UNESCO Globetrotter Blog

Welcome to our travel guide for globetrotters & UNESCO enthusiasts – discover the top travel tips for Japan – we promise to you that you will love Japan’s culture,  architecture, landscapes and the exceptionally delicious food.

Content

Tips for planning your Japan trip

Our route through Japan by rental car

Our most beautiful destinations in Japan

Tokyo
Nikko (UNESCO World Heritage)
Tomioka Silk Mill (UNESCO World Heritage)
Kamakura
Fujisan (UNESCO World Heritage)
Japanese Alps / Shirakawago (UNESCO World Heritage)
Kanazawa
Uji (UNESCO World Heritage)
Kyoto (UNESCO World Heritage)
Nara (UNESCO World Heritage)
Horyuji (UNESCO World Heritage)
Koyasan (UNESCO World Heritage)
Himeji Castle (UNESCO World Heritage)
Kurashiki
Hiroshima (UENSCO World Heritage)
Miyajima / Itsukushima Shrine (UNESCO World Heritage)
Hagi (UNESCO World Heritage)
Iwami Ginzan (UNESCO World Heritage)
Izumo
Osaka

Our recommendations

Our hotels in Japan
Favorite dishes
Book recommendations

How to get there?

The first time we visited Japan was on our all-around-the-world trip in December 2016. On 7th December 2016, we arrived in Tokyo – back on earth’s northern hemisphere for a long time. Just sweated in Australia at 35 degrees – now freezing in Japan at minus 2 degrees Celsius with the first snow flakes we had in Nikko some days later. From Cairns we have taken a Jetstar Asia flight to Tokyo that took around eight hours. This was our first flight with Jetstar Asia and we can really recommend this low cost airline since we had afterwards a couple more with Jetstar. Our flight to Tokyo was around St. Nicholas’ Day what prompted the airline to distribute Nicholas hats…

Japan is a cultural shock after the extrovert Latin Americans and the very communicative New Zealanders and Australians. From a technological point of view we can learn a lot: hot coffee cans from vending machines, heated toilets, easy system to choose the dishes without knowing the language… and these are only the things we have discovered in our first days here.

Our route through Japan

We stayed 18 days in Japan and tried to see at last some of the cultural highlights in that timeframe. Nikko was our most northern point and from there we drove to the South with the hope to have a little bit of warmer temperatures.

Our experience of self driving in Japan

For renting a self-driving car we needed a Japanese translation of our international driver licenses. This is available at the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) for around 30 Euros per driver license. This lasts approx. one day so plan enough time before picking up the car. It is not surprising that Japan is expensive. But we were astonished paying the highway fee for 150 km from Tokyo to Nikko with approx. 40 Euros. Based in our plan to drive more than 2,500 km this will sum up to a huge amount.

The amount of money we have spent for toll and parking surprised us definitively: about 500 euros for toll and additional 150 Euros as car parking fee. We had several hotels without free parking. Next time we will also check this option at booking.com. This is in total more compared to the amount we have spent for our meals in Japan. Also other countries had a toll system but this amount exceeds everything what we have experienced so far, e.g. in Chile for comparable number of kilometers we only paid 80 Euros.

We got a typical Japanese car as rental car and it looks like a shoebox. However, we have to admit that the car is practical: in which other car – despite our campervan – is it possible to walk from the front to the back inside the car? But with this car it doesn’t matter that the maximum speed on the quite empty but three lanes highway is only 80 to 100.

Our travel experience and travel tips for Japan

Tokyo

We have started our tour through Japan in Tokyo. Despite our itinerary being fully packed for the three days, we are sure we have not seen all interesting sights of this huge metropole with more than nine million residents. But the metro is very efficient and a fantastic way to get around with trains running every three to five minutes and it’s many different lines. We were surprised seeing not so many people on the streets in the city and cars on the streets as expected in such a populated area. Exciting is also the mixture of traditional temples and fancy skyscrapers.

Kyu-Shiba-rikyu Gardens Tokyo

We started our exploration of Tokyo with a typical Japanese garden. The one we have chosen is close to the Hamamatsucho station. This small beautiful garden allows you to get a sense of what a typical Japanese landscape garden incl. a lake with koi fishes is like in a fairly short amount of time, and is a great place to stop and take a break from the surrounding metropolis. This garden is one of the oldest one in Tokyo. From this park you can also see one of the first skyscraper of Tokyo – the World Trade Center.

Zojo-ji Temple

From the Kyu-Shiba-rikyu Gardens we walked further to the Shiba park with the temples Zojo-ji. The temple was founded in 1393 and is the main quarter of this Buddhist school. At the end of the temple area you can see many small stone figures wearing a red knit hat. These are for deceased early in life children. According to Japanese folk belief, red is the color for expelling demons and illness. The red heads shall help the children in their afterlife.

Tokyo Tower

In the pictures from the Zojo-ji temple you might have already seen the Tokyo tower with its red and white stripes that looks like a copy of the Eiffel tower in Paris. However, if something is copied in Japan, it needs to be better than the original. Therefore, the Tokyo Tower is with its 333 meter around 13 meters higher than the original but has only half of the weight. The tower was finished in 1958. We have taken the escalator up to the viewing platform in 150 meters and enjoyed the incredible sweeping view of Tokyo. There is even a visitor deck at the height of 250 meters however, the view on the 150 meter deck is said to be better.

Shinjuku district

This district combines much of the things that will come to one’s mind when thinking of Tokyo: upscale department stores, swarming crowds, video screens on the streets, amazing skyscrapers with hidden shrines in-between. The train station is used by 2-3 mn commuters every day and is therefore one of the busiest in the world. Tokyo’s municipal government has also moved in this area in 1991. Some really photogenic towers can be seen in that district, like the Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower.

47 Ronins of Ako or Ako Gishi / Sengaku-ji

The graves of 47  samurais are located in the temple Sengaku-ji. This grave site is more than 300 years old.

Shibuya Crossing and area

This crossing is an awesome spectacle with giant video screens… Around the crossing you will see numerous neon signs and video screens in an almost uncountable number. Unbelievable also the number of people crossing here every second.

Happo-en Garden

Another traditional garden we recommend to visit in Tokyo is Happo-en. The well-manicured grounds are home to centuries-old bonsai trees, a koi pond, and cherry trees and fall foliage that make for some of the best seasonal views in the city.

Edo Castle / Tokyo Imperial Palace

Unfortunately, we were too late and could not visit the Tokyo Imperial Palace from the inside. Formerly, this castle was the largest in the world though little remains of it apart from the moat and walls. In the garden you can see the massive stones used to build the castle walls end you can even climb on the ruins. The Imperial Palace is surround by a moat. Several bridges and a gate give you access to the grounds.

Senso-ji in Asakusa

Senso-ji is one of the most important and oldest temples in Tokyo in the district Asakusa. The entrance to the temple is via the Kaminari-mon (thunder gate) that brings you directly to the shopping street. Passing the street you reach the five-level pagoda and the temple itself with the sink in front of it.

National Museum (UNESCO World Heritage)

The National Museum consists of several separate buildings in the district Ueno. We visited the main Gallery (Honkan) with a ancient pottery, religious sculpture, samurai swords, kimonos and much more. One of the buildings is registered as UNESCO World Heritage as part of the ensemble of the architectural work of Le Corbusier that shows an outstanding contribution to the modern movement.

