Awesome Visit to Canada

GOSH! where do I begin? The beginning it is!

Rahul and Sarah was planning a 4th of July extended 9-day trip to Banff & Jasper. Shameek and Ani and I (and eventually Melanie) decided to tag along. Sarah flew in from DC so Rahul picked her up in Vancouver. We all arrive separately at the Banff Lake Louise campground for a 3-day stay, and another 4 days in Jasper (Wapiti campground). Ani and I packed everything into his car, including tent, sleeping bags and mats, OP’s stove, large amount of cooking/ eating utensils and instant food and seasonings. The weather was expected to be cold and rainy during the 4th of July weekend, then sunny for the next 5 days of our trip, so we packed in layers.

So glad I brought my woolen hat, if only I had my gloves too for Lake Agnes. I should get a new jacket more suitable for hiking. My current jacket is great for keeping warm at the beginning of the hike, but doesn’t breathe, so my arms get sweaty wet quickly as I warm up on a hike. The problem is, if I were on the move AND the weather is cold, it’s not very comfortable to keep the jacket on OR off.

My crappy hand-me-down sleeping bag from you-know-who still works for the most part as long as I dress very warm underneath. I also got my very own sleeping mat this time (L) which worked quite well also (as opposed to the bare ground camping I’ve been used to), it kept me off the rocky ground and insulated me from the wet and cold.

July 2
Boyfriend swooped me away from the office downtown around 3:20pm and we began our journey/ drive up to Kamloops through the Blaine crossing. It took me a good minute before I realize the Canadian custom doesn’t care why I’m coming in and what my plans were (they were questioning Ani a bit, but overall surprisingly easy). We arrived Kamloops after 9 pm at Ramada Inn and had dinner at an Irish restaurant where waiters were Scottish quilts and posters sell Dos Equis; menu items include beef teriyaki and cajun chicken with fettuccine (which turns out to be completely bland).

July 3rd
We departed Kamloops for Lake Louise (Banff) in the morning and arrived after a 5-hour+ drive at 3 pm. The gang was already there. Our first order of business was to set up camp/ tent, then we caught up with the folks at Lake Morraine and Valley of the Ten Peaks. It was windy and cold, Ani and I quickly went around the lake on the flat trail and went back to campground for dinner. Turned out nobody did grocery and there is only 1 little one in a village nearby. Luckily my wonderful boyfriend brought a few steaks and a pack of sausages. During the first half of this trip I was still mostly sick so I had to stay medicated for longer than I originally planned. Coughing at night definitely didn’t help…

Lake Morraine

July 4th
The weather wasn’t all that great (and Sarah got sick the night before) so we went into Banff town for the visitor center and grocery. After lunch at the food court, we went to Tunnel Mountain for a 2-3 hour hike, and Johnston Canyon for another 2-3 hour hike (Mel and Shameek continued onto Ink pots which turned out only so-so while we slowly returned to the parking lot and campsite). It drizzled a bit that day and evening but wasn’t too bad.

Upper Fall, Johnston Canynon

July 5th
The most strenuous hiking day (after that day Ani’s knee got hurt so we stopped most hiking activities). The 4 of us went up to Lake Agnes, Big Beehive and all the way to Plain of the Six Glaciers (so pretty!). It was a 5-hour round trip with lots of elevation gain. For the most part I was a pretty happy hiker. I realized I ascended at a much quicker rate than the other 3 (who were struggling up hill as much as they were downhill). After a long way up we reached Lake Agnes, which was pretty cool and gave a good sense of accomplishment, but also freezing cold!!! It was insanely windy and the glacial water temp didn’t help. We stopped at the tea house for a cup of hot tea and to layer on a bit (Shameek was the most prepared, with hat, jacket and gloves) and for a bathroom stop. Apparently horses help carry ingredients to the tea house (and for some reason they also go even further up the mountain), so 50% of the trail was littered with horse poop which stunk really bad.

