Seychelles: The Land of Giants

The Top 4 Hardest Things to Miss
Written by Kelly Morse

Home to some of the world’s largest flora and fauna, the 115 islands that make up the Seychelles in the warm Indian Ocean have species that seem otherworldly. Located northeast of Madagascar, the main island of the Seychelles, Mahé, is an ideal base for embarking on adventures to the inner and outer islands.  With bountiful biodiversity, there is something to discover around every corner. Here is a list of some of the most massive wildlife that has pushed the boundaries of being BIG!

Photo courtesy Tony Baskeyfield, Seychelles Tourism Board

WHALE SHARKS
Claim to fame: Largest extant fish species
Average size: 9.7m long, 9 tonnes

Despite their massive size, whale sharks are known for being quite friendly and docile towards humans allowing snorkellers and divers to even play with them in the water. The best seasons to spot them are October, but sightings are also possible in August and September. For an eco-friendly experience, the Marine Conservation Society offers tourists a chance to join researchers in monitoring activities. Pilots use microlights to spot whale sharks from the sky then radio back the location to a boat below where divers are then dispatched to the area. In accessible locations, tourists can join in on the action.

For more information on the programme, click here.

Photo courtesy Gerard Larose, Seychelles Tourism Board

GIANT TORTOISE
Claim to fame: One of the world’s largest tortoises
Average size: 120cm shell, 250kg

The Aldabra atoll of the Seychelles islands, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, holds the largest population of giant tortoises in the world with an approximate 150,000 strong population. Island gigantism, a phenomenon where animals on isolated islands grow to above average sizes due to less competition and predators, is believed to be the reason behind these colossal creatures. Not to mention, some are believed to reach nearly 200 years of age.

Access to Aldabra is strict and permission must first be received from the Seychelles Islands Foundation.

Photo courtesy Gerard Larose, Seychelles Tourism Board

COCO DE MER
Claim to fame: The world’s largest seed
Average size: 40-50cm in diameter, 15-30kg

The Seychelles’ second UNESCO Site is Vallée de Mai on Praslin island – also known as the original Garden of Eden. This preserved palm forest is famous for the endemic Coco de mer palms. Seeds of these palms, nicknamed the “love nut”, resemble a suggestive shape of a woman and are another example, like The Giant Tortoise, of island gigantism. They can only be found on the Praslin and Curieuse islands in the Seychelles.

Photo courtesy Brocken Inaglory, Wikimedia Commons

COCONUT CRABS
Claim to fame: The world’s largest land-living crab
Average size:  40cm long, 4.1kg

While coconuts are not a significant source of food for the Coconut Crabs, they have been seen carrying these fruits from the ground to about 10m up and tossing them to the ground. This clever maneuver helps the crab to poke his claws inside the fruit when the coconut cracks on the forest floor below. But how does the crab get down? It skydives sans parachute. Coconut Crabs can survive a fall of 4.5 meters. Found in the southern atolls of the Seychelles, keep an eye on your jewelry, because these crabs, also known as Robber Crabs, like to steal shiny objects.

Home on the (Mountain) Range: Gokayama

Ainokura village in Gokayama in winter

Mention ‘traditional Japan’, and images of geishas and samurais come to mind. While there’s not much scope these days to step into the shoes of a geisha or a samurai, you can still experience the traditional way of life in the mountain villages of Gokayama.

Ainokura from the viewpoint

GOKAYAMA
The UNESCO World Heritage site of Gokayama (meaning ’5 valleys’) is actually a collection of traditional villages that dot the picturesque – and remote – mountainous landscape of Toyama. The only access is by road; the nearest train station and airport are hours away.

These cutesy thatch-roofed farmhouses have stood here for hundreds of years, which in itself is a feat, considering there isn’t a single nail used in their construction, and the walls are paper-thin. Visiting them will really make you feel as if you’ve been transported back in time.

Due to the legendarily heavy snowfall in the region, these thatched roofs are built at a 60º angle so that they wouldn’t collapse from the weight of the snow. Thanks to the shape, these farmhouses are romantically called ‘gassho-zukuri’, or ‘hands in prayer’.

A typical Gokayama farmhouse

FEELS LIKE HOME?
The largest of the Gokayama villages is Ainokura, which consists of about 20 gassho-zukuri farmhouses. The best way to appreciate the village in its entirety is to trudge up a small hill to the designated viewpoint to get an aerial view.

Some of the houses have been converted into museums and B&Bs, while the rest are a collection of private houses (most residents are descendants of the original owners). While it’s tempting, you shouldn’t try and peek into the private houses (even though there is no lock on their paper-sliding front doors).

