Month: March 2019

Today we visited a very little but nevertheless wonderful and peaceful shrine. Sitting under a tree, enjoying the serenity of this place, I suddenly felt so much gratitude for really everything that has happened in my life so far. Good/bad, there was no difference, everything led to this moment right now. To this feeling of inner peace and gratitude and the deeply rooted knowing to belong to this wonderful earth.

So I decided to buy one of these wooden cards at the shrine shop and express my gratitude with a few words and hang it to the others on the line. The three elderly ladies at the shop tried to explain to me how these wooden cards worked and which one to use to get my wish granted. Somehow they thought I wanted to get another baby and tried to convince me to get the card that worked best for baby wishes. I explained that I definitely did not want another baby, but they still seemed unsure which card I should take. So they tried to ask me again in very simple words and with many funny gestures which wish I had so that I could decide which card I should buy. So I tried to explain, also in very simple words and with a lot of funny gestures that I did not have any wish to be fulfilled, that I just wanted to say thank you. They looked very puzzled and tried to convince me again to buy the baby card. And again I protested and said I only wanted to say “Arigato”. So the three of them looked at me like I was a little kid that just didn’t get it and asked me whom I wanted to thank. So I answered “I want to thank life for everything”! After that we all had a good laugh and they nodded a lot to show their understanding and when I finished my card told me how beautifully I had written it (Japanese politeness). The card I finally used was not the baby card, they promised 😀

…animals.

Well, maybe they are not original locals, but as we do not understand the talking of the humans, we thought let’s try the other beings here …

There were more of them but we were not able to get in touch with them, unfortunately…

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… and rest at the Play Beach Section or view at the Rest Beach section 😛

…why I didn’t post something about Japan, well, I took my time. But at the end I‘m afraid my mind won‘t change. Japanese people are humans with two arms and two legs, and that’s all we have together. I learned from Malaysia not to build up an opinion about people just by watching some of them. But here in Japan I‘m pretty sure it is the different culture which split them from us. Being so kind in the front but so closed to themselves in the back is nothing I can understand. Giving retired people a task in the society might be a good thing, but let them stand all day long with a sign „watch your step“ is undignified. Just an example.

But this is (again) one of the biggest reasons for traveling (at least for us). Exploring other cultures and re-thinking the own thinking. And if the result is „I like my way of being more than the one from the others“ well, so it is. I do not blaim the way how the Japanese people live their life (especially as I don‘t realy know any of them !) but it‘s their way and for sure never mine.

So thanks for the experience, take care and keep calm…

To be completely honest I still feel like on a different planet here 😉 The apparent politeness of most people feels sometimes like a shield for me and I somehow lack some openhearted behavior or sincere kindness. So many reglementations wherever you go, even in natural environments (a designated one-way track through the woods for pedestrians … really?!) is opposite to my intuitive and freedom loving nature.

But I know these are my special kind of feelings and behavior and have to do with being very sensitive to the environment and people around me … it is not meant as a general evaluation or judgement of the Japanese.

And finally: these are very interesting experiences, too! And we recognize our deepest values the more we travel and the stranger the culture for us.

And to be even more honest: We don’t care what other people think about us or our kind of relationship. We know that we confront and confuse a lot of people here just by being as we are. But we don’t want to hide who we are and also not our love for each other and dare to show this sometimes … luckily there is no punishment by law for this here, we only get strange glances 😛 But we decided to live with that!

Yes, we try to adjust our behavior to the country we are in (at least most of the time ^^), but being reglemented all the time and also showing no loving emotions in public is just not our way of being and definitely not possible for us.

Somehow we sometimes even think that maybe we spread a little bit of our openhearted love to the people around us here. Let 95% of the Japanese people think how disgusting it is to show deep love for each other in public, but if we encourage only 5% to join us, that’s worth it!

So if you visit Japan in about 5 years and wonder why so many people walk hand in hand and show their loving affection for the Partner even in public, we started this trend 😀

Today we visited Daisekirinzan, a very old spiritual place in the North of Okinawa. One of these special days … full of magic, nature and silence as we love it so much! Andy was the stone troll, I was the tree fairy – like in real life 😉

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Christchurch: powerful hakas honour mosque shooting victim

After 3 months traveling and a lot of beaches we‘ve seen we have to accept the reality how it looks like nowadays in these areas: beaches that belong to a resort/hotel are mostly cared for and the rubbish is taken away. The other beaches look like this one below with plastic (mostly bottles) all over and a lot of dead corals … sometimes I walk such a beach with tears in my eyes and have to take care not to allow any kind of anger in my heart for the government/industries/people here, not caring for their environment and also anger for myself (using all that plastic stuff here), as it really really hurts to see our oceans and their inhabitants dying….

