Jun 4, 2019
watching the sun go down. every evening <3
that`s the good life!
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from South Korea
seen from United States
seen from Brazil
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Russia
seen from Azerbaijan
seen from China
seen from India
seen from China
seen from Singapore
seen from Maldives
seen from China
seen from Sri Lanka
watching the sun go down. every evening <3
that`s the good life!
We had a wonderful hot and sweaty time exploring the rainforest of Taman Negara in Malaysia.
feeding the capybaras at southeast botanical garden, okinawa-shi
impressive churaumi aquarium, motobu, okinawa-honto. no. 1 on my list of „things to do on okinawa when it rains“ (and we should know after two weeks on this island with one super typhoon followed by another ;D). with our without kids, this one is a must see. // beeindruckendes churaumi aquarium in motobu, okinawa-honto. platz 1 auf meiner liste der besten dinge, die man auf okinawa machen kann, wenn es regnet. (und wir muessen‘s ja wissen nach zwei wochen auf dieser insel, in denen ein supertaifun den naechsten abloeste ;D!) ob mit oder ohne kids, dieses aquarium ist definitiv einen besuch wert!
exploring shuri castle and japan’s forgotten tropical kingdom shuri castle (首里城 / Shuri-jō / Sui Gushiku), naha-shi, okinawa honto, japan
this UNESCO world heritage site in okinawa´s capital city naha was also the capital of the ryukyu kingdom until okinawa became a japanese prefecture in 1879.
the castle complex was originally built in the late 1300s, but wars and fires destroyed it multiple times over the centuries, so what you can see nowadays are recontructions from the 1990s. it is fascinating to walk through the reconstructed palace and marvel at the unique ryukyuan architecture and history nontheless.
ryukyu was an independent kingdom from the 15th to the 19th century, it unified okinawa island, the japanese amami islands and the sakishima islands close to taiwan. even though the kingdom was small in size and had no standing army it played a central role in the maritime trade networks of medieval east and southeast asia - the strategically well situated kingdom survived and thrived by trade and diplomacy alone and managed to establish strong trade routes stretching from siberia to siam.
in the early 1600s japan`s grasp began to tighten, the king was kidnapped and the ryukyu kingdom was forced to swear allegiance to satsuma, japan`s feudal lord of this time. though the kingdom's independence was officially gone, the royal family continued to reign for 270 more years. the ryukyu kingdom kept a great degree of autonomy and continued to be japan's main channel for international trade, especially trade with china.
to keep up the good diplomatic status with china, the ryuku kingdom was made to appear as independent and distinct as possible, it visibly distanced itself from japanese culture, customs and language - until japan eventually ordered the ryukyu kingdom to abolish the relations to china in the late 1800s.
the kingdom was eradicated and annexed by japan as okinawa prefecture. however, the former ryukyu kingdom still was not considered to be truly part of japan and the ryukyu people were not considered to be japanese.
to this day, okinawa has a very distinct culture, cuisine and vibe, the unique history makes okinawa a place like no other!
exploring the valley of gangala. nanjo, okinawa honto, japan.
bunny!
southeast botanical garden, okinawa-shi
city, framed by nature. surreal hong kong vistas from victoria peak. doesn’t the westpoint (skyscraper with ball on top) look just like a huge transformer/robot just about to wade through the bay? // stadt. umrahmt von natur. surreale aussichten auf hong kong vom victoria peak. findet ihr nicht auch, dass das westpoint hier aussieht, wie ein transformer/roboter, der kuz davor ist, durch die bucht zu waten?