A better option is to spend a night in one of these designated B&B (minshuku) farmhouses, where you’ll get to experience an authentic traditional lifestyle, including waking at 6am to the sounds of a local folk song, Mugiya Bushi, through the village PA system.

A B&B in Ainokura

Lots of visitors overnight here from spring through autumn, but come the cold snowy winter, you’ll likely have the village to yourself. This is partially thanks to the fact that the houses remain pretty much unchanged since they were built – the walls are still paper thin, there are no real doors (only paper sliding-doors) between ‘rooms’, and there is no central heating or double glazing.

A classic irori with fresh trout

You can forget about Wifi or even an internet connection. Your mobile phone might not work here either. However, there is electricity (the only modern addition), and with that comes the quintessential Japanese addition to any home: electric bidet toilets with seat warmers!

However, the charm of spending the night at a gassho-zukuri isn’t in its creature comforts.

THINGS TO SEE AND DO
Around the village, you can pop into the museum or grab coffee from the village shop. In winter, you can see plenty of villagers on top of their snow-caked roofs. They’re not the local CCTV – they’re actually shovelling snow off their rooftops.

Come dinnertime, you’d better be hungry, because a grand feast will take place on the floor around the fireplace (irori). Fresh river fish, local tofu and mountain vegetables are just some of the items on the menu. Each person has their ozen (a small personal floor table), but the sheer number of dishes means that your dinner will also be spread around you on the floor.

Click to see a Kokiriko dance

There might also be a bowl of communal kotsuzake (sake flavoured with grilled mountain trout).

After dinner, there might even be entertainment in the form of a local dance called the kokiriko, which involves an instrument called the sasara – it’s a row of loud wooden clappers designed to rattle for your glutton-hazed attention (and possibly scare little children). The performers are local villagers who are passionate about reviving their age-old traditions.

SLEEP TIGHT
In a traditional village, communal bath houses are the way to go – and after a short stroll and a hot dip at a nearby bath house (sorry, no en suites here!), you’ll be ready for bed.

Heating comes in the form of a gas heater and a little hot coal satchel called a mametan anko, which you hold on for dear warmth under your futon. As you lie in bed staring at the ceiling, you can marvel at its unique no-nail construction. While the top floors are where the owners live today (it’s off limits to guests), silkworms used to occupy the space centuries ago when Japan was a major silk exporter.

As you lull yourself to sleep in this serene setting, don’t be alarmed by things that go whump in the night – it’s just the snow falling off the rooftops.

Sri Lanka: Between a rock and a tooth

Some might recognise it as the country that gave us Ceylon tea, some might know of its famous beaches, while some others might have heard of its turbulent past. However, unbeknownst to many, Sri Lanka’s most impressive asset is one that has laid in ruins for centuries.

IT’S AN OLD LAND
As a tiny dot of an island, one might be forgiven for forgetting that it was established in 543BC, and has a history chock full of tumultuous dynasties and magnificent urban planning rivalling those in the Roman Empire (which it maintained close ties with). Renowned for their technological precision, they built elaborate aqueducts and dams, and it was the first country in the world to establish a dedicated hospital.

The Lion's Gate

However, among all of these, the one architectural prominence was Sigiriya, now an archeologist’s wet dream, and a UNESCO World Heritage site. A rock fortress carved out of a monolith, it is surrounded by an extensive network of gardens, reservoirs and even a croc-filled moat.

SIGIRIYA
Built by Sinhalese prince-on-the-run Kasyapa (AD477-495), it is fair to say that the entire fortress was built out of paranoia. After imprisoning and then murdering his father, he fled the ancient capital and built a palace on top of a monolith which afforded expansive views across the flatlands, and surrounded it with pleasure gardens, fountains and a moat filled with man-eating crocs.

Grooves were cut into the rock face to act as stairs, and halfway up the monolith, there was an imposing sculpture of a lion, the mouth of which served as the entrance to the palace proper. The entire fortress was built to withstand an impending attack, but it never came.

The fortress became a monastic refuge site in the 16th century before falling into disrepair.

View from the top

SIGIRIYA NOW
Today, Sigiriya is on every Sri Lankan itinerary. Plenty of tourists – along with the local population of wild dogs and monkeys – trudge their way up the top of the rock. There are even ‘minders’ to help those wheezing to get to the next step. If you have cash to spare, you can splurge on a hot air balloon for an aerial view.

The lion statue has long since crumbled, leaving only its 2 front paws that flank the stairway. The hand-cut step grooves are replaced by metal rung stairs, and not much is left of the fortress itself, save for remnants of walls, pillars and pools.

The views are still as expansive, and even in ruins, its immense gardens and pools can still make any urban planner jealous.