Lunch at Lake Agnes

We then continue along Lake Agnes and up on the mountain to Big Beehive, which gave a nice aerial view of Lake Louise and a gazebo for rest at the view point. The last climb up to Plain of Six Glacier is perhaps the most strenuous. By then we were already pretty tired, and the elevation is higher than before. Right at the tea house (where the trail continues to the look out), we ran into Rahul and Sarah (who later felt sick again and eventually have to leave camp early to stay in Banff for better rest instead). From there on we saw quite a bit of wild life, some goats far away on the hill side, marmots and porcupines along the way. The bit past the official lookout was a ridge to a scramble. it was quite difficult (mostly requiring concentration and a little more determination to get to the better view point).

Plain of Six Glacier

July 6
We were all up for a slow and relaxing day as we migrate from our campground in Banff (Lake Louise) to the one in Jasper (Wapiti). We got some hot coffee and breakfast from the bakery in the little village in Banff and recommendations from the visitor center for view points/ mini hikes on the way to Jasper. We drove on the Icefield Parkway. The lakes are numerous and all beautiful. I have a hard time recognizing them in pictures by their names… Columbia Icefield was also on the way, and we took the tour to take a walk on the icefield!

Columbia Icefield

July 7 & 8
Wednesday and Thursday kind of all blurred together for me; they were both mellow days. Minimal to no hiking. We went up the Whistler mountain by tram. It’s a 7-minute ride up 2km of elevation (they also have a hiking trail that starts from the bottom), where you can begin a 1-2 hour hike to the summit (where the trail ends). More experienced hikers can choose to go beyond the end of trail and out to the ridge, etc. The view is magnificent as the Whistler is one of the taller mountains in the area, and it’s surrounded by others in the Canadian Rockies. Despite the overcast, we were still able to see Mt. Robson, the tallest mountain in the Rockies, far far away in the background. Ani’s knees were hurting real bad going up and down hill/ stairs, so we took it slowly and enjoyed the view.

Mt Robson in the background

Since there weren’t much flat hikes we could do, we visited the various lakes in the Jasper town area (Lake Annette, Medicine Lake, Lake Maligne, etc). Meanwhile, Shameek and Melanie went off to conquer the Sulphur Skyline trail. It’s a strenuous 4-5 hour hike which starts from the Miette Hot Springs. We met up with them in the evening at the hot springs. The hot springs (pools) are well maintained with facilities and have a cheap admission rate. We moved between the 4 different temperature pools (mostly the really hot and really cold pools) and get our muscles relaxed and my swollen bug bite deflated.

July 9
We had a very enjoyable Friday morning chilling by the Maligne Lake while Shameek and Melanie canoe-dled. The morning sun was warm, and we had coffee and tourist watching on the deck at the lake side cafeteria.

Shameek and Melanie Canoeing in Maligne Lake

After meeting up with Rahul and Sarah for lunch in Jasper, we took off for Merritt, on our way back to Vancouver. Merritt seemed to be an even smaller town than Kamloops. We arrived in the evening, had dinner, games and some beer, slept and took off in the morning.

July 10
We arrived in Vancouver after 1pm, checked into our hotel, and went straight to Saravanaa Bhavern for a delicious South Indian (vegetarian) buffet (weekends only). BEST BUFFETT EVER. Wish we could have stayed longer and ate more but the buffett closes at 3pm (although there’s not really any room left). I wish they’d come to my backyard and make me dosas.

Saravanaa Bhavern Chefs Make Dosas In Your Backyard

Delicious lunch!

After lunch, we visited Capilano Suspension Bridge and Stanley Park. It was sunny and hot so it was nice to be outside and about. In the evening, we went to a bar with outside seating on Robson street and people watched over delicious Okanagan Spring Lager. Later on we moved to another Irish bar around Burrard and Davie for food and more beer. Good times!

July 11
World Cup Final! Spain vs. Holland! How could we miss it? We went back to the Irish bar and Shameek and Mel and Rahul already saved us a good seat in front of the tv. It was an exciting game and we were happy that Spain had won at the 2nd extra time *yay* We left after the game to head back to Seattle. Custom went relatively smoothly. Soon we were home and getting ready for going back to work on Monday.

Beautiful Seattle Weekend

Lovely lovely weather this weekend. It was super sunny and warm (high at 17 degree Celsius) on Friday. Weather continues to be beautiful through Saturday and Sunday.

