More than a week has passed since we returned home, and the next (and last) entry is long overdue. Yakushima’s beauty still vividly present in our minds, we continued our journey towards Okayama. As usual, the Shinkansen proofed itself as the best and most comfortable way of travelling through Japan. That’s how a train ride should feel like! Shinkansen time! In Okayama, we visited the black “Crow” Castle, where – thanks to a Japanese gentleman insisting we should come with him (contrary to other places, this is – mostly – not a dangerous thing to do in Japan) – we…
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Yesterday, it was time to say goodbye to paradise, when we left Yakushima and returned to Kagoshima via ferry. Paradise tried to make the departure easier on us by sending heavy rain and wind our way. On Sunday, we left Hirauchi and took an early bus to Anbo to enjoy some canoeing on Anbo river, which was quite pleasant. We’ve adjusted to life in Japan by now, not freaking out anymore whenever we have to leave our luggage somewhere unattended, and locking our doors becomes more or less optional. We also noticed our tolerance towards bugs and critters has significantly…
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Greetings from paradise. It’s name is Yakushima, and it’s a little subtropical island located about 4 hours south of Kyushu by ferry. It’s where Miyazaki Hayao and his fellow animators from wonderful Studio Ghibli went to get inspiration for drawing the magical forests (and it’s creatures) of their masterpiece Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke). And it’s so beautiful here, even without having set foot into the magical forests yet, we’re already suffering from reality detachment syndrome. Big time. Our tiny minds just fail to compute so much beauty. After leaving Hiroshima on the beloved Shinkansen, we spent half a day and…
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Due to my body suddenly deciding it would be a cool idea to get sick, Kamakura didn’t happen. Instead, Danie (after some convncing it would be fine to leave me on my own) went to a theme park like Onsen and I went straight to bed/futon. That’s how gloriously we passed our last day in Tokyo. In the evening, we went out to a Japanese restaurant with our host, which was very nice and definitely the highlight of my feverish day. The next morning, we finally got to exchange our JR Pass vouchers and took the Shinkansen to Hiroshima. The…
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A lot has happened since I last had the chance to blog anything, so here’s what happened. Hikone’s mascot Hikone Castle After two incredibly wonderful days in Nara, we went to Hikone where we wanted to visit the famous castle, which was quite impressive. Again, we were more than lucky with our wonderful Couchsurfing host, Emily, who took us to a great little Japanese restaurant where we enjoyed delicious food and mouthwatering homemade yuzushu (liqueur made from yuzu fruits). We tried to give back a little by singing Happy Birthday in German to a Japanese lady very fond of German…
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A few days have passed without posting anything, so this is what happened. On Saturday, we visited Fushimi Inari Shrine, which was breathtakingly beautiful. We spent hours walking through the bright orange Torii gates. Again, it was so very hot and we suffered quite a bit, but it was so worth it. Definitely the highlight in Kyoto, sightseeing wise. And that’s saying something in this city. We sampled some Tofu ice cream (flavors: sesame and sweet potato – awesome!) and tried other Japanese sweets that I can’t remember the name of, sadly. The Torii Gates of Fushimi Inari Taisha In…
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Jumeirah Mosque During morning hours of my last day in Dubai I visited Jumeirah Mosque where a British lady gave us a tour and explained a lot about the Mosque and Islam in general. It was a very interesting, although slightly forcefully cheery experience. Burj Khalifa After running around way too long in the burning sun, I returned to Dubai Mall to wait for my turn to go up the Burj Khalifa. Sadly, the visibility wasn’t all that great that day, but it’s still a cool thing being able to brag how I’ve been up the tallest building in the world. View from the…
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When planning the journey, I decided to take a 3 day stopover in Dubai on my way to Japan. I thought it would be quite interesting to explore this city. And boy, was I not wrong. View from the Metro station The first word that comes to mind when I think about how to express my impressions: surreal. Supremely surreal. First of all, nothing in this city looks older than 10 years. Well, apart from my face, maybe, but try dealing with 50°C degrees while wearing somewhat modest clothing. It’s a whole new challenge. Things get even trickier since it’s…
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The very first stamp in my brand-new passport …
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The last few weeks went by incredibly fast, and it’s almost time to leave already. The passports are ready, the Japan Rail Passes bought, the backpacks packed, couchsurfing hosts contacted, now all that’s left is remembering how to breathe when the plane takes off (which, in our case, could prove to be a challenge). See you in Osaka.Die letzten Wochen sind wie im Fluge vergangen und der Tag der Abreise steht vor der Tür. Die Reisepässe sind abgeholt, der Japan Rail Pass gekauft, die Rucksäche gepackt und die Couchsurfing-Hosts angeschrieben. Jetzt dürfen wir beim Abflug nur das Atmen nicht vergessen……