2014 - A personal year in review

In a couple hours, it'll be the end of 2014.

A year of much growth.

A year of new beginnings.

A year of hardship, yet enjoyment all the same.

2014... it was a life changing year for me.

The first couple months were rough. I remember coming down with bronchitis and how that really put a hamper for me at work. It was difficult concentrating at work, and it led to more stress for me. Almost like a positive feedback loop, it made the first two months really crappy.

Not to mention that we were still undergoing some renovations which made it difficult for me to work at home. It may have led to the habit of me staying after school to do work instead of going back home. =P

After bronchitis, I went through a series of other illnesses which caused me additional grief. Small perhaps to some, but significant for me. Near the end of the school year, I was exhausted, beaten down, yet optimistic.

Summer was coming -- vacation time!

After completing my final task at school (Yearbook), I counted down the remaining days till my first trip. Japan was an amazing experience, something so foreign yet nostalgic at the same time. It was different to see one side of my heritage via older eyes. After two and a half weeks, it was back home to Calgary to prepare for my next trip.

Mexico was relaxing, though comfortably dull. I realized that I was more of an "explorer" traveler in that I rather be sightseeing than relaxing by the beach. Nevertheless, I experienced much throughout the two trips which, as cliche as it sounds, opened my mind. I'm a different person coming back after the summer in comparison to pre-departure David Maruyama.

And so begins my second year as a teacher. Fortunately, my core courses were the same as last year, so I was able to reuse a lot of my old lesson plans. That gave me some time to go exercise.

And exercise was much needed indeed! I don't recall feeling so "healthy" in quite a while! It's a great stress relief and a good way to practice goal-setting.

All in all, the year started out roughly, but got progressively better, especially July onwards. I'm looking forward to what 2015 may bring, and hopefully it'll be another great year for everyone.

Best wishes to all for 2015!

And hopefully I'll blog and post pictures more! (Doubt it though...)

Day 6,7 and 8

The weekend was pretty boring. On Saturday, I spent the entire day at home watching Fate/Stay Night. I previously have seen Fate Zero, so I thought I might as well watch the original (Fate Zero being the prequel made after a couple of years).

Other than that, it was video gaming on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday went by a bit quicker since I had volunteering.

Today on the other hand, I got up and went to work out. We tried squatting heavier today and mixed them up with a couple of other upper body exercises.

And that's that! Halfway through break! Better get some planning in soon...

Day 5: Boxing Day 2014

Once again, I slept in for Boxing Day.

I feel like there isn't any good deals... for me at least.

Besides sleeping in, I went out a couple times to eat (lunch and dinner) and to work out. So far, it has been my 4th session to the gym this week and I'm really feeling the effects from working out so much.

And off to sleep for another work out day tomorrow!

Day 4: Christmas 2014

Christmas Day!

Woke up late and ate breakfast. Afterwards, it was off to a Christmas lunch with relatives. It was nice to see people that I haven't seen in a while!

After lunch, it was off home to continue on with FF XIII-3. I finally finished day 6!

It was a simple, yet enjoyable Christmas. =)

Day 3: Games Day

And thus today was a games day. Woke up, did my usual morning routine and settled down to play FF XIII-3. Almost done Day 5!

And then it was off for another work out...

And more games afterwards!

Merry Christmas!

Day 2

Woke up and spent 5-6 hours putting decals on my final Gundam project of te year. It was my first time using water decals -- easier to put on compared to scratch ins, yet harder to maintain (falls/peels/rubs off if still wet). 

My initial reason for purchasing Exia was to redeem myself for screwing up my brothers Exia. I didn't teach him how to paint properly so his is a runny mess. =(

I think I did it justice. 

Mine is the one on the left. 

Day 1 of Break

To make up for the lack of blog posts, I decided to blog what I do daily. Not only will it give me something to read when I'm bored (I find it to be quite useful in triggering my memory), it'll hopefully inspire me to do more interesting stuff during the day to blog about!

Anyways, I woke up later than normal (but earlier than I expected) and went about my morning routine. I also made a couple of calls and finally got back my aeroplan (actually made a new one) and created an Esso Speedpass. After that, I got a long needed haircut and proceeded to game away the afternoon.

After playing a ton of LoL, I went out to exercise. It was a deadlift sort of day... a day I really dread. Fortunately, IU survived to tell the tale, and I came home to eat dinner and play FF XIII-3.

I will finish that game before school starts again... or so I hope.

Let the break officially begin!

Today marks the last day of karate for the year, thus break officially beginning for me tomorrow!

Besides Karate, I got some marking done and went out to take pictures of the lights at Confederation Park. There weren't as many displays as I thought there would be, but it was nice nevertheless. Today gave me a chance to try out my new lens I purchased last week, and I have to say that I'm quite pleased with the results so far!

Hard to go back to a game after 7 months

Finally Winter Break!

PIt's finally the start of 2014-2015's Winter Break!

Morning started out quite well, though late morning got a bit worse. However, once the kids were gone, I buckled down to clean up the rest of my classroom.

And then it was off for a final get together with some staff members, and off to some wrapping/ribbon shopping!

And of course, Friday is Bro Night! T'was a pretty enjoyable start to Winter's Break!

Just one more day to go!

Only one day (1/2 day) to go!

It's been a while since I last blogged, but nothing out of the ordinary has occurred. It's good that break is here, for I feel that I could use it.

It'll give me time to catch up and plan ahead for the new year!

And hopefully I'll have time to start planning another epic summer vacation! =D

Bankers Hall

I think this is the first time I seen such an elaborate Christmas display!

It feels good to leave early every now and then!

I left work right after the buses left since I had a doctor's appointment today for my cracked toe nail (near the nail bed).

I had to say that it felt pretty good to leave early after leaving at around 6 the last three days. I'm still behind in work, but what's new... =/

And it felt wonderful to work out today! I missed my session on Monday because of work, so it felt extra wonderful today!

Enough with the feels! Only two more weeks till winter break! =)

Interesting nickle

Saw a interesting coin yesterday during volunteering. 

Parent Teacher Interviews

Extremely tough this year considering it took place during a day where I had no prep nor lunch break.

But at least tomorrow we end early!

And off to Exia!

Report card comments...

... takes forever to write! Finished my three core classes in about two hours.

I'll leave my three option classes for tomorrow... or Tuesday...

And benchmarks...

Can't forget about those benchmarks...

... 

Song Ji Eun - Pretty at 25 Review

It's been a while since I last posted and I don't feel like marking anymore. What better way to get back to blogging than to write a review blog?

