Travel – Maz On The Road

Big Buddhas, Bridges and Boats (Po Lin Monastery and Tai O, Hong Kong)

May 24, 2026Posted in TravelTagged adventure, Asia, nature, photography, TravelLeave a comment

Another “must see” in Hong Kong is the Big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery, perched high up on a mountain on Lantau island. The Big Buddha is a huge 112 foot tall bronze sculpture of The Buddha. Weighing in at over 250 tons, constructed in 1993 it is the world’s ‘tallest outdoor seated bronze Buddha’.

I was fooled by the lack of people on Cheung Chau the day before. The most popular way to reach the monastery is by train from the Hong Kong Central to Tung Chung station, then a beautiful cable car ride on the Ngong Ping 360 up to the top. The queue for the cable car didn’t look too bad until I realised it was a pre-queue. The ticket number I’d been handed was a ticket to join the real queue. I waited with a herd of people in the sun just standing there or sitting on the floor for about an hour before my number was called to join the queue inside.

The ride took about 25 minutes and provided great views over the nearby Hong Kong International Airport, the architectural marvel that is the bridge road to Macau, plus of course the Big Buddha itself. This was definitely worth the queue. I considered hiking back down as it looked like a pretty path.

I was expecting a peaceful, serene monastery experience but I got off the cable car to find a Disneyland feel, with Starbucks, Subway and fast food joints lining the square which was a bit surreal.

*Six smaller bronze statues surround the Big Buddha, known as the “Offering of the Six Devas*”

The Big Buddha itself sits even higher up a climb of almost 300 steps but what’s the point of coming if you don’t go all the way up? The 360-degree views are amazing if you get a clear day. Inside the Buddha itself is just a shop, not so interesting.

The monastery area is also a beautiful sight as it’s full of flowers and mandarin trees that didn’t look real. It’s positioned through an ornate Japanese-style gate, behind a row of giant incense sticks a few feet high.

Like a lot of Buddhist monasteries, this one offers a vegetarian lunch and usually these are cheap and delicious. I took a ticket to get my lunch and disappointingly was shoved onto a table for one in the corner next to the dirty dishes cart. I hate it when they put single people out of the way somewhere in the worst seats.

I was given a cold pot of tea and some disgusting slimy mushrooms followed by a saucepan of lukewarm rice to serve myself with some bright orange sweet-and-sour vegetables. I left most of it after paying for one of my most expensive meals in Asia at around £15.

With a huge queue to go down by cable car there is another option aside from hiking down. This turned out to be the unexpected highlight of the day. You can take a bus 30 mins down the hill to the small fishing village Tai O. The bus was only running every hour or so but I managed to time it just right.

I arrived around 4pm in Tai O without knowing what to expect. It’s a small village built on the water, with most of the buildings on stilts and boats used to get around. It’s a bit like a fishing village version of Venice!

As soon as I got off the bus I was offered a boat trip for about £7 which was a really nice way to experience the village from the water. We didn’t see any of the pink dolphins that apparently live there but I really enjoyed it.

The village is connected by bridges over the water and there are a few cafes and bars which would be perfect at sunset. The village square had music playing and there were older residents sitting outside, people watching. I’m not sure many people know about visiting place – for me it was just a random tip from someone I met at the hostel.

Happy Year of the Horse!

One thing I loved about Tai O was the music and general atmosphere in the tiny streets – see video of main square below!

Another trick to avoid yet another long queue for the 1.5 hour bus ride back to Tung Chung train station, is to jump on the ferry that runs from Tai O. I just happened to walk past the port and had a look at the timetable, which a child in the queue helped me to understand. There aren’t many departures so it had to be timed with the visit, which again just worked out perfectly.

This boat trip was actually brilliant and another highlight – really cheap (about £1) not crowded at all and the perfect way to see the coastline. Best of all, we followed the Macau bridge. To give it its full name, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge is the world’s longest ‘sea-crossing and bridge-and-tunnel system’, spanning 55km to connect Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai.

Seeing this up close was breathtaking, especially with all the planes taking off from the airport and flying right over our heads at sunset. Lots of people were taking videos of the takeoffs.

All in all, the Big Buddha was certainly a sight worth seeing while in Hong Kong but the highlight today was most definitely the journey!

Crowds on way back to the mainland

A Walk on a Pirate Island (Cheung Chau, Hong Kong)

April 28, 2026April 28, 2026Posted in Asia, Hong Kong, TravelTagged backpacking, Hong Kong, solo travel, Travel, travel blogLeave a comment

People think of Hong Kong as just a busy, crowded city but it’s so much more. There are 263 islands that make up Hong Kong and enough easy day trips to keep yourself busy for weeks. I picked one of them for a day trip, Cheung Chau, otherwise known as Pirate Island, in an attempt to avoid even some of the New Year crowds.

First I had to move from my nice hostel The Mahjong to what was the worst accommodation of my entire trip. There were only a few options available at short notice under £100 a night in a central area, and the ‘Unique Hostel’ inside the huge Chungking Mansions block was one of them. The Chungking Mansions was even featured in my DK Hong Kong guide book, so how bad could it be? As it turns out, very bad. You go in through the main entrance into a sort of little India. There are over 100 budget ‘guesthouses’ in this 17 storey building – no exaggeration. The building is split into five blocks, A-E, each having its own elevator. The first challenge is to find your block, through an impossible maze of stalls selling electronics and Indian food and men asking ‘what are you looking for?’.

*Finding my guesthouse in the Chungking Mansions*

When I eventually found my elevator, grateful the queue was only two people deep rather than the twenty people waiting for some of the other lifts, I was shown to my tiny box that I paid about £50 a night for. Just because space is limited in Hong Kong doesn’t mean they have to let it go completely. Yes the shower might need to be over the toilet but the amount of money they must be making, surely they could replace the broken, taped up mirror and the ripped, taped up curtain to cover window which was facing who knows where. It was actually pretty disgusting – I couldn’t turn on the air-con because of the bad smell it produced. They at least provided a towel that they changed daily, albeit a threadbare one.

Every evening on my way back, I got lost inside trying to find Block E and the right elevator and every night numerous men asked me “what you looking for?” which just made it even more annoying when all you are looking for is the way into your hotel. Once I came out the wrong entrance and got stuck in the back of a food market with a dead rat. The only good thing was the great location and making friends with the Filipino housekeepers. They kept the room spotless and we had some great chats – they recommended I visit their home town of Iloilo in the Philippines.

To get to Cheung Chao it’s easy 30 mins on a ferry from Hong Kong Island. The city had warmed up by now and the sun was shining. The ferry arrives at Cheung Chau harbour, a bustling area full of food vendors and lots and lots of bicycles. There are still plenty of fishing boats operating from the harbour. It was a refreshing break from the hustle of central Hong Kong.

There are well maintained, signposted hiking trails all over the island so you can quite literally cover it all. Cheung Chao has its own ‘The Peak’, accessible by following the Don Bosco road up the hill, past beautiful colonial houses, sea views and a peaceful cemetery where many of the headstones feature a large photograph of the deceased.

Just across the narrow island from the harbour is the Tung Wan Beach, about a 10 minute walk from west to east. This is considered the ‘best’ beach, although no swimming in off peak season as signs indicated both the lifeguards and the shark nets were not maintained.

*There is always a temple somewhere on the way*

Cheung Chao also boasts some ancient rock carvings – apparently nobody knows who carved the markings over 3,000 years ago. I didn’t manage to see them unfortunately as the one area I did find was cordoned off.

There is something really exciting about an island being small enough that in a few hours you can walk around it and imagine the pirates who used to frequent the bays.

*Bicycles are the way to go as there are no cars on Cheung Chao*

Cheung Chau Island is only 2km long and car free. The name translates to Long Island and it is essentially two big hills connected in the middle. It was unbelievably quiet – I had left all the holiday crowds behind, having most of the hiking paths to myself aside from a few people doing the same route. The beaches are lovely, with little sandy coves covered in rock formations, which does give it the feel of a pirate island.

The path includes lots and lots of steps up and down the ‘Little Great Wall’ and numerous interestingly named rock formations at every bay. Rock of the Ringing Bell. Eagle Rock. Rock of the Serpent. Human Head Rock. Goat Rock. I don’t think I managed to recognise any of them but it made for a fun guessing game.

There is a main square with slightly more expensive restaurants, for me this was worth it for the quiet compared to the street market which was getting busy by lunch time. I sat outside and this was the only time in Hong Kong or Taiwan where I was asked for money by a man who approached me, the lone Westerner, at my table. Other people sitting at the tables next to me shook their head to show their disapproval.

