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North Cross-Island Highway 002 – Fushing and Green Light Sheep Farm

February 1, 2011 – 4:47 pm
A Somewhat Plaintive Sheep at Green Light Sheep Farm

Tuesday February 1, 2011
7:35 a.m. Fushing Youth Activity Center
Life simply doesn’t get any better than this. The skies are blue, the air is crisp and cold, I have a hot cup of coffee, and I am sitting at a floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall window with a beautiful view of mountains and lakes. I also have a tremendous room with an equally wonderful view. It’s a western …

North Cross-Island Highway 001

January 31, 2011 – 4:16 pm
My Scooter Loaded Up With Camping Gear

Monday January 31, 2011
Awesome Restaurant in the mountains of Taiwan
3:30 p.m.
Chinese New Year is this Wednesday, and many companies, including mine, also gave us Monday and Tuesday off, so we don’t have to be back at work until the following Tuesday. That gave me a total of 10 days. I’d normally have booked a flight out of Taiwan to the Philippines or someplace sunny like …

Kenting 004 – Whale Sharks and Belugas, Take 2

December 6, 2010 – 3:59 pm
Tunnel in Aquarium in Kenting

Monday December 6, 2010 8;45 a.m.
Formost Hotel Lobby – Kenting, Taiwan
Today is my last day in Kenting. My ticket on the High Speed Rail back to Taipei is for 7:30 tonight, but I’ll probably end up going back earlier than that. I tried to arrange to keep my room until mid- or late-afternoon, but no one really understood what I was talking about. Hotels want …

Kenting 003 – Whale Sharks and Manta Rays

December 5, 2010 – 3:50 pm
Stingray at Aquarium in Kenting

Sunday December 5, 2010
9:00 a.m. Formost Hotel Lobby – Kenting, Taiwan
My big plan for Saturday was to visit the National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium, henceforth known as the “Aquarium”, and it was an extraordinary experience – far better than I had expected.
I didn’t know much about the Aquarium, but it was one of the main reasons I decided to come to Kenting this …

Kenting 002 – Powerful Winds and the Formost Hotel

December 4, 2010 – 3:39 pm
Windy Coast near Kenting, Taiwan

Saturday December 4, 2010
9:47 a.m.
Lobby of the Formost Hotel
It’s an interesting feeling going to a place for the first time. You really have no idea of the lay of the land or what to expect. A young woman on the bus translated for me and asked me for the bus driver where I wanted to go. I said that I wanted to go to Kenting, …

Kenting 001 – HSR & Bus to Kenting

December 3, 2010 – 3:25 pm
Room at Formost Hotel in Kenting

Friday December 3, 2010
Taiwan HSR Train 123 Car 4 Seat 3A
8:50 a.m.
The train is scheduled to leave at 8:54, and I’m pretty sure it will leave exactly to the minute. Train trips out of Taipei are so easy for me that they are a real pleasure. Living right above the MRT station and one stop away from the train station has its advantages. Even the …

Green Island 002 – My Secret Swimming Holes

October 3, 2010 – 3:03 pm
Green Island Rocky Coast

Sunday October 3
I don’t know if any of the above made any sense. I don’t think I was very awake while I wrote it. The main point is that I changed my plans and I went to Green island by boat instead of driving to Kenting by scooter. And here I am on Green Island.
Everything went like clockwork. I think I was fortunate to have …

Green Island 001 – Train to Taidong

October 2, 2010 – 2:52 pm
Green Island Shore

Saturday October 2, 2010
Taidong
Getting up yesterday morning to catch a 6:45 train left me really tired. I spent all of yesterday in a total daze. I couldn’t do anything.
The train trip, therefore, wasn’t that great. I was too tired to sleep, too tired to read, and of course there was no one to talk to. That’s a weird thing about traveling around Taiwan. I guess …