Christian's Travel Blog

Iriomote-jima is almost fully covered by dense subtropical jungle. And one of the highlights to come that far south is the Iriomote Crossing Jungle Trail. The trail literally crosses the island from northwest to southeast, and its a full day hike in subtropical jungle conditions. Starting point usually is up north at the Urauchi river, catching the first tourboat up 4km along mangroves to the picturesque waterfalls. And here also ends the sightseeing trip, as from here the trail up along the wild riverbed will wind through dense jungle for about 13km and an additional 7.5km gravelroad to the opposite side of Iriomote-jima. Eventually you have to register and apply for a permit to enter and cross the National Park and Conservation Area. However, I was lucky to meet two young Japanese backpackers - Taketo and Yoshiyuki - that already organised their entrance permit and were ready to start early next morning. Kindly they accepted to join them ... and of...

Okinawa - by some compared as Japan's Hawaii - is known to most travelers to Asia and Japan in particular. It is also the favourite destination for Japanese tourists in the Ryukyus. They get what they look for - a well developed and convenient sub-tropical holiday paradise. But maybe it's only due to lack of time, as the entire island chain of some 150 islands streches over more than 1.000 km from the southern end of Kyushu to Taiwan. The Ryukyus itself are locally better known by its regional archipelagos, like the Osumi Islands, Amami Islands, Okinawa Islands, and down South the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands. So maybe it is good to have a rough guide of the journey in your mind, and it is obvious that you need time. Especially when the starting point is solotravel, backpacking and camping, whereever possible. A rough guide is not that difficult, as 'island hopping' in the Ryukyus is nowadays as simple as reliable - mostly by ferry, and larger dist...

2020 ... the year my travel experience entered a new dimension, as i got locked up for 7 months in Japan. More precise, in Fukuoka - as traveling the country was out of question and flights between Asia and Europe were literally stopped. But there's always a good surprise. The planned first visit of my siblings to Japan was cancelled, but I was rewarded to extend my time with my wife ... yep, she's living in the modern city of Fukuoka to take care for her elderly parents.  2023 ... I'm back to Fukuoka ... the borders recently were opened to foreigners. And this time it's travel time - not only Japanese are keen to see spring and 'Sakura' arriving down south. Although with a closed airspace over Russia and Ukraine the route takes a large U-turn. The Ryukyu Islands - a vast number of mostly tiny sub-tropical islands streching over 1000 km from Taiwan up to Kyushu - are on my agenda. Not for a short luxury holiday in Okinawa, but a 'trip into the wi...

Hostels are islands in a new world where young travelers discover mostly with some pride their passport nationality - "Where are you from?" .. "Germany" .. "Dann können wir ja Deutsch sprechen .." - and onwards, gather around the breakfast table to share their basically similar travel experiences and facebook pics of 'must-do' hotspots along mainstream adventure tour routes - "oh yes, and we had such a great sunset" ... Also a lonely wolf can't escape to lift the secret of his whereabout, as it is the entrance ticket to sometimes useful information on a trip without much effort in detailed route planning: "Well, I have an Austrian passport" .. "Dann können wir ja Deutsch sprechen .." Anyhow, half the way down the Amazonas I politely won't kill conversations around a breakfast table serving hot coffee and fresh tropical fruits but simply focus on getting my fair share of the juicy pinapples, mangos and...