The Birthplace of Taiwan (Tainan, and Chiayi)
This post is really just memories of a really nice couple of days in two really nice cities. I arrived in Tainan via train with just enough time to walk the ten minutes to my hostel, off the main road and hidden away in one of Tainan’s many windy narrow lanes, and get settled in.…
The City That Has It All: from Monkey Mountain to Tiger Temples, Super Heroes to Palm Trees and the Tunnel of Stars (Khaosiung)
Moving clockwise around Taiwan, the next stop was the city of Khaosiung in the South West of the island – an over the top mix of old and new with a good amount of nature thrown in. Khaosiung has it all and I loved it immediately. The “mountain line” train journey from Taitung was also…
Taitung: Nature and Neolithics
Taitung was an addition to the itinerary after reading about a national park where you could hike with monkeys and soak in hot springs. I liked Taitung as soon as I got off the train. The sun was shining and there were cute figurines in the garden around the train station. I treated myself to…
Carry On Buses (a bizarre solo experience in Hualien)
The first stop on my route east around Taiwan was Hualien, a couple of hours away from Taipei. The main attraction of this city is the nearby Taroko Gorge which sadly remains almost entirely closed to visitors due to the 7.2 magnitude earthquake in 2024. I had heard that Hualien was a bit of a…
48 Hours in Taipei (Tea, Temples and Taiwanese Food Heaven)
Lesson learned when taking budget flights in Asia. They are strict. Firstly I was forced to buy a ticket out of Taiwan before they would let me check in at the airport in Okinawa and secondly what constitutes carry-on baggage in Europe doesn’t mean carry-on here. If you thought Ryan Air staff were petty, Air…
From the Tranquil to the Tacky (the other side of Okinawa)
In one week I experienced two very different faces to Okinawa. There is the wild beauty of the coast and the nearby islands, some uninhabited. The serenity of the gardens and palaces. But then there is the holiday park concrete jungle. I didn’t want to leave Okinawa without seeing the north of the island. Without…
Palaces, Beaches and Cabin Hotels (Okinawa)
To get away from the hustle of Kokusai-dori street I took the bus to the Shikina-en Royal Gardens. Here you’ll find quiet, tranquil gardens surrounding the old royal palace and lake. It’s all very orderly, no eating or drinking outside of the designated spaces and a signposted route to follow. The gardens were created in…
The Hawaii of Japan (Naha, Okinawa)
There is a lot more to Japan than the mainland. Looking at the map, the Okinawan islands were only a short flight from both Hong Kong and Taiwan so it was too good a chance to miss. It’s winter in Jan/Feb so I went for the larger of the islands, basing myself in Naha which…
24 hours in Hong Kong
Two places that have long been on my travel wish list are Hong Kong and Taiwan. Perfect for a 4 week trip along with a last minute addition of the Okinawa islands off of Japan due to their surprisingly close proximity to Taiwan. I was pretty sceptical of the £350 return flight I booked from…
Glimpse into the North (South Korea Part Two)
Let’s start by that saying as far as strange tours go, this was up there with the best of them. The Demilitarised Zone is a strip of land cutting the Korean peninsula in half, forming a ‘buffer zone’ approximately 2km wide on either side of the Military Demarcation Line, the divider between the Democratic People’s Republic…
Mad Dash to Seoul (South Korea Part One)
The idea of a two week trip to South Korea was a last minute one, even by my standards. I have wanted to visit South Korea for a long time and imagined I’d spend at least a few weeks exploring this relatively small country as part of a bigger trip to Asia – but with…
Two Wasters in a Country Club – Paraguay Part 1
Paraguay is one country I missed out last time and I didn’t know anyone who had bothered to visit. When Vix and I told people in our hostel in Montevideo that we were planning to go, they said “Paraguay?! You must be very religious or drug dealers”. Even more reason to visit this landlocked country…
The Dollar Blue, The Devil’s Mouth and the Three Frontiers (Buenos Aires and Iguazú Falls)
We departed Uruguay via the ferry to Argentina after about ten days visiting a handful of places along the coast. Uruguay has been absolutely lovely and there is plenty to see and do, albeit more in high season, but for some reason this little country is often not part of the standard South America gringo…
Caballos and Colonia
After leaving Cabo Polonio on the jeep in the rain, we arrived back at the visitors centre. Our next stop was only a 15 minute drive north so with the next bus not for a couple of hours we took a taxi to Los Chajá ecolodge, on the edge of the small beachside down of…
British Girls on a Ride and The Wasters (Uruguay Part 1)
After five lazy beach days, we took a cheap flight from the island of Florianopolis, Brazil to the often overlooked capital of Uruguay, Montevideo. I have been to Uruguay once before but only on a day trip from Buenos Airies during my first trip to South America over ten years ago. At the airport in…
Floripa – Canoes, Caipirinhas and Capybara!