In the afternoon I covered the south of the island. Around the corner of a quiet path, I came across a queue of people close to the Pirate’s Cave where the 19th century pirate Cheung Po Tsai stashed his booty. I joined the queue assuming it was to go inside. After about 20 mins I got to the front only to realise people were quite literally disappearing down a tiny hole in the rocks and not coming back. I asked a family ahead of me and they said it was about ten minutes to come out the other side and pitch black. It’s not what I consider a cave – it’s an extremely narrow crevice between rocks that you need to crawl through using a torch. This sounded too claustrophobic so I left, even though this meant embarrassingly having to squeeze back the same way past the growing queue and explain to curious people why I was going the wrong way.

*That is a man disappearing deep into the ‘cave’, you can just about see his head*

The road was mostly empty again aside from a few dogs lazing in the sun. Following the inland roads is also a good way to get a glimpse of the old Hong Kong, without the visitors. It took me past some lovely houses and narrow streets, up and down numerous steps, with washing hanging out of the windows and bicycles lining the roads. Best of all, there was nobody else there although approximately 20,000 people live here.

I only passed a few people, including an older couple who asked me for directions to the port. They spoke hardly any English and my Chinese is limited to hello and thank you. I tried to explain that the way I had come was the long way and would take at least an hour but I don’t think they understood – they started following me as I continued in the opposite direction on my route around the island. I have uploaded some videos to my YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtRIEKmjnSNjLh8l2Y–ua4B6gHlKhwHj

I would highly recommend Cheung Chau for a day trip and to walk as much of it as possible. In the evening back on the mainland I did manage to meet up with some people from the Mahjong Hostel to see the Mong Kok area of Hong Kong, but instead of enjoying some company it just irritated me that they didn’t take into account the fact that restaurants close earlier than in Europe and weren’t interested in venturing to any of the other islands, instead leaving it so late to meet that the night market had long packed up. Sometimes I really do prefer travelling alone.

Happy Year of the Horse (Hong Kong)

April 25, 2026Posted in Asia, Hong Kong, TravelTagged Asia, backpacking, Hong Kong, solo travel, Travel, travel blogLeave a comment

By pure coincidence I had booked my original flight back to Hong Kong on the eve of the Chinese New Year. Egged on by the 21 year olds in Taipei I had moved my flight home back by another 4 weeks but liked the idea of experiencing my first Chinese New Year in Asia, especially in Hong Kong with it’s famous New Year’s Parade and Fireworks display. Rather than everyone going home for quiet family time as is common in Taiwan, Hong Kong celebrates and it’s easy for tourists to join in. Extending the flight meant I got a full 6 days in Hong Kong. Except my original accommodation was fully booked for the rest of the week. This meant after the first 3 nights in the only good rated proper hostel in the city, The Mahjong, I’d have to leave and find somewhere else.

The Mahjong is in the To Kwa Wan district which is an older, quite authentic feeling part of the city and only a few stops on the metro from the Tsim Sha Tsui pier and Hong Kong Central area. Transport is so easy in Hong Kong – again there was a direct and cheap bus to my area.

The Mahjong is also a social hostel, with one free proper coffee provided each day and a little lounge. Space is at a premium all over Hong Kong and the building is old, but I really liked it. It was easy to meet people and a few of us made our own WhatsApp Group to try to meet up later for the New Years Parade.

There are New Year events all week in Hong Kong starting with the Night Parade on 17th Feb, the first day of the New Year. Huge crowds gather around the Tsim Sha Tsui area, which the police cordon off from the early afternoon. I knew there would be crowds with 500,000 people in attendance but I wasn’t prepared for the extent of it. Heading down to the harbour area in the early afternoon I could hardly cross the road. I eventually made it to the tourist information to enquire about the best place to stand, and just like with the golden train ticket in Taiwan, my travel luck kicked in and the lady helping me said they *might* have just one ticket left for a seat in the viewing area where you can watch the entire parade of 9 floats and 46 performance troupes go by. It was too good a chance to pass up. £40 got me another golden ticket and at 6pm I took my seat in Area C.

I passed the time waiting for the gates to open by looking at a selection of people’s photos that were pinned up on a sort of notice board. I thought they might have been the organisers or related to the parade in some way. Every so often people would come and take a look at the board. Only after using Google translate did I find out they were in fact mug shots and this was a police Wanted poster, with most of the descriptions of the crimes being social or journalism type activities. Probably best not to post the photo I took.

YMCA

The parade is organised by the Hong Kong Tourism board and sponsored this year by Cathay Pacific Airlines. On the seat was a Horse themed goody bag full of treats including a horse stuffed toy, gold chocolate coins, magnets, cookies, stickers, tote bag … and a bizarre plastic lightbulb that lit up different colours automatically with the parade, for audience members to wave to show our support for the performers.

Here is a video of the opening parade: https://youtube.com/shorts/mxCPkwio2Yw?feature=share

Beautiful white horses

It kicked off with two Eurovision type hosts getting the crowd going by asking random people to say a greeting from their own country which was quite awkward when all anyone said was “Happy New Year” and the number of languages were exhausted fairly quickly. This was followed by a long speech from someone on the tourism board.

*The host picking on another poor audience member*

I was expecting some dragons and dancers but it’s much more than that. It was a bit like a bigger, international and obviously a million times better version of Britain’s Got Talent. I have never experienced anything like this and loved every minute of it.

Some sort of jumping dragon

The highlights for me were the beautiful white horses in the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s performance and the “Cromosauro” featuring a 5-metre-tall mechanic dinosaur, although the Emoji Parade from Turkey were funny! The groups ranged from the Spanish Ballet Victor Campos, to the Australian cheerleaders and a European trio of skaters who spun around on a tiny spinning disc doing the headbanger. Not to mention some people on huge bouncing pogo sticks to “you’ve got to move it move it”. The McDonalds and Disney floats not so interesting. All kicked off by the Cathay Pacific airline crew doing their version of YMCA.

Dragon parade

Afterwards I walked around the harbour with the rest of the crowds soaking up the atmosphere and caught the Emoji Parade up close at the end of the procession before hopping on the metro back to the hostel for a good night’s sleep in my pod.

On the second day of the New Year there is the annual fireworks display. There are events on all week. With 6 full days in Hong Kong, there is still so much to do even without the special events. I should have taken the warning from the hostel that it would be very busy everywhere more seriously and got a much earlier start. Instead I set off for The Peak mid morning with another girl from the hostel who also wanted to go there. Victoria Peak is the highest point on Hong Kong Island, overlooking the city and Victoria Harbour. You can choose to hike the 550m up, take the bus or most traditionally ride on the Peak Tram, which everyone wants to do.

When we got to the ticket entrance, we saw the hundreds of people ahead of us. You have to buy a ticket via a QR code. By the time we tried and failed to find anything close by for a coffee or breakfast, or to get any mobile signal to buy the ticket the queue had got even longer. We waited in this queue for two hours in the sun, starving, but at least there was someone to chat to which passed the time. After all that, people were still pushing and shoving to get a seat. We managed to get a seat with a view – I’d have been pretty annoyed to have waited all that time to be standing in the middle of a packed tram and not even see out the window. The tram goes steeply up the mountain and only takes about 10 minutes. The view is nice but was it worth the 2 hours queuing? I’m not sure!

The way up

By this point the crowds were becoming annoying, not so much the volume of people but the pushing and shoving that entailed. Take the Star Ferry for example- there is a limited number of seats and a limited amount of tickets sold for safety reasons. Therefore if you have a ticket, it’s very likely you’ll get onboard. If you’re standing at the front of the queue then there really isn’t any need to run when the gangway opens or to push me from behind or step on my feet despite me being a foot taller than everyone around me. I actually felt like punching someone but managed to just glare sufficiently for one single person to say sorry.

It was a great day weather wise and the view from the top was really beautiful. Hong Kong can be quite hazy so you do have to grab the chance to go up on a good day. We were starving by now so had some overpriced dim sum, coffee and ice cream at the top in The Peak Galleria shopping centre then covered the circular ‘hiking’ route that runs around the top. I say ‘hiking’ in inverted commas because the ‘hikes’ are more of what I’d call a stroll.

There isn’t that much to do at the top of The Peak … you can pay to go even higher but the view is almost the same so didn’t justify the extra cost. When it was time to go down in time to find a spot to see the fireworks, we naively thought taking the bus was an option. The queue for the buses was even longer than the tram, snaking around the bus station and down the road. I couldn’t face another two hour queue and more pushing and shoving so we walked the 45 minutes back down instead. It’s a beautiful walk and much faster, although at times it was so steep we had to almost run and it did both of our knees in.

The road takes you down through the central streets, through a sort of zoo in a park and past the serious hikers on their way up. It’s very cool to go from mountain scenery to skyscrapers within half an hour’s walk. We had a total fail at finding anywhere open for food with a veggie option – I ended up with a wrap from Pret a Manger and the other girl ended up at McDonalds which we decided not to tell anyone about.