Hotel Oceans Nakijin
985 Nakasone, Nakijin, Kunigami-gun, Okinawa 905-0401, Japan
https://goo.gl/maps/CRBhZdzcY6m

Yesterday we landed in subtropical Naha, Okinawa (Japan), completely worn out and tired, but straightaway felt the difference to every other country, where we have ever been before. Starting with the extremely friendly and helpful Japanese people and soon facing the unusual handling of freaky toilets, then enjoying surprising (we couldn’t read a word of the menu) and very delicious food to the great old cultural background and variety mixed with a lot of freshness from the youngsters around there (taking selfies). We are really looking forward to our next 3 weeks here 😀

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Red Planet Okinawa Naha
3-chōme-1-4 Maejima, Naha, Okinawa 900-0016, Japan
https://goo.gl/maps/YntQh7bQsjB2s

… in 5 hours. First we will fly from Krabi, Thailand, to Bangkok, Thailand, 4 hours later from Bangkok to Tokyo and a few hours later further on to Naha, Okinawa (island in the very south of Japan).

„Beam us up Scotty“ would be so much nicer 😀

To our friends Tammy and Maik.

They went now to another island while we prepare our trip to Japan

It has not the best camera, but can make nice photos.

Was not that easy to make photos in the water, especially every water drop opened an App and the waves rocked me around

Unfortunately: NO cold beer or cocktail service 😉

We are so relaxed that we are much too lazy to write much, the Resort where we are staying until March 13th is just wonderful, even the monkeys in the morning stealing our oranges 😉 … but have a look for yourself:

Koh Jum Ocean Beach Resort
Krabi 81130, Thailand
https://goo.gl/maps/EetLsqjfpLA2

A whole kingsize bed in a beautiful apartment just for the two of them… while Freaky & Weird went out for a fantastic dinner celebrating their 30. wedding anniversary 🙂

Saturdays Residence by Sure
Soi Saturdays Tambon Rawai, Amphoe Mueang Phuket, Chang Wat Phuket 83100, Thailand
https://goo.gl/maps/roMBXW6rVPw

2 months ago, a strong, hard and brave fool walked through the palm forest and suddeldly he was hit by a dorn from a palm leaf at his feet. The dorn created a smal wound and a drop of blood came out of it. The strong, hard and brave fool did‘t care, because he was strong, hard and brave. So the war began…

Tiny little creatures, so tiny that a normal eye coulnd‘t see them, realized the wound of the fool and started immediately to run through it. The body of the fool started to stop them but everytime one of the tiny littles died, 2 new ones arrived. It was a real long and hard battle, no side could win even a millimeter. The strong, hard and brave fool had a felllow, a lovely fairy with magic features. The fairy tried to attention the strong, hard and brave fool about the war, but he didn’t listen. After 51 days, the tiny littles changed their strategy. They went away a bit and stayed calm so the wound got closed. The strong, hard and brave fool saw that as a battle win and he triumphed. But not his body. The body realized the trick and fighted in the underground. Also the fairy tried again to warn him, but he dind’t listen. The brain of the strong, hard and brave fool was so enthusiastic about the victory of the battle that he didn‘t realize that he was still in war. To warn the brain, the body got unwell, but the brain took this as a small flue, nothing to care about. Also the fairy tried again to warn him, but he didn’t listen. To warn the brain, the body created nausea und vomiting, but the brain took this as a bad dinner, nothing to care about. Also the fairy tried again, now really angrily, to warn him, but he still didn‘t listen. To warn the brain, the body created pain in the whole body, but the brain took this as a sign to „be strong, hard and brave“. The fairy got desperate and pleaded, but the fool still stayed strong, hard and brave. This battle took 7 days, 7 days where tiny littles got so powerful that they desided to leave the underground and came to the surface. On day 58 of the war, the leg of the strong, hard and brave fool was swollen, the skin got dark red, and very hot. The brain of the strong, hard and brave fool started wondering, if there might be something to care about, but his brain was very slow in realizing the reality. So the fairy took a last try, she said to him that he will die if he won‘t accept the reality of what was happening. The strong, hard and brave fool didn‘t want to die, so the heart took over and made all further decisions and followed the advice of his beloved partner. Together they went to the big magic healingstone where the old (still not nice looking, but closed) wound was reopened, cleaned and professionally closed again. A huge army of professional soldiers (called antibiotics) were released into the body of the strong, hard and brave fool. The tiny littles now had no choice, they got killed quicker than they could reproduce themselves, so finally the war ended by the victory of the modern healing stone and the endless love of the fairy for the strong, hard and brave fool.

And they lived happily ever after…

The first thing most people comes to mind thinking of „Borneo“ is „Orang Utans“. True, there are only 2 places left where these wonderful creatures live and Borneo is one of this places.

So for sure we wanted to meet them and of cause not in a cage. Therefore we took a Grab-car (the Asian Uber) and drove 30 km to the wildlife park. Everybody (and a lot of signs) told us it is fruit season, so the chance to see Orang Utans at the feeding station is very very rare, as they get enough food in the jungle.

But we are the lucky ones, so we did see a mother with her baby and after a while another female Orang Utan. Here are some pictures of these beautiful animals. (But be sure pictures are never that impressive as the real world and we have only poor cameras at our mobiles)

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Additional a smal video to see them in action

Semenggoh Wildlife Centre
KM 20, Borneo Highland Road, 93250 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
https://goo.gl/maps/fqkzrcSHth72