Tagged with tourism

Nara Deerpark, Japan – Why it made me uncomfortable

Nara deerpark unsettled me. Actually, it did more than that, I was distressed and unhappy for the majority of the time and nearly left. The thing is, nobody warned me about the uncomfortable side of Nara. It wasn’t peaceful, and it wasn’t nature. At least, not until I finally found my way round the back of the temple where there’s a huge open green area with a herd of deer and no tourists.

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The peaceful part

So what was it that unsettled me? Well, for a start a lot of the male deer have their horns cut off. This prevents their natural behaviour in the wild, which is to rut in mating season. Then there was the attitude of the tourists towards the deer. If girlish shrieking and deer selfies are your thing, then you’re going to be in heaven. But it was clear that a lot of people are uncomfortable around animals and viewed them as something cute, a commodity. Then when the deer moved (usually as they were taking a selfie with them) the person would scream and run away to a safe distance. The deer aren’t aggressive, but if you get in their face then, yes, they’re probably going to make a sudden movement. To get away from you. I saw women come up to sleeping fawns and start clapping loudly in their face to wake them up and get a photo. Not cool. I hope her children do that to her. And of course, if you have food, you’re going to get a lot of attention from the deer. It seemed like everywhere I looked someone was running away screaming and scattering deer crackers everywhere, followed by a small herd of confused and hungry animals.

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“Run, dad, run!”

Another problem I had was the amount of trash generated by tourists that I then saw deer eating. I saw a woman throw a plastic candy bar wrapper to the ground, unconcerned that the deer she was walking past promptly moved in to eat it. Luckily a guy got there before me and removed it, but I’m pretty sure there are plenty of deer who aren’t that lucky. I saw an entire newspaper being eaten by a deer, and while paper in small quantities won’t harm an animal’s digestive system, the inks and the other chemicals that now go into papers will, in large quantities. I removed multiple other things from the mouths of deer, too, and if you’ve been to Japan you’ll know that they haven’t really caught on to the idea of trash cans. This left me wandering around with an armful of things-that-aren’t-deer-food for about an hour. I got some odd looks.

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What’s in the news today?

What I took away from Nara (apart from an armful of trash) was the question of why can’t we ever let nature be? Would it be too hard to put a fence up between the tourists and the deer, and keep a little separation? Looking from a distance, and taking photos? Rather than sawing off their antlers, disturbing the fawns just trying to suckle from their mothers, and filling their digestive tracts with plastic?

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People, people everywhere

Ever noticed that you only read about the positive side of places when you’re looking into visiting, and you have to dig a little deeper to uncover the real side? Maybe I was expecting some cute fluffy fairytale of happy animals all frolicking around, at least with the outdoor animals (cafes I was always cynical about). This is not to say don’t visit Nara – just be prepared, treat the deer respectfully, and take your trash away. Maybe bring some vegetables and sit around the back away from the tourists.

 

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Somewhere to avoid, however, is the animal cafes. Cat cafes, goat cafes, owl cafes, llama cafes, pig cafes… the list of animals that Japan puts in a small room with cushions, cakes and coffee is extensive, and expensive. An hour in a cat cafe will set you back around 1000jpy. I passed a goat cafe that has a miserable, lonely, unhealthy and unhappy goat sitting outside in a tiny cage. If you’re going to go to an animal cafe, choose a cat cafe that has rescue cats for adoption. That way you’re not supporting the purebread cat industry, and you’re not keeping owls awake when they’re trying to sleep.

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Unhappy goat

Remember, when visiting Japan, be responsible in your cute tourism.

Have you been to any animal cafes in Japan? Or to Nara? Or the animal islands? Think I’m over or under reacting? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

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10 things to love about Taipei, Taiwan

Maybe I haven’t always been the most positive about Taipei. The cockroaches, the working hours, the lack of alternative night-life, the terrible dating prospects for Western women… (more on that later). Now that I’m leaving, though, all the nostalgia is kicking in. I will be genuinely sad to leave Taiwan: it grows on you.

The Mountains

The air in Taipei is not that polluted for an Asian capital, but it’s not clean, either. The city has nice parts, but it’s not an attractive city. What makes the city bearable is that almost wherever you are, you can see the mountains between the buildings or over the rooftops. Ride the MRT from the city centre for 15-30 minutes in any direction, and you’re in nature. Take a train or a bus for an hour, and you’re at the beach. Surrounded by mountains. They’re green, lush, and a beautiful way to escape from the city for a few hours.

On a Sunday morning hike in Neihu.

On a Sunday morning hike in Neihu.

