The Jason Trail

I was happy to leave Kuala Lumpur behind and finally take a trip to the countryside. It felt like a few days in the green would do me some good after breathing in all the exhaustion filled air. Even though I had heard from different sources that Cameron Highlands would be really touristic I decided to go see by myself – I was interested in the green hillsides and tea plantations as well as the jungle.

The bus ride was an easy 3 hours and I arrived in Tanah Rata, a central spot in the area. The air is about 5 degrees cooler there and it felt amazing. I had chosen a really nice guesthouse on the outskirts of town, with a nice garden area and super facilities. Also, I had awesome roommates who I did a jungle tour with and we reconnected in Penang and Langkawi later!

The only thing to do in Cameron Highlands is to trek in the countryside and jungle, either by yourself or as part of a tour. I chose the latter as walking in the forest by myself didn’t seem like the best option and also I was interested in getting some information on the way. The hostel offered some tours and I booked one for the jungle and tea plantations with a guide called Jason – a local celebrity as I found out later.

The tour was really cool, simply put. We hiked through the jungle and got so much information about the plants, environment and species in Malaysia. Jason is a self thought environmentalist who grew up in Cameron Higlands and seemed to know every little detail about the nature in and around the area. As an environmental lawyer he has been fighting for many NGO`s for preserving the nature and ecological solutions. We hiked for 10km in total, through the deep jungle and also a trail that wasn’t visited by other tourists – the ”Jason Trail”, as it was called by the locals (we got this informations randomly by a waiter later in the evening).

Cameron Highlands is known for it’s tea plantations so that`s where we rounded up our tour. We passed small villages where the children yelled hello to us and locals were smiling while riding past on scooters. We got to walk through the bushes, found out which parts of the leaves are used for tea and how the process of making tea goes and finally we go to taste some of the plantations own spicy Chai Masala tea while enjoying the view over the vast green lush hills. One of the best tours I’ve done on my trips!

Kuala Lumpur, thank you and goodbye

I really don’t have much to say about this city, except for that it is loud and too full of traffic. It’s also really really hot, not a good combination. Unfortunately there was nothing there that really made me interested in seeing more. The supposedly interesting sights and parts of the city did not impress me at all, it was either too crowded or just filled with shopping malls. The famous street food market served the worst spring rolls I have ever eaten for the most expensive price I’ve paid here so far. The spectacular Batu Caves look nice from afar, but once you get close it’s not so spectacular at all – the colors, temples and the cave in it are definitely nice, bit that’s all – nice.

I visited a Saturday market in Chow Kit, which was filled with locals yelling at each other, getting their vegetable shopping done and cooking delicious looking food. I tasted some and it was quite awesome.

My highlight was my hostel: it had a big infinity pool and an air conditioned gym on the 11th floor with a nice view. That`s where I escaped the heat and the hazzle, I even went running twice on the running machine at the gym! So something positive at least. Here are some impressions, I think they give a nicer view of the city than my description 🙂

Back to Asia!

A week ago it was time to part from my travel buddy dad for good. Our last 3 weeks together on wheels were great but it was time to test our own wings 🙂 I left Christchurch for Singapore on Sunday and encountered minor setbacks as my flight onward from Melbourne was canceled – not that bad though, as I could get another flight just 1,5 hours later. My luggage didn’t make it on the same flight but I got a nice sum of money as compensation and free delivery to my hostel the next day!

Singapore surprised me positively. I don’t know why, but I had the feeling I wouldn’t enjoy it very much, I thought the city would only consist of skyscrapers and luxury malls. And it did have these too – but with such a mishmash of cultures and nationalities, there were several interesting parts of the city to see such as Little India, Chinatown and Kampong Glam (the moslem quarter). These quarters are filled with colonial buildings in all kinds of colors and they are beautiful.

