The Plan: One Year in Heaven
The plan: quit my job in Tokyo, put all my worldly possessions in storage, buy
a backpack, and start traveling around Asia until I feel like stopping or ran
out of money, whichever comes first.
From Tokyo to Paris...
...via Bangkok, Saigon,
Osaka, Shanghai, Beijing, Lhasha, Bombay, Singapore, Columbus Ohio, and London.
Do a Google search on "around the
world" and you'll find out like I did that detailed planning of a trip of this
magnitude is impossible. During the six - eight months of causal reading and
"connecting the dots" on the world map, I came up with the figure on the left.
Even before I left Tokyo, it became out of date as I swapped "phases" at the
last minute due to lingering snow conditions in the Japanese Alps. This page
has been revised as of January 22. The sad fact of life right now is my trip is
nearing the end! So although I may sneak some more traveling into The Chill
Phase, it's becoming more of of "What I did" rather than "What I'm going to
do." Look for Endless Summer II Coming Soon!
Google Earth Map of the trip: 
EndlessSummer.kmz
Phase I: Southeast Asia
(May 20 - June 30)
I flew into Bangkok, hung around the
islands of Thailand, then did the tourist trail over Cambodia and Vietnam, back
to Bangkok and to Tokyo a little over a month later. The islands of Ko Pa Ngan
were the definite highlight, although Angkor Wat was a close second. Check out
the Carpe Diem calendar in June for journel entries and pictures.
Phase II: Japan Finale
(July 1 - August 24)
I walked (no trains, buses, hitchhiking:
all foot-power), non-stop and with full camping gear, across Japan from sea to
sea, from the Pacific Coast at Shizunami Kaigan to the Sea of Japan at Tomari,
climbing over almost every mountain worth climbing in between. 560 kilometers
(350 miles), 43 straight days on the trail and 42 nights in a tent that I'll
remember for the rest of my life. You can read about it all
here, or check out the Carpe Diem calendar in July and August.
Phase III: China Overland
(August 25 - September 26)
Walking on the Great Wall has been a
dream of mine for years, and indeed four fantastic days camping in watchtowers
on the Wild Wall was a highlight of the trip. I took the two day passenger
ferry from Osaka to Shanghai to start the trip. From there I hit Huangshan
(Yellow Mountain), Nanjing, and Qufu - the birthplace of Confuscios - on the
way to Beijing and the Great Wall. I got sucked into the nightlife, sights, and
fun with some friends who were studying there and ended up passing two great
weeks in and around the capital city. Then on to the Terrecota Warriers in Xian
and then to Chengdu to catch a flight to Tibet.
Phase IV: Really Big Mountains
(September 27 - December 8)
Nepal and Tibet have been top on my
travel list for years, but you need much more than a two week vacation to even
get out of Kathmandu. Just when I had the time, the Maoists decided to increase
their offensive in Nepal, scaring me away. Although these problems had no
affect on Tibet, since I had mainly only intended to go to Tibet to link it up
with China, I decided midway through China to skip them both and spend more
time in Southwest China instead. But then it wasn't a day after I drew up the
new plans when I found out flights to Tibet were so cheap and easy it would be
a shame to miss it, and decided to go anyway. And just when I was about to
leave Tibet back to China I kept hearing from so many travelers streaming over
the border to and from Nepal it convinced me it was worth the risk, and I found
myself in Kathmandu not a week after making the decision to go there. Nepal
turned out to be one of the best times of the trip and I can't believe I almost
didn't come. Check out Carpe Diem for September through December - especially
November for the best mountain photos I have ever taken.
Phase V: India
(December 9 - January 30)
Before I came, I'd heard more bad things
from travelers about India then any other country. Agressive touts, an
occasionally dangerous political situation, explosive diharrea, dirt and grime
to top any other place in the world... practically nobody had anything good to
say about the place and since it wasn't very high on my list of places to begin
with, I originally planned just a short tour. But from Day 1 I kept wondering:
am I in the right country? Where are all the bad things? India was like any
other third world country, comparable to China in both awesome highlights and
some lowlights. I ended up doing a big extended almost two month tour of the
place and generally had a great time.
