Hokkaido, Japan

August, 2002

3 weeks / about 1000 km

To experience a place that’s the complete opposite of the Australian Outback, go to Japan. So I did, right after finishing the Alice – Bourke ride. I had a few connections in Japan from my study abroad year in Australia which helped make this trip a little easier to accomplish, since my ability to speak Japanese is limited to a few words. Still, once you get on the road, you’re on your own. Even with not being able to understand everything that’s happening around you, it was still an incredible, eye-opening experience filled with new sensations and lessons.

Some highlights of the trip were basically just being in a completely foreign and unfamiliar environment, pitching my tent in official campgrounds that look nothing like campgrounds in the USA, camping across the road from (and then bathing in) the Rausu Onsen, seeing a wild bear in Shiretoko National Park, and hiking up Asahi-dake.