TaiwanDepeschen

自由。 冒险。 生命。

[nekkie69]

[nekkie69]

[nekkie69]

this is it! im finally back in germany. had some great last days with my friends and saying goodbye wasnt easy.. i never used this blog to describe everyday life as it seems way too difficult to capture the feelings you have when being out with friends, even its just for dinner or if you go somewhere on a scooter through the tricky traffic of taipei. but now being home, it all feels close and far at the same time. i appreciate all the momemts i had, especially the small ones you cannot take a picture of. a little kid laughs at you trying to explain a game in mandarin, but still understands you? going to have a nightview over taipei with your friends? just going for dinner after work? small things like these make life so intresting, and there is no way to show you what i felt everyday, having tons of memories now is more that i could ask for. im going to upload a few pics from my routine with friends coworkers or just normal street life in taipei. 3 month and not a single moment i wnat to miss, not a single second i regret coming here. #nekkieout

[nekkie69]

[nekkie69]

[nekkie69]

having my last days in taiwan, i have to tell you about my little trip to thailand. after a long night of watching football (bvb vs s03+1) and playing fifa with my buddies i woke up on a rainy monday morning. taiwan as usual. packed my stuff (thailand is simple: no long clothes), got some dumplings, rushed to the airport and all of the sudden i was in bangkok. first thought: HOT. second thought: PEOPLE. so many. so loudly. big difference to "my" taiwanese culture.. as i made it to the hostel where i stay with my co worker wen-chi, i was already done, needed a shower asap but nevertheless we went out for some nightmarket food and beers. thank god there was an ac in our room, felt like heaven.

next days we spent our time visiting the palace, driving tuk tuks, going on a boat tour, seeing some temples, walking through china town, silom and nana, trying local food and of course we prepared for the songkran! songkran is the new year of the thais and they love to celebrate it with everyone on the streets. meaning, everyone gets a watergun (or a bucket, colleteral damage is accepted) trying to get the others as wet as possible. for me it was the third time to celebrate new year this year, but hey, happy new year :) everywhere on the streets are people that love to shoot you, especially when you are a "farang" (thais call foreigners).. at kaosan rd during the peak time, there is a huge party going on, everyone dances, people also powder your face and you are just soaking wet immediatley. the good thing in thailand is, having 39°C all the time means you dry super fast, so we headed to the next highlight, a real muay thai fight! we got tickets close to the ring and were right in the center of a lot of people screaming at every punch or kick, bongos, trumpets and loud coaches shouting at their boys. we even saw a knock out, but that is what happens if somebody kicks you right in the face, huh? ouch... what an experience, but i still prefer football. truly a farang.. located north of bangkok is the old city ayutthaya, the capital of the old empire. because the hostel was full i went couchsurfing and my host jason joined us. we rented bikes and drove around all day. songkran was still going on and even in this old city people were shooting you. it was such a great feeling, looking at old ruins of a fade decade, imaging about past centuries and life back then, then riding a bike and getting some refreshing bucket of water over the head while listening to loud thai music (loved that) just to go on back to some other ruins, sometimes even see elephants pass by. what a great day! jason had a swimming pool at his house, and thats what you need from while to while in bangkok, just a relaxing day at the poolside.. the food in thailand is pretty good, but in taiwan it is better i guess. nevertheless its still some great stuff they sell and you def. need to try some pad thai, fresh pineapple or insects at the local market. they taste okay, even it looks a bit disgusting. time to shock your people at home ;)

if you order your food which is no problem in english, be carefull with the spice. everyone says that, and its for a reason. i tried once to be brave and said very spice, had to throw up later.. BOY my mouth was on fire. twice. in genreal everyone talks english okay and i guess for holiday thailand is more easy and to recommend than taiwan, also because of the good weather guarantee. beside that, i would say living in taiwan is more convenient, because of the culture, everything is clean, public transportation is more easy and transparent, no one sees you as a running wallet and tries to trick you into something. touristic and non touristic - both got some advantages, its up to you to choose your next destination, you cant make a mistake!

