Backpacking

It wasn't easy, but I made it to the top of Kilimanjaro!!! The whole experience took me a total of 6 days (4 going up, 2 coming down). There are about 10 differnet routes you can take to go up Kili that all eventually lead to the much anticipated Uhuru Peak. I took the ever popular Marangu Route.

Me at the Marangu gate

Stuff along the way...

When you first enter the Marangu gate, you are in what appears to be a rain forest. Complete with exotic plants, flowers and monkies. It is a trek of about 7 km until you reach the first camp, Mandara. Its not that bad of a walk. The only thing I take issue with are all the rocks. To be specific, the rocks on the road. It just makes the trek that much harder.

I arrived at the Mandara camp in the early afternoon. This is when I learn one of the most irriating local customs (or atleast when they are dealing with travellers), the food. The food is delicous. But its three 4 course meals a day plus snacks. Do they think every westerner is morbidly obese? During the entire trek, I did not finish a single meal.

I went to see some crater while at Mandara. I forget what its called.

I also looked at the small town of Rongai (there is also a Rongai route up the mountain). Just beyond the town, is Kenya. But don't worry mom, this the closest I ever got to Kenya.

After spending the night at Mandara, I head off for the next camp, Horombo. The surroundings of this part of the trek are vastly different from the previous one. This was far more serengeti-like. No tree is much taller than I am and the only animal in sight is the occaisional crow. Or at least I thought they were crows. One thing I really didn't care for about this part of the trek is how intense the sun is and the absense of any shade. Thanks to my years of dicipline in regaurds to sun, they only burn I suffered was on my right hand (my walking stick hand). Try keeping that in the shade! I ended up putting one of my winter gloves on it.

On the way to Horombo, with Kili in the background.

Anyway, so I see the camp in the distance and breifly toss the pole pole rule aside. I see the presence of shade the resides inside the cabins and haul ass up a giant hill of rocks. And that is when I wipe out and bruise both knees. I told you, rocks just make everythng harder. I guess pole pole is useful for more than just altitude. It is at this altitude, 3700 meters, that you are at level with the clouds. One of the biggest concerns with Kili is altitude sickness. It is highly reccomended that you spend an extra night at Horombo camp to better aclimitise. So that is exactly what I did. I rush to my cabin to see that I am bunking with two young nurses from Portland, USA that are on their way down.

Rose, myself and Heather with Kili in the background

They are fresh out of school and are taking some time off before working full time. I trade travel stories with the nurses before eating one more 4 course dinner and heading off to bed.

During my second day at Horombo, I went to see what are called the 'Zebra Rocks'. Probably the only rocks worth appreating in the entire trek. After taking a few pictures for myself, a climbing from Korea shows up, and apparently, Canadians are very popular with Koreans. To the point where they actually asked me if I would have my photo taken with them! It was like 'Do I resemble a famous Korean or something?' Anyhoo, after chatting with my fanbase for a little bit, I head back to camp. When I arrive at my room, there are two women from the Ukraine inside. They are on their way down as well. One is fine, but one is very ill. A little forshadowing to what my future may have instore.

So after Horombo, I take off for Kibo. This day is still very different from the previous two. Kibo is nothing but sand, rocks, and more rocks. No vegetation and very little wildlife. Lovely. I arrive at Kibo it is incredibly bleak. There is no running water, washrooms, or much of anything. So I unload my stuff onto my bed and start figuring out what I need for my final assault up this mountain. At this very moment when some french newlyweds walk into my room. While the wife has no serious signs of altitude sickness, the husband is very ill. I gave him some pepto bismal that I had with me, but it doesn't seem to help (I carry so many OTC drugs with me, I think I may have been a pharmacist or a junkie in a past life or something). He has to descend, and she goes with him. Its so sad when you put so much effort into a goal, and then have to bail out at the last minute.

Soon the cook comes into the room. I tell him, 'Look, you can feed me into unconsciousness any other time, but now is not the time for a major stomach ache.'. He responds by to my request by serving me one very large serving of pasta. The best he can do, I suppose. I try my best, but as I have said, I never finished a single meal while on this trek.

