Fun fact#201
Japan has more than 6,800 islands
Japan is an archipelago of over 6,800 islands, though four of them hold nearly all of the population.
Travel stories, quotes and fun facts, part 3
29 stories, 51 fun facts, 20 quotes on this page. It covers Japan, Tanzania, Kenya, Senegal, South Korea, Mali and 32 other places. Page 3 of 10.
Page 3 of 10
29 stories, 51 fun facts, 20 quotes on this page. It covers Japan, Tanzania, Kenya, Senegal, South Korea, Mali and 32 other places. Page 3 of 10.
Countries on this page
Every country page collects its entries in one place, with a fact sheet and the guides for going there.
Entries on this page
Quote#202
Travelling is a brutality
Travelling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort.
Fun fact#203
Tokyo's rush hour has pushers
Station staff known as oshiya are still employed on the busiest Tokyo lines to help commuters fit inside the doors.
Story#204
Slow to the summit
The guide said pole pole about four hundred times in five days. On summit night, walking at half the pace felt absurd until we passed the fast group sitting down in the dark.
Fun fact#205
Japan's vending machines outnumber people in some towns
With roughly one machine for every 30 people, Japan sells everything from hot corn soup to fresh eggs on the street, day and night.
Story#206
Zanzibar at low tide
The sea went out nearly a kilometre and the whole village walked out onto the flats with buckets. Children raced the incoming tide back to shore as if it were a game invented that morning.
Fun fact#207
Kyoto was spared the bomb
Kyoto was removed from the atomic target list partly because of its cultural importance, which is why 1,600 temples still stand.
Quote#208
Two kinds of travel
There are only two kinds of travel: first class and with children.
Fun fact#209
Cherry blossom has an official forecast
Japanese weather services publish a sakura front each spring, tracking the bloom as it sweeps north from Okinawa to Hokkaido.
Story#210
The dhow builder
He was making a boat with no plans, using a stick with notches as his only measuring tool. His father built the boat next to it. His son was sanding a rudder and complaining about it.
Fun fact#211
Mount Fuji is privately owned above 3,360 m
The upper slopes of Fuji legally belong to a Shinto shrine, a claim confirmed by Japan's courts.
Quote#212
A journey is best measured in friends
A journey is best measured in friends rather than miles.
Fun fact#213
Japan has a rabbit island
Okunoshima was once a secret poison gas factory. Today hundreds of feral rabbits hop across the ruins.
Story#214
Salt and pink water
The collectors work waist-deep in water saltier than the sea, coated in shea butter to protect their skin. They fill a pirogue by hand and it takes most of a morning.
Fun fact#215
South Korea is mostly mountains
About 70 percent of South Korea is mountainous, which is why its cities build upward and its hiking culture is enormous.
Story#216
The griot's version
We asked about the history of the town and got a song instead of a date. It lasted nine minutes, named six generations, and was more accurate than the guidebook.
Fun fact#217
Seoul's subway has free wifi everywhere
Seoul's metro offers signal in every tunnel, so commuters stream video hundreds of metres underground without a drop.
Quote#218
Investment in yourself
Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.
Fun fact#219
Korea counts age differently
Koreans traditionally counted everyone a year old at birth and added a year each New Year, a system officially retired in 2023.
Story#220
Mud plaster day
Once a year the whole town replasters the mosque. There are teams, there is a race, and there is a great deal of mud. Being clean that day marks you as a visitor.
Fun fact#221
China's high-speed rail is the longest
China has built more high-speed track than the rest of the world combined, linking most major cities at 300 km/h.
Quote#222
Collect moments
Collect moments, not things.
Fun fact#223
The Great Wall is not one wall
The Great Wall is a network of walls built by different dynasties over 2,000 years, and long stretches are earth rather than stone.
Story#224
A sandstorm and a shop
Visibility dropped to about four metres. We took shelter in a shop selling only mattresses and phone credit, and the owner made tea for eleven people until it passed.
Fun fact#225
China uses one time zone
Despite spanning the width of five, all of China officially runs on Beijing time, so the sun rises after 10 am in western Xinjiang.
Story#226
The night the desert froze
Nobody warns you that the Sahara gets cold. At three in the morning we wore every item of clothing we had brought and still slept badly, then watched a sunrise that made it fine.
Fun fact#227
Shanghai's maglev hits 431 km/h
The airport maglev covers 30 kilometres in about seven and a half minutes without touching the track.
Quote#228
Jobs fill your pocket
Jobs fill your pocket, adventures fill your soul.
Fun fact#229
Terracotta soldiers were once painted
The 8,000 terracotta warriors were originally brightly coloured. Most pigment flakes away within minutes of exposure to dry air.
Story#230
Table Mountain in cloud
We took the cable car up into total white. Visibility was eight metres. Then the cloth lifted for ninety seconds, the whole city appeared below, and it closed again like a curtain.
Fun fact#231
Hong Kong has the most skyscrapers
Hong Kong has more buildings over 150 metres than any other city, squeezed onto a narrow strip between mountains and sea.
