_{Sunday, 9:59pm
Beppu, Japan}

Hello from the onsen town of Beppu, Japan!

Bumping through Mongolia

Between sending out my last newsletter and landing in Japan, I spent 10 days in Mongolia.

In the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, I discovered the traffic is even worse than in Jakarta, but the sidewalks are definitely better than in Hanoi (i.e. they exist, for the most part).

I then took a 7-day tour through the Mongolian countryside, where I was grouped with 4 Brits from various parts of the UK. After leaving UB, we transitioned from smooth asphalt roads to hilariously bumpy dirt roads, where even our skilled driver Mugi couldn’t keep us from looking like bobbleheads. Every once in a while, we pulled up uninvited to gers (yurts) of nomadic families in the vast steppe plains, where we were greeted with a bowl of fermented milk (cow, camel, or horse), and saw first-hand the nomadic way of life—a mixture of rugged independence and radical hospitality towards strangers. At night, countless stars stretched across the sky, and the Milky Way was faintly visible to the naked eye.

I learned more about Mongolia’s history—from the great empire of Chingghis Khan to the ruins of Buddhist monasteries leveled by communists in the mid-20th century.

Finally, I got to ride a horse in the middle of the beautiful Orkhon Valley, which had been on my bucket list for a long time.

Although Mongolia isn’t a “rich” country in terms of GDP, it struck me that I never felt a sense of scarcity during my time there. The country is massive, about twice the size of Texas. But it only has a population of around 3.5 million people, half of whom live in UB. It seems like the vast natural resources, and the ability for nomadic families to be mostly self-reliant contributes to a sense of security that isn’t dependent on a well-oiled and finely-tuned capitalist machine.

Staying overnight in a manga cafe

After waving goodbye to Mongolia, I flew in to Fukuoka, the largest city in Kyushu.

I immediately began appreciating the ease and convenience of daily life in Japan, and I remembered why I fell in love with the country nearly 7 years ago on my first trip. Sparkling clean toilets with settings for both hygiene and modesty. Buses that run as smooth as trains. And even payments are now seamless, with non-cash payments becoming ubiquitous—apart from the odd yatai stand.

The one piece I hadn’t figured out before arriving, however, was where I would stay for the night. Weeks prior, I discovered all the affordable places in Fukuoka had been fully booked out the weekend I was arriving (I still don’t know why). So with my now heavily-reinforced “why not” mentality, I decided to try sleeping in a manga cafe, something people occasionally do after missing the last train of the night.

Fortunately, I found a manga cafe with plenty of open rooms right by one of Fukuoka’s main transit stations. When I checked in, I was surprised to find that it came with free curry, rice, drinks, ice cream, and a shower. In fact, it was one of the best showers I’ve used in months.

The room itself was private but narrow, equipped with a sofa that folded flat, a TV, and a basic computer. Not the most comfortable sleep I’ve ever had, but not the worst either. Overall - 6/10, a decent option in a pinch.

Sabbatical check-in

I’m just about 6 months in to my sabbatical, and I feel myself transitioning into a new phase.

While I’m in the relatively frictionless Japan for the next month, I’m going to dedicate time to synthesizing what I’ve learned and mapping out my next steps post-sabbatical. I already have some ideas in mind that I feel reasonably confident about, but for now I’ll just say I’m leaning away from returning to corporate.

With that said—I’m going to keep chipping away at this plan over the next few weeks, so you’ll have to stay tuned for the next issue(s) to hear the tea. 😉 

Have a great week, and see you next time!

Tim