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A couple of friends have come to visit me during the new year. After a very nice new year celebration, we decided to go explore the rest of the country for a bit. The eastern part being generally nicer, we decided to go there.
On Friday morning, me and my friends Anton, Axel, Marcus and Robert took the high speed rail south to Kaohsiung, then crossed to Taidong in the east by normal train. After we found a hotel, we borrowed a couple of bikes and rode around by the seaside.
Setting out 
BAmboo tunnel 
Biking in the woods 
Group
It has been what I like to call November weather, that is around ten degrees and rain, for the last week or so here in north Taiwan. So this weekend, Yini and I did like the migrating birds and moved south for the winter. On Friday evening, we said screw you to the cold weather and took the high speed rail to kaohsiung. As we left rather late, we stayed the night in Kaohsiung then left for Taiwan’s premier beach town, Kenting in the morning.
I’ve been to Kenting several times before, and I’ve spent most of those times either … Read the rest
It’s drizzling, not very heavily, but enough to make the world damp: a steady layer of water on the road surface that soaks through my shoes when I set my feet down; drops all over my clothes that collect in little puddles in the folds of my jacket, and spray coming off the wheels of passing cars. As soon as the needle of the speedometer indicates more than 40, the droplets hitting my face feel like a sand blaster, and the chill of the air is quickly transferred to my bare hands. General all around misery! But there is one … Read the rest
Last weekend, me and Yini visited her parents. Since we do this quite often, I normally don’t write about it, but this time was somewhat different. We left home on Saturday afternoon, and headed south along the highway. Around Sanyi we left the highway and followed some fairly small roads out into rural Taiwan. A short while later we came to a place called Zuolan, which does not look like much to the world. However I found it could well be worth a visit, at least if you are passing by the area.
Stopping by the side of a small … Read the rest
The smell of fresh pork meat pervades the surprisingly lively street market. Despite the hour, very late, or very early depending on your perspective, vendors are setting up their stalls and preparing their wares for sale. To my right, men are cutting up freshly butchered pork, from which arises that special smell which we buyers of Styrofoam packed meat are not used to. To the left women are sorting various vegetables and putting them up for display. All around, men are unloading boxes of produce from delivery trucks, or zipping around on motorcycles. There are no customers yet, so far … Read the rest
“That weird light is back!” The thought occurs the moment I step outside. It’s the same as when leaving work one evening, about two months ago. Sunlight is slanting in past grey tufts of cloud, moisture in the air, not quite thick enough to be fog, diffuses the orange sunset glow, steeping everything in a strange, pinkish yellow hue, like watching the world through tinted glasses. The multitude of droplets just sort of floating in the air make the power lines over the train track buzz and crackle menacingly, but there is no forboding this time, just a lazy feeling … Read the rest
The sky outside the window has steadily grown darker while I have been sitting here, I have been just that little bit too lazy to get up and turn on the lights. So here I sit, in a darkend room, the glow from the computer screen providing the only real source of light, the faint unlight of dusk lingering in the window behind my back. I am pinned here by the woman sleeping peacefully on my lap, holding my left arm in her embrace. I push the laptop to the side, lean back and just sit here, letting some moments … Read the rest
A while back, me and Yini rode our motorbike from Tainan on the south west coast, round Taiwans south tip, then up along the east coast to Yilan in the north. I wrote about it here. We also made one trip from Taoyuan in the west, across the mountains to Yilan, then around the northern tip back to Taoyuan, see this post.
Though a bit further inland than those two trips, we have also been between Hsinchu and Taoyuan (both in the north west) several times, and a few weeks ago, we rode from Hsinchu to Erlin in … Read the rest
The captain has just made his landing speech over the intercom, announcing that it is raining on the ground. Up here however, above the clouds it is, fair to say that the sunrise is fantastic. The plane’s wing, sweeping backwards, cuts across the blue grey landscape of clouds, forming a constant reference against the soft hills and gently sloping valleys flowing by. The sky above is a rich blue, paling towards the horizon where it is streaked in fiery orange and bright golden yellow, with a few free floating tufts of cloud livening up the otherwise empty sky. The light … Read the rest
So, I’ve been in Ireland for almost two weeks and it’s not until now that I have time to write about it. I have been here for work. Basically, my company sold a machine to a company here, and when the customer asked for a modification on that machine, they sent me and two other guys. I have spent most of my time either at the customers facility working, or at the hotel resting (it has been many long days of hard work). However I did get a bit of time to explore the emerald island so I have one … Read the rest