New news.

I extended in Japan. Boom! Very excited. I didn't have to pay that much either. So I am very fired up. Unfortunately though, this resulted in cutting out Sri Lanka. Which I was kind of excited to see. I was trying to work it so I could extend there as well and get a few days there, but now I fly from Narita to Doha in Qatar for a 3 hour lay over then from Doha to London. I only extended 10 days, which will be solid. I am going to make the most out of these 10 days. I feel so blessed to be able to do this. Stoked. So yep, thats my news! Adios.

Right when you think it's at it's best, it gets better.

So since we last spoke, I made my way to Mt. Fuji, more specifically a town called Fujiyoshida. First day there I was a bit fuzzy, the night before I had gone out to an area of Tokyo called Roppongi. The place is a mad house for one, great for partying but culture wise it was more western than any part of Japan. I ended up at some weird hour of the night in a TGI Fridays having an Asahi and some spicy calamari. But anyways, I got to Fujiyoshida and checked into this place called "Mt. Fuji Hostel, Michaels." I fell in love with the place. Best hostel/hotel I have stayed in my whole trip. The staff was unreal, especially the girl who worked the front desk. She was the sweetest girl ever, I had a bit of a crush on her. But everyone there was amazing. The place had literally opened the day before I got there and I was the first person to sleep in the room I had booked. So it was pretty awesome. SO I arrive and unpack and settle down, and turns out that day was the day of this once a year festival where the whole town comes out and gets wild. Its this massive ordeal in the streets, no cars are allowed, and there are dancers, drums and parades and this massive 600, or so, pound wooden deal that all the men carry around called Mikoshi. Mikoshi had some sacred meaning that I didn't even ask about, mainly because within moments of sitting down with a beer, this group of Japanese dudes came and started talking to me and "forced" me into joining them in carrying Mikoshi. It's not just your typical carrying of a massive 600 lb. wooden statue.. no, there is a small cart that follows the Mikoshi and all of its wild carriers that is supplied with buckets and buckets of sake. So every time you stop, you are pounding sake. And while you carry it, sake it being poured on you and thrown on you. They wouldn't let me leave the group either. I was like alright cool, that was fun to be included. But nope, they wouldn't let me out of their sight, or stop carrying it. It was a real honor though. Probably top 4 of the coolest moments in my life. Oh yea, in addition, you don't just carry Mikoshi in a straight line, no... imagine 20 hammered Japanese men and me carrying this massive deal and they keep wobbling from left to right, back and forth. There are people standing along the sides of the street to keep the guys in the street and from hurting civilians. After that though, I was invited to one of the guys' house to have sake and food with his family. I was already pretty beat up from carrying Mikoshi, but I had to accept as to not be insulting. It was hilarious and amazing. That is really all I can say about it. That experience was unreal. I couldn't stop thanking them. The food that we ate was unreal, everything from seared fish, to sashimi, cow intestine, chicken, and horse. Yea, I felt pretty weird about eating horse, but I couldn't be disrespectful. Same with the cow intestine. And truth be told, they were not bad. I had seen horse on the menu a couple places, (horse in Japanese is Uma) so I wasn't surprised really. But I never thought I would eat it. Sorry Grammy... I am sure Indians used to do it too. Maybe. It makes me feel better about it if I think of it like that. Anyway, that first night was pretty amazing. The next night was hilarious as well, the highlight being playing darts with this Japanese guy Yuki. I was in stitches from laughing so hard. And we stayed in this bar for a while, and he ended up falling asleep on the bar. The owner just shook his head, and I kept laughing.

