Wild camping in the park

30 Sep

       Below. The highly erudite author, warped by wide angle lens. Earth is 4.7 billion years old. Six million years ago the collision of two tectonic plates, Philippine and Eurasian, thrust Taiwan clean out of the Pacific Ocean, … Read More »

Sunrise on Hualien

25 Sep

I’d intended to take a scooter and camping gear into Taroko today but will defer a day as rain is forecast, to be followed by sunnier weather in the Gorge from Tuesday on, below 2000 metres at any rate. I had … Read More »

Taroko Gorge take 2

24 Sep

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 »

Taroko Gorge

23 Sep

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 »

Pictures of Taipei

21 Sep

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.

Pirates of the Carabiner

18 Sep

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 »

From Taiwan

16 Sep

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 »

Walking the North Downs Way

27 Jul

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 »