carolchan

[carolchan]

This Eric Chou x Alan Walker collab is the ultimate combo of my fob and ABG music vibezzz.

[carolchan]

Sup 2019?

I guess I haven’t felt inclined to do a year in review type post in a few years...not gonna do one for 2018 either LOL.  But I just wanted to write this small blurb to keep myself accountable.  What do I want to achieve in 2019?  I want to live 2019 with a lot more purpose.  What do I mean?  I only want to do things that I really want to do, and not do things out of obligation or because I didn’t want to disappoint someone.  And...ya that’s it lol.  Let’s see if I can do this...

[carolchan]

Oh my heart UwU

[carolchan]

Not many songs (or anything for that matter lol) elicit very strong emotions from me but this song actually made me cry the first time I heard it.  Not that it made me feel sad or anything...just something about its rawness really touched me. That and Alex’s voice is just so soulful...can’t believe he’s only 20 years old. 

[carolchan]

Eargasm...so bloody brilliant with the orchestra.

[carolchan]

清晨三點我還清醒著 一夜好眠可遇不可得 不小心 想起你 都怕打擾了 回憶被 推翻成 一種罪惡

很愛過一個人 痛也值得 多麼快樂 何必否認 該學會了 捨得那些捨不得

[carolchan]

This might be the most upbeat sad love song/breakup jam I’ve ever heard before. 

I hope you're happy I hope you're good I hope you get what you wish for And you're well understood And whatever your progress (whatever your progress) I know you'll be fine (I hope you're fine) Because I hope you're happy (I hope you're good) Even if you're not mine

[carolchan]

US National Parks 2018 - Day 5 (Grand Canyon)

The Tuesday was the last day of our National Parks 2k18 tour and we had to do the most driving this day.  So...no more sleeping in and I made us wake up at 5:30am.  We had to drive ~2.5 hours to get to the Grand Canyon.

Oh and a quick note about this hotel (La Quinta Inn & Suites Page) - much like the hotel we stayed in Hurricane, Utah - it was very modern, new and clean - really great experience! 

As with the other National Parks, I believe Grand Canyon is also $35 USD per vehicle, but with the US Parks Pass it was included for us.

We hit some traffic along the way (ended up stopped on the highway for ~20 minutes because one part was down to one lane) and our limited time in the Grand Canyon became even more limited T___T

Since we had such limited time we couldn’t really do any hikes, so we parked near the visitor centre and hiked along the rim trail and caught some pretty grand spectacular views of the Grand Canyon.  It is indeed...grand...harhar

You can definitely opt to be fearless to venture off the trails...but I ain’t that brave...I’ll just stay here and take pics AHAHA

All in all we were only about to spend about 1.5 hours at the Grand Canyon which was hardly enough time, but we still need to grab some lunch and make the 3.5 hour drive down to the Phoenix airport (oh and return the rental car before then).

Thankfully we chanced upon a Chick-Fil-A in Flaghurst and I got to experience the spicy chicken deluxe and OMG SO GOOD.  The chicken is crispy yet not greasy and the Chick-Fil-A sauce is just....*insert Homer drool noises*

After my mouthgasm at Chick-Fil-A we continued our drive to the Phoenix airport and of course we hit more traffic haha.  Thankfully we made it with time to spare [of course we also got stopped at security...a portable speaker and drone (which we didn’t even use LOLWTF) will make customs go WTF) and we flew back to San Jose.

Thus ends our US National Parks 2k18 tour.  I feel like we got to catch a glimpse of all these magnificent American National Parks and I can’t wait to see more of these National Parks.  And as I mentioned in the 1st post of this series - if you plan on visiting at least 3 US National Parks in a year - the US Park Pass is really worth it! 

