My First Winter Experience: Snow Lovin'

It's my first time to experience winter because I always go to Japan during spring time, and I have once visited Korea during autumn. However, I've already seen snow because two years ago, I was able to catch the last snow fall before spring and I have visited a ski resort before the snow melted. 

I came back to Japan on November 28, 2013. The temperature at that time was around 7 degrees Celsius. Then as days passed, the weather became colder and colder. The first snow fall happened on December 11. I realized it isn't that cold when it snows. It's much colder when it doesn't snow. As of now, January 31, the coldest weather I have probably experienced was at -13 degrees Celsius. This happened one day at around 6 to 7am.

the view from our balcony

the view from our apartment's lobby (2nd floor)

the woods somewhere beside the main road

I love it when it snows. I like it most especially at night when the surroundings is super white and bright, reflecting the light coming from the moon. It also feels magical seeing snow falling from the sky. I also love the challenge of putting away the snow that piled up on our car's windshield. 

trees covered with snow

silent night

was wearing the wrong boots 'coz I didn't know it would snow

the street covered with snow

safe and sound :)

my cousin's Suzuki Swift covered with snow

I enjoyed doing this haha

In terms of clothing, well I love winter fashion. haha! I normally dress up with 3 layers of top. One fiber heat inner blouse, then a knitted longsleeves, and my outer cover is either a thermal jacket or a thick coat. For the bottom, I either wear jeans or thick stockings/tights under my shorts or skirt. It wasn't really as cold as I have imagined. Probably, it helped that I arrive here during the transition from autumn to winter, that my body was still able to adjust to the weather. I guess it would be a lot harder if I arrived here at around mid-January because it would be hard to adjust instantly from the hot weather of the Philippines to that super cold one of Japan. 

like a Japanese school girl :))

ready with my pink thermal hoodie

it's so fun playing in the snow :))

this was at J-Mart, a shop that sells a lot of house stuff, including garden stuff

The winter halo, even before it was experienced in the Philippines, I first witnessed it here in Japan. It was so nice and magical!:)

Now that I have experienced four seasons, I can't really choose which one is my favorite. Each of the four seasons has its own character. Winter for me seems magical because of the snow flakes falling from the sky and having a pretty view at night as the snow on the ground, with the help of the moon, illuminates the surroundings. Spring is romantic, seeing cherry blossoms in full bloom, with petals falling off the branches as the wind blows. Autumn reflects adventure and drama. Adventure because of its bright colors that make trees so beautiful; but drama as trees go bald, and autumn leaves start covering the grounds. Summer means fun. The beach, sand, and waves are just irresistible.

Winter feels too cold; but I have yet to experience the coldest of winter because they say, February is the coldest month of winter. 

the neighborhood

the white mountains :)

the snow-capped Mt. Fuji (view from the highway)

xoxo,

city girl :)

Conquered my Fear of Heights at Fuji-Q Highland

I have this fear of heights so I don't usually ride high attractions, most especially rollercoasters. But when some friends and I visited FujiQ Highland in Yamanashi last June 10, I had no choice but to ride all of the rollercoasters there! Actually I was able to ride 3 out of 4 rollercoasters only because the scariest rollercoaster, the Eejanaika (4-dimension rollercoaster) was closed.

It's my first time in Fuji-Q Highland, although I've already seen the place one time when we visited Mt. Fuji. Anyway, I was so proud of myself that day because I was able to conquer some of the world's tremendous rollercoasters.

 didn't know I had to squat to get a better shot lol

I wasn't the one who paid for my entrance fee so I didn't know how much my ticket was. We headed to our first ride which took us more than 30mins in line. This ride was Fujiyama, the King of Coasters. According to my research, it's the 4th largest rollercoaster in the world. It seemed like it has the longest duration of 3:36. While up there, we can see the entire amusement park. Unfortunately, Mt. Fuji wasn't visible since it was covered with clouds. The only downside was, my neck and back hurt after the ride.

while at the queue for Fujiyama

 so high!

done!

Then we lined up for Dodonpa, which took us an hour and 30 minutes in line. The ride was so quick and it was unexpectedly scary. It's the world's fastest rollercoaster. It resembles a jet that's being launched so it accelerated so quickly. After the fast launch were a couple of twists and 360-degree turns. It was so cool!