Quote#232
Fill your life with experiences
Fill your life with experiences, not things. Have stories to tell, not stuff to show.
Fun fact#233
Macau's economy runs on casinos
Macau's gaming revenue has repeatedly exceeded that of Las Vegas several times over, on a peninsula smaller than most airports.
Story#234
The penguin commute
African penguins crossed the boardwalk at their own pace and in their own order. A queue of humans waited politely, which felt like the correct arrangement.
Fun fact#235
Taiwan's tallest tower has a giant ball
Taipei 101 hangs a 660-tonne steel pendulum near the top to counteract typhoon sway, and visitors can watch it move.
Fun fact#236
Mongolia is the emptiest country
With around two people per square kilometre, Mongolia has the lowest population density of any sovereign nation.
Story#237
Braai rules
There is one person at the fire and everyone else offers advice. Nobody touches the tongs. The meat is ready when the person at the fire says it is ready, and not before.
Quote#238
Blessed are the curious
Blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures.
Fun fact#239
Ulaanbaatar is the coldest capital
Average annual temperatures near freezing make Ulaanbaatar the coldest capital city on Earth.
Story#240
Waiting for the ferry to Ilha
The ferry was scheduled for nine. It left at two. In between, someone produced a guitar and someone else produced grilled prawns, and by the time it arrived nobody wanted to board.
Fun fact#241
Nepal's flag is not rectangular
Nepal is the only country with a non-quadrilateral flag, made of two stacked pennants representing the Himalayas.
Fun fact#242
Everest grows and shifts
Everest rises a few millimetres a year and drifts northeast as the Indian plate pushes under Asia. Its official height was revised to 8,848.86 m in 2020.
Quote#243
Because in the end
Because in the end, you won't remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn.
Story#244
The delta by mokoro
Our poler stood at the back and pushed us through reeds taller than the boat. He stopped once, silently, and pointed at an elephant twenty metres away that we would never have seen.
Fun fact#245
Nepal's clock is 45 minutes off
Nepal runs on UTC+5:45, one of only a handful of time zones offset by 45 minutes.
Fun fact#246
Bhutan measures happiness
Bhutan tracks Gross National Happiness alongside economic figures, surveying wellbeing, culture and environment.
Story#247
Stars over the Kalahari
The Milky Way was bright enough to cast a shadow. Our guide named constellations we had never heard of, from a sky map that had nothing to do with Greek myths.
Quote#248
The road is life
Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.
Fun fact#249
Bhutan absorbs more carbon than it emits
Constitutionally required to keep 60 percent forest cover, Bhutan is one of very few carbon-negative countries.
Fun fact#250
India has over 120 languages
India recognises 22 official languages and counts more than 120 with over 10,000 speakers each.
Story#251
Dunes before sunrise
The gate opens at dawn and everyone drives too fast to Dune 45. We climbed the ridge in the dark, sat down at the top, and the desert turned from grey to orange in about four minutes.
Fun fact#252
The Taj Mahal changes colour
White marble reflects the sky, so the Taj Mahal looks pink at dawn, blinding white at noon and gold under a full moon.
Quote#253
Nothing behind me
Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.
Story#254
A road with no corners
We drove for two hours and turned the wheel twice. The gravel road went straight to the horizon and then continued. We passed one car and both of us waved.
Fun fact#255
India's rail network moves millions daily
Indian Railways carries more than 20 million passengers a day across a network of over 68,000 kilometres.
Fun fact#256
Kerala has backwater buses
In Kerala's backwaters, public ferries serve as school buses and commuter transport across 900 kilometres of connected waterways.
Story#257
Devil's Pool nerves
The guide swims first to show it is safe, then holds your ankles while you look over the lip of Victoria Falls. It is entirely safe, allegedly, and my hands shook for ten minutes afterwards.
Quote#258
People don't take trips
People don't take trips, trips take people.
Fun fact#259
Meghalaya grows its bridges
Khasi villagers train living fig roots across rivers for decades until they form bridges that get stronger with age.
Fun fact#260
Ladakh has a magnetic-looking hill
Magnetic Hill near Leh appears to roll cars uphill. It is an optical illusion caused by the surrounding slope.
Story#261
Rain in the rainforest
It did not rain, it emptied. Four hours of noise so loud that conversation stopped. Then it ended in about a minute and the forest started making an entirely different set of sounds.
Fun fact#262
Varanasi is continuously inhabited
Varanasi is among the oldest continuously lived-in cities in the world, with settlement stretching back roughly 3,000 years.
Quote#263
A journey is a person
A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.
Story#264
The lemur that chose me
We were told not to feed them. One sifaka disagreed with this policy, landed on my shoulder, checked all my pockets in about six seconds and left disappointed.
Fun fact#265
Sri Lanka exports cinnamon
True cinnamon comes almost entirely from Sri Lanka, where bark is hand-peeled and rolled into quills that dry into curls.
Fun fact#266
Sri Lanka has a rock fortress
Sigiriya's palace sits on a 200-metre granite plug, reached by staircases that pass between the paws of a carved lion.
