Hiking in humid summer weather is quite a challenge, but we felt like it’s still better than staying in for the whole weekend. After searching for shaded hikes in the Taipei area, we decided on our Sunday half-day itinerary: taking MRT to
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After almost three months of no traveling, the stress started building up and I couldn’t wait for a chance to travel domestically after the COVID-19 calmed down in mid-April. Around the same time last year, we also visited Hualien and Taitung. This
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After spending a couple of days in Osaka and Nara, we took a Hanshin train to Kobe and arrived in just about an hour. Kobe was one of the earliest harbors that Japan opened to the world around 1868, and parts of
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We visited Osaka in 2014, and 5 years later we came back to this lively city in the Kansai region. This time, we worked remotely in Osaka for 3 days at a coworking space, coffee shops, and a library. Aside from working,
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From Taipei, we took the high speed railway southbound for 90 minutes and spent a long weekend in Kaohsiung. On Sunday, we went on a hike to Monkey Mountain (Shoushan or Chaishan) after the sky cleared up a bit. Route There are
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On a Sunday of our 4 days in Osaka, we took a train to visit Japan’s oldest capital. During the Nara Period from year 710 to 794, the first capital was established in Nara and later moved to Kyoto. In this era,
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On our second visit to Tokyo, we added a two-day getaway to the coastal area in Kanagawa prefecture (神奈川). We stayed in Fujisawa, and spent a day in Enoshima and the other in Kamakura. It felt more relaxing and calm compared to
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With the protests going on this year, lots of feelings came up when I worked on this post and photos from Hong Kong from last July. We visited Hong Kong after Shenzhen, our last stop in China. We took the subway from
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After 2 days in Hualian, we went on a 2 hour train ride to Taitung. Most people seemed to rent a car or had shuttle service, and Taitung train station was much quieter than Hualian station. Other than taking trains, we biked
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We visited Tokyo for the second time in December 2018, and there are always new experiences to be had in this city. The Pokémon cafe just opened earlier in 2018, we made sure to make a reservation. Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Akihabara are
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Hualien has always been a scenic destination in Taiwan. My impression of Hualien since childhood was mostly sitting in a car or shuttle, touring around Taroko National Park and getting off for a few minutes before hopping back for the next stop.
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After a day trip to Hangzhou and before Hong Kong, we stopped by Shenzhen for a day and half. We are both engineers and thought a visit to this rising technology hub would be a fun idea. A friend worked at Tencent
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The morning after 3 days in Shanghai, we headed to Shanghai Hongqiao station for a high speed train (Gaotie 高鐵) to Hangzhou. I have never seen a crowd as much as in Shanghai train station elsewhere, especially from a bird’s eye view on
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After some relaxing days visiting pandas and enjoying food in Chengdu, we flew to one of the largest cities in the world, Shanghai. In 1843, the harbor of Shanghai fist opened up for foreign trade along with 4 other ports following the
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Taiwan itself is an island, but there are even more islands close by to explore. Among the most popular are Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, Green Island, Lanyu (Orchid Island), and Xiao Liu Qiu. Penghu is an archipelago of about 90 islands between Taiwan’s main island and China in
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As a person who loves water, island destinations with water activities always draw me in. Palau is known for its biodiversity and accessible by scuba diving and snorkeling. The snorkeling sites are unique, and it was a whole different world under the
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For first time visitors in Taipei, Shilin night market is a place not to be missed. It is quite an experience, seeing all the traditional vendors while eating, drinking, and walking. For locals, it might be getting a bit crowded these days,
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The last time I visited Jiufen was 2009, almost a decade ago. Time really flew by, and there are some things that changed and some that remained the same. Thanks to the new express bus (line 965) from Taipei downtown, Jiufen is
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I am familiar with Pokémon anime on the TV from childhood & Pokemon Go, and Tony grew up playing Pokémon games. After hearing this brand new Pokémon cafe opening in Tokyo in March, we made a calendar event to book an online
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After exploring historic Xi’an and hiking Mount Hua, we continued our journey further west to Chengdu, Sichuan. We debated between Chongqing and Chengdu, and Chengdu won mostly because of its proximity to panda. Highlights Panda panda panda 🐼🐼🐼 Definitely one of my
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