"You are not simple. Nobody is simple. We live in a complicated world and so, we are complicated as well. To me, complicated sounds fun. We get to meet people from all walks of life, get to learn new things from these people. In other words, we're like riding a roller coaster with different types of track layouts and in fact, we're riding one now. Life is a roller coaster!"

One month ago, I encountered one of the most unforgettable moments when I'm in Hokkaido, Japan. When people asked, "How's Hokkaido? Which place do you like the most? What do you like the most?", I can only answer them this, "All the places are beautiful and fun but I had an unforgettable moment there.".

There was this morning where we were scheduled to visit Usuzan Ropeway, whereby it is an observation deck on top of a mountain which offers panoramic views of Lake Toya, Mt. Showa Shinzan and Mount Usu's largest crater. Mount Usu is a volcano which has erupted four times in 100 years with its most recent eruption in 2000. Lake Toya, on the other hand, was formed when a huge underground volcano erupted and tore open a massive crater which filled in with water and become the lake we see today. Google it if you are interested. :)

We were supposed to walk 7 minutes of 300m high just to see the panoramic views but luck was not on our side that day. It was drizzling that morning and the whole mountain was covered with mist. The tour guide gave hope when we reached the top (as in the start point of 7 minutes walk) and suggested not to walk further because the wind was so strong and it was 2˚C. Most of them gave up and went back to the summit while the 6 of us (me, my bro and 2 married couples) continued our walk even though we knew that we won't be seeing anything because of the mist.

These are what we are supposed to see (taken from a random website):

We were given an extra jacket just to keep ourselves warm and an umbrella. With 3 jackets covering my body and an umbrella, 6 of us walked up the mountain. The steps ahead were covered with mist and we were not sure what was in front of us but with determination, we reached the observation deck. As expected, we saw nothing but mist around us with cold wind. However, it was an unforgettable experience to me because I'd never experience something like that before. Climbing up a mountain step by step with 3 jackets, an umbrella, a strong and cold wind blowing our face and umbrella, shivering and anticipating what lies ahead of us. 15 minutes worth of experience. Thumbs up!

And these are what we saw:

Lesson of the day:

Do not give up even though you knew you won't get the results you expect to get because it's the experience that counts.