More fireworks

There was another fail at finding the other hostel people but a win at finding a brilliant spot to watch the fireworks right on the harbour at the front. Hong Kong knows how to put on a firework display – with fireworks going off from several boats in the middle it was a spectacular ten minutes. It was also incredibly well organised, with no drinking in the crowds or trouble getting home after. In fact I saw a news report a week later with the headline “5 wanted for eating on the metro” along with a CCTV picture of a group of young people sitting on the floor in the underground after the fireworks having a snack. I will leave the rest of my week in Hong Kong to a separate post…

Even more

Games, Goldmines and Getting Down with the Kids (Taipei, Jiufen and Jinguashi)

April 21, 2026April 21, 2026Posted in Asia, Taiwan, TravelTagged backpacking, solo travel, Taiwan, Travel, travel blogLeave a comment

My second visit to Taipei was just before the Chinese New Year, when accommodation options were limited and more expensive. A lot of businesses close for at least some of the two week period over the new year as people tend to go home to spend the time with their families. For a change of scenery I stayed at one of the top rated hostels in the city, the ‘Meander’ in the Ximen district. Welcome to spacious pod-style beds, fluffy white towels changed daily, clean bathrooms, hairdryers, free proper coffee, breakfast vouchers, a huge common area and a rooftop. Goodbye to being the only Westerner in town. As I checked in around 22.00, a group of 20 somethings were getting dressed up ready to hit the town. Who brings high heels to a hostel?

*Rainbow Road (Taiwan was the first country in Asia to legalise same sex marriage)*

Checking in, I joined the WhatsApp group which has evolved into a life of its own. At this place there is always someone to hang out with. In fact it’s impossible not to be sociable despite most of the crowd being 18-25 on their first trip – it’s almost an enforced level of fun. The WIFI password is ‘havefunhere’. One minute I’m quietly drinking a cup of tea and planning tomorrow’s trip to some temples. The next I’m in the 7-11 convenience store with a group of 21 year olds buying beer and screaming ‘F*ck The President!!!’ at the top of my voice when it’s my turn in aforenamed drinking game. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. I got so into winning a version of ‘Spoons’ played with chopsticks (when you have a full hand you have to grab a spoon/chopstick from the pile in the middle and whoever fails to get one is out, there being one less chopstick in the pile than there are players) that I got an actual injury.

I had a few relaxed days in Taipei, hanging around the hostel drinking coffee and chatting to other travellers, sampling different bubble teas and eating my weight in tofu pudding. Every day I saw the same guy who said he was leaving that day but never made an actual plan to go anywhere so he was still there.

On the first day I visited the Taipei National Museum and the Daan Forest Park. The museum is really interesting. The main fact that has been drilled into me from visiting Taiwanese museums is that the island was once underwater hence as the mountains rose up from the sea they feature some amazing marine fossils. The ticket includes entry to the nearby National History Museum which itself has a floor dedicated to the old bank vaults. I can’t take in that many museums in one day so missed out a lot of it.

For an antidote to the museums I went for a stroll in the Daan Forest Park, a beautiful, peaceful green space in the student area of the city. At lunchtime it’s full of local people enjoying the wildlife, which includes squirrels hoping to steal your food, turtles swimming around the ponds and herons perched up high in the trees. It’s also a really nice, cool district to wander around with little boutique shops and of course tofu pudding cafes to enjoy.

One day trip I wanted to do was a visit to the mountain town of Jiufen and the nearby former goldmine of Jinguashi. Jiufen is an hour’s bus ride away from Taipei and best done on a good weather day for the spectacular views. The hostel 20 somethings couldn’t understand why I didn’t invite anyone to join me via the WhatsApp group.

The highlight of Jiufen is the Old Street, an extremely busy and extremely hilly collection of narrow streets filled with food vendors and shops. My Converse were by now literally falling to bits so I swapped them for a new pair of Taiwanese trainers for £11.

Jiufen is an opportunity to try different snacks including the delicious apricot kernel tofu dessert but be prepared to climb a lot of steps to explore the area. I suppose it is fairly ‘touristy’ but I enjoyed it.

A short bus ride from Jiufen is the old goldmining village of Jinguashi. This actually turned out to be the highlight of the day for me. The visit is centered around the ‘eco’ Gold Mine Museum, which is like a living museum comprising several buildings over the entire 1890s gold and copper mining site.

It includes a Japanese house, the actual mines where you can see the original machinery and take a trip inside one of the tunnels either on foot or a little train, and various other little museums, all connected to the village via a footpath over the river. The wealth of the gold rush is clear from the artefacts on display and the chance to touch which was previously the world’s largest gold brick weighing in at 220kg with a market value of over $33 million US dollars at the time of writing. There was a staff member waiting to take my photo with the gold so it would have been rude to refuse.

I couldn’t get the ticket machine for the tunnel entry to work with my card, and the queue was building up behind me. Instead of getting annoyed at the tourist, a family behind me stepped in and bought my ticket for me, refusing to take any cash. It turned out not to be a ticket for the little train, but a ticket for an experience where you don a hard hat and walk into the tunnels. I couldn’t really complain seeing as I got the ticket for free.

*Inside the tunnel that’s open for tourists*

*The only other beings I saw in the village*

After exploring the mine I wandered down to the village as it approached sunset. This gave it a slight eerie feel as it was totally deserted, just empty narrow streets between some fairly dilapidated buildings. There are some hiking trails around including Teapot Mountain but I’d arrived too late in the day to cover them too.

*Various crystals on display in the museum*

I didn’t want to miss the last bus back, so not knowing exactly when that would be, I headed back to the bus station and joined a queue of people waiting for presumably the same bus.

*The biggest gold block I’m likely to touch!*

On the eve of the Chinese New Year a lot of smaller shops and restaurants were indeed shut but the malls remained open as did the coffee shop that accepted the hostel’s breakfast vouchers (easy to find, just follow a steady stream of half asleep looking Americans heading to get their coffee). I managed a quick look at the nearby Lungshan Temple but the crowds were getting a bit much.

And that concludes Taiwan Part 1, to be continued after seeing in the Chinese New Year in Hong Kong!

Two Wheels, One Gondola (Me, Myself and I at Sun Moon Lake)

March 28, 2026March 28, 2026Posted in Asia, Taiwan, TravelTagged backpacking, solo travel, Taiwan, Travel, travel blogLeave a comment

What a mysterious name! I had prebooked the bus from Alishan to Sun Moon Lake after locals told me everything would be booked up for the upcoming Lunar New Year. It wasn’t really necessary as the bus wasn’t full but I actually quite enjoyed having a few days with everything booked and just following my own itinerary! It took about 3-4 hours on a comfy bus with a gorgeous view, to reach the SML bus station. The transport centre was actually on the other side of the lake to my hostel (Owl Hostel) and all buses stop at 17.00. A man approached me and asked “Ita Thao?” I said no, assuming this was the name of someone he was picking up. He asked me again like he really thought it was me. I said no again. After realising there were no buses (it was 17.30) I went to enquire about a taxi. The same man appeared and asked for the address. “Ita Thao!” he said. Turns out that’s the name of the village where the hostels are: he probably thought I was mad or very stupid. But he paired me up with a Chinese woman and her mum and drove us all around to the other side of the lake at half the price of a standard taxi. At the hostel there was another guy checking in who was on the same bus as me and he had paid twice as much so I did feel a bit smug.

I went to wander around the harbour area where a small night market had set up. I got some vegan tofu sticks with a spicy sauce and a bag of freshly cut liquorice flavoured guava for dinner.

*Night market goodies: liquorice guava, moon grapes (not sure what they were), another unknown fruit and BBQ tofu*

The Owl Hostel also had free proper coffee and lovely rooftop to enjoy it. It was extremely clean and well organised. You’d expect it to be fully booked but it was really quiet as have been most places so far, although it was the first hostel in Taiwan where I met some other Western travellers to go for dinner or hang out on the rooftop with. Everyone agreed they have had mostly solitary experiences travelling in Taiwan. It’s just not on the usual backpacking route.

The owl (as in the bird) is significant here. They are considered to be the sacred spirit animal of the Thao indigenous people. Similar to the sunrise and sunset outings in Alishan, a rite of passage at Sun Moon Lake is to hire a bicycle and cycle around the lake. There are also temples and a cable car to keep anyone busy for a couple of days.

If there is a cable car then I have to take it. The “Sun Moon Lake Ropeway” goes up to the Observation Tower of the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village. It took solo travel to another level – not only was I allocated my own gondola but I was asked to choose which one I wanted. I chose the one with pink cherry blossom as this was clearly the one the attendant wanted me to pick.

