So where were we? Summer Trips #1 - East Coast and Taroko
July 28, 2008 | Posted by InvestorBlogger | Comments Off
Well, running your own business is never easy! In fact, it’s often difficult to take time off, and in previous years we always felt ‘guilty’ taking time off because we weren’t making THAT much money that it didn’t worry us. This summer we’ve found a little more time than usual so we are taking a two week break around the island.
I won’t bore you with the details of where we stayed, but I’ll let the pictures do the talking. Last week’s trip started on Monday and we came back on Saturday evening!
Monday: Coastal drive on Highway #2 from Keelung to Ilan County where we stayed at a Japanese style hotel in Jiao-xi. Along the way we took so many pictures that I had to charge my camera every night and I filled a 4mb SD ram card as well as several hundred pictures on another card.
This coffee shop had pretty decent coffee and was situated right on the highway coast with a spectacular view.
Tuesday: Coastal highway from Ilan to Hualien where we spent a couple of days, traveling in the country, enjoying the hotel.
It was difficult to capture the motion of the waves, but the light was failing as sunset was coming which contributes to the slightly dark gray air of the picture.
The geology of the East Coast is quite impressive actually, every few miles we went and stopped we seemed to encounter quite different topology and geology. It’s a geographer’s dream!
On getting out of Suao, we started up the highway to Hualien on what is a notorious road, but the only highway between Ilan and Hualien. There is still a huge debate on the economic and environmental impact of a new highway. But if you’ve ever driven this road, you’ll know just HOW awful the road is in places, and you’ll wonder why a road hadn’t been built yet! Still, if you stop off, you’ll get stunning shots across the bays at Su-ao.
Once we got to Hualien, we couldn’t find the hotel we were supposed to stay at, the Park-View. When we did find it, I was pretty exhausted, but still the room we had was quite expensive, and suitably spacious. We enjoyed staying in this hotel much more than any of the others, but it’s a pity we didn’t actually go swimming in the pool. Oh, well.
On Wednesday we drove along the #11 highway to TaiDong where we took this enigmatic and wonderful picture of the bays in the distance. In the late sunshine of the day, we thought that the beach would be very beautiful. Somehow things in the distance turned out to have much more mystery!
Thursday: Taroko Gorge which was gorgeous. We split this into two days because of the difficult nature of the drive and the long time required which took over 8 hours to drive from Hualien to TaiChung. Truthfully we didn’t drive quickly but with breathtaking scenery like this, who would?
Friday: We were blessed because the route that we originally would have taken was closed after the earthquakes of 9/21 so we had to turn from Route 8 to Route 14 which took us upto over 3,400 meters as we ascended Ho Huan Mountain where the daytime temperature was only 12.7c. Most Taiwanese like to visit CingJing Farm area, which is famous for its elaborate guesthouses, but we found the other side of Ho Huan Mountain far more fabulous than that. In fact, as we drove through CingJing Area it was covered in fog and we didn’t see much at all there.
TaiChung - it was nearly 10pm when we hit TaiChung and got to the hotel. We were pretty zonked by the drive… so we went out for dinner with some friends. Then on Saturday after more entertaining we hit the highway home to Tamsui.
That’s when I saw this sight, and I realized how appropriate it was. The flag flying against the setting sun. By the time we got home the wind and rain were already picking up for the oncoming typhoon.
Friday Foto: Overlooking Guandu Farms towards the South of Taipei
July 17, 2008 | Posted by InvestorBlogger | Comments Off
This image is one of my favorites spots for gazing over Taipei.
You’ll find that it’s taken on a day when you can see the mountains in the South, lots of clouds, and you can make out the buildings!
The image isn’t crystal clear, but I didn’t have a good lens! I really should learn to take good pictures! Oh, and I also had only space for a few shots on my memory card. It was quite tragic. I could have taken dozens of great views!
For more great photos, visit my Flickr account by clicking on the image.
North East Coast: scenic coastline from Keelung to Gongliao
July 6, 2008 | Posted by InvestorBlogger | Comments Off
Travelling around the island on Provincial Route 2 takes you from Tamsui all the way around to Ilan. We’ve often driven the stretch from Tamsui to Jingshan or Keelung. Today we covered the stretch from Keelung to just south of Gongliao on the far center right.
We found some great places to stop off and marvel at the fantastic coastline. Also, the cloud cover was great, and the misty skies that are terrible for photographs today were to be found only in the very late part of the day as it clouded over. I’ll present some pictures taken along the way…
We marvelled at the setting sun, and took some wonderful pictures of the sky. I’d like to airbrush out those cars!