The following day I decided to climb Mt. Fuji. I was not really planning on doing it when I went there, I didn't even know it was an option to climb it. But I figured I would give it a go. I started trekking at about 10pm at night as to arrive at the top around sun rise. My hiking gear consisted of; tight jeans, converse, thin everyday socks, a denim shirt, a beanie and a back pack. I thought the backpack was good because I heard it was cold up there.. did not know how cold though. So in the backpack I brought a windbreaker, a light sweater, a towel in case of rain, a tiny pen flashlight, camera, wallet, 2 apples and some water. When I started my trek I realized the Japanese where dressed much different than I was. They all looked like they were going to climb Everest, I looked like I was going to a nice bar with a backpack. Didn't really phase me though, the Japanese get very into stuff like that. Same with in Hawaii when you see them surfing sometimes and they have like helmets with matching wetsuits. They just like that stuff, and good for them. Their gear seemed to just hold them back though on the train, I was flying by them like a ninja. I kept getting these wild bursts of energy and would blast up the mountain, then I would tire out and slow down for a little while but then the energy boost would come back. It was pretty wild. I was stoked because my knees didn't hurt at all really from the hike. Pretty much my eyeballs were the only thing hurting because all the Japanese had these LED light head lamps and they would look at you and it would be so bright you would go blind for a little. And they kept doing it! I kept falling for it too though, I would see some one as I was passing and look up and BOOM. Blind. I didn't even need the little light I brought because the Japanese had that place lit up. I was surprised as to how many Japanese were climbing it that night. I guess I timed it perfectly, on accident, and all of them knew that it would going to be a perfect night. It was a full moon, no rain, and light winds below the summit. Towards the top I met up with this Austrian guy Peter who was staying at the same hostel I was at, and he wanted a climbing buddy. So we teamed up and had some laughs making out way up the mountain. Super funny guy, I had planned on doing the whole thing solo, but meeting up with him was good too. We made it up to the top around 330-4am and got a solid little spot right on the top, with a perfect view to watch the sun rise. Watching that sun come up in that frigid air was one of the coolest moments in my life. One of the most rewarding experiences as well. That was the first real mountain I have ever climbed. But watching the sun come up was spiritual and very intense. Nobody said a word. I went from snapping pictures to just sitting there in awe. It was truly incredible. I don't feel like words will ever do it justice. I sat up there for a while and just enjoyed the view. Partially because I knew the walk down was going to be rough. Which it was. But totally worth it. I plan on doing it again. Oh yes, and sitting up there was so insanely cold. I had every bit of clothing I brought including the towel on. My fingers were little icicles. So amazing though.

I got back to Fujiyoshida about 1030 the next day and just crashed. I got up around 6 or so and had to go make the best of my last night there. I love that place. It was hard to leave. But I am going to try to extend my stay in Japan a bit longer now, if it's not too late, so I can go back there. I am in Yokohama now and it is a cool place. This little area near my hostel, the name is slipping my mind right now, but it is a cool little fancy village place with nice shops and amazing food. I dig it, but then again I can't think of a place I haven't been fond of?

Anywho, thanks for reading. and as here is the rest of the Vietnam and Laos pictures, sorry they got separated and I took so long to add them. Enjoy.

Japan. Still amazing for me.

Welp I am still in Japan, and the thought of leaving makes me kinda sad. I still have 2 weeks here, so I shouldn't even worry. Anyway, as I have said 10000 times since I've been here, Japan is great. I went down to Hiroshima for a few days after Kobe, and checked out Miyajima as well. Awesome places. Highly suggest going there if you have a chance. Miyajima has wild deer everywhere that just hang out with you. They are so cool. Like doggies almost. I Had a great time there though, did a little partying with this Japanese guy, Yoshi, who is #3 in the world for Muy Thai kick boxing. Super cool guy, and talking about feeling safe. He partakes in a competition every year that involves breaking as many baseball bats with your shins in under a minute... His record was 50 something and the world record is 68. He was a real ninja. But that fun, and now I am in Osaka. I have been here for about 5 days. And let me tell you, Osaka is great. Super fun town. Great food, shopping and the bars are 24 hours. I have been having a very good time here. Had the best night of my life in Osaka. Partying with a bar full of Japanese guys till 530am and they treated me like I was the king of the world. One of the many hilarious points in the evening was when I realized that to Japanese people, all white people look the same. They were having a debate as to whether I looked more like Tom Cruise or Leonardo DiCaprio. No joke, they were getting all fired up about it too arguing with each other and I almost peed from laughing so hard. I kept calling them racists. I think that might be one of the reasons I love Japan.. I am so popular here. The whole night though was just awesome, some of the funnest people I have ever met. The Japanese work so hard, but they also know how to let their hair down. I love seeing them out at their business dinners just getting loose. Its a crack up. But yup, just a short blog. Overall, having a great time. I love Japan and the Japanese. They always find ways to entertain and amaze me daily. Until next time. Ciao.

Heres some photos from Nam and Lao too. Enjoy

Life's good.

