Siem Reap, Cambodia 23-26th February 2011

Got picked up along with the Italian Neilo at 7am by a mini bus that would take us to the Cambodian border. We were joined before leaving Kho Chang by 2 Canadian guys from Edmonton and a Guy from Seattle, and then on the mainland by a mother and daughter travelling together from BC . It wasn’t long into the trip that the Canadian guys ( who were on a 2 month drinking tour of s/e Asia ) stopped to buy a few bottles of the local liquor and made a large cocktail bucket with coke and red bull that was passed around the van and insisted on being drunk…..after 30 minutes of trying to resist ( the drinking began at 11am ) decided if you cant beat them join them and we were all pretty drunk by the time we hit the Cambodian border.

After 20minutes of arguing with the connecting Cambodian tour company, who insisted the group buy visas from them at an inflated price ( I had got mine in Bangkok to avoid the hard sell), we headed to the border and were through in about 30minutes….the drinking continued on the Cambodian side much to the dislike of the 40 or so sober passengers on the full sized bus that took us to Siem Reip. Arrived around 8pm and found a cheap guest house with rooms for 3 dollars ( US) a night and then went to a local drinking area ( ingeniously titled Pub Street )to continue drinking. Fairplay to the Edmonton/Seattle group I only managed to buy 2 drinks all day as they insisted on keeping my glass full all night from their own pockets….A good bunch of guys .

At the end of the night stopped of for some beef noodle soup at a street vendor and was surrounded by little kids asking for money. I declined a cash donation ( usually will go straight to a grown up Fagan type character ) but offered to share my meal with 3 of them. The kids all spoke good English and were obviously very intelligent. After finishing eating was asked again by a little girl of about 8 for money and again said no. Her response was to punch me in the groin 2 times as hard a she could…thanks for nothing kid….no lasting damage but was pretty shocking. Have never been attacked by beggars anywhere else in the world. The following day talking to rest of the group( who went home earlier,) turned out every one had experienced a bit of abuse on the way back from either begging kids or over demanding prostitutes…..seemed Cambodia wasn’t going to be as laid back as Thailand.

Next morning was up at 9am to get a motorcycle taxi to the temples at Angkor with the rest of the group from the bus. The Angkor temple complex was built around a thousand years ago in various waves by Hindu and Budhist kings. A huge area, the most famous temple, and our first stop, being Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat was impressive but not quite as grandiose or remote as I had imagined. The hordes of kids selling “cold drink just one dollar” and “ two flutes one dollar very good price ” distracted a bit from the experience. Also wasn’t a cheap ticket , a 2 day pass costing 40 dollars US. However as the day went on and we visited more temples saw some amazing stuff. Highlights being the Bayon, a weird complex with multiple stone heads, Angkor Thom, and an overgrown temple called Ta Prohm that had an amazing set of ruins with massive trees growing out of them ( see photo). Was a good day came home exhausted and had an early night following the previous travel day drinking session.

Got up early again and met up with the Barb and Julia the friendly and very Canadian mother a daughter team off the bus from BC. Decided to share a taxi as we all had multiple day tickets. That day visited another 6 or 7 temples. The highlight being the final temple at Preah Khan, a huge monastic complex with a series of maze like corridors ornate bridges and more tree growing from the walls.

That night went to the local night market and had a few beers with Neilo and a French guy from Kho Chang who we had played guitar with the previous week. Went for a few games of pool on pub street after to finish the night.

The next day decided to check out a floating market but when we got to the dock found out the boat ticket cost 20 dollars per person so ended up going to see a crocodile farm instead. That was pretty cool, hundreds of crocs lying around in the sun.( see photo) Had a relaxed afternoon but started to come down with a bad cold so ended up having an early night ahead of another travel day to the Capital city of Phnom Peng the next day.

Only really scratched the surface of the temple complex at Angkor but got a good enough feel for it, the guest house I stayed in was cheap and had super friendly staff and a great restaurant, also finally got to take the bandage off from my leg after almost 2 weeks or people staring at my ankle…..a nasty scar is left at the moment but should fade over time…so far so good in Cambodia now time for a quick couple of days in Phnom Peng before heading north to Laos….

Kho Chang Island 12-22nd February

An early morning start saw me walking up Kho San road with a travel agent going from guest house to guest house picking up more travellers along the way ……took the best part of an hour from my 7am departure to actually get on the bus. The bus ride itself was very smooth, the roads in Thailand are in very good condition with multiple 7-11 stop off points. Something was bothering me on the ride though…..the Island I was trying to get to was on the Andaman coast in the north west of the country but the bus seemed to be going towards the Cambodian boarders to the east….hmmm couldn’t get my mental map straight ….it was only as we approached the shoreline that I checked my guide book and realised there are actually two islands off the coast of Thailand with the same name “Kho Chang“….WTF???? I had been hoping to get to a remote and unspoiled hideaway for a week of isolated chilling, however reading more about the Kho Chang I was going to made me realise I was in for a far more touristy affair….oh well cant afford to go back now will have to go with it…..