So this is it. The time where we seperate the women from the girls, the men from the boys, the Canadians from the pansies. I dress up in 5 layers and head off for my final asscent. A few minutes after I start climbing, its clear that people who put emphasis on cold it is are NOT Canadian. I ended up removing my beleclava and sweater within a few minutes. There is no way I can keep trekking in 40 degree heat. This is when I really start to dislike my guide.

From the very beginning, I felt that he pressured me to go too fast. Completely against the 'pole pole' rule. We'll be hiking up this mountain for at least 7 hours no matter what. If we don't go as slowly as humanly possible and take breaks, we'll tire ourselfs out. And I'm not going let that happen to me. So after 5 hours of climbing uphill sand followed by 1 hour of climbing over boulders in complete darkness (My flashlight went through 4 batteries in the first 4 hours), I made it to Gilmen's Point. I stopped and had a well earned Mars Bar. It was like eating chocolate brick with the cold, but it was still good. After comsuming chocolate bar at record speed and sitting a bit longer, I headed to the very coveted Uhuru Peak, the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro. Next to actually reaching the summit, this part was my absolute favorite. With the sun coming up on my left hand side, the snow-covered crator on my right, it felt as if this mofo of a mountain and I were the only things in existace. Looking over the horizon, I can see that the clouds are far beneath me. It was indescribable.

On Feburary 6th 2008 at 7:35am, I set foot on Uhuru Peak. After placing my Canadian flag sticker on the sign(that read, 'Ashley Churchill was here 06/02/08) I pose for my photo op. I step aside and let the other climbers have their turns and soak up the feeling of being on 'The roof of Africa'.

So I start heading back down and it wasn't 10 minutes after leaving the summit that I starting feeling completely nautious and very queezy. It took me almost as much time going up, as it did going down. But of course, this wouldn't be my story without a little extra drama. During the three hours from Kibo camp to Horombo, where I am to spend the night, it rains. And rains hard. So I arrive at Horombo nautious, exausted, wet and freezing. I go to my room and there stand 5 middle aged men from various corners of the world. They are part of a cllimbing group that are on their way up. I stand there shivering while my porter comes to bring me my bag. One of them asks "Are you not well?" I explain that the descent was not too kind to me and I just spent the last three hours walking in the rain. From that second, they treated me as if I were their own child. 'You shouldn't be in those wet clothes, put on my sweater. ...Put on my beanie ...Take my enormous spaceman coat.' Within a few hours, I start feeling much better. Getting warm again makes a huge difference. By the next morning, I feel well enough to take on the 19 km walk back to the park gate. It rains most of the way. But I am far too motivated to get back to my hotel to care. Along the way, I notice that my lips and left hand are considerably swollen.

My left hand

My Right Hand

At the gate, I receive my certificate that says that I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro.

I shower, have dinner, and fall alseep all in the course of 45 minutes.

AC

So as many of you know, I am quite the Hanson fanatic. During the summer, they started the early stretches of touring their latest studio album, The Walk. The first three dates being Providence, Boston and NYC. And as you may have read, I went to all three. I was a tad upset that they didn't make a Toronto date, but I was satisfied with the shows that I had just seen. Then to my surprise, at the last minute they added a Toronto date. This was the first time I was actually disappointed in Hanson. Instead of an electric concert with one 2 or 3 song acoustic set, the entire concert was acoustic. Many of the fans went of the defensive end and took a stance that we should be happy that we got a concert at all. I felt differently. They had to make it up to us and they knew it.

Fast forward to the fall.

I had just gone to shows in Pittsburgh and Chicago. Both were pretty good. Chicago is a lovely town. Like NYC but much more mellow. I had some drama with US Airways in regards to my backpack, Olive, but I'll explain more about that later. So I check Hanson.net one fine day and HANSON ARE PLAYING FOUR SHOWS IN ONTARIO (Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa, London). While I do feel bad for the rest of Canada since they almost never play outside my home province of Ontario, I am truly elated that I get to see them four more times before they go back into hiding. I thought they'd make it up to us and that is exactly what they're doing. I buy tickets to all four shows and count the days.