As always there’s a song of the trip, and for this trip...Little Mermaid haha.  Especially when the little fishies (or tadpoles?? Idk) go: la la la la la 

[carolchan]

US National Parks 2018 - Day 4 (Horseshoe Bend & Lower Antelope Canyon

On the Monday I let us sleep in even more - I let us wake up at 7am since we’d be saving an hour as we got into Arizona.  We got to have a coffee with the owner of the Riverside Ranch.  He told us his story of how he came to run the motel and he was genuinely interested in getting to know all his guests.  The Riverside Ranch is a small and quaint motel, but with the new renovations the rooms had new floors, new decor and everything was very clean.

After breakfast we drove for about 2.5 hours to Horseshoe Bend.  We knew that despite it being a weekday it would be filled with hoards of tourists and we were right.  It’s not a very far walk from the parking lot to the actual Horseshoe Bend, but there is absolutely no shade and the sun is pretty relentless - make sure to load up on the sunscreen and wear a hat. 

After you get to the actual Horseshoe Bend area the task becomes - walk away from the hoards of tourists and take photos to make it seem like you’re the only people there haha.  To be fair, the photos turned out pretty bomb. 

The clouds seem so close that it’s almost as if you can touch them.

After taking a ton of photos and frolicking a bit more, we went in search of some lunch and we settled for some BBQ at Big John’s BBQ.  The brisket was AMAZING!  

We still had some time to kill before our Lower Antelope Canyon tour, so we headed over to the Glen Canyon Dam...and DAMN it’s a big dam.

We went into the visitor centre to cool down with some air conditioning and then headed over to the location for our Lower Antelope Canyon tour.

We opted to go with Ken’s Tours and it was ~$50 USD per person. We opted to tour the lower canyon because...we booked too late and there was no more availability for the upper canyon tours AHAHA.  But also we were told the lower canyon is less crowded.  Make sure you book months in advance - the tours (for both lower and upper) often sell out and it’s just not worth the risk of showing up and not being able to join a tour.  

The tour in the canyon is ~1 hour and the walk isn’t strenuous at all.  Despite the intense Arizona heat, it’s actually quite pleasant inside the canyon.  Do keep in mind, if the forecast calls for rain, your tour will likely be canceled because flash floods are quite possible in these canyons.

You are only allowed to bring 1 small bottle of water, 1 cell phone and 1 camera per person into the canyon.  You aren’t allowed to bring any bags and you aren’t allowed to bring GoPros or selfies sticks into the canyon either.  For the ladies - since most of our pants don’t have pockets - try and bring a pair of pants that do - it’ll save you so much hassle (I had to stick my phone into my bra UGH so sweaty).

The Navajo guides are very friendly and guide you through the canyon.  They’re also very willing to help you take pics and also offer some great photography tips.  Other than that...you walk around, look up in awe and take photos for ~1 hour. 

After doing the Lower Antelope Canyon tour we checked into our hotel (La Quinta Inn & Suites in Page).  We took a nap, played a new board game and then ventured out for some Subway and of course had to get some Sonic drive-through AHAHA.

[carolchan]

US National Parks 2018 - Day 3 (Zion National Park & Bryce Canyon National Park)

On Sunday morning I let us sleep in a little bit...our wake-up time was 6am instead this morning :P  We even got to partake in the breakfast spread provided by the hotel.

Our hotel Wingate by Wyndham Hurricane where we spent 2 nights was great!  Everything seemed pretty new and the rooms and washrooms were very clean.  The ice machines also came in very handy as I got to fill up my insulated bottle before our hikes.  

We made our drive over to Zion and unlike Saturday morning, we weren’t driving in darkness.  It was actually really nice to see Zion emerge from a distance as the sun was rising.  

Our goal today was just to check out a short trail - the Riverside Walk - which is the gateway into the Narrows trail.  The Narrows is actually a very cool trail where you tread in water in between canyons - however we just didn’t have the time to do a long hike like that (our bodies probably would not have let us anyway hah).  

Just like the 1st day we hopped onto the shuttle and we got off the 8th and final stop (Temple of Sinawava).

The Riverside Walk is a very easy walk with no elevation changes - it’s even paved!  It’s only 2 miles round trip so only takes 1-2 hours (depending on how many photos you want to take).