In the evenings I went downtown, the skyline was at it’s best in the dark and there are several light installations and shows to see at nighttime. Just as I was visiting Singapore it was Chinese New Year’s and the whole city was decorated in lanterns and filled with stands selling artefacts for the celebrations. Unfortunately I fell asleep on Monday, the actual New Year’s night, and missed the countdown and fireworks. I visited another place for celebrations the night after and it was so so crowded, I guess it was not so bad to have missed the actual celebrations…

From Singapore I took a bus to Malacca in southern Malaysia. The bus was incredibly comfortable, never seen anything similar in Europe. One seat could fit three seats of the Finnish company Onnibussi easily! I didn’t have any expectations of Malacca, but having read that it’s a UNESCO World Heritage town I thought it would have some nice buildings to look at. Like Singapore, it was a major positive surprise – but loads nicer than Singapore! The city was taken over by Dutch, Portuguese and English one after another and the buildings mirror the era of colonialization: there’s a Stadthuys, catholic and anglican churches, ruins of the fortress Porta di Santiago and St. Pauls Church. The local culture is visible through Chinese and Hindu temples as well as mosques. To top it all of it also has a nice modern touch, with heaps of street art, bars along the riverside and trendy cafés. And trishaws, crazy wagons with too much of it all: colors, loud techno music, blinking lights and decorated with famous characters such as Hello Kitty and Spongebob. Only in Asia.

As it was the week of the Chinese New Year’s, the city was absolutely packed with chinese tourists. The streets of Chinatown were full and the famous weekend night market on Jonker Street was impossible to get through. It was exhausting, but also quite fun to experience! I stayed in two different hostels, the second one being really great with guests that I hung out with and a host who made awesome breakfast – and many cute cats 🙂 The riverside bar Reggae by the River became my local for the three nights I was in town – it had the nicest waiters and there was always someone to have a beer with. I wasn’t the first Finnish person around – the waiters smiled and yelled ”Kippis!” when I said where I was from and there was a big SUOMI PERKELE on the wall. Not going to explain that, those who know they know!

I’m really happy Malacca was my first stop in Malaysia, it really made a good impression on me and now I’m really excited to see some more of this country! Just need to adjust to the crazy heat and humidity and I’m good to go.

I’m going where the weather fits my clothes

On our way to the east coast we did a little detour towards the southern shores of the South Island, hoping that the weather app would be a bit wrong and that it wouldn’t be raining so much after all. So we made the decision and drove to the are called The Catlins, a natural reserve and scenic route right by the coast with a lot of nature and sea animals like penguins and sea lions. We arrived at Curio Bay in the afternoon and the clouds were dark and hanging low. As we sat in the café it started raining but we decided to wait it out and build our tent there anyways. It was a really beautiful spot, with a long beach on one side and huge cliffs and killer waves on the other. On our evening stroll along the shore we saw a little blue penguin and a sea lion! The night was chilly and windy and so, with a heavy heart, we decided to skip this area anyways and just continue up the coast. On our way we stopped at one long beach that was known to be a good place to spot sea lions and on our walk we actually saw several huge ones and one pup napping at the beach 🙂 The pictures are not so good because I couldn’t go too close, but these guys are so freaking big and they seem to loooove chilling in the sand!

 

We headed up to Dunedin (as we learned, it’s pronunciated daniidin) and found a surprisingly lovely city with a really brittish feel to it with it’s pubs, old stone buildings and cathedral. The houses in the surrounding areas were super beautiful as far as I could see from the car and it would have been easy to spend a few days here – but we were on a mission to find the sun, so we had to hit the road. After a pizza and beers of course! Around Timaru, which is just south of Christchurch, it started to look a but promising and we stayed overnight at a roadside campingplace. Which had a row of large trees to the back and hidden behind these awas a railway – imagine the terrible surprise of a freight train rummaging almost right past the tent in the middle of the night, sounding like a helicopter that was about to land on top of us. Needless to say, we left it at one night and continued, as the sun hadn’t shown itself yet either. Such a bummer!