Amidst recording the album, they went to South Africa and while there, they had students from the DD Dilwayo School in Soweto, South Africa sing as a choir on parts of the album. In the past, Hanson has participated in charitable causes only when the opportunity struck. They never really had a specific cause all their own. But in participation with a non-profit group in their hometown of Tulsa, USA, they donated 1$ of each itunes sale of their single, Great Divide, to mother-child AIDS prevention in South Africa. But it didn't end there. Along with that, they teamed up with shoe company TOM'S SHOES, which sold shoes at each of the dates. For every sale, they would donate another pair of shoes to a child in South Africa, in the end, 50,000 pairs. But that's not all. With the help of a photographer friend of theirs, they also raised funds for The DD Dilwayo School. And that ended up being $15,000. To spread the word about their causes, the Tom's Shoes one in particular, Hanson has conducted 'One Mile Walks' at the majority of their dates. They pansied out of Ottawa because it was 'too cold'. But more on that later.

So I went to the Toronto walk with my partner in Hanson related crime, Christella.

Christella (left) and I about to take the walk.

Despite the moderately intense weather, we had a good time. They talked about all of their causes and how much our efforts help people in South Africa.

After the walk, I grabbed some new socks at Winners and Christella and I headed back to her place to chill until the concert started. Back at her place, I suggest that we wait until atleast 8:30pm before we head back to the venue. But she really wanted to go so we went back a bit earlier. We were in the taxi en route to the venue and we noticed a HUGE line outside. If they hadn't opened the doors yet, then who knows when they will. So we went to a coffee shop, then a bar to wait it out.

Christella pointing out an add for the concert in a copy of NOW Magazine.

So we head into The Phoenix as the second opening act finishes up. The two of us head to the back of the hall where the bar is and we run into Leanne and her sister, Natalie. After a few gin and tonics, Hanson finally takes the stage. The concert was AWESOME. One of the their best. I went back home and got ready for Hamilton, the next day.

While packing a few things to take to Hamilton, I left my camera attached to my computer. So no Hamilton pics. But Hamilton is no Toronto, so you're not missing much. I ran into Leanne and Natalie and chatted with them throughout the show. I have a cousin who for some reason, has chosen to call Hamilton home. So I crashed at her place for the night.

24 hours later, I'm off to Canada's capital, Ottawa. When I was in New Zealand, I stayed at a hostel that was a former prison. Seeing as Ottawa has a hostel of the same nature, I stayed there. Hostels in general aren't for the faint of heart or those that strongly value privacy. But when you see one of character, you stay there.

As I've mentioned earlier, Hanson has been conducting 'One Mile Walks' near each venue. So I went to the venue in Ottawa and was disappointed when Hanson didn't show up. Apparently, it was 'too cold' for them. But in all honesty, the weather was actually pretty mild. Definitely favourable to Toronto. But the fans that did show up decided to conduct the walk anyway. It shocking how some people feel towards Hanson. When I started joking that they were 'a bunch of pansies', people really jumped on the defense (very similar to how they did after the first Toronto concert). As if they were Hanson's own voluntary minions and sheep. They should really start making use of their spines.

With the other walkers in Ottawa. I'm second from the left.

Even though is it was a tad longer than a mile, I suggested that we walk to Parliament Hill. It turned out that I was the only one in favour of this idea.

The Ottawa concert was pretty good. Every now and then I'm a little taken aback by the venue choices they have made. I went to one in New Jersey which looked to be some sort of high school gym (Championship banners and all). The venue in Pittsburgh was a converted church (complete with 70 year old ladies taking tickets). The Bronson Centre in Ottawa is a charitable building that was once again, a former highschool. Over the next few hours, I had a decision to make. If I wanted to get to London early enough for the walk, I would have to get on the bus or train before 2am and endure a 10 ride to London. So when I went back to the hostel, I looked online to see if I had any other options. I took a glance at the WestJet page and see if they have any reasonably priced flights that could reduce my transit time. I see a flight from Ottawa to Toronto first thing in the morning and pounce on it. I then looked at all the buses and trains from Toronto to London and grab a train to London. So I would arrive in London about one hour before the walk. I stash my backpack, Sapphire, in a locker at the VIA station and head to the venue. Upon arrival, I chitchat with another girl, Jessica, outside. As it turns out, she is good friends with Christella.

