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.
Green Island 002 – My Secret Swimming Holes
Sunday October 3, 2010
Green Island, Taiwan
I don’t know if what I wrote yesterday made any sense. I don’t think I was very awake while I wrote it. The main point is that I changed my plans and I went to Green Island by boat instead of driving to Kenting by scooter. And here I am on Green Island.
Everything went like clockwork. I think I was …
Green Island 001 – Train to Taidong
Saturday October 2, 2010
Taidong, Taiwan
Getting up yesterday morning to catch a 6:45 train left me really tired. I spent all of yesterday in a total daze. I couldn’t do anything.
The train trip, therefore, wasn’t that great. I was too tired to sleep, too tired to read, and of course there was no one to talk to. That’s a weird thing about traveling around Taiwan. I …
Getting Eyeglasses in Taipei
Here’s a story about what has been going on lately. Nothing wild and crazy. Just life.
Years ago, almost decades ago, I got glasses while I was living in South Korea. I didn’t really need them to do anything important. I was a little bit nearsighted, I guess, which means that I could see things up close very well. It was only some things in the …
Yehliu Geopark – Taiwan
I’ve been in Yehliu a couple of times in the past year or two. Yet, I had never actually gone into the Yehliu Geopark. This is the park that has the Queen’s Head rock formation. I think I never went into the park because I didn’t really know what it was. I didn’t even know where it was. I knew it was around Yehliu. There …
A Small Miracle
I should amend that title. I’m talking about a VERY small miracle. In fact, it’s scooter-repair related. However, when your muffler is dragging along the pavement and your scooter is making more noise than a trio of Harley Davidsons, you’ll take any miracle you can get.
The muffler on my scooter fell off as I was driving to work in the rain this morning. I wasn’t …
Puli 002 – Scootering in the Mountains
July 25, 2010
The next morning, I hopped on my scooter to drive up into the mountains along Highway 14. I knew that Highway 14 eventually linked up with Highway 8 that goes down through Taroko Gorge, but I hadn’t stopped to consider what that would mean for a leisurely Saturday drive in the summer. What it meant, of course, was heavy traffic as only Taiwan …
Puli 001 – Scootering to Puli and Sun Moon Lake
July 24, 2010
The Puli Trip began with another snap decision based on the weather. It looked like it was going to be sunny for the weekend, so I started to cast around for a destination. I’m not sure anymore why I settled on Puli. It got a nice write-up in Lonely Planet and in lots of places online. There seemed to be some interesting temples …
Lukang 002 – City of Temples
Saturday July 10, 2010
My one full day in Lukang turned out to be a fairly pleasant though extremely hot and confusing one. It was pleasant because there are lots of interesting things to see in Lukang. It was hot because it was really hot (I ended up taking five or six cold-water showers during the day). It was confusing because I could never quite figure …