Blogs from Yilan County, Taiwan, Asia

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Asia » Taiwan » Yilan County April 18th 2014

Friday, 18th April 2014 For me, this morning started out exactly the same as the previous day - sunrise viewing by the beach followed by a wholesome homemade breakfast at 8am. Today's menu consisted of French toast and potato soup which were nicely done in style and taste. By 10am, it was time for us to bid farewell to our gracious hosts at beautiful Toucheng and Sea Luv Homestay. Our train journey back to the city of Taipei took less than two hours. Before noon, we had arrived at the lobby of City Inn Taipei Station Branch III ready for our check-in. After leaving our luggage at the reception, we rushed off to board the next available train to Shifen, a township famous for its legendary sky lanterns. As cheesy as it sounded, writing down our ... read more
My simple wish
Lovely Japanese food
And our lovely beds at City Inn Taipei Station Branch III

Asia » Taiwan » Yilan County April 17th 2014

Thursday, 17th April 2014 I was up and about when the sun made its first appearance at 5.30am this morning. Armed with my camera, I made a beeline to the beach, not wishing to miss out a single moment of the beautiful sunrise over the east coast of Taiwan. The small town was slowly waking up against the very first ray of light over the horizon. My eyes were in for a real treat from mother's nature as I stood by the beach, enjoying that very special moment of the morning. After gazing at the skies for more than an hour, I was back at our homestay ready for breakfast at the charming Sea Luv Café. Breakfast was served with a view of the sea at 8.20 in the morning. For a start, we had a ... read more
Good morning Taiwan
Sea Luv Cafe
Welcoming the first ray of light

Asia » Taiwan » Yilan County » Jiaoxi April 17th 2014

Thursday, 17th April 2014 "Train travel is always fun and even more so in Taiwan where we had absolutely no difficulties with the spoken language." Our train delay at Wai-ao Station this morning certainly did not dampen our travel plans to Jiaoxi, the hot springs mecca of Yilan County. In fact, we spent a fair bit of our time photographing every single nook and cranny of the train station. Things started to pick up as soon as our train arrived and within 20 minutes, we had set foot on Jiaoxi township, a fairly comfortable place to navigate on foot. The town was littered with numerous hot spring hotels with their eye-popping signboards trying real hard to attract the gaze of visitors. After our foot springs dip and fish spa, I bade farewell to my travel mates ... read more
Jiaoxi, the hot springs mecca
Next stop: Yilan Station
Memorial Hall of Founding of Yilan Administration

Asia » Taiwan » Yilan County April 16th 2014

Wednesday, 16th April 2014 After spending three days in Taitung (with one full day lying on the bed), we were now ready to embark on the next phase of our journey to Yilan. Previously, I had only passed by the county on my way to Hualien. This was our first travel encounter to experience the very best from this part of Taiwan. My body was now fit enough to travel even though the persistent virus did continue on & off over the next two days before it made a full recovery. From Taitung, we travelled 325km north towards Toucheng and arrived after 3.30pm. Kevin, one of the sons from the url=http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/ShowUserReviews-g608526-d2273680-r201878951-Sealuv_Homestay-Yila.htmlhomestay was already waiting for us at the train station. Everyone planning a vacation in Yilan should stay at Sealuv Homestay/ur... read more
Overlooking Turtle Island, Yilan
Our lovely loft overlooking Wai-Ao Beach
Sealuv Cafe

Asia » Taiwan » Yilan County August 20th 2013

This is no tale of adventurous backpacking, but rather a fun weekend outing with a group of elementary and junior high students that I teach once a month is a small cram school in Banqiao, New Taipei City. The owner of the school, Arica Wang, invited my wife Emily and I along for a weekend field trip to the fertile plains of Yilan County (宜蘭縣), a favorite weekend getaway for many Taipei City residents that is located only a few hours southeast of the city. Road tripping in an SUV with four teenage Taiwanese girls, we got a full dose of pop music played from smart phones complemented with intermittent rounds of giggles, which ultimately gave away to the unavoidable head-back, jaw-open deep sleep that most Taiwanese succumb to almost immediately when traveling by car, bus, ... read more
Few Taiwanese can endure a bus, trian, boat, or car ride without falling asleep
My students splashing in the Dongyue Cold Springs
Mei Hua (Plum Blossom) Lake (梅花湖), Yilan

