The Day I Became a Flower in Noboribetsu, Japan

COVID-19 ruined many of our travel plans. We just need to wait it out – watch Netflix, eat, and exercise at the comfort of our OWN home. I’ve done every single one of those every day for a week now so to change things up, I’m going to share a travel story:

MY FUNNY TRAVEL STORY IN NOBORIBETSU, JAPAN

August 6-8, 2019 — From Hakadote to Noboribetsu, I took the JR shinkansen for over three hours. From Noboribetsu Station, I took a bus to my hotel – Noboribetsu Manseikaku – for another 20 minutes just in time for check-in. Instead of staying in at the hotel, I didn’t want to waste any adventure time. I walked to Hell Valley for 30 minutes – it should have been 15, but I stopped at different spots to take pictures and stare at the amazing views. 

When I got to Hell Valley, I was mesmerized! It was just like the photos I saw on Google. UNBELIEVABLE. I spent some time taking photos and videos (and helping other tourists take their photos). From the valley, there were different walking trails through the forested hills above Noboribetsu that lead to other sightseeing areas: Oyunuma (sulfurous pond) and the Oyunumagawa Natural Foot Bath. 

I had spent a great amount walking on this trip (over 20 thousand steps each day). At this time, I was already on the second week of my Hokkaido summer trip and my feet has been s-o-r-e, sore. I thought that heading to the Natural Foot Bath was ideal: I could sit around, enjoy the scenery, and just reeeeeeeeelax. 

I followed the trail that pointed towards the Foot Bath, but little did I know, the trail had a lot of bees. Because I had dyed my hair blonde recently, with the sun shining on it, it seems to have attracted ALL the bees in the area. I have never been stung by a bee and I do not want to be stung by one ever so after hearing a bunch of bzzzz bzzz from this single bee, I walked faster. I did not want to make it obvious that I was terrified. There was a group behind me and I didn’t want to embarrass myself further. I heard them laugh, but I just kept on walking faster until I reached the stairs. It seems that my speed walking worked… for 5 seconds! The bee (not sure if it was the same one) started coming at me again. I heard bzzz bzzzz. I started to run. I went for the stairs taking two at a time when possible… then, another bee came. Then another. Now, three bees…. then four bees. 

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I was even more terrified at this time, screaming and flying my arms around… still running. I could hear people laughing – at me or to each other I didn’t care. I wanted to get rid of the bees. I wanted them to leave me alone. I kept running and running for what seemed like eternity. I wasn’t even sure where I was anymore until I hit a spot with an amazing view. Then I realized, I was only running away from ONE BEE! ONE BEE! ONE! My panic had made me believe there were ten bees swarming me. 

When I had stopped running (I needed to! I was out of breathe) and just ducked and covered my ears for a few seconds, the bee left me alone. As I stood up, I heard running and screaming. The group that was trailing behind me was now being attacked. HA! 

I looked out to this amazing view and breathed a sigh of relief – no more bees! But I needed to walk further to get to the Foot Bath. At this point, I had given up. It was already getting dark and I wanted to get back down before the sun set. I didn’t want to go back where I came from and be swarmed by bees (or bee) again so I took a risk and went further hoping I’d find my way out of the mountain. I did. I found the Oyunuma Pond, took some pictures, and walked along the road instead of taking the shortcut of running through the forest attracting a single bee. 

Do you have any funny travel story? I’d love to hear about it! Xoxo, Amy.

Yearly Post-Gastrectomy/Life Update

2019:

Today is October 28, 2019. A year post-gastrectomy. If I’m not mistaken, I left the hospital exactly a year ago. It has been a tough journey. I needed to accept the new person I have become. It would be a lie to say the least that it was easy to transition to my “new” life. As expected, it was difficult to eat. I thought I could eat like how i used to, but my stomach refuses some food and if I ate too much, I needed to lay down for at least 45 minutes. I was full after a few bites being that my stomach was only 10%, but I have learned over the past year how to eat – 6 small meals a day. 3 “regular” meals and at least a snack once in between those meals. From my weight at surgery, I have lost 20 pounds. I have been better at maintaining the weight I have now. I also had to quit weightlifting so I can allow my body to heal well. I went back last week and have noticed how weak I’ve become at lifting. It will get better over time.

Mentally – it was a battle. I was told to seek professional help because many people diagnosed with cancer DO need to know how to cope with their diagnosis. Instead, I grew stronger in faith. I began writing in a journal again, I pray every night and sometimes in the car while I’m driving to work, and I let myself “rest” whenever I feel like I’m going to face mental or emotional breakdowns. Mental health is as important as physical health and I’m getting better at managing mine.

I traveled solo to Hokkaido, Japan in June and Okinawa, Japan in August. I’ve spent almost a week at the National Institute of Health learning about GIST and contributing my experience so the amazing doctors studying the disease can one day find a cure. I have also met people like me there so now I know that I am not the only person going through GIST.

I know that it will still be a battle all throughout. The huge scar across my stomach is a daily reminder of how difficult life is, but it is also a reminder of how strong and how great God is. He is wonderful and has never left my side.

Thank you for following my journey. You are amazing. If you need someone to talk to or just want to talk stories with – email me at amysgutlesstravel@gmail.com

2018:

Right before discharge. Day 6/10.

As of October 19, 2018, I only have 10% of my stomach; hence, my blog AMY’S GUTLESS TRAVEL. In a less medically complicated explanation, I was diagnosed with Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor or GIST, a tumor that grew in the muscle of my stomach. According to my doctors, it is a rare type of sarcoma. I had surgery as soon as the oncologist determined it was cancer to avoid further growth. No chemotherapy, radiation, or medication can help me so surgery it is. The original plan was to remove my stomach entirely, but during surgery, they were able to save 10% of what was left tumor-less. I am running with 10% Stomach, 100% Courage and Faith.

I was expected to stay in the hospital for 10 days, but I was strong enough and started eating “solid” foods on day 5 so I was sent home the following day.

Vent #1 – Priorities

Not sure if this is the right place to vent, but since it deals with my “travel” frustrations, I am sharing here.  THERE ARE SO MANY PLACES I WANT TO GO TO!  But with life’s current situation and responsibilities, it’s not always ideal to book flights and be on “vacation” mode.  But hopefully one day, life will get to a point where I’ll easily be able to go on adventures.  See my (incomplete) travel list here.  It will always be incomplete because I have so many places I want to go to!  I do hope one day to be a full-time traveller, but until then, a once a year travel is a must.  I’ve got plans.

“A dream without a plan is just a wish.” – Katherine Paterson

Let me take a moment to share a few things. I graduated from the University of Hawai`i at Manoa in May 2017 with two Bachelor of Arts: Political Science, and Philippine Language and Literature.  Traveling and writing is my passion.  Besides English, I speak fluently in Tagalog and Pangasinan.  I know some Ilocano, but an entire conversation will have me staring at you because the first sentence is still forming in my head.  After college, I dreamed of traveling the world.  So far since graduating from college (for more than a year now) I have only been to the Philippines (my hometown) and to Japan.  Quite disappointing… maybe?  But since graduating, I have been working full time and finances have been tight.  I live in Hawaii! For those of you who don’t know… it’s expensive!  I know that the expensive living expenses should not stop me from traveling the world, but saving is difficult especially when you do paycheck-paycheck.

BUT, goals don’t come to life without any plans and I definitely got plans. END VENT. Thanks for reading!

If you happen to have read this far, I need some motivation on how to make my travel dreams come to life. Thank you in advance!