Tag Random tourism
A while back, me and Yini rode our motorbike from Tainan on the south west coast, round Taiwans south tip, then up along the east coast to Yilan in the north. I wrote about it here. We also made one trip from Taoyuan in the west, across the mountains to Yilan, then around the northern tip back to Taoyuan, see this post.
Though a bit further inland than those two trips, we have also been between Hsinchu and Taoyuan (both in the north west) several times, and a few weeks ago, we rode from Hsinchu to Erlin in … Read the rest
This weekend, me and Yini have done a real land travel journey, the most interesting part of which was the journey itself, not so much the destination. The destination was Erlin and Yini’s parents house. I’ve been there several times before and though it’s nice, I kind of know what to expect by now. Yini’s mom will make lots of food for me, her dad will serve me tea and discuss some topic which is simple enough for my level of Chinese, and her nephews will use me as a sort of toy.
Like I said, getting there was more … Read the rest
I have driven up to the north coast of Taiwan several times the last few months, each time thinking to myself “wow, the coast road her is nice, I must drive it one day”. That one day turned into this weekend, and drive became ride a scooter. Starting Friday afternoon, I picked Yini up at Taoyuan train station. We rode through Taoyuan county, passing Anders street in the outskirts of Taipei and up into the mountains. Normally, it is pretty stressful to ride on the mountain road in the dark, but these were surprisingly easy. We stopped by in the … Read the rest
I’ve compiled a couple of notes I made on my map to summarize the trip. Anyone interested can check out the pictures below:
From Hualien to our goal in Yilan it was only a day of driving. We could easily have gone to Taroko gorge, arguably one of the most beautiful parts of the entire island with its rivers sheer cliff faces. However, both me and Yini have been there fairly recently so we opted against it.
Instead we kept driving along the coastal road which turns out to be one of the most beautiful stretches of tarmac in the country with sheer cliff faces rivaling those of Taroko, sloping down into turquoise water.
While riding, storm strength winds suddenly descended upon us … Read the rest
We’ve done so many things today it’s hard to summarize it all without missing anything. From Taidong we drove to Hualien, a distance of some 160 kilometers which should take no more than three hours or so. However, it took us all day thanks to lots of random tourism. There was the beach side park full of installations; there was the detour up a mountain for a birds eye view; there was the old bridge over a river right next to the new one; there was the cave made into a temple and many other short stops at more or … Read the rest
Today started with a short visit to a nearby lagoon that was said to be worth while. Since many of the attractions were closed down for repair there was not as much to see as I hoped. We did however take a short boat tour which turned out to be very cool. Out in the middle of the lagoon is a small island, entirely made of oyster shells. Apparently fishermen have been dumping them there for thirty years which has formed a small island. It’s barely worth calling an island, it’s more like a sand bank I guess, but amazingly … Read the rest
For a while now, me and my girlfriend have been planning a small adventure and today, having landed in Taiwan just yesterday, we finally got on the way. The plan is simple: drive my scooter from the south of the island, north along the east coast and stop along the way at interesting places; a kind of random sightseeing.
My girlfriend sent the scooter south by train a few days ago so we wouldn’t have to ride all the way and today we picked it up and started riding. Unfortunately we couldn’t send it as far as we wanted so … Read the rest
“The road ends here!” The black and yellow striped concrete barrier makes the message as clear as can be. Beyond the barrier, a sheer drop of several meters then a vast expanse of rice fields and trees, and on the far side, the outskirts of some satellite city. I really cannot understand why there is a stump of wide, newly paved road out here in the dilapidated farmyard and industry back streets of the city. There are no construction works nearby, no half-finished support columns for a road out there in the fields. Just this short stump of black asphalt … Read the rest