Stories from the other side.
Last October, we set out on a 10-day journey across Taiwan. Our trip started from Taipei City in the north and we clubbed the towns of Jiufen & Shifen (northeast) on one of our day trips. Next, we travelled to the west coast (Taichung) and passed through the hill towns of Sun Moon Lake &…
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Getting There There are many ways to reach Seoul Forest. It’s a sprawling spread of green cover that can be accessed by Seoul Forest Subway Station (Bundang Line/Yellow Line) and Ttukseom Station (Line 7). Ttukseom Station may be a better bet if you don’t want to walk the entire length of the forest and prefer…
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Getting There Sanbangsan (Mountain) is situated on the southern tip of Jeju Island. There are many buses that connect Jeju-si (north) to Seogwipo-si (south). We took Bus No. 600 from Jeju International Airport and got off at Changcheon-ri bus stop. In hindsight, it was a mistake to get off at that bus stop. We had…
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Timing is everything in chasing cherry blossoms. Cherry blossoms typically bloom in the last week of March in Jeju Island. The local tourism site (VisitJeju) is the best place to get regular updates on the forecast and help you plan your trip. Canola flowers bloom around the same time and last longer than cherry blossoms.…
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The View from Hotel Bayview, Xincheng Township, Hualien We reached Hotel Bayview in the afternoon. It had been a long ride from Qingjing Farm to Qixingtan Beach in Hualien. The hotel staff were kind enough to allow us to check-in before time. We were hungry and hadn’t eaten lunch yet. But those views from the…
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Getting There It isn’t easy reaching Hehuan Mountain by public transport because local tourism buses don’t connect Qingjing Farm to Hehuan Mountain. Cabs can be quite expensive and not easy to find. Our B&B owner arranged a morning sunrise tour to Hehuan Mountain for us. We’d share the ride with 7 other passengers. Stargazing We…
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Getting There We checked out immediately after our morning cycling tour of Sun Moon Lake. There aren’t any direct buses from Sun Moon Lake to Qingjing (Cingjing) Farm. So, we bought our ticket to Puli Bus Terminal (at the Shuishe Visitor Centre), and at Puli (above), we bought tickets to Qingjing Farm. We had to…
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Sunrise at Sun Moon Lake It was our fifth day in Taiwan and Qingjing/Cingjing Farm (a mountain town) was the next destination on our itinerary. Basil woke up early to watch the sun rise over the cascading mountains of Sun Moon Lake. I skipped sunrise for sleep and to conserve my energy for the travels…
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I’ve always been a dreamer — living in a world of my own creation. As a child, it didn’t matter what I’d be when I grew up. I discovered multiple worlds through books, imagination, and playacting. In my teens, the stars called out to me and I spent the next couple of years trying to…
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I first met Naia when she was a babe in a stroller. I had read about her birth on her mum’s blog: travel-stained. Shelley had convinced me to meet her when we moved to Seoul in 2016. I was very anxious and it took a lot to get me to accept the idea of meeting…
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