so, once again, another 2 months down. it seems like it was just yesterday that i was at the 8 month mark of my trip, and here i am now at the 10 month mark. 10 months down!! going by my old calculations, this trip should have only 2 months left. hopefully i’ll be able to stretch it a bit longer than that!<\/p>\n
these last 2 months have been a bit different than all my previous travels. i’ve left the third-world countries and ventured into the richest most high-tech country in asia (japan) and also spent some time in russia. it’s been an interesting adjustment, all of a sudden not living in small huts anymore! i’ve definitely enjoyed it. japan was incredible with its great nightlife, fancy technology, and beautiful temples. russia was festinating and i enjoyed walking the beautiful streets of st petersburg and staring at the scenery of siberia from the train. after all of this, i’m ready now to get back into some more rugged travel. pretty soon it’s off to africa!<\/p>\n
so, as usual, a quick summary of the last two months:<\/p>\n
i saw cuttlefish, turtles, and other marine life in the waters of indonesia; i was stung in the face by a bee while riding a scooter; i got in a huge battle w\/ garuda airlines and wasnt allowed to board my flight to japan; i got to hang out w\/ my brother; i got to hang out w\/ randall; i carefully tried to figure out japanese customs so as not to offend anyone; i stayed in a traditional ryokan; i spent more money than i thought might be possible; i saw more japanese temples than you can imagine; i used the high-tech toilets; i rode a bullet train; i got interviewed many times by japanese schoolkids; i’ve tackled the confusing world of japanese cuisine; i’ve fed deer and eaten buiscuits out of the hand of a japanese businessman; i’ve seen wild goth girls parade around in crazy costumes; i’ve stayed w\/ randall’s family; i’ve slept in a capsule; i’ve slept in a love hotel that had chains built into he bed; i met up w\/ natasha’s friend adrian and randall’s friends hikaru and laughlin; i ate the freshest sushi in the world at 7am after drinking all night long; i saw hermit crabs wearing designer shells; i saw a square watermelon; i visited the country i was born in; i battled long lines and frustrating customer service; i experienced the white nights; i rode on the transsiberian railway; i hung out in siberia; i saw the elusive asian russian; i saw one of the most beautiful cities in the world, st petersburg; i saw the bridges get raised over the Neva river; i experienced some amazing russian hospitality from Natasha who let me stay at her house and fed me many many great meals; i saw one of the most famous museums in the world, the Hermitage, and also got some great tours by my dad’s friend Boris.<\/p>\n
it’s been a busy two months!<\/p>\n
so, that’s it for now. once again, if you’re out there reading this… please leave a comment in this post. i like knowing who is reading. i know some of you just refuse to leave comments… it’s not so hard (or scary)!! just drop a quick note.. even a “hi, i’m reading” will do!!<\/p>\n
*v<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
so, once again, another 2 months down. it seems like it was just yesterday that i was at the 8 month mark of my trip, and here i am now at the 10 month mark. 10 months down!! going by my old calculations, this trip should have only 2 months left. hopefully i’ll be able … Continue reading “10 months down now!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rtw-trip"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thisisvlad.com\/werd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thisisvlad.com\/werd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thisisvlad.com\/werd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thisisvlad.com\/werd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thisisvlad.com\/werd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.thisisvlad.com\/werd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thisisvlad.com\/werd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thisisvlad.com\/werd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thisisvlad.com\/werd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}