Author RenegadeTourist
My mom and dad came to visit me this week. Since I’ve spent a fair amount of time driving them around the island to show them different sights, I consider it to be true to the spirit of landtravel. It started the very day they arrived, as me and Yini picked them up at the airport, but instead of taking them straight back, we stopped by at the lantern festival to let them marvel at the myriad lights. The next day we drove down to Lugang in central Taiwan and spent some time walking around in the picturesque old streets. … Read the rest
We are walking on a small road winding it’s way along the mountain face. The sun has been drenched by the evening mists that shroud the peaks, and the heat of the day is beginning to dissipate. The mountain rises steeply upward to my left, rows upon rows of tea bushes covering the mountainside in a pattern of dark green stripes and waves. To my right, the slope is covered by bamboo trees, the thin, straight reeds creating a surprisingly sparse forest. It occurs to me that we are walking between fields of two quintessentially Asian plants, as if walking … Read the rest
I get out of the hot pool, run a few steps, and sink into the, to me, frigid waters of the the cool one. A wave of cold washes over me but I remain, sitting as still as possible, letting the water settle around me. After about a minute, the wavelets on the surfaces have died out and my body has recuperated from the initial shock. If I avoid moving my limbs, I don’t feel the acute cold, just a sort of chill that makes the hairs on my body rise. Gradually I start to feel the pumping of my … Read the rest
A few days ago, my old friend Johan Svennung contacted me, wishing to visit me in Hsinchu. We already had a dinner planned that day but welet him join in the fun. Since there were no good buses back to Taipei in the night, he slept here, suggesting we go to some hotsprings the next day. So, when we woke up, we borrowed Yini’s car, and drove up to the mountains in search for a wild hotspring (wild as opposed to a hotspring resort). Eventually we found the road that we thought it was on, but saw no signs of … Read the rest
In my last post I mentioned some rather dramatic looking formations of mud. Today, I took my friend Kai back there. This time I brought a camera, hope you enjoy my pictures.
Downstream from the main fall 
Stepping across a dangerous crack 
Living on the edge 
Kai wondering how to get to the little bridge 
Jump? 
This looks like a sturdy cliff… 
…Nope!
A single plant has grown up through the mud 
Feet on dried mud 
A final photo of me doing a hero pose atop the mud cliff
After Chinese new year it felt good to be home and relax a bit but it felt even better to be able to ride my scooter again. So, the day after me and Yini got back to Hsinchu, we got on the scooter and went out for some random ridning in the city.
We started by going back to the closed off new road described here, and exploring the area it connects to.
We made one round at the end of that road and discovered another, almost empty stretch of asphalt. On the way back from there however, I … Read the rest
I have, more less, moved back to Taiwan to look for a job. I didn’t have time to make the move by land so I cheated, but I have been doing a bit of land travel lately, let me tell you about it.
Since I arrived here in time for Chinese new Year, the natural thing was to celebrate it with my girlfriend’s family. So, we drove down to Erlin the day before new years eve and arrived at her parents house, which is full of people at all times since both her parents and older brother with family live … Read the rest
Even though we are well within the city limits, on a big road no less, the street lights suddenly end. As we pass the boundary between bright orange and near complete darkness, the head light on my scooter becomes our main light source. A couple of concrete barricades stop us from entering the main road surface but the bike path is free,so we move forward on that until we pass the barriers. As soon as we enter the wider lanes in the center of the road, I open up the throttle and yell with excitement as we accelerate down the … Read the rest
When I woke up this morning I felt sure my cold would keep me indoors all day but, with the sun shining brightly through my window, I decided a small cold couldn’t kill me, grabbed my bike and ventured out. That turned out to be a stroke of genius, for here I am, a bright blue sky above, the sun on my face for the first time in ages, and I’m walking on the Ice. Admittedly, I’m really just crossing a small, man made bay and I know that it doesn’t sound all that impressive, but given the dreary weather we normally … Read the rest
It’s a few degrees above freezing, a milky grey mist hangs low over the hills and there is a fine drizzle in the air. The trees are bare and lifeless, bland pop music is blaring from a subpar speaker system and the snow is beige rather than white. It is possible to ski but it feels all wrong; the snow is either too hard or too soft and sticky, it’s not cold enough to give the air that crisp feeling and the dreary weather is just depressing. I can not muster up the enthusiasm to say that it is fun … Read the rest