the world is big and we are small
the world is big and we are small
Merry Christmas everyone! For several months, the topic of Christmas on the road was a bit of a difficult one for me. It is my favorite holiday of the year and I usually start decorating our apartment in Munich in late November/ early December, to …
We went to Xiaoliuqu with few expectations. It’s a small coral island off the coast of Kaohsiung and all we wanted was a few relaxing days at a beach, as we had spent the last month constantly on the move (there is just so much …
Taipei came with a real treat: Hanna, one of my oldest childhood friends, and her fiancé Michel met us at the airport. I was quite literally jumping with joy when I spotted their happy faces in the crowd. Don’t get me wrong – I love travelling with Adam. But there is no greater luxury than meeting one of your closest friends on the road and adventuring together. Luckily, Adam and Michel get along great as well (and developed quite the bromance in the following week), so my darling Hanna and I were free to happily chat away, catch up on big news and small while browsing through kitschy stores or speed walking well ahead of the guys (it’s our natural pace).
Neither Hanna, nor Michel had been to Asia before and witnessing their first impressions was a real joy – especially since we’ve been on the road for so long, we don’t even notice some of these things anymore. Crazy cab drivers, the best dumpling house in Taipei according to Tripadvisor (which, ironically turned out to be Din Tai Fung, whose Los Angeles branch we’d been to several times), crowded night markets and stinky tofu. Adam dared Michel to fish for live shrimp and they bravely tried their grilled catch; Hanna and I happily sipped on Papaya milk and tried to find the tackiest ring for her to wear instead of her engagement ring, which she had left at home for fear of losing it. We learned that if it is Mango, Michel will eat it (shaved ice, dried, smoothie, freshly cut – you name it!)
On a city hike Adam and Michel spotted the largest spider I have seen in my life – and really don’t care to ever see again, but Beitou’s hot springs, where we bathed until we were as wrinkly as the elderly Taiwanese folk who frequent them, calmed our nerves again. We explored Kenting National Park (where Michel and I tried to spot snakes, but found nothing but centipedes) and its crazy coral caves, that emerged from the sea centuries ago and are now overgrown with jungle and the hanging roots of banyan trees. During drinks in a mobile roadside bar, we tried to guess what the respective others would do if money were no object and we sploshed in the warm sea for the first time in months – too salty, Michel pronounced, we’d only give it one out of five stars ;).
Our trip together ended much too soon in Kaohsiung, with a night of hotpot adventures and explorations of the city. While it was incredibly sad to say goodbye so soon, I am so happy and grateful that we had this time together in the first place – it was like we were back on a school trip together again, without a care in the world and full of friendship.
Japan is a country dedicated to the idea that food should be available absolutely everywhere and in seemingly endless varieties and quantities. From the mountains of fish at Tsukiji to 50 different kinds of pickled vegetables in Kyoto’s Nishiki Market. We never had a bad …
We decided a week ago to fly out of Osaka since it’s a flexible and cheap place from which to depart Japan. We wanted to visit Okinawa before heading to Taiwan but the weather forecast suggested rain the whole time we were planning to be there so we’re on our way to Seoul instead.
This all translates to us traveling back from Hiroshima to spend our last night in Osaka, but to break up the journey we stopped by Bunny Island, which as the name suggests is full of rabbits (it’s proper name in Japanese is Ōkunoshima). For whatever reason the Japanese love their islands and parks filled with tame or semi-tame animals. In addition to the famous deer of Nara and Miyajima, and the heretofore mentioned Bunny Island, they also have several cat islands and even a village of foxes.
There are two competing theories as to why there are so many rabbits now on Ōkunoshima. The first is that the island formerly was used for chemical weapons testing, and the current rabbits are the descendants of rabbits used as subjects of these tests. It’s a fairly grisly thought, and while the testing practices are known to be true the rabbit lineage is not. A second theory posits that a group of school children visited the island and left eight rabbits who being rabbits quickly became several hundred. In either case there aren’t any natural predators (for the life of me I don’t understand why there weren’t hawks or eagles about) and so the rabbits have thrived. The locals like them, and perhaps consider them lucky, and have kept them protected since. And now with the rise of the internet and pictures of people buried under bunnies the place has become a spot for tourists.
While there are several public transit options to the island, they’re not timed very well with each other (an oddity in Japan, which is normally highly efficient) and so it took us the morning to get there. But when we finally we arrived we were greeted warmly by the furry creatures who were more than a little excited by the prospect of food. The locals sell veggies or pressed rabbit kibbles that they seem to enjoy. And there really isn’t much more to it than that – it’s a small pretty island to walk around filled with rabbits to feed and play with. Oh and of which to take lots of photos.
We did a little walk around corralling as many rabbits as we could until running out of food. While there is a hotel on this island and museum covering to the old chemical testing labs there is little else so after a few hours we departed for Osaka.
Hiroshima is a fascinating city because despite the fact the U.S. wiped it off the map, and despite its terrible suffering, it has rebuilt itself as vibrant, friendly, and welcoming. No one other than Nagasaki understands what nuclear weapons really mean better than Hiroshima, and …
We’ve been working on various pieces of this blog for months. We started on day 4 in Panama and still haven’t managed to launch this thing. Both Babel and I have extensive personal journals but somehow we never shared what we’ve been up to with …
On our second day “on the road” we want to leave the stressful noise of the city behind us and spend a day on the beach to wind down and get into the rhythm of traveling. From the city’s main bus terminal Albrook we want to get to the Marina, where a ferry will take us to Taboga Island (a popular local weekend spot known for its beaches and jungle) and rather than timidly sticking to Uber rides we break out our broken Spanish and figure out where the bus departs. Not having a map or a bus schedule to rely upon still makes us slightly anxious, but things end up working in our favor and we get on a bus that takes us across the Amadour Causeway to the marina.
Brown pelicans accompany the ferry, gliding through the sky and occasionally diving for fish: the lush green of the island gives us our first peek of Panama’s rich nature. On the boat we meet a Panamanian who talks to us with earnest intensity and does not seem to mind that we understand next to nothing, as long as we helplessly smile and nod. My Spanish does not go beyond the most common phrases of politeness and basic numbers, but I vow to immerse myself in Duolingo lessons as soon as we get back.
We take our first dip in the bathtub warm Pacific and watch kids playing soccer at the beach, but strong winds and a few raindrops make us happy to get on a ferry back to the city. Considering that we had planned a relaxing day at the beach, we feel weirdly exhausted. It may just take a while to adjust our pace to our new adventure and to ease from vigorous organizing in Germany (packing up and all that jazz) into leisurely exploring the world.
As our plane is touching down, I excitedly take pictures – the sea, backdropped by black silhouettes of mountains appears to be flowing inland – up a brown river into green jungle. The second we disembark a whiff of humid air hits our faces; excitement …