Yehliu is well known for its rock outcrops that resemble among other things the Queen’s head, but we stopped off at a place that isn’t well known but had some fantastic rocks, views and breeze that should be at least as well known. Thankfully it isn’t!
This trip you only get to us from behind! Sorry! Christine looking over the rocks out towards the Pacific Ocean, “Hello, Hawaii! Can you hear me?”
More Rocky Outcrops… Some of which look like giant bamboo shoots!
The village just near Gongliao and the Pitouchiao Trail.
We didn’t take as many pictures inside the trail, but I did snap these Lilium Formosan or “Formosan Lily”… Sorry this picture is a little blurry! The light was fading by this time.
A view across the bay towards the prettiest school view in Taiwan.
As we reached the top vantage point, it got really dark, and we were able to see the little village in the distance!
That was a great walk! I had to fool Christine to go up there because I told her the public toilets were nearby and open! She just thought they were a few minutes away… Hah! They were quite a walk to get to, and quite a walk back to the car!
July 4th: Taiwan welcomes cross straits direct flights - but what about all the other problems?
July 4, 2008 | Posted by InvestorBlogger | Comments Off
While America celebrates the 4th of July, Taiwan is celebrating its own July 4th - the first direct (legal) cross-straits flights since 1949. Ma Ying-Jeou’s new government recently announced the easing of cross-straits relations, and has brought in something of a warming of cross-straits ties after years of stalling by the previous Chen and Lee administrations.
While it’s difficult to know what the upshot of this will be, it’s a welcome boost for tourist-related businesses in Taiwan, and is broadly a positive development in easing the political strains across the straits. In fact, just earlier this week, exchange controls on RMB (previously unavailable on Taiwan) were eased though not removed entirely.
But will this help to end Taiwan’s current international isolation? I’m afraid that won’t happen any time soon. European governments, including Britain’s, have slowly been upgrading their facilities and services on the island, but a full embassy they are not, and many embassy functions are simply not carried out.
There was a recent announcement that AIT (American Institute in Taiwan) was planning to move its base to Neihu, and plans were announced for garrison quarters in the new buildings. This however was quickly played down; but it’s clear that many western governments are now covertly laying the groundwork to establish diplomatic ties at some point. Such ties remain over the horizon for the time being.
So this week’s events are just the next step in a long road towards sorting out the consequences of the Chinese Civil War. I won’t be making any bold predictions on peace talks, full-recognition, or any of a myriad of on-the-back-burner issues for quite some time.
- Chinese tourists arrive on historic direct flights to Taiwan in sign of warming relations (China Post)
- President calls on China to stop Taiwan’s international isolation (China Post)
- More Google News on this issue.
Vivid Skies: Sunday Trips in Northern Taiwan
June 16, 2008 | Posted by InvestorBlogger | Read this comment
Today’s trip was the result of a fortunate coincidence: great weather with clear skies, good company and something to celebrate. We started off at the Taipei University of the Arts where we had a big nosh up replete with steak, salad, cheesecake, etc.. After lunch, we wandered around the campus and enjoyed the lovely views over Taipei City.
This picture looks down across the fields of Guandu towards the city center. In the distance, partly obscured by the clouds are the southern suburbs of Taipei, and the mountains.
Looking out over the sea towards the setting sun, we were amazed by the richness of the colors: blacks, golds, silvers, and oranges all presented very vividly.
The new tourist point! It’s well-trafficked by couples taking wedding pictures!
A view of Fugue Harbor and Fishing Port from the new tourist point.
And there’s a great little cheesecake shop that just opened there… It’s called SanChih’s Little Pigs and is named after the story of the Three Pigs (a play on the name of the town!)
This was wonderful cheese: Rum and raising Cheesecake. I’d have loved to show you the cheesecake, but it was so good we scarfed the lot down… So all I have is evidence of sins past. If you like, check out the website for the restaurant and see what we ate!
and
Both delicious! I can only find a map to the original store, but if you keep driving along the No. 2 coastal highway towards JingShan, you’ll pass the store about 5~7 minutes past BaiShaWan.
Right at the end of our trip, we met up with a photographer called Ernest. He spends most of time traveling around the island taking photographs of the beautiful environment that Taiwan has to offer. And his blog is linked to in the image below. I couldn’t find his gallery, though. So click through the blog entries to see some of his art work.
And that was our Sunday! We had a great time! How did you spend your Sunday?
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