As of a month ago, I stumbled across a teaser for Song Ji Eun's (which I dub as the Korean Mozart of Kpop female singers) new dance track. Personally, I was a bit weary, because I wasn't too fond of her previous release song: Don't Look at Me (which came out just a couple weeks before this new teaser). Nevertheless, the teaser was really promising, thus peaking my curiosity for her upcoming release.

And on Oct 13th, the MV was released!

Review and Thoughts

If I'm not mistaken, I believe this is her first solo dance track. Ji Eun is not particularly known for her dancing skills for SECRET has Jun Hyosung and Jung Hana to rely on. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from the MV, but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. She actually has a pretty decent choreography. Sure it's no BoA or HyunA, but I have to say it's pretty impressive.

Despite being a dance track, there weren't a lot of dance scenes throughout the music video. The producers instead focused on how pretty Ji Eun is; and boy is she pretty.

And this

After many watches and building immunity to her charms, I was able to analyze the MV with a more leveled head.

In terms of content, there isn't much. The main theme of the song is that she's 25, thus meaning she's no longer a girl. "It's [her] time to shine". Yet all I see is pink and balloons. For most of the MV, I'm not getting that sense that she's maturing into a woman.

But then again, I guess it depends on your definition of what a woman entails. It could possibly mean that she's able to pick her own style, for she's "beautiful, young and free", yet I don't think that was the main intention.

Other than that detail, I thoroughly enjoyed the music video. It was bright and cheerful, unlike her past two MVs (Don't Stare at Me and False Hope). The little scenes that were dance scenes were a nice addition to the MV.

Moving onto the song, I think it's a wonderful track produced by Duble Sidekick (producers of many 2014 songs like Jiyeon's Never Ever, SECRET - I'm in Love, Kara - Mama Mia, A Pink - Mr. Chu, etc). The melody is catchy and the saxophone segments really hits the spot. It may not be the most vocally challenging piece, and it probably doesn't highlight Ji Eun's strong clear vocals well, yet it's been my number 1 song on my playlist of late.

Also I believe this is the first time we hear Ji Eun rap! She may not be the best rapper, yet it's cute how she keeps on repeating "Pretty age 25".

Overall Remarks
A strong single and track for Ji Eun's "25" album. The MV doesn't really reflect the lyrics as well as I would like, but it does a great job in terms of eye candy. The song may not be the best display of Ji Eun's talents, but its nevertheless very catchy. (I've been constantly listening to only this song on my drive home from work over the past couple of weeks!)

Overall: 9.5/10

And to end off my post

Been so lazy to bloggggg...

I'm not sure why, but I've been quite lazy when it comes to blogging. I can't really blame it on work, since it hasn't been as harsh on me as it has been last school year.

Maybe it's because nothing really interesting has happened over the past couple days/weeks. I go to work, I come home to either exercise or attend to some chore. Get onto marking or some more work. Then off to sleep (don't mind the grammar in the last couple of sentences).

Hmm... maybe a review blog tomorrow...

Somebody enlighten me about MV reaction videos

It has always been a mystery to me why certain individuals post up MV reaction videos. For those who don't know what they are, it's essentially when a person uploads a video of themselves watching a music video.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not hating on those people who do MV reaction videos, but I'm wondering what's the purpose of making a MV reaction video.

Quite personally, if I were to make a MV reaction video... mine would be something like this:

Music Video starts and I'm transfixed by the image on the screen.

Nothing else, nothing more.

And the tradition continues!

It seems like when I build a Gundam kit, something has to break.

This time... it's my rail gun on my RG Freedom. =(

The peg snapped off. =(

Too sad to post a picture of it, but not sad enough to blog about it...

My logic doesn't make sense...

Zoo Trip!

My science class got the chance to go to the zoo for a field trip. Overall, it seemed to be a very successful trip. The students all seemed too have a good time. 

Walking around the zoo reminded me of my time in the Maryama zoo... Though this zoo is a lot bigger than the former. 

And time for the picture of the day:

Almost done. 

Quick comeback after promoting her groups most recent song

Song Ji Eun is back with her solo comeback a couple weeks (or is it just a week), after she finished promoting with her group, Secret.

It's alright, though a bit lackluster in my taste. Personally, I found False Hope a lot more promising than this song.

Just missing the middle sibling now

Just wings and weapons now!

I never had a bias in Kara till now...

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI9hQXdMzOA

Since blogger isn't allowing me to post the video here.

This actually made me laugh out loud! Just too cute!

Yay for furniture!

RG redemption of PG Strike Freedom

Almost halfway done!

Things of David - Headphones

I had these razor electras (I believe that's the name) for almost two years now. Pretty decent headset for gaming and decent noise reduction. Mic is really clear too!

I was contemplating about bringing this to travel with me, but went against it since it was too bulky. 

Mexico 2014

Extremely late post for Mexico, but I think I remembered clearly what happened throughout the trip! Pictures are interspaced throughout the post to make it a bit more interesting. I tried matching them up to what I was writing, but that wasn't always the case. 

It started with a relatively short flight from Calgary to Houston. It was my first time on United and I was duly impressed by how they presented the safety info (expected from the biggest airline in the world if I'm not mistaken...). They had a video demonstrating the safety tips on the plane rather than a flight attendant announcing it on the intercom.

After arriving in Houston (at around 9ish), we looked around for a bite to eat. Unfortunately, a lot of places were closed for the night. We finally found an Italian fast food restaurant. All they had left was expensive stromboli, but when you're hungry... you're hungry.

Did I mention that we had a 9+ hour layover? So after dinner we played cards for a couple hours. Skull and Roses actually took us up to about 1:30 AM. After playing a couple of games, we went to look for a place to sleep. Unlike Narita International, I couldn't see any benches where we could sleep; everything was connected chairs with armrests. That meant it was nearly impossible to lie down comfortably.

After a couple hours of restless sleep, we woke up and grabbed some breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts. We were all feeling quite miserable from the lack of sleep, but it was only a couple hours before paradise. Very soon, it was time to board the plane from Houston to Cancun.

Upon arriving Cancun, I noticed that the airport was surrounded by a lot of trees. My initial impression was that of a cozy, yet unknown environment. Getting through security wasn't as bad as I expected and we were soon looking for a ride to our resort. There were a ton of salespeople outside of customs trying to attract customers to purchase a taxi/shuttle with them. We were approached by a lady and she got us a taxi.

And off we go to our resort! It was a very interesting 30 minute ride. It was a different environment than what I was accustomed to in Canada (or Japan for that matter of fact). I didn't see a lot of people walking on the streets, but I did see a lot of "crazy" drivers. I have to say that I wouldn't be able to drive down in Mexico.