Got to take some pics in between the canyons.

And got to some people with waterproof boots and walking sticks about to embark on the Narrows hike.

On our way back to the shuttle stop we saw this cute little squirrel that stood there completely still - very happy to ham it up for everyone with a camera haha.

We took the shuttle back to the parking lot and went back into Springdale for some lunch.  We went to Meme’s cafe.  

After lunch we drove about 2 hours to get to Bryce Canyon National Park.  As with Zion, they charge $35 USD admission fee, but we didn’t have to pay since we had the US Park Pass.

We had limited time in the park so we weren’t able to do any of the long hikes.  We hopped on the shuttle and hit up our first stop - Bryce Point!  Here we got our first glimpse of hoodoos - cool columns that get their shape from erosion.

After that we hopped back onto the shuttle and went to Inspiration Point. 

After that we got onto the shuttle to head to Sunset point so that we could walk over to Sunrise point.  

After we caught the beginning of the sunset we got some dinner at Bryce Canyon Pines Restaurant and then made it to our hotel (The Riverside Ranch) for the night.  

Oh and the sunset views in Utah are just...wow (watch the video)

[carolchan]

US National Parks 2018 - Days 1 & 2 (Vegas & Zion National Park)

We talked about doing this trip for the longest time but it look a while to get schedules to line up.  When we finally finally found a period that worked for us we went ahead and booked our tickets.  The plan was: we’d meet up in Vegas, drive through Utah & Arizona and then fly out out of Phoenix (and then I’d spend a few days in the Bay area to explore).

I booked a bunch of one way flights that cost about $650 CAD in total: 1) Toronto to Vegas 2) Phoenix to San Jose and 3) San Jose to Toronto 

Photography tidbits: I shot with the GoPro for wide angle shots, my DSLR (Nikon D3200) and my phone (OnePlus3T).  Didn’t process any of the pics in these summary posts with PS or LR (too lazy rn) - in the future I may process some of the more epic photos :P

We arrived in Vegas on a Friday morning and then proceeded to pick up our rental car.  Once we picked up the rental we drove into the Vegas strip to frolic a bit and enjoyed the brunch buffet at Bacchanal (Caesars Palace); the buffet ended up being ~$50 USD and imo was not worth it ahahaha.

After stuffing our faces silly and accepting the fact we’d never win the buffet, we made our way to Hurricane, Utah (~2.5 hour drive) where we’d spend the first 2 nights of our trip.  We set our alarms for 5am the next day so we could get into the park pretty early to start our longest hike of the trip.

Our hotel (Wingate by Wyndham Hurricane) was about 30 minutes away from the Zion park entrance, so when we first started driving it was in complete darkness.  Oh, entrance to the park is $35 USD per vehicle, but we had the US Park Annual Park Pass ($80 USD) - the pass pays for itself if you visit at least 3 National Parks.

So on the Saturday, we arrived at Zion around 6am and we hopped on the shuttle to take us to 7th stop (Weeping Rock) where we would embark on the Observation Point Trail.  Make sure you make a washroom stop at the vistors centre because there aren’t really any washrooms at the trailheads and definitely no washrooms on the trails.  

Most people go to Zion to do the Angel’s Landing hike, but Angel’s Landing was closed for a few months and the day we arrived it was the first day it re-opened.  We wanted to avoid crowds (we unknowingly went on Free Entrance Day), so we stuck with our original plan of doing Observation Point.  Observation Point turns out to be a more strenuous hike than Angel’s Landing...it’s 8 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 2,100 feet (vs Angels’s Landing 4.8 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 1,500 feet)

Before we head out on Observation Point Trail we checked out the shuttle stop’s namesake - the Weeping Rock.  It’s a short hike up from the trailhead and it’s legit a ledge of rock where water keeps dripping down.  It was super early in the morning and we were still freezing...so it wasn’t that pleasant haha.  We booked it out of there pretty quickly.    

