Articles by Doug Nienhuis
I am a Canadian, and I am currently traveling through Asia with a touring bicycle. These are stories and pictures from my trip.
QuickPAD Pro Word Processor vs. Alphasmart NEO
I spent a long time in the past looking for a lightweight and portable word processor that ran on normal batteries. I eventually found the Alphasmart NEO, and I purchased one. It is perfect for me except for one thing – it doesn’t have a memory card slot. I love my NEO, but every time I use it, I find myself yearning for that memory …
Heavy Taipei Rain and WordPress Post Formats
I began this day saying that it was raining and had been for five days. It’s about 10 hours later now, and it is still raining. When I left work to get on my scooter and drive home, the rain was coming down in sheets. Someone told me there was a heavy-rain advisory in effect, and I didn’t doubt it. This was heavy rain. I …
WordPress Custom Menus
I’ve spent the last few days playing around with this blog and getting familiar (again) with WordPress. I had some success in that I discovered some new features in WordPress which should serve me well. The best new addition is the Custom Menus feature. I love menus, and in the past, I never saw a good and simple way to make menus in WordPress. Some …
Houtong Coal-Mine Ecological Park – Taiwan
The Houtong Coal-Mine Ecological Park is located in and around the town of Houtong in northeastern Taiwan. The mine, closed in 1990, was once the largest coal mine in Taiwan. Today, it is a popular tourist stopover on the mining railway which leads from the city of Ruifang and then goes on to Shihfen, Pingxi, and ends at Jintung. The park is quite extensive and consists …
Return to Shihfen and Jioufen by Scooter
Sunday October 30 7:30 a.m.
Jioufen,Taiwan
I believe Jioufen was my second trip out of Taipei when I first came to Taiwan. I rode my bike here and stayed at a relatively fancy place called Old Window. I wouldn’t normally have stayed at a place that cost that much a night, but everything else was booked. At least, the places I could find were booked. Since then …
Moon Festival Trip 004 – Lishan
Lisa, the woman who owned the room and restaurant in Bow Ang, actually lived in Taichung and just came back to this village on the weekends. She has been to the US five times on business trips. She has been to Italy and France and Greece on business trips. She owns a car and a farm and this house and a place in Taichung. She runs a bunch of side businesses. She sells clothes in this village as well as her own soap and a bunch of other stuff. She was very friendly.
Moon Festival Trip 003 – Hehuanshan & Cingging Farm
I was eager to hit the road this morning, and after a quick shave and a brushing of the teeth, I was on my way. The morning was beautiful and cool and in no time at all, I was surrounded by gorgeous mountains. The problem is that I take so many pictures, it takes me a long time to cover any distance. I stopped again and again to take pictures. From this point, the scenery is going to get better and better, so I’ll probably end up going slower and slower.
Moon Festival Trip 002 – Nanfangao and the Taroko Gorge
As I suspected, I ended up in a small fishing port on the east coast. It’s a small but bustling place called Nanfangao. I don’t know that it is unique, but it is certainly a type of town that isn’t very common anymore. It feels quite traditional and the people make their living from fishing still.