It takes 7 minutes to reach the top, and time goes very slowly when you have it all to yourself. I had expected that there would be at least a viewpoint at the top or something to look at, but it’s literally just a station where you get off, and a turnstile for paid entrance to the ‘Culture Village’ which looked more like a theme park to me. There are fences blocking out the view so other than a few souvenir shops there’s literally nothing to do except turn around and go back down again. I still enjoyed it for the novelty of choosing which gondola I wanted and the views over the lake were beautiful. It felt pretty high up, so probably not one for anyone not keen on heights.

Gondola views

I decided to take the boat over to the other side of the lake instead of cycling the whole circuit, and to treat myself to lunch at a backpacker cafe. I soon changed my mind about not seeing any other Westerners after listening to some annoying, loud American backpackers discussing their latest tattoos and paying over the odds for a coffee.

There are bicylce rental places all around the place and it’s easy to negotiate a half day for a really nice bike. I really enjoyed seeing all the other solo travellers whizzing past on their bikes – you can’t really get lost, although I managed to go the wrong way through the town. I had been a bit nervous about cycling with traffic but this soon goes away!

The scenery is really lovely, especially as there’s a dedicated cycle path for most of it over wooden pathways, through some shaded areas but never far from the blue water. It passes the huge Xiangshan “recreation area” with its modern architecture and oat milk ice cream for a little break. There is no need to lock your bike here, in fact you don’t even get a lock with the bike. It’s amazing to just park up, leave the bike (I also left my hoodie just so I’d recognise the bike again), go for a wander and not worry about it being there when you get back.

The Xiangshang section of the route’s claim to fame is that it’s listed as one of the “Top 10 Most Beautiful Bicycle Trails in the World” (not sure what the source is for that). This section connects the Shuishe Dam to Visitor Centre, a highlight being the 400m “Waterfront Bikeway” that is elevated above the lake. I probably could have carried on all the way around the full 20 mile loop but I only had the bike for a half a day so got the ferry back across in time for a sunset beer on the roof terrace, some takeaway tofu soup and an evening stroll.

If I came back to Sun Moon Lake I would stay longer as it’s a nice place to chill for a bit, and there are more temples to visit. But I’d booked my next leg of travel in order to get to Taipei for my flight to Hong Kong for Chinese New Year. The next morning after breakfast at a little stall that sold toast and peanut butter for less than £1 and who gave me a free cup of homemade sweet soya milk to try, I got the bus back around to the transport centre to board my pre-booked bus straight to the Western city of Taichung, to spend the afternoon there before a pre-booked bullet train to the capital.

*I didn’t notice this sign until I was a quarter of the way in and wondered why everyone was walking*

It was Friday 13th and three things went wrong. Firstly after a smooth bus ride there, where by chance I was sitting behind the same Chinese woman and her mum who I had shared a taxi with on arrival (we said hello and waved goodbye), I was halfway to stashing my bag at Taichung train station when I realised I didn’t have my coat. I needed my coat for Hong Kong and for when I got home and it’s the most expensive item I had with me. I practically ran to the tourist information office at the train station who advised me to go in person to the bus depot, but not to worry they had a lost property. This is Taiwan after all, where people leave their laptops on cafe tables while they go to the bathroom. Sure enough after putting my bags in a locker, I explained the situation at the bus depot with the help of Google translate (at first they thought I had missed my bus), they phoned the driver and happily told me “the driver has seen your jacket”. I waited ten mins until he dropped it off.

I didn’t have the energy to see anything of Taitung, it was hot and I was now carrying around a coat so I made the most of some downtime in a cafe. Back at the train station a few hours later, the second mishap occurred – I went to get my bags from the locker and it asked me to enter the passcode from the receipt. The receipt that I didn’t actually take when I closed the locker that morning. There was a rather strict sign stating that there was a fine for losing the code but again I explained the situation and a nice lady opened it up for me with no cost.

Thirdly, I was waiting on the platform that evening for my reserved train and thought it was a bit odd that the train was late – trains are never late here. Despite asking for directions earlier, I had somehow gone to the wrong platform and waited like an idiot for a train that had already departed from the other side. But the guard said no problem, if you miss your reserved train you can just get on the next one in the unreserved carriage. It was actually full this time with everyone going home for the New Year so I had to stand for part of the one hour journey, but I was so grateful to be on it I didn’t care.

Trying to cycle and video at the same time

Disasters averted, I arrived back in Taipei after a whirlwind 2 week trip around Taiwan and checked into a party hostel filled with 20 somethings on their first backpacking trip …

The Day I Caught The Train: Sea of Clouds, Giant Trees and Solitude (Alishan National Park)

March 26, 2026Posted in Asia, Taiwan, TravelTagged Alishan National Forest, Asia, backpacking, hiking, nature, solo travel, Taiwan, Travel, travel blogLeave a comment

The next few days of this trip were the ones that needed some advanced planning. Firstly the Alishan National Forest: the most iconic way to get to this forest high up in the mountains in the centre of Taiwan is to ride the scenic Alishan Forest Railway. This is a narrow gauge railway that runs through the Alishan mountains and high-altitude forests. However, getting a ticket for this is like getting a ticket for the Sri Lanka Ella train all over again (throwback to when Original Travel Companion Helen and I tried and failed to even get on the train, being the only ones left standing on the platform after the locals piled in). Tickets are released online 60 days in advance but sell out immediately. A blog called “Taiwan Obsessed” has been invaluable in telling me how to practically do things. It mentioned that you might need to try over 100 times to buy the ticket online (no joke), or a better option might be to buy a bus ticket as a backup and try your luck to get a train ticket closer to the time. To buy the bus ticket, you go to a Family Mart convenience store and use an ATM-like machine, all in Chinese, to print a receipt which you take to the counter and pay for in return for the bus ticket. I managed to do this only by following screenshots from the blog, matching them up to the Chinese text on the machine, of which there were at least 7 screens to click through and some blind faith that I was actually purchasing a bus ticket.

With bus ticket in hand I for once arrived early at the bus stop before the 8.30 departure. I had almost convinced myself that taking the 3 hour bus up to Alishan would be perfectly fine – it’s faster by two hours, cheaper and the scenery would still be beautiful, and the train was probably overrated…. But from the bus stop I could see the Alishan Forest Railway ticket booth. Surely it was worth a try? I ran over and asked the lady if they by any chance had any tickets for the train today. You’re very lucky, she said, we have one window seat left. It takes five hours as it includes a one hour lunch stop at Fenqihu Station. I handed over the money and got my golden ticket.

*Golden ticket, Alishan map, Hotel notices*

I headed back to the train station and when the ticket attendants asked me “Alishan train?” as they had done every time I passed though, this time I said YES which a huge smile on my face. The historic train trundled into the station at 10.00 and I took my single seat by the window and settled in. It was hands down the best train ride I have ever taken and worth every Taiwanese dollar of the extra £14. The train gradually climbs up from 30 metres above sea level to 2,216 metres, goes through 47 tunnels and over 72 bridges. The narrow gauge railway line alternates between hugging the edge of the mountain (looking out the window was literally looking down into the valleys over the mountain edge) and cutting through the middle via the tunnels. It even has some English commentary.

Three hours flew by before we reached Fenqihu Station at an altitude of 1,400 metres. My heart sang as I got off to explore Old Street with its weird and wonderful snacks. I tried the sweetest and most intense ginger tea (see photo below for the ginger being roasted) and picked up the traditional bento box for a picnic lunch looking out over the mountains. It didn’t even feel overcrowded as the train holds just 80 passengers and runs only twice per day.

*Delights at Fenqihu Old Street: Greens, Ginger Tea, More Ginger and Something Unknown*

Everyone has lunch, followed by coffee and a local donut then gets back on the train for the last two hours of the journey. I had a chat to a girl who didn’t realise it took 5 hours and was doing the world’s shortest day trip – she’d have to get the return bus about 30 minutes after arriving. Alishan does take a bit of advance planning because there are two things that you absolutely have to do. Firstly go to a viewpoint for sunset, and secondly in the morning everyone, and I mean everyone, gets on the train again to a sunrise point close to Zhushan Station to watch the sun come up through the clouds. As well as follow as many trails as possible of course. So staying overnight is the way to go, although accommodation inside the national park is both expensive and pretty poor value compared to the rest of Taiwan.

View from the train

I decided to stay one night and absorb the extortionate cost of £70 by eating instant noodles for dinner for a few days and buying my coffee from the highest 7-11 convenience store in the country. Staying inside the park means you can join in the sunrise and sunset trips, and have easy access to all of the trails – sometimes convenience is worth the cost.

The higher up we went the more interesting the journey got. The bends became a series of switchbacks, as the turns were otherwise too tight for the train. This means the train moves forward into a dead end, then reverses direction until the next switchback when it changes direction again. Arriving at the main station, music was playing from loud speakers and it felt like being at an Alpine lodge.