The bus dropped us near the ferry port where I pre booked a cheap bungalow on the Island at Lonely Beach ( the quietest of beaches according to guidebook). We were then driven to the boat which was so rusty and corroded it looked like it had just been pulled up from the seafloor that morning….and would be sunk back down there again by the evening……. Took about 45 minutes to reach Kho Chang, which looked pretty cool as we drew near, like Gilligan’s island with jungle covered hills…..Got a taxi to the Lonely Beach and met a cool Belgian girl (Sanne) and Italian guy (Neilo) who were checking in at the same time as me. The shack I had was the cheapest in town at around four pounds per night and was pretty rickety ( see photo ), felt like it was going to fall down at any moment at first. The town of Lonely Beach was pretty quiet though and not as touristy as the larger beaches we had passed in the taxi on the way down….

That evening went for a beer and some food with the Italian and Dutch girl and then carried on for a few beers with the Italian guy after….ended up drinking quite a lot of “chang” (local beer) that night and getting pretty drunk in disco bar ….Came back to my shack late and crashed out , so much for isolated chilling……….

Next morning I woke with a hangover and an alarming thought in my head ….where is my bag????…had taken my day pack out with me the night before with all my valuables: passport , wallet with money and cards and laptop as I hadn’t planned to stay out late….three frantic searches of my room confirmed my worst fears that I had left it in the nightclub….remembered putting it down towards the end of the night when talking to some people but couldn’t remember picking it up……oh fuck man this was not good at all! Raced back to the bar at 9am through the haze of a hangover only to find the bar shut and be told by a cleaner to come back in 3 hours……..so I basically spent the next 3 hours freaking out ….soooo pissed of with my self! Had taken the stuff out initially as I thought it would be safer than leaving in the cabin…… hadn’t taken into account my own stupidity ……imagined that I would just have to cancel trip as wouldn’t be able to afford replacement of passport and the visas I had just spent 2 days getting in Bangkok…as for the computer and wallet that also sucked to lesser degree…luckily I had some emergency money to get me back to Bangkok and I had pretty much convinced myself that I should expect the worst ….

At 12pm I went back to the bar and spoke to the owner…as soon as I asked if a bag had been found he asked my name…..this sent a wave of relief over me as it showed he had the bag……he said it had been handed in by a Lady boy ( transvestites common in Thailand) at the end of the night who said someone had given it to him/her to look after, remember the bar filling up with quite a few ladyboys around the time I left ….hmmm this didn’t sound good. The bar owner said he had checked the bag found my pc, passport and wallet and had given it to a barman to hold onto…was told I could pick it up in 2 hours at the start of the barman’s shift….okay thank god not all was lost …felt so relieved the trip would continue…..

When I did collect my bag found everything in order but the 3000 Bhatt ( 60 pounds) in my wallet had been taken…I presume by an opportunist ladyboy who found or taken my bag then made up the story bout being given it to cover for the theft of the money…oh well could have been worse at least I had the important stuff back ( not sure I would have got anything back at all in the U.K.)……decided not to peruse the lost money and draw a line under the incident…..

That afternoon went to the beach with Italian and Belgian friends and another German guy called Sebastian…would end up hanging out together for the next week …a really cool group of people to spend time with, later that evening had a jam with some divers outside the local scuba bar was a good laugh…after a rocky start was beginning to enjoy the island vibe….was wrong to assume my bad luck had stopped though, things were about to take another (painful) turn for the worst……….

Next day went for a swim and then lay on the beach …“one week of this” I thought “I can get used to…“, well it would turn out to be my only swim for the next 3 weeks…later that evening while trying to take a shortcut to get to a beach party caught myself on a razor wire fence that was closing off a section of the beach…don’t know how it happened but while trying to walk through a small gap in the wire, stumbled and then looked down at my leg to see it covered in blood…although I hadn’t felt a thing, ….closer inspection revealed a deep gash just above the ankle gushing blood….ah fuck man…wasn’t even drunk just clumsy…..I turned around straight away to go back to the cabin and try and patch myself up, washed the wound a bit in the ocean on the way but it didn’t show any sign of stopping bleeding ….shit man struggled to stay calm on the 10 minute walk home…hate the sight of my own blood …good thing it was dark cause there was plenty of it escaping from my body ……..by the time I got back to the cabin the wound had stopped bleeding …looked like it probably should get stitches but I decided to patch it up myself and then get a doctor to look at it in the morning…I was hoping I could get it to close overnight by using some medical tape and bandages…… the next morning it was still open when I checked it …shit1.…okay time to go to hospital , got a taxi at 9am all the way back up to the north of the island where I found a good clinic with an emergency room….I asked in reception if they could take a look, and they told me to take a seat….were quite a lot of people in the queue in front of me …this was going to be a long morning …or was it ,…………