Jessica and Isaac during the walk

So we talk and bit and then Hanson comes out. They do an interview with someone from AChannel and we all head off on the walk. I got few really good picks.

After the walk, I went back to my hostel to get ready. I went back to the venue a bit earlier than I planned. When I was in line, I witnessed one of the most blatant forms of stupidity from the human race. Lack of clothing in below freezing temperatures.

Why anyone would put themselves through that is beyond me. Being that London is such a small town and so far away from any sort of civilization, I didn't think that too many people would show up. But the venue was packed. The funny part was noticing the regulars in this country music bar. Wondering why there is a massive crowd of 20 something aged women taking over their bar. The show was REALLY good. Usually shows in small towns are somewhat lackluster. Good, but not great. This one was grand.

I left a few minutes before the concert was over. I didn't want to be caught in that weather without a cab. So I went back to the hostel, crawled in bed and went back to T-dot (slang term for 'Toronto') the next day. Before getting on the bus home, I grabbed a little pic for one of my friends from the real London.

I arrive home to a discruntled mother who is absolutely furious that I went a whole 72 hours without calling her. I can skip across several time zones without a hitch but can't go a few hours outside Toronto without setting off some alarms. **Sighs**, mothers.

Ok, onto the whole Olive saga.

Olive is the name of my dearly departed backpack. I first picked her up right before taking my first abroad trip to Jordan, Egypt and Western Europe.

Together, we have trekked across many countries and crossed many international borders. I've taken her with me everywhere. Whether it be a ginormous trek to The Middle East or a leisurely weekend to the cottage. There was no hesitation about taking her to the US to see Hanson. To get to Pittsburgh by ground, you're looking at atleast 10 hours. So I flew. For no particular reason, I chose US Airways. I didn't realize that I would regret the decision later. I arrive in Pittsburgh safe and sound. Olive, however, does not. I speak with the US Airways people and they start tracking her. If possible, they'll try to have her delivered to my hostel in Chicago. Since I'll be heading there pretty soon anyway. I arrive in Chicago after the Pittsburgh show and no Olive. I go home after that and still no bag. About a week after arriving home after the Chicago show, I start writing a claim for Olive. Just then I get a call from US Airways saying that they have found her and she is on her way back to me. She got caught in some sort of mechanical thing on the conveyer belt and she is destroyed.

So I start speaking with US Airways about having whats left of her shipped to my home in Toronto. This when I fully loose respect for this particular airline. I wasn't really surprised at what happened. Almost everyone has their bags atleast lost at one point. And I fly much more often than the average person, so I'm actually a tad surprised that it took this long for something like this to happen. What really disappointed me was how they handled this. Communicating with them was like trying to get through to a pack of monkeys. I mean, I literally have an easier time getting through to my dog, Corey.

I get a call from the delivery service and it will be on my door step soon. A different delivery man than the one I spoke to arrives a my door. He has a bag, but its not my bag. I assumed they mixed it up and that is the bag of someone else and didn't touch it. I called the delivery service again and say that it's not my bag. They try again. Another delivery man comes by and it is the same wrong bag as before. I call the delivery service AGAIN and say so. But apparently, my bag was INSIDE this other bag the whole time. GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!
So he comes by again and I take Olive out. Now its time to start the reimbursement process. I gather everything I need for the claim and mail it in. I call them and they claim they never received it. I have it faxed in... again, they claim they didn't get it. I'm about to fax it again and I get a phone call from them that they have found it and will cut me a cheque for the price of the backpack and a few other things that were 'lost'... six weeks after my initial flight. I'm never flying with US Airways again. Anyway, with my cheque, I find a successor for Olive. Everyone, meet Sapphire.