The People

If you’ve heard about Taiwan at all, and aren’t one of those people who hear me say Taiwan and respond with ‘Thailand! Awesome!’ (seriously, learn the difference)  then you’ll have heard that the people are lovely. They don’t disappoint. With very few exceptions they’re friendly, helpful and welcoming. They compliment your Chinese if you can say anything at all, and they’ll go out of their way to give you information, take you places, and see that you’re alright.

The Convenience

When I lived in Germany I was always getting caught out by all the shops closing on Sundays. In Taipei, the schedule is the same all week long. 24/7 convenience stores are on every corner and sell most things you might need in a hurry: umbrellas, rain ponchos, toothbrushes, alcohol, disposable underwear. A lot of shops are open until 10pm and nightmarkets are on till midnight, so you can finish work late and still go clothes shopping with friends. Basically, when you need something, you can get it.

The Transport

Admittedly it’s not cheap, but the HSR (High Speed Rail) will take you all the way down the coast from Taipei to Kaohsiung in a little over two hours. If you want a cheaper option, there are trains and buses. Taipei has an excellent transport network: the MRT (Metro) is constantly having new lines added to it, and there are buses if that fails. The Ubike system is used by everyone, so much so that the bike stands are frequently emptied and you have to stand like vultures waiting for someone to return theirs. Most of inner Taipei is flat, and so it’s perfect for biking: as long as you’re brave enough to bike in the scooter traffic amid the buses and taxis that will try to flatten you.

The Metro: clean, convenient, just don't bring your birds.

The Metro: clean, convenient, just don’t bring your birds.

The Safety

The other night I was walking the 20 minutes back to the MRT from an art class I was portrait modelling for. It was about 10.30 at night and I was in a suburb I didn’t know, right in the South of Taipei. It suddenly occurred to me that I’d never even thought about my own safety, because it’s just not an issue in Taiwan. Even when I’m alone by the riverside cycling home in the early hours of the morning, I’ve never once felt in danger.

One warning: bike theft is quite common here. If you have a nice bike, get a decent lock and lock it to something when possible.

The Tea Shops

This is something I haven’t seen anywhere else. Tea shops are everywhere here, and I don’t mean places where you go in, sit down and get a teapot. Here, you order bubble tea, or mango green tea, or one of many other flavours, you say how much sugar and ice you want, and you have a tea to go. And they’re big. They’re perfect for cooling you down on a summer day.

The Fruit

One of my biggest disappointments here is that the fruit is so expensive! It’s almost UK prices unless you go to the big wholesale markets. But it’s so tasty, and it’s everywhere, and it’s all perfectly ripe. When you buy a pineapple they’ll chop it up with a cleaver to save you the hassle (I hate to admit how many times I’ve accidentally let a pineapple go bad because chopping it was too troublesome.) Things also come in and out of season here, so there’s always something to look forwards to. And fruit and veg stalls pop up everywhere.

An extremely well-organised fruit and veg seller.

An extremely well-organised fruit and veg seller.

It’s not the Mainland

We have regular internet service, there’s not intense monitoring systems in place, and people are much more liberal. Taiwan has progressive laws for same sex couples, relatively speaking, and although discrimination is an issue here it’s small enough that you can for the most part get by without being aware of it. Schools still need to be better about hiring teachers on skills, not looks, but other than that Taiwan is good to foreigners. You won’t get overcharged, ripped off, or given dirty looks for being Western. People are polite and well mannered: they don’t shove, they don’t smell, and they don’t use the street as a bathroom. Taiwan is just generally more in touch with the rest of the world than the mainland.

Vegan and Vegetarian Food

I can’t state enough how easy it is to be vegan here. Once you learn to recognise the characters for vegetarian restaurant, you realise that they’re everywhere. Most food is labelled, so you don’t need to check the ingredients and risk missing something you don’t know the character for, and people know what a vegetarian is (there’s still some confusion about vegan, but they’re getting there.) More on being vegan in Taiwan here.

Vegan food at Vege Creek.

Vegan food at Vege Creek.

The Coffee Shops

You can get good coffee here, but for some reason you can’t get cheap coffee (unless you want it from the 7/11). Hipster culture has permeated Taiwan so deeply that coffee shops are everywhere, filled with quirky interiors and very expensive slow drip coffee from Brazil. A good coffee in most of the places here will set you back around 160nt, which is more than Starbucks, and more than most meals unless you’re in a restaurant. They are incredibly endearing though, and I like seeing the curious cafes that pop up everywhere with their hipster charm. Finding one down a ramshackle alley is one of the things that gives Taipei its charm. Find your vegan latte here.

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