The End is Nigh

As my time in Japan draws to a close with more goodbye parties than bowls of noodles at a sumo eating competition, I reflect back on the wonderful time I’ve had here for the last 3 years.

Too many memories to remember them all but I’ve got some photos to help jog things along when I get stuck. I haven’t posted any pics online in a while, as I’m still thinking long term about my digital footprint. You know this stuff will be studied when I reach Hollywood.

Not that I’m aiming for Hollywood, it’s just not that I’m not aiming for Hollywood, you follow? I understand if you’ve found all the book reviews boring, and I haven’t even gotten round to writing about half the things I’ve been reading.

Did I summarise Blink or Freakonomics for you? How about Effective Negotiation, The Automatic Millionaire, How Proust Can Change Your Life, Stumbling on Happiness, Three cups of Tea, The Warren Buffet Way, A Whole New Mind or The Long Tail? Really I’ve got to get round to summarising these at some point so I can remember anything at all a year from now.

It’s just that the knowledge within them has been far more interesting than the routine I’ve been living while saving up enough money for my next adventure. It's sad to be parting company with with so many JET companions this month and perhaps parting with this blog, but the next step will be amazing.

So what is the next step? Well I’ve told you before but I know you don’t listen so here it is:

• Leave Japan on August 4th after 3 fantastic years teaching English in this amazing country.
• Go to home from the 5th to the 15th August
  
• Paris 15th - 18th. August
• London 19th August
• Tokyo - 20th August
• Beijing - 21st
• Things get fuzzy now, but I’ll be China for about 6 weeks, with one month of that at This Shaolin School learning Kung Fu, Chinese and how to kick your ass.
• In October I’ll probably head to Laos and possibly Thailand for possibly some volunteer work, or possibly not. I’ve decided to leave this flexible and go with the flow, man.
• After that, magic happens and I get to India. I end up at this Yoga School where I’m booked in on November 9th to start my month long Yoga Teacher Training course. That’s right, I’ll be a Yoga teacher by Chrimbo. Hopefully my hamstrings will have loosened up by then.
• Fly home for Christmas, brimming with import-export-yoga-DVD-travel-supplement ideas to start my first online ventures in the Happy New Year.
  

I’m only really planning the next 6 months but I’ve got a rough direction and that's all I need. Should be an interesting journey anyway, it has been so far.

Bye for now.

Vagabonding - Rolf Potts

5 quotes for long term traveling from this book, which its self includes many quotes.

1. This book views long-term travel not as an escape but as an adventure and a passion - a way of overcoming your fears and living life to the fullest - Rolf Potts, Vagabonding
2. My greatest skill has been to want little - Hendry David Thoreau, Walden
3. A good traveler has no plan, and is not intent on arriving - Lao-Tzu, The Way of Life
4. What I find is that you can do almost anything or go almost anywhere, if you’re not in a hurry. Paul Theroux, The Happiness Isles of Oceania
5. And in the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know it for the first time. T.S. Elliot, Little Gidding

YOU can make a difference

This Christmas I'll be travelling again. This time to Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia. While Singapore is fully developed and Malaysia not far behind, Cambodia has had a difficult past and listening to my friends experiences who have already been, I wanted to do something before I set off.

With this in mind I have started the fund raising of $10,000 with my travel buddies, Jake, Andrea and Jose, to a build a library in Cambodia. We're already 1/20th of the way there, and with a lot of people giving a small amount, we'll make it before my Christmas deadline.

We've organised a charity dinner for next week which costs in the almighty British currency about £10 to attend, with £2.50 of that going to our charity - Room To Read

Room to Read, the not-for-profit who will do the building, will keep us posted on every step of construction, and their work was recently commended by Bill Clinton at his Clinton Global Initiative (And you know I'm a fan of his now!).

To all my friends outside Japan, sorry, I know you'd want to attend the dinner if you were in town. But don't worry, please just use the fund raising page below where you can easily leave your $5 (it's an American website) or what ever you can afford by credit card and receive a record of your donation. It's completely safe and secure.

Here's my page, and even if you don't have anything to spare, please just click on the link and have a look:

http://www.firstgiving.com/cambodianlibrary

Thanks for helping to make a difference.