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Jens
Self-absorbed misanthropic humanist vs. the worldGo where the pepper grows
"From mazel to shlimazl is but a tiny step; but from shlimazl to mazel - oy, is that far!"
"In the matter of slavish imitation, man is the monkey's superior all the time. The average man is destitute of independence of opinion. He is not interested in contriving a opinion of his own, by study and reflection, but is only anxious to find out what his neighbor's opinion is and slavishly adopt it."
--- Mark Twain on imitation
Travels 2008/09/10/11/12/13:
January 2008 - Portugal, Spain, Morocco
February 2008 - Norway, Sweden, Slovenia
March 2008 - Poland, Slovakia
April 2008 - Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania
May 2008 - Latvia, Estonia, Singapore, Australia
June 2008 - Australia
July 2008 - Australia
August 2008 - Fiji, Samoa
September 2008 - New Zealand, Argentina, Chile
October 2008 - Argentina, Chile
November 2008 - Chile, Perú
December 2008 - Perú, Bolivia
January 2009 - Home
February 2009 - Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Hercegovina
March 2009 - Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo
April 2009 - Bulgaria, Turkey
May 2009 - Australia
June 2009 - Australia
July 2009 - Australia
August 2009 - Australia
September 2009 - Australia
October 2009 - Malaysia
November 2009 - Malaysia, Thailand
December 2009 - Thailand, Burma, Laos
January 2010 - Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam
June 2010 - Malta
December 2010 - Belgium
January 2011 - Israel, West Bank
April 2011 - Cyprus
May 2011 - Cyprus
June 2011 - Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, France, Monaco, Andorra
December 2011 - Russia
January 2012 - Russia
February 2012 - Qatar
March 2012 - China
July 2012 - Czech Republic, Malaysia
August 2012 - Malaysia, Australia
September 2012 - Indonesia
February 2013 - Taiwan
March 2013 - Taiwan
April 2013 - Hong Kong, Macau, Russia
Travel Blog Posts
April 30th 2013
This blog is gonna be slightly different from all my other ones. Usually I travel alone or with my partner in crime, but in this case, I shall be on the road together with PEOPLE. Real people in the real world, can you believe it? Not just random people I picked up at the hostel somewhere either, but people from my Russian group in Halle. The group has been in existence for about nine years already, but I only joined last year. It is a group comprised of students from all kinds of university courses, mostly from Humanities. We have an exchange programme going on with our Russian counterparts in Arkhangelsk, a city in Northern European Russia, located on the shores of the White Sea. Consequently, this town shall be our destination today. Alas, it's a ... read more
Exploring some stunning scenery just around the corner
Published: March 22nd 2013Asia » Taiwan » Taipei » Wulai
March 22nd 2013
Time do go hiking while I still can. I leave the house a little too late in the morning, take the MRT to Xindian, the last stop on the Green Line, which takes me already a good 45 minutes. Then outside the station to wait for the bus to Wulai with a lot of old Taiwanese people, who seem to be constantly hiking everywhere. When the bus comes, they try to do the idiot Chinese thing of pushing in before everybody gets off, but I stand my ground, hop on and secure the last seat. No point in being overly polite and offering my seat to rude, old people who are still fit enough to hike all over the island anyway. 40 minutes later, I'm in Wulai. Lonely Planet describes it as 'rural, bucolic splendour', a ... read more
March 10th 2013
Hiking is the Taiwanese thing to do on the weekends, and I take full advantage of every free day that I have to leave busy, noisy Taipei for its green fringe, where I can breathe in some clean, fresh air. This beautifully sunny Sunday I plan to make my way to Neihu District to visit Bishan Temple (Bishanyan, 碧山巖). From Fu Jen, it takes me about an hour and a half to get there. In between I stop by at Guting station to buy some 飯糰 (those lovely rice balls I fell in love with in Hualien) at Taipei's most famous fan tuan-stall. Taiwanese people are pretty crazy about food, and word gets around quickly where you can get the best. Thus, it may only be 7:30am, but there's already a long line of people waiting ... read more
Lantern Festival disappointment and cultural observations
Published: June 17th 2013Asia » Taiwan » Taipei
March 3rd 2013
As Jaclyn's departure draws nearer, we take full advantage of our last weeks together and indulge in food, sights, and all the cultural activities we can absorb. One excursion we do is to the mountain village of Jiufen, a quaint place along the northeast coast, not too far from Taipei. Once a centre of gold mining during the Japanese occupation, Jiufen retains its wealth these days through clever marketing to domestic, Chinese and especially Japanese tourists as a traditional, olde-tyme village untouched by modernisation. And in fact, after we get off the train in Ruifang and hop on the local bus to Jiufen, all we hear is Japanese. Of course, what we find upon arrival is not an isolated village cut off from civilisation for the last 80 years, but a comely little retro town ... read more
February 21st 2013
