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[…]
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Category: Asia
Day trip to Nara, Japan
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[…]
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2 Days in Enoshima & Kamakura, Japan
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[…]
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2 Days in Hong Kong
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[…]
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Biking through rice paddies in Taitung, Eastern Taiwan
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[…]
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Second visit to Tokyo
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[…]
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Clouds, Mountains & Water – Hualien, Eastern Taiwan
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[…]
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Day Trip to Shenzhen
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[…]
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Day Trip to Hangzhou
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,[…]
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3 Days in Shanghai
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[…]
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3 Days in Penghu, the Pescadores Islands of Taiwan
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[…]
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Snorkeling Paradise in Palau
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[…]
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Shilin Night Market Experience
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[…]
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Spirited Getaway to Jiufen, Northern Taiwan
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[…]
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Pokémon Cafe in Tokyo
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[…]
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4 days in Chengdu – Panda, Spicy Food, Tea House
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[…]
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3 days in Xi’an — trapped in ancient walls
Xi’an used to be the capital a few times since Qin or Han dynasty, and one of the earliest and oldest cities in China. After 4 days in Beijing, we took Gaotie (high speed railway[…]
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Hiking Mount Hua (Huashan 華山)
From geography class in school, I learned the top 5 mountains in China and have always been wanting to visit one. Since we were visiting Xi’an, I researched on the possibility to check out Huashan.[…]
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Digital nomad spots in Taipei, Taiwan
Since late August, I have relocated my digital nomad base from Taichung to Taipei. It is so easy to check out different neighborhoods in Taipei without a car. Because I am still “funemployed” and don’t[…]
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Traveling in China as a foreigner
During our three weeks in China, a lot of things were eye opening. A country of 1.4 billion people and its history dating back to about 3000 years B.C., Chinese culture has gone through waves of[…]
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