Jyo Myo In and Daienji Temple in Yanaka

The last temple we would like to recommend to you is the Jyo myo In temple in Yanaka. This temple includes more than 84,000 Jizo stone figures.

From there it is just a short walk to the Daienji temple. They were about to close at that time we arrived here but also the outside was very beautifully constructed.

Nikko (UNESCO World Heritage)

Temples and shrines in Nikko are from the 17th century and it is said that you should not say gorgeous before seeing Nikko. We can confirm that this is true and cannot imagine seeing temples being more impressive. The temples and shrines of Nikko (Tosho-gu) are inscribed to the UNESCO World Heritage list due to its architectural and decorative masterpiece. Left to the entrance you can see the famous “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” monkeys that demonstrate the three principles of Tendai Buddhism.

Traditional guest house in Nikko (Ryokan)

We also wanted to try the traditional way of guest houses. For the first time, we have chosen one in Nikko. Ryokans are nowadays famous for delicious food, well maintained Japanese gardens, onsen bath and courtesy service. Even though the rooms are at the first glance very plain with its straw mats lying o the ground, flat tables with seat cushions, the private onsen and the authentic food compensate for everything.

Tomioka Silk Mill (UNESCO World Heritage)

On our way to the sacred mountain Fujisan we visited a silk mill from 1872 – at that time Japan started a modernization of the country. To set up the Tomioka Silk Mill, Japanese government employed technical advisers from France. However, the recruitment of local workers was not successful at the beginning since it had been rumored that the French would drink blood. The Japanese have seen the French people drinking red wine and they had mistaken this for blood. Even the government denied this rumor and emphasized the importance of the mill, this lead to three months delay in starting to operate the mill.

The Tomioka mill was used for 115 years and played an important role for Japan in high quality raw silk manufacturing. In some shops next to the mill they sell a kind of thick cream what we have identified later as silk ice cream.

Kamakura

From the silk mill we have made a stop-over in Kamakura. This was rather planned only for sleeping but we found the Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu shrine that was illuminated in the night. It was already closed but we have taken the opportunity for a short walk around the area.

Fujisan (UNESCO World Heritage)

Japan’s highest mountain with around 3,700 m is Fujisan. Due to its symmetric cone, Fujisan is the mountain that is most mentioned in Japanese literature and at the same moment it is a holy mountain playing an important role in the Buddhism. Unfortunately, we were not lucky with the weather and were not able to see the mountain – except on picture postcards.

Going up the first 1,500 meters by car is possible in general. Received the required information for driving up from the visitor information center, we paid the entrance fee and started driving up the mountain. At the first of five stations, we were stopped by the security since the road was closed due to the weather conditions. At least a piece of the road was paved with an asphalt creating a nice music when driving on it.

Japanese Alps / Shirakawago (UNESCO World Heritage)

We continued our trip into the Japanese Alps to Shirakawago. This is one of the snowiest places in Japan with up to 10 meters snow per year. Therefore, the houses have special rooftops: peaked and with thick thatch covered rooftops. This construction allows rain and snow to fall straight off and prevents the water going through into the house. The houses look a bit like houses in the German Black Forest region.

Kanazawa / Kanazawa Castle Park

The city Kanazawa was mainly established in the late 16th century by one family. The latter invested in building a fortress (to ensure independence from the former Edo regime) and a huge Japanese garden. Main parts of the fortress have been re-built until 1990. The garden is called Kenroku-en and means that six important attributes of the garden are fulfilled: water, outlook, range, feeling of security, inviolacy, arrangement.

But everything in this garden is artificial and based on an exact planning – even the water is coming through 10 km long pipelines. However, it is a very cozy park where we have met a very friendly park ranger who has created an Origami paper crane for us.

In Kaga we stayed again in a traditional guesthouse (Ryokan). This time it is was a larger one with some entertainment program in the evening.

Uji (UNESCO World Heritage together with Kyoto)

Uji is a small city to the south of Kyoto and belongs to the UNESCO World Heritage of Kyoto. Byodo-in is a Buddhist temple that was converted from a villa in 1052. The only remaining building is the Phoenix hall. The Phoenix was a popular mythical bird in Chinese and was revered by the Japanese as a protector of Buddha.

Kyoto (UNESCO World Heritage)

Kyoto will always remain in our memories as the colorful temple city. With more than 2,000 religious places Kyoto is a proud cultural city. Kyoto was after Nara the second permanent capital of Japan and the 1,000 years of being an imperial city has left cultural heritage en mass. 18 sites in and around Kyoto are recognized as UNESCO world heritage including many shrines and temples as well as the castle of Kyoto. The huge temples have many wooden carvings. The red and orange temples are shining in the sun and the golden temple is completely covered with leaf gold. Impressive temples!

We visited Japan the first time in December 2016. The Christmas lights in Kyoto were really impressive and we have taken the illuminated road couple of time 😉

Kyoto – the city of shrines and temples – is like Japan in perfection and therefore, a mandatory bucket on your travel itinerary. We spent in total three days in Kyoto and would like to stay even more to explore the whole city. The number of sights is incredible, therefore, we will present the most beautiful ones which we have visited.

Kiyomizu-dera temple

We have started in the morning with a walk up the hill to the Kiyomizu-dera temple. From there you can enjoy a good view over Kyoto. Like other temples this one also consists of several buildings.

Kinkaku-ji – the golden temple

This temple might be the most popular one in Kyoto. The upper levels are covered with gold leaf. The sight of the temple reflected in the pond is simply beautiful. Walking through the garden is the only possibility to visit the temple.

Ryoan-ji temple

A beautiful and quit empty Zen temple is Ryoan-ji. The long aisles with the typical Japanese windows and the gardens are very good for taking pictures.

Ninna-ji

Only a short walk from Ryoan-ji you can visit the Ninna-ji temple with a beautiful five-storied pagoda. The pagoda together with the great gate Nio-mon and the main hall Kondo Ninna-ji is considered as a national treasury.

Higashi-Hongan-ji

Close to Kyoto’s central station lies this Jodo-Shinshu temple founded at the beginning of 13th century. The main and the founder hall belongs to the largest wooden buildings in the world.

Nishi-Hongwan-ji

This temple can be visited together with the previously mentioned Higashi-Hongan-ji since it has been re-located to a site near-by. The temple halls and gates are decorated with elaborate carvings.

Last but not least: Chikurin-no Komichi

This is not a temple but a lovely bamboo grove (path of bamboo). Really impressive to see how this hard wood bamboo is growing.

Nara (UNESCO World Heritage)

Nara was the first permanent capital of Japan with several UNESCO World Heritage sites. The centerpiece of ancient Nara is definitively the Great Buddha that is housed in Todai-ji. But you must not leave the deer park out of your itinerary when visiting Nara. Nara can be visited as a day trip from Kyoto due to the express railway.