To update everyone on my future expeditions, I will be taking off for Tanzania at the end of January. I will be teaching english for two months in the Arusha region. After that, I'm heading up to Scandinavia, Russia and a few other places for a little bit.

Until next time,

AC

As many of you know, I have a small substance abuse issue in the form of Hanson. Anyhoo, its currently raining here in Toronto, so I'm going to blabber on about my last trip to the USA to see them. This brought be to Boston, Providence, and NYC. So Anyway, I first went to Boston. I this case, I met up with my mother who wanted to see Boston as well. So she left a bit before I did and I met up with her there. Most people think its pretty lame to go on a trip with your mother when you've reached your 20's. But when she's paying for a 5 star hotel, the self loathing feelings drift to the side. One of the first things I did in Boston was go to the Salem Witch Museum in Salem, MA. It was ok. I then went to were everybody knows your name. If you didn't get that last joke, I'm talking about Cheers!

I also saw this there. I thought it was atleast marginally funny.

Anyway, after a few days, my mom went home and I went to Providence, RI. The concert in Boston wasn't until after the Providence one. One thing that I saw in Providence that really shocked me was a Tim Hortons.

I never thought I'd ever see one outside Canada. I went inside, and Our Lady Peace was playing on the speakers. It was all too weird. I called my mom immiedately and said "You'll never guess where I am. I'm at a Tim Hortons, in the US!" I spoke to the people at the counter and told them how it Tim Horton was a hockey player and how every Canadian is addicted to Tim Hortons coffee. I'm pretty sure they thought I was mentally ill. I probably would have thought the same thing if I were them.

So I then went to the Hanson concert. It was pretty good. It was a small venue in a small town, which are usually my favorite types of shows. Fewer people makes it easier to enjoy the music and not have to worry about being elbowed in the gut by someone. After the show, I went back to Boston (its only about 40 minutes away by train. I stayed in the HI in Boston, which I thought was pretty expensive. It was $40 a night. I don't beleive London was that expensive. The show in Boston deffinately wasn't their best. But most of it had to do with the sound guy not paying the least bit attention to the show (I always try to stand by the sound booth. Fewer people there.) After that, I went on to NYC.

This was the 4th or 5th time to NYC. So I know whats worth doing there and what isn't. And the answer is, SHOPPING! My credit card muscles got alot of exercise there. If you know where to go, you can buy lots of stuff for realitively cheap. The NYC show was really good. Lots of energy and chaos. Although, I had some ATM issues in the venue. The ATM in the venue was broken, and I got conflicting answers (and major attitude) from the staff. If you ever go to Webster Hall in NYC, make sure to bring plenty of cash.

Next time you hear from me, it wll after I see them in Chicago in end of September.

Peace out homies.

AC

In 24 hours, I'll be off to the airport to bring my second overseas adventure to a close. Once again, its a bittersweet feeling to go home. On one hand, I'll have all the comforts of home again. But I also miss the feeling of adventure and uncertainty (but good uncertainty) from being on the road. Since being in China, I have gone to the Great Wall of China (duh! like I would really miss that), the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. Today, I'm checking out the Summer Palace. I can't upload any pics here. So you'll all have to wait until I am back home to see them. Despite the historical treasures that China posseses, I'm kind of glad that I'm leaving. Respect for others is a trait that is pretty rare here. And dodging oncoming cars is pretty much a full time job. I LOVED Japan though. It was everything I was hoping it would be and more. The only thing that I didn't do was visit and Onsen (sorry 'A', I know how much you were looking forward to that!). Deffinately a place that I reccomend. And as for NZ, I spent two weeks there and deffinately wasn't enough to experience everything the country has to offer. Everyone knows how I feel about Australia. And they certainly haven't seen the last of me!

As I said earlier, I will be on my way back to Toronto tomorrow. In honor of the city that raised the crazy Canuck that I am, I'm posting a 'You know you're from Toronto when' list. Hopefully, it will inspire certain Europeans (Who shall remain nameless, but you know who you are) to trek to my neck of the woods someday.

You know you're from Toronto when.....