Well, I am in Kobe now. I made a last minute decision change and figured I would do Kobe, then Hiroshima then hit Osaka on the way back north. I would love to make it down to Okinawa but I am going to save that for next time. You have to fly there and it would cost a bit. They have an amazing aquarium there though that I really want to see. They have the most successful breeding of Bull sharks in captivity. And they have a massive tank where they have real Whale sharks. Google it and look at the aquarium lay out, it got me super excited. But yea, Kobe is pretty wild. I am staying in a capsule hotel in Sannomiya. The place is as wild as Tokyo. There are so many great places to eat here, choosing what is for dinner almost gives me brain bubbles. I did complete a life long dream though.. I had a Kobe beef steak in Kobe in an amazing restaurant. You choose the meet and they sear it up right in front of you and serve it to you with some fresh veggies on a sizzling stone plate deal. I was in heaven. They pair it with wine as well, and the prices are unlisted so you have no idea how much you are being hit for. I went for the economic choice on the menu at about 7900 Yen... or about $85. Meat only. It was so worth it though. I love Japan. I had an unreal lunch today in this bazaar today. There was this tucked away little sushi spot and I went in there. I ordered some magura (tuna) sushi and ended up getting this amazing platter of all different kinda of tuna sushi and some amazing noodle dish. It was really cheap too, I was surprised. It was a sweet little set up and I was the only one there. Today I also went to the world longest suspension bridge, the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge. I promised Ted's dad I would go there and get him a book on it, which I am glad he wanted it because I may have never have gone to see it if he hadn't asked me to get him the book. I wanted to walk the whole thing, just to claim it, but once I got up top this security guy kind of laughed and said no, you cannot walk the bridge, its a highway. And I later found out how long the whole thing is, it would have taken me like days to walk the thing. It is so enormous. Google it. Everyday I am here I learn more about myself and really fall in love with Japan more and more. I love how they keep so well tied to their roots, and how their entire society is pretty much based on honor and respect. Something that I feel is very much lost in most other places around the world.. cough vietnam cough. Truthfully though, I feel like it is even rare in California. There is so much I want to learn and take from this culture. I have always been interested in it, but not it has gone beyond that. I will let you know when I figure out what I mean exactly, but I just feel like there's something very special here. It feels like something that I really want to be apart of. It doesn't help that I watched "The Last Samurai" today as well, that just fuels the fire. But aside from that, the whole feel of Japan and the cleanliness and respect level, even as you are walking around the streets, is incredible. I love just watching people here, by fare my favorite place to just watch the humans. Its not like other places where you feel uneasy at some things they do because its "rude" or "gross" in your culture, but you find yourself smiling and becoming more interested on what is happening. I ease drop a lot, trying to pick apart what people are saying, but a lot of times they speak too fast. But I feel like since I have gotten here I have gotten better. I want to learn so much. One thing I love is how most people that smoke carry these little bags with them. And when they are done with their cigarette, they just pop the butt in the little bag and seal up the bag and put it back in their pocket. The first time I saw that I was amazed. In China there's just cigarette butts flying in the street left and right, same with spit. You rarely see anyone spit here, but if they do, they do it very discretely in a bush or something. I catch myself doing the same now. Anyway, thanks for reading my blabbering, goodbye.

Oh yea, and sorry about no pictures... I have been using PC's at hostels and whatnot and haven't been able to upload the Nam, Lao and China pictures. I will though. Goodbye.

Hai!

Hello. I am currently in Kyoto. I am so into Japan. I seriously love the culture, the people, food and basically everything. The respect that everyone has for one another and the just the way people are here is amazing. Everyday I fall in love with it even more. I realize I haven't been blogging too much, sorry for that. But I want to see so much here and I kinda fell out of the habit of making time to blog. But I will try to get back in the swing, just for you guys. I will catch you up to speed though. I had a great time in Tokyo. By far the coolest city I have ever been to. And so clean. Made Singapore look sloppy almost, and that place was pristine. I have been working on my Japan a lot. I can get through a day without speaking english, but sometimes I think I lead on like I know more Japanese than I do because they start speaking really fast to me and I panic and don't know how to ask them to slow down. But each day I am learning more and more. I love it. The food here is unreal. I love that if you are walking around the streets too and you get a little hungry, you can just walk into a service station and get a fat bowl of white rice. Theres a ton of tasty treats in there. I eat there often. I usually eat service station food for breakfast and lunch then splurge on dinner. Sometimes I splurge on lunch and have a servo-dinner. Just depends. The beer here is remarkable too. I am limiting myself though. So much liquid beer is no bueno. I feel so healthy here. Anyway Tokyo was amazing and then I took an overnight bus (which was insanely comfortable and nice as well as cheap) to Kyoto. Kyoto is really cool. I have been checking out the landscape and the only castles and temples. It is the most excited I have been to visit historical monuments. I get so excited thinking that I am walking in the same place where Samurais and Shoguns once walked. The rock gardens as well as the scenic gardens are so cool here too. Well everything is cool here. But yea. Basically this is my favorite place in the world I have been so far. I don't know what could beat this. I will just have to keep my mind open. Anyway I am going to Osaka tomorrow and need to figure out what my sleeping situation is, so yup! Bye bye!

