You have to start reading from below! Haha ^^

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First day in Oita where I will study one semester

Well, when I said that Japan is a clean and modern country, I take it back now. For Fukuoka (the biggest city on this island Kyushu) this might be true, but here in Oita it is different. The student dorm is filthy. Everywhere dead insects are lying around. It’s like it has not been cleaned in years. The rooms are old, dirty, and smelly. The first day here I just wanted to go back home.
The pictures look better than reality.





Thank God that our Japanese friends help us to organize everything the first days. Without them we would be lost. If you are in a country where you cannot read a single sign and where people do not speak English it is very difficult to accomplish anything. How to take a bus to a certain place, how to use the washing machine, how to know salt and sugar in the supermarket, how to buy a cell phone? And without a car in the first days you are helpless, because you have to buy like EVERYTHING. Bedding, water, kitchenware, cell phone, food, cleaning devices, …

From left to right: Fabian, me, Micchan, Koji, Miriam, Eriko, and Marion

In front of the Nitori where we bought our whole supply on the first day when we arrived!

It was so much! (And my cart is not on the picture by the way and later we went even more shopping in the famous 100 Yen Shop)

Eriko, Marion's tutor, is the typical all-Japanese girl ^_^ and she taught us how to do a proper Japanese pose! Still need some imrpovment though. I think we tilted our heads to the wrong side.

My first Japanese Udon soup! 

Why is the spoon so big?! 

It is impossible to eat Udon elegantly.

Micchan, our Japanese friend, showed me how to eat Udon properly - he sucked in the noodles and (!) the soup without (!) spoon!  Too bad I do not have a picture of that.

I have to say the people here, as in Fukuoka, are extremely nice and polite. In the stores you rarely see a cashier without a smile and a polite word for you. It is like service heaven! I never encountered an unfriendly face (in contrast to Germany).

The Japanese food is good. I like it :) We went to a sushi place, where the sushi runs around on this cirlce thing. We did not eat it though. It's supposed to be not really fresh. But everything was cheap! For two Inari I would pay 3 Euros in Germany, here it is only about 80 Cents (105 Yen)!




Japanese people divide their trash by 7 groups. It is an own science. Did not really get it yet. The trash in my room still sits around and waits to be put into groups.

My first days in Japan

I wake up and I realize I am in Japan. I breathe Japanese air. And I also had the first opportunities to try out my scarce Japanese language knowledge on real Japanese people. To the stewardess on the way to Fukuoka I said “pen onegai shimasu”. I said “arigatou gozaimasu” to the taxi driver who brought us to the hostel. Making the payment for my room I asked “ ‘I would like to make the payment for my room’ wa nihongo de nan desuka?”. And the people understood and answered me! I was so proud, haha!
I have to admit that Japan does not fascinate me as much as Taipei. Taipei was so much more exotic. Japan is very modern and reminds me of Germany in many ways. I don’t know how to describe it exactly to you but Japan feels so “normal”. Of course, there are huge cultural differences. But I am spoiled from Taipei and I still compare everything to it. I know I should not do it but I cannot help it… So I will try to concentrate on the differences between Germany and Japan.
Fukuoka is hot. We have 30 degrees, but the humidity is not as bad as in Taipei.
Entering Japan is like entering model world. All the Japanese girls are so skinny and they are styled from head to toe: clothes make up, hair, nails, and accessories. If you have no complexes about your looks yet, here is the place to develop them. In Germany it is normal that women’s magazines depict models that do not represent the average German woman. But in Japan the women on the street look exactly like the models in the magazines! The looks range from elegant, cute, romantic, business chic to slutty. Some women like to sport the Lolita look to the extreme or the gothic look. But most of the girls and women just look like high fashion models. Welcome to hell! :D
I did some thinking and came up with this.
How to look like a Japanese woman
1. Emphasize your (skinny and long) legs. Wear high heels and short skirts.
2. Wear bangs.
3. Wear fake lashes.
4. Buy clothes made of shiny or silky material.


