Shan Ding Lu

Old Fortress Taiwan

Posted on June 15th, 2008 by Stephen

It is true that if the Communists had any sort of a navy in 1949 the history of Taiwan would have been very different indeed. When the Nationalists arrived in Taiwan they spent the first 20 years fortifying the nation for an impending communist invasion.

When I first arrived in 1989 Taiwan had just lifted martial law. Air raid drills were still common and the military had a very strong presence. You would often see movements of army vehicles and troops and there was a continual coastal watch. I remember being moved off the beach one evening by a couple of soldiers as well as being cautioned, though not badly, for taking photos of the Kaohsiung harbour entrance.

Summer rain and frog spotting

Posted on May 30th, 2008 by Stephen

The thunder clouds have been threatening for a while but today Kaohsiung received it’s first large showers of the plum rains that signal the start of the long hot humid summer ahead.

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Tags: Children, Insects, Shan Ding Lu // 1 Comment »

A field of rice

Posted on May 21st, 2008 by Stephen

Just across the lane by our house is a field that has been growing rice for the last 5 months. I was lead to believe that farmers could get two rice crops a year from their fields. Having watched the field opposite us I can say that while they may be able to, no-one down here in the south does. Some farmers put red beans in between rice crops but most of the fields used for rice have remained fallow for the remaining 7 months.

Batongguan Fungi

Posted on May 4th, 2008 by Stephen

A mushroom walks into a bar and asks for a beer. The bartender says “Sorry we don’t serve mushrooms here”. To which the mushroom replies. “That’s not fair, I’m just a fun guy” (Fungi).

On the recent Batongguan hike I took many photos of the fungi we passed. Though not catalogue quality shots, this sample represents the huge range of mushrooms, lichen and other fungi to be found in the mountains here.

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Tags: Mountains // 1 Comment »

Batongguan hiking 八通關

Posted on April 11th, 2008 by Stephen

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.

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Tags: Mountains, Travel // 14 Comments »

Digging up the road. Again…

Posted on March 29th, 2008 by Stephen

It absolutely astonished me the first time I saw a team of diggers came to dig up the road not more than a week after it had been freshly repaved. They did their job and roughly patched over the hole leaving a beautiful street with a large uneven blemish. When I see these things now it doesn’t phase me at all.

It seems that each essential service is responsible for connecting to any new development. And these services typically run down the middle of the road. Most streets are a patchwork of different service entry scars, even the recently paved ones.

Election day

Posted on March 23rd, 2008 by Stephen

Yesterday Taiwan held its election for president. This was a simple vote for one of two candidates numbered (1) and (2). Along with the presidential vote there were two referendum votes. So every voter had 3 ballots to fill out. An easy and simple affair.

Ma Ying-jeou and running mate on the left. KMT, red and blue, number (2). Frank Shieh and running mate on the right. DPP, green, number(1)

World class Taiwan

Posted on March 19th, 2008 by Stephen

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.

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Tags: Mountains, Taiwan, Travel // 4 Comments »

I’ll have my power outlet here

Posted on March 9th, 2008 by Stephen

Most electrical work in Taiwan is quite professional. The original power circuits in our house are all orderly, neat and tidy. It is the homespun additions to original circuits that demonstrate that artistic license rather than an electricians license was involved. Here are a collection of such wiring.

The open-air switchboard of a street-side food store. Here the free form wiring is starkly contrasted by the accumulation of cooking oil and street dust.

The old and the new

Posted on March 1st, 2008 by Stephen

Every time we visit my wife’s family village we always stop by a number of Aunt’s and Uncle’s to say hello. There are about 20 such households so we never visit them all each time. But there is one house I really enjoy visiting each trip we make. This couple live in a traditional Taiwanese house that was build nearly 60 years ago and though a more recent wing has been added, Uncle and Aunt still prefer to live in the old centre of the house. The main room contains the shrine, tea brewing set, family wedding portraits and the ubiquitous TV.