On our camping app we found a promising area just south of the Banks Peninsula with a cheap camping spot near the ocean, so that’s where we went. And what a jackpot it was! We were met by a helpful couple who told us how to self check-in and then we found out that she was from Finnland and he from Germany – great mix! 😉 There where quite many young people living here that were working on the nearby broccoli farm and it was such a nice and friendly bunch of people from all over the world! We really enjoyed hanging out with them and also – most importantly – the sun was shining like never before, the area was experiencing a real heatwave and I burnt my nose. On our long walk at the beach we saw heaps of dolphins and went swimming in the lagoon. It was almost with a little sad feeling that we left this place and its people behind, but we really wanted to go to the Banks Peninsula as well so on we went.

The Banks Peninsula is a very famous are especially because of it’s largest town, Akaroa. Its located in a deep fjord, with clear blue water and green hills all around. The whole peninsula is filled with lagoons and we went swimming in two of them, as they have great beaches and smooth waves to play in 🙂 Akaroa is such an idyllic place with small wooden houses, rose bushes and sailing boats floating all around in the lagoon. Perfect for an afternoon stroll, having an ice cream and just watching the beauty around you. Close by, in a town called Little River, we rented bicycles and did a big tour along an old railroad track, bought cherries and peaches from a local farmer whose chickens had just got some little ones, drove the scenic summit drive by car and visited some of the smaller fjords and lagoons for swimming. In a heatwave. Absolutely stunning and again, it would have been so damn easy to just stay a liiittle bit longer.

We had to give back the car in Christchurch though, which was not so bad since we were still staying in the city for a couple of days. By now we have been to Christchurch 3 times and staying at the same Airbnb with the nicest hosts Alice and Robert, so now this place feels like coming home! It’s heartwarming to have a place like this on the other side of the world, being called family by our hosts. We cooked together, had long talks over breakfast and – the best of it all – went for a karaoke night at the local pub. It’s like a drug really and Alice and I ended up sining 4 songs each, haha! The night ended with me rapping Coolios Gangstas Paradise in a duetto with an English bloke, a clear sign of a good night! I also grew quite fond of Christchurch, a city that is still building itself up after the earthquakes, with so much to look at and to discover. There’s initiatives, workshops, streetart, special architecture, lots of history and nature mixed in one. We had amazing last days here visiting museums, the botanical garden, small shops and galleries and just strolling around in the sun. I’m so happy that I decided to come back to New Zealand for this mindblowing roadtrip!

There’s always something lurking behind the corner

My first impression of New Zealand was of constant beauty. I’m stunned pretty much by everything I see and a simple car ride of an hour can turn into an experience of a lifetime. It’s just so goddamn spectacular everywhere and I just keep on getting overwhelmed by the nature anew every single day. Everytime I think ”THIS must be the most spectacular work of nature I have ever seen” – I turn the next corner and something else extraordinary turns up! Also, the landscapes often look picture perfect, like painted, not real at all. The pictures you’d expect to see in a fairy tale book, not in real life.

I went through so many thoughts and emotions at once when we drove over the Haast pass into the state of Otago and the Queenstown lake district. From our direction you reach the south end of lake Wanaka first and get a glimpse of mountains and clear blue water coming up. And from there it just keeps getting more and more spectacular: the mountains get snowy peaks, the water gets even clearer and the green hills seem to land right in the water. In the middle of lake Wanaka, the road turns and rises a bit higher and on the other side lake Hawea gleams strikingly blue and with a dramatic backdrop of rocky mountains. The section in the middle is called ”The Neck” and you can see both lakes at the same time. There are several scenic stops along the windy road, which is situated along the water, and it’s impossible to not stop at all of them. Unfortunately most of the pictures of this are on my camera and at the moment I can’t get them on my laptop, but here’s one to get an idea!