Ani got Mariner’s tickets so we went after work to see them against LA Angels on Friday. Got hopelessly beat 8:0. Beer and garlic fries were good nonetheless. Slept in on Saturday; decided to go for a walk in the Olympic Sculpture Park since it was so nice out and neither of us has been there. Ended up spending the whole afternoon in the waterfront area, enjoyed some chowder and clams and mussels at Elliot Bay’s while doing some reading for our road trip to So Cal at the end of this month. Headed home and watched lots of True Blood afterward. It’s a strange strange show and Ani watches way too much TV. o we also got IMAX tickets for Ironman 2 ’cause Ani enjoyed it a lot the first time he watched it on Friday morning with co-workers. Ani’s brother wanted tickets too so I have innocently bought 4 tickets for next Wednesday (without thinking that he would be bringing a little cousin or a date… I kinda assumed it would be Ben :p).

Got up around 8 Sunday morning to get some work done for MBA applications and woke Ani up for the soccer game. Chelsea won so it’s not good for Man-U. We were going to build out the new dresser I got from Ikea last week, but turns out there’s a duplicate of the left side panel and missing 1 right side panel, so we went for a 30-minute run along Eastlake around 1 pm instead. Took an easy pace and totally beat out Ani :p It was actually really nice to have a running buddy but he didn’t like that I out-ran him. He’s determined to get back in shape and beat me. We’ll see… After run we went to Costco for some groceries and the Blue House for BBQ. It was so nice! The weather was perfect, the food was awesome (we tried out habanero with pepper jack cheese sausage from Costco yum!), and it’s been a while since we’ve all hung out (since Hula’s parents were visiting for a month and I was home for 2 weeks during then) and Nanna wasn’t all stressed out even though OP’s dad was there too. Had a good time and left around 7 pm (when sun was starting to set). Ani ended up watching true blood at home while I continue researching MBA stuff.

I was all dressed and ready to go for a row this morning but I overslept in my mini nap and woke up at 5:12 Went back to bed and woke up to heavy rain at 6. Guess I was lucky I didn’t go or I would be drenched and cold. Weather is expected to turn for the better starting tomorrow for the rest of the week. woohoo.

Meanwhile, I have decided to re-study and re-take GMAT by end of August to see if I can get to 750. I also need to find time to sit down and type out some draft essays. Today I will be meeting Gretchen and Katie from the FIUTS BoT after work to see if I can get into the Board. Hula said they’re looking for people to help with the Alumni side of things and I already had long affiliation with FIUTS so this should be good More to my resume and story to tell for MBA applications. It’s interesting to go through personal history to look for stories to tell. Sometimes things that seem so far away and minor may help make a good story (not a lie, of course). Over time, even without intentionally trying to go for a theme, I do ended up doing things I like which all falls in line.

Looking forward to my meeting (interview?) this evening, Ironman on Wednesday and my missing dresser piece in the mail later this week.

Rowing in Hong Kong!

On Tuesday I finally got a call from the Hong Kong China Rowing Association that there’s a club going out on Wedneday whom I can tag along with. It was very exciting that I got a chance to row just in time before my return to Seattle.

I went out with the Shatin Baptist group of 6. From the very beginning I was noticing the difference between rowing in Hong Kong and in Seattle.

#1 – Salt water rowing: Shing Mun River leads straight into open ocean, so we rowed in salt water in Hong Kong. That implies a few other discoveries:

#2 – TIDES! When one of the guys gave me the prep talk before we took off, low tide was one of the things he asked me to pay attention to. The dock is a few steps below land into the river; and a few extra steps lower when it’s low tide. The exposed steps are covered in moss and may be slippery. The shallow river also means we need to stay further away from shore to avoid damaging the boat.

#3 – STEPS! It’s my first time going down steps from the boat house to a dock. This is just new to me and requires a bit of maneuvering both for taking down oars and boat.

#4 – Side way dock – to launch by having someone push your oars out instead of walking down the dock and paddling away. That was interesting.

#5 – 18 km practice – 2 km down the river, 7 km out to a beach; round trip.