Nara park

A special experience on our trip is the encounter with animals we so far only knew from the zoo. In Nara we visited the Nara park crowded with deer without any fences. The deer are used to people. When somebody buys the offered special deer cookies, they start running towards the cookie owner. But selfies without cookies seem not to be their favorite… About 1,200 deer are living in this area. The deer were in pre-Buddhist times considered messengers of the gods and therefore enjoy the status of National Treasures.

Todai-ji

The deer are around the temple of Todai-ji.  The temple itself is the largest wooden building in the world. This huge temple is necessary for the 16.2 meters high Great Buddha (Daibutsu) statue inside. Its Buddha statue is one of the largest bronze figures in the world and was originally cast in 746. The present statue with its 15 meters consists of 437 tones of bronze and 130 kg of gold. Several halls are around he main temple hall.

Horyuji (UNESCO World Heritage)

In the Horyuji area 48 more Buddhist buildings where some of them date at the late 7th or early 8th century, making them some of the oldest surviving wooden buildings in the world. It is therefore the oldest temple in Japan and a repository for some of the country’s rarest treasures. This area is still within the Nara prefecture and can be visited from Nara in a single day. But we experienced the ticket fee for this temple very high so to be really worth it you should rather plan half a day.

Koyasan (UNESCO World Heritage together with half island Kii)

Back in Japan’s mountains at around 900 meters we visited Koyasan which is one of the most famous pilgrimage place. One quarter of the residents of Koyasan are monks. The oldest temple is from the year 816 and several hundred thousands graves are located in the cemetery next to the area with 120 houses, shrines and temples. Some temples had to be rebuilt already five times due to fire. Koyasan is impressive from the natural setting and the vast cemetery (Oku-no-in).

Cemetery of Koyasan

Sacred Precinct of Koyasan

Niutsuhime Shrine and Jison-in Temple (UNESCO World Heritage)

The Niutsuhime Shrine belongs to the ensemble of UNESCO World Heritage of Koyasan & Kii and the pilgrimage route. If you climb the stairs from Jison-in Temple, you can reach a shrine, which is said to be the starting of the pilgrimage trail.

Himeji Castle / Himeji-jo (UNESCO World Heritage)

The most significant wooden building in Japan is Himeji Castle. Its first fortification was built on this site in 1333 and gradually enlarged over the centuries by various clans ruling over this region. This castle complex as it survives today is over 400 years old and was completed in 1609. It comprises over eighty buildings spread across a wide area connected by a series of gates and paths. The main building is 92 meters high and one of the reasons why this is castle is stunningly beautiful is the roof covered alternating with flat and round tiles with crests of the ruling families.

Himeji Castle is recognized as UNESCO World Heritage since it is the finest surviving example of early 17th-century Japanese castle architecture. It is possible to visit this castle as a day trip from Nara, Kyoto or Osaka or this is how we did it, as a stop-over on our route to Hiroshima.

Kurashiki

From Himeji to our next destination Hiroshima, we stayed for one night in Kurashiki. Kurashiki surprised us with a picturesque area with old willow-edges historic buildings along the canal. The warehouses were used to store rice and later for textile.

Hiroshima (UENSCO World Heritage)

Hiroshima is best known as the first city in history to be targeted by a nuclear weapon when an atomic bomb was dropped at 8:15 am on August 6, 1945.

Genbaku Dome

The museum shows clothes and personal items like children’s bicycle and watches after the bomb explosion. Unimaginable is the heat of the explosion so that also glass and stones melted. Approximately 80% of the buildings in the city were destroyed including Hiroshima’s castle and temples. The Hiroshima peace memorial park is located in the city center. On the opposite, the formerly building of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion is located. This is now called Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome) and was the only building left over in the hypo-center of the atomic bomb.

Hiroshima Castle

The castle was rebuilt until 1958 as a replica of the original and now serves as a museum. It is surrounded by the Hannover garden that was built due to the city partnership with Germany’s Hannover.

Miyajima / Itsukushima Shrine (UNESCO World Heritage)

Probably the most famous picture from Japan is the red gate standing in the sea in front of a shrine and mountains in its rear. Therefore, it is one of Japan’s most visited tourist spot. This Shinto Itsukushima Shrine is recognized as UNESCO World Heritage. The gate is about 16 meters height and the roof is 25 meters long so that we saw the gate already from the boot.

This is part of the Miyajima Island near Hiroshima. The Itsukushima Shrine is dedicated to the goddesses of the sea, traffic safety, fortune and accomplishment. It was first built in 593 and remodeled into the current structure in 1168 and comprises the main shrine, a drama stage, music rooms and halls as well as other shrines. All the rooms are connected by wooden and covered corridors of about 300 meters enabling our visit during long lasting rain showers. The target of the color is to keep evil spirits away from the shrine. During flood it seems that the shrine is floating.

Hagi (UNESCO World Heritage)

Monuments of the era when changing from traditional Japan into a modern and industrialized Japan are spread all over the country. We have found parts of an oven used for melting iron and an old port constructing western style ships in Hagi in the South of the main island. Hagi is part of the UNESCO sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining.

Iwami Ginzan (UNESCO World Heritage)

The Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine in the south-west of Honshu Island is a cluster of mountains, rising to 600 m and interspersed by deep river valleys featuring the archaeological remains of large-scale mines, smelting and refining sites and mining settlements worked between the 16th and 20th centuries. In the 17th century it was the most important silver mine in Japan producing around a third of the world’s silver every year.

The site also features routes used to transport silver ore to the coast, and port towns from where it was shipped to Korea and China. The site is spread along a valley with an approx. 2 km walking path leading to the mine shafts, temples, historic residences and ruins. At the far end you can go through the Ryugenji Mabu Shaft. This shaft has been enlarged to enable the tourists passing through.

In this area we found funny toilet signs:

Izumo

Just some kilometers from Iwami Ginzan is the great Izumo Taisha shrine located. This is one of the most important shrines of Japan since the shrine is also telling much of Japanese history. Twisted straw ropes hang over the entry to the main buildings. Those who can toss and lodge a coin in them are said to be blessed with good fortune.

Osaka

We spent our last day in Japan in Osaka which is a big trading city due to its industry and its port. Osaka has a lot of rivers and canals and is therefore also known as “Venice of the East” and “city of 808 bridges”. Opposite to the giant skyscrapers like the blue crystal tower a huge Japanese castle is located on a hill. The Osaka castle is originally from the end of the 16th century but as other cultural buildings in Japan it was destroyed several times so that the current castle is from the 20th century. Unfortunately, we only had half a day in Osaka but will the next time stay longer in Osaka.

Our hotels in Japan

Tokio	➯ Sheraton Hotel Tokyo ➯ Moxy Tokyo by Sheraton ➯ Ito Ryokan
Nikko	➯ Rindou No le
Fujisawa	➯Sotetsu Fresa Inn Fujisawaeki Minamiguchi
Hamamatsu	➯Comfort Hotel Hamamatsu
Kaga	➯ Rurikoh – traditional Ryokan
Kyoto	➯ OYO 633 MUSUBI KYOTO Kiyomizu Gojo
Wakayama	➯ Comfort Hotel Wakayama
Toyonaka / Osaka	➯ Hotel Fine Garden Toyonaka Osaka International Airport/a>
Kurashiki	➯ Kurashiki Guesthouse Kakure-Yado Yuji-inn
Hiroshima	➯ Chisun Hotel Hiroshima
Hagi	➯Ruco
Yonago	➯ Super Hotel Yonago Ekimae

 

Booking.com

Our favorite dishes in Japan

Ordering dishes without speaking Japanese

Despite the language barrier, going out for lunch is easy since many restaurants have plastic models of their dishes and you order and pay via a machine and just hand over the ticket to the waitress. We have not yet waited more than five minutes until the lunch was served.

