Exploring Hsinchu part 2

Sunset as seen from the backstreet of the Boai campus

I like Hsinchu. It doesn't have the hectic buzz of a capital but it's still large enough to amaze you with surprising discoveries and intriguing quirks. For instance, part of our (me & my lovely neighbour) Thursday night ritual nowadays is going to the same night market near the train station, basically to walk around the same stalls & booths, buy dinner and take the dessert with us to the nearby park. Although this might seem very plain and uneventful it's actually fairly entertaining, because in the park there are these flickering lights and a random variety of classical music playing. It's fantastic. And after a while we move on across the park to courtyard type of place to observe a group of people have their tai chi practice. Also fantastic.

Poker at the night market

The "stocking guy", sells stockings at the night market. Part of his sales technique is to wear the stockings. A definite must-buy before leaving this wondrous land!

Glass art and flickering lights. Frankly it looks like a landing space ship, but who cares! They play classical music in the park so all is well in the world.

Tai chi practice. It's mesmerizing to watch. Hopefully they don't consider us too creepy for just sitting and staring at them...

One Sunday we we're having dinner in the city center and on our way back we noticed a breakdance event going on in literally the centre of the city. And I mean literally. Upon closer investigation we realised it was a competition of sorts and they were dancing in the roundabout that's build around the East gate. There was an actual stage and a stand for the audience, but most importantly on the underground tunnels there were mirrors and everything for the dance rehearsals! Again, fantastic. So, we stayed for the end to witness some amazing breakdance and yes the first prize went to the right person & group! ;)

DJ, spin that record!

A musician playing nearby the city centre on a random Tuesday. 

Now, Hsinchu is located in the west coast, which means that the ocean is pretty close. So one day we decided to go explore the harbour. There's a bike trail that goes along the coast for 17km (one way). Frankly we were a bit late because it was already 3pm, however, we rented crappy crappy bikes and off we went. It was fun. A "little' night time cycling for 35km, because why not! :) I've yet to find a beach though. I've heard rumours about it, silent remarks whispered in the wee hours of the day...

Part of the biking trail. The more beautiful part... ;)

The endpoint of the biking trail.

That's all for now. Let's see if I can get the other three thousand ideas on paper one day, someday soon...

Time flies when you're having fun!

Gosh, it's been over a month since my last post. Shameful! I mean really! I'm so sorry. I promise to do better for the remainder of my stay.

So, what's been going on during this time of complete radio silence? The first thing that comes to mind is "nothing much"?? Really?!!!? Seriously?!! That's just wrong. Hence, I decided to go through my pictures and oh! how the memories start to come back all of a sudden! :)
My OCD initially had me posting topics in a specific order but now it seems that ship has sailed and it's time to just roll with the flow and embrace the mentality of post before you forget! ;) Also, I figured with gorgeous pictures you might forget about the long silence. Therefore, let's go explore Xiao Wulai now!

The uni organised a day trip to the Xiao Wulai waterfall and sky footpath one weekend. The trip was dirt cheap with only 300 NT$ (8e) that covered buses, breakfast, lunch and the entrance to the park. Not bad. Upon arrival we were led to the park entrance, which was the sky footpath on top of a waterfall. No big deal. Let's think about that for a while with the help of the following pics.

After the first (yes, I said first) waterfall was seen and pics were taken and so on and so on, we moved on into the jungle! Okay, there were actual paths that made us sweat like crazy but took us to a variety of intriguing scenic spots. These included yet another spectacular waterfall, a slightly smaller but still fantastic waterfall and a river where you could cool off for a while. Not to mention the amazing scenes of the mountains and the buildings amongst them that feel completely out of place. Oh! I shouldn't forget the suspension bridge! That was so effing cool too! :) :)

That was basically it. Afterwards we went to a couple of different villages for lunch and shopping at the (night?) market, but the main "specularities" were in the jungle. Overall, it was an awesome day.

As a side note: now, what you should know about Taiwan is that it is basically only mountains and mountain trails with "water features" randomly sprouting up from nowhere. Perhaps this was somewhat crudely put, but you'll get the general idea. I hope... Hence, be prepared to see some fantastic pics in the future as well. ;) (Don't even get me started on the trip to the Taroko national park!)
Stay tuned for more awesomeness to come soon...