We descend from Weeping Rock and promptly start Observation Point Trail.  Very quickly you realize I MADE A MISTAKE IT’S ALL UPHILL.  But...being the headstrong and stubborn Asians we are...we keep soldiering on. 

As the trail is legit all uphill, we gained elevation pretty quickly and were rewarded with some awesome views right from the get-go.  At this point it’s still early in the morning so the sun was not beating on us.  However, if you embark on this hike in the afternoon (I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS...PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS) - you’ll be basking in blazing hot sun for HOURS ON END.  

As you can see from this vantage point most of the ascent  is composed of never ending uphill zig-zag switchback trails.  

Just as our brains and legs were turning into mush from all the gruelling uphills, we encountered this random sandy canyon - obviously we jumped off the trail to explore haha.

Not long after that we encountered Echo Canyon where you could see some slot canyons and it was also a lot cooler here.  It was a great place to take a breather and some cool pics. 

After Echo Canyon most of the trail becomes exposed to the sun...just...unrelenting sun that beats down on you as you try to tackle those uphills haha.

Eventually you’ll reach this junction where you can explore other side trails.  We said...no fanks...I just want this to be over sooner rather than later.

The final ascent before we get treated to epic #views

The #views we walked uphill for 3 hours to see.  You can actually see Angel’s Landing below!  

Most def had to ham it up for the camera after that hike.  Ya I look pretty damn happy right?  Actually dying inside AHAHA.  I was significantly more grumpy after this photo when we took some time to sit down and eat because I started to feel it all the pain - my calves and glutes burning like a mofo.  And then I realized I had to walk back down - kinda wanted to jump off at this point ROFL.  

But ya, we still had a 2 hour downhill journey ahead of us.  It definitely wasn’t as rough as the 3 hour uphill, but downhill is another beast in and of itself - it’s really hard on the joints and toes.  

Eventually we made it back down feeling quite satisfied but also very very tired.  I think we’re masochists, but we felt like because we worked hard for the views, it was just that much more magnificent lol.   

As for tips for the hike: take more water than you think you need (we ran out once we got to the top lol), lather on the sunscreen, wear a hat, and just take it at your own pace.  It took us about 3 hours to ascend and about 2 hours to descend...maybe a bit more since we stopped so much for photo ops ahaha.

We got some lunch at Oscar’s Cafe in Springdale and then went back to our hotel to shower and nap.  After we woke up from our nap, we headed over to River Rock Roasting Company for some dinner and then back to the hotel to rest our broken and weary bodies.

[carolchan]

We live in a generation of not being in love, and not being together.... ...Because we're scared to see each other with somebody else

Drake, Doing It Wrong

[carolchan]

Wasted times I spent with someone else (S)he wasn't even half of you... ...And even though you put my life through hell I can't seem to forget 'bout you, 'bout you... 'Cause I ain't got no business catchin' feelings anyway I ain't got no business catchin' feelings...

The Weeknd, Wasted Times

[carolchan]

Meteors are always up there, whizzing around - we just...we never notice them.  It's only once in a while that we actually see one.  You know, see just how spectacular they really are

This is Us, Season 2, Episode 16 - Vegas, Baby

[carolchan]

喝酒的伴 一起看電影的伴 早午晚餐的那個伴 朋友不能留得太晚 明天要上班 唱K的伴 一起去旅行的伴 聽懂我的笑話的伴 我的生活 只差那個人就美滿 快樂少一人分享 快樂就只剩一半 喝一碗湯 心怎麼都不夠暖 這張被單 這張睡床 再舒服都覺得太寬 沒人分享 幸福就只剩一半 就算把日子都填滿 節日卻提醒我孤單

[carolchan]

Iceland 2017 - Day 5 (Reykjavik to Toronto)

This was our last day in Iceland and at this point of the trip we’d split up where 2 of us would head back home and 3 of us would keep going on.  We didn’t really have a tight schedule so we leisurely woke up and got to the Blue Lagoon around 11:30.  Despite our entry time being for 12-1pm - they were nice enough to let us in early. 

