Tag Taizhong
I’ve previously written about two parks that are underneath major roads in Taiwan; the semi-abandoned Wuri Tank Park and the strange art exhibition/miniature world under the Dali Creek Bridge. Last weekend my wife found another similar place called Shalu Leisure Landscape Trail (沙鹿休閒景觀步道 in Chinese). For some reason, this one also happens to be in Taizhong city; perhaps the citizens of Taizhong really like to utilize the available space.
Like the name suggests, this is a hiking trail, or rather a strolling trail, because to be honest it’s far too flat for any actual hiking. It’s roughly two … Read the rest
A couple of months ago I wrote about something I call neglected spaces. This weekend we found a place that isn’t actually neglected but has a lot of the same vibes. It’s a place called 大里溪橋下小人國 which roughly translates to Little People Country Under Dali Creek Bridge. It’s hidden away underneath country route 63, just at the end of the Dali river bridge. Most people will never even know it’s there, passing over it on their way somewhere else, and if they pass by on one of the small roads on the side of the bridge, it’s still unlikely they … Read the rest
There’s a certain type of spaces that I feel strangely drawn to. The kind of spaces at the edges of the urban landscape, half forgotten spaces hidden behind and below the infrastructure that keeps our cities running. I don’t really have a good name for them, liminal spaces isn’t quite correct, backstreets indicates something that is more populated, they’re definitely not slums and you can’t call it wasteland; forgotten spaces is wrong, people still remember them, and they’re not abandoned or deserted. Perhaps the best term would be neglected spaces, they’re a bit dirty, they don’t get taken care of … Read the rest
Today was the day we did the actaul crossing. When we woke up this morning it was raining but by the time we left the hotel it had cleared up. We rode out of Tianxiang, and while the landscape was plenty dramatic I was so happy to be on the road we didn’t really stop to take photos.
Riding a motorcycle on a road like this is a powerful experience. You feel like you are one with the machine and that you and the bike are one with nature. There is only the … Read the rest
Taiwan’s government was nice enough to give us a nice long four day weekend to kick off the new year. Me and Renegade Wife spent new years day being lazy at home, which felt really good. The other three days we’ve been travelling around both here and there and had a pretty good time.
We started with a trip up to Xiaowulai in the mountains, where there are plenty of waterfalls and suspension bridges.
view on the way up
First view of the waterfall
A smaller waterfall
Looking down at the big waterfall from above 
The main waterfall from
Last weekend some of Yini’s old friends had organized a short trip to have a chance to see each other and visit a number of interesting places. We joined but took our own car and made our own hotel booking for convenience.
The trip started with a short drive to Miaoli where the group gathered for lunch and the girls ended up chatting for a long time. Due to my still rather poor Chinese, I was not really able to join the conversation and ended up reading blogs all the while. We left the restaurant and planned to take a … 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