We have found the origins of this fake food – there are stores selling only these plastic food / meal models!!!! You can find there everything from separate sushi over complete Japanese dishes, Italian noodle dishes, ice cream to glasses of beer. Incredible to see this.

100 Yen cold and warm beverages vending machine

Besides the usual cold drinks from vending machines we enjoy the hot cans of coffee from these machines. This was one of my personal favorites in Japan and always thought how helpful this would be at train stations at least in Germany when freezing in the winter time.

Japanese Breakfast

However, the Japanese breakfast with miso soup, a lot of garlic and grilled fish is for me a bit crazy….

Shabu Shabu

Shabu-Shabu is a delicious kind of fondue but with two different soups, very thin sliced meat  (1.4 mm) and a lot of vegetables.

Okonomiyaki

Japanese pizza is a specialty in Hiroshima and Osaka consisting of layered noodles, cabbage and pork, prepared on a hot stone.

Ramen

Throughout our route in Japan we had different traditional Japanese Ramen as lunch – and we were never disappointed.

Samurai eight-course dinner on Christmas Eve

Back in Kyoto on Christmas we enjoyed a samurai eight-course dinner with typical meals of the samurais. It included Japanese soy beans, pickles, raw fish, fried tofu, beef, pork belly and green tea tiramisu – everything what gives power and enables a long life.

Final note on Japan

Our 18 days in Japan are already over but we enjoyed every day in this beautiful and very clean country even with some days being rainy and having snowfalls in the mountains. The cultural heritage is amazing huge and incredible colorful. Although the days were quite short due to the winter time, the speed limits on the streets and the crowded cities we have seen a lot of sights while driving around 3,200 km.

The majority of people we met spoke at least a bit English and many of them could also speak some words in German what surprised us. Japan was the last country with a rental car for the following two months. In the other South East Asian countries renting a car is not possible for foreigners. This means we have to reduce our luggage from around 35 kilos in order we can easier walk around and travel by bus with all of our staff. It seems that the Japanese language sounds to us the same way unfamiliar as Spanish in the beginning in Latin America. Otherwise we cannot explain why we always answer in Spanish when the Japanese ask or explain us something.

Our book recommendations

Travel Guides

	Lonely Planet Japan is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you.
	Lonely Planet’s Best of Tokyo is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Sample the finest sushi or most satisfying bowl of noodles you”ll ever taste, explore the neon nightlife of Shinjuku, and find the best view of Mt Fuji.

Novels

	Journey Under the Midnight Sun: Stark, intriguing and stylish, Journey Under the Midnight Sun is an epic mystery by the bestselling Japanese author of The Devotion of Suspect X.
	The English-language debut of an exciting young voice in international fiction, selling 660,000 copies in Japan alone, Convenience Store Woman is a bewitching portrayal of contemporary Japan through the eyes of a single woman who fits into the rigidity of its work culture only too well.
	The Gun – A Tokyo college student’s discovery and eventual obsession with a stolen handgun awakens something dark inside him.
	Yakuza Moon: Memoirs of a Gangster’s Daughter – Born to a wealthy and powerful yakuza boss, Shoko Tendo lived the early years of her life in luxury. However, when she was six, everything changed: her father was jailed, and the family fell into debt. Bullied by her classmates because of her father’s activities, and terrorized at home by her father, Tendo rebelled. As a teenager she became a drug addict and a member of a girl gang.

Travelogue & Non-Fiction

	14 Days in Japan: A First-Timer’s Ultimate Japan Travel Guide Including Tours, Food, Japanese Culture and History – Are you thinking about traveling to Japan? Discover Japan through this easy to follow guide tailored for first-time travelers!
	Cool Japan Guide: Fun in the Land of Manga, Lucky Cats and Ramen – Traveling to Japan has never been so much fun—visit the land of anime, manga, cosplay, hot springs and sushi!
	Culture Smart! Japan will guide you through modern Japan’s shifting social and cultural maze. It provides invaluable insights into people’s attitudes and behavior, and practical tips to help make your visit to this complex, rich, and dynamic society a mutually rewarding experience.

Cookbooks

	Ramen – From backstreet Tokyo diners to the hottest establishments in LA, via the chic laid-back ramen bars of London’s Soho, you will find the most complex of flavor combinations, all in a single bowl. Including 50 mouth-watering recipes, from homemade broth and noodles to complementary dishes and sides s, this cookbook will transport you to the vibrant streets of Japan via your own kitchen.
	Now, for the first time, Itoh’s expertise has been packaged in book form. The Just Bento Cookbook contains twenty-five attractive bento menus and more than 150 recipes, all of which have been specially created for this book and are divided into two main sections, Japanese and Not-so-Japanese.
	Japan: The Cookbook has more than 400 sumptuous recipes by acclaimed food writer Nancy Singleton Hachisu. The iconic and regional traditions of Japan are organized by course and contain insightful notes alongside the recipes. The dishes – soups, noodles, rices, pickles, one-pots, sweets, and vegetables – are simple and elegant.

 

Self-driving route through Chile

An overview of our route through Chile – details are shown in the following maps below:

Easter Island

Our first stop in Chile was the Easter Island. A magical island with the famous statues made of stone (called Moais) that is about 3.700 km away from Chile’s mainland and around 4.000 km from the next bigger island. From a geographical point of view, Rapa Nui (original name of Easter Island) belongs to Polynesia but as a territory it was annexed by Chile in 1888. It is almost in the middle of nowhere but a very nice and interesting part of the world. The island with the only one city “Hanga Roa” looks like a triangle with a length of 24 km and width of 12 km.

The Moais are made of stone from a volcano, all having big heads, long noses and ears and looking almost the same but differing in size from two to almost ten meters. They are spread at different places all over the island like an open-air museum.

After long days sitting in cars on our tour so far, we decided to rent bikes for the two full days we stayed on the Easter Island. Starting from Hanga Roa, we started our tour of about 60 km with hiking up the hill in the south to Orongo where ancient houses from the Rapa Nuis are shown. After that we cycled along the whole coast in the south to Rano Raraku – the volcano from which the stone for the Moais was taken. In this area, Moais in different production status can be visited. Amazing how the Maois have been transported to the  coast in the time of 1100 AC – different theories exist from transporting with wooden sleighs to walking tied with slopes.

All except of seven Maois are looking to the inner island and with the back to the sea to establish a connection between the population and the ancestors. The story behind the seven Maois looking to the sea is that these are memorials for seven explorers to find a new island for the increasing population.

 Saskia Hohe Bicycle tour Moais on Easter Island, Chile 

We only stayed three days on the Easter Island with every day totally different wheather:

• day of our arrival: Sunny with a bit of rain
• day 1: Sunshine with  30 degrees Celsius
• day 2: Heavy rain showers the whole day
• day of our departure: Storm

Due to the rain on our second day, we had to rent a car again to see the residual parts of the island.