Three weeks in and brand new travel companion Vix has flown out to Sao Paolo to join me for the next four weeks. Vix and I met at a some dingy London rock bar and also share a love for travelling. Helen and I eventually got to the MADA hostel about 10pm after the epic…
Ilha Grande to Paraty
As we left Rio, to make the bus and boat journey to the island of Ilha Grande easier, we booked a three hour transfer from the hostel desk. Two hours later we were still in the minibus and just pulling up at the airport to collect the last passenger (the airport that is only half…
Rio de Janeiro – Beaches, The Redeemer and Not Getting Robbed
After a short flight from the lovely airport in Salvador which had hammocks in place of hard plastic seats, we arrived in Rio de Janeiro. We had quite a lot of trepidation about this place after so many negative comments about safety which is a bit of a shame. In fact the first thing we…
From Morro de São Paulo to Salvador – Sick Boats and Birthdays
After our lightening quick trip up the coast of Bahia we headed to the island of Morro de São Paulo, which translates as São Paolo Hill. The quickest way is by speedboat although apparently you should be prepared to get wet. We got in the boat and chose a nice seat at the back only…
Bahia Coast – Buses, Rain and Stuffing a Banana
Days 5-8, Campo Grande, Porto Seguro, Arrail d’Adjuda, Ilhéus, Itacare The transport from the Pantanal turned up after all, with a minibus picking us up from the Jungle Lodge and dropping us off at the business hotel we had booked back in Campo Grande – there wasn’t a lot of choice and there isn’t much…
The Pantanal – Mosquito Spotting, Bill, and The Electrocution of Tom
When booking the nature part of our trip, after doing a bit of research we went through a tour guide that the Lonely Planet guide book described as “the assertive pick of the budget operators” who we shall call Bill* and came across a review** where he apparently threatened to do someone in, but there…
São Paulo
Day 1 – São Paulo, Pousada Zilah I’m on the road again and back in South America after around 12 years. Kick starting a two month trip in Brazil with none other than Original Travel Companion Helen, as is tradition. Helen is in the middle of her own two month journey through Argentina, Uruguay and…
Prince Charles, The Bears and “It’s Not OK!!” (Romania)
When I met Original Travel Companion (OTC) Helen at Bucharest airport I was fairly surprised that we had got this far, with Helen making her first trip abroad since we went to Greece almost exactly one year ago, and me half expecting to get stopped after listing all of my previous destinations on the passenger…
The Road to Romania, from Albania to Athens
A bit of an explanation is needed as to how I ended up in Greece. For the final week of my trip I had arranged to meet Original Travel Companion Helen, in Romania. At the time when we made this plan, Romania seemed the perfect choice being both on the UK’s Green List and on…
Curfews, Bill Clinton and Chain Smoking Hikers (Kosovo)
Why visit one Balkan country when you can visit them all?! There was never really any chance that I was going to miss Kosovo out of my tour, even though it wasn’t the easiest place to get to and it didn’t exactly fit with my plan to reach Romania overland. But as is often the…
Detour to North Macedonia
When I saw North Macedonia next door to Serbia on the map I knew I had to go there. When else was I going to visit?! A glutton for punishment, I booked a 7 hour bus from Belgrade to Macedonia’s capital city of Skopje (pronounced Skopia), prepared for an uncomfortable ride and long delays. When…
House of the Holy War (Belgrade, Serbia)
I had no pre-conceptions of Belgrade but had a feeling there would be plenty to do over the three nights I was planning to stay whilst I worked out plans for my next destination. What I found was a very cool capital city, with the boats running up and down the river Danube by night…
Sunrise, Snakes and Finding Myself (Again) in Serbia (Part One)
When one of the women on the minibus to my next yoga retreat asked “so what is the general feeling on bringing alcohol?” I knew that we would become friends. Eight of us had just joined the bus in Belgrade, driven by a man who was built like the mountains he was transporting us into…
Return to the Mountains (Montenegro Part Two)
The silver lining to going around in a circle to get back to Montenegro was meeting Monique on the bus that I hadn’t intended to take. We bonded when she donated 50 cents for me to use the toilet (hole in the ground) at good old Podgorica bus station as I didn’t have any money…
Albania – Bunkers, BMWs and Non Existent Buses
Albania wasn’t even on my radar until fellow backpackers I met in Montenegro were telling me that the neighbouring country was well worth a visit. At the end of my first day in the capital, Tirana, I could see why. The bus journey here from Sarajevo through Montenegro was an unexpected highlight – a cramped…
Maz On The Road 