As I sat down, took my bag and put it on the floor it knocked painfully against my cut leg ..,ouch…didn’t give it much thought but just after the knock a nurse noticed that I was bleeding again really heavily, in fact within seconds the whole bandage was soaked and there was a pool of blood around my foot …“ah fuck man” ….they rushed me into the treatment room passed the horrified faces of the other waiting patients , left a blood trail into the treatment room like something from Friday the 13th …….seemed my bag had knocked against a partially cut vein that was now open and bleeding heavily…took them about 10minutes of painful compression to stop the bleeding during which time I blacked out briefly from blood loss…not cool ….but hey, at least I had jumped the queue!!…after the wound stopped bleeding the doctor, who was really cool guy who spoke good English, stitched me up while telling me stories about the wounds he had treated when he was in the Thai army….

Okay so one hour later I had nine stitches in my leg and a bill for around 200 pounds that I had to pay up front before I could claim back on my insurance…further treatment and check ups in the week would push this figure up even more……shit another financial disaster!…oh well was just glad I had managed to find a good doctor so quickly and lucky the wound hadn’t opened up again before I got to the hospital…..that would have really sucked.

So no swimming for a least a week, on antibiotics and painkillers, hardly mobile on the wrong island with 60 pounds taken from my wallet …..after losing money in Bangkok and having to shell out to fix my laptop in Taipei…not a good week!

Spent the next few days going to the beach and hanging out in bars with my pan-continental friends…..was frustrating as hell not being able to swim ( my favourite sport and whole reason for coming to the island) and also annoying having to clean the wound and change dressings every day after having a one legged shower ( don’t ask how that works)…but the evening were always fun…there were plenty of promotions on in town for free drinks and food so we would collect flyers in the afternoon on the beach and then spend the evening moving around town between various different timed happy hours and checking out some live music ( of varied quality) .

One of the funniest venues we frequented was a Ladyboy bar that had a free pool table … a very strange scene at first…… but the free pool table was always vacant and once the “ladies” knew you weren’t interested they wouldn’t bother you…in fact some were pretty good at pool and would play doubles against us, although the Lady Gaga Glastonbury 2009 video on repeat all the time did get very annoying after a while….There was also a cool reggae bar in town that did really good Pad Thai and had a decent covers band every night…..maybe the best place in town to hang out though was outside the local mini market, where you could buy a cheap beer and drink with all manner of crazy travellers from around the world…..there certainly seem to be some colourful characters travelling in south east Asia….a lot of people with substance and alcohol abuse problems who are here long term, mixed with gap year types , sex tourists, middle aged Russians on short term resort holidays …to be fair there seem to be a lot more crazy people travelling in south east Asia than there were in India

After Sanne and Sebastian had gone to Bangkok later in the week I spent a lot of time hanging out with the Italian guy Neilo, an interesting character who had some crazy life stories to tell……Played a lot of guitar that week also and met a really cool Dutch musician towards the end of the week who I jammed with a few times…was really into Tom Waites and played the Ukulele and sang really well much better than most of the local musicians in town in fact….

So my time on Kho chang was pretty much like the movie groundhog day ….get up , go to shop to buy breakfast, check emails, go to beach get frustrated and sandy , come home have an awkward shower and then clean and re-dress leg wound, play guitar on porch until dark, go to eat and get free drinks in various bar promotions…..repeat as required……Have to admit it did get really annoying being stuck in one place for longer that I had planned despite being perfect on paper the first week on the island was not one of the strong points of the trip……..

On the morning I got my stitches out I rented a motorbike to drive to hospital and then do some exploring on the island after….stitches came out okay but the wound wasn’t fully healed yet so they taped it up and told me to leave it another 2 days …also no swimming for another week ( gutted!! ).

After paying yet another hospital bill drove the scooter to an inland waterfall and got a good view of some of the nature available on the island , this including passing a group on an elephant trek (photo). The waterfall trail was deserted so walked up the river for some time and found a quiet place to be alone with my thoughts for an hour or so near an isolated pool…..after being so frustrated over the last week with bad luck and finding it hard to fully enjoy my time on Kho Chang it felt good to be out of Lonely Beach and in a new environment….that afternoon went by Bike to a couple of other areas on the island with Neilo….First a quiet but touristy fishing village built on a pier and then the busiest beach on the island “White Sands”….this seemed to be full of middle aged, fat Germans and Russian wearing terrible Speedos….went for a walk on the beach and found it was filthy with lots of barnacle covered garbage and lost shoes washing up on the shore….terrible, terrible ….dint mind not being able to take a dip for once……

So after staying four days longer than planned in Thailand to get stitches out and having not such a great time of it all, its time to head to Cambodia and the temples at Angkor Watt for some historical explorations…..someone told me recently bad things happen in threes….. so with :
1) broken computer ,2) lost bag, and 3) 9 stitches in leg…. I think ( and hope to God ) I’ve exhausted my bad luck for the time being …will see how things pan out next week…..