I'm not dead, I was just being censored.

Hello Friends and Family! #1 Happy Birthday America. #2 Yes, I am still alive and well. I have been in China, where facebook, blogger, youtube, google and many other things are blocked on the internet. Thus I was unable to update anything. But oh well, I had a great time in China. In fact I would go back there for sure. It is definitely not a place for everyone, for example if you have trouble with extreme crowds, small places, line cutting or people coughing up lung phlegm constantly you might not like China. But if you love Chinese food, people watching, impressive architecture, radical historical monuments, cheap shopping, KFC, messing with people, wandering and massage chairs (to only name a few) then you will have a great time. You may notice KFC in the mix of awesome items, and you may be confused by it. Don't be. You can only eat so much Kungpow chicken and noodles before you feel like you're going to lose it. KFC cures that, and amazingly enough there is one every like 100 meters. Or a McDonalds. Sometimes in some special places you would also find a Dairy Queen. Those were awesome finds. The menus at these places are not the standard American menus though, some items remained but there were a lot of special Asian things on there. Like fried chicken legs with white rice and mushroom cream gravy and fried chicken and noodles. I didn't eat the Colonels fried goodness too much though, only about a handful of times. I never walked out feeling good about the decision to eat there. Anyway, enough about KFC. China was a super fun time. If I were to blog about all the things that went on and that I got to experience I would be writing a novel. Some highlights though; Seeing the great wall and falling walking up the stairs on it, wandering around the Forbidden City and Teinnamen Square, having my picture taken with Chinese people by other Chinese people almost daily, growing my first handlebar mustache, seeing the Terra-cotta Soldiers and talking to random Chinese people everywhere. Typing each one of those things just brought about 100 stories I want to share into my noggin. If you want to hear them sometime just get me a drink and bring it up and I will entertain you. I went to the Shanghai World Expo as well, but it wasn't that cool. I was told it was something different... The food there was awesome. They had food from all over the world. Obviously I had a meat pie and VB from the Australia pavilion and a corn dog and a pulled pork sandwich from the USA pavilion. I went on a Saterday as well, so there was about 1 million+ people there. Not exaggerating. It was insane. And it was raining, so the whole time I was protecting my eyeballs from the points of the little Asian women's umbrellas.

I met a ton of great people in China, Chinese as well as travelers. I met many backpackers from all over the world and talking to them about traveling was always funny. I rarely saw eye to eye with them. A couple of them loved Vietnam for one, couldn't wrap my head around that. But at the same time I think that is why I enjoyed China so much. Not just because it wasn't Vietnam, but Vietnam was like intense training for China. Many of the travelers I met hated China, but had never been to Vietnam, and the ones that loved Vietnam had often times been in India (or somewhere more wild) for a while before going to Vietnam. Its all funny though. Talking with other travelers is a kick, but I had so much fun talking to the Chinese. There are some seriously hilarious people in China. Of all the stories, my favorite and possibly my most memorable would have to be my last day in China. This little guy from Shanghai was staying in the hostel room with me. And the little guy slept all day, and he would lurk around at night. I was out walking around with this Japanese guy all morning, picking his brain about Japan, showing him around Shanghai and stuff, and took him to the train station but when I got back to the hostel at about 3 I woke up the funny little Asian boy. We started talking and his english was hilarious. He tried very hard, and actually had decent english compared to majority of China, but he would just say things that would make me die laughing. He was looking up on the internet all about California and telling me all these facts about it, and when he got to the governor, I knew I was in for a good laugh. According to him "Swazziger" is our governor. This Irish guy that was also in our room was dying laughing as well. Anyway, we had a great time messing with each other, he kept telling me he was 40 but looked really good cause he wasAsian and they age better than 'the white ones' (white people), and told me about how all the other Americans he sees look so strong and powerful but I looked like a woman. The whole afternoon and night were filled with laughs. I met so many awesome people in China. One of the things that amazed me in China was the way the people would just pop a squat and sit down everywhere. And it's not like a normal squat to relax, its a strange way that really hurts your knees. They would be flat footed and have their legs fully bent with their butts like an inch or 3 off the ground. Try it, it sucks. They could wait around forever doing that. Some of them had little seats they would bring around with them, but most just squatted. Blew my mind. My favorite thing though was the style of the older men in China. Usually a balding head with a comb over, generally very sweaty (it was summer time though), an unbuttoned collared shirt, with an exposed wife-beater undershirt most of the time stained, cigarette in mouth, shorts, black socks pulled up and leather loafers. That was like the IN-style I swear. It wasn't as prevalent in Shanghai, but in Beijing and Xi'an it was the happening style.