The last leg of our trip was surrounded by beautiful palm trees. We went through two gates and arrived at the front of our resort: Excellence Playa Mujeres. After our bags were taken from the taxi, a bell boy came up to us with cool towels to pat down our faces. Another bell boy came out with a tray of champagne. I was extremely impressed by the service!

Unfortunately, we couldn't check into our rooms yet, but we were able to use the facilities they had to offer. We dropped our bags and proceeded to eat lunch at Toscana, an Italian restaurant that served a wide variety of buffet food for lunch. The food was extremely tasty and the waiters were extremely courteous. After stuffing our faces, we proceeded back to the main lobby to relax. We were approached by a waitress and she got us drinks. After chatting for a bit, a couple of us fell asleep. It has been an extremely long day so far.

At around 2ish, we were informed that our rooms were ready via a buzzer (the type you see in restaurants). We had our bags carted to our room. My initial impression of the rooms were that they were at least 5 times the size of the hotel rooms in Japan. It was huge and extremely comfortable. There was also a delicate aroma of... mint and citrus in the air. (I can still smell it in some of my stuff that I brought to Mexico).

We all crashed for a while and woke up at around dinner time. For the first night, we decided to try out the Asian Fusion cuisine restaurant. I don't recall what I got there, but it was an interesting experience nevertheless. Shortly after dinner, we went down to a outdoor stage to watch a fire performance. (We went to a bunch of these performances after dinner on most nights) It was amazing to see these performers perform such acrobatic feats with fire! I definitely don't have the guts to try what some of these people were doing!

When it was nearly half past 10, a couple of us went down to the pool/river-stream that was outside our room. At that time, we didn't know that we were not allowed in the pool at night since that's when they do their maintenance, but I guess we should have known due to the absence of people.

Either way, we grabbed some floaters and floated around the pool/river-stream. It was perhaps one of the most relaxing moments I had in Mexico. There weren't a lot of lights around the pool, so the night sky had quite a bit of twinkling stars.

And that's how I ended my first day in Mexico. To be honest, I can't recall the other days as well. Essentially, we had the same routine: wake up and eat a buffet breakfast at Toscana, eat lunch at The Grill (western cuisine I would say), order room service, or go to any other open restaurant. Between meals, there would be time at the pool or beach where we would go swim or soak up some sun. (I stopped sunbathing after the 2nd day since I got sun burnt =(. )

There was a day where we went scuba diving. It started really early where we had scuba training in a pool. It felt a bit weird breathing through an apparatus, but the feeling was overtaken by my new found ability to keep my head underwater for 40 minutes! After our training course, we waited a couple hours before we boarded a boat that took us to a spot where we would have our "full dive".

It was only 10 m deep, but I had a foreboding feeling as we were going down. Every couple of feet, I had to pop my ears from the water pressure. I had to say that at all times, I was feeling anxious. My biggest concern was if I were to accidentally inhale water (in which I did swallow a bit of ocean water which was extremely salty of course), I would choke and drown. =( Fortunately, that didn't happen, and I was level-headed enough to control my own breathing.

Due to the anxiety, I didn't focus a lot on sightseeing, but for the sightseeing I did see, it was simply stunning. There were tons of corals spread out on the floor and schools of fishes swimming past you. At certain locations on our trip, you could see certain statues of people. I couldn't see the nameplate (as blind as I am without my glasses), but it was enough to see fishes swimming around the statue like how birds flock around... ground based statues...

But enough of lame similes, the day after, we had our private tour to Chichen Itza, a famous Mayan city with a large pyramid. We were picked up by our driver, and he drove us for two hours to our location. Along the way, we conversed and he told us the wonderful history of the Mayans and the people living in Mexico. Upon arrival at the ancient city, we met our tour guide that showed us around the place. Upon arrival at the pyramid, he demonstrated the cool acoustics/echos that came with the limestone that was used to build the pyramid.

For example, when you clapped your hands in a certain location near the pyramid, it would make a bird sound! Not only that, if you clapped your hands in a different location, it would respond with an echoed version of your claps!

Besides the pyramid, we had the chance to explore other aspects of the town. We saw a stadium where they played a Mayan ball game where the first person to score was sacrificed. There was also a tomb/burial mound where archaeologists discovered skulls of the past ball game winners. And there was so much more!

After touring the city, we went to a cenote, which is a sinkhole filled with water. A bunch of us had the chance to swim in the cenote for half an hour. It was interesting, but not as cool as the Mayan city. After the cenote (and lunch... but I can no longer recall if we ate before or after the cenote... I want to say before), we went to visit a small town that was influenced by the Spanish. It was a neat little town with a nice park. They also had a jewelry store nearby that sold extremely cheap silver! Having no need of jewelry, I didn't purchase any.

And so we returned back to our resort afterwards! It was a long day, and we went to have french cuisine. The duck I had was alright, but it was the beef tartar that really caught my attention. It was extremely tasty!

And then it was Friday... which meant back to Calgary! The airport in Cancun was extremely busy. We had to wait an hour to get through security. The flight back to Houston was alright, and we thought that the two hour layover was enough time to grab a bite to eat.

Unfortunately, it took us nearly two hours to get through security to get onto our next flight! We grabbed some quick McDonalds and boarded our small plane back to Calgary.

And so ended our trip! It was nice to be pampered, though the lack of sightseeing made it kinda boring for me. I guess I'm more of the exploring type when I go travel!

Things of David: #1 - Watches

I got this watch from my dad when I was in high school. Previously, I've used digital watches. I've always wanted a watch with a metal band... And so my dad picked me up one from Japan. 

It's about 8 years old now, but the battery is still running strong. 

Rest in Peace EunB

First day of school! I believe it went relatively well today.

After school, I went to purchase a couple more supplies for school. Then it was off for my workout.

After a hard workout, I went home to eat and relax. Normally, I would go to a couple of Korean pop sites to read up current events. On one of the sites I normally frequent, I learned that Ladies Code (an upcoming group in which I follow a bit), had a fatal accident. One of their members, EunB, unfortunately passed away at the scene of the accident. Two other members, Sojung and RiSe were critically injured, but it seemed like their surgery was successful.

It's disheartening to hear such news. There has been a sling of car accidents involving celebrities, but I believe this is the first fatal accident (of which I heard of in the 2010 era).

My condolence to the friends and family of EunB, and may she rest in peace.