Calama

Back in Chile, we flew from Santiago de Chile to Calama in the north of Chile. Chile is with its 4.300 km pretty long so that driving would have taken several days to reach the north and also Patagonia in the south. The following map shows our destinations in the north of Chile:

The region in the north remembered us of the southern parts of Bolivia and Peru due to the high mountains, the salt desert and the sand dunes in the Atacama desert. The main city in the Atacama desert is San Pedro with only mud brig houses but hundreds of tourists surrounded by 5,000 to 6,000 m high volcanoes. As the name suggests, in the “Valle de la luna” it looks like on the moon. The white spots on the picture is salt. This area is very dry and hot during the day with very cold nights. Therefore, no vegetation is able to survive here.

We have never seen so many houses with national flags on residential houses like in Chile:

Iquique

We continued our tour to the coast in the north of Chile with the destination Iquique. It was absolutely surreal driving on the relatively flat section at the end of the Andes mountains after the twisting roads in Peru. We really enjoyed the straight road with good views of the opposing traffic  and hardly any intersections.

Iquique surprised us with the skyscrapers – and it looks a bit like our home Frankfurt. Iquique with its port was very important during the time of saltpeter and the houses built between 1880 and 1930 have been maintained.

Santa Laura and Humberstone

Around 40 km from Iquique, the UNESCO ghost towns Santa Laura and Humberstone were on our agenda. Both towns give an impression how life was when working in saltpeter mines and living next to it. The towns have been completely abandoned in 1960 after the saltpeter mining was not profitable anymore as the synthetic production increased. During our visit we could still smell the saltpeter in the air.

Valparaiso

Central Chile is famous for its wineries, street art and beaches. Chile is one of the sixth biggest wine producing country and also rare grapes are growing here. Valparaiso, the colorful and chaotic city with its hills, is only around 100 km from Santiago at the western coast. We have never seen so many stairs within a city. The elevators to facilitate climbing up the hills are recognized as UNESCO world heritage and are from the time between 1883 and 1916 whereof some of them are still in use. Widespread in the city colorful and nice paintings at the houses can be seen. The houses themselves are quite old but wonderfully maintained. We stayed two days in Valparaiso in a house that is 127 years old and also some furniture looked like in a museum.

Colchagua Valley

The Colchagua Valley in Central Chile is one of Chile’s best known wine regions. Located 130 km southwest of Santiago, the vineyards are naturally protected by the Andes Mountain Range to the east and the Coastal Mountain Range to the west. This constellation with quite dry all over the year, winds from the Andes and the maritime climate provides optimal conditions for growing the grapes. We made a guided tour (http://www.naturalwinetours.com/en/) through the winery Montgras which has received many awards for its Carmenère, Syrah, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon wine. Especially, the Carmenère is a typical Chilean wine which is mainly growing here due to the conditions mentioned above. We started our tour with a mountain bike tour through the vineyard and a visit of the manufacturing center including tanks with several ground liters of wine and ended with a tasting of different wines together with the experiment how the wine tastes vary when eating cheese or sausages in parallel. It was an interesting and amazing tour and a special thanks to our wonderful guide Gonzalo the co-founder of Natural Wine Tasting who explained us everything in English, let us try the wine directly from the tank and made this visit a special event we will definitively not forget on our trip around the world. We will try to get the wine when back at home since it seems that the German importer is selling the wine from this winery to REWE.

Central Chile – Osorno and Santa Cruz

In Central Chile we almost felt like being at home with the green fields and forest next to the two lanes highway in a very good condition without the curves we used to had in Bolivia and Peru. In addition, this is the area where a lot of former Germans are living due to a population project by Chile at the end of 18th century. And in recent times some Germans started microbreweries with Bavarian beer and food what we had to taste of course.

The next destination in Chile was the biggest island or better group of islands Chiloe with its wooden churches all over the islands. Besides the airplane we used to get to the north of Chile and our rental car we used ferries to get to the islands. The islands are with 9,322 km2 and 150,000 residents much bigger than the Easter Island.

16 out of the over 150 wooden churches from the 17th and 18th centuries are recognized as world heritage by the UNESCO. The outer walls are covered with colorful wooden shingles and also the interior is completely made of wood.

North Patagonia

We spent 1.5 days on ferries and in the car (including a night) to visit the North Patagonia. Amazing and mainly untouched landscape. We have not expected to see such a green landscape with so many trees and fern. Parts of the Carretera Austral are paved but we had some challenging sections where we struggled to get through with our small car that we have in Chile – especially due to the heavy rain showers we had during the time. We have not seen a gas station and the ports for the ferries are just the end of the road without nothing else.

Our tour through the Central and the Southern regions of Chile

Puerto Vargas and Puerto Octay

Back in Chile’s “small South” we started our way back to Santiago (around 1,050 km) and visited in more towns, especially Puerto Vargas and Puerto Octay that were characterized by Germans. Besides the plan from Chile to populate the sparsely populated regions to protect them against acquisition, the immigration process of Germans was started by two brethren from Rotenburg an der Fulda in Heese. They bought one region in 1845 and brought nine families of handicraftman in the next three years. Based on the promised advantages of several years not paying taxes and parts of the countryside and the advertisement for Chile, the brethren could win around 600 people more until 1851 for the immigration to Chile.  The oldest German school in Latinamerica was founded in Osorno (see above) in 1854. Until 1870 approx. 6,000 Germans were immigrated to Chile and settled mainly in the region around Osorno and Validivia. No wonder that we found a cafe with the name “Hessendorf“.

We spent five days in Santiago de Chile – which are our last days in Chile after three weeks and at the same time our last days in South America before we are changing the side of the world to New Zealand. Buildings from the colonial area like in other capitals in Latin America are rare due to the many earth quakes and the economic wealth Santiago achieved only after the independence of Spain.

Saskia Hohe in Chile de Santiago de Chile

Due to the long coast fish and sea food is very typical for the Chilean cuisine. In Santiago, the “Mercado central” is a fish market together with restaurants. Some of the fishes especially the crabs were still alive.

Explore further countries:

Continue reading in the most popular blogs:

• Our travel packing list
• Slovenia and Austrai travel tips
• Georgia travel tips
• New Zealand travel tips
• North Korea (DPRK) travel tips (DPRK)

Our route through Ecuador

On August 11th 2016, we are flying from Panama City to Quito / Ecuador. During the last days staying in Panama City we planned the route across Ecuador and decided to take the Panamericana through the Andes with all the sights and national parks next to it. With Quito being 2.850 meters above sea level, Latacunga and Riobamba around 2.700 meters and Cuenca in the south with 2.500 meters, the eleven days we are staying in Ecuador will be a good altitude training for us.

One of our mornings in Quito started with a surprise:

and then the adventure with our rental car company started: we suggested just to have a new replacement tire what they tried to do. But of course, they first had to analyse what was the issue with the broken tire. Then they recognised that they do not have an adequate replacement tire for us. This meant we had to change the car (of course after filling up the tank by ourselves) – but what they gave us was EXACTLY the same type of car with the same size of tires!!!! However, self driving is not an issue in Ecuador but you need to be patiened to get into the cities in the evenings.

