Taiwan 2011 Masterpost

This post is rather late, but better late than never! It was my second trip down to Taiwan, the first was in 2009. Click here to read ... on second thought, don't ever go back to my archives because you would box the younger me. Why Shu Yu, why did you type like that why?? 


This time, we went all over Taiwan in 10 days. Yes, we explored the entire country and were on the move all the time. The bus we travelled in was well-equipped with a toilet, an A-plus karaoke system and movies on board. Never bored! We would check into a different hotel every night and by morning we would be on our way to the next state. The 20+ of us went from motels, said to be a hot-spot for adulterers, to farm resorts to wooden cabins in the middle of the mountains! We visited night markets and special eating houses at every meal. We rolled along the Pacific and lived amongst the clouds, trekked the forests and surfed the wind.

I had the solitude but also the security of my family around me to take care of anything I needed. I loved the sense of adventure that came with touring a different place every day. We were on the move, but it felt like I had been stuck in the same place, always, one of peace. The thing I appreciated the most would be nature, in the photos you will see how high we climbed and the most beautiful sights there were to behold. One day we took a trip right up to to a temple in the forest in the mountains, and further in to a monument along a train track. During the trek, the chill ate to my bones, but the trees reached up higher than I could see. The gentle cracking of twigs beneath each step coupled with the huff of every breath in a cloud that disappeared into the mist gave the place such an ethereal feel. Unfortunately, there are no photos of that place, but a photograph could never do justice to its beauty. The stone path ran downwards, far into the thick strips of mist weaving between the trees, around a lake, a pale grey body, like a fogged up mirror. A little dusting of rain fell upon us and as we approached a stream, the rocks ran with the gurgling of water, fresh water from high up in the mountains. It was a spectacular sight. I half hoped to see water and wood nymphs playing in the fog.

The photos are arranged in chronological order and are under a cut in each post.
View Taiwan 2011: Part 1/Part 2/ Part 3