The collected writings of a Renegade Tourist

Tag thrills

Teapot Mountain, 11:26 am

The trail is close to vertical, a narrow trench of bare gray rock leading up towards the summit, the sides of the cliff forming a sharp V-shape against the sky. The bottom of the trench is uneven, forming footholds here and there, and two thick, knotted ropes run down the sides for you to hold on to. I'm standing halfway up, waiting for the person in front of me to get around a particularly difficult section, thinking to take a photo but I realize this is not the time. My position is too precarious, swinging the pack off my back to retrieve the camera might throw me off balance, and besides I have people waiting below me. Instead I spend a few moments just taking in the strange feeling of standing here: the urge to continue moving upward, to keep pushing towards the end of the trail, mixed with the very real sense of danger in standing at this very spot, and the thrill that it brings. Normally I would wax poetic about the beauty of the surrounding landscape, but right here and now, that's it, nothing more.

Hsinchu beach 2:46 pm

The typhoon is here, the typhoon is here, it’s all over the news and we all know it’s here. While the people in cities all around us are caught in the storm, it is not much of it going on in Hsinchu. So, I have gone to the beach to get some typhoon action. To my left is the greyish sea, to my right a series of concrete wave breakers buried in the sand and an embankment leading up to the waterfront path. And underneath my feet is the dark gray, almost black, surface of the low tide sand. Light … Read the rest

Eklandagatan 3:36 am

The air is mild, the birds are chirping in the bushes, and the brightening sky is competing with the street lights. I have been here before on a similarly early morning with the same mission, to ride a skateboard down this marvelous hill. That time it was colder, so cold that my hands went numb, and darker, so dark i could barely see the dangerous bumps in the asphalt, but that time I stood on my board at the top of the hill and didn’t stop until I had reached the entrance to the big roundabout at the end of … Read the rest

Slottsskogen 7:30 pm

The world is being reborn, tiny little leaves sprouting at the end of some branches while other trees are barren still. The grass is getting greener by the day although dried leaves from last year still litter the ground. The sky is light blue but not clear, a thin film of clouds cover it. There is birdsong in the air and the sun creates an area of fuzzy brightness as it sinks behind some hills. I notice absolutely nothing of this as I zoom down the slope on a ribbon of asphalt. My mind is focused on keeping the balance … Read the rest

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