Where to next? This is a journal about Phil's progress as he backpacks his way west from his beloved Japan.

Three weeks ago there I was expecting to feel a sudden rush to the head, a brutal awakening to the fact that the best part of five years in Japan was about to end.  Three weeks on and here I am, still not getting my head round it.  Having a clear mind and enough breathing space to think about all the great times is something I don't remember having in a long, long while.  In hindsight I suppose that was a great reason for choosing two days on a boat as my mode of transport to Shanghai.  More thinking time than you can shake a chopstick at and just enough sleeping space to accomodate another chopstick and his mistress.  How will the Shanghai Ferry Company rate?  How many solutions to life's great mysteries will I dream up in two diversion-free days?  20 hours to go...