I'm back. The trip is over. Big huge dream accomplished. Now what? =) So I did this amazing trip & now I'm looking forward to new dreams! Next! Here is a little recap of my trip: Countries visited: 16 Favorite country: all of them! if I had to choose...Thailand favorite food on trip: Indian, Thai, dim sum & sushi times karaoked: 3 total miles traveled in an airplane: 51,288 times got lost: 3,479 language/cultural misunderstandings: 836 photos taken: 4,031 photos in 'best of world trip' slideshow: 201 length of trip: 119 days....4 months favorite airline: Qatar Airways lea [View Full Entry]

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I think I'm turning Japanese, at least I hope so. =) Ahhh, gotta love the 80's songs. Japan, my friend, I'd visit you again in a minute! After Osaka, we headed to this darling little town in the mountains called Koya-san. And by 'in the mountains' I mean C-O-L-D. And by C-O-L-D I mean snowing! Seriously. After living in Hawaii for 5 years, my blood is seriously thin & I was cold everywhere in Japan (and San Diego!) but especially in Koya-san. Karen's toes almost fell off from frostbite, except for that she didn't actually have frostbite. So they're still attached [View Full Entry]

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Konichiwa! The second half of our trip was just as fun and exciting as the last. We headed off to Koyasan by train. Heading into this beautiful country was finally what I wanted. I realized that Tokyo and Osaka were nice, but very built up and urbanized. I was looking for more green, and places that have the traditional Japanese looking roof tops. Koyasan provided just that. It's located up in the mountains, and the population was a lot less. We were able to stay overnight at a temple! Our room had traditional floor type furniture, and to our delight, a [View Full Entry]

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I heart Japan! I know that I have said this about a lot of the countries I have been to in the past few months, and it is true again--Japan is awesome. I arrived into Tokyo & my friend Karen was waiting for me as soon as I got out of customs--a familiar face in a new city. Yay! We made our way to our budget accomodation which turned out to be pretty nice for going cheap. We had a room with 2 bunk beds so we each got our own bottom bunk--no camp nightmares of falling off the top [View Full Entry]

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karen's blog -- Karen has graciously agreed to write about her experiences in Japan so as to break up the monotony of my hilarious anecdotal musings...enjoy! And thanks Karen! Life in Japan as I know it: If I didn't live in Hawaii (aka- greater than 50% asian already), I think seeing the sea of dark haired- not particularly tall- population streaming past might have a greater impact on me. As it is, it kinda feels like home (Hawaii), except that the signs and spoken words are in a make believe language. The whole time in Tokyo, we kept saying, 'this is [View Full Entry]

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China is incredible! It has beautiful mountains, rivers, new cities & a gray-ish haze covering it all. We continued through China traveling from Guilin (lots of mountains) to Lijiang (blue sky! yay!) and then to Xian, the former capital and then up to Beijing, the current capital. Guilin was a beautiful smaller sized city, where we stayed in this super cool hotel, the Hotel of Modern Art (HOMA). It rocked! They had artists from all over the world create sculptures for the grounds. The hotel itself had artwork everywhere. The "upscale" restaurant 'Lotus' was terrible though (just tryi [View Full Entry]

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I'm in China! Woohoo! Well, actually I'm in Hong Kong that is technically part of China, yet still very different. They have Hong Kong dollars & have different stamps & lots of English everywhere. They also have high tea. The harbor is gorgeous & very foggy most of the time we were there. It was so great to see my parents again! I know it had only been 2 months, but it was nice being with my loved ones again. I was very excited to be exploring China with mom & dad. We spent a day touring Hong Kong: the seafood [View Full Entry]

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What a beautiful country! Traveling northward up the coast next on our tour was the darling city of Hoi An. It is a charming city with lots of shops, restaurants, bars, tailoring shops, markets & friendly people. A bunch of us had clothes made & I got a beautiful Vietnamese dress & pant outfit made. We also stayed at a resort which was fabulous -- laying out by the pool was wonderful. After Hoi An we got to travel by bus to the former capital of Hue. The scenic drive was a great opportunity to see Vietnam's stunning coastline. In Hue [View Full Entry]

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Traveling through Vietnam with a group = awesome! I am so excited to be on a group tour! It was been great for many reasons, including 1) human interaction 2) everything is taken care of (tours, hotel, transportation) 3) I am seeing supercool things/places that I would not see if traveling on my own 4) my group is lots of fun & keeps me laughing! We started in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon -- pronounced with a 'sh' like 'shigon'), toured the Mekong Delta & headed up to Dalat which almost looks like a miniature Switzerland with mountains, [View Full Entry]

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I was very focused when I went to Cambodia--I wanted to see the Temples of Angkor--period. I planned this short jaunt (only 2 days) well so that upon arriving in Siem Reap, I went straight to the temples with a car & a guide. I wanted to make the most of my 2 days: I landed, straight to the temples, hotel, next day--temples then back to the airport! They are gorgeous! I kept thinking about what the guidebooks had said about the temples of Angkor being the 8th Wonder of the World while touring. They combine both Buddhism & Hindusim & [View Full Entry]

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