Bangkok, Thailand 7th -12th February 2011

The flight and immigration check into Bangkok went smoothly. I quickly found a shuttle bus to Kho San road, an area in the middle of the city popular with backpackers, where I would look for a cheap room. My first impression of the city from the motorway was that it seemed very clean and modern. Had expected it to look a bit more like India after being in Taiwan but on first look seemed cleaner than most places in the UK.

After 45 minutes the bus arrived at Kho San, it wasn’t exactly what I had been expecting. The scene was a bit like a strip on a Mediterranean Island. Lots of bars and loud dance music playing. I arrived just after midnight and spent a sweaty 30minutes looking for a guest house that had vacancies….all the cheap places seemed to be full. Eventually had to stay in a mid range hotel that was above my budget but must admit it was nice to have a good shower and soft bed to lie on after the travel day.

That evening I ventured out into the road and was surprised again to see how touristy the street was. ( see photo) About 95 percent of the people you walked by were westerners and about 50 percent of those seemed to be obnoxious drunkards……oh well it was a temporary location….Had some street food…the famous Kho San Pad Thai, a plate of noodles with egg, peanuts and chilli, really amazing, tasty and good value at around 50 pence a plate.
Crashed out in the hotel room and slept like a log not long after.

The next morning I found a really cheap no frills guest house on one of the roads near to Kho San, the room was very basic similar to the one at the start of “the Beach”. Had an internet café downstairs though and was well within budget at 3 pounds a night….bargain!

After shifting my gear to the new room went out to explore the city…The sun was shining and after my initial reservations with the Kho San area things were looking up….well not every thing was perfect…I slipped on the stairs on the way out of the hotel and sprained my ankle quite badly would make for a painful days sight seeing …After busting my PC earlier in the week seemed like the bad luck was continuing…damn it for some reason have become really clumsy of late…..maybe its travel fatigue? ( actually my run of bad luck was to continue for the next 7 days or more…. see later and next instalment for more unfortunate incidents)

Walked down to the river and chilled in a park for a while , then went to explore an impressive series of temples along the riverside near the royal Palace. The temples or “Wats” here are amazingly decorated, one of which contained the largest reclining Buddha statue in the world( see various photos), They are Buddhist but resemble a cross between a Hindu temple and a Chinese Taoist temple in design. A good juxtaposition between the last 2 countries I had been to. Later I caught a boat across the river and spent an hour checking the view from a steep sided temple pagoda while listening to some really chilled devotional music ….a really cool way to finish the day. By the time I got back my ankle was really killing me so got a few cheap cans of bear in the local 7-11 ate some more Pad Thai and then chilled in the hotel room playing some guitar before falling asleep before midnight…Had definitely turned my sleep clock around after so many late nights going to sleep in Taipei.

The next morning I was up just after 7am. Had set aside a day to go to the Chinese embassy in Bangkok and get a visa for later in the trip. Actually worked out half the price to do it in Thailand than it would have in the Uk. I had read that the office got busy after 10am so aimed to be there at opening time of 9am .

Got a motorbike taxi to the MRT station and then caught a train across the city to the embassy. When the cab driver dropped me at the station I had noticed he was really happy when I paid him and he shook my hand vigorously …. I just assumed cabbies in Thailand were very happy …..till later in the day when I realised I was missing a thousand Bhatt note ( roughly 20 pounds) after checking every where for it, and then everywhere in my hotel room later. I realised where it had gone… The thousand baht note is a similar colour to the hundred baht note. When I paid the cabbie I must have given him a thousand by accident……he either thought I was giving him a ridiculous tip or just ignored the mistake…either way could see why he was so happy now…( damn it more bad luck… I swore I would be more careful in future )

Anyways back to the embassy…I arrived around 9.15 and the office resembled an Indian train station…got a ticket for the counter and saw that there were already 320 people in the queue before me…damn it was going to be a long morning …….two an a half hours later my number flashed up on the visa counter and I handed in my application , It was approved within a minute ( maybe due to the traffic in the office) and I was told to come back after 3pm to collect.

