Resurrecting this blog’s travelogue function, herewith some photos of our first trip from Australia, to New Zealand’s North Island. We initially wanted to hire a campervan but eventually decided against it. Instead we went around by rental car and packed the days with highlights for the little one.
Category Archives: Travel
To fly or not to fly
Two interesting articles in Germany’s Die Zeit on flying and climate change: One resolutely calling on our responsibility to stop flying immediately; the other saying that not flying is not going to save the world.
January update
This blog has been silent for over a month (for a variety of very good reasons), and before substantial posting resumes very shortly, herewith just a few notes for my records.
Shinjuku 24 December 2017
Singapore
Flights back to Europe from Japan are hellishly expensive in the summer. This year, we found a good deal from Singapore to London, and back to Tokyo (via Qatar, as written about here). A great opportunity to get to know the Southeast Asian entrepot for a few days.
Singapore National Museum
Qatar
A very brief stopover, owing to the flight routing but also a long-held dream, was Qatar. Here, we stayed overnight, and had the chance to visit the marvelous Museum of Islamic Art and reflect a little on this part of the world, at this very point in time.
Hong Kong
We spent some days in Hong Kong recently. The city is certainly as photogenic as one would expect. Below some impressions taken with my phone camera.
A panorama shot from Star Ferry Pier, with People’s Liberation Army Building in centre-right
Arakawa-ku trip
We took the Toden Arakawa line this weekend. It is Tokyo’s last remaining tram car service, connecting Waseda with Minowabashi in Arakawa-ku. A few pictures after the jump.
Getting on the tram at Waseda
China’s urbanisation
I have just seen the section on the Guardian called “The Other China”, dedicated to the “huge but often unreported cities on the frontline of China’s urbanization”. It is a welcome occasion to finish a post that I had in the pipeline since my 4,000-kilometre train journey through China in October 2016.
Penang
I had the chance to visit Penang for the first time last week. What a fantastic city. I rode the bike a lot and probably had my best Chinese meal ever. I definitely want to come back for more.
Building Merdeka
In his Building Merdeka: Independence Architecture in Kuala Lumpur 1957-1963, Lai Chee Kien introduces the reader to the architecture of this period. Contrary to many other newly-independent nations, it was mainly local architects that reconciled modernism with a distinct indigenous architectural style.