EDIT: I neglected to mention the death of their driver as well. May his family find the strength as they grieve for their loss. May he also rest in peace. 

EDIT 2: Sojung is apparently stable but RiSe is still critical. 

Labour Day 2014

And for Labour Day, I went to work to prep for tomorrow!

I put up some things, made sure my microwave worked and printed out a couple of activities for tomorrow.

After work, I went and completed some chores. First off to XS Cargo: to see if they had power bars/6 plug outlets for my microwave. (Perhaps its the science teacher in me, but I don't need my microwave to be plugged in 24/7).

They didn't have any in stock, so off to my next location: St. John's Music. It wasn't for power bars, but they weren't open.

Okay, off to Wal-Mart. I managed to find a decent 4 plug/2 USB outlet and cheap pencil crayons! After Wal-Mart, it was off to the Dollar Tree to buy cheap school supplies. They actually have pretty decent pens! 8 for $1.25! And these pens write extremely smoothly too!

After the Dollar Tree, it was off to T&T to buy candy. Unfortunately, they changed the ingredients for one of the candies I used to buy, so I had to settle for other types of candy.

And then, it was off to the bank to withdraw some cash, since I have no cash. =(

And off to another bank, since I had to open up an another account for... banking purposes. Unfortunately, they ATMs at this second bank account were crummy... so I'll probably have to stop by tomorrow...

And then it was off to the gas station to fill up my car!

And tis was my day.

Since I can't really blog about the stuff I do in school, I may start up a new segment. It'll be something similar to the really popular "Humans of New York" idea, but not with people.

Perhaps I'll call it... "Things of David Maruyama".

No more cold lunches!

Im normally too lazy to walk down to the kitchen to heat up my lunch at school...

So I got myself one of these!

Teacher Appreciation Day!

Tech PD, working on course outlines, worked out and went to staples for Teacher Appreciation Day. 

There's not enough hours in a day!

Nearly ready!

Almost finished setting up for next week! Just a little bit of decorating to do. For the afternoon, we went to hear our ATA representative talk to us. 

And after all that, there was badminton tonight. 

And now sleep! 

I finally have a desk! Yay!

First day back!

Im still working on that Mexico post...

Anyways, today marked my first day back to work! It started out with a nice breakfast (which unfortunately I couldn't partake in since I was full from my own breakfast). After a brief meeting and intro of the new staff members, we proceeded to set up our classrooms. 

And that essentially marked my day. I took down some stuff, grabbed some stuff from my old classroom and got myself settled in. I had to order some supplies as well since I didn't order enough in the first place. 

And after work I went to go work out. I've been going for a weeks now and it seemingly starting to pay off. I definitely feel a lot better lately!

But alas... When I was building my RG strike freedom... A piece snapped. 

The curse of amateur painting. 

It's that little piece that looks like it's jutting it's jaw; right at the joint there. 

Nearly mid-August... Warning, lame post ahead

Time definitely flies by when you're constantly busy! I can't believe it's almost the middle of August...

So lame post for today, but I'll post tomorrow (hopefully) about what I did for the first week of August!

I just had to post this because I can't believe I haven't blogged at all for the month of August yet...

Overall Experience and Reflections from Japan 2014

I meant to do this last week, but after I returned home, I became super lazy again.

Summer mode on.

But of course, nothing gets accomplished when I just sit here and stare off into nothingness, so why not blog about my overall experience? There will be some things here that I didn't initially mention in my other blog posts, so I hope you won't get too terribly bored from reading this today! I'll try to add a picture here and there to spice this post up a bit! =)

The last time I visited Japan, was in 2001. At that time, I was in Grade 6 and my father and brother were my companions. It was during spring break (Late March/Early April), so the weather was pleasant.

So it was a long time coming for me to return to the first country I ever visited outside of Canada. I was a bit anxious because it was my first time travelling alone. I traveled to Las Vegas the year before, so I had a vague idea of what I needed to do to check into the airport. After a smooth check in, I waited by the gate for my flight... 2 hours ahead of schedule.

I was surprised to see so many other people already there; mostly people around my parents' age, conversing in Japanese. It was like a precursor of what I would hear for the next couple of weeks.

Upon arrival in Narita, I recall going through immigration, and how I claimed that I had commercial goods (really, I think they meant by items that I were intended to sell... when in fact my bags of pistachios were souvenirs for my relatives). The security guard give a quick chuckle and let me through. I wandered around a bit, trying to find the bus stops, so I can board a shuttle bus to the hotel I was staying for the night. Unfortunately, I was a late for the shuttle, so I had to wait a while for the next one.

At that time, I just sat on the bench and thought to myself...

"I'm finally back"

It wasn't the exact same place, for my father previously took us straight to his hometown, but the feeling of being back in the country was plenty enough for me. Fortunately, it was cloudyish that day so the heat wasn't too bad... almost like a 30+ day in Calgary.

Upon boarding the shuttle bus, I was taken through 15 minutes of a... somewhat of a field trip moment. I was twisting my head right and left to absorb the sights. The scenes kind of remind me of the numerous amount of dramas that I watched over the years.

At Sky Court (the name of the hotel where I was staying at), I had my first conversation with someone that did not have the same mother tongue as myself. Somehow, through my extremely limited Japanese skills and sign language, I was able to check into my room and ask for a shuttle bus to the airport for the next day (since I had a flight to Hokkaido).

And then the wait for my brother to come meet me at the hotel. I admit, it was a tedious wait, since I had no access to the internet. At that time, I realized how dependent I had become to technology. To help ease the long wait, I pulled out a book I started at YYC and continued reading from it. It was a really odd feeling, for it's something that I don't do often anymore. I recall putting the book door and staring outside my window for a bit and realizing, like REALLY realizing that I wasn't in Canada anymore.

At that point at time, anxiety started to creep through me once again. I didn't know how to contact my brother to let him know which room I was in since I didn't had wi-fi. I tried connecting to the hotel's wi-fi, but there wasn't any signal in my room, and I didn't know where the router was. After pondering for a while, I became quite thirsty, so I went out to look for a vending machine. It was then I realized that routers were located on top of the machines. I turned on my wi-fi on my phone, found a STRONG signal, and messaged my brother the details.

Not too long after that, I heard a knock on the door and my brother was the one standing on the other side. It had only been two weeks since I last saw him, but he appeared a bit darker from before; courtesy of the time he spent in the southern parts of Japan.

After catching up and a quick shower, I easily fell asleep, which was an extremely odd occurrence. Normally, I have troubles falling asleep on the first day away from my own bed, since it takes me a while to become accustomed to my environment. Nevertheless, I slept like a baby till my alarm went off at 4:30 in the morning.