Killed some time that afternoon in a large electronics market nearby ….in fairness it was just as good a the ones in Taiwan and a lot cheaper…regretted not waiting to get my PC fixed in Thailand now…after that went to the largest park in the city which was in immaculate condition…Fairplay my initial appraisal of Bangkok ( central city anyway 0 was correct it was a really nice and clean place to live.

After picking up my visa ( had to wait another 1.5hours in a queue) headed back to the MRT station in town, then spent 2 hours walking back to Kho San through China town. China town was amazing. like Taiwan but with a Thai twist, really enjoyed exploring the markets and street food stalls.

Once back at Kho San had another cheap night with 7-11 beer, street noodles and guitar playing. For some reason had been feeling really anti-social since I got to Thailand…not in a bad way though…. was just enjoying my own company…maybe a reaction to spending 6 nights in a tent with 2 other people the week before

Next day I headed to the Laos and Cambodian embassies to get more visas…it was possible to get visas on entry for both these countries, but had heard tales that the boarder guards are in the habit of asking for bribes when issuing stamps, and with my passport about to have less than 6 months validity inn didn’t want to take any chances…..

The Laos visa took about 2 hours to process and the Cambodian one about 5 minutes…both embassies gave me 60 day visas for about 20 quid …this resolved my passport issues …result!. Walked back through china town again and then went out in the evening to explore some adjoining roads to Kho San ….was actually growing to enjoy the Kho San vibe after a few days…there were quite a few cool little bars alongside the larger loud trashy ones, and plenty of musicians ( of varying quality ) performing in the area….

The following day I got up late and spent the afternoon checking out the royal palace ( really amazing ) and some of the local museums….That evening I booked a bus ticket to an island called Kho Chang where I planned to spend the next week on the beach. The Island had been recommended to me by Rob, who had been there a few years back, as somewhere less touristy than the more popular party islands in the south. ( things would not quite work out as planned but you’ll have to wait till the next instalment to find out why).

Finished the day by going to some local guitar shops and checking out ridiculously cheap guitars that I no longer needed…oh well. Talked to some local vagrant looking types who were interested in what I was doing in the area…the vibe away from the Kho San area was so different….. very relaxed though slightly rough round the edges in parts, the locals are very friendly and always smiling and laughing…..

Had another early night as per the previous four……have to say I really enjoyed Bangkok. Only saw a small part of the city but thanks to my visa runs and long walks back it seems I had seen a lot more of the city than most of the other travellers I had met who were passing through…..

Next stop Kho Chang the beach for a week of chilling ( actually my experience on Kho San would be far from chilled for various reasons, but will divulge more details next time…………..)

Taiwan - final instalment 28-7th February 2011

The next week began with a trip to a public hot springs in the north of the city at an area called Xin Beitou. I went up with housemate Shaun, Xin Beitou is a pretty cool area of the Taipei, it had a real village vibe. Set into the hills, was a large steaming pool of green coloured hot spring water, the sign nearby informed us happily that the water there contained traces of the radioactive element Radium, which was apparently good for health and well being and gave the waters a green tinge…hmmmmm not to sure about that!

The long line of locals waiting for the afternoon session at the public baths convinced us it was safe enough. The springs were in three sections on a small hill. Moving up from the bottom of the hill temperatures were hot, very hot and “holy shit that’s hot”. There was also a cold plunge pool set to the side. Making my way up the hill gradually I managed to stay in the mega hot section for about 2 minutes before I got out looking like I had spent a week in Benidorm with no sun screen.

Was watched by a laughing local the whole time I was in there…god knows how long he was in the water for but I could see him laughing at me as I grimaced with the heat on initial entry and then laughing again as I got up quickly to leave 2 mins later fighting to stop from passing out from the heat….I jumped straight in the cold pool instantly , an amazing sensation!,………… doesn’t feel cold at all at first but you can actually feel the improvements to your circulation straight away as a tingling sensation all over…..After the springs we went to a local restaurant and got a great dish of beef noodle soup, felt amazingly healthy afterwards…will def miss the hot spring culture in Taiwan.

Later we met up with Shaun’s girlfriend Ting and they showed me round some great food stalls in the famous Shilin night market…had some tasty snacks…after initially being cautious with food in Taiwan ( have never been a great fan of Chinese cuisine I must admit) have grown to really like what is on offer and will def miss some of the more interesting purchases on offer. One example we had that night being Frog Egg Tea, an iced green tea with tapioca sugar cream and ice…sounds pretty disgusting I know, but really grows on you after a few tries.

The next morning got up early to catch a train to the southern city of Chiayi and the beginning of a week long hiking/camping trip with Rob and Steph. The journey was fast enough esp. as I slept through most of it ( had to get up at 630 to catch the train, it was the first day of Chinese new year and the only seat available that day to Chiayi was on the 8am slow train).