We got the most basic tickets and imo it’s enough - just bring your own towel! 

It was really nice to just relax in the warm water and frolic about after 4 really hectic days.  We tried the silica masks but tbh I didn’t really enjoy them b/c it really dried my skin out.  All in all it was a good experience - similar to that of the Scandinavian spa in Collingwood.  I have to say - they are very organized at the Blue Lagoon and they keep the change rooms, washrooms, locker areas and showers very very clean.  They constantly have attendants going around making sure everything is clean and as dry as possible.   

After soaking in the lagoon for about 1.5 hours we got out, showered, and headed to the airport.  The airport is only about 20 minutes away and unlike the Icelandair kiosks at Pearson, there were self checkin kiosks with bag drop off at KEF - making the check in process very speedy.  

We had some leftover Krona so decided to get a couple hot dogs at the airport ($5 CAD a pop).  They’re...pretty much like other hot dogs haha.  Tbh it’s the condiments that are more interesting.  Their mustard is more on the sweet side while their ketchup is less sweet.  

The star of their condiments has to be Kartöflukrydd (the pink salt on the left).  It was INCREDIBLE fries.  I think it roughly translates to “French fry seasoning”.  A quick Google search told me that it’s mostly, salt, paprika, onion powder and good ol’ MSG :p

Took one last deep breath of the fresh Icelandic air and bid the country adieu! 

And thus concludes our Icelandic adventures!  Very thankful to have the opportunity to see this beautiful country.  Also very thankful for being able to see so much despite the limited sunlight and (at times) sketchy road conditions.  And lastly, super thankful for awesome travel companions that made the journey as incredible as the destinations <3  #iceicewindy we out.

This was THE song of the road trip :D

[carolchan]

Iceland 2017 - Day 4 (Höfn to Reykjavik)

On this day we had to journey all the way back to Reykjavik and it was about a 5 hour drive.  As such, we only had one stop on the itinerary that day: Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon.

We then went across the street to the Diamond Beach where crystal clear pieces of ice are scattered about.  Legit looks like chunks of crystal. 

After frolicking around diamond pieces of ice we continued our journey toward Reykjavik and we made a stop in a town called “Hella”.  1) to take advantage of the photo ops and 2) to finally buy some booze while the Vinbudin was still opened.  

Got a great selection of local Icelandic brewskies.  

After settling into our Air Bnb we went into Reykjavik proper and had our first sit-down meal in a real restaurant.  We went to the Islenski Bar Inn to check out some local Icelandic fare. 

I got a local IPA to drink and omg - it smelled so good and tasted just hoppy enough. 

For the apps we got the Christmas platter: the smoked lamb was amazing; Reindeer meat balls were okay but tasted just like any other meatball; Crispy bread & whipped butter – omg so good; Meat stew – really hearty and warmed the soul; Comes with some pickled veggies and they’re so tasty.

For the mains: the lamb shank – don’t let this sit around too long because as the dish cooled the meat got a bit dry; the seared whale – pretty good – tastes kinda like steak; the fish of the day – very good and flakey.

After dinner we went to get ice cream at Valdis.  Yes...ice cream in Iceland haha.  Never too cold for ice cream!  They have some local Icelandic flavours like a few liquorice flavours...but I opted for the gingerbread flavour and it was DELICIOUS. 

After dessert we headed to the Grotta lighthouse to wait for the Northern Lights.  For every day we were in Iceland there were a ton of clouds, and this day was the only day where the skies were clear.  If we were going to see the aurora dance before us...it was going to be this day.  It was SUPER cold but we only stood around for about 20-30 minutes before the aurora started dancing around us.  It was considered very faint, but still VERY happy to have been able to see it.  

It would appear and then dissapear - and then appear again.  Despite the cold we watched them dance in the sky for about an hour before we headed back to the Air Bnb to enjoy all the local brewskies we got at the Vinbudin.