Recent Ramblings

  • Camping in Wyalusing State Park

    Camping in Wyalusing State Park

    Facing another round of furloughs, we made a last minute decision to go camping in Wyalusing State Park — one of Wisconsin’s oldest state parks — since we managed to reserve one of the 5 coveted non-reservable campsites (ie: first-come-first-serve basis). This state park caught our attention because one of the campgrounds sits 500 feet… Read more…

  • Bayfield

    Bayfield

    This year, we canceled 2 trips that we booked a year ago due to the travel uncertainties in this COVID-19 era. We made a last minute road trip to Bayfield — Wisconsin’s smallest city with a population of just 487 — during my furlough period. The idea was to recharge ourselves from months of hectic… Read more…

  • Sarikei

    Sarikei

    Throughout our stay in Sarikei, we switched our accommodation back and forth between the house in town and a recently built 4-bedroom house at the nursery. The latter was quieter and cooler in temperature although the mosquitoes were rather voracious in the evening. Typically, after finishing our dinner in town, we packed some necessity items… Read more…

  • Taichung & Taoyuan

    Taichung & Taoyuan

    Waking up in Taichung, we headed out before sunrise in search of breakfast. While the local breakfast meals weren’t necessarily our comfort food, they were very cheap and tasty. Our plan was to spend a full day exploring Taichung — the third largest city in Taiwan after Taipei and Kaohsiung. Perhaps this is the southernmost… Read more…

  • Qingjing Farm & Sun Moon Lake

    Qingjing Farm & Sun Moon Lake

    We started our day at 5 AM. We anticipated a long day as we made our way down from the Central Mountain Range to Taichung, which is located on the west side of the island. Upon checking out from our accommodation, we visited the nearby Qingjing Farm. There are several sheep farms in Taiwan and… Read more…

  • Taroko National Park & Hehuanshan

    Taroko National Park & Hehuanshan

    Although the weather was crummy on the previous day, the beautiful sunrise greeted us in the morning as we embarked on our journey to the most anticipated attraction of our Taiwan trip: Taroko National Park. Originally known as Tsugitaka-Taroko National Park during Japanese Colonial Period, it is the home of the world’s deepest and largest… Read more…

  • Yilan & Hualien

    Yilan & Hualien

    After spending 6 nights in Taipei, we headed east to explore Yilan and Hualien. Dominated by the rugged mountains covered with tropical and subtropical vegetation, the east coast is the last unspoiled land in Taiwan. Throughout the day, we experienced the lingering effects of Tropical Storm Fung-Wong moving north from the east side of the… Read more…

  • Yangmingshan National Park

    Yangmingshan National Park

    We made a day-trip to explore Yangmingshan National Park and its vicinity. Yangmingshan National Park was technically the first national park in Taiwan. Back in 1937, it was known as Daiton National Park under Japanese rule. However after Japan withdrew from Taiwan after World War II, there were no national parks until the new national… Read more…

  • Northeastern Taiwan

    Northeastern Taiwan

    After spending the first 4 days exploring Taipei on our own, we allocated a full day to explore several attractions on the northeastern side of Taiwan. Typically, most travelers would search for local private drivers on Facebook and engage them through WhatsApp app, but I was a little uncomfortable with this approach. Rather, I stumbled… Read more…