We decided to stay at the north side of lake Wanaka in the town of – wait for it – Wanaka! It’s quite touristy and full of outdoor shops and tour offices, but still nice enough for a little stroll through the streets and by the lake. The most important reason for tourism are of course the mountains, for skiing in the winter and hiking in the summer. We finally wanted to do some serious mountain tours and decided to go up to the Rob Roy Glacier, a hike of about 4 hours. The road over there was quite adventurous, as we had to pass about 6 water filled creeks with the car, but with a driver who has ventured through parts of the Sahara in a car without a windshield, it wasn`t really a big deal 😉

Every single step of the way up where worth it and beyond. The glacier looms just right in front of you on the highest point of the walkway and it is unbelievably beautiful and out of this world amazing. Several waterfalls stream down the mountain and in parts the wind was so strong, it just flung the water right back up in reverse! The waterfalls pool into a glacier water river that streams all the way down to the lake and the walkway goes just next to it almost the whole way – at some points the flow is racing down in huge speed, at other points the blue water gathers into small lakes and gorges. I’ve never seen a glacier of nature in such a close-up way and the walk was one to rememeber definitely.

The destination of the next day was the peak of Rocky Mountain, which was not as long and spectacular, but the views from the top were amazing as well, over the whole valley and lake Wanaka. The route was quite tricky and dangerous at some places, with really narrow and steep paths right next to the cliffs, where we could see the climbers making their way up. In the evening we were super exhausted but managed to stay up quite late, thanks to our funny polish tent neighbours who brought cake and wine and nice discussions!

Queenstown is probably one the of the most famous towns of the South Island and not very far away from Wanaka, so that’s where we headed next. And couldn’t get out of there fast enough. It’s Wanaka times hundred, a full-on tourist circus with zero charme. We used the library for internet, had a coffee and left just in time of the heaviest storm and downpour. The roads were jammed, firetrucks speeding here and there and we were just glad to get going, over the mountains towards east, away from the rain. And as we passed the mountain range between Queenstown and Alexandra – blue skies appeared! On the downside, the mountains here were covered with snow and it was super cold, supposted to go down to 4 degrees in the night, so we booked a little appartment at a campingsite and left our tent in the car withouth thinking twice about it. Such a good decision. In our warm room we dreamed about the east coast, where we were heading next, and the warm weathers that were awaiting us there (hopefully!).

The Great West Coast

Did you know that there is an equivalent to the Australian Great Ocean Road on the other side of the Tasman Sea? I did not and so it came to me as a total surprise when we decided to drive down the complete West Coast of New Zealands South Island.

After roadtripping with Daniel in Australia I flew back to New Zealand – I was not done with this country yet after seeing just a small glimpse during the two weeks in December. Also one last trip with my dad was in place so here we are now! We have rented a car, bought a tent and other camping gear and are cruising around this amazing island.

We crossed the island from east to west through the Lewis pass and headed to Westport, a nice little town right by the sea. The map shows an even smaller road leading north of town and this of course was particularly interesting for us. We drove through small seaside villages with beautiful and colorful wooden houses, along the ocean road with mountains as a backdrop. At Mokihinui we found a nice and simple campsite right by the water and ended up staying for 3 nights – we spent one day just hanging around in the sun and on another on we drove all the way up until the end of the road, to Kahurangi National Park, where we took a beautiful walk through the rainforest all the way to the hidden Stuart Beach. We had to flee from the beach quite quickly though because of all the sandflys. Unfortunately, they´re a bit everywhere here…

We also made a detour to the Oparara Basin, that according to all flyers should be spectacular. The road there was a bit adventurous but it was worth it: the 43 meters high lime stone arche was indeed spectacular! But somehow, I can’t find my pictures from there so you’ll just have to imagine or google it.

Now back to the Great Coastal Road that I didn’t know anything about. I had read that the road offers great views but the similarity to the Great Ocean Road (although much shorter and without the dramatic cliffs) was a positive surprise! There are some cliffs of course too, just not as high, but the amazing part is the jungle that seems to grow all the way to the water. Also the famous ”Pancake Rocks” were really cool, despite of the name that made me doubt this touristic spot was really so nice. But it was. We were quite happy about the sunshine that we had on this drive, otherwise it would have been just half as beautiful, I guess.