I know I should talk more about the Great Wall stuff and seeing the Forbidden City, and they were great, super interesting and awesome to see. But all the best memories came from being lost, exploring and having nothing planned. One of my favorite things in China though; the massage chairs. Holy Cow. The most technologically advanced devices I have ever got to play with. So intimidating to sit in at first, but once you did, this massive robo-cop-type chair would move and mold itself to fit your body. Some had arm slots, foot slots, hip movers, head massagers and calve squeezers as well as a slew of various back massaging options. The controls where all in Chinese as well, so I was just pushing buttons and seeing what happened. I could figure most of them out in a minute or so, but some I just ended up causing myself pain. And you couldn't just jump up if it was painful or turn it down because your arms would be locked in to the pneumatic arm massagers and you would be unable to reach the controls. Seriously though, I want one. New dream is to have my own movie theatre in my house with just a ton of those crazy chairs. I could charge admission to people. I have never sen anything like those in the States. seriously made the stuff at Sharper Image and Brookestone look like child's toys. Also the Children's toys in China where nuts! Right off the plane I wandered into a toy store and they had some of the coolest stuff I have ever seen. Remote controlled pirate ships, submarines, dinosaurs, bat-mans, 1000 different helicopters and a ton more weird and wild things, all of which were awesome. I could have spent all my money there. Dream day would be playing with all those toys sitting in a different massage chair every hour. Oh man, China is sweet. But then again, Japan is amazing. I haven't even been here for 24 hours yet and I already think this place is rad. I really haven't even made it to the cool parts either. According to a friend of mine I am staying in kind of a dud of a place, which is ok for me for now... except for the fact that my credit cards and ATM cards do not work here. Luckily I had some reserve cash that I could exchange, but I have a big journey tomorrow to find the Citibank (which apparently is the only US bank in Japan that American credit/debit cards work). Japan is a very expensive place though, especially Tokyo. I was going to take a cab from the airport to the little hotel I am staying in (which is awesome by the way, each room has a Kimono and kneeling table and free tea) but the cab fair was about $300 US. I took the train for about $10 and got lost for 2 hours but it wasn't a worry at all because I was in awe looking around. All my Japanese studying basically went out the window as well. I do not know any Kanji, which is the main type of writing that everything is written in. I only know some Hiragana and Katakana. Those are the 3 main types in Japan though. They talk so fast too that I struggle understanding. But I can pick out main words and reply with single words. I purchased a Japanese phrase book too which is a huge help. I love the bowing. Oh man I love it. It is fun to be courteous to the Japanese, they appreciate it and they bow. And every time I cannot help but smile and bow back. Sometimes I find myself doing a weird hand thing though, like I am bowing to a Karate Sensei. I did that a couple times today and felt like an idiot. The Japanese people are incredibly helpful though. I was struggling with the ATM situation today and this random guy from the service station store was trying to help me (not to rip me off, but he was just being a genuine nice guy, which really caught me off guard) and once it kept rejecting me he walked out side with me and pointed out all the other ones for me and then just went on his way. Same thing with the train station, I was super lost and asked a lady for help and she let me go on the train for free because if I tried to pay then I'd miss the train and she just asked me to pay at the other end. I am excited to see more and check out the main Tokyo city scene. I know this blog is long as all over the place, I still feel like there is so much I could say though. China was a great time, and I am so excited to be in Japan and experience the culture and people here. So anyways, Happy 4th everyone.