Lolita look or something like that


Model world

Although Japan is a more developed and modern country than Taipei, I have the feeling that the Taiwanese can speak better English than the Japanese. When we were talking in English to people on the street, in the shops or behind the train station desks, they hardly uttered any English words.
Today, we went to the Asian Art Museum, where we learned that the stamps in public places can be collected.
The Tenjin shopping place is a shopping paradise.





There you can find many and huge department stores (like Mutsukashi) and many restaurants. Our Japan Lonely Planet guide mentioned a Ramen place called Ichiran. Curiously, we entered the “restaurant” and were immediately sent outside again. We had to buy a ticket at a vending machine first. We had to buy a Ramen ticket with optional extras. Then we could go inside again and every one was shown his own small booth with a whole in front of him, where the ramen was served. It was being in an establishment where you can watch a peep show. When your ramen is served the curtain is closed so that you can eat in private.

My last morning in Taipei and first night in Japan

I woke up in a bad mood, because I do not want to leave Taipei. I was so happy here and I can’t remember the last time that I have had days packed with so much fun and excitement. One last nice experience was the employee of Mega Bank, where we wanted to trade Taiwan Dollars into Japanese Yen. As most of the Taiwanese she was very friendly and was genuinely interested where we were going and what we were doing. In Germany such friendly curiosity very rarely occurs. What I also like to remember is the taxi driver who had to bring us from the hotel to the airport. It was the same driver, who picked us up on the first day! He did not look happy, when he saw who his customers where. Haha. He asked for the payment eight at the beginning of the drive. Smart! ^_^ But at the airport he shook our hands and smiled, which we take as a conciliatory sign.
Bye bye Taipei! I will see you again!


So tired when we arrived in Fukuoka


Having landed in Fukuoka I went to the bathroom. I have never seen a high-tech toilet like this before! How to use this thing? Was my first critical incident to take place with a toilet?! And I have not touched Japanese ground for 3 minutes yet!


I have never been so afraid of making a mistake and behaving improperly in a foreign country before. I think this comes from my intensive intercultural preparation for this semester in Japan. I have read too much about mistakes one can make in Japan. So the minute I set foot on Japanese ground I was extremely self-conscious.
When I arrived at the hostel a few hours later I already made my first mistake. I forgot to take my shoes off! Shame on me.



As I was so nervous to not behave improperly and preoccupied to find a way to get to the hostel I did not really realize that I was in Japan that I saw the first vending machines in the street. I am in JAPAN for God’s sake!! Months of preparation for this moment and it is already there!
My first time in a Japanese konbini (small drugstore) also gave me an opportunity to make a mistake again. I gave the cashier Taiwan Dollars instead of Japanese Yen. Having three different currencies in my wallet no wonder I confused them!


A typical konbini in Japan


Taiwan Dollar and Japanese Yen

My third day in Taipei

Today we went to the National Center for Traditional Arts, which display for example traditional musical instruments and theater clothing. It is also like a little town with many shops, which sell the cutest, most artfully crafted, interesting, traditional, modern things made of leather, glass, ceramics, paper... Driven by curiosity and enthusiasm I wanted to explore every shop.






I literally could have spent a whole day there, but we were also headed for the beach. On the drive I could not help but be amazed by the nature surrounding Taipei and the rest of the country. Driving on the street you see mountains in the background, driving on and through them. To me it is the most special characteristic of Taiwan. I love just sitting in the car and staring out the window. The mountains are huge and covered in green. (It reminds me of broccoli a little bit.)




At the beach you could almost touch the mountains. It is my favourite word now, mountains, mountains, mountains. The landscape is like a dream come true.





