Tag Taiwan
The two fishermen on the beach warn us that the current is strong but I ignore them and follow my friend as he steps into the water. A few steps out the river bed drops away abruptly and I sink down to my chest, my watertight backpack floating up behind me like a cork. The water is cold and I can feel the current tugging at my body, wanting to pull me away and send me down stream. A feeling of trepidation flashes through my mind for a brief moment but disappears when I see my friend fearlessly continue forward, so I push on with determination. As we round the slight bend in the river I look up to the right where a smaller side stream comes cascading down the cliffs to join ours. Further along the little creak, the water flows over the edge of the high, jungle clad cliffs and comes crashing down into a small pool, sending spray high into the air. This place is imbued with a combined sense of danger and beauty and here and now, at this very moment, that is all I need.
About two years ago Renegade Wife and I visited an old amusement park that had been turned into a Buddhist temple. There were some parts of the park that we didn’t have time to visit and I’ve always wanted to go back. Last weekend we finally took the time to go there again. Because it’s been a while since I took the motorbike out I decided it would be a good day to go for a ride. However, it was a bit cloudy so we packed some rain gear and a couple of umbrellas just in case.
It was … Read the rest
There is a rounded opening in the wall of trees, just big enough for two people to stand side by side, framed by overhanging branches and low bushes silhouetted against the background, a barely perceptible difference between the shades of gray. A path, its gravel surface painted a light gray by moonlight, runs through the undergrowth, undulating slightly as it stretches out to a point somewhere in the distance. Thanks to the full moon my companions and I can navigate the darkness without using our flashlights, it enables us to see the little flickers of light all around us. In … Read the rest
About two months ago I made a post listing some useful knowledge for living in Taiwan, which you can find here. After thinking about the topic for a while, I came up with a few other things that might be useful to know so I decided to make a second post. After finishing this I have written a couple other posts on the subject that you can find here and here.
1.: The Cold
Taiwan lies in between the subtropical and the tropical climate zones with the Tropic of Cancer cutting straight across the island roughly ⅔ of the … Read the rest
A vast expanse of grayish brown sand, broken up by a couple of large puddles left over by the receding tide. Shallow canals winding their way through the wet sand, leading out to a large lagoon of pale blue water, and in the distance the white crests where the waves break over the outer sand bank. The sun shining down from a cloudless sky, topping every unevenness in the sand and every ripple in the water with a dash of silver. The distant roar of the breaking waves fills the air, every other sound seems to have been blown away … Read the rest
巨人之手是一個很酷的隱藏版景點，正確位置在台中和苗栗的交界處，去的路程我們迷路了好幾次，想要知道怎麼找這個特殊景點，請繼續收看本文:
A while ago my Google Maps expert wife found a place called Giant’s Hand which she though I would be interested in. Last weekend we decided to go check it out. The place is an abandoned amusement park, or rather, what little remains of it, which lies in the very north end of Taizhong, not far from Zhuolan township in Miaoli county. It’s not very well know and kind of hard to get to, but worth the trip in my opinion. You can actually find it on Google maps but don’t count on the navigation to get you there … Read the rest
Whenever I’ve been out at the north-east coast of Taiwan, I’ve thought that the road along the coast is really nice for riding a motorbike. However, the times I’ve been there have always coincided with the time that plenty of other people have been there as well, that is, traffic has been too heavy for me to really enjoy the road. I figured the best remedy for this problem would be to go there in the early morning, probably around sunrise or so.
Now, I do enjoy going out together with my wife, and taking a ride through some beautiful … Read the rest
The Final(?) Taiwan Advice Post
Over the last few months I have written a couple of advice posts for living in Taiwan that you can find them here, here and here. Apparently, three posts was not enough to cover all the subjects I wanted write about, so here comes post number four which I believe will be the last one.
The Importance of Food
Food is undeniably an important part of any culture. Not only is food a cultural expression – the ingredients and flavors say something about the history and way of life of the people that cooked it – but the … Read the rest