Quirky Sights. Fun Food. Travel Advice You Didn't Know You Needed.
I have a confession to make. There’s something about Japan that scares me… It’s something thousands of tourists do in the country every week, for some it’s potentially the highlight of their trip – yet, the very idea of it brings me out in a stress rash. I’m talking about…
Read more
I’m surrounded by kitties – they’re sleeping in fishing nets, chilling out in wheelbarrows, prowling the paths around the bright blue, fishing boat filled harbour hoping for snacks or just sitting in the sunshine doing whatever cats who live on an island do all day. This is Ainoshima, one of…
Read more
I’m sitting on a bar stool thinking about who I dislike enough in my life to curse. Normally, propping up a bar contemplating ill on your fellow humans sounds like the result of a crappy day, but in this case, I’m on holiday and happy, but I’m drinking in The…
Read more
Here’s a question…What do you do to encourage visitors when you build a museum containing some of the finest works of Japanese art in the midst of rural Japanese farmland? The answer, if you are Zento Adachi, a farmer’s son turned influential art collector, is to build one of the…
Read more
Today in Japan, and, in Japanese restaurants all over the world, the idea of frying udon noodles to make yaki udon is normal – but, if local legend is to be believed, we can thank a tiny 8-seater restaurant in Kokura, Western Japan for the invention of the dish. I…
Read more
I can’t think of many places that have actually made me go ‘wow’ when I first saw them – but the large Buddha statue at Nanzoin Temple in Fukuoka, Japan did – out loud. And then I shut up and just stared at it, unable to believe exactly what I…
Read more
Don’t go to Japan in Golden Week – say, every article, website and person who lives in Japan ever. So, imagine my horror when last year I realised I’d managed to do exactly that. Considering how many times I’ve been to Tokyo, how much time I spend reading about Tokyo…
Read more
I’m standing by the side of the road in Taipei, somewhat red in the face, wondering if I’m about to have a heart attack – and a tad concerned re what the blooming heck I’m going to tell the insurance company if I do. It wasn’t quite what I was…
Read more
It’s one of the biggest tourist attractions in Taipei – both in terms of height and how many people want to go up it each day, as such, you might find when you arrive, all excited to head up into the sky, you have to wait a while to get…
Read more
When I first heard that there was an Alpaca Cafe in Taipei, my response were noises so high pitched only dolphins could hear them. Excited did not quite cut it. Instagram was full of people getting Alpaca selfies – their curious little faces peering over their shoulders, reviews told tales…
Read more