After spending a few night at a nice little camping site right by the ocean, visitin the town of Greymouth, jogging for the first time in 5 months (me!) and just hanging out in the sun we decided to head more south. We ended up driving far more than planned, as it was raining cats and dogs the entire day and we didn’t feel like getting out of the car really. We left the famous Franz Josef & Fox glaciers behind and drove all the way to Haast, the southernmost town of the West Coast and spent the night in a motel. I felt a bit sad about not seeing the glaciers, but this turned out to be in vain as we got the chance to see one in it’s full gear later – in sunshine.

My Australian roadtrip

I went to Australia for four weeks and didn’t write a single post about it. Not that I didn’t have anything to report – there was heaps, and that was the problem. I just didn’t find the timing, the right moment, the concentration to sit down and write about it. Instead I was living in the moment, enjoying each and every minute of the day and decided to write about this trip in memories, after it’s all over and I can go through all the magical moments again. That’s also when I’ll be able to write about it the best, I assumed. So this will be a long one, a big collection of short descriptions and loads of pictures!

Mid December I met up with my one and only, Daniel, at the airport in Melbourne. The last time I saw him was saying goodbye four months earlier at the airport in Helsinki in the August heat, when December still felt like another lifetime. A reunion was highly anticipated and it was great, of course. So much to talk about, both of us telling about the little details of live from the past months that don’t fit into the phone calls and messages. Planing our adventure together.

Another reunion for me was with Australia itself. I spent almost a year in Australia on a working holiday visa when I was 19 – which is already 14 years ago! Back then I lived in Sydney together with my best childhood friend, worked and had friends from all over the world. Spent my free time at beaches, cheap bars and discovering the city. This was the first time since then that I was back in Australia, which made me heaps excited!

First we spent some days in Melbourne, exploring different parts of the city and just enjoying each other’s company.

We had rented a campervan for three weeks which would take us from Melbourne to the Great Ocean Road and then all the way to Brisbane. A long way to go! We started off south towards the coast and spent five days on this magnificent great road. Small seaside towns, huge sandy beaches, dramatic cliffs and windy roads all the way. We saw koalas and kangaroos close up in the wild, took a trip to the famous Twelve Apostles, drove up to the mountainside for walks in the rainforest and to waterfalls, spent Christmas at a campsite in Apollo Bay. It took us a few days to get accustomed to our new home – where to put all our things, how to cook on the small gas cooker, learn how everything works and get organized.

On Christmas day we took a big step and drove all the way to the other side of Melbourne to start our trip up the east coast. We were always searching for free campgrounds as there aren’t many ”regular” camping places as we know them from Europe, but pretty much just big caravan parks with all the luxury which we really didn’t want or need. This took us to many random, but beautiful places that we never would have found otherwise, as the free campgrounds are a bit off the main roads. Our first night on the other side of Melbourne was spent in beautiful farmlands, surrounded by green hills and listening to the Kookaburras laugh in the treetops. One of our main stops was the Wilsons Promontory national park – The Prom – where we hoped to encounter some more wildlife and do a few hikes. In both we succeeded: we climbed the Mount Oberon and met some awesome animals on the way!

Our goal was to reach Canberra by New Year’s eve to celebrate with a good friend of mine and his family & friends. We had about 5 days to spend and decided to just drive up the coast, visit a few nice beaches, drive to the hinterlands to see some smaller towns. A highlight was Raymond Island, the home of koalas, where we could observe them sleeping the day away 🙂

We took a trip to the seaside town of Mallacoota just in time to see the fishermen count their catch and feed some hungry pelicans. There are many historical national heritage towns in this area and we spent some time in Cobargo and Tilba, where time seems to stand still. The Ninety Mile Beach gave us a perfect place for soaking up the sun for a couple of hours. We found a nice camping spot just by the beach at Mystery Bay and stayed a few days, being lazy, reading books at the beach and hanging out. And then on Monday we drove to the capital for another long awaited reunion with Jono and Jess, who I hadn’t seen in almost 6 years! We spent hours catching up, I finally got to meet their two lovely children and in the evening we went to the city centre for a picnic in the park and fireworks. The next day we spent at the riverside outside of the city, it was melting hot and being by the water seemed to be the only way to go.

