It's in the triple digits here in Portland. A little strange for this area. So far it's been mostly Simpsons-clouds and blue skies, but I guess occasionally (everyone here attributes it to global warming) it gets pretty hot. With no a/c in the house, I'm glad to be sitting in class! Although, it definitely could be worse. Like Texas heat. Currently, July 18th, it is nice and no more than 85 degrees so far this week. Just about perfect! So this will be my last entry for the meantime as I guess I'll be here for some time (and no, Mr. [View Full Entry]

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Haha...so it's confirmed. I am definitely crazy. Mt. Whitney kicked my out of shape self into reality. I am no longer fit or probably sane to be walking up mountains. Especially with winds blowing a billion miles an hour (okay, well, enough for the wind to pick up about 20 rocks and myself in my tent) at Trail Camp. For those who are thinking about this little trek, keep in mind that Trail Camp is completely exposed. Not the best place to settle down for the night. Brrr....not exactly my idea of a great time. *sigh* My fellow crazed camp mates [View Full Entry]

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After packing and unpacking and packing some more, I have finally started my short time off to get to Portland. Ideally it would have been great to take my time across the Southwestern portion of these United States, but I stopped all of 6 hours or so the entire time through Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Mostly only because I had to find toilet facilities. I can't decide if it was because I was determined not to get dehydrated along the way or if it's signs of getting older. Sigh. It was definitely strange to have to stop at a gas [View Full Entry]

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Hummm....I was going to put down some profound thoughts, but changed my mind yet again. I will say one thing about what I've discovered about travelling for a extended period of time. It's not always the cure or a solution for issues surrounding commitment. Commitment to what? Well, to anything or anyone for that matter. It is a great way to instigate more thoughts about where to go next though.... I've spent the last couple of days just reviewing picture upon picture on some 15 CDs spanning the last year of my life and all I have are these pictures and [View Full Entry]

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of Canada is, as promised, beautiful. In many places, words do no justice. It rivals with places elsewhere, say, New Zealand, its commonwealth buddy. And in many cases, I was feeling a bit annoyed as it was so alike to New Zealand and the mountains so enormous and great like Nepal. Why did I lug kilos around on my back around these countries, when I could have simply hopped over the northwestern border and toured around in a comfy car in an eighth of the time!?!?! Fortunately though, not the same experience and definitely not the same people. Actually, very few [View Full Entry]

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hmmm....yes, i am here in the home country, finally out of seoul for the first time! i just came down to busan for a couple of days to have a look-see what the southern part of korea looks like. despite my inability to understand the korean down here- it's the southern twang!- it's been fun to explore a bit and challenge my brain a bit with figuring out what these people are saying to me :) this morning i went up mt. bae, which was a former fortress site before the shilla dynasty, turned into an outdoor gym! probably because these [View Full Entry]

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Wow...what can I say? The cherry blossoms are really spectacular! No matter how many temples, parks, shrines, castles, and gardens I go to, the cherry blossoms never cease to amaze me. I took tons and tons of pictures, so I hope you enjoy them. As for the rest of Japan, most of the time I'm lost and confused. Thankfully there are tons of maps and brochures available. Sometimes that seems to only add to the disorientation, but in any case, I guess it's no more difficult than any other place. There is however, a huge amount of sensory overload...the neon lights, [View Full Entry]

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sorry to be so brief on this, but these are some pictures from fiji. it was really great there...but i did get back to the states with some strange things i picked up along the way on the islands. needless to say, i may not go back because of those little buggers, but for the most part, i had an amazing time there! i spent about 5 days on a pearl farm hanging out with nusqe, the manager and lamanie and grommet the two pit bulls. hope you enjoy the pics :) [View Full Entry]

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these are pics from hawaii. my very patient friend rachel was kind enough to take me in for 2 weeks and put up with me, my bags, and my ailments! it was fun to hang out with her the last couple of days on the big island though. we saw lava and black sand and marathoners and lots of fish! it was a most brilliant way to end this trip. more thoughts to come after japan ;) [View Full Entry]

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WHEW! Per my sister's request, I'm adding a very short entry....It's been a crazy couple of last weeks trying to see everything here. I just got back from trekking on the Milford and Routeburn Tracks in Fiordland in the South Island. It was absolutely fantastic and beyond beautiful. I can't really describe how great it was to be surrounded by such intense green and glacier water and mountains and valleys carved out by glaciers. There were waterfalls tumbling out of the mountain sides, green trees swallowed up by green moss surrounded by green ferns, and of course the glaciers at the [View Full Entry]

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