Story#267
Baobab road at dusk
Everyone comes for the sunset photograph. Nobody mentions that afterwards, in the dark, ox carts keep coming down the same road for another hour, and that is the better picture.
Fun fact#268
Maldives is the flattest country
The average natural elevation of the Maldives is about 1.5 metres, making it the lowest-lying country on Earth.
Quote#269
We find after years
We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.
Fun fact#270
Maldives glows at night
Bioluminescent plankton can turn the shoreline electric blue on dark nights, brightest when the water is disturbed.
Story#271
Vanilla in the air
The whole town smells of curing vanilla. A farmer showed us pods drying on racks and explained the two years between flower and export. Then he asked what we pay for one pod at home and laughed for a long time.
Fun fact#272
Thailand was never colonised
Thailand is the only Southeast Asian nation never taken by a European power, partly through skilled 19th-century diplomacy.
Quote#273
The world is a country
The world is a country which nobody ever yet knew by description; one must travel through it one's self to be acquainted with it.
Fun fact#274
Bangkok has the longest official name
The city's full ceremonial name runs to 168 letters. Locals simply call it Krung Thep.
Story#275
Fishing with cormorants
An old technique, mostly gone now, demonstrated for us by a man who clearly enjoyed the audience. He said his grandfather had six birds and knew all their names.
Fun fact#276
Thai new year is a water fight
Songkran began as a gentle blessing with water and has become a nationwide three-day soaking in April, the hottest month.
Story#277
The oasis at dusk
Salt lakes, date palms and a mud fortress melting slowly in the rain that comes once a decade. We swam in a spring at sunset with four boys who had cycled from the village to show off.
Fun fact#278
Vietnam grows most of the world's cashews
Vietnam is the largest exporter of processed cashews, and also a leading producer of robusta coffee.
Quote#279
Travel and change of place
Travel and change of place impart new vigour to the mind.
Fun fact#280
Hanoi has a train street
In the old quarter a working railway runs within arm's reach of house fronts. Residents pull in their chairs twice a day.
Story#281
Tunis medina navigation
The rule we were given: if a street gets narrower, you are going the wrong way; if it widens, you are heading out. It worked eight times out of nine.
Fun fact#282
Ha Long Bay has 1,600 islands
Ha Long Bay's limestone karsts number close to 1,600, most of them uninhabited because the cliffs are too steep.
Quote#283
Every day is a journey
Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.
Fun fact#284
Cambodia's temple is the largest religious monument
Angkor Wat covers about 160 hectares, making it the largest religious structure ever built.
Story#285
Berber hospitality
We knocked to ask for water and were served lunch. When we tried to pay, our host looked offended, then wrapped bread for us to take up the pass.
Fun fact#286
Angkor was a megacity
Lidar surveys revealed that medieval Angkor sprawled across roughly 1,000 square kilometres, likely the largest pre-industrial city on Earth.
Quote#287
Do not seek the footsteps
Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise; seek what they sought.
Fun fact#288
Laos is the most bombed country
More than two million tonnes of ordnance fell on Laos between 1964 and 1973, and clearance teams still work today.
Story#289
The taxi that collected everyone
The shared taxi left when the fourth passenger arrived. By the end there were six of us, a crate of tomatoes and a goat, and the driver charged the same as if it had been four.
Fun fact#290
Luang Prabang wakes before dawn
Hundreds of monks collect alms in silence at sunrise, a daily ritual that has continued for centuries.
Story#291
Highlife on a Sunday
Music came out of every second doorway and none of it was the same song. A man selling fried plantain kept time with his tongs without appearing to notice.
Fun fact#292
Myanmar has thousands of temples in one plain
More than 2,000 brick temples and stupas still stand on the Bagan plain, survivors of over 10,000 built between the 11th and 13th centuries.
Quote#293
The moon and sun are travellers
The months and days are the travellers of eternity. The years that come and go are also voyagers.
Fun fact#294
Indonesia has 17,000 islands
Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world with around 17,500 islands, roughly 6,000 of them inhabited.
Story#295
The carpenter's coffins
In the workshop stood a coffin shaped like a fish, one like an aeroplane and one like a cocoa pod. Each was a life summarised in wood, and the carpenter explained every choice.
Fun fact#296
Bali's calendar has a day of silence
On Nyepi the entire island stops. The airport closes, lights stay off and nobody goes outside for 24 hours.
Quote#297
Travel brings power
Travel brings power and love back into your life.
Fun fact#298
Komodo dragons live in one place
Komodo dragons are found wild only on a few Indonesian islands and can grow past three metres.
Story#299
Waiting out a strike in Athens
The metro stopped and the museums shut. We walked eleven kilometres, ate three lunches and found a rooftop where the Acropolis appeared between two air conditioning units.
Fun fact#300
Krakatoa was heard 4,800 km away
The 1883 eruption produced possibly the loudest sound in recorded history, audible in Australia and on Rodrigues Island.
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Propose your travel story
The missed ferry. The stranger who handed over a key. The meal that ran until midnight. If something happened to you on the road and you still think about it, send it - a few sentences is plenty, and we do the tidying up.