Arrived in Chiayi in the early afternoon and instantly noticed a different vibe than Taipei, There was much less of an English influence with nearly all the signs written in mandarin. Also the weather was noticeably better in the south, the sun was shining on my face for practically the first time since I arrived in Taiwan 4 weeks ago….

Chilled in the park for a few hours next to yet another cool Chinese style temple and then met up with Rob’s friend Tiffany who was back home to Chiayi from Taipei for Chinese new year. We met up with Rob soon after, he had driven his scooter down from Taipei doing about 40miles per hour on average…took him about 14 hours over 2 days to make the journey. This fact that always drew laughter from the locals over the next week when they asked where he had come from. The general consensus was that no one in their right mind would make the journey from Taipei by scooter when you could do it in 3 hours by train. I always made an effort to heighten the situation by laughing heartily along with the locals at Rob’s fool heatedness…

Rob had driven down so as to have his own scooter to drive round the national parks we were going to visit. Myself and Steph would be renting. I had only had one attempt at driving a scooter in Taipei before that week and had been dismayed to realize it was much harder than I thought to maintain balance, speed and direction. .Seemed so easy when riding on the back with someone else driving.

Rob, tiffany and myself went out for a drive round some quiet lake roads so I could get some practice on Rob’s bike while he shared with Tiff. Okay ……after a couple minutes realised it was just like riding a bike but without having to pedal…..felt prepared for quiet mountain roads ..although driving into traffic in Chiayi later ,on the wrong side of the road with no knowledge of the highway code was a bit hair raising….

That evening we were joined by Steph and stayed a Tiffany’s parents house, where we were treated to a great home cooked meal while getting drunk with her parents….A really great experience seeing a Taiwanese family in Situ…thanks to Tiff for her hospitality and for getting us a great deal on the scooter rentals…

Next morning we picked up our bikes for the week and drove out from town into the country side towards Alishan national park….The sun was out and the scenery was looking very tropical,…… feeling more confident on the bike I began to relax and enjoy the environment we were in. We drove uphill un till around 4pm and found a great place to camp near a public footpath that stretched over a long suspension bridge over a river. There were hardily any public campsites in the areas we were going , most locals would do day trips by car or bus or go on packaged tours….

The campsite we found way perfect, close to a water source with a public table and benches nearby and a good little wooded area in a bamboo forest where we could set up tent without being seen….Sat round the campfire on that first night and made some noodles on a wood burning camp stove in total isolation.

Next morning we did a quick walk around the local trails. The mountain areas of Taiwan tend to be populated by the original Aboriginal inhabitants of the island who appear more Polynesian in features than the urban population who have migrated from mainland China….Walked through a few forest trails running through bamboo woods and visited an aboriginal town to buy supplies.

That afternoon we drove to our next destination, a mountain town 2 hours drive up the road. By this time was really enjoying the scootering and the mountain views we passed along the way were breathtaking. On arrival we found another place to camp, on the side of a disused maintenance trail on the edge of town, then headed into town to get a good meal and hang out at the local 7-11 which had a few seats where you could drink cans of beer and pick up a wi-fi connection.

Later in the evening we did a flashlight lit night walk along a raised wooden trail through the adjacent bamboo forest… a really cool environment to be in …felt eerily calm , when coming back into town we seemed to wake up all the livestock in the area including loud barking dogs and Roosters…hmm bet the locals weren’t too impressed with these crazy white people who were camping in the woods even though there were plenty of hotels in town……

Headed back to the campsite around 10 and ate super noodles round the campfire. We had to make the fire 10 meters up the road that night as Robs scooter had drained petrol in the area surrounding the tent. The three of us had an uncomfortable nights sleep later as the tent was pitched on uneven ground and sloped to the side, meaning you would constantly wake up in the night curled up in the bottom corner of the tent with petrol fumes in your nose, and then have to inch your way slowly up the slope in your sleeping bag to lye flat again.

The next morning we stashed all the camping gear in the woods and then set out on a 12km round trip hike over the mountain and back again. The trail was one of the most naturally diverse I have ever hiked….we went up steeply through the woods sometimes on steps and sometimes just scrambling over lose rock before walking along a flattish trail that stretched for a long section through mixed bamboo and fir woods…really amazing environment with some amazing mountain and tea plantations along the way.

Next we went down a long section of steps to get to the next town and halfway point of the walk at the bottom of the adjoining valley to our campsite…took about 4 hours to walk there and we pretty much had to turn straight back in order to be home by dark….Did meet one cool local guy called Kevin before we left who worked for a tea wholesalers….He gave us a cup of tea and some free tea bags while we quizzed him about the local area.

Walking back up that long series of steps was killer, at one point they were about as long and steep as the path into Mordor. We made good time afterwards though, and only had to use flash lights for the last decent towards our campsite……This provided an amazing treat towards the end in the appearance of a number of fireflies in the woods, an awesome spectacle, good thing we started late or else we would have been back before dark and missed them.

