Author RenegadeTourist
During the last several months I have gone on a number of outings, sometimes with my family, sometimes on my own, that for some reason or other have not been worth making separate posts about. In some cases it’s because I’ve already written about the place and I didn’t feel the need to add another post. In other cases it’s because there wasn’t enough interesting aspects to write a full post about. Whatever the reason, I’ve ended up with a bunch of photos that I would like to upload somewhere, but they don’t really fit on the blog. To remedy … Read the rest
When my friend posted a video of walking through a long, seemingly abandoned tunnel I immediately knew I would have to go there. I asked where it was and he sent me the location. From what I could understand, there was a big network of tunnels down there and I somehow got it into my head that I shouldn't just go there, but I should try to make a map. Despite a few of the tunnel branches being blocked, the place is still so big I had to go there twice to fully explore every part of the system. I did eventually end up with a map. It's not particularly accurate; it's not to scale and I only made some rough estimates of the twists and turns of the different passageways. I also didn't come up with a good way to add in slopes and stairs, so that's not included either. That said, every intersection is included, as is every exit and every dead end. If you go down into these tunnels you should be able to navigate using my map. Check out the map
Despite the name, this isn't actually a road. It's more like a hiking trail that's possible to ride with a motorcycle...Well, barely, the trail is so narrow the plants growing along the sides keep whipping my legs as I go along, and the ground is treacherous with patches of loose gravel interspersed with large rocks. I go bumping and skidding down the trail as it winds its way through the forest, my eyes focused on the ground in front of me, my mind fully concentrated on riding, my muscles almost vibrating as I'm constantly adjusting my course. I would like to go slow but I find it's easier to navigate this terrain if I keep the speed up, so I go fast as I dare, the forest flowing past me within arm's reach; it's simultaneously scary and exhilarating. Right here, right now, this is the feeling of adventure I always long for.
I’ve previously explored two abandoned hotels near Shimen Reservoir (read about them in Part 1 & Part 2). There is one more abandoned hotel near the reservoir that has been on my list of places to go explore but I haven’t been able to find the time. Last weekend, me and a friend decided to go to Buddha World which I have written about here. When we got there however, we discovered that the place was closed. Neither of us was really up for breaking in to a Buddhist temple, so we had to think of something else. … Read the rest
One evening a short while back I felt like relaxing with something that doesn’t require too much thinking. I figured some mindless action movie should do the trick so I logged in to Netflix and searched for Transformers 5 but couldn’t find it. “No problem,” I thought, and switched over to Amazon Prime but couldn’t find it there either. So, I went for the third option, HBO Go, but to no avail, they didn’t have it. I’m not subscribed to any other streaming services so I witched to another movie, Fast and the Furious 9 if I remember correctly, but … Read the rest
About two months ago I posted about my experiences of traveling by flight during a global pandemic. Now I’m back in Taiwan and since the pandemic situation has changed a bit since last time, I think I should write a bit about how it was to return home to Taiwan.
As you probably know, the corona virus situation started becoming worse in October. Because of this, Germany went into a partial lockdown which meant a few things. First, places where people gather such as museums and most restaurants closed temporarily. Second, rules regarding mask usage and social distancing became stricter … Read the rest
It's been a couple of weeks since my last post about tourism in Germany during the Covid19 pandemic. Me and my colleagues spent most of those weekends exploring the southwestern part of Germany, checking out a lot of different sightseeing spots. To my surprise there was a fair amount of other tourists at several of the places we visited; except for the fact that museums were closed and we were limited to eating fastfood in the car, it didn't really feel like there was a lockdown. Granted, Germany was only doing lockdown light but in some places it felt so normal it almost made me question if there was any lockdown at all. Don't worry, I have not become a Covid denier, it's just that the overall experience has mostly been like normal, pandemic free tourism.
So, just like in my last post, I want to share some of the more worthwhile places with my readers, enjoy: read the rest
Taiwanese Cultural Quirks
I’ve been living in Taiwan for close to ten years now and despite feeling at home here there are still some aspects of Taiwanese culture that baffle me. That’s not to say I think the way people here do things is wrong, or that we in Europe are better, it’s just that from my perspective these cultural practices and behaviors are kind of quirky. Mind you, some of these might be common to other countries in Asia, it’s just that I never lived there long enough to notice. So without further ado, here are some things about Taiwanese culture that … Read the rest