#6 – midway stop in the 18 km practice – NOODLES! lol it’s so typical of all the outdoor activities I’ve been had in Hong Kong. Be it hiking, biking or rowing, there’s always a midway stop for delicious noodles. It’s awesome (although I didn’t have any because I didn’t have my wallet with me; I got a coke on somebody else though).

#7 – Washing equipment – because we were rowing in salt (and very dirty) water, the boats and oars have to be washed with soap and rinsed through.

They were really nice for taking me in for a field trip. It was fun to row with those easy-going folks. I pledged that if they visit Seattle I’ll hook them up with PRC for a try.

Awesome Weekend

Had a really awesome weekend. Friday night tried out Kozue in Wallingford for dinner with Ani and OP. Sushi was ok, think Ani’s udon is their specialty and better, OP had spicy tuna on rice. I think next time I’d go for either udon or chirashi. Sake was wonderful.
Saturday we went for our first hike for the year to Lake 22. It used to be our hike 2 at Cedar Spring camp during fall orientation, so we typically go at the end of Sept when it’s still pretty summer-y. This time the last 3rd of the trail + the loop around the lake are all covered in snow. Very different scenary and made the hike even more interesting. Typically it’s just a short hike with mild elevation gain. But now, since there’s only 1 fresh track around the lake (presumably by a tall man), I had to hop and leap to match steps through the snow (otherwise there’d be a deep drop every step of the way). Legs were soar for a couple of days after… Anyhow, had a lot of fun from the hike. We left Seattle around 7:30 am, stopped for McD breakfast and started the hike at 9:05 am. We arrived the lake around 10:30 am (including lots of waiting time for OP), took about an hour going around the lake (and had lunch too), and got out around 2:30 pm (OP arrived 30 minutes later). Then we stopped by a small diner by highway 2 for lunch. I was still full from my sandwich so I opted for beer instead. Here is the funny:

Kim, “what beer do you have?”
waitress. “o we have just about everything: bud, bud light, bud draft, bud light lime, miller, miller light………..”
Kim. *in search of key words other than bud/ miller*
waitress, “…….red hook, brass hook…”
Kim, “RED HOOK IT IS”

We got back to Seattle around 4 pm. Showered and did some studying for the day. Later that night we met up with Shameek and Mrinal for beer/ food @ Schultzy’s.

Got up early Sunday morning and studied while Ani was still snoozing. Went to Costal Kitchen for brunch for the first time (with OP, of course). It was AWESOME. or perhaps, like the usual conspiracy theory, they make you wait so long that any food tastes good. I had Kathryn’s Grand Slam + side of spicy hash. So awesome~ Filled my need for pancakes and maple syrup, as well as sausage, eggs and hashbrowns (except hashbrown was disappointingly not spicy at all).

Then went home, studied some more and met up with OP for our complimentary haircut @ 7Salon. Cut out a lot of ugly/ grown out/ unhealthy hair and got some bangs. It was fun to be in a nice fancy salon for once. Nobody else but OP or Ani seem to have noticed :p

Went to Nectar in Fremont to see Delhi 2 Dublin. The show started about 2 hours later than expected, but the band is very energetic and the music was a lot of fun. The downside was the place was small and everybody was very excited and jumping up and down (and front and back); I really didn’t like people jumping around in my personal space. Went to bed around 1 am.

Struggled a lot to get up around 4:30 to go row Monday morning. Got changed, had coffee and ready to go. Didn’t realize that it was pouring really hard until I stepped outside of the building. Turned around and went back to bed.

Hopefully it won’t be as bad tomorrow morning. Last Friday’s practice got cancelled at the last minute due to strong wind.

Wonderful Row…Cox This Morning

I was long overdue for a coxing session. Everybody rowing in the PRC Intermediate Sweep group has to take turn coxing because we don’t have a dedicated coxswain, so it was my turn to cox this morning.

It was my first time ever in the coxswain’s seat (presuming that the narrow space at the stern of the boat is considered a ‘seat’) with a cox box and steering control. Think I did quite ok overall. Didn’t hit anything and for the most part stuck along with the traffic pattern. The most difficult part is figuring out the right command to get the rowers steer towards the desired direction. Sitting backwards/ opposite from how a rower would usually sit, I suddenly lost all sense of direction for steering.