Asia » Taiwan » Yilan County February 3rd 2013

Friday, a day like any other; 9 to 7, work/pressure/deadlines/stress compounding, and hardly have I had a moment to exhale before I’m being escorted along a winding road up the side of the mountain in the pitch-dark Taiwanese night. We are en route to climb Snow Mountain (雪山), Taiwan’s second highest peak at 3886m. Landslides have taken some roads and left others, but fortune is on our side and, besides some fog obscuring the roadway at times, our arrival is obstacle free. A pit stop yields refreshingly cool, crisp air that brings life to these city lungs with every inhalation. I am in the company of a mosaic of nationalities: Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Scotland, England, Finland, Germany, France, America, and Canada (but somehow not Taiwan) are all represented in our crew, with Neil and Ross ... read more
The snowy trail up Snow Mountain
This was the scariest bit, especially in the dark
Mists pouring in during the mid-afternoon

Asia » Taiwan » Yilan County » Jiaoxi November 4th 2011

Po ze standardnem dopoldanskem obredu - zajtrk, izlezavanje, plaza - sva s Paulom odbiciklirala do centra, da bi sedla na vlak za Jiaoxi. Spotoma sva pobrala se en chicken bento, nato pa sedla na vlak za 25 dolarjev do najine destinacije: hot springs! Kot sem ze omenila, jih na Tajvanu mrgoli, in Yilan county ni nobena izjema, prej obratno. Tako je mestece Jiaoxi le nekaj postaj severneje od kraja, kjer sem trenutno, tako da je prikladen pobeg iz vsakdanje (sicer resda povsem drugacne) realnosti. Pa se petek je bil, kar je pomenilo, da ne bo pretirane guzve. Jiaoxi je prijetno, nekoliko hribovito mestece (naokoli je precej pohodniskih izletov, slapov, ipd.), in ze ob izstopu s postaje te pricaka bazen s toplicami, ki naravno bruhajo ven in te vabijo medse. Midva sva se odlocila za en obhob, ... read more

Asia » Taiwan » Yilan County November 2nd 2011

Silvia je se spala, zato sem se v soncnem jutru najprej podala na zajtrk. Postregla mi je ista punca kot vceraj, izkazalo se je, da je (tudi ona) Indonezijka. Prav nic ni spominjala na svoje rojake, sem ji rekla, zato mi je pojasnila, da je kitajskega porekla. Porocena je s Tajvancem, ki pa dela kot kuhar na JAponskem. Gostinci, seveda. NAto sem lepo vreme in lep okolis izkoristila za en mini tekec. Razen razpuscenih lajajocih psov je bilo vse idilicno: kampus sredi "Vipavske" doline, sonce, prijetna klima. Super. Ob mojem povratku sta bili ze obe s cimro pokonci in s Silvio sva se odpravili raziskovat njihov kampus. Res je cudovit, jezerce, sprehajalne potke, mosticki, zelenje, grupica studentov se je ravno fotkala sredi podelitvene ceremonije (vkljucno z opravami!). "To je gotovo najlepsi kampus na Tajvanu," je dejala ... read more

Asia » Taiwan » Yilan County August 28th 2011

Nono presents a comedy program in Taiwan! He is very famous here! Nono and his staff came to the farm to recording a program! I didn´t understand a word about what they were saying, but I think it was everything very funny, because everybody was laughing a lot! They recorded in the Rice Culture Experimental Area and after, they ate a traditional food made in bamboos!! People who work in the farm, said that it wasn´t the first time that a famous person came here to record a program. Leisure farming is one of the important policies of agricultural development in Taiwan! There are a lot of them and Toucheng Leisure Farm is one of the most popular here! In Brazil, we almost don´t have this type of farm, but they are very interesting! Here you ... read more
Nono recording in TC Farm!
Nono recording in TC Farm!
Nono recording in TC Farm!

Asia » Taiwan » Yilan County August 27th 2011

In this week, we had special guests here! Louis and Blend from France, Katie from USA and Andrea from Italy! They are studying in Taipei! They participated in all activities of the farm! :)... read more
Visiting the temple
Andrea - Painting T-shirts
Katie




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