Survived everything; the fugu, the capsule hotel and the cheap flight from Japan to Taiwan.
There are various names for the island of Taiwan in use today, derived
from explorers or rulers by each particular period. The former name Formosa (福爾摩沙) dates from 1542, when Portuguese sailors sighted the main island of Taiwan and named it Ilha Formosa, which means "beautiful island". The island is the size more or less of the Netherlands with a population of 24 million.
Taipei 101 is in Xinyi District. The building was officially classified as the world's tallest in 2004, and remained such until the opening of Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010. Taipei 101 is designed to withstand the typhoon
winds and earthquake tremors common in its area of the Asia-Pacific.
Planners aimed for a structure that could withstand gale winds of 216 km/h and the strongest earthquakes likely to
occur in a 2,500 year cycle.
Upon its completion Taipei 101 set records in three skyscraper
categories; at the time it remained the world's tallest inhabited
building 509.2 m (1,671 ft) as measured to its height architectural top, beating the previous record of 451.9 m (1,483 ft) held by the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.
Thornton-Tomasetti Engineers along with Evergreen Consulting Engineering designed a 660-tonnesteel pendulum that serves as a tuned mass damper, at a cost US$4 million.Suspended from the 92nd to the 87th floor, the pendulum sways to offset movements in the building caused by strong gusts
Other things you have to visit once you are in Taipei are the numerous night markets. You can not find much of the fake products as in mainland China, but the culinary experience is similar. The first evening just close to my hotel I went to eat fried mini aliens. Yami....
Shilin Night Market(士林夜市) is often considered to be the largest and most famous night market in the city.Like most night markets in Taiwan, the local businesses and vendors
begin opening around 16:00. As students begin returning home from
school, crowds reach their peak between 20:00 and 23:00. The food court holds 539 stalls.
In addition to the food court, side streets and alleys are lined with storefronts and roadside stands.
Also a great thing in Taipei is to visit a tailor and buy some custom made shirts made within 24 hours and delivered to your hotel.
I ll have to take care not gain wait.....
Taroko National Park ( 太魯閣國家公園) The park was originally established by the Governor-General of Taiwan on 12 December 1937 when Taiwan was part of the Empire of Japan. After the Empire of Japan's defeat in World War II, the Republic of China assumed control of Taiwan. The ROC government subsequently abolished the park on 15 August 1945.
Taroko Gorge and its surrounding area are well known for their abundant supply of marble, leading to its nickname, "The Marble Gorge". The gorge itself was carved into the marble by the erosive power of the Leewoo Ho River.
The best way to explore it for example driving through by a scooter. 200km south of Taipei in Hualien at the train station there area lot of places renting a scooter as much as for 10 EUR a day.
Leaving the park I even had the time to drive along the cost and enjoy the view of the ocean.
Well this is the end of my trip, I ll see you next time from..........
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I went back to Tokyo for very special and long day. Not intentionally but started the day with experiencing a 6.5 magnitude earthquake on my 42nd floor hotel room. It lasted around 30 seconds, was quite noisy and everything was swinging quite heavily. As I just read, that kind of earthquakes are not even appearing in the statistics. They just register the ones stronger than 6.5. Already 3 registered that far in 2015. Mine is considered quite frequent, like part of daily life.
Earthquake infos come with the weather forecast. See it here
I started the day at the famous Tsukiji fish market, because of several reasons. Once because of being the biggest fish and wholesale market on the world.
The market handles more than 400 different types of seafood from cheap seaweed to the most expensive caviar, and from tiny sardines to 300 kg tuna and controversial whale species. Overall, more than 700,000 metric tons of seafood are handled every
year at the three seafood markets in Tokyo, with a total value in excess
of 600 billion yen (approximately 5.9 billion US dollars).
The number of registered employees varies from 60,000 to 65,000, including wholesalers, accountants,
auctioneers, company officials, and distributors.
Also went there to buy some Japanese chef s knife. Beforehand I read several forums of course and decided to go for the one hidden here.
