Tag Hotsprings
It is Moon Festival in Taiwan which means we have five days off. Except for going back to Erlin to celebrate with Yini’s family, we planned to go out to the coast for a few days. However, the weather gods didn’t seem to like our plans because they sent not one, but two typhoons our way. The first one caused floods and lots of chaos down in the south and east parts of the island but Erlin, which is in the middle, was fine and we had two nice days with the family, barbecuing and shooting fireworks in the evening. The second … Read the rest
I’ve longed to go skiing for quite a while now so for this year’s winter vacation Renegade Wife and I decided to go to a ski resort. Since we live in Taiwan the best choice seemed to be Japan which suited me nicely since I’ve wanted to ski in Hokkaido for several years.
Today we set off to Niseko, one of the largest ski resorts in Japan. We flew to Sapporo then took a bus that trundled along the small roads for about three hours and we reached our Hotel around six in the evening.
It was much too late … Read the rest
Last night Yini went to the hotel’s hot spring to relax, but since we had a private one in our room I stayed in writing last night’s blog entry instead. This morning we went down to the river in Wulai and found some natural hot springs. Since Yini did plenty of soaking the night before, she opted out but I went in to enjoy the waters. It is a really special experience, in my book it’s better than the resorts. You sit there in a small pool built from river rocks, in a mix of hot and cold water, one … Read the rest
Yini and I both felt a need for a mini vacation, so this weekend we took Friday off and headed to Taidong on the south east coast. This is about as far away as you can go in Taiwan while still staying on land. If you are taking public transport you can either get a high speed train south along the west side, change to a normal train and cross the southern tip then go north again along the east coast, a process that takes around six or seven hours. Or, you could get on the normal train right from … Read the rest
This weekend the wife and I decided to go for a mini vacation in Miaoli. We started right before lunch, took my motorcycle and went south out of the city. Before long we were entering the mountains and drove along a winding road through lush green landscapes. The road was so perfect for a motorbike ride, I just kept going along and soon enough we reached our hotel.
After checking in we went out again to explore the mountains some more, stopping here and there whenever we found something interesting. Here are a couple of pictures taken during our exploration.… Read the rest
Today is our last whole day in Iceland, we leave early tomorrow morning. We drove out of Stykkisholmur in the rain but missed our turning point. While looking for a suitable place to make a U-turn it cleared up a bit so we decided to make one last sightseeing stop on Snaefellness.
From there we headed back, found the turning point this time and drove into Reykjavik. We checked in to our hotel, had … Read the rest
Today we kept exploring the area near lake Myvatn, starting by driving back up to the highlands towards mount Krafla. When we were getting close to our destination we started seeing cars parked along the side of the road and soon found out why. The road simply ended right there in a snowbank, the rest of it covered in snow. No matter, we parked by the road just like everybody else, then walked the rest of the way. The place we went to was another crater, this one partially covered in snow and the bottom filled with turquoise water frozen … Read the rest
My mom and dad came to visit me this week. Since I’ve spent a fair amount of time driving them around the island to show them different sights, I consider it to be true to the spirit of landtravel. It started the very day they arrived, as me and Yini picked them up at the airport, but instead of taking them straight back, we stopped by at the lantern festival to let them marvel at the myriad lights. The next day we drove down to Lugang in central Taiwan and spent some time walking around in the picturesque old streets. … Read the rest
A few days ago, my old friend Johan Svennung contacted me, wishing to visit me in Hsinchu. We already had a dinner planned that day but welet him join in the fun. Since there were no good buses back to Taipei in the night, he slept here, suggesting we go to some hotsprings the next day. So, when we woke up, we borrowed Yini’s car, and drove up to the mountains in search for a wild hotspring (wild as opposed to a hotspring resort). Eventually we found the road that we thought it was on, but saw no signs of … Read the rest
A small box in the guide book titled “Worth the trip” informed us of the hot springs in a town called Piestany. Since both Yini and I enjoy hot spring baths we decided to go for a day excursion and relax a bit. Although not really what we expected, it was really nice to go for a soak in hot water, both clear and muddy. What was less nice was the lack of tourist information and maps that caused us to get lost on the way back to the train station.
When we got back from our day trip, we … Read the rest