*What goes down must go back up again (with luggage)*

The train ticket includes entry to the park and the hotel area is about a 10 minute walk away, down some very steep stairs that are a lot less fun to walk up again with luggage. The Gau Shan Ching Hotel was alright considering some of the pretty terrible reviews – yes it’s dated but it’s clean and yes it was very cold (the sign on the wall said the heating is turned on when it reaches 8 degrees!) but it was a chance to wear all of my clothes at once and the novelty factor of a wakeup call for sunrise. I hadn’t known that you have to buy your sunrise train ticket the day before at 16.00 from the train station ticket office (the exact departure time would be confirmed later in the evening to make sure we get there in plenty of time). With sunrise ticket purchased, I wanted to make the most of the couple of hours of daylight left, so armed with a lovely map I jumped on the tourist shuttle bus and headed straight into the park.

As with everywhere I’ve been in Taiwan, this national park is extremely well organised. You just need to turn up, get a map and make sure you know how to get back out again. Inside the park I was blown away by the size of the trees. They are in fact Giant Trees and it’s impossible to capture their size on camera. There are a number of hikes ranging from shorter strolls along boardwalks to the more challenging which take three hours each way – all have magical sounding names. In fact the whole place is magical. For example, the “Three Generation Trees” and the “Pagoda of the Tree Spirit.”

The “3 Generation Tree” is three generations of Cypress trees that have sprouted from the same root. The 1st generation being the roots lying on the ground, estimated to be 1500 years old. 250 years after the first generation died, a seed drifted onto it and grew into the second generation, and the third generation sprouted another 300 years later. And the “Pagoda of the Tree Spirit” was built in 1935 to “comfort the souls” of the 77 loggers who died on the job as well as the spirits of the 100,000 trees that had been felled.

The lady at the information desk gave me a tip on where to watch the sunset, behind the small Ciyun Temple. There were only a few other people there so it was incredibly peaceful (other than a gigantic hornet type creature that the people who were there confirmed came straight for my head). It was also the most stunning sunset I have ever experienced and that is no exaggeration. The clouds form a sea over the forest, and the sun gradually goes down beneath the clouds but is still visible.

My photos look like they have been edited or enhanced but they have not – it genuinely looked just like this. Since watching the sunset is a rite of passage at Alishan, it doesn’t matter that you need to walk back through the forest after darkness has fallen.

In other facts about Alishan, the Ginkgo tree is considered a living fossil, thought to originate at least 270 million years ago. Its cell-regeneration means that old and young trees remain equally healthy and produce the same fruit, they are also resistant to drought and disease making them close to immortal. One of my favourite trails was the Giant Trees boardwalk which connects 36 ancient, giant Formosan red cypress trees, over 1000 years old. The “number 28 giant tree” is the tallest and oldest tree on the Giant Tree trail. It has a girth of 13.1 meters and is 43.5 meters tall, estimated to be around 1,095 years old. Again it was impossible to capture the size of this on camera. We also have the Sacred Tree (Shenmu) – this 3,000-year-old tree collapsed in 1997 but it’s remnants are preserved near Shenmu Station. And the oldest standing tree, the Shuishan Giant Tree over 2700 years old. There are so many Giant Trees it gets a bit confusing.

There are several restaurants in the recreation area, also slightly overpriced but convenient. Something I hadn’t tried yet was the Hot Pot and one of the restaurants was serving a veggie version, so perfect for dinner. I sat next to a friendly couple who helped me cook it – the waitress simply turns on the individual stove that everyone has at their table and puts down a plate of various raw vegetables.

Hot Pot cooking away

I tried to get some sleep before wake up call at 4.30 am, an hour before the train at 5.30 but it was very, very cold. Getting up, I was freezing but it was really fun to head out in the darkness with everyone else, grab a coffee (you’re allowed to drink on a train here unlike on the metro systems) board the wooden train and follow the crowd to the lookout area.

After the sun has risen all the food hawkers open up their stalls serving hot coffee, ginger tea, steaming buns or sizzling Taiwanese pancakes. Being only 6.30 am I decided to walk back and get in another hike before checking out of the hotel, avoiding the crowds who were mostly taking the train back.

The was also time to try a local snack of two whole sweet potatoes, which makes for a tasty and filling stop gap (but not nearly as delicious as the sweet potato in Japan!). My favourite food in Taiwan has been the spinach and ginger, which a lady at the next table told me is blanched before it’s fried, getting rid of the earthy taste. I have lost count of the times I’ve had lovely conversations when sitting on communal tables.

Alishan also has the first cherry blossoms in bloom, which is wonderful to see. It has been an almost spiritual experience here, exploring the trails, experience sunrise and sunset mostly on my own – there are plenty of local tourists around at the viewpoints so it never feels isolated, but few Westerners and the majority of the trails are pleasantly empty.

After two days, all too soon it was time to get the 3pm tourist bus all the way to my next stop – the mysterious sounding Sun Moon Lake …

Taitung: Nature and Neolithics

March 1, 2026March 20, 2026Posted in Taiwan, TravelTagged backpacking, solo travel, Taitung, Taiwan, Travel, travel blogLeave a comment

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 my own room in the lovely Giraffe B&B for £20 a night including breakfast. This got me a beautiful room with two beds, shiny white bathroom and a TV set to BBC news. The housekeeper let me in and asked via Google translate what time I wanted breakfast. It’s located along with the other more budget options close to the train station and regular buses run the 15 minutes to the downtown area.

Taitung has a lot to offer – I could easily have spent more than the couple of days I had. Close to the downtown area there is a big coastal park where walking and cycling paths connect the beach with the city. Follow the paths further and you reach the massive forest reserve with its lakes and bird watching. It’s a popular cycling route and renting a bike would be really nice. The indigenous culture is also much more visible here – more on that later.

To get to the downtown area there are regular buses that take about 20-30 minutes as they literally go all around the houses. Taitung just has a really nice vibe to it. Even the dogs are chilled out. They appear to be street dogs as they are freely wandering around town but they have collars and look cared for.

I found a lovely little vegan food stall called Vegine with a limited number of seats where the owner cooks whatever vegetables and noodles you select from the shop and like at many of the stalls, her children took a break from playing to help bring the food to customers. It was so good I went back twice and ordered two lots of the fried tofu. I’d go back again just for that.

I was about to get the bus back to the B&B when I heard music and discovered a low key night market with a local band playing songs I hadn’t heard before mixed in with some Bon Jovi covers and people from the nearby islands selling local food, crafts and jewellery. Scones filled with hot brown sugar seemed to be the thing. I had wanted to visit the two islands, Green Island and Lanyu (Orchid) Island to learn more about their indigenous culture, but local advice was that it’s too windy in winter and regular boats aren’t running.

*Entrance to the Jhihben Forest Reserve*

The next day I went down to breakfast at the pre-arranged time to find the housekeeper had already put out a plate of food including a chunk of meat and a salad, neither of which I wanted to eat. I explained I only needed the bread and fruit and set off on a day trip via local bus to the Jhihben Forest Reserve. I hoped to stop at the hot springs in the area on the way back. As was becoming usual, I was the only westerner around, with just a few passengers on the bus but the journey was easy enough. After paying the small entry fee you get given a map with a few aptly named options for hiking, like the ‘Brave Climber’s Trail’ and a key that indicates level of experience and effort required. I went for the ‘Forest Bath’ and ‘Scenic Trail’.

Hiking in Taiwan is amazing because you get the trails almost to yourself but there are enough friendly families around and it’s well organised so it’s very safe. Aside from all of the ‘beware snakes and wasps’ signage. Everyone I passed said ‘Welcome to Taiwan’ – a big reason that travelling in Taiwan in general is so great because it’s not overrun with other visitors, there are no tourist prices and nobody rips you Local people are interested to have a chat and go out of their way to help.

The first thing I noticed were the butterflies. There are 100 species in the forest and they swarmed around me, it’s quite magical. As soon as I got higher up into the park I saw the first mammal of the day, the gorgeous ‘Reeve’s muntjacs’ which I watched with a family several times along the trail.

Next up were the Formosan Rock Monkeys. These cute little monkeys were just hanging out in the trees in their groups eating their fruits, rather than trying to steal your food.

Monkeys

The forest is an absolutely idyllic spot. You need a couple of hours to explore the park depending how many trails you do. One part was closed off due to damage, I assume from some sort of natural disaster. The prime spot for the monkey viewing had signs about passing through quickly due to risk of rockfall but the monkey watching was too good a chance to pass up.

There are no food or drink facilities inside but there are toilets and water fountains – in fact there are water fountains everywhere in Taiwan. You never need to buy water. I made the mistake of following Google maps to the hot springs. This meant I got off the bus at a temple car park next to the river which was definitely not a public hot springs spot. I asked some ladies visiting the temple but they misunderstood and thought I wanted to paddle in the river.