On the way back, we went into “Tofu-Street”. Yeah, it’s like entering heaven for vegetarians! There the most amazing thing happened. We were sitting in a restaurant, asking the waiter to take a picture of us. But the batteries of the camera went dead when he took the camera. Ten minutes later he came back, holding his own camera in his hand and saying something like, “I will give the picture to you”. He took a picture of us and went away. What did he mean? He did not have our email or address. As he did not come back, so we left, enjoying the rest of Tofu-Street. When we went back to the car a motorcycle suddenly stopped next to us. It was the waiter from the restaurant. He gave us the picture, which he had printed out himself and laminated! He had been driving up and down Tofu-Street twice to find us. I cannot believe the sheer friendliness and cordiality of this deed. It is so amazing!


Here is the picture that he gave us. Amazing.

Back in the city at night we enjoyed some Starbucks outside next to the 101. The street was dazzling from young people walking by, busy traffic in the background, lights illuminating the buildings and streets. It was such a chilling and at the same time exciting feeling to have a cup of café latte, feeling the cool breeze on your skin, and watching the nightlife around you.



Thank you, Runner, for this day. It was so much fun! We had shopping, mountains, beach, cool city chillout… I still smile when reliving the memories of this day in my head. I will alway remember when you said, "when you go home hungry, then I have failed", because it shows the warmth of your welcome ^^

All in all, I just can say, that I will definitely come back! I realize that there is so much to see and experience in this country. I am so grateful when I think about the amazing friendliness and cordiality of our Taiwanese friends. You have made us feel at home. The unexpected and huge generosity of giving that I encountered makes this trip so special. Experiencing this makes you want to give something back.

My second day in Taipei

What a day! And I mean it.

We went hiking in the mountains. Two of our Taiwanese friends took us to the Yang Ming Mountain, introducing the upcoming day program as: “We will hike on a mountain trail”, followed with the side comment, “which is not so popular.” At this point I should have asked myself, “why?”. Hiking for 6 hours in the mountains is probably not a good idea, when you have not done any sports for over three months, and are not used to the heat and humidity. I like to call it “green hell”. We had to climb two mountain tops, the trail going up and down like a rollercoaster. But hell, were we rewarded! The view over the mountains, the nature surrounding us, and the experience of mastering two mountain tops is overwhelming! Not only was hiking in the mountains a totally new and thrilling (also in the sense of a pulse of 180 bpm) experience for me. Also the breathtaking greatness of the mountains and the amazing diversity of the nature made the effort totally worth it. I fear that the pictures do not really represent the feeling of the hike. I LOVE Yang Ming Mountain!

Big thanks to my co-traveller Fabian, who carried the backpack for us! Without him I seriously would have broken down.

After the hike in the mountains we went to the hot springs. It is a hot bath of natural sulphur water, supposed to be good for your skin and health. (Everybody is naked there, so I did not take any pictures.)

I had thought that we were going to a restaurant imagining all the good food I would order, until my Taiwanese friend told me, “Ok, Quinni, when we are inside you will be alone and you will have to strip off your clothes.” What?!

Bathing in the hot springs requires you to follow certain rules – which I did not know. As men and women bathe separately, there I stood in the middle of the place, naked women hanging around several pools, not knowing where to take my clothes off, where to shower and in which pool to go. I did not want to do something inappropriate. So I tried not to arouse any attention. Having dumped my clothes on some bench, I just slid into the next pool I saw. Gosh, it was like jumping into a deep frier! HOT! But I did not say a peep. It was all pins and needles in my whole body. I told myself, “you will get used to the heat, just give it a minute”. But it did not get better. At least, another woman slid into my pool, which means that I had not done anything repulsive (yet). I felt unconsciousness coming up, so I crept out, getting into the next pool. Oh my God, it was like jumping into ice water! Clever me chose the hottest and the coldest pool in a row… But to the cold pool I got used to, and after (secretly) watching other women, I chose the next pool according to where most of them went. Ahhh, this pool was exactly the right temperature! It was like lying in a huge bathtub relaxing the whole body. This was not so bad after all. (Later at dinner I saw that my arms and legs had developed a red color, spotted with little white dots, maybe the deep frier and the ice water were not really healthy.)