The rock also features a ‘Mirror Wall’, which is made of porcelain and so well-polished that it was originally possible to see one’s reflection. These days, the ancient graffiti – some dating back to the 8th century – steals the limelight. Another attraction is a cave filled with painted bosomed ladies – some say that there were over 500 of these buxom nymphs all over the rock wall, but they were wiped out when the palace became a monastery (so as not to ‘disturb meditation’).

What a paint job...

DAMBULLA
More cave frescoes can be found in the nearby Dambulla Cave Temple, but there are no nymph paintings here. These are meditative caves, so you’ll find plenty of flowery icons and illustrations depicting all things Buddha.

Dambulla’s main attractions are the 5 cave temples, and in each cave lies at least one Buddha statue (the second cave has 56!) and frescoes that adorn every surface of the walls in vivid hues of red and gold as if painted by a monk with plenty of time or OCD.

Getting to these caves requires a rather long stair climbing exercise, after which you will need to remove your shoes to enter the caves (which can be taxing when the floor heats up like a baking tray in the afternoon).

KANDY
The former capital of Sri Lanka, Kandy is home to the Temple of the Tooth which houses the chomper of Buddha.

Entrance to the tooth

The temple itself has ornate carvings, but it’s nothing compared to the containers that house the Buddha’s tooth: it’s 7 layers of golden dagoba caskets, adorned with precious gemstones. It’s no surprise that the inner sanctum where the tooth lies is where all the visitors flock to. Come July, the tooth is taken out and paraded in the streets with much pomp and circumstance at the Esala Perahera festival which involves dancers, drummers, carnival barkers, elephants and everything you can imagine.

Outside the temple, Kandy’s city centre is reminiscent of colonial outposts, with rows of whitewashed shophouses and the iconic Queen’s Hotel, a former Governors Mansion.

Designated a UNESCO Heritage Site, the city’s British architecture provides a stark contrast to the ruins of ancient Sinhalese kings that lie just a few hours’ drive away.

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Read more about the country’s tea heritage in Sri Lanka: Tea and more.

Uzbekistan: From Genghis Khan to Tamerlane

Former dorm rooms at the Ulugh Beg madrassah

Words like ‘Arabian nights’, ‘Silk Road’ and ‘Soviet Union’ may seem like an odd combination, but Uzbekistan manages to package it all neatly.

Located along the legendary Silk Road, Uzbekistan’s ancient citadels like Samarkand and Bukhara conjure up images of Arabian caravanserais and rich cultural deposits in the forms of ornate madrassahs, mosques and minarets. Their vivid blue hues are still a subject of admiration – and worship – by the many visitors that come here.

Archetypal Russian architecture

Fast forward to early 20th century, and the Soviet influence brought them vodka, the Russian language and their archetypal linear concrete architecture. In Tashkent, you can see an odd marriage of blue-hued brick madrassahs that sit next to concrete slab buildings.

But if you can tear your eyes away from the manmade structures, you’ll find that the Uzbek people are just as interesting – and varied – as their cultural artefacts.

A COVETED LAND
If you’re a history buff, you’ll know that Uzbekistan has been coveted by famous generals and rulers over the centuries.

Uzbekistan’s strategic location along the legendary Silk Road that connected Asia to Europe made it an ideal stopover for merchants who traded their goods like silk, spices and tea. Today, the people in Uzbekistan are unanimously tea drinkers – a reminder of the Silk Road trade. What’s more, tea is free at any restaurant.

Roadside apple vendors

Another common practice is the art of bargaining, so feel free to haggle at bazaars, whether you’re looking for nuts, carpets, fruits or goat-hoofed knives. It’s a great way to interact with the locals.

Thanks to the wealth of trade cities like Samarkand and Bukhara, successions of empires – from the Persians to Alexander the Great and even Genghis Khan – took turns conquering the land. Their vast empires stretched into Asia, Africa and Europe, bringing together a melting pot of cultures and ethnicity (Alexander the Great famously made his generals marry locals to unify his land).

Many of their descendants today still carry on their mixed blood, creating that unique ‘Central Asian’ heritage.

Entrance to Gur-e Emir mausoleum

TAMERLANE
Generations after Genghis’ death in 1227, a local chieftain by the name of Timur emerged as the de facto ruler in the 1380s and proceeded to conquer more land – this time reaching as far as Russia, Turkey, Spain and India. He made Samarkand the centre of his empire, and while he may be a hardened general, he had a soft spot for the arts, and gathered numerous artisans and scholars to construct a range of religious and palatial architectural masterpieces at Samarkand and Bukhara.

