Swimming with Jellyfish

Photographer Nana Trongratanawong shot an amazing video of the Jellyfish Lake in Palau.



Swimming in this lake was definitely the most memorable experience I had during my diving trip in Palau back in 2003. The jellies were firmer than what I expected: plumper than a jello shot, but not as firm as a rubber ball. The feeling of them bouncing off my body underwater registered a new somatosensory sensation in the parietal lobe of my brain. So strange yet addictive.

One warning about visiting the Jellyfish lake: wash off the sunscreen in the ocean before hiking up to the lake. The lake is completely isolated, and the jellies and other organisms in the lake are sensitive to sunscreens and other chemicals. The amount of chemicals off one person may not be much, but it can accumulate as hundreds of people visit the lake each year. This is one of the most unique places on the planet, and we need to be responsible tourists in order to enjoy these wonderful places for decades and centuries.

Bucket List: Stay at Machiya Inns in Kyoto, Japan

When I was still living in Japan as a student, I visited Kyoto twice. The first time was as a part of school trip with my high school classmates. The second trip to Kyoto was with a friend of mine, and it was a frugal but fun trip. We stayed at a hostel for about $20 per night per person which is incredibly cheap in Kyoto, and we were the only Japanese guests there. Other guests were all foreigners from America, Canada, Italy, China, to name a few. Kyoto's history and beauty attracts backpackers from all over the world.

Until about five years ago, I did not know about Machiyas, traditional wooden townhouses in Kyoto, have been renovated and used as inns. These guest houses offer cheaper nightly rates than many hotels in the area. According to websites, these places seem to operate kind of like hostels. I am not familiar to hostels in other countries, but the hostels I have stayed in Japan all had dorm rooms (men and women are separate) and individual rooms.

 

Photos from Guest House Waraku-An

Kyoto has numerous traditional upscale ryokans and high-end hotels. Those types of places are gorgeous but often lack uniqueness. Machiya inns will be the focal point of my next trip to kyoto, whenever that is.

For a list of Machiya and other guest houses in Kyoto area, check out this website. Most tourism-related sites have English pages.