We were headed for Sydney and had a few days in between so Kangaroo Valley seemed to be an ideal place for a stop on the way. It was really amazing: the views over the valley at the Fitzroy Falls lookout were jawdropping – as were the Fitzroy Falls themselves with more than 80 meters in height! We drove on to the town of Kangaroo Valley, another heritage town with all old buildings still in use. Here we also found the nicest free camp on our trip, right by the Kangaroo River where we could go for a swim and – doing right by it’s name – kangaroos hopping around just outside the camping grounds. A wombat seemed to live here too, it walked around in the afternoon between the tents and cars without being scared at all.

My long awaited highlight was of course Sydney, the city where I lived years ago and have so many great memories from. I longed to go see the places where I lived (first picture), the streets I walked to go to work, the bars that I visited. And it brought back so much, even though the city has changed a lot during the years. A friend from Hamburg lives in Sydney with his girlfriend and they were nice enough to let us stay at their place – it was great to catch up and enjoy the city together with them. We even had time for the famous Bondi to Coogee walk!

After Sydney we had just five days to get to Brisbane, which is about 900 km away. Doesn’t sound like a lot, especially if you’re used to the highways of Germany, but on Australian roads it takes time. First we stopped at the Myall Lakes nationalpark, where we arrived in pouring rain and were greeted by a dingo (!) at the campground. The next morning it was dry again and we could explore the huge sand dunes by the ocean and swim in the lake before taking off to Coff’s Harbour. Just before arriving we turned towards the heritage town of Bellingen, which was so nice that we never made it Coff’s Harbour! Cute little shops, cafés and restaurants – and a bakery with the first really good bread we found on the entire trip. In Yamba we took a long walk at the incredible beach and the next day we drove to our final destination, Byron Bay. This turned out to be a highlight as well! I didn’t remember much of my last visit here and it came as a surprise that the town is actually super nice and relaxing. Like they say, it’s the vibe that make this place special. In the end we would have gladly spend some more days here…

We did something extra cool here also: booked a surfing lesson! This was a big positive surprise for me, as I was never really that interested in surfing. The feeling of finally standing up at making it ahead a few meters… I can’t wait to get back on the board! My muscles hurt so much the day after though and it was hard to move at all. I guess I need to work out a bit more…

Then it was time to pack our things, drive to Brisbane and return our little home on wheels to it’s owners. Our roadtrip was really magical – I enjoyed every single bit of it and could recommend this kind of trip to everyone. Australia has so much to offer from landscapes to animals – not to mention the amazing coastline with all the beaches, crystal clear water and white sands. What a ride!

 

Happy campers

The best way to explore New Zealand is by car, preferably a camper. It’s such a big country with so much to see so it was really difficult to decided what to see with so little time – when the idea of doing a camper relocation came up. This particular camper had to be relocated from Auckland to Christchurch in 4 days time and as the driver you get the car for a much cheaper price. So we decided to go for it! Later we realized that driving 1000 km within 3 days in New Zealand was quite stressy and a few more days would have been more than welcome – but it was an amazing ride anyways.

The first big point of excitement was driving on the left side. My dad did all the driving and I was responsible for reminding him to keep on the left. It was a bit tricky in the beginning and turning or driving off a parking lot will probably never get easy. Driving straight is easy though and we rolled on without any major problems. Our first stop was Lake Taupo a few hours drive from Auckland and we stayed overnight at a free campervan parking spot right by the lake. We cooked some great food in our camper kitchen, drank a beer with a lake view and watched the sun set on the other side later on. When I’m not camping, I hardly think about it – but when I go camping I always realize again how great it is! The freedom of driving wherever you want, sleeping in beautiful places in the nature and sipping on a beer in camping chairs – priceless 🙂