Wasn't able to take a pic so I just grabbed a photo from Google Image Search (pic at the right)

We got tired from lining up so we decided to have a quick lunch first. Right after lunch we headed to the Panic Clock wherein we were hanging on its pendulum which turned 360 degrees too! I really felt that all I had for lunch will come out of me haha! Next was the Tondemina, a ride sponsored by Pizza-La. It looked like a pizza pie wherein 50 people were sitting around its outer crust (circumference, being tossed left and right up in the air. It's actually fun and not that scary.

 We're supposed to go to the Super Scary Labyrinth of Fear, which is probably the scariest ghost house in Japan. In fact, it was featured in the news to have real ghosts who got mixed up with the staff ghosts in costume. Even some of the staff inside who were acting like ghosts actually saw the real ghosts. That horror house looked like an old hospital. Guests will just walk freely inside this 4-storey building while being chased by zombies. They said that those fake zombies grab hands and even pull them. Fortunately, I got saved! When we got there, the attraction was already closed because the people in line were already enough until the closing time. That was around 2:40pm and the attraction closes at around 5pm.


So we just decided to ride the Red Tower. It works like an elevator. while seated, it pulled us to the top of the tower giving us a nice view of Yamanashi. And after a couple of seconds, it dropped us more than halfway then up again and down. It was a short ride so there's no queue.

And the best part of the day was conquering the world's steepest rollercoaster, the Takabisha! It was certified by the Guinness Book of World Record. It took us around an hour on queue and when it was our turn, I felt like backing out! Imagine, it's a 121-degree free fall! I never thought I would even survive it! I got my eyes closed most of the time during the 2-minute ride!

 speechless!

And that's how I conquered my fear of heights! The next time I go back to Japan, I will be trying the #1 in the list of the World's Largest Rollercoasters, that one in Nagashima Spa Land!:)

Here's the link to Fuji-Q Highland's website: http://www.fujiq.jp/en/

Lovin' Mt. Fuji :)

Who would've thought that I will see Mt. Fuji even before I see Mt. Mayon. Actually I have always been wanting to see Mt. Mayon for its perfect shape, though I never had the chance to. I also used to fantasize seeing Mt. Fuji for its ice that doesn't melt, and I can't believe that fantasy came true too soon!:)

We drove to Mt. Fuji one morning. It took us around an hour and a half to get there. I think we got there between 9-10am, and it's kinda covered with clouds. We had a stop over at a spot where one can see a nice view of it.

 

it's like heaven:)

 at the "photo ops" spot

Chanel shades are the best!:)

Mt. Fuji is actually surrounded by 3 lakes. We went to one of them and found a nice view of the volcano. We found there a lot of photographers, both pros and amateurs. We met one hobbyist photographer who takes photos of Mt. Fuji every single day. He showed us some of the photos he took; and he's even kind enough to give us two of those photos. Each photo was taken at a different day.

 there's an ongoing photoshoot down there

 breathtaking!

 so Spring!:)

My Aunt's family plus Grandma

 given by an old man addicted to Mt. Fuji

  his photographs looked a lot like postcards

We also explored other tourist spots nearby. At that time, there were actually quite a number of tourists going around.

 my cousin Cherry

 

 cute!:))

people mining for precious gems (interesting...)

 

where we bought lunch

We bought some packed lunch at a nearby supermarket then we proceeded to my Uncle's family rest house somewhere at the foot of Mt. Fuji. The place was like a village of huge rest houses. It's the location of a lot of rest houses of celebrities, politicians, and other prominent people in Japan. Well as I mentioned in my "Tokyo" blog, my Uncle's dad was a baseball star and his mom was a model. Cool!:)) The rest house was nice, though it felt scary inside 'coz no one was staying there. It's looked like a rest house in Baguio, plus the fact that it felt really cold there.

 we finally arrived!

 my cousin Ken at the attic

view from the top

 

 lunch time!:)

 

We had lunch, fixed the place a bit, and left. We went to somewhere like a village clubhouse and an ice skiing place during winter. Then back to the road to shop at Don Quixote in Yamanashi where I bought my favorite D&G gold watch.:)

Another day which proved me that "Life is amazing!".=)