You know not to swim in Lake Ontario

You know what phone numbers like 967-1111 mean

It will ALWAYS be the Skydome to you

A gay guy on Church St. asked to give you head when you were coming home from the Gardens

You've eaten at‘Hooker Harveys’

You know Harold and Kumar was filmed there

Acronyms like "T-Dot" puzzle our friends across the border and in other Provinces

You've had a 13 year old squigee your car

You know Duff's has the best wings in the city (besides Wheat Sheaf)

You know Sneaky Dee's has the best egg's benny

You know it's spelt MATS Sundin NOT Matt Sundin and worry about his health more then your own

You know where the Condom Shack is

Oliver Jeweler PAYS COLD HARD CASH for you're gold and diamonds

You only trust taxi drivers of "East Indian" decent

Shoveling snow was a daily ritual growing up

You have seen many radio stations come and go, but only 103.5, after 3 name changes, still remains

You've been to the ROM and the Toronto Zoo for school field trips

You pass up on an overpriced $5 coffee from Starbucks for a box of Timbits and a double-double from Tiimmy Ho's

You hate the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens to death

You were sad the day McDonalds announced it would stop serving Pizza (they only did it in Toronto)

You know Yonge St. is the longest street in the world

You know the CN tower is the tallest free standing structure in the world

The TTC is your main method of transportation, depsite the fact that you LOATHE it.

You bank at TD

You had a seasons pass to Wonderland every summer as a kid

You get‘crunk' to Kardinal Offishall

Doug Gilmour and Wendel Clark are still your heroes, even though they left for better teams

Vince Carter comes back to town and you boo the shit out of him, even though you still love the guy

You're proud great actors like Jim Carey, Mike Myers and John Candy are from your hometown

You'd rather shop at the Bay and Zellers over Walmart and Sears

You remember the Eaton's Company

You have no idea who any of today's Blue Jays are, except Vernon Wells, but can name the whole '92 and '93 MLB World Series Champs roster and put emphasis on Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar

You were devastated in 2000 when the Big E wasn't traded to the Leafs, but when he finally was in 2005 you couldn't wait to see him go

American's have no idea what you said when you told them you're going to the "rink" to play "shinny"

The Buffalo Bills are your favorite NFL team only because they're the only team you've ever seen play a live game

Rogers is your choice for TV over Shaw

You went to get your first cell phone and thought they were giving you a Barrie number when the area code was 647, NOT 416

The LCBO and Beer Store are 85% of your credit card charges, with the remainder going towards purchases at the Friendly Stranger

Your beach of choice is in Wasaga, but you still despise it cause there are so many Gino's

You've skied at Blue Mountain (Yes, there is a 'Blue Mountain' in Canada, too.)

The teacher's strikes of 1997 and 2000 were the best times of your life

YTV was your favorite TV station growing up

Mr. Lube and Speedy change your oil

You call everything north of Eglinton, west of Keele, and east of Kennedy "The Boonies".

You know where Scarberia is, and only go there when you intend to be unconscious.

Hey everyone, I just arrived in Beijing last night.
Ok, so I print the directions to my hostel. Basically, they tell me to take a shuttle bus to a specific station and then take a taxi to the hostel's address. One problem, NO ONE KNOWS WHERE THE FREAKIN' HOSTEL IS. A group of taxi drivers and pedistrians croud around and start yelling over my directions for about an hour. Then some guy comes along and says that its right accross the street from his building, a few blocks away. I figure its my best bet unless I want to spend the night on the street and wait until its light out to wander aimlessly around the city. I'm always a little weary of locals that seem eager to help. I guess I've just seem too many episodes of W5 of tourist ending up decapitated in a river somewhere. So very cautiously, I follow him for a few blocks. I see the Hostelling International insignia from about a block away, say 'thank you' and haul ass to the hostel. I haven't done too much today. I'm a little aprehensive about taking a bus. It might take me to the city centre, but it might take me to freakin' Mongolia. How would I know? So I walk and take the Metro. It takes forever, but I figure its the safest bet.
I booked a tour of the Great Wall of China and Ming tombs.
I'll let you know how that goes.

Still alive.

AC