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.
North Cross-Island Highway 004 – Foggy Paradise
Thursday February 3, 2011
7:20 a.m. Cottage in the Mountains
Where to begin this latest adventure? I’m writing inside a beautiful wooden cottage high up in the mountains. I don’t really have any idea where I am because I came up here in a fog as thick as soup. It’s cold up here, and without any kind of heating, the thermometer reads 7 degrees Celsius inside the …
North Cross-Island Highway 003 – Scootering
Wednesday February 2, 2011
11:45 a.m. Roadside Coffee Shop (sort of)
I haven’t covered much distance so far today. I keep heading off down mountain roads to the left and the right and seeing where they lead. There is so much to see right around here, that there isn’t much point racing off to points south for hours and hours.
My first side trip was off to the …
North Cross-Island Highway 002 – Fushing and Green Light Sheep Farm
Tuesday February 1, 2011
7:35 a.m. Fushing Youth Activity Center
Life simply doesn’t get any better than this. The skies are blue, the air is crisp and cold, I have a hot cup of coffee, and I am sitting at a floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall window with a beautiful view of mountains and lakes. I also have a tremendous room with an equally wonderful view. It’s a western …
North Cross-Island Highway 001
Monday January 31, 2011
Awesome Restaurant in the mountains of Taiwan
3:30 p.m.
Chinese New Year is this Wednesday, and many companies, including mine, also gave us Monday and Tuesday off, so we don’t have to be back at work until the following Tuesday. That gave me a total of 10 days. I’d normally have booked a flight out of Taiwan to the Philippines or someplace sunny like …
Kenting 004 – Whale Sharks and Belugas, Take 2
Monday December 6, 2010
8:45 a.m.Formost Hotel Lobby
Kenting, Taiwan
Today is my last day in Kenting. My ticket on the High Speed Rail back to Taipei is for 7:30 tonight, but I’ll probably end up going back earlier than that. I tried to arrange to keep my room until mid- or late-afternoon, but no one really understood what I was talking about. Hotels want you to check …
Kenting 003 – Whale Sharks and Manta Rays
Sunday, December 5, 2010
9:00 a.m. Formost Hotel Lobby
Kenting, Taiwan
My big plan for Saturday was to visit the National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium, henceforth known as the “Aquarium”, and it was an extraordinary experience – far better than I had expected.
I didn’t know much about the Aquarium, but it was one of the main reasons I decided to come to Kenting this weekend. I …
Kenting 002 – Powerful Winds and the Formost Hotel
Saturday, December 4, 2010
9:47 a.m. Lobby of the Formost Hotel
Kenting, Taiwan
It’s an interesting feeling going to a place for the first time. You really have no idea of the lay of the land or what to expect. A young woman on the bus translated for me and asked me for the bus driver where I wanted to go. I said that I wanted to go …
Kenting 001 – HSR & Bus to Kenting
Friday, December 3, 2010
Taiwan High Speed Rail – Train 123 Car 4 Seat 3A
8:50 a.m., Taipei, Taiwan
The train is scheduled to leave at 8:54, and I’m pretty sure it will leave exactly to the minute. Train trips out of Taipei are so easy for me that they are a real pleasure. Living right above the MRT station and one stop away from the train station …