Phase VI: The Final Chill
(January 31 - March 19)
Enough with all this traveling - I
need a vacation. But my dream is an "intellectual vacation" - five weeks from
beach to beach in Thailand and Malaysia armed with a new notebook PC, a bagful
of books, and a beach towell... The agenda for each day goes something like:
practice Japanese over breakfast, beach time, study some French, lay in the
hammock, hone my Flash and software design skills, dinner, party. By day:
mild-mannered computer programmer, intellectual, or "that blindingly white guy
in the hammock over there." By night all the full moon parties, beach parties,
and raves I can handle.
What it Cost
Total cost was $9379, including $1386 in gear (a new camera, new backpack,
etc).
More Details here.
May 25, 2002 - June 30, 2002 -
Bangkok
I flew into Bangkok, hung around the islands of Thailand, then did the tourist trail over Cambodia and Vietnam, back to Bangkok and to Tokyo a little over a month later. The islands of Ko Pa Ngan were the definite highlight, although Angkor Wat was a close second.
Day 1 --- 8 hour delay and Narita, night arrival
Day 2 --- Bangkok
Day 3 --- Bangkok Golden Palace
Day 4 --- Temple of Dawn, all night train
Day 5 --- Ko Samui arrival, Lanoi
Day 6 --- Lanoi to Chaweng
Day 7 --- Travel to Ko Pha Ngan
Day 8 --- Hat Rin to Hat Yaun
Day 9 --- The Sanctuary
Day 10 --- To Hat Yao
Day 11 --- To Bangkok
Day 12 --- Back on Khao San Road
Day 13 --- More Khao San Road
Day 14 --- Travel to Siem Reap, Cambodia
Day 15 --- Angkor Wat, Angkok Thom, Preah Khan
Day 16 --- More Angkor: Ta Phohm, Neak Pean, Phnom Bakeng
Day 17 --- Travel to Phnom Phen
Day 18 --- Phnom Phen (National Museum)
Day 19 --- S21, Killing Fields
Day 20 --- Next to Nothing in Phnom Phen
Day 21 --- Travel to Vietnam
Day 22 --- Saigon Museums and Emerald Pago...
July 1, 2002 - August 22, 2002 -
JapanI walked (no trains, buses, hitchhiking: all foot-power), non-stop and with full camping gear, across Japan from sea to sea, from the Pacific Coast at Shizunami Kaigan to the Sea of Japan at Tomari, climbing over almost every mountain worth climbing in between. 560 kilometers (350 miles), 43 straight days on the trail and 42 nights in a tent that I'll remember for the rest of my life.
August 23, 2002 - September 26, 2002 -
China
Walking on the Great Wall had been a dream of mine for years, and indeed four fantastic days camping in watchtowers on the Wild Wall was a highlight of the trip. I took the two day passenger ferry from Osaka to Shanghai to start. From there I hit Huangshan (Yellow Mountain), Nanjing, and Qufu - the birthplace of Confuscios - on the way to Beijing and the Great Wall. I got sucked into the nightlife, sights, and fun with some friends who were studying there and ended up passing two great weeks in and around the capital city. Then on to the Terrecota Warriers in Xian and then to Chengdu to catch a flight to Tibet.
Day 1: Depart Osaka (by ship)
Day 2: Sailing the Pacific
Day 3: Arrive Shanghai
Day 4: Shanghai
Day 5: More Shanghai. Depart on overnight bus for Huangshan
Day 6: Travel to Huangshan base, light hiking, reading
Day 7: Climb the thing. Overnight on the summit.
Day 8: Fogged in. Say "fuck it" and take the cablecar back down
Day 9: All day of traveling to Nanjing
Day 10: Nanjing
Day 11: Nanjing
Day 12...