And so my adventures truly began. The plane ride from Narita to New Chitose Airport went quite smoothly compared to the turbulent ride across the Pacific Ocean. It was the first time that I purchased (or more specifically, my brother purchased) a meal. I haven't had anything to eat in a while, so I was actually quite hungry. It was from the airport that I first took a train on this particular trip. I recalled going on some other trains during my previous visits, but those memories are quite hazy.

We got to our station and started looking for our hotel. Google Maps was difficult to use in Japan, compared to Calgary. I guess it was because we were in a foreign location, or maybe the slow speed of a stroll had us (or at least me) confused in whether my position was moving on not on the map. It didn't take too long though, so we dropped our bags off at the hotel (since we arrived much earlier than check in time) and explored the city.

It was quite a foreign experience, and quite the cultural shock. In Calgary, you see all sorts of people walking around, but in Japan... well it's mostly Japanese people. And the snippets of conversations that I heard, would obviously be Japanese of course (unlike the multitude of languages you can easily hear down a street in Calgary). My biggest surprise was the lack of garbage cans around the streets. There were literally no cans in sight.

Yet, the streets were so squeaky clean.

The next big surprise was from the sales people working in the stores. Nearly all of them (like 99.9%) were extremely polite and made you feel like a top end customer. They were also quite helpful in helping us look for certain products, such as taking the time to show us around a particular floor or giving us detailed directions in English. Now, I'm not criticizing the way it's like in Calgary at any means, but it really made me want to spend money down there!


After experience just a small section of Hokkaido in 3 short days (including our district our hotel was in, Sapporo, Furano, Biei (wished we had more time here!), Maruyama Zoo and Park, experiencing the very best bowl of Ramen I ever had), it was time to head to the Kansai region.

Maybe it's just me, but it felt a lot busier down here in comparison to Hokkaido. I recall travelling from the train station, down Namba Walk, to our next hotel. All I can say is that Namba Walk was the most colorful walk I've been down yet! So many colors, so bright, so vivid, so lively... so everything! My only picture of the walk doesn't do it justice, but just to give you an idea..

It was also here that I first tried a sushi conveyor belt in Japan. And oh my goodness it was a terrific experience. The place we went to had almost all plates valued at 130 yen. That works to just under $1.40 Canadian, which was a sweet deal considering you get two pieces of sushi for that price. And the sushi here was amazing. I normally don't care that much in terms of taste (quantity > quality in my books normally), but it was delightful.

Unfortunately, we didn't have much time in Osaka, since we had to move onto our next location: Nara.

Nara had a really rustic feel despite being a decently sized city.

We managed to spend a decent of time in Nara. My brother and I even met a freelancer writer/poet. He was extremely fluent in English, and shared a bit about his life with us. Besides that, we managed to find a large amount of deer wandering around Nara park, which perhaps what Nara could be best known for (don't quote me on this... I just say this based on the drama I watched that stared Tamaki Hiroshi and Ayase Haruka. It was about deers and Nara). The deer didn't run away from you, like the wildlife in Canada. They didn't really care that you were there. Deers here would only show an inkling of interest to you if you had food on you. This food consists of special deer waffles that you can purchase from street vendors for 150 yen.

This made me wonder why the deer never attacked these vendors since the waffles were literally in plain sight...

Anyways, feeding the deer was exhilarating. I had to admit that I was scared at times, since a horde of deer would follow you with a give-me-the-waffles-if-you-want-to-live look. The deers were gentle, yet passively aggressive. Like I previously posted, one even nipped my buttocks to get at the crackers in hand!

After running like a little child for 30 minutes, we went to visit Todaiji, which housed one of the biggest Buddha statues in Japan (if I'm not mistaken). It was definitely a unique feeling to stand on sacred grounds.

After visiting a couple of other sites, night soon fell and it was off to sleep before travelling to the country's old capital: Kyoto. We spent more time in Kyoto, yet it was nearly not enough to cover much of the place. Sure, we visited a lot of landmarks, like the Golden Pavilion and Fushimi Inari Shrine, yet there were so much more to visit. Though I have to note... laundry was very expensive in Kyoto, or at least the laundromat we visited was really expensive...

It was all too soon, but off to Tokyo! It was only a day stay, but it was time to head off to the part I was looking forward to the most: climbing Mount Fuji. There's a saying that goes something like you'll be a fool to not climb Mount Fuji once, but a fool to climb it twice. I went up to the 5th station before (via my dad driving us up the volcano), but never up to the summit.

And it was quite the climb. Around 12 hours and a half to climb up and down the volcano for us (slower than most, but what can you do about that?). Living in Calgary did give us a leg up in terms of altitude I suppose, but it was a difficult climb nevertheless. It didn't make matters much better when there was a lot of fog during our ascent. However, once you reach above the clouds, it offered a wonderful view.

I was in awe of what nature had in store for us. It was a hard climb, though it reminded me of the lesson of hard work pays off (in some shape).

The mountain hut we stayed in was a unique experience as well. When I thought that sharing a bed with my brother was tough, it was nothing compared to the cramped spaces in a mountain hut. Literally, it's 20 small beds in a row, which greatly makes use of the saying of being packed like a bunch of sardines. It's all part of the experience, but I know what to do for next time: stay away from the beds and just sleep on the tatami mats in the dining area.

The last part of the ascent was perhaps the most difficult, and the most dangerous. Snow was billowing around, which made the ascent very slow, wet and cold. The wind didn't help either, for at times I felt like I would be blown off the volcano!

I had to admit, when we reached the top of the summit, we weren't as excited as I thought we would be. I could credit that too the intense cold winds. We huddled around after we found some shelter. It was a painful two hour wait, but the time went by surprisingly fast. The horizon started to turn color: first a reddish hue, to orange, to finally the sun popping out.

It would be a lot better if it wasn't so blistering cold... >_>

Though when the sun poked it's head out, people started cheering for the event. It really led to a feeling of solidarity among my fellow climbers. We all struggled (some more than others) to climb to the top to experience a nice sight. I wanted to wander around the crater for a bit, but the winds made it too difficult for us to do so.

Fortunately, the descent was quite warm and offered beautiful scenery. My other regret (besides not wandering around the crater at the summit) was not taking enough pictures on the descent down.

The descent literally marked the last chapter of our journey, for the next couple days was mostly spent in Tokyo.

