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I’ve got the ear buds stuck in at angle to get the bass notes better, Volbeat blasting away, all electric guitars and garbled English. The air conditioning is set to a comfortable level and despite not being able to see the ground I still enjoy the view. It turns out our cruising altitude is such that we are flying just above a layer of clouds. Hills and valleys, crags, boulders and ravines all formed of pristine white vapor bathed in sunlight against a backdrop of clear blue sky and even a few lighter tufts of cloud above. It really is … Read the rest
Since today was the last day of the weekend we had to get back home. With a few stops along the way it took us the better part of two days to go right across the island. Instead of going back the same way we took the route around the northern tip.
There is a fast highway option that takes a short cut through a long tunnel, but we went for the scenic route along the coast line instead. We have done this route before so there shouldn’t be that much new to see. However, a storm must be brewing … Read the rest
This is part two in a series of posts about crossing Taiwan from west to east. Unfortunately part one has gone missing somewhere in the land where data goes to die. At this point I’m not able to recreate it so a quick summary will have to do. Basically, we took the car and drove through the mountains north of Hsinchu, following the so called Roma Road going eastward, stopping here and there along the way. Here’s my favorite photo from the first day:
That’s it for the summary, now on to the second day of the trip:
We slept … Read the rest
For the last two months I have been on a business trip in southern Germany and Switzerland. I am finally back in Taiwan and I felt i should make a small post about it. Naturally I spent most of the time working but I had some chances to go travel in the area during the weekends. The places I went to were mostly just small German or Swiss towns and there’s really not much to tell expect showing the photos.
Some views of the river in the small town where I lived, Bad Säckingen 
The famous covered wooden bridge in
I am passing the point where the street lights end, behind me the street is desolate and gloomy, no people around and but few lights in the windows, in front of me just murky darkness. As I leave the light a feeling rises within me, I don’t think it’s fear, no its not strong enough for that, but rather apprehension. In my mind I can rationalize it, I highly doubt some ill doer would be waiting on a dark road at the edge of a rural German town with the intent to accost a chance jogger. Neither do I think … Read the rest
I am crossing a small wooden bridge, the sound of the river rushing past beneath my feet is very visceral. It surges by with a noisome gurgling that drowns out the only other sound to be heard this early, that of my own feet treading the ground. At this hour, the vanity lights of the town church, the small castle and the bridge itself are all out and there are no tourists awake to take pictures of the night vista. Mists hang like a veil in front the grey mountains in the distance and the churning river is a dark … Read the rest
I’m sweating despite the early autumn chill, my heat is thumping in my chest and my breathing is labored. I’m running on a small path along the river, everything is damp from the rain, my steps squelch in the mud. To my right a single row of trees and beyond that the dim turquoise waters of the Rhein, ever flowing past me in the opposite direction. To my left a field of corn, the green stalks rising up to meet the milky sky that covers everything in the distance. I look up for a moment to see a mountain rising … Read the rest
There is a person swimming in the river! What the hell? I am standing on a bridge over the river Rhein in the middle of a fairly big city and really did not expect anyone to be swimming in the river. It is one of Europe’s main waterways after all, not just some small creek. Well, in my experience there will be some crazy people everywhere, Switzerland shouldn’t be an exception. But then, just as I’m about to turn around, another person floats out from under the bridge, a small boy in a life vest this time, and shortly after, … Read the rest
We took off with the nose pointing roughly northward, seeing little but blackness out the windows. Just a moment ago the pilot made a big sweeping left turn to point us more southwesterly and as we leveled out a magnificent view opened up outside the little porthole to my left. We are flying at a pretty low altitude so we can see the ground fairly clearly; most of it is wreathed in shadow but thousands upon thousands of lights are spread out in the darkness, little dots of amber intermingled with specks of blue tinted white. It lights up the … Read the rest
This weekend the wife and I decided to go for a mini vacation in Miaoli. We started right before lunch, took my motorcycle and went south out of the city. Before long we were entering the mountains and drove along a winding road through lush green landscapes. The road was so perfect for a motorbike ride, I just kept going along and soon enough we reached our hotel.
After checking in we went out again to explore the mountains some more, stopping here and there whenever we found something interesting. Here are a couple of pictures taken during our exploration.… Read the rest