[nekkie69]

[nekkie69]

hualien city it was! the capital of hualien county, so the capital of taiwans beautiful east. many times i googled this area, many times i read how to make the most out of this area and many times i lost myself in thoughts about nice beaches, green mountains and blue rivers. so worth it! first we took the bus from kenting to fangliao, having a last glimpse of this beauty of a place. We then took the train to taitung, changing there to the train to hualien. the ride itself is an often described must-do thing in taiwan. looking out of the window endless tea plantages and rice fields flew away, you already could feel the little awe the whole train was caught by. i was pretty glad to recieve “my” taiwan feeling im used to so much after that little too touristic scenary in kenting. just those looks gave me so much chills. drriving at our hostel, we didnt have much time left for anything that day so going out for food was the only thing we did, but as always even that is one of the best things life can offer to you in taiwan. having a beer at the ocean before going to bed as always..

next day we set up a nice unknown gorge in the landscape around hualien as our destination. as it wasnt the taroko gorge we hoped not to find many people and werent dissapointed. very few people, a big gorge almost just for us! time to climb around, hike around and look around. epic landscape views with big mountains, thick green forrests and some aboriginial people here and there. simply great. in return, the well known taroko george was a crowded by more tourists the next day. we looked for a trail beside the main road and again we climbed through many rocks and enjoyed being in the nature. as it was our last day in the wild we hiked from the gorge to the ching shui cliffs, which was for me even greater than the taroko gorge. its hard to describe the feeling, but taking a stroll alongside the beach faced towards the cliffs, thats beyond words. we forgot the long walk and just put on foot in front of the other, no thinking, just enjoying. again, what an area to be around, impossible to catch all the emotions and things that happend to us by words. making your taiwan your next destination maybe is the only thing that makes you understand.

[nekkie69]

[nekkie69]

[nekkie69]

Whoop Whoop! It has been a while..

Luckily I got company by my roommate Lukas from Dortmund and my best man Leon, who travelled through asia since middle of february and ends his trip with spending some time here in taiwan. lukas arrived a couple of days earlier, so we were happy when leon landed and our road trip could finally start. leon got to my flat at 3 am, we drank beers and had so much stuff to tell from the past few month, it suddendly was 6. 6 in the morning without sleep but many beers can lead to funny ideas! so instead of going to bed and plan our trip in the morning, we didnt lose any time and took the bus to kenting! kenting is in taiwans very south, its basiccally one big road with a very touristic night market that doesnt offer the taiwan feeling im used to, but its fine and trying out the food was fun. kenting is famous for the diving and snorkling spots, and boy, after trying snorkling for the first time, i now know why. but first we did a trip to the national park, which was quite cool, seeing a lot of the so called formosa macaques and almost running into the net of a GIANT spider. really, im not scared of spiders, but facing a beast like this at home would make me sell that place and move (maybe to taiwan? ;). the macaques were a bit shy, but from while to while they appeared around us. nice dudes. at our second day leon went diving, but lukas and me had no diving license so we went to snorkel. we rented bikes and were pretty dissapointed before everything started, because at our first spot the guy said "sorry boys, but today isnt a good time to snorkel, you wont see no fishes". so we had a beer at the beach and thought about alternate ways to spent the rest of the day. we decided to have a coffee first (i could get used to this order, first a beer then a coffee) and try one more spot, even that one was at another village, at hengchu. bingo, biking there was worth it and that spot was a (divine) revelation of taiwans underwater beauty. we saw loads of fishes, eels, and even sea snakes, all surrounded by a coral reef. pretty cool experience! starving on the way back, we stopped at the first sight of cooking dishes on the street. randomly we got invited to a big fest of the locals, being forced to drink a lot of beer and whiskey shots. i really mean a lot, i think i never downed that many shots since im not 16 anymore. luckily food was ready soon and we could eat many many different dishes, all tasting delicious. we were quite a little attraction at the fest and different people stopped at our table to drink with us. even tho the people were super super friendly, they all looked kind of creepy, due to chewing beetle nuts all the time. beetle nuts are pretty famous in taiwan and out of taipei you see a lot of people chew it, having only a few teeth left and a red mouth. friendly we denied all the gently offers. at some point trying out different cultural things just goes too far. we got back to our hostel a bit later that evening, but as always having a beer at the ocean.. that brought us peace every day. listening to the waves as they lap against the shore, again and again and again.. the feeling of being a small part in history, but enjoying that moment to the fullest.. thinking about everything and nothing at the same time. yeah, we had our momemts there and at some point words cannot describe a certain situation. after 3 days of exploring the area in Kenting with bikes, swim suits and per pedes, we decided to move on further and go to hualien the next day. we were pretty done by all the exhausting activities, so spending one day in the train didnt bother us anyway. next stop: hualien city! oh, i booked a flight to thailand in april.