Our destination for the following day was Wellington, since we had a ferry booking early the day after that. Quite a long drive which got even longer since we spontaniously turned to a scenic drive. The Manawatu scenic drive took us through such beautiful sceneries, I could have easily sat in the car for several days just looking at everything around me. The variety of landscapes is fascinating: we drove through green hills with sheeps, high mountains, deep forests and plain fields within just half an hour. Also, we found a little road that led us to a small river creek and a waterfall! Again, it’s hard to try and explain it all in words, gorgeous and amazing are not enough to describe the nature we drove through. This also applies to the ferry ride over to the South Island, which leads through a fjord with clear blue waters, green hills and mountains.

 

The last bit led us from Picton to Christchurch and we drove the whole day. The road is mainly situated right by the ocean and was perfect for taking a break at the beach. It was a slow drive, since the earthquake of 2011 left it’s marks and the roads are still being repaired at some places. My favourite part of this drive was a long stretch of big rocks between the ocean and the road with hundreds of seals lying around!

We returned the car in Christchurch and I think dad was quite relieved – driving such a long way on small roads that we’re not really in a good condition is exhausting. Nevertheless, we were both happy to have gotten a glimpse of how New Zealand looks like and what more there is to explore! It definitely made us both want more.

We still had two day together to explore Christchurch, a city that got struck by a bad earthquake in 2011 and has been under construction since. It shows clearly, as old empty buildings are mixed with many completely new ones. The cathedral in the centre is partly destroyed and there are remindes of destructions everywhere. But the city has a positivity about it – it’s being built up again and contains many green areas, murals and also historical sites that survived the quake. We also visited Littleton a little bit outside of Christchurch and took a long walk over the hills with great views of bith Christchurch and the bay where Littleton lies.

After these days it was time for dad and me to part, which felt really odd after 3,5 months of being together every single day. You get so used to each other and the company. I think we were a super good team – mainly we got along well and had the same visions of what we want to do and see. It was good fun to do a big trip like this together with my father and I’m really happy we just went for it. Of course we also got on each others nerves sometimes – that’s bound to happen when you’re spending time together 24/7 – but that’s small compared to how many times we laughed, agreed and enjoyed all the awesome moments in each others company! It might not be the total end of traveling together, we might meet up a bit later for some more exploring, but one episode of the journey came to and end. It was a damn good one! ❤

Hello New Zealand!

When my dad and I decided to take the Trans-Siberian train, I didn’t think we’d travel half way around the world. But once my dad agreed that a train journey through Russia was a good idea, he also found that ”since we`re already so close, we should see Japan as well, and probably also New Zealand, because from Japan it’s not such a long way anymore”. Alright, I thought, I’m in!

We took a 12-hour flight from Taipei over Hong Kong to Auckland and landed in the afternoon. It was the easiest passport control I have experienced outside of Europe and the friendly staff at the airport made me like the country instantly. We had booked a room in northern Auckland and arrived at the house just as the rain started pouring down – and we thought it was summer over there? Well, aparently the weather in Auckland can change by the hour and it felt familiar, being from Hamburg…

Surprisingly, we were quite jetlagged and didn’t do much the first days except for walking around downtown. On the third day we met up with my dad’s old friend from Hamburg, who has lived in New Zealand for a long time, and with whom we stayed with for the next days. We took a tour to Aucklands oldest suburb, Devonport, and climbed up a small volcano hill for a great view in all directions of the city. Later we drove to beautiful Mission Bay and had lunch at the beach. Mission Bay and beaches beyond made a really good afternoon stroll and we returend here for another whole day later, it’s really stunning.

My dad’s friend’s house is located in the hills outside of the city, with an amazing view over whole of Auckland. I could just sit there and watch the hills turning into the city and later, when it got dark, you could see all the lights being turned on in the distance. In the evenings we sat there with the night skyline in our view, having dinner and drinking wine. You are probably reading this, so thank you again for the hospitality and offering us the nicest view in Auckland!