Save, for visiting some of our relatives. I was anxious, for I did not know how to communicate with them since my dad always done so previously. Yet, it was perhaps one of my favorite parts on the trip. My brother and I had the chance to reunite with a part of our heritage that we don't get the chance to do quite often enough. 

At this point, I realized how strong family bonds are, for we haven't met for 13 years, but it didn't matter that there was this long of a gap. My brother and I even managed to have a delightful conversation with our relatives. Sure, things were different to what I remembered, for everyone is growing older, yet it was definitely a very nostalgic feel. 

It was extremely sad to leave (which also wants me to go back very soon to Japan to visit again!), yet it had to come eventually. Also, it did make the rest of my trip seem relatively dull compared to visiting my relatives... 

Nevertheless, this was the time I spent to explore sections that I haven't done so previously. And after that full single day, it was time to go home.

After every journey, I feel a little bit different coming back in comparison to going to. At times I feel a little wiser, at others, I feel less stressed. Japan has been both for me, for I feel a little bit wiser about life and definitely less stressed. Even though it was a little over two weeks, time went by slowly, yet quickly at the same time. Each day was full of adventure, yet there's so much more adventuring to do! It was a different experience, compared to travelling when I was younger.

In January 2014, I was sitting on the fence on whether or not I should travel to Japan. I knew it would be expensive (and it's my most expensive trip to date), yet I don't regret it one bit for taking the plunge. July 2014 is my favorite July month and perhaps even all of my summer months of my 25 years on the earth. It's full of memories that I hope won't fade so soon, but maybe it'll serve as encouragement to go back quite often! =P

And it allowed me the chance to visit some parts of my family. For family visits are often quite limited throughout one's life. I guess one final lesson I learned is to really cherish those that are around you. You never know how much time you have left to create memories with a person.

Day 18 - Departing back to Calgary!

It was supposed to be a reflective blog post today, but I guess I'll just explain what I did for the day.

First off, we went last minute shopping for a specific item for one of our group mates. Once that was done, we went back to get our luggage and proceeded to Narita airport. On arrival to Narita via the Narita Express (NEX), we checked in and quickly boarded our flight back to Calgary.

It was a flight shorter than what I imagined it would have been (having done it twice before). I managed to get some sleep in and watch a couple of movies. Fortunately this time, I wasn't bugged with annoying headphone jacks or lags. I managed to finish watching Trick and a Japanese movie called The Little House (about a maid's autobiography of a family she once served). It was a decent movie, though I didn't like how they focused a lot on a love affair within the house.

Upon arrival to Calgary, my brother and I got picked up and went straight home. We're still in the process of unpacking everything!

And that pretty much marked my extremely long day today. Now time to sleep, and get readjusted to Calgary time.

Welcome back to reality.

The gunpla kits my brother and I bought. 

Day 17 - Last full day in Japan 2014

I woke up relatively late compared to the last two days. We went down to eat our breakfast of bread and soup. Soon after, we got ready to go outside for our last full day in Japan (for this year anyways. I'll be sure to go back to Japan!)

We started the day by going to the Yodabashi store in Shinjuku to pick up an item for my dad. Once that was complete, we then travelled to Square Enix's Artnia cafe. It was decently sized compared to other cafés Ive been to, but there wasn't anything interesting items on sale. We had a brief snack there. I got myself a high potion drink which consisted of ginger ale and mint leaves with slices of lime. If I was a final fantasy character, I wouldn't last long if I was injured. The drink was pretty nasty in my taste. After Artnia, we travelled to Harajuku. It was my first time there, and I found it to be extremely busy. We stopped by a AYCE Yakuniku place for lunch. The salad bar at this place was pretty good, though they forgot to give us our ice cream =(. 

After lunch, we walked around Harajuku for a bit. We then walked to Shibuya to find an arcade. We played a couple of games (gundam simulator, Gundam Extreme Vs where my brother got pretty far in the game and gun slinger stratos), we found a MEC equivalent store. Well maybe not MEC, but travel equipment: my brother found himself a decently priced duffle bag. 

Since he has more room now, we travelled to Akihabara so he can pick himself up another Gundam. Once our trip was complete, we went back to Shinjuku to reflect about our trip. After spending some time gazing at the heart of Shinjuku, we travelled back to our hotel to eat our cheap bento boxes for dinner. 

And that pretty much marked my last day in Japan for this year! I'll right a reflective piece tomorrow when I get back home. I really dislike typing on my phone keyboard, but it does allow me to store my memories for the day!

Day 16 - Nostalgic trip back to Yamanashi prefecture

My brother and I woke up early again to catch a train to Yamanashi prefecture (the equivalent to a province or state) to visit our grandfather. He had fallen I'll earlier this year, thus he had to move to a nursing home. 

Our cousin was our tour guide today. Our communication actually went quite smoothly since we both had a translator on our phones. After the two hour ride, we walked to the nursing home in a neighbouring town. It was reay good to see our grandfather again, despite how different he looked to compared to 13 years ago. He's a lot thinner now, though it seemed like his mind is quite sharp at his age of around 90. He had a game of Go in front of him, and it seemed like he was thinking up of different strategies. 

We talked a bit, with our cousin being the translator. I caught up on his recent events and he had the chance to hear about ours. After around two hours, we had to leave in order to visit our grandmother's grave. It was a sad farewell, and I reluctant to leave. My grandparents took great care of me when I visited them previously and comforted me when I was longing for home. I hope to see him again one day, with hopes of increasing my vocabulary. 

We then went to fruit park, a beautiful park near my grandparent's house. We tried to grab a bite there, but the restaurant there was too full. We ended up going to a restaurant a taxi ride away. My brother and I had a great conversation with our cousin. We had the chance to discuss things that cousins would normally talk about. It was interesting to find out that she enjoyed western music while we listened to a lot of Jpop and Kpop. 

After lunch, we went up to our grandparents house. It was a trip down memory lane, for it felt like I was there not too long ago, despite also feeling that it had been too long. I recalled the room I stayed in, the narrow corroded with sliding doors that led to the backyard where we would have tea and snacks, the backyard where Chibi kept me company (a shiba I believe, that I aged with in the past). After burning some incense for our grandmother, we travelled to the graveyard, which was nearby the house. 

It was a hot walk, yet a meaningful walk. I had the chance to think about my grandmother for a bit. When we arrived, we washed our family tombstones and burned more incense. After spending some time there, we returned back to our grandparents house to wait for a taxi to bring us back to the station. 