By then it started to rain and the only thing I could see was a hot springs resort hotel. They weren’t open until later on that day by which time I’d have missed the bus back – the buses ran at very irregular hours. There is always a solution particularly when you have a strong currency on your side. The nice lady at the hotel made several suggestions including taking a “private spa” for one hour and getting a taxi back all the way to Taitung. This hadn’t even crossed my mind but it cost less than £10 to be driven back door to door. The lady stressed that this type of spa was naked, so I had to use Google translate to confirm that it was indeed a private spa and I wouldn’t be sharing with anyone. It was a truly luxurious experience which would be outrageously expensive if hot springs even existed in the UK.

When I got the bus back from town to my B&B after the long day, as often happens in Taiwan, a lady started chatting to me. She knew some English and told me she was in her 70s and on her way back from meeting up with her sister in a mountain town to see the early cherry blossom blooms. When she learned I was travelling alone around Taiwan she said that’s wonderful, and told me ‘YOLO – you only live once!’. I also had a concerned text message from my B&B saying “We noticed that you didn’t enjoy our breakfast. Would you like a vegan meal?”.

In contrast to the nature, I would highly recommend a day exploring the history of this area visiting the very impressive History Museum and the Peinan burial site. You can do them together but likely need a taxi due to the erratic bus schedule, though the Peinan site is walkable from the train station.

The History Museum takes you through from the creation of Taiwan from a geological perspective through to the movements of the Polynesian people up to the present day culture with influences from all over Asia. What makes Taiwan interesting is the tectonic evolution, namely the collision of the Eurasian and Philippine Sea Plates. According to the museum facts, the Coastal Range is still moving at a speed of 6-13 cm per year relative to the Central Range. During the Ice Age, the Taiwan Strait became land because the sea level dropped, allowing the migration of plants and animals into Taiwan.

Taiwan is also a know as a “place of convergence” due to it’s location – many different ethnic groups and objects have passed through, including the trade of Jade, glass beads and sweet potatoes with China, Southeast Asia and the Austronesian people. The museum has some really good exhibits of indigenous culture. Austronesian people make up less than 2.3% of the population according to when the info was written but they make up 7% of Taiwan’s military and 60% of special forces.

Without turning this into a history lesson, the Peinan site is also fascinating. This a prehistoric culture, with people settling here 5000 years ago. In 1896 a Japanese scholar visited Taitung and photographed the stone pillars. But it wasn’t until 1945 when the Japanese carried out the first excavation. The Peinan Culture is believed to have been active from middle to late Neolithic Period with people leaving the site approximately 1900 years ago – nobody really knows why or where they went though there are theories they went into the mountains.

In 1993 the huge group of slate coffins were excavated – this is the largest excavated slate coffin burial complex in East Asia with over 200 unearthed, including single-body and multi-body burials.

What I liked about this site is that you can walk right around the excavation and look at the walls, the stairs, the ladders, pottery vessels … This brings it more to life. And of course aside from a group of Chinese visitors who were just leaving, I had all it to myself as usual. Next stop, Khaosiung.

Mad Dash to Seoul (South Korea Part One)

November 8, 2024November 25, 2024Posted in Asia, South Korea, TravelTagged backpacking, Seoul, solotravel, South Korea, Travel, travelblogLeave a comment

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 weeks to wait before starting a new job, staying at home was never an option. I have never planned a trip so quickly, booking a flight that departed just a few days later.

I got myself an old fashioned guide book and did some very quick research on the main areas in Seoul. Next was accommodation – budget wise I didn’t want to spend more than £40 per night as I ended up spending more than expected on flights (who knew the £350 return flights on Skyscanner didn’t actually exist 🤦🏻‍♀️). What was available within that budget at three days notice over the weekend was a dorm bed in the Seoul Cube Jongno, located in the prime area of Jongno-Gu meaning I could walk to a lot of places on foot.

On that note, this blog is usually just for friends and family to keep track of what I’ve been up to but in my rapid research I came across a lot of information that might actually be useful, so I have decided to make it a bit more informative this time! Scroll down if you have no intention of visiting ever. Things to be aware of:

There is a name in South Korea for hidden cameras and miniature spy cameras in women’s toilets, changing rooms and hotels and it’s called “molka”! Probably best not to go for one of the cheap “love motels”.
Google Maps does not work properly in Korea for navigation – you need to download the “Naver Maps” app and register as a user before you can save places to favourites. This often means using Google maps to find the Korean name then entering that into Naver to get directions.
Get an eSIM so you can navigate on the go – “Saily” is working well for me. I’m all for going old school and having a break from being online but otherwise it’s going to be very hard to get around in South Korea.
Uber does in fact work but it’s worth downloading the Korean taxi hailing app “Kakao-T” as well.
Travelling on buses is easy but you need to buy a “T-card” at a convenience store and top it up with cash also at the convenience store before you can tap on and off the buses. The average ride costs ₩1500 – I messed up the money and put on 70,000 instead of 7,000 so I can travel for a very long time. Or I can spend it on weird and wonderful items in the 7/11 or failing that apparently you can get a refund of the balance at the end of your trip.
Flying to Jeju Island is surprisingly cheap and worth it if you don’t want to spend a day travelling down by bus and ferry (£30 including checked baggage), but flights do actually get booked up particularly over the weekend.
Download Korean into Google translate so you can use it offline. Waking up to a Public Safety Alert message on your phone is a lot less scary when you can immediately translate it and understand that the earthquake was a long way away!

Welcome to Seoul

After leaving home on Friday morning, after a couple of hours stopover in the ultra modern Qatar airport and two long haul flights, I arrived on Saturday evening at Incheon International Airport. There are LOTS of buses and trains from the airport to the city. I was just too tired after 24 hours of no sleep to figure it out so I took the easy option of an Uber, well worth the £30 at night for over an hours drive and no hassle.

*If someone managed to fit a spycam in here, so be it!*

The driver dropped me at the address but I couldn’t see the hostel anywhere. Then I realised you need to look up in Seoul – everything is multi story. I still needed help to find the entrance, which was through a 7/11 shop.

The Seoul Cube hostel was very clean and very quiet, with women only dorms – much appreciated when powering through jet lag means going to bed at 9pm. I was so tired I had a packet of crisps for dinner and managed a bit of polite conversation with some other travellers before going to my pod.

This hostel has A LOT of rules. The most annoying one is that you can’t take your luggage into the bedroom so everyone unpacks on the kitchen floor. You’re also under CCTV in the common area and at constant risk of having the police called on you – strictly no alcohol here, no opening the fridge after before 07.00 or after 10.00 and definitely NO fraternising with the opposite sex. All of this contributes to a general lack of atmosphere but I didn’t have time to hang around the hostel anyway so it made no difference to me.

On my first morning after a great nights sleep in my pod I headed straight to the closest Tourist Information – there was no point asking any questions in the hostel as they had another sign on the wall essentially stating that they are not tourist information so don’t ask. The real Tourist Information were extremely helpful – they gave me a map and sent me off down the “stream” in the direction of somewhere open to get coffee (most of the coffee shops in the area close for a “break” mid morning).

The Cheonggyecheon stream runs 11km through the city and comes alive in the evening, conveniently passing by my hostel. It’s actually a restoration of the stream from the Joseon Dynasty spanning 1392-1910. On Sunday morning it was home to the Seoul Outdoor Library, with lots of chairs set up with a stack of books ready for people to enjoy, which looked extremely inviting.

At the end of the stream is a huge bear like figure – this is Hechi, the mascot of Seoul. Mascots are popular here and this is one aspect that reminded me of Japan. Hechi sits overlooking the stream, infront of a huge speaker. There was some kind of rally going on with music blasting out and I couldn’t be sure where it was coming from.

A short walk away from Cheonggyecheon is Gyeongbokgung Palace, meaning “The Palace Greatly Blessed By Heaven” and the largest of the five Grand Palaces. On my way there, Hechi and the outdoor library popped up again, this time with the Bugaksan mountain looming in the background.

My first impression of Seoul in the daylight was the merging of nature and urban. Mountains tower over crosswalks and skyscrapers loom in the distance behind palaces. Even when you’re in the midst of the city, a temple appears.

And the first thing that hit me when I entered the palace grounds through the Gwanghwamun Gate was the number of people in costume. This is positively encouraged in Seoul – you get in for free if you don the traditional costume known as Hanbok. Meanwhile I wandered around in my jeans and failed to get a good photo from anyone that I asked. Probably they make more effort for the Hanbok.

It’s a big complex of temple buildings, historically it acted as a small city, including separate King’s and Queen’s residences. The original palace dates back to 1395 and was the main royal palace of the Joseon dynasty. As well as the home of the royal family it was also the seat of government.