My thinking process mostly goes ‘ok. So I want to head to my right, which is starboard, if I were in the boat I’d go…*rowing with imaginary oars in the air*…I think.’

Luckily, Betsy, the most experienced sweep rower in our group, was rowing at stroke and helped me a lot in getting the right commands for the intended directions, and reminded me when the boat was off set. Interestingly, since I had to can’t really sit comfortably in the boat I needed to sit atop the stern a little, and that disconnects me from the sense of set which I would usually feel when rowing. Another obvious in hindsight but still interesting discovery is that the coxswain would throw the set of the boat off as well. I find it harder to stay still in the center of the boat because I wasn’t quite sitting comfortably, and I was at the wrong height to see where my weight is relative to the boat’s balance. Lesson learned in general is to sit on a cushion next time; that would get me more comfortable and hopefully don’t off set the boat too much.

Nonetheless, steering with the rudder was relatively easy (especially as compared to making calls…) hehe. It was fun.

But I’d still rather be rowing

The jump suit kept me pretty warm but was too big for me (as is almost everything else in rowing) so it was a bit of a tripping hazard.

Lovely Monday Morning Row

Got up for our usual 5am practice ready to give the 8+ another go. The group ended up going out in a 4+ and Ani and I sculled in a double

The weather was good (not raining), water was calm, sky was (mostly) clear. Ani and I sculled in a double long time back (probably when we first started intermediate I mid summer ’09) and he was in the bow seat. This morning I was in bow (and much better at coxing than the last time) and we rowed together nicely. We focused mostly on ratio and pressure, and rowing together. It was a fun and good row, I enjoyed it very much.

Movie Review: Avatar

Went to the IMAX theater in Pacific Science Center last night to watch Avatar. I enjoyed it very much. The graphics are beautiful and the 3D special effects made the movie extra lively. I heard feedback about bad story lines but I don’t agree. It may be a bit predictable and standard, but overall it’s action-packed and adventure-filled, plenty of surprises and climaxes. The story, graphics, and creative details are amazing.

Super Cute Surprised Kitty

“Awwwwww……”

You & Me: Dave Matthews Band

Check out Dave Matthews Band’s “You & Me” video premiere on Yahoo music
http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/premieres/

This is one of my favorite songs (amongst many many other favorites from DMB) from their newest album. They played them at the Gorge over Labor Day weekend. Love the lyrics!

Wanna pack your bags, Something small
Take what you need and we disappear
Without a trace we’ll be gone, gone
The moon and the stars can follow the car
and then when we get to the ocean
We gonna take a boat to the end of the world
All the way to the end of the world

Oh, and when the kids are old enough
We’re gonna teach them to fly

You and me together, we could do anything, Baby
You and me together yes, yes (x2)

You and I, we’re not tied to the ground
Not falling but rising like rolling around
Eyes closed above the rooftops
Eyes closed, we’re gonna spin through the stars
Our arms wide as the sky
We gonna ride the blue all the way to the end of the world
To the end of the world

Oh, and when the kids are old enough
We’re gonna teach them to fly

You and me together, we could do anything, Baby
You and me together yes, yes

We can always look back at what we did
All these memories of you and me baby
But right now it’s you and me forever girl
And you know we could do better than anything that we did
You know that you and me, we could do anything

You and me together, we could do anything, Baby
You and me together yeah, yeah
Two of us together, we could do anything, baby
You and me together yeah, yeah
Two of us together yeah, yeah
Two of us together, we could do anything, baby

to reach the end of the world

Row for The Cure

Please support me and my team in the upcoming fundraising event Row for the Cure in Seattle!

http://www.active.com/donate/rftcseattle/pococki2

This would be my first race and my first Row for the Cure event. The race is on 9/20 in Lake Union. It is a 5.5K head race (more details here: http://www.rowforthecure.com/cities/seattle.htm).
We have been practicing weekly in addition to the usual intermediate classes (our team members are all in the Pocock Rowing Center intermediate class level 2), up to 5 times a week. I will be rowing in the bow seat of the Pocock Rowing Center’s Women’s quad. Donate and/ or come see us row!