Our cousin saw us off, back at our hotel, so we returned the favour back to walk her to the place near the platform. Besides our grandparents, we haven't seen our other relatives for a long time. After seeing her off, my brother and I windowed shop a bit in Shinjuku and then grabbed a bite at Mos Burger. When we returned back to our hotel,we spent a good hour or so to repack the souvenirs that our aunt, uncle and cousin bought us. We had trouble packing everything in! They have been so kind to us, that I'm not sure how to return the favour...

But that marks the end of visiting our family in Japan. It was only two days, but has been a very memorable two days. It made me realize the importance of families and how strong our bonds can be, even if you haven't seen them for a long time. 

And so tomorrow will be our last full day in Japan before we head back home. I'm going to miss Japan, but I have to say that I'm looking forward to go back home.

Day 15 - Tour of Tokyo via the Hato Bus

Our day started really early today. We got up at around 6:45 and ate a quick breakfast. We checked out and met our relatives at our hotel. It's been much too long since I last saw my aunt and uncle. 

They led us to Shinjuku, where we looked for our tour bus for the day. It belonged to the Hato company, which gave a bunch of different tours around Tokyo. We first started at the Imperial gardens for a quick group picture. After a few minutes, we moved onto Asakusa: which I would dub as the Kyoto of Tokyo. There was a large temple there, but what caught my attention was the street markets. There was a ton of stalls selling a variety of objects: food, trinklets, kimonos, etc. I may have to go back and spend more time here before I leave for Canada. 

During our time in Asakasa, our relatives took us to a famous tempura restaurant in the district. It's definitely different to the tempura I had before, and I must say I prefer the one I normally had. However, it was extremely tasty, just soggy. 

After Asakasa, we went to the Tokyo tower.  It was big, though I had my fair share of tall buildings around Japan (and nothing can match up to Fuji). Nevertheless, it did have some beautiful sights. 

After the tour, we went to a department store near my relatives home to buy ingridients for dinner. We the walked to their house, which was a slight nostalgic trip for me since I've been to their place before. After a couple of hours, dinner was ready and we ate. 

There was a lot of delicious dishes in front of us, and I actually found a dark beer that I liked. However, the best part was our conversation. I know extremely little Japanese while they knew some English. However, we were able to carry out small talk. It was really special to talk to our relatives that we haven't seen for a really long time. 

And now it's finally bed time. It's been a long day and tomorrow will also be a long day as I travel to go meet my grandfather!

Day 14 - More Shinjuku and Odaiba

I've forgot to put the day on my last post!

Yesterday, my brother and I went to Shinjuku to look for a particular item for my mom. Unfortunately, we were unable to do so. However, we ended up buying a lot of snacks to bring home at the basement of a department store. I realized that most department stores (or maybe all?) have expensive clothes in the 5-7 floors that they have, but they have some awesome food products in the basement! I even managed to get my yakult (essentially Japanese Yogurt drink). 

We returned to the hotel to drop off our goods and headed off to lunch at a nearby Mos Burger. The burgers here are cheap, but really delicious. I don't know what kind of sauce they used, but it was an absolutely fantastic burger!

After lunch, we headed off to Odaiba, an artificial island off Tokyo Bay. My initial impression of Odaiba was extremely positive: it had a full scale RX 78-2 Gundam! We wandered around the mall, trying to look for the gundam museum. My main purpose for going into the museum was to find the life size Strike Freedom Gundam bust. Unfortunately, the museum was closed for the day for some unknown reason. I was really disappointed, but it kinda disappeared when we walked around and looked at the various models they have built. 

After the museum, we walked around Odaiba for a bit, waiting for it to turn dark. Rumor has it that the full size Gundam outside would light up and a special show would take place. But before we headed off to see the show, we wandered Into a Toyota dealership that was unlike Toyota dealerships in Canada. They had concept cars on display and even simulators for you to test out and compare a conventional car to a fuel cell car. I really wanted to try some of them out, but we arrived too late. =( After spending a great deal of time at Toyota, we headed off to see the rumored gundam presentation. 

Lo and behold, the rumors were true! I managed to record a bit of the presentation, but my phone ran out of memory =(. It was extremely cool though, the head moved, steam gushed out of its vents) and the cockpit actually opened to show a monitor projecting Amuro Ray (main character and pilot of the gundam). 

After the show we met up with the rest of our group and proceeded onto the giant Ferris wheel. Unfortunately, it was raining quite a bit so we couldn't take pictures from the top of the ride. It was a beautiful sight though, to be able to see Tokyo so high up!

After the Ferris wheel, we ventured into an arcade. There was a shooting range where you shoot cork bullets onto objects to score points. One of the prizes was a gundam model, so I had to play. Ubfortunately, we weren't able to knock off anything. (So much misfortune today!)

And that essentially marked my day yesterday! I'll probably have some time to blog about what I did today! 

 A FT-86/FR-S convertible concept!

A shopping day in Tokyo!

Woke up and stuffed my face with the all you can eat bread breakfast today. After breakfast, my brother and I got ready to look at a couple districts in Tokyo. We started off in Shibuya with the sole mission of finding the gundam simulator. 

We managed to find it in a Taito arcade Center. Initially, we thought you needed to purchase a card to play, but after my brother asked an attendent, all you needed to do was insert money. The simulator was fun, for it gave you the impression that you were operating a mobile suit (albeit with a simpler control scheme). However, I soon became dizzy from spinning around my suit. 

After Shibuya, we travelled to Akihabara. Despite visiting a small section of the district, I can see why it's know as the electronic town in Tokyo. The department store (Yodabashi) we visited had a LOT of electronics. There were 6 floors of electronic goods with each floor being the size of a typical London Drugs in Canada (or even bigger to be honest). My favourite floor was the 6th floor, since that's where all the gundam models were to be found! I ended up purchasing a couple of gundams at a price that I would not be able to buy from in Canada. 

After Akihabara, we went to Hamamatsucho to look for the Tokyo Pokemon Center. It was bigger than the one in Sapporo, but essentially had the same stuff in this store. 

Then it was off to Ginza. It was everything I had imagined: upscale part of Tokyo with extremely well dressed people, expensive cars and luxury brands. I went to a stationary store and bought a couple mechanical pencils since my mechanical pencil at home was falling apart (after a good 6-8 years of use!) 

After shopping, we went back to the hotel with our hands carrying our items and our credit cards holding more debt. It wasn't really eventful today, but a full day nevertheless!

Day 12 - Descending Mount Fuji

We woke up at around 12:30 to continue our hike to the summit. We had about 900 meters of trail left (about 150 m in terms of altitude). It was extremely windy and foggy. Despite having a headlamp, I wasn't able to see more than a couple of feet in front of me. Then flurries started to occur, which made it even more treacherous than before. Progress was slow, but we made it to the top in about 1.5 hours or so. 

