Month May 2015
I have covered up as well as I can, rain jacket, rain pants and even shoe covers, but the rain is pretty heavy and it gets amplified by my speed; though I’ve only been on the way for a few minutes, I can already sense chinks in my armor, little spots of cold where the water is starting to work it’s way through. It’s like nature wills me to hunker down and shy away, but I keep my back straight and my speed high, defying the elements, defying my own instinct. This will be hell to pay.… Read the rest
There are a few more islands that belong to the Matsu archipelago but we never managed to arrange a good schedule for going there. However we still had a day left and had already seen most of the two main islands so we decided to take it easy. We slept till fairly late in the morning then went out and rode around leisurely checking various minor tourist attractions.
The giant Matsu statue 
vegetable gardens in the center of a small village 
A post warning you not to stray from the path because there are still landmines in the area.
Eventually … Read the rest
Whe we woke up this morning the rain had stopped but the sky was still grey. That didn’t matter to us since the goal of the day was to see several of the underground bunkers and tunnels that are no longer in use by the military. The first one was tunnel 88 which used to be for tanks but now acts as a storage place for the local wine. My camera doesn’t capture smells but if it did you could get a whiff of the rather strong wine odor in there.
We thought the wine tunnel would take a bit more … Read the rest
We woke up pretty early this morning and after a quick breakfast on the terrace overlooking the ocean we went for a stroll in the little village where we slept. I really felt like somewhere in Southern Europe, with old style stone houses climbing the cliffs just above the water.
sitting on the wall enjoying the sun 
can you believe this is Taiwan? 
After walking around for a little while we got on the scooter and drove to the War and Peace Memorial Park. Unlike most other military installations on the island there are some here you can get into … Read the rest
Because my wife is awesome, she gave me a trip to the island of Matsu for my birthday. So this morning we took off to the airport for a four day trip. When we got to the airport we learned that the flight was delayed so we ended up waiting for around an hour. We finally got in the air but about half an hour after take off the captain let us know they had some mechanical problems and we had to turn around and go back. Except for a bit of turbulence on the way down everything went well. … Read the rest
I walk around the corner, leave the noise of the restaurant behind me, the voices of playing children trail off as the darkness envelopes me. I look out over the harbor, there are four street lights on the pier opposite me, illuminating the surface of the water, forming orange blotches that shimmer in the darkness. A breeze ruffles the waters surface, making the orange blotches dance with a waving motion, and whispering softly in my ear. I didn’t realize until now how loud the dinner was, now I feel at peace.… Read the rest