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Reflection

The plan for this trip was made rather spontaneously. At first my plan was to do some kore working first and then travel, but then I came to the insight that I might as well do what I really want to do first – traveling – and work when I don’t feel like traveling anymore. Also, I came to the insight that traveling at a young age has extra benefits compared to traveling at a later age. I can take the things I learn when traveling home with me. I have my whole live to work and contribute in that way. I had an insightful conversation with a coach which changed my perspective about what I wanted to be doing at this time of my life as well.

Observing a belief that was holding me back to travel.

In the coaching session I realized there was a belief I had that was holding me back: I want(ed) to make a big impact on the world and succeed. Because of this I am quite focused on working and reading and stuff. I realized that I’m quite focused on the external aspects of succes, like the recognition that goes along with it. With my coach I did an exercise where I observed my subconscious mind, to see where the belief that I “have to” succeed and have an impact comes from. In my childhood I had times where I was lonely and struggled to connect with kids in my age group. Being confronted with quite intense fear at a young age, being connected to others was extra important for me. Therefore it was extra hard on me that I didn’t manage to always have friends. At a later stage a believe was made that I should become successful so that people would like me and I wouldn’t have to be alone. But now I actually feel very much connected to my friends, family and strangers wherever I go. So the belief to have an impact or succeed is not necessary. My coach advised me to expose myself to deliberately not having an impact. So I put the plans I had for working and starting a business to the future in order to travel. A few days after the session I booked my flight to go to South Korea.

So one central point on this trip is to just do whatever I feel like doing and not put too much pressure on myself. The past few years I developed quite a disciplined schedule which has brought me a lot. But I’m also coming to the limits of this approach. One of my best friends came up with a system to stimulate me to do fun activities and to immerse myself in the countries that I’m visiting. For each country I first planned to go to, she made a list of activities to do there and I get points for each activity. I already use a similar system where I give myself points for doing certain things in my daily life: the harder something is for me, the more points I get. Journaling gets me two points, an ice bath ten points. This works better than making a list with things I have to do every day, as I also had for some time. The list my friend made was outside of my control and she picked some things that where definitely outside of my comfort zone. Joining a cooking class for example! (I have the habit of providing myself with food that doesn’t include me cooking it).

Below I made a summary of the activities on the list for South Korea (including the photographic evidence I agreed to provide to prove I wouldn’t cheat):

South Korea

Singing Karaoke with a Korean – 200 points

This was so much fun. It was harder than expected because we only found private karaoke places so me and my new friend I made had to knock on the karaoke rooms were Koreans were doing their private karaoke session. Once we convinced some Koreans to sing with us it ended up being a lot of fun. After this, I was very enthusiastic and decided to go out and then I had a very joyful evening with a lot of other Koreans. An excellent example of how the list stimulated me to go outside of my own structured life and be more open and spontaneous, which doesn’t always come easy for me.

Link to the karaoke footage

Eating Kim Chi with a Korean – 400 points

At a museum I saw a Korean drawing a statue that was on display. She was a farmer a bit south of Seoul. We became friends and had dinner together. 400 points just like that!

Joining a Taekwondo lesson – 400 points

Below we see a picture of me skillfully dodging a well performed kick of the owner of the Taekwondo dojo.

Other than the things from the list there where other cool things I did in South Korea. I only visited the capital, Seoul.

Below we see a part of the view I had flying over China. Very nice! It made me enthousiastic to go hiking or horseback riding in Mongolia or somewhere in Central Asia.

I went on a tour to the demilitarized zone between South and North Korea. This made quite an impact on me. We had a view of North Korea. The North Koreans built a lot of buildings near the border to make it look as if it’s a prosperous country. We weren’t allowed to make pictures of North Korea. Below is a picture from the internet of part of what we saw.

There were great people in the hostel I stayed at. We enjoyed the great food South Korea had to offer. It was all very affordable. The South Koreans were lovely. The society is also quite individualistic. Next stop, Japan.

JAPAN PART 1

Before I mentioned how a friend made a list of activities I should do in each country. I agreed to make photographic evidence which is also great for the blog because I don’t make a lot of pictures.

Below we see how I learn about the Samurai. 400 points

The samurai museum in Tokyo was the best! The highlight was how there was a display of the samurai fighting techniques by a descendant of a long line of samurai. (This is very unique and special!!) Below a picture of me and him.

Below we see a picture of samurai Axel the great.

Below a picture of me eating a dish without knowing what’s in it. 150 points

Reiki session. 600 points. This was incredible!! I had never done Reiki therapy. The Reiki therapist I went to was really good. I felt extremely relaxed and energized. Reiki is from Japan. I don’t know enough about it to give a good summary of what it is but during my session the Reiki therapist connected me with energy with her hands. I was lying on a massage table.

Below we see a picture of me sleeping in a pod share hotel. 400 points There weren’t so much cool people around so I’m a bit sad. Also interesting to be more on my own for a few days, it was in Tokyo. Afterwards I went to Kyoto and Hiroshima and made cool friends again.

Cooking class. 800 points

Because I resent cooking a bit I got 800 points. This was a LOT of fun though! It was a private session with a Japanese couple. The husband was a chef and his wife did the talking with me. The chef worked 6 days a week in a restaurant and on his day off he gives these workshops.

Another cool thing I did with new friends I made was going to the convenience stores a lot, the 7-elevens and to the spa. We went to the Japanese Spa, called onsen, three days in a row. Men and women are separated. Ice bath, sauna, warm bath and electrocution bath. The last one was surprisingly relaxing.

I really enjoyed Japan. Made great friends again. China next week.

I was in Tokyo for three days, Kyoto for five days and now I am in Hiroshima.