Random scribblings from a man in Asia
Posted in Places on Jan 16th, 2010
I did a brief stopover in Hong Kong returning to Taiwan from London.
I like transferring in Hong Kong because the airport is very good and Hong Kong has great food and decent nightlife if you want it. What I don’t like is how expensive, crowded and hectic the city centre is (last time I was on Kowloon [...]
Posted in Places on Dec 19th, 2009
I spent a few days in Taipei in December before heading home to London at Christmas. I went really to meet some people (a family friend and some travel buddies) and to see a Van Gogh exhibition that was in town for a few weeks. I wasn’t expecting to particularly like the place because I’m not [...]
Posted in Places on Dec 13th, 2009
I met Fernando in Qingdao in September and after hanging out for a few days in town and on the roof terrace of our hostel, we arranged to meet up again when we were both in Taiwan later in the year. He and a friend (Shai) spent a month travelling in Taiwan and I joined [...]
Posted in Places on Dec 5th, 2009
Kaohsiung is brilliant place to live.
The city has got a great buzz and has improved dramatically over the past 10 years since they had a very popular and successful mayor who cleaned the place up. It feels like one of those cities that has come of age and is really on a buzz, whereas Taipei, [...]
Posted in Places on Nov 30th, 2009
For my first week in Taiwan, I decided to visit a holiday spot called Kenting. It is known as a party town and is the site of some of the country’s music festivals and beach parties. It is on the Hengchun Peninsula at the south of the island and is a really beautiful area. Here [...]
Posted in Places on Nov 23rd, 2009
Getting the boat to Jinmen is a great way to enter Taiwan from China. You are immediately placed where the line of attrition was drawn between the Chinese Nationalists and Chinese Communists at the end of their civil war. This island is it. Even though it is only 2km from the mainland (and probably some [...]
Posted in Places on Nov 15th, 2009
Sadly Hangzhou was a real wash out from a sightseeing point of view. Literally did not stop raining for the few days I was in town and the legendary West Lake was near invisible even stood right on the shore. What was great was to catch up with a friend made in Qingdao (Chris) who [...]
Posted in Places on Nov 11th, 2009
At Zhuhai, I was the only person around, a total contrast to the swarms of (mainly Chinese) tourists at Hongcun. After an hour’s walk along deserted forest paths between towering bamboos, I spotted the village between the leaves. Take a look at the pictures below to get a taste of this remarkable place.
Posted in Places on Nov 10th, 2009
While I was in the area around Tunxi, I also checked out the picturesque villages of Nanping and Guanlu. Here are some of the photos from that day.
Posted in Places on Nov 9th, 2009
I spent a couple of weeks in the area around Huangshan and delayed climbing for a few days because of rain. By the time the rain cleared, the other backpackers that I’d spent time with in the city had moved on to their next destinations so on my own, early one bitterly cold morning I [...]