Articles in Taiwan
Getting Eyeglasses in Taipei
Here’s a story about what has been going on lately. Nothing wild and crazy. Just life.
Years ago, almost decades ago, I got glasses while I was living in South Korea. I didn’t really need them to do anything important. I was a little bit nearsighted, I guess, which means that I could see things up close very well. It was only some things in the …
Yehliu Geopark – Taiwan
I’ve been in Yehliu a couple of times in the past year or two. Yet, I had never actually gone into the Yehliu Geopark. This is the park that has the Queen’s Head rock formation. I think I never went into the park because I didn’t really know what it was. I didn’t even know where it was. I knew it was around Yehliu. There …
A Small Miracle
I should amend that title. I’m talking about a VERY small miracle. In fact, it’s scooter-repair related. However, when your muffler is dragging along the pavement and your scooter is making more noise than a trio of Harley Davidsons, you’ll take any miracle you can get.
The muffler on my scooter fell off as I was driving to work in the rain this morning. I wasn’t …
Puli 002 – Scootering in the Mountains
July 25, 2010
The next morning, I hopped on my scooter to drive up into the mountains along Highway 14. I knew that Highway 14 eventually linked up with Highway 8 that goes down through Taroko Gorge, but I hadn’t stopped to consider what that would mean for a leisurely Saturday drive in the summer. What it meant, of course, was heavy traffic as only Taiwan …
Puli 001 – Scootering to Puli and Sun Moon Lake
July 24, 2010
The Puli Trip began with another snap decision based on the weather. It looked like it was going to be sunny for the weekend, so I started to cast around for a destination. I’m not sure anymore why I settled on Puli. It got a nice write-up in Lonely Planet and in lots of places online. There seemed to be some interesting temples …
Lukang 002 – City of Temples
Saturday July 10, 2010
My one full day in Lukang turned out to be a fairly pleasant though extremely hot and confusing one. It was pleasant because there are lots of interesting things to see in Lukang. It was hot because it was really hot (I ended up taking five or six cold-water showers during the day). It was confusing because I could never quite figure …
Lukang 001 – HSR and Bus to Lukang
Friday July 9 2010
This time it was a snap decision to go to a small town on the west coast called Lukang. I hadn’t even heard of the place until a couple of days ago. It has a population of 87,000 and on the surface looks exactly like every other town I’ve seen in Taiwan. If someone blindfolded me and moved me to a street …
Alishan 003 – The Northern Tsou Villages
July 5, 2010
The aboriginal people of the Alishan area are known as the Tsou. I know next to nothing about them except that they are the original inhabitants of this area and that the villages and towns around here are Tsou. I assume they speak their own language as well as Mandarin. I also know that tea is, along with tourism, an economic mainstay of …