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.
Palawan Motorbike Trip 005
Sunday February 14, 2010 3:30 p.m.
San Vicente, Palawan
Being 3:30 in the afternoon, it’s a bit late for my morning coffee, but I’ll take it when and where I can get it – comfortable that is.
I woke up this morning in my little bungalow in Nagtabon with the idea that I would hit the road and see where I ended up. I thought I might end …
Palawan Motorbike Trip 004
Saturday February 13, 2010
Nagtabon, Palawan
To set the stage, I’m sitting on the front verandah of my perfect little bungalow on my perfect beach. Coconut trees towering overhead. Beautiful white sand. Waves crashing on the shore. A bowl of rice and a complete fish on a plate for breakfast – served to me on my verandah with the usual starving puppy begging for scraps. I was …
Palawan Motorbike Trip 003
Friday February 12
8:05 a.m. Restaurant at the Puerto Pension in Puerto Princesa
It’s pretty late for a guy on the road to be having breakfast, but it’s always that way the first day. But I was really tired yesterday. I had hardly slept at all before my last day in Taiwan. And then I literally got zero sleep the next night with my flight leaving at …
Palawan Motorbike Trip 002
12:30 p.m
Puerto Princesa, Palawan
Here I am back in Puerto Princesa. It’s interesting how familiar the place feels. Then again, I did spend a month on Palawan, and I was in Puerto Princesa for a few days in total. In some ways, though, it feels different. I’ll explain.
The flight was no problem at all. It left at 8:10 as scheduled and landed at 9:30. The jet …
Palawan Motorbike Trip 001
Thursday February 11 5:00 a.m.
Domestic Terminal – Manila Airport
I am sitting inside a coffee shop in the airport waiting for my cappuccino. There is a menu right at the front that lists all the different coffees that they serve. However, there are no prices there. I looked around to find the prices, and I found them on the menu above the counter. I saw there …
Wulai Weekend 002
Sunday November 8
Well, it’s Sunday morning and my sojourn in Wulai is almost at an end. I did not get in my 200 km of cycling, but I enjoyed this very much. The hordes were out in full force yesterday evening, and after my train ride, I wandered about the place just absorbing the atmosphere. It’s nice to be in a place where you don’t …
Wulai Weekend 001
November 7, 2009
I am in Wulai. I had plans to go much further than this. Wulai is so close that it hardly counts as leaving Taipei. However, things seem different when you are on a bicycle, and I do feel like I have gone on a trip. Had I come here by city bus or something, it might not feel like that.
My original plan was …
SCIH 009 – Epilogue in Rainy Taipei
Sunday September 27, 9:00 a.m.
Taipei, Taiwan
Well, here it is – the final installment in this long letter. I’ve come full circle and I’m back in Taipei. And, fittingly, it is raining outside. I say fittingly because I associate Taipei with rain. It always seems to rain here. Perhaps it is also raining down in Tainan where I just came from, but I doubt it. I …