Quito

On our first day in Ecuador, we visited Quito by a long and exhaustive walk through the historic center of Quito. Since not only Quito is on a high altitude but also in Quito itself it goes up and down everywhere the walk was very challenging for us… However, the climate is more comfortable compared to Panama due to the height.

Quito is the highest capital in the world and the first capital recognised as world heritage by the UNESCO. Quito is a beautiful city with many churches from the colonial area and many of them completely with gold leaf. In one of the churches we found a picture from the last Supper where a guinea pig was served.

To see the Virgin of Quito we walked up a hill where we had an amazing view over Quito. Besides the walking on the particular altitude also the “muchos perros” were a challenge for us.

As the name Ecuador suggests, the equator goes through the country: just around 30 kilometers in the north from Quito.

Cotopaxi

After spending 3.5 hours in the rental car company we started our trip to the south with  a stop at Cotopaxi volcano and spent the night in the small town Latacunga.

We would like to show you more pictures of Ecuador’s landscape however, we are not lucky with our rental car. After the issue with the tire yesterday, our car stopped suddenly in the middle of a road when we passed a small town. The nearest  service station was not able to fix the issue so we had to contact the rental company to organise a towing service. It ended up with six hours waiting for the towing service, driving to the service station, discussion with the rental company whether we get again a new car or repairing and in the end getting the broken fuel pump repaired. We arrived in our destination Riobamba without the sights planned for this day and after the sun went down already. So, we are keeping the fingers crossed that tomorrow is a day where we will not need to visit our rental car company 🙂

On our tour through the Andes we stopped in several cities, like Guamote, Alausi, Latacunga and Salina. All cities were surprisingly not that small and under-developed as we have expected. Especially almost all roads were paved and the Quito-Cuenca highway has three lanes with lights in the night. But most of the people on the countryside are still wearing the traditional clothes:

Cuenca

The southern end of our tour was Cuenca – a beautiful colonial city similar to Quito:

Cuenca is famous for the Panama hats that were invented and are still produced here. We tried some hats for several hundred dollars but (besides the cost) due to the many luggage we already have we decided not to buy another one.

We also found interesting traditions of eating in Ecuador:

The nature and the landscape with the vulcanos is amazing all over the Andes in Ecuador. In the national parks and on “normal” roads we were able to get quite close the vulcanos on high altitudes around 4.200 meters.

Let`s keep the fingers crossed that we have not violated traffic rules:

Explore further countries:

Continue reading in the most popular blogs:

• Our travel packing list
• Slovenia and Austrai travel tips
• Georgia travel tips
• New Zealand travel tips
• North Korea (DPRK) travel tips (DPRK)

How we got to New Zealand from Chile (on our all around the world trip)

After more than 14.500 km self-driving in South America and an overnight flight of 13 hours from Santiago de Chile we arrived on 19th October in New Zealand. In the light of the very pleasant flight with a really good service we can recommend flying with LATAM on this direct connection. Due to passing the International Date Line we almost lost the complete day of 18th October 2016. Above all 13 hours sounds a lot but compared to when flying from our home country Germany to New Zealand it was rather a short flight. Read on and discover the top travel tips for New Zealand by campervan.

Our route through New Zealand

North Island

Arriving in Auckland, we directly picked up our Apollo campervan at the station. Consequently, we started in the North Island of New Zealand (Auckland) and took a ferry to the South Island. During our trip we have heard that this is the favorable direction (from North to South). Consequently, picking up the campervan in the South and returning in the North is cheaper in general.

South Island

In total, we drove around 4,850 km in New Zealand with our big vehicle. It’s not really a big issue due to the mainly empty roads. In addition, we have only seen one tourist driving on the wrong side of the road.

Our experience of self-driving in New Zealand

For New Zealand we decided to do the standard was of exploring the country: in a campervan. Consequently, the campervan was our new home for the upcoming three weeks. In New Zealand we had a quite comfortable campervan whereas campervan to the old campervan we received in Australia. Above all, the campervan was completely equipped with a kitchen, little “bathroom” incl. shower and a combined eating / sleeping room.

With 7 meters length, 3m height and as wide as the street lanes we are feeling like bus drivers. And in addition, we had to check all doors and lockers are closed like before the start of an airplane. We were lucky since the campervan was newly converted from a normal sprinter van to a campervan. For New Zealand it must be remembered that filling up the fuel is a kind of lottery. Within some kilometres we observed the price ranges from 99 cents to 1.5 NZ dollars for diesel.

Freedom camping

In New Zealand, freedom camping is allowed everywhere where it is not explicitly prohibited. Consequently, there is no need to stay on organized camping sites. However, to have power and electricity in the evenings, you have to drive daily hundreds of kilometres to charge the motorhome battery. The battery is used for the interior facilities like lights, cooking and also shower. Once when we stayed some days in Wellington, we unfortunately ran out of battery what resulted in a dark evening in our “home”. Good as long as the batteries of the kindle and iPad are charged to read and plan the next days. Every morning in New Zealand we start with an ABBA song into the day (no, we are no big ABBA fans). But only due to a bug of our car since it starts every morning with the music beginning with A on our USB stick and not at the point where we stopped the day before.

Ultimate travel tips for New Zealand

When thinking of New Zealand you might of course think of beautiful, extraordinary and colorful landscapes. And definitively, this is really true. We have not really met any person not wishing to go to New Zealand. In conclusion, it will be due to the nature. The landscape is uniquely amazing with intensive colors – extremely bright green grass, light blue sky and always turquoise colored water.

In particular, we stopped with our campervan to cook or to overnight just in one of the many bays and enjoy the awesome and unbelievable panorama. In contrast the roads on the South Island are more twisting compared to the North Island. But driving through the landscape is even more impressive. We were already deeply impressed from the landscape in the North.

Cape Reinga (North Island)

Starting at the East bays of the North Island near Auckland, Cape Reinga in the far North was our first destination. You can reach Cape Reinga after approx. 90 km from Kaitaia. Cape Reinga with its light house is almost the most northern point of New Zealand. There is only one other bay which is a bit longer than this point but all over this is not accessible. Moreover, the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet each other at this point. As a result, waves of up to ten meters can arise (but not at the time we were).

Waipoua Kauri tree forest (North Island)

On our way from the Cape Reinga to Auckland, we stopped in Waipoua to grasp a view on these impressive trees. This  forest with typical Kauri trees lies on the West coast of New Zealand. Maori used kauri timber for boat building, carving and building houses. These trees can be up to 50 meters high and have tree trunks of an extent of more than 10 meters. Especially, Waipoua is home to Tane Mahuta, king of the forest and the largest remaining kauri tree in the country. The indeed 1,500 year old Tane Mahuta is 51.5 m tall, with a girth of 13.77 m.

Auckland (North Island)

Auckland is not the capital of New Zealand but the biggest city in New Zealand. In addition, Auckland is the one with the most different cultures including a high portion of Polynesian people. We have especially experienced this by the many different food restaurants especially Asian ones. Therefore, it was a good destination for the pleasure anticipation for our upcoming destinations on the all around the world trip. Auckland is dominated by volcanos (50 indeed) and the streets were previously lava routes.

