Category Taiwan
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
The main attraction in Xitou is the Forest Recreation Area, a large park full of trails that let you see nature without the hassle of actually having to go to a forest. We went there after breakfast this morning and I found it a little bit too civilized for my taste, I would prefer a real forest over this one. However, there were a few spots that made me appreciate the place more, chief of which was the Sky Walk, a metal walkway high up among the treetops that lets you experience the forest from a different perspective.
Pretty cool
Several years ago Yini went to a mountain trail in Nantou county called Sky Ladder, but since she was with a friend who was not so used to mountaineering, they had to turn back after just a short distance. Ever since I heard about it, I’ve wanted to go but I haven’t had a chance until now. Yesterday evening me and Yini drove down to a small town on the outskirts of Taizhong. After a night in a motel there, we continued to Zhushan township and the sky ladder trail this morning. Perhaps I had too high expectations because the … Read the rest
This morning we started by going to the seashore park around the corner from our hotel. We took a walk out towards the tip of the small headland, and looked at a cliff formation in the sea called the twin candlesticks.
View of the harbor and our hotel on the left side 
The view from the top 
The win candlesticks cliffs 
Tip of the headland.
We then got on the motorbike and headed inland toward Yangmingshan National Park. On the way we came across the gigantic rusting skeleton of an abandoned factory so we just had to make a quick … Read the rest
Last night Yini went to the hotel’s hot spring to relax, but since we had a private one in our room I stayed in writing last night’s blog entry instead. This morning we went down to the river in Wulai and found some natural hot springs. Since Yini did plenty of soaking the night before, she opted out but I went in to enjoy the waters. It is a really special experience, in my book it’s better than the resorts. You sit there in a small pool built from river rocks, in a mix of hot and cold water, one … Read the rest
This weekend is the Tomb Sweeping Day, which essentially just means we have four days off in a row. Renegade wife and I are making the most of it by traveling around and enjoying ourselves.
We started off lightly yesterday by driving out to a small amusement park just outside Hsinchu city. The park itself is small, old and pretty lame, except for a few really well executed optical illusions:
This tilted house is by far the best, I actually got a little bit motion sick just by … Read the rest
Just as it was getting more and more like spring it seems winter made a comeback because this week has been cold and rainy. Tired of coming home wet and and miserable, I suggested we go south for the weekend. Said and done, as soon as I got off work Friday, we got our bags, hopped on a high speed train south and went to the southern city Kaohsiung.
Yesterday we woke up fairly early, had a tasty breakfast, rented a scooter then headed out to explore the city. When we went to Taidong a few months ago, we spotted … Read the rest
Today we went on a small roadtrip up into the mountains. The goal was a newly opened section of road that is supposedly similar to the central belt road, which is the road that snakes across the central mountain range from west to east. We went by various smaller country roads rather than the highway and around two in the afternoon we turned up into the mountains. The road we followed was narrow and bumpy and we wound our way upwards and then, as we came around a bend, a large sloping field of white, blossoming plum trees opened up … Read the rest