that allowed us to take shelter as long as we purchased some merchandise/food from them. The Japanese at the huts didn't give us the best impression of Japanese people though, although the language barrier would be the huge factor. They were very strict on time spent in their space and wouldn't allow us to do things the would seemingly be OK here in Canada. The final hut we stayed at, just below the ninth station, we stayed til an hour before sunrise. Climbing up to the summit, we could see the daylight breaking through the darkness. 
We were the first people of the day to reach the summit, and we made it with moments to spare. The clouds were low and we caught our sunrise that simply took our breathes away.
The wind at the summit was so strong could literally blow you away. But other than that, we were very fortunate. We trekked around the crater which was still half covered with snow and ice. We wanted to get to the highest peak of the summit but because of the snow and the route we took, it made it difficult for us to reach.
We started our descent at around 7:30. It proved to be a lot more difficult and painful on the legs. Climbing down in the daytime felt endless compared to the climb up. Going up it was dark so we couldn't really see how much more we had to climb, but on the way down, you see an endless path that makes you think how you made it up. I went on and on wondering to myself when it would end or when I could finally see the 5th station. We finally made it after 3 hours. 
On our bus ride off the mountain to kawaguchiko, even though we were all hungry and sore out of our minds, everyone was so exhausted we all fell asleep. Once we got to the train station we had a quick lunch before we parted ways. The climb up and down and all the breaks in between took a total of 16 hours. It was the longest 16 hours I ever went through but one that I won't forget for a long time. 

I am slowly beginning to get all caught up with that huge list of must-write blog posts list. It's slowly dwindling down, although I have a feeling it won't be for long as my trip is coming up soon.

A while ago, a friend and I bought a Groupon for Paragliding in Harrison Mills, BC. After some unforeseen circumstances, she had to back out and I ended up going with another friend. I had been looking forward to this for MONTHS, no joke. Unfortunately, because I have such a busy couple of months coming up, we were really restricted on when we could go. This is because the sport is very weather dependent.

We decided on Mother's day weekend and honestly at first we thought our luck wasn't that bad. We stopped by in Aldergrove first at my friend's friend's cafe for breakfast. I had one of the best egg's benedicts I've had in a while! Although it was raining in the morning by the time we reached our destination, the rain had completely stopped. We signed our waivers and browsed their pamphlets. However, it was still cloudy up in the mountains where we'd be launching from, so we were told to wait even more. While we did so, we drove to a nearby lake for a stroll. After a half hour delay, we packed up the gears and headed up into the mountains.

How we made it up to the launch area, I'll never know. The road was so steep and rough, and the truck wasn't the newest and best looking thing. While we waited for the clouds/fog to clear, we suited up.


There was another person with us and he was first to go. It took maybe ten minutes for them to find an opening in the clouds to launch, but as they did, he was pulled back by the unexpected wind force and fell over. He ended up landing on his tandem instructor who was a lot smaller than he was and twisted her knee. Unfortunately for them, that would be it for them. Next up was my friend. they managed to get ready only waited for a few minutes before the opportunity came for them to launch. They succeeded and within seconds of liftoff were out of view from where we were standing.

It was finally my turn to launch. I was pumped and ready to go. We got our sail ready for launch and stood in position. We waited.. and waited... and waited. I honestly thought I stood for ages. All it took was maybe a ten second window for us to be able to launch, but the weather just did not want to cooperate. After an hour had passed, and all of us up in the mountains cold out of our minds, my instructor told me that if we couldn't launch in the next five minutes we would have to call it in and reschedule. I was super disappointed. I prayed up there that the weather would be nice to me just this once. Just when we thought all was lost, we found an opening! Even though it wasn't the best, we went for it. We succeeded in our launch and was up in the air! The ride lasted maybe 10 - 15 minutes, although it felt a lot less than that. The view was stunning and breathtaking. Once we had launched and moved out of the clouds, the entire valley was in view and was gorgeous. At one point, my tandem instructor even let me take over the reins, teaching me to turn right and left. I was awestruck at being in the air. But it ended so soon. My instructor told me on a good day and the weather was cooperating, you could literally be in the air for 5 hrs!


I could really see myself coming back on a good day to try again, although it is slightly far and if not for the groupon, a bit overpriced. But it is an experience I would never trade for the world! :)

For those that are interested, I really recommend this company! They have been in this business for almost 20 years! Check them out at: http://www.flybc.org/

PS Why it was also bad luck too was the power went out in the area due to an accident, and we are still waiting on our flight videos :( which we have yet to see.