Workout Triumph and a New Place to Shop

Today I totally did not want to go to the gym. I wanted to crawl back into bed. I'm sneezing like a madwoman and the constant change from icy-cool air conditioning to, well, hell outside is wreaking havoc on my head. I don't mind hot and humid - just as long as there is an ocean breeze teasing my cheeks and frozen drink gracing my hand. Instead I get a heavy backpack, dress pants and long sleeved shirt to treck around the city in. Yuck.
Anyway, I forced myself to go to the gym and I had an excellent workout. So good for me!

On a completely unrelated topic, Hiroshi pointed out a gear store (i.e. backpacks, camping stuff, mountain climbing gear etc) in Ebisu to me the other day. Today I had some time so I popped in, and oh my god! I'm in RTW trip gear heaven! There are so many cool things there! I mean, I could just put a string in a role of toilet paper (for use in squat toilets - you put it around your neck), but now I can be fasionable and by a funky toilet paper pouch which includes a neck strap. Ok, I know, the string by itself will work just fine and I don't need to look fashionable while I'm *in* the toilet.

They also have a ton of backpacks. I was looking at sizing. 70L packs just look huge - but of course not big enough for a year's worth of stuff. I'm thinking the 55 or 60L bags might be what I want. Will have to try them on and see. The prices at the store were amazingingly reasonable. I was totally surprised. All of the backpacks ran about US$200 which is comparable to what I've seen online. They also have a ton of clothing and stuff that is reasonably priced too. So now I have a new place to shop! Well, I am going to hold off until next year. But for now I can look thru their catalogue and dream of shopping!

I would have linked the store but they have a link policy (ie you need permission first). If you're interested, the store name is Montbell. Add in www and dot com and you're set.