Besides some modern buildings and skyscrapers in some areas old Victorian houses can be found. Based on studies Auckland is the city with the highest living quality. We can recommend walking around in the city center and enjoying the area around the harbor.

Kawakawa – Hundertwasser Toilets (North Island)

All above, we only stopped in Kawakawa to visit the toilet from Hundertwasser. Hundertwasser lived near this town since 1973 until his dead in 2000. Provided that this toilet is built in the typical style of Hundertwasser with its typical colorful tiles, glasses and bottles as well as wavy lines. Consequently, it is worth to hold on until you reach Kawakawa…

Geothermic area in New Zealand (North Island)

The central part of the Northern Island is famous for its geothermal activity. Obviously, the minerals in the earth together with the high temperature create fascinating colors of the landscape. We swear these pictures are not photoshopped!!

Tongariro National Park (North Island) – UNESCO World Heritage

We would like to show you some pictures of the Tongariro National Park. The National park with its 797 sq km includes three volcanoes that are responsible for the hot springs, craters and boiling mud pools. Of course that this UNESCO World Heritage was on our planned route. However, despite of having been there, we were not able to get out of the campervan and to visit the National park due to heavy and long-lasting rain showers. Despite trying it several times during short rain breaks we had to return after some meters and were not able to visit the National Park.

Wellington – the windy city (North Island)

Wellington with its around 190,000 people is the capital of New Zealand. Comparatively twice as much people are living in Auckland. The capital is also called Windy Welly due to the strong winds almost every day. However, Wellington itself is very nice with a big harbor and old houses at the hills in and around the city. Very popular is the parliament that looks like a bee hive. Not as old as in Valparaiso in Chile but also a cable train is running up a hill to a botanic garden with a very good lookout on the city.

But there is also a way through the gardens to walk up the hill – what we have done at least for going down. In addition, we can recommend the Cuba Street District as  a nice area for the evening. We enjoyed in the bar called Fidel’s a really tasteful Snickers Milkshake. Moreover, the vintage shops along the Cuba Street makes it to a nice area to walk around.

Cape Palliser (North Island)

Our last sight on the North Island is Cape Palliser as one of the most Southern points. In short, we can highly recommend this area. Especially the many seals we have seen there are really a special experience. Moreover, the drive from Wellington lasts only around one hour and is very scenic. This region is only sparely populated but the landscape is amazing with the light green grass field, clear blue sea, black beaches and the rocky mountains on the other side.

Walking the last miles to the light house and the 240 steps up to the platform was hard fighting the heavy winds. Regardless of the beauty of the landscape, be careful since seals are lying here nearby the road and it is hard to distinguish whether the rock is really a rock or a seal.

Heading over to the South Island

The only connection between the North and South Island is a ferry ride of 3.5 hours to cross the Cook Street. Starting in Wellington with a heavy stormy weather, some (Asian) got sea sick consequently on the ferry. However, I was also not able to read a book on the ferry since it was really shaky. But after one hour it was getting better so that we could continue planning our tour on the South Island.

Blenheim (South Island)

Arriving on the South Island, the weather was not getting better. It was raining for a couple of days now already so no wonder that the grass has such bright green colors. Hiking in an UNESCO world heritage national park on the North Island and walks along the coast on the South Island are no good ideas in this still cold and wet spring season. So we took some time of updating our blog, booking hotels in the upcoming countries while enjoying ice cream, free WiFi in a nearby McDonald’s…

Kaikoura (South Island)

Writing about the weather seemed to help. We had one day with really nice sunshine before crossing the South Island from the east to the west coast where rain is common. We used the sunny day for a walk at the peninsula Kaikoura with stunning views on this beautiful landscape and another seal colony. Amazing how near we could go to the seals…

But again we had to check carefully whether the rock next to us is really a rock or a seal. It is hard to describe how amazing the landscape here is – so it is better you look at the pictures… Moreover, Kaikoua is popular for its home to easily spottable wildlife, like whales, dolphins and albatross that are either living in this area or passing by.

Westport (South Island)

Arrived in Westport at the west coast to continue our trip towards the south, we read in our travel guide about the magic place Opara with a big arch over the river around 140 km in the North. We decided to do this way round and to continue the originally planned route back in Westport later the day. Unfortunately, we cannot show any pictures because about 14 km before Opara the following sign blocked our way.

Paparoa National Park (South Island)

The rocks in the Paparoa National Park look like stapled pancakes. This area shows how powerful the nature is when blowing the water through the rocks. On a walk around the National Park we had a beautiful view on the rocks and the blowholes. The layering-weathering process has formed the limestone. Consequently, it looks like piles of pancakes. The walk through the pancake rock area only takes 15 minutes. However this area is only a small part of the National Park.

Glaciers in Te Wahipounamu (South Island) – UNESCO World Heritage

The most famous sights at the west coast on the South Island are the two glaciers: Franz Josef and Fox glacier. The Franz Josef glacier is indeed named after the Austrian-Hungarian emperor at the time the glacier was analysed by an Austrian. Due to the many rain showers and the steep rocks the glaciers are quite close to the coast.

The paths to walk for 45 minutes through the national parks to the glaciers that were completely covered with ice until end of 1970s are amazing. The Fox glacier is the smaller one and also quieter. We visited both on our ones what is possible due to the guided lanes in the area. The landscape has been declared by UNESCO in 1990 as a natural world heritage site.

Arrowtown (South Island)

On our way from the glaciers to the south we have stopped in some former gold rush cities where we visited the old houses of the gold miners. One of these towns was populated only by Chinese people. We will visit more of these cities then in our next country Australia. Gold was found around 1860 in the river Arrow. Today around 60 houses still remain and we visited then some of the houses by a walk through the town on our own.

Along the South Coast of the South Island

The route along the south coast of the South Island is dominated by typical fern forests, light houses, lonesome beaches and great waterfalls. Besides the seals, we were lucky to sea some larger sea lions in a distance of only one meter.

Dunedin (South Island)

Dunedin is referred to as being the city with the biggest English influence in New Zealand.  This is the reason why Dunedin is also called “Edinburgh of the South”. Dunedin is very proud of its Scottish heritage. In addition, Dunedin has the steepest residential street (Baldwin Street) in the world with a slope of 35%. Consequently, concrete slabs instead of pavements are used.

Christchurch (South Island)

Christchurch has been hit by a series of earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. Due to these natural disasters, parts of the cathedral and other buildings at the central square have been tumbled down. The damages are still visible in the city center and re-constructions are still going on. The historic sights are mainly situated in the area around the cathedral. Therefore, we can recommend this area for a walk around to see the regeneration of the damages by the earthquakes.

Leaving New Zealand

Unbelievable how fast our three weeks in New Zealand have past and we are again sitting at the airport waiting for our flight to Australia. Despite the fact that New Zealand being so far from home it is really worth visiting. Also traveling in a motorhome was a good experience due to the fact that freedom camping is allowed. Hence, we cooked and spent the nights in really nice places at beaches around the coast and on a central parking area in Wellington.

However, on our last 100 km to Christchurch a truck in front of us lost a stone hitting  our windshield so heavy that glass from the interior windshield was dropping out. Under those circumstances, we are happy that we have chosen the total insurance including tires and windshields.