My first day in Taipei

When we arrived in Taipei I only wanted to head right back home. Oh my God, what did I get myself into? I don’t know my way around here, I feel like a complete stranger. But now at the end of the first day, I look back and smile at the thought how much fun I had today.

How is Taipei for a stranger? First, it is hot and humid! Second, everything seems so strange and different from home. And third, nobody seems to speak English well enough to understand you.

And especially for me it is strange that everybody starts talking to me in Chinese. Apparently, my face looks a lot more Chinese than Vietnamese. Huh, interesting. I am used to Germans thinking that I am Chinese because for Germans every Asian is Chinese. But to be taken for Chinese by Chinese… Seems that I have to give some credit to Germans now!

The first thing that caught my eye when we drove from the airport to the hotel were the mountains, which were surrounding the city. It is beautiful!

Mountains next to the city

But what is also striking is the friendliness of the people. Landing in Taipei without any Taiwan Dollar in our pockets, we took a taxi to our place downtown. The taxi driver drove us to a bank and waited patiently for us to try out three (!) different banks without being able to draw any money from the ATMs. We were frustrated and at the verge of panicking, feeling completely lost in this strange country. At this point I truly hated myself for going to Taipei. But the driver offered to claim his pay later from the company we were staying with. Also the people renting the rooms drove us by themselves (!) to a bank, where we could change our Euros into Taiwan Dollars.

The first thing I did when we finally got our rooms was falling onto the bed like a stone. I had not slept for 30 hours (have you ever tried to sleep in a sitting position?!). Now I also know where the slogan “Thank Heaven for 7 Eleven” comes from – having not drunk for an eternity in this hell of hotness I took the water from the 7-11 cashier with deepest gratitude.

The street where I live

In the heat of the midday sun Fabian and I were so clever to spare us the complication of buying an underground train ticket and decided to walk to the 101 tower. Not so clever when you are not used to the heat, suffer from jetlag and underestimate the distance. Needless to say, when we found our way back into our rooms we fell into bed at the verge of unconsciousness.

The 101 tower in the background

Chinese signs everywhere

In the evening we were to meet Taiwanese friends, who I knew from Germany. I was very thankful that we were picked up at our hotel because I was so tired of running around and trying to find some place. The heat gets better in the evening. This part of the day made the whole trip to Taipei worth the effort. I was so excited to see everybody again! We had a wonderful dinner at a Taiwanese restaurant with so many different dishes and different beers. My European friend became the part of an experiment - what happens, if you give a European food, he never ate before. So Fabian tried raw fish, clams, fishhead, and the most exotic thing must have been pigblood (he did not know what it was though). The diversity and the taste of the food is amazing!

So much food!

After dinner we walked to the Nightmarket. There we continued the gourmet odyssey. As announced we tried a milky drink with “frogeggs” (they are made from corn starch). We had sweet iced tea (tastes like iced tea), cakes in shape of Doraemon (mine!), Pikachu and Kenny from Southpark, some iced-tea-like drink made of some fruit (nobody could tell us exactly which fruit…), some healthy drink that tasted extremely bitter and had to be consumed with drug like pills to soften the taste… Next to millions of stands with regional delicacies there were so many shops selling cheap clothing, accessories, shoes, keychains, dessous, … anything! I got so sad that I already came with a filled suitcase.

Taipei by night

Temple lights

Entrance of the Nightmarket

Nightlife at the Nightmarket

See the frogeggs coming up the straw?

It was such a fun evening and I thank all the special people who make this trip to Taipei such a wonderful experience! We felt so welcome and taken care of. I do not feel like a stranger in this city anymore!

A big thank you to all our Taiwanese friends. You make this trip very special.

More pictures on picasaweb.google.com/Quinni2005