A brief history; All of the royal palaces were burned down during the Japanese Invasion of 1592-1598. In fact Gyeongbokgung Palace was left derelict for over 270 years and reconstruction began in 1867 with over 500 buildings. It was then torn down again in the Japanese Occupation and replaced by a huge Japanese Government building. Further restoration has been ongoing again since 1900 with the Gate and the residences of the King, Queen and Crown Prince being restored to their original state. That’s most of the history I gleaned from the signs around the palace – anything more is best found on Wikipedia.

I can’t take in too much information at once so I usually resort to taking photos of signs in the hope I’ll come back and read them at some point – here is one of them.

It’s definitely a good idea to learn some basic words in Korean and it’s much appreciated by the local people. Unfortunately this trip was so hurried that I only managed to half remember “thank you”. Something I regretted when I accidentally stepped on an old Korean man’s (full) coffee cup at the lake and was unable to even apologise properly. He did not see the funny side.

Coincidentally autumn is one of the best times to visit South Korea as the fall foliage is in full swing. Everything is orange and green and brown which only adds to the beauty of the temples.

*The animals on the roof are placed there to protect the building*

There are some free tours of the palace in English but I had just missed one and didn’t want to wait. It would probably be useful as there are so many corners to explore. A couple of hours wandering around was enough for me before I got hungry – many restaurants in Seoul also “take a break” between 15.00-17.00 so I went in search of a vegan friendly lunch while I could. I didn’t actually end up in the vegetarian restaurant I was aiming for (still a bit confused as to what happened), but the place I found myself in had a vegan menu with the biggest pancake I’ve ever seen.

Apparently it can be hard to eat alone as restaurants here don’t like serving single portions but this seems to apply to the meat based Korean BBQs. A win for the veggies.

*Spring onion style pancake* – *meant for sharing*

There is so much to do, see and experience in Seoul you could easily spend a couple of weeks here. My aim in the afternoon was to make the most of my limited time and visit the cultural Bukchon Hanok Village. I should have paid more attention to the Tourist Helpers who were handing out leaflets on the street – this place is a residential area and “closes” to tourists at 17.00. I had just got there when I was met by people holding sandwich board style placards, encouraging us all to leave in a very smiley and nice manner. Bukchon Hanok will just have to go on the list for when I come back to Seoul at the end of this trip.

*Resemblance to the real life helpers is uncanny*

In the evening I took a walk over to Myeongdong with it’s neon signs and late night shops and street market. This felt like the Seoul I had imagined in my head. I’ll need to dedicate some time for shopping at the end of the trip as there is a whole K-Culture that I’ve not been aware of – K-Pop (Gangnam Style is just the beginning), K-Drama, K-Beauty…

Seoul at night is beautiful and it’s a safe city. I could have walked for miles but I had to be up at 5.30am the next day for my DMZ tour. I will be breaking the hostel rule of “no alarms in the dormitory” for this one. Visiting the DMZ area – the “De-Militarised Zone” – was something I really wanted to do, where you walk through one of the infiltration tunnels and then look at North Korea through binoculars, with a suspension bridge visit thrown in for some light relief.

Next stop, as close to North Korea as it’s possible to get…

The Dollar Blue, The Devil’s Mouth and the Three Frontiers (Buenos Aires and Iguazú Falls)

May 9, 2023November 25, 2024Posted in Argentina, South America, TravelTagged Argentina, backpacking, iguazu falls, South America, Travel, travel blog1 Comment

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 trail. We just had time to walk around the jetty in Colonia with it’s fancy yachts and get whistled at by some men on a boat that was called “Zero Tolerance” of all things. Shame we weren’t invited on board for a drink!

It was great catching my first view of Buenos Aries again after all these years, barely visible under a smog cloud. After taking an Uber from the ferry terminal (which turfs you out a back door onto the smoking area on the street outside) we couldn’t find our hostel, “Del 900 Boutique” in the Monserrat district. The man at customs wasn’t even going to let me in the country without the hostel address, which I hadn’t saved and didn’t have Wi-Fi but he did let me run after Vix to get the details – luckily I got her attention just before she left the building.

Vix showing me the hostel address through the glass wall

A lady in the restaurant on the corner said it was just next door, “through a tiny little door”. Eventually we realised the entrance was actually through one of the biggest doors I’ve ever seen, housed in the most amazing colonial building. The doorway led us up a staircase and into the grandest hostel lobby that surely exists.… piano, leather sofas, old pool table … all under the highest of ceilings.

First hurdle – we tried to pay the hostel using the dollars we got from the ATM in Uruguay as hostels here generally only accept cash, but they wouldn’t take them as they were old. I knew that in Argentina the money exchanges only took the brand new notes in $100 bills and had come prepared with some but wanted to keep that as a backup. Second hurdle – trying to understand what the hell is going on with the currency in Argentina. What you need is the “blue dollar”, the rate you get when you physically sell a USD on the street or in a “cueva” (cave) for Argentine pesos and they will all take the older dollars for a slightly lower rate. This essentially doubles your money compared to if you went to an ATM (not that I could now both working cards were cancelled).

As you walk down the street in the gold district all you hear is “cambio cambio cambio”. With counterfeit Argentinan pesos in circulation we asked the hostel where a reliable exchange was. Changing the money was an activity in itself – the place we eventually changed our money at was fronting as a tourist office where they ushered us in to a booth with a one way mirror so we couldn’t see the cashier’s face. We did a crash course on YouTube in how to spot a fake and tested a small amount in a souvenir shop before changing up the rest.

The blue dollar value was changing minute by minute and it was being reported on the news that with inflation approaching 95%, people earning under a certain amount were not being paid. It’s much raise to change up your dollars and stick to cash as confusingly when we paid with card in a few shops expecting the official rate, a few days later we’d get random refunds appearing. When we finally got the cash and paid our hostel, the real cost to us had gone down to about a tenner each per night 🤯

With our new stash we enjoyed a fancy evening meal of pesto pasta with a genuinely good bottle of red wine. I always loved the restaurants in Buenos Aires, the huge areas and set tables and waiters in waistcoats, and the bowls of bread brought to the table (worth the table charge).

We only spent two night in Buenos Aries, mostly as a stop over before flying up to Iguazu and a trip down memory lane for me. With one full day, we walked up to the area of La Recoleta and browsed the shops and cafes.

We had another attempt at finding a rock bar as we went to the “Rock and Beer” pub which had an active social media page and looked like it might be a lively spot. After walking up and down past the location several times we eventually saw it all padlocked up. As Vix said, it couldn’t have been more shut if it were on fire. We also passed several signs taunting us that KISS and Deep Purple were playing next week.

I love how busy Buenos Airies is and that you can walk around at night without ending up in a favela. The worst that happened to us was when we walked past a couple performing tango outside a restaurant. We only stopped to watch for a couple of minutes but they saw us taking a sneaky photo and as soon as the music finished they appeared in front of us like magic asking for payment. Vix pretended we couldn’t speak any English and we escaped before we had to part with any of our precious remaining currency, avoiding another slightly stressful trip to a money cave.

One of my favourite things about Buenos Airies is the breakfast that is served at all of the cafes and bistro type places. For about £2.50 you get a really good coffee, freshly squeezed orange juice and tostadas (toasted bread) served on a board with jam.

We booked a flight up to Iguazu to save a 18 hour bus and there isn’t much of a price difference if you want the “cama” bed style seat. As we left we passed more protestors. These ones had closed a motorway lane by burning tires. The taxi driver explained this area had been without power for weeks now so we saw their point.

Arriving in Puerto Iguazú meant a return to hot and tropical weather. You need to be more careful in general in border towns and this one is part of the Three Frontiers, linking Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. We booked a hostel hoping for some information on Iguazú Falls, or a social element, but again those elements were lacking. The staff at the Iguazu Falls Hostel could not have been less interested in us if they tried, and our room was down a rabbit warren of corridors, the floor slippery from leaks and padded out with cardboard. Every question like “where can I do laundry?” was met with the minimum effort answer of “no”.

We did our own thing and found a laundrette, money changer and nice restaurant and in the morning we headed off on the bus to Las Cataracas, otherwise known as Iguazú Falls. It’s actually really easy to get there with buses running every 20 minutes from the bus station in town and you don’t need any type of tour.

Not exactly prepared for what was coming

I had been to the falls on my previous trip but the customary boat trip has changed (the route I took back then is now considered unsafe apparently!) and the Devils Mouth walkway up to the top is now open so I was keen to revisit.

We made friends with an older couple from Argentina/Mexico, a spinal surgeon and his wife, who we chatted with whilst waiting for the jeep ride to take us through the jungle down to the jetty for the boat trip. The world’s most boring guide provided some commentary in lazy Spanish with an even lazier English translation that I barely understood, before they threw life jackets at us and bundled everyone onto the boat. The ride up to the base of the horseshoe shaped falls was as spectacular as I remembered. I remembered getting wet, and the excited screams of everyone shouting “otra vez!” to go again. What I did not remember was going so close to the falls that you’re hit in the face by a wall of water over and over again – the driver casually announced that “now we are going to take a shower”.