[nekkie69]

[nekkie69]

[nekkie69]

yangmingshang again! having a day off, we packed our stuff and went to the huge national park located north of taipei. weather was perfect, sunshine and moderate temperatures, what a day to hike! we got out of the bus when all of the sudden everything turned into fog. thick, thicker, taiwanese fog. we couldnt see more than five meters ahead, which didnt stopped us from climbing up to our first destination the seven stars peak, where we had to crawl upon many stairs. the fog was so thick, we even lost sight contact when someone gasped air for a sec, took a pic or even just tied the shoes. oops, where is louis? we passed the datun volcanos, where sulphur containing air made it hard to inhale deeply. was a nice vibe tho and pushed us to get to the top a little bit faster, even regretting every breath. continuing with every meter, the air got more and more moist, let us almost wring out our hair. on top, due to the circumstances, we could not see anything, no view at all. didnt matter, because this was a unique atmosphere and filled up the scenary whith some subconscious tension, never having a clue what is about to happen few meters ahead.

on the way down to our next stop, we stepped through little forrests and mhystic lakes, where the scenario changed even more into a pretty sinister one. dark trees, creaking in the wind, screaming animals somewhere in the woods, scurrying squrillels that disappeard the second you saw them. perfect set up for a b-movie “Taiwan Horror Story” in my mind, a film about young adults beeing too stupid to leave the enchanted forrest, getting lost in the fog and finally caught by the formosa bear. yes, daydreaming hit me hard.

from time to time the sun submerged our path in daylight and made us believing in a happy end, feeling the warmth on our faces. we got out of the forrests and entered an area with wide fields, feeling the freedom of the landscape and hiked down tenderly. we were heading to the grasslands of yangmingshang and walked through suspension bridges, many stairs, collecting meter by meter from the aisle. we were pretty done when we reached the grass lands, but happy enough to sit down and just let the widening view with much less fog cure our tired legs. making it to the next bus station we realized we missed the last one, but luckily got offered a ride by some malaysian people who found enough space for us in their big car. as life is happening the way it happens, they were from the same little town as my roommates and couldnt believe i already tried ot the special ways to eat the local fish. brought laughter and joy to everyone and was a nice finish of a perfect day.

[nekkie69]

[nekkie69]

[nekkie69]

i wanted some danger, i got some danger. after that bit frustrating trip to tainan i recovered quick and went for a hike in the Wuliaojian 五寮尖 mountain. a guide in the internet showed a not easy track, requiring strength and endurance. it was a thursday, so we were almost the only ones there, having enough time to rest and not feeling rushed through the tracks to avoid traffic jams. the trail lead over small ridges, where every wrong step would result into a deep fall and probably the end of this blog. so it was necessary to stay focused and calm all the time. it was hot and sweat runs down fast. beside ridges high walls stood in our way, only to conquer by pulling up on ropes. all these difficulties made staying focused hard, but it all was rewarded by amazing views all the time. we got to the peak with only a few scratches and could enjoy our way down in the sunny and green environment with a 4 hours hike in the legs, having some big plates of sashimi afterwards. proteins, baby.