Thanks to Timur, grand buildings like the Bibi-Khanym Mosque and Gur-e Emir Mausoleum are now on every tourist’s must-see list. The mosque was dedicated to Timur’s favourite of 13 wives and legend has it that he used 95 elephants to haul the materials to build this gargantuan building, which was inspired by his Indian conquest. While hardly any part of the mosque is original today, the bazaar next door has changed little over 600 years.

Shah-i-Zinda necropolis

Another interesting site is the Shah-i-Zinda Necropolis, which contains over 20 buildings built over 9 centuries – most of which was built during Timur’s time. This complex of mausoleums houses many of his relatives and military aristocrats, and when you climb the stairs up to the main complex, count the number of steps when you ascend and descend – popular belief is that if the numbers don’t match, it means you’ve sinned and atonement is in order.

Sher Dor Madrassah, Registan

While the central attraction of Samarkand – the Registan Square – was built after Timur’s death, it still bears the signature Timurid trademark of grand entrance arches embedded with bright blue mosaics and buildings topped with azure blue domes. They don’t call it Samarkand – which means ‘blue city’ – for nothing.

If these don’t blow your mind, the interiors feature elaborate domes fortified by muqarnas (Islamic stalactite-like cornices), all adorned with glittering gold.

The golden interior of Gur-e Emir

Known throughout history as Tamerlane (or Timur the Lame, thanks to a limp he had), he died trying to invade China without ever reaching it, and his body was brought back – embalmed by the Chinese – and buried in the Gur-e Emir mausoleum (or ‘Tomb of the Ruler’).

Today, under the richly-decorated central dome of the mausoleum, lies the tomb of Timur himself, which is made entirely of jade and bears the carved inscription (or warning) “When I rise, the world will tremble”. Legend has it that when the Soviets opened the tomb to exhume his remains, WWII began the next day.

TO BE CONTINUED…
Want to read more on Uzbekistan? Read the continuation here.

Yokohama: Journey to the Past

Forget quaint houses with thatched roofs and paper sliding doors, or multi-tiered temples with cherry tree gardens. Yokohama does not shout ‘Japan’ from the get-go, even when the city was founded as a port town way back in 1859.

Yokohama's modern skyline

THE WORLD COMES TO YOKOHAMA
The first thing that strikes you about Yokohama is that it’s very international – sure, it’s got international brands and companies and skyscrapers, but it’s more than that. Look closer at the city’s mishmash of architecture and you’ll see a European influence here, and Chinese influence there.

Along Bashamichi Street

The entire civic centre is chock-a-block with grand European-style buildings embellished with ionic columns, corniches, plasterwork and statues. Unlike neighbouring Tokyo’s skyscrapers, most buildings here don’t top more than several storeys high, and is reminiscent more of European cities than a Japanese metropolis (Yokohama is Japan’s second largest city).

It’s not so much a journey to the West as it is a journey to the past.

Head towards Yamate (nicknamed ‘The Bluff’ in its heyday) and you’ll see more Western influence in the various ostentatious European and American-style houses from the early 20th century. The area used to house foreign dignitaries and traders, and is today still a prime area for Yokohama’s expats.

An American Victorian-style house in Yamate

More foreign influence can be seen in Chinatown (Motomachi Chukagai) – which happens to be one of the world’s largest. As you’d expect, gaudy colours and plenty of steamed buns are on offer here.

Get your fortunes here

You can also have a go at trying a variety of ramen, or noodles (another Chinese influence), at the kitschy 1950s-themed Shinyokohama Raumen Museum, or simply invent your own flavours at the decidedly modern Cup Noodles Museum.

JAPAN IN YOKOHAMA
If you want quaint houses with thatched roofs and paper sliding doors, or multi-tiered temples with cherry tree gardens, you can also find them in Yokohama. You just have to travel outside the city centre to Sankeien.

As you enter the gates, you’re greeted by a classic multi-tiered temple that towers over a row of trees. Here, a line of precision-trimmed bushes and trees lead you into the Inner Garden, which was once the private sanctum of the owner who was a prominent businessman from Yokohama.

The Inner Garden is the true gem of Sankeien, as it contains a unique collection of houses of feudal lords and merchants that date from the Edo period.

A feudal lord home

Here, you’ll find cute little thatched-roof tea huts with mud walls, or grand samurai houses with painted sliding doors. All of these are laid out in a classic Japanese-style garden replete with koi ponds, arched bridges and perfectly-manicured bonsai trees. And yes, there are cherry trees too. If you want to see classic Japan from samurai movies, this is the place to be.

When Sankeien first opened to the public in 1904, it had a seafront location and gave visitors an air of serenity. Today, the park still imparts that ambience. The only difference is that it now abuts a busy highway (beyond which is reclaimed land) – a stark reminder that brings you back to present-day Yokohama.