That evening I had a cold shower in the public toilets near the bamboo forest we had walked through the previous evening …no one was around and the site was secluded so stripped off and used the outside sink to fill a 2 litre water bottle a few times and get myself clean…felt so cold after but it was worth it to get ride of the 2 days of grime and campfire smoke that had covered my body from wearing the same clothes constantly night and day.

Felt like a new man after and headed into town to drink a few cheap cans at the 7-11.
That night we moved our campsite to a better location just down the hill and had a great fire using the dead bamboo trees from the woods. Bamboo is amazing for fires though it burns very quickly it lights up easily and gives of a lot of energy and heat.

The next day we had a lazy start and then drove our scooters to Alishan national park forest recreation area. This was a couple of hours up the mountains from where we had been camping and after another really enjoyable scooter ride we entered noticeably colder temperatures near the mountain top. Once inside the park we drooped off our bikes and got the mountain train to a really cool forest walk with another amazing temple along the way ( see photo). Had to rush the second half of the trail to get the last train back to the park gates at 430pm….was a really amazing site, too bad we got up so late or else we could have had more time to explore…..

After getting back on the bikes we did an incredible drive down the other side of the mountain to a hot spring town called Dongu. The ride was about 3.5 hours but the weather conditions were crazy…Not long after we left Alishan the mountain was enveloped by a freezing fog which limited visibility severely on the steeply winding down hill section…The road was in a bad state of repair due to the constant landslides in the area meaning it was slow going all the way down but really exciting in a spooky way.

By the time we reached Dongu we were all freezing our tits off and almost out of fuel. Due to a lack of suitable campsites and cheap accommodation in the area we ended up getting a moderately priced room in town for 3 people that had a hot spring Jacuzzi bath tub built in .We would use it in turns after a good meal in the hotel restaurant. A great way to recover from 3 nights in a cramped tent and 3 hours of freezing cold mountain scootering ( a scene from dumb and dumber is the best way to describe how cold it was on those bikes) . Had a few beers then filled the bath tub with piping hot mineral water straight from the mountain and then turned on air jets and relaxed for 45 mins….Bliss!.
We all slept like logs that evening ……..

The next morning we parked our scooters near the foot of another mountain trail near town, stashed our un needed baggage in the woods and then set out on the Jade mountain trail for an overnight hike in Youshan national park….This hike was probably the best I have ever done due to the danger factor….Recent landslides had weakened the mountain trail that was often only 2 feet wide between the rock face and a 200 hundred foot drop….we climbed high into the mountains along steep ledges and rickety bridges above canyons until we reached a waterfall in the early afternoon. This was as far as most of the locals would go as the remainder of the trail was official closed due to rockslides….however the local Aboriginal population still used the trails so we decided to press on…..after crossing various scree slides and passing a few more water falls we reached a series of cutbacks that lead high up the slopes along and impressive river valley with Jade Mountain’s summit in the distance.

We reached a flat wooded section in mid afternoon and stashed the remainder of our equipment after spending 20 minutes choosing a campsite. After carrying on up the trail for 200 meters we reached a hiking lodge that was open, empty and free to use, with no other hikers risking the trail was the perfect place to spend the night and we decided to move camp to the new location….

After carrying on up the trail for 5 minutes we came to a new rockslide where the whole trail had been swept down the mountain and was now replaced by a slope of loose rubble above a nasty drop. We slowly made our way over the scree one by one with loose stones sliding under our feet and down the slope before dropping 100 meters to a rock lined river below….probably the most dangerous thing I have done on the trip…not a good place to fall. After we were all safely over the hazard the trail evened out moved away from the cliffs and passed over a few more waterfalls as it ran through a wooded section.; Another couple of hours walking in these conditions and we had to turn back in order to reach the lodge again by nightfall. Just as we did we heard the sound of voices on the trail above us and were shortly passed by a group of Aboriginal guys from the village 5km up the hill. They were all built like brick shit houses and were walking all the way to Dongu that evening to sell goods in the new year festivities. They walked on in front of us but we passed them some time later on the trail smoking and talking with none of the urgency we showed to get off the road by night fall.

As we approached the dangerous rock fall section for a second time we discussed the safest way to traverse the scree for some time. We stood studying the hill after arriving but were soon passed again by the aboriginal guys who simply walked straight over the scree section like it was a small sand dune at a beach…they kicked loose rocks out of the way and over the mountain when necessary with their seemingly in appropriate foot wear of Wellington boots…

Hmmm ……we followed them over the trail cautiously and found that it was now considerably firmer than before they had crossed and manipulated it with their feet…felt a bit stupid for spending so much worry on that section but hell those guys have lived their whole lives on the mountain…...anyway we were all safe!

