I couldn’t resist. Today I returned: going deeper into Taroko, higher into those incredible mountains. You can traverse Taiwan, east to west, on this road. There aren’t many such passes. Other than at the island’s northern and southern tips, paths … Read More »
Like that other spellbindingly beautiful island, Tenerife – the north east in particular – Taiwan – the east in particular – offers divergent micro-climates in close proximity. I’d guess you could leave Taipei at 6am, circumnavigate its spectacular coastline, and … Read More »
Taiwan’s capital and largest city, in the island’s northern tip. I’m now halfway down the east coast, in Hualien, but am far from done with Taipei. Here’s a sampler.
Improvise and overcome – Clint Eastwood, Heartbreak Ridge I’m told the population of Taipei is 2.8 million, and I’m staying in its beating downtown heart. But yesterday a thirty second walk from the vibrantly buzzing A Dot Hostel, then a … Read More »
My first encounter with the far east’s, and more particularly China’s, emphasis on the importance of face came not in China but Bangkok in 2009. I was at the snake farm attached to one of the city’s several world class … Read More »
The North Downs of Kent and Surrey, like the more beautiful South Downs of Hampshire and Sussex, are predominantly chalk. Highly porous, their streams are few and far between but here and there, where chalk lies above clay, a small … Read More »
Sandwiched between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, here’s Bridlington on Saturday.
Seven am. The rhythmic thumping of dhobi women on the ghat below has been with me since before dawn. As Rajasthani summer gathers pace, nights as hot as day have me sleeping nude without covers on the bed; fan on … Read More »
Yesterday evening. I deem it a fine joint, given that it’s the first I’ve rolled in a quarter century, but Guddu’s tone has a dismissive note I don’t entirely care for at so milestone a moment. On what criterion does it … Read More »