steel city scribblings

The ferry for Green Island sails from Taitung in the southeast of Taiwan. To be precise, it sails from Fugong Fish Harbour, a half hour bus ride from the train station. I arrived at eight am to secure a ticket … Read More »

       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 »

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 »

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 »