Our book recommendations

For New Zealand travel tips we relied on the travel book of Stefan Loose and we were not disappointed:

During our trip through New Zealand we have read this impressive novel about life in New Zealand – the story was also winner of the Booker Prize. Can highly recommend if you want to understand the NZ identity:

Explore further countries:

Continue reading our most popular blogs:

• Our travel packing list
• Slovenia and Austria travel tips
• Georgia travel tips
• Australia travel tips
• North Korea (DPRK) travel tips

Flight from Quito to Lima

We arrived on the 22 August after a horrible flight in Lima. Horrible was not only the duration of the flight back to Panama City and then down again to Lima (distance Lima to Quito is around 160 km) but also the take-off in Quito with heavy turbulences where we were not sure whether the plane went up or down and screaming passengers like on a fun fair…

Lima

The first two days in Peru we spent on visiting Lima – a very huge city (like the state of Saarland in Germany) with approx. 9 million citizens what we especially experienced in plenty of overcrowded buses and on the masses on the streets. Lima is a very dry city directly at the coast with a historic center from the colonial era. Currently, the winter season is ongoing with cold nights and fog almost the whole day. But this did not prevent us from exploring Lima’s cultural and historic sights from the first civilizations.

Self driving in Peru

Going out of the city in the morning and coming back in the evening took us almost five hours in the traffic jams and with a lot of noise using the honk. We tried to identify when we have to use it. This is what we figured out:

1. When tourists are walking along the street and a free taxi is approaching
2. To speed up the traffic (it seems that Peruvians really believe this helps)
3. Warning others that you will pass by
4. When other cars want to turn to the same lane
5. To say hi
6. And sometimes, we don’t know why….

Also similar to the other countries we have been is the long process of one hour of picking up the rental car. We have not yet identified the root cause but as soon as we know we will tell you. Interesting are the rental contracts in Spanish we have to sign. We have started learning Spanish in Panama but unfortunately we are not experts yet. Asking the rental car agents about the speed limits resulted in the following answers:

• “I do not know how fast to drive in Panama City. I always drive around 80 kph.”
• “Maybe 40 or 60 kph in Lima.”

Our route through Peru on our around the world trip:

On our route we have been stopped several times by the police for control of driver license and car documents. It seems that we have something that makes us suspicious. One day, we forgot to turn on the lights of the car and they wanted to fine us around 10 dollars. But coming with them into their office and when we asked for an official invoice, they told us that we don’t need to pay and that we have to leave their office immediately. We didn’t understand why but are now checking the lights every morning carefully.

Caral Supe

On or third day in Peru we left Lima to the north to visit Caral Supe – ruins from an around 4000 year old culture and the oldest city in Americas. Like we experienced already with other UNESCO world heritage sites, the challenge is to find them respectively the right way to get there. Our Garmin GPS system proposed unpaved roads but since we do not have an SUV this time, we decided to take a road that was marked as a main road in Garmin. However, after some kilometers on this main road the pavement ended. It seems we were crossing an industrial or archaeological area with barriers. The man at the barrier confirmed that this road leads to Caral Supe and opened the barrier. The road was getting worse and worse with huge stones on the road. Since I almost got sick due to the shakings of the car, I decided to leave the car and to run after it while Paul was driving. Half an hour before the site closes we arrived at Caral Supe – ready for the tour in pure Spanish through the ruines and the 200 km drive back to Lima in the darkness.

Islas Ballestas

From Peru’s coast in the south we took a boat to the islands “Islas Ballestas” also know as Galapagos for the poor people. On this two hour boat trip we saw many animals we usually only see in the zoo like Humboldt penguins, pelicans and sea lions. More than 300.000 birds are living on these islands. On the islands one of the major products for Peru’s economy is produced: bird’s dropping called Guano. When Alexander von Humboldt identified that the Guano is thirty times more efficient than normal fertilizer, Spain tried to take control of the islands. This ended up in a war lasting for two ears – only because of Guano.

Peru has many different types of landscape, among those we haven’t expected a desert with very high sand dunes in the western part and the nice coast in the south.

Titicaca

We spent three days at the lake Titicaca – the highest lake with shipping traffic in the world. Despite our altitude training in Ecuador, we had to fight against the 3.900 meters above sea level of Titicaca. But we were not the only ones since on our boat trip on the lake almost everybody was sleeping after a short walk on some of the islands…

The floating Uros Islands are very impressive in the way how these islands are constructed and the people living there in communities of few families. The basis for the islands is a bigger kind of reed and has to be renewed every 50 days. Their houses and boats are also made of reed and they even eat it. Walking on the islands feels like in a waterbed. Unbelievable how they can live on these islands and in these houses during the very cold winters.

Our next stop was Taquile Island that is a natural island with only 7km2 and around 2200 people living on it but with beautiful original landscape. Parts of the landscape have been constructed by the Incas. This island is also famous for their knitting and weaving. But here this is the man’s job.

Cusco

The ancient city and former Incas capital Cusco was one of our highlights on our trip. We could walk around in the city for a long time without getting bored.

And some pictures from the Inca ruines in the sacred valley around Cusco:

Machu Picchu

Our plan for Peru also included to visit Machu Picchu and therefore we bought tickets via the Internet since the number of tourists per day is limited. On our drive to Machu Picchu I read in the travel book that the city where our hotel is (Aguascalientes) and from where we wanted to walk the last eight kilometers uphill, is not connected via roads but only reachable by train (20 minutes) or by foot (2.5-3 hours). Calling the hotel they informed us that a train is leaving every hour from a valley closed to Aguascalientes. We arrived at the train station after a 20km drive on a gravel road, leaving the rental car and parts of our lagguage at a parking in a courtyard of a person standing at the entrance of the town and a 10 km drive in his approx 30 years old car on another gravel road. On the time schedule of the train there were only three trains per day but we still believed in what the hotel was telling us and that the train will come soon. We ended up with waiting for two hours. Then we learned in Aguascalientes that even Machu Picchu closes at 5pm the last bus to the site leaves at 3.30 pm. Unfortunately, we arrived at 4 pm and there was no chance to see Machu Picchu since also walking up would lasts 1.5 hours. Therefore, we cannot show you any fotos of Aguascalientes and the train:

After 18 days in Peru, our last days have come and we are driving from Cusco back to Lima through the Andes approx 1,200 km in three days. One of the highlights was the pass of 4,746 meters and the colorful highlands – of course also here Alpacas:

Thinking of our 19 days we spent in Peru it was a really nice time where we have seen a lot of different things starting from the chaotic city Lima, the desert around Ica, the many mountains we drove up and down to get up on the next one, the beautiful but touristic area around lake Titicaca and the sacred valley around Cusco with the Inca ruines and this beautiful city itself. Peru together with Ecuador and the wonderful landscape and the colonial cities Quito and Cusco were really amazing and we can highly recommend visiting both countries.

Explore further countries:

Continue reading in the most popular blogs:

• Our travel packing list
• Slovenia and Austria travel tips
• Georgia travel tips
• New Zealand travel tips
• North Korea (DPRK) travel tips (DPRK)