One of my absolute favourites during the days in and around Auckland was a visit to the west coast Piha Beach. I don’t even have words for this place, it was easily one of the top three greatest beaches I have ever seen. And definitely the most spectacular. We walked around for hours, climbed on Lion’s rock and some hiking paths around the beach, took a break and read our books, listening to the big waves and looking at dogs running around and enjoying their freedom. There are several beaches on the west coast and unfortunately we only made it to this one – if I ever go back I will surely visit other ones as well.

Spirited away

Our warm sunny holidays at the coast took an end, and even if we really would have liked to stay in Dulan it was time to move on. Taiwan is known for it’s mountains and we still hadn’t given up the thought of doing some more hiking – only the problem was transportation and time. We didn’t have our own car and by bus or train you can only do certain routes. Also, the highest areas are hard to reach anyway and we needed an alternative plan.

A German guy living in Taiwan suggested we travel back north and visit an area south of Keelung as well as a national park right next to Taipei. Both of them offer great views, are easy to reach and have quite easy hiking paths. This sounded like a perfect plan, as we needed to get back to Taipei in the end anyways, and off we went.

We had booked a hotel in the port city of Keelung. We had absolutely no idea about this place and when we arrived it was rainy, wet, gray and soggy. Our hotel room was damp and there was a short moment of frustration and the thought ”we should have just stayed in the south a little longer”. Keelung turned out to be quite nice and lively though and spent our evening walking up and down the streets that were packed with shops, stands and restaurants. We ended up at the Keelung night market, which aparently is quite known and popular amongst the Taiwanese, and it was such a great experiment. The main road of the market was full of yellow lanterns and even on a Monday there were a lot of people walking around, eating, drinking and meeting friends. We were met by a thousand different smells, especially the local delicacy stinky tofu, fumes, busy cooks and interesting dishes.

The next day we took a bus to Jiufen, a historic mountain town just south of Keelung. The town itself was populated when gold was discovered in the area and miners moved in. The houses are quite old, built on top of each other with terraces and balconies facing the sea and within there are small paths and stairs leading from one level to another. The town was an inspiration for settings of the anime movie Spirited away – but I have to say my spirits in this place were pretty damn low. Last summer I randomly saw a picture on Instagram of a wooden terrace with red lanterns facing the blue ocean. It was so beautiful and when I saw it was taken in Taiwan, I thought I have to visit this place if I ever go there. Now I know this thought occured to about another zillion tourists and it became very clear when we walked through the narrow main path through the village. It’s filled with tourist shops and mainly chinese tourists, pushing and shoving through like it’s a race of some kind. It felt like the longest walk and we took another path as soon as we got the chance. And just another five minutes away, in the quieter area of the town, it was so pleasant: there was an old man playing his harmonica, small shops, galleries and cafés and a beautiful view of the town. In other words it’s a great place to visit if you stay on the outskirts and look at it from a bit further away 🙂

Just next to the town is Mount Keelung, which was our actual main destination for this day trip. When there’s a hill, we’re sure to climb it. The way up consisted of stone steps only, it was really heavy to get up but as usual the view made it all worth while. I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

The last few days were quite rainy and we mostly spent them walking around Taipei, visiting museums and cafés and organising last minute stuff like sending postcards. We took the metro to another part of the city where we hadn’t been before and it turned out to be our favourite. Dadaocheng is an old chinese merchant quarter with many western style historic buildings. The small shops lining the main street are full with traditional chinese medicine, herbs, food and some filled to the brim with all kinds of every day items made out of bamboo. Mixed with these were trendy local designers and hipster cafés as well as temples and simple noodle restaurants. We walked around for hours, looking all the curios items and food stuff, every stall as interesting as the previous one even though they often sold the same kinds of things. On the last evening we made a quick visit to another similar area and ended up in the middle of a huge parade with dancing dragons & gods, flower wagons, music and singing. Such a great way to round off our visit to Taipei and Taiwan!