#5 Climbathon Osaka April 2018

As our love for climbing grew, so did our love for each other. I remember when we first met he said, his dream is to go to 日本欣賞櫻花 and 希臘感受愛琴海 with someone he loves (🙋🏻‍♀️present... ).

Not only we were able to move towards making this dream a reality, but we have been able to bring in the third wheel into these magical occasions: climbing.

Osaka in April 2018 was also the first time we combined our climbing with birthdays & anniversary, giving us (mainly me) the perfect legitimate excuse to make it mega special.

During the last two visits to Osaka, be it on a girls trip with my best friends from Uni, or the me-alone trip to hang out with another incredible friend from work, I have always been telling Mum and UP how I would love to give them the same experiences one day. I made this trip my opportunity to live up to my promises.

A bit greedy with what to pack in with this holiday, we decided to do a stop over in Hong Kong for a day, to see my beloved sister, Kz and 小B! We had about ten hours overlay in Hong Kong, we headed to Discovery Bay right after we landed round noon. We were met with a sweet surprise from my sister: and that was our first birthday slices of the year. We had so much fun despite it was only half a day. Thank you for giving us a good start to this special holiday.

Next, we met up with Mum and UP at the airport and boarded the red eye flight *gulp* and have concluded: never again!!! We landed before 6am and collected our rental car. We drove to Wakayama to start our trip with a treat at a Ryokan. We arrived early, way ahead of our check in time, so we took the time to drive around and enjoy the beautiful rock formation at Senjojiki 千疊敷. Although it was stunning, but it was getting very hot so we could only walk around for so long, we were done with the local touring by mid-morning. What was next, before we got to check in at 2pm, felt like a zzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ eternity....

But we made it, a quick dip at the onsen with mum before a nice nap on the lovely futon was all that was needed to cast away the travel fatigue. The next 24 hours was all about enjoying the authentic food, including the ramen 宵夜 that was only available after Shang's bed time, but he stayed up to enjoy that with me: his peculiar way of loving people.

We were back in the city for the next few days, checking out climbing gyms and continuing our quest to enjoy food. Japan is made for shopping for professional shoppers like me. Unlike previous trips however, this time was all about shopping for climbing gear and outfit.

One of my best friends have moved to Osaka, hometown of his wife who is also a friend of mine. They took us the outskirt of Kyoto where we got to enjoy the beautiful country side, decorated by the spring Sakura. We have just missed the full blown week but it was still breathtakingly romantic.

快樂不知時日過, a week flew past way too quickly, I remember it was the first ever holiday where I had not open my lap top once. This is the trip that had given me the first understanding of what I am missing out in life when running in the corporate rat race. I guess this marked the inception of Midlife Wonders.

We said our goodbyes at the Osaka airport, and probably hugged too many times before parting our ways boarding different flights. Being a hopeless sentimental and a huge fan of my WonderMama, I was already missing her a big time before I even got to the gate. We passed a shop and I saw some tumblers, I bought us one each, and sent Mum a text asking them not to leave the airside when they land in Hong Kong, but wait for us as I have something to give her. Unfortunately the time I sent the text their flight is already airborne.

The 4 hours on my own flight, I was hoping wishing praying that she will check her phone the moment she lands. The moment I landed I frantically switched on my phone and hooked with the free wifi when we walked into the terminal. *dloooong* message read, and they will wait for us at the immigration area. I ran.

The 交收 of the tumblers took place. We had time for a picture, then we had to move on for our connecting flight back to KL. But at least we managed to have this impromptu meet up and I flew back to KL with a warm smile in my heart.