After our very successful Jinshui camp trail hike I convinced fellow hiker Joel to climb the mighty Beidawu (North Dawu) mountain that looks over the Pingtung plains and Kaohsiung city.
Time exposure looking west to the setting New Year moon. The twin urban glows of Pingtung and Kaohsiung shine up through the sea of clouds.
A good road map and a bit of adventure can lead to some great discoveries. That is how we happened on the historic Jinshui camp mountain trail that once provided East-West passage through the Southern mountains of Taiwan. A day trip into the mountains three weeks ago seeded the idea to traverse this trail with the whole family. This weekend along with Joel and son Martin we made that happen.
We have recently been very fortunate to have my father visit us here in Taiwan. Being an unconventional sort of dad he arrived in Taiwan in a very unconventional way. Aboard his home, lifestyle and well traveled 32 foot yacht Leprena II.
Currently based in the Trobriand Islands of Papua New Guinea he didn’t hesitate to up-anchor and sail the 5500 odd kms to visit us. [Read more →]
The ties between Taiwan and Japan are long and very strong. It is telling that so many Taiwanese are so fond of anything Japanese even though Japan occupied Taiwan for the first half of last century. It was equally interesting that so many of the Japanese we met on our 2 week trip had traveled to Taiwan or wished to do so.
Now my wife and I are travelers of old and have always been ready to pack a bag and venture off. But this trip was a little different. We started out as a party of 8, my in-laws, nephew, 3 kids, wife and myself. Backpacks not being appropriate, we decided to start with a 5 days Tokyo tour group.
On our recent Southern holiday adventure we stopped by the Nation Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium. Though I had heard and read about this place, we were all totally overwhelmed with the amazing display of fishes and animals.
It should not be surprising that Taiwan would have a great aquarium, for everyone here absolutely loves seafood. It is only natural that a small live sample of all the yummy marine dishes should be available for viewing.
If you have visited or lived in Taiwan and traveled around a little you will know just how beautiful a place it is and how genuinely hospitable people are. Well Lanyu Island off the south east coast is both beautiful and friendly but in a way that makes it a very pleasant getaway from Taiwan proper.
Back in Perth a family island holiday for us usually involves a week on lazy Rottnest Island. I have wished to visit Lanyu for many years so with the kids on summer holidays we packed our bags and ventured off to see what it is like.
There is a very enjoyable dish that anyone who has visted a Taiwanese night market must have enjoyed. It is an oyster omellete or er a jien (蚵仔煎) . It consists of a corn starch base with egg, a dozen or so fresh oysters and cuttings of fresh green vegetables. All quickly fried such that the oysters are just warmed and greens keep their stalks crisp. It is then covered with a mostly sweet but slight chilli sauce. Yum.
For a country with a population density of over 600 people per sq km it seems implausible that you can hike 100kms over 7 days and only meet a few dozen. But that is the hidden secret of the Yushan national park and the Japanese era central cross island walk trail.
I was very fortunate to join Richard at Barking Deer Adventures on this restricted hiking trip. Five of us started from Dongpu 東浦¦ at 1200m, climbed to the Batongguan meadows at 2900m, took a side trip to the peak of Yushan (Taiwan’s highest at 3952m), trekked for two days around 3000m before descending over 3 day to the eastern entrance of the Yushan national park near Yuli 玉里 at 400m. What a truly incredible hike. For its remoteness, variety of landscape, difficulty, and historical significance.
I have just enjoyed the pleasure of showing three very good friends around Taiwan for a week. While personally it was a great privilege to have such company to show around, the entire week was made so pleasurable by everything Taiwan. We enjoyed swimming in rivers and the ocean, climbed Daguan Shan and Hehuan Shan. And of course we ate like kings and were shown nothing but great hospitality.
We made a 5 day island tour across the southern cross island highway, east coast, Taroko Gorge, Hehuan Shan in snow and back past Sun Moon Lake to Kaohsiung. On their last day here we made a day trip to Taipei to see the bike exhibition followed by dinner then returned to Kaohsiung in the evening.