Tsukiji Masamoto is one of Japan’s premier knife
makers. Founded in 1845, they began producing cutlery in workshops
located outside Tokyo. Today, the 7th-generation owner, Misao Hirano,
runs his venerable business here. I bought 3 knifes in total, had my name engraved
I bought 3 knifes in total, had my name engraved in them and sharpened in front of me. I was also told that resharpening is free of charge lifetime.:)
The ones having 3 hours to wait to get one of the 8 seats in "Sushi Dai" can also enjoy the best Sushi of the world here. I think the place is overhyped, thanks to some reports about it. Majority of the people queuing were American tourists. Also in general sushi is quite pricey in Japan, so I skipped that and went to more interesting place.
I went to Ryōgoku Kokugikan (両国国技館) also known as Ryougoku Sumo Hall. The current building was opened in 1985 and has a capacity of 13,000 people.
Sumo(相撲sumō) is a competitive full-contact wrestling sport where a rikishi (wrestler) attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring (dohyō) or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet.
The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practised professionally. There are six divisions in sumo: makuuchi (maximum 42 wrestlers), jūryō (fixed at 28 wrestlers), makushita (fixed at 120 wrestlers), sandanme (fixed at 200 wrestlers), jonidan (approximately 185 wrestlers), and jonokuchi (approximately 40 wrestlers).
There are also some other things, what you have to experience ones you re in Japan. One of them is the deadly poisonous fish Fugu(河豚 or 鰒; フグ) i.e. pufferfish. Fugu can be lethally poisonous due to its tetrodotoxin.
The restaurant preparation of fugu is strictly controlled by law in
Japan and several other countries, and only chefs who have qualified
after three or more years of rigorous training are allowed to prepare
the fish. Fugu has become one of the most celebrated and notorious dishes even for Japanese people.
Fugu poison is 1200 times stronger than cyanide. Since 1958 fugu chefs must earn a license to prepare and sell fugu to
the public. This involves a two- or three-year apprenticeship. The
licensing examination process consists of a written test, a
fish-identification test, and a practical test, preparing and eating the
fish. Only about 35 percent of the applicants pass.
The symptoms from ingesting a lethal dose of tetrodotoxin may include
dizziness, exhaustion, headache, nausea, or difficulty breathing. The
victim remains conscious but cannot speak or move. Breathing stops and that was it....
I managed to get invited in a quite exclusive restaurant and we changed recipes with the fugu chef.
An other thing I wanted to try in Japan was spending a night in their famous capsule hotels.
The benefit of these hotels is convenience and price, usually around
¥2000-4000 (USD 20-41) a night. They provide an alternative for those
who (especially on weeknights) may be too drunk to return home safely, or too embarrassed to face their spouses.
With continued recession in Japan, as of early 2010, more and more guests - roughly 30% at the Capsule Hotel Shinjuku 510 in Tokyo - were unemployed or underemployed and were renting capsules by the month.This style of hotel has not gained wide popularity outside of Japan. I was wondering why....
I think I exploited everything more or less I could during this visit to Japan. Tomorrow I am flying to Taiwan to break the long way home....
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Nara is famous for its temple Tōdai-ji (東大寺, Eastern Great Temple), is a Buddhist temple complex, that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples. The beginning of building a temple where the Tōdai-ji complex sits today can be dated to 728 Its Great Buddha Hall (大仏殿Daibutsuden), houses the world's largest bronze statue of the Buddha, known in Japanese simply as Daibutsu(大仏).
The temple gives the following dimensions for the statue:
Height: 14.98 m
Face: 5.33 m
Eyes: 1.02 m
Nose: 0.5 m
Ears: 2.54 m
The statue's shoulders are 28 meters across and there are 960 six curls atop its head. The Birushana Buddhas golden halo is 87 foot in diameter with 16 images each 8 feet tall.
Recently, using x-rays, a human tooth, along with pearls, mirrors
swords and jewels were discovered inside of the knee of the Great
Buddha; these are believed to be the relics of Emperor Shomu(61-62).
The statue weighs 500 tonnes.
The project nearly bankrupted Japan's economy, consuming most of the available bronze of the time; the gold was entirely imported. The Buddha was completed in 751. A year later, in 752, the
eye-opening ceremony was held with an attendance of 10,000 monks and
4,000 dancers to celebrate the completion of the Buddha.
The supporting beams of the entrance are made of more than 1000 year old trees.
Deer, regarded as messengers of the gods in the Shinto religion, roam the grounds freely.
Later on arrived in Osaka, which looks like a crazy city, full with youngsters and shopping arcades.
