David on Formosa

I visited Smangus this week to continue the research for my thesis. There were some significant changes in the village since my visit last year. The major one was the new classroom building near the main entrance to the village. Construction began in July last year and was completed in April. There are currently 12 [...]

Wuliao Jian (五尞尖) in Sanxia (三峽) has been on my list of hikes to do for quite a while now. Beautiful weather made today the day I finally did it. The hike goes along a spectacular ridge and it is not for the faint hearted. There are many sections that need to be climbed with [...]

Today I joined Linda Arrigo on a walk around the hills behind Taipei Medical University (臺北醫學大學). The area is covered in graves which reveal many layers of the history of Taiwan in the post World War II period. Most of the graves are of people who arrived in Taiwan with the KMT after 1945 and [...]

This morning I set out to explore some of the trails branching off from the Yinhe Cave trail. Above the Yinhe Cave (銀河洞) there is a branch of the trail pointing to Simiantou Shan (四面頭山). This trail is poorly made and there are no further signs.  Part of the trail travels along the creek bed.  [...]

There is some good news for cyclists from the Taipei MRT (via Rank). Cyclists can now take their bicycles on the blue line of the MRT. Some conditions still apply and it is only at certain stations. The MRT has also reduced the ticket price for bicycles and their riders to NT$80. Further details from [...]

Although I have now been living in Xindian for a few months I have hardly explored any of the hiking trails in the nearby mountains. This morning I went out to hike the Yinhe Cave Hiking Trail (銀河洞越嶺步道). The trail head is on a small road off Bei-Yi Road (北宜路)，also known as Route 9 — [...]