Departing soon for SE Asia

Wow, I will leave in 9 days for SE Asia. I plan on visiting 9 countries over a period of 3-5 months. This will be the biggest and most crazy trip I have ever done. Here is where I plan to go:
* Cambodia
* Vietnam
* Laos
* Thailand
* Malaysia
* Singapore
* Indonesia
* Philippines
* Taiwan


I am only taking a small carry-on backpack. It's the Osprey Porter 46. It's a really cool bag that is slightly duffel style with hidden straps that turn it into a backpack. It's quite comfortable too and it only has one way into the main compartment that locks which is very important.


I also bought some new shoes. Merrell Trail Glove. Really cool, lightweight and comfy shoes.

I hope to have some great pictures and posts up here and also on Facebook as I go along my journey so stay tuned.

Cheers.

Loren

I am terrible at keeping my blog up to date. haha.

Wow, can't believe it has been over 1 year since I wrote a post on here. Guess keeping a blog up to date is harder than I thought it would be.

A lot has happened since my last post. I spent 10 months in Japan and had an amazing time. I was sad to leave but also happy to see my friends back home. I learned a lot of Japanese and I can say I am conversational now. I hope I don't forget it since I am not using it much back in the states.

I have been back in San Francisco about 5 months now. Wow, I can't believe it. I started to go back to school. I completed a semester at City College of San Francisco and I have been working at the Apple store in downtown SF. I am already restless and wanting to travel again.

I think I will backpack in SE Asia. Maybe I will go back to Japan after that. If things go well then I will be able to do these things and reflect more on my life, love, and where I want to go from here.

I feel that finding my heart and my spirit is more important at this time. I need to heal myself, forgive myself, learn to love all the amazing things that make me who I am. Only this way will I be able to love again.

It's amazing how lost we can get sometimes and we don't even know it. Life can be a fast roaring river and if we don't pay attention we can get swept away. Sometimes this can be good and sometimes it can be bad. As long as our heart is into it then it's good but if we loose our heart then we must work hard to find it again.

I am on this journey now. The journey inward. I would like to combine this inward journey with an outward one and allow the beauty of Asia to guide me on my inward search.

Blessings to all.

Winter Holiday

It`s been a long time since I posted and I appologize for that. Life in Japan has been a lot busier than I expected. School is very hard, I must study 8 hours a day at least if not more. Learning and remember Kanji is very difficult. I have been able to get in a little fun though.

Now it is winter break and I have about 2 1/2 weeks off from school. I am really enjoying the break, it`s just what I needed. I am in Osaka at the moment and will then travel down to Kyusyu for a New Years party and going to the onsen (Hot Springs).

I return to Tokyo on the 4th and will enjoy about 1 week of holiday in Tokyo before I have to return to school and hit the books hard again. I hope I haven`t forgotten everything in the meantime.

I hope you all are enjoying your winter holidays as well. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Mostly Study with a Little Fun

I have been mostly studying here in Tokyo but have managed to throw in a tiny bit of fun. About 2 days actually. :)

Most of my days consist of 8-10 hours of study both at home and at school. Wow! I haven't studied like this since... maybe ever?

Anyway, enough about the boring stuff. Last Sunday I was able to break away from homework to attend the Kawagoe Matsuri or Festival. It was pretty traditional and lots of fun.

I went with a friend from school and so all the pictures are on her camera. You can see some of them on my facebook page now but I hope to get them on here soon.









I also went on a walking tour with my class last weekend and visited some government buildings in Tokyo, the Imperial Palace, Ginza shopping district and a traditional Kabuki theater.

Living In Tokyo!

I have been living in Tokyo just over a week and a half now and I am finally getting my first post up. Sorry for the delay. It's been pretty crazy and has taken a while to get settled. I am probably not even really settled yet but good enough for now.

My journey started off pretty great with an unexpected upgrade to Business Class at the airport in San Francisco. Wow! That is the way to travel. So comfortable and relaxing with almost a full reclining bed, my own T.V. and plenty of space between me and the people around me. The food is way better also. Here are a couple pics of what I ate.



Then I met my new friend Seiko who helped me get my prepaid Softbank cellphone. We had a great day and I don't know what I would have done without her. Thank you Kumiko for introducing me to Seiko, she is a sweetie.



Then on Friday night I met another new friend, Takehiro who invited me to his International Friends party on Saturday in Shinjuku. There were so many people from different countries there it was really cool. I had a great time. Too bad I had to return to my hostel I was staying at before the curfew at 11 pm. :(



Lili, a nice girl from France who was staying at the same hostel and I hung out for a bit and went to Meiji jingu shrine in Yoyogi Park and walked around a bit. She will be living in Tokyo for a while and looking for work.



Yoyogi Park is located in or near Harajuku which is a great place to see all sorts of fun and interesting things on the weekends such as street performers and crazy fashion.




Then I met my friend Jun for dinner at a delicious yakiniku restaurant. Made friends with an older Japanese guy staying in my room at the Hostel who then paid for my taxi when I moved to my guest house. Amazing how nice people can be sometimes. :)

I made some friends with my new roommates and finally met Kayoko from Osaka. We went to Odaiba and walked around the Fuji TV station and the Toyota showroom. We also played some games at the Sega game building called Joypolis.




This week I need to focus on my schoolwork as I was told it will be 4 hours of classroom work a day and 6 hours of homework a day. So 10 hours everyday of Japanese study. I hope after 9 months of this I will be pretty fluent. :)

がんばります！

1 Month to Go

I am back in CA from Idaho and had a wonderful time with my sister Laura and her family. It was very relaxing and I was able to let some of my stress go. We did a little work and had a lot of fun. Went swimming in the river, sat out and looked at the sunset, watered the goats, fed the chickens, sold a horse, had BBQ, watched movies, read books and learned a lot.













Now I am back in CA and I have one more month to go before I am in Tokyo starting a whole new adventure. I will be leaving SF on 9/29 arriving in Tokyo on 9/30 and starting school on 10/6. Full time Japanese Language Study! I hope I can squeeze in some fun. Needless to say I am extremely excited about this new adventure but before I go I hope to continue my summer of fun with my Sister Lisa in Yuba City and my friends in Sacramento and San Francisco. Cheers.

The art of relationships and love

I am reading one of the most incredible articles on love and relationships. Absolutely amazing!

http://tinyurl.com/6qllzf

I am learning so much about how people interact with each other and how so many people expect others to be responsible for their happiness. What many often don't realize is that we are truly the ones responsible for our own happiness and we can't expect anyone else to make us happy.

So many people live in fear which most negative feelings are born from. Feelings of worthlessness, selfishness, jealousy, anger, and many more. If you truly live a life of love then you will accept full responsibility for your own happiness and realize that we are all unique individuals with different dreams and we must all be responsible for our own happiness. Once we have mastered that, then we can share that love with others and be truly happy.

I couldn't think of a more worthy quest than mastering the art of love.