One Way To Japan

So first off I must apologize for my lack of blog updates. My excuse is that I was just having too much fun in Germany. Between hanging out with Anne, meeting her family, her horse, and of course drinking lots of German beer and eating lots of German food (ie. Bread – those Germans love their bread!), I had little time for blog updates.

But now I’m all on my lonesome, so there will most likely be more updates as I see new and interesting places, using the blog as a crutch to fill the void of loneliness. As I write this, I’m cruising in a swanky Boeing 777-300 enroute to Tokyo. It’s almost as cool as my Avid Flyer I used to buzz around Oak Hammock Marsh in.

This whole last week leading up to today has been pretty nuts. It’s interesting to sit down and think of everything you need to do and buy before taking off to the other side of the world for an indefinite period of time. With the exception of a few random boxes of stuff I couldn’t get rid of, everything I now own is neatly packed into a 7 year old backpack currently jostling around in the luggage hold underneath me.

The other thing I’ve found strange is getting up every morning and remembering I don’t have a job of any kind to go to. Pretty weird and intimidating right now, but I gotta say I could get used to this! I don’t really think the magnitude of that has really hit me yet, but I suspect when it does, that’s when I’ll start to get a true feeling of freedom. Up to this point, there has been too much to occupy my mind with planning and organizing. However, I can’t wait for the morning when I wake up in some beach hut, in some sleepy beach town, and realize I have the whole day to do whatever I damn well feel like.

For now, here is my extremely tentative and short term travel plans:

Friday, June 19 – Arrive in Tokyo. Try and stay awake as I struggle to figure out the complicated public transportation of Tokyo to get to my hostel. Check out the sites in Tokyo until Monday.

Monday, June 22 – Train to Nikko – staying there for two nights. It’s a World Heritage Site and should give me a better insight into a more traditional Japanese way of living. The place I’m staying at even offers free Zen Yoga!

June 24 – June 26 – Still up in the air….we’ll see what I feel like.

June 27 – Climb Mount Fuji!! That’s right. It’s going to be long and grueling, and despite what Chris may say, much harder and more technical than any climb in Ecuador. Never one to shy away from randomness, I’m tentatively set to climb with 2 other extreme climbers that I met online on the Mount Fuji Guide Forums. Should be interesting. We’re planning to start out on the evening of the 27^th so that we can reach the summit in time to watch the sunrise. Then circle the crater at the top and head back down. This is all contingent on the weather cooperating for us, which could put the axe to all these plans in a flash.

June 30 – Flying Business Class (thanks Mom!), Tokyo to Bangkok. Thanks to me leaving all my vaccination shots to the last minute, I now have no choice but to bum around the beaches of Southern Thailand for 2 weeks, checking into a Bangkok clinic periodically to get the remainder of my Hepatitis and Japanese Encephalitis shots. It’s a tough life, I know. But on the plus side, the Japanese Encephalitis shots only cost $10 in Bangkok vs the $210 I would have had to pay in Toronto. Despite its rarity, once infected, the Japanese Encephalitis supposedly has a fairly irritating way of eating away at your brain, and taking a toll on your spine at the same time. So I figure I should probably not mess with that one.

After Thailand, I’m thinking I’ll head off to Bali. Since it’s so close to the Equator, it’s one of the few areas of SE Asia that doesn’t get plastered with monsoons and ridiculous heat and humidity in summer. Always on the lookout for new and exciting ways to risk life and limb, I’m thinking of taking paragliding lessons there.

So that’s all for my plans as of now, and even these could change. That’s the beauty of being a travelling hobo with no set itinerary.

OK, now I’m going to watch some movies to fill the time of this outrageously long flight. Only like 8 more hours to go until Tokyo….