Back in Taipei, we take advantage of the last few free days before my internship starts. We hop on a local train to the porcelain-producing little town of Yingge. We visit the Ceramics Museum, where several exhibitions of artworks of budding sculptors and artists from Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, China and Hong Kong strike our interest. The main reason for us to make the trip, however, is Yingge Old Street. There we find pottery and ceramics shops in abundance, selling everything from bowls mass-produced in China to locally crafted goods. After browsing for a few hours, we finally decide on a tea cup, a few bowls and one fine clay pot made in Japan. One thing that we appreciate most about Taiwan is the night markets. Shida district boasts one of the most famous and dynamic ... read more
February 12th 2013
Time's running out, commitments are drawing near, so we skip a few destinations in the southern and central regions, and head straight to Tainan. The city was recommended to me by a friend whose judgment can generally be trusted. Tainan is the oldest city in the country, and its fourth largest. Hence, we find a dynamic city steeped in history and traditional culture, just what we're looking for. It's the second day of Chinese New Year, which means that unfortunately, we have to pay a little too much for our faceless, danky hotel room. Also, we find things a tad unpredictable, especially opening hours of restaurants and museums. On our first night, we walk around, trying to get a late-night snack, but can't find anything worth mentioning. No local food stalls, nothing. So we settle for ... read more
February 10th 2013
Roughly halfway between Hualien and Taitung lies the small town of Yuli. The main reason for us to go there is to do some hiking in adjacent Yushan National Park, explore the surrounding area, and spend Chinese New Year's Eve in relative peace and quiet. The southbound local train takes only little more than an hour. We arranged to get picked up from the train station, as our homestay is located a few kilometres outside of Yuli. A friendly bald man in his sixties approaches us, waving and smiling, and we proceed to introduce ourselves. After a few minutes' drive, we arrive at a big country house with a beautiful garden overlooking the Central Mountain Range. The lady of the house comes out to greet us. Inside, we are sat back and offered some tea. It ... read more
Gorn to a gorge and gorged on gorgeous gorub
Published: March 10th 2013Asia » Taiwan » Hualien » Taroko
February 6th 2013
After acclimatising in Taipei for a few days, we are very much looking forward to get out of it. Not that we don't like Taipei, but the hustle and bustle and substantial air pollution is something we can tolerate only in relatively small doses. It takes us about four hours on a local train to get to Hualien. A town of roughly 100,000 inhabitants, Hualien is pretty much synonymous with Taroko Gorge, one of Taiwan's must-see tourist sites. As Chinese New Year is drawing closer and closer, we are more than keen on getting Taroko out of the way before the holiday crowds descend, and then moving on to somewhere less conspicuous. Hualien greets us with a torrential downpour that continues into the night. At the tourist information, we meet a Chinese Malaysian couple, who recommend ... read more
February 4th 2013
The first few days in Taipei are full of new sights, tastes and smells. We visit the city at a relatively easy pace, no need to go hardcore sightseeing when you're here for a longer while anyway. Most of our daily activities centre around finding good places to eat. We check out some vegetarian eateries, which you can find in pretty much any district. Some of them are the traditional Buddhist vegetarian type of soup kitchen, others offer buffet food, and yet others are more proper restaurants. One of the latter we try out is The Loving Hut. The food there is not bad, although it centres a bit too heavily on fake meat, in my opinion. What really gets to me, though, is the cultish propaganda by the owner of the Loving Hut restaurants and ... read more
September 13th 2012
The minibus from Pagaralam to Padang takes 18 hours. I'll spare you the finer details of the journey - it's 18 hours on a bus; it's boring, exasperating and atrocious. The poor driver has to stop and ask several times until we finally find the right tiny alley where my hotel is located. In my infinite youthful naïvety, I believe that I might make it on a boat to Mentawai that same day. I should have done my research - the boat leaves twice weekly, which means I'm stuck in Padang for three days. It turns out not to be the worst place to while away a few days. The locals are friendly, smiles and 'Hello, Mister!'s are the norm. The distinctive Padang cuisine can be heavenly, if you find the right place. There's no menu, ... read more
Go where the pepper grows
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I'm going nowhere - I'd rather go somewhere instead
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Trips
World Trip
March 21st 2008 -» December 22nd 2008
Touring the Balkans
February 15th 2009 -» May 3rd 2009
Southeast Asia
October 18th 2009 -» February 1st 2010
Israel
January 11th 2011 -» January 31st 2011
China
February 28th 2012 -» March 30th 2012
East Coast Malaysia, Western Australia and Sumatra
July 23rd 2012 -» October 3rd 2012
Taiwan
February 1st 2013 -» April 5th 2013
March 21st 2008 -» December 22nd 2008
Touring the Balkans
February 15th 2009 -» May 3rd 2009
Southeast Asia
October 18th 2009 -» February 1st 2010
Israel
January 11th 2011 -» January 31st 2011
China
February 28th 2012 -» March 30th 2012
East Coast Malaysia, Western Australia and Sumatra
July 23rd 2012 -» October 3rd 2012
Taiwan
February 1st 2013 -» April 5th 2013
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