First part of the boat ride

Below is my attempt at videoing one of the close ups. Vix described it as 100 cubic metres of parasitic water chucked in your face but she managed to video it all (too big to upload here). At least I had taken off my shoes and put my stuff in the dry bag that they provided.

Best video I’ve ever taken

The Argentinan surgeon had everyone laughing as he’d worn a poncho – don’t ever wear something like this again he said, it’s a waterfall in your balls 😳

Reasons not to wear a poncho

The boat driver was also having some fun of his own on the way back, taking us over the rapids. The boat is still the best way to really experience the power of one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. It’s overwhelming, it’s so, so much fun, everyone is screaming and laughing and it’s really impossible to put the feeling into words other than you’re alive.

Soaking wet (denim shorts are NOT the best choice) and slightly shellshocked, we grabbed a sandwich and a coffee from the cafeteria area which still looked the same as it did ten years ago and got straight on the little train towards the Devil’s Mouth, “la Garganta del Diablo.”

Really you need two days here to explore the jungle trails with so many different birds (over 400 species) and beautiful butterflies that land on you.

Unfortunately butterflies are not the only thing that might land on you – I was walking along minding my own business covered in Deet to repel the mozzies when something stung me on the back of the ankle. It was such a shock that I fell over and dropped my sandwich into the dirt but somehow kept hold of my coffee. A passerby said it was probably a black wasp, common in the park. Once the pain subsided and I had replaced my lunch we continued to the walkways providing a passage over the river to reach the Devils Mouth.

The bridges take you right up to the “mouth” of the falls where the Iguazú river drops 80m over multiple cascades in a semi circle 2700m in diameter. The river itself is the border between Argentina and Brazil. Because we were there at the end of the day we had it almost to ourselves. It was all nice and calm and we were happily taking photos under the rainbow when out of nowhere it changed and we were drenched again.

We were quite literally the last to leave the Devils Mouth, heading back to get the ultimo train back to the park entrance, followed by a cleaning man sweeping the paths clear of any litter. We were later passed by a group of Coati, the real clean up crew, on the lookout for leftover lunches.

The feeling you’re being watched on the train

Back in Puerto Iguazú, and nice and dry, we enjoyed a meal and quite a few drinks (I still blame Vix as a Negroni is pure alcohol). The next day it was time to pack up again and embark on our adventure to Paraguay. We wanted to go the fun way via boat over the river rather than bus or taxi. Unfortunately my foot had swelled up from the wasp sting so we had to taxi to the port 🙄 after some last minute souvenir shopping as always …

Caballos and Colonia

April 29, 2023November 26, 2024Posted in South America, Travel, UruguayTagged backpacking, caballos, horses, solo travel, Travel, travel blog, UruguayLeave a comment

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 Barra de Valizas. This place was recommended to me by another lodge that I wanted to go to (vegetarian, horses, specified they were “not a dude ranch”) but was closed at the moment. We fell in love with the place as soon as we got there – we had a beautiful thatched roof chalet all to ourselves, one of only two on the property and directly surrounded by twenty horses munching on the marshland.

It was such a stark contrast to the last hostel that the lovely owner, Laura, must have thought I was mad exclaiming “oh wow there is a fridge! And a kettle!”.

This is the sort of place you could come back to for a week, you can cook in your own kitchen and eat on the porch with the dogs (Laura and her partner Mauro just rescued a set of puppies as well as their two older dogs) and horses who will try to steal the breakfast that Laura brings over in the morning.

Most of all we enjoyed making hot chocolate with soya milk in the evenings and quizzing each other on South American mammals (there were no English books in the library!). Turns out I have a weirdly specific knowledge of how many teeth a certain type of anteater has. In order to have a hot shower you had to light the gas hob, turn on the kitchen hot tap, run to the bathroom and turn the hot shower on, then turn off the kitchen tap and hob. These instructions were actually written in the welcome booklet. This made me nervous as I was still mentally scarred from the Cabo Polonio gas leak.

On our way back from buying supplies at the little supermarket, as the sun set car drove up the road towards us, turned around the mini roundabout and stopped. A very friendly smiley couple wound the windows down and offered us a lift, asking if we were staying at the lodge. Not wanting to accept a lift from strangers, we declined and they drove off back the way they came. This felt like a very safe place but why did they drive up then turn around and how did they know where we were staying?!

The next day we went horse riding within the Cabo Polonio national park along the beach. First of all Laura made sure we greeted our horses (Arthur and Brisa) and could control the direction and speed the Gaucho way. No pulling on reins or kicking, just use one hand to gently steer and your voice to go faster or slower.

The beach was absolutely stunning, just us and Thea the dog, and maybe one or two people we passed along the four hour round trip to the Buena Vista viewpoint where we dismounted to climb up.

Making shadows at the top of the viewpoint

Riding through sand dunes, along the beach and through Wild West type desert landscape was incredible. As we led the horses through the steeper parts of the dunes we noticed they also try to step in existing footprints as it’s easier, just like we do. We passed a herd of cows on the beach but the best part was seeing the group of horses who had just popped down from the village to the beach on their own to enjoy the weather. They were just hanging out by the water until our dog Thea had a go and they galloped off into town – I’ve never heard actual thundering hooves before. Vix’s horse almost went with them.

We also loved brushing and feeding the horses – if this place offers a volunteer program I’m there!

We did almost destroy the place though – in the same five minutes, the bottom fell off the sink and water went all over the floor, something happened to the gas heater and the room filled with gas and then the cover fell off the air vent. We opened all the windows and turned everything off before calling Laura, who was out on a ride. When she got back and saw both the bathroom sink and gas no longer worked she looked slightly worried and moved us to the other chalet as the other couple were just leaving. As they waved we realised they were the same nice couple that had kindly offered us the lift last night and they were not in fact after our kidneys.

There is only one bus out of this place per day, at 15.00. With checkout in the morning, and everything closed and deserted for the low season, we wandered down to the beach and made more doggy friends before catching the supermarket before it closed to buy avocados and wraps for our staple meal (thanks Vix!). We did, however, find the only bar open in town and enjoyed a Patricia lager with some locals who welcomed us in and even offered to turn their music down. The owner said we were beautiful like Patricia.

We waited at the bus stop as the daily bus trundled into town, turned around and came back to pick us up on the way out. With no real internet for several days now we hadn’t booked any accommodation nor were we sure if we could make it all the way to Colonia. It was about 5 hours back to the capital city of Montevideo, where we literally jumped off, ran to the ticket office and got ourselves onto the Colonia bus ten minutes later which was full of teenagers going on a night out to a club. We were absolutely starving by the time we arrived and spent the entire 3 hour journey on the bus Wi-Fi trying to find anywhere that would let us check in after midnight – turns out most places expect you before then 🤦🏻‍♀️

We found a hotel that responded just in time and walked the few blocks through the quiet cobbled streets of Colonia – in a huge contrast to Brazil where we couldn’t do that in the daytime! The journey was worth it to wake up in Colonia, as beautiful as I remembered it being ten years ago. The only thing that has changed is that there were loads of old cars, Cuban style, last time I was there which seemed to have gone now aside from a couple outside a restaurant.

Our hotel didn’t have room for us the following night which turned out to be a blessing as we moved just around the corner to an apartment in a the most gorgeous original colonial building. We booked it at 10.50 and arrived at 11.00 to find the lovely Fred, an artist who struggled to hear sometimes over his hearing aid, just finishing preparing the room. To stay in one of these buildings was amazing and we made use of the pretty garden. We had already walked past the door and taken photos of it, before realising that was in fact our new home.

The day was spent wandering around the streets and eating too much fried food in a restaurant on the sea with live music (a man pretending to play guitar and singing “Mi Corazon” with some dramatic gestures in between solar charging his equipment on the table). As well as trying to get cash – my bank card also had to be cancelled as someone had tried to swipe it in Cabo Polonio, possibly by holding a card reader against the locker, so I spent an hour trying to explain to HSBC “the local bank” that no I could not pop into a local branch as I’m in Uruguay, and no I cannot verify a payment if they can’t tell me any details, and locking me out of the banking app “for security” was the least helpful thing they could have done. We withdrew a load of US dollars on Vix’s working card to hopefully avoid needing any more ATMs for the rest of the trip.

We still haven’t found the party – we did find a rock bar with promising art work, but when we asked what’s on tonight they said they have a reggaeton DJ at weekends.

You can easily “see” Colonia in a day but it’s a lovely place to enjoy the atmosphere, walk along the coast and stroll around so you could equally easily spend a week here. But I was really keen to return to Buenos Airies again which fitted in perfectly with the ferry across to Argentina …