When we arrived at around 2 AM, the wind at the top was so fierce, that I had troubles keeping my ground. We eventually found a place where the wind wasn't as bad, but it was dreadfully cold still (even though temperatures were probably above zero still). I had a windbreaker on and multiple layers of clothes/pants/socks, yet I felt like I was going to get frostbite again on my toes!

After some time, we saw more and more people coming to the top. At around 3:30, the horizon was starting to turn red. By about 4:00, the entire horizon was orange-red. It was a beautiful sight. 

Then, when the sun rised at around 4:35, you can hear a whole bunch of cheers for the goraiko (I think that's the proper term for the sunrise). Our group took a couple of pictures, then we turned towards the descending trail to go back down. 

The descent wasn't as physically demanding as the climb, but it was still quite difficult. It was really hard not to slip on the gravel on the way down. I did end up slipping and scraping up my right knee, but I was more concerned about my right pinkie toe (my right leg suffered quite a lot of minor damage during the climb and descent). It was starting to hurt a lot from me going downhill while making a "hockey stop" with my right foot to prevent me from tripping as I went down. 

Eventually, we made it to the 6th station and the rest of the trip went pretty smoothly. The walk to the 5th was quite delightful, when compared to the foggy encounter we had the day before. 

Upon arrival at the 5th station, we took a 2 hour and 20 monte bus ride to Shinjuku station. When we rechecked in at our hotel, we did our laundry and pretty much fell asleep for the afternoon/night. 

And that marked the most epic part of my journey! The rest will be to shop and to visit some of my relatives in Japan! It's hard to believe that my trip is coming to a close, but I have to admit that I'm missing Calgary at the moment =\. 

Day 11 - Climbing Mount Fuji

We first took a bus from the train station to the 5th station of Mount Fuji. That took about 45 mins. When we arrived at the fifth station, we spent about 40 minutes to stock up on last minute supplies and bathroom breaks (costs 100 yen to use). I bought myself some hiking poles. They were expensive at 5600 yen a pair, but well worth the money. 

The initial part of the hike wasn't too bad. There wasn't much of an incline, so life was pretty good. After the 6th station however, things got rocky. Like quite literally rocky. There were many parts of the trail where I felt like I was climbing up rocks. 

The climb after the 8th station was quite gruelling. I had to take a break every 25 meters or so. It took us 6 and a half hours to get to our mountain hut. 

And that's it for now! Just waiting for dinner and then a bit of bed before going out and climbing the last part of the climb!

Day 10 - Kawaguchiko

Woke up later than I would like to today. We went down and rushed through a quick breakfast of soup and toast. Afterwards, we made one last check before leaving Tokyo for a couple of days. 

After some confusion at the train station, we finally found our train to Kawaguchiko. It's a small town, but had a really homey feel to it. We checked into the hotel and settled down in our rooms. I have to say that I enjoy all this space in our traditional Japanese room. Due to the lack of furniture, it makes the room quite huge. I also enjoy the tatami mats under our feet!

After settling in, we went out to look for dinner. We stopped by a bunch of convience stores until we found a restaurant that was open. After dinner, we ventured to our rooms for an early night. 

Tomorrow is going to be a big day!

Time to climb the sacred volcanoe of Japan!

Day 9 - Last day in Kyoto and first day in Tokyo

We woke up and checked out of the hotel. Afterwards, we walked to Nishiki market to buy souvenirs for our relatives. I wasn't able to find anything, so we walked to Ippodo (a tea place). 

There were various types of green teas that I never heard of, like gyokuro. I ended up buying a bunch of tea and headed to the cafeteria. Here, I tried a matcha that's exclusive to the Kyoto region. It started off very thick, but after you take 3 sips, they whisk the tea so it becomes less viscous. It was an expensive drink, but worth it in my eyes. I ended up getting my brother to buy some matcha to bring home. 

After shopping, we went to eat at a sushi place. It wasn't a conveyor belt place, so we were expecting higher prices. I didn't expect the final price however... About $20 for 6 pieces of sushi! Although, the toro pieces I had were the best pieces of toro I ever had! It was extremely flavorful and pretty much melted in your mouth; like a really good steak. 

After lunch, we went back to grab our luggage and went back to the station to ride the bullet train to Tokyo. It was extremely fast, and cramped since we had to keep our luggage with us. 

Upon arrival to Tokyo, it was an awe aspiring experience. I've been to Tokyo previously, but I don't remember it being this busy! Shinjiku station was full of people getting from place to place. After arriving at our hotel (and noticing how cramped it was compared to those in the Kansai region), we went out for more sushi. (This time, at a conveyor belt place underground.) 

And that essentially marked my day yesterday! We're on our way to Mount Fuji for our climb now, so I may not be able to blog till I get back to Tokyo. 

Inside of the bullet train

Day 8 - Second Day in Kyoto

Day 2! Woke up early and travelled to the Northern part of Kyoto. We rented bikes to help us get around this part of the city. Our group split up into smaller groups so we headed off to our own destinations. My brother and I headed to a mountain temple. It was quite the climb; after 10 minutes I was sweating so hard that you can see beads of sweat on my arm. 

The view at the top of the mountain was beautiful though. You can view the city at a distance, but it's mostly about the trees that surround you from all around. It's unlike the coniferous trees that you see on the Rocky Mountains. 

After the temple, we rode our bikes around the town till we found the Bamboo forest. It was quite crowded so we had to disembark and walk through the crowd. It's nice, but I didn't think it was anything out of the ordinary. After going through the forest, we biked back to our starting point to meet with the others. We then took a train to our next location: The Golden Pavilion. 

We ended up walking the 30ish minutes instead of taking the bus, but it was worth the walk. The Golden Pavilion was an amazing sight: a building that brilliantly shone when light bounced off the surface of the building. 

After the Golden Pavilion, we moved onto the final location for the night: the Inari shrine with the 1000 torii gates. It was another mountain, so we started climbing   up it, going through a multitude of these gates. It was getting quite dark, so I made the executive decision to turn back instead of climbing to the top. I admit, it was quite spooky to climb up the mountain in the darkness with barely any other humans around you. 

After trudging back home, we went to go eat at a Yakiniku restaurant. The protein was quite delightful after a full day of walking!

And that pretty much marked my 2nd day. Today, we'll have some time to finish up tasks in Kyoto before we take the bullet train to Tokyo! I'm essentially at the halfway point of my adventure to touch root with half of my identity =(.