September 27, 2002 - October 24, 2002 -
ChinaOn the Endless Summer trip, if China was the cultural enrichment period and Japan was the backwoods hiking period than Tibet was the "serious adventure" period. On the plane in met a crazy Israli named Shai, whose specialty was hitchhiking in remote areas, recently in Alaska and Mongolia. We left the package tourists way behind and embarked on an out of this world adventure to remote Western Tibet and back in true backpacker style, taking public buses and hitchhiking more than 2000 km, forced to sneak around police checkpoints in the middle of the night, camping in the wilderness in -15 degree temps, being the first white people in every village we went to, weathering out food poisoning on a remote mountain range... Inspired, I continued the hitchhiking style alone to Everest base camp and onward to Nepal. One month in Tibet and not one package tour.
Day 1: Fly Chengdu to Lhasa. Barkor monestary and around central Lhasa.
Day 2: Around Lhasa, organizing trip ahead. Meet a 70+ year old Israli guy on a lone ad...
October 25, 2002 - December 7, 2002 -
Nepal
December 8, 2002 - January 30, 2003 -
GoaBefore I came, I'd heard more bad things from travelers about India then any other country. Agressive touts, an occasionally dangerous political situation, explosive diharrea, dirt and grime to top any other place in the world... practically nobody had anything good to say about the place and since it wasn't very high on my list of places to begin with, I originally planned just a short tour. But from Day 1 I kept wondering: am I in the right country? Where are all the bad things? India was like any other third world country, comparable to China in both awesome highlights and some lowlights. I ended up doing a big extended almost two month tour of the place and generally had a great time.
As little as possible Enough with all this traveling - I need a vacation. But my dream is an "intellectual vacation" - five weeks from beach to beach in Thailand and Malaysia armed with a new notebook PC, a bagful of books, and a beach towell... The agenda for each day goes something like: practice Japanese over breakfast, beach time, study some French, lay in the hammock, hone my Flash and software design skills, dinner, party. By day: mild-mannered computer programmer, intellectual, or "that blindingly white guy in the hammock over there." By night all the full moon parties, beach parties, and raves I can handle.
Day 1-9: Bangkok - Khao San Road, Jewish Sunday dinner with Shai, Pentip plaza for the PC, playing basketball with Shai and the Thai kids. Clubbing on KSR.
Day 10-23: Ko Pa Ngan
Day 24: Hang out in Hat Rin, overnight train to Penang
Day 25: Arrive Penang - sleep away the afternoon. Kapitan Kling Mosque in the evening.
Day 26: Penang - lazy day doing almost nothing.
Day 27: Penang - lazy afte...
March 23, 2003 - April 16, 2003 -
OhioDay 1: Mom, Angie, Julie meet me at the airport. Lazy day around the "old house" catching up
Day 2: Go with mom to Short North downtown for lunch and shopping.
Day 3: Rollerblading/biking with Nick downtown
Day 4: Meet mom for lunch. Meet Sra. Vedder, high school Spanish teacher, for coffee.
Day 5: Meant to go golfing with mom, end up doing about nothing. Late lunch downtown with her. Kids come home from school and we have a night out to eat. Scrabble with Angie (1-1 over 2 games)
Day 6: To Indian Lake. Lunch with Grandpa, dinner with Grandpa and Betsy. The Jahns come join us late.
Day 7: Lunch at Tiltin Hilton. Dad, Mandy, Stephanie and her boyfriend come up for the day. Big game of Hearts. Steak dinner. Late night with the Jahns.
Day 8: Head back to Columbus. See musical "Jesus Christ Superstar" with mom, A&J
Day 9: Breakfast at Bob Evens with mom. France research at Barnes & Noble. Big Monopoly night (mom wins)
Day 10: Spend almost all day clearing out the garage, closet, organizing everything and throwing...