We got back to the lodge before nightfall and got a roaring bamboo and hard wood fire going in the fire hearth outside…had a good meal of pasta and de hydrated veg and listened to Led Zeppelin under the stars on laptop. We were all pretty beat that night and retired early. I spent about 15mins outside after the others had crashed and watched the stars while listening to the animal sounds of the jungle forest around me. One of the most poignant moments of the trip for me, really felt like I was a long way from home crossing into uncharted territory travel wise.

The next morning we got up early after a cold and uncomfortable night in the mountain lodge..got going soon after breakfast and the sun was soon shining in the valley and warming our bones. The walk back down the mountain was amazing with some absolutely stunning mountain views ( see various photos) we were met near the bottom of the trail by a large group of Aboriginal adolescents who cheered our arrival like we had just climbed Everest…. Hilarious!………….One of the best hikes I have ever done and one of the most rewarding will definitely be a highlight of the entire trip.

After recovering our stashed equipment and packing up the scooters had about a 3 hour drive to our next destination of Shitou, a mountain nature recreation area to the north.
We ended up driving separately on the way there, meaning I was driving a and navigating by myself…..really enjoyed the freedom of the road…will def endeavour to travel by motorbike in the future…..after negotiating some crazy traffic in a town on the way managed to find the small highway I needed to take to Sitou. An amazing ride along low palm tree lined paddy fields with mountains in the background.( see photo) Passed through a few villages along the way and stopped frequently for photos and to say hi to the locals..

When I did eventually reach the mountain road to Shitou there was a massive tail back of cars and tour busses… Chinese new year is the only public holiday in the year for the Taiwanese and popular destinations are known to get hellishly busy…..no problem for me though… simply drove around them on the side of the road and was straight to the top in no time…another reason to take 2 wheels rather than 4.…..think ive been converted!

Once we had all met up at the recreation ground we found a cheap public campsite with good facilities and a local Japanese style market nearby….Drank a good few beers from the local family market and sat round our last campfire till late before crashing.

Next morning Rob made his was back to Taipei while Steph and I drove our bikes back to Chiayi and then caught the high-speed train back to Taipei. Was back home by 10pm and totally exhausted with tonnes to do before leaving Taiwan the next evening on a flight to Thailand….

Still after washing my wood smoked clothes and taking a Doyle style odyssey shower felt amazing. Was one of the best camping trips of my life, physically demanding at times but felt in great shape after. The trip was a good contrast to the modern urban living of Taipei and considering I had barely explored the full set of natural environments the island had to offer in the time I was there was a testament to what an amazing little country Taiwan actually is.

So I retired that night feeling good about life and looking forward to a new challenge the next day………

Still time for one more drama though,…….. after falling asleep with my laptop on my bed, woke up went to the toilet and then accidentally sat on it heavily when getting back under the covers..heard a loud noise upon impact but wasn’t too concerned as I had been travelling with it unprotected for some tome with no problems……..Upon turning it on to inspect though I wasn’t so blasé. A large crack in the LCD screen rendered the monitor useless…Argggghhh … I cursed myself, and with less than 24 hours before I had to fly out wasn’t sure whether I could get it fixed before heading to a totally new city in Bangkok. Luckily my laptop was made by a Taiwanese company and that gave me some hope I could get a replacement LCD in the morning…

Next day got up at the crack and went to the electronics mall in the centre of town…luckily they had it fixed in 3 hours, but it wasn’t cheap. With time running out didn’t have the option of shopping around for better quotes….the replacement price will see me eating street food only in s/e Asia but should serve as a stern reminder to me to take better care of my stuff…..in any case was just glad it was fixed as the pc had a lot of important stuff on it I couldn’t access and was vital for the rest of the trip….

That afternoon the sun was beaming down in Taipei and the winter conditions of just over a week ago seemed like a thing of the past…felt like I was leaving prematurely, just as the city was getting into the swing of things……but a few hours later I was on a bus to the airport and my budget flight to Bangkok, to begin another chapter in my travel story.

Taiwan Summary

What a great little Island Taiwan is! The people a super friendly , you can make a decent living as an English speaking westerner and there is a varied an dramatic natural landscape throughout the Island. Really enjoyed my time in Taipei catching up with old friend and making new ones, while learning about Chinese history and culture. Its great to know there are good employment opportunities there if needed in the future. And considering that I was in Taiwan in the worst time of the year weather wise, and still had such a good time, I can imagine the place is even better in summer.

Did feel like 5 weeks was only enough time to scratch the surface of the country with so much on offer, but had some great experiences including teaching kids, learning to scooter and doing some incredible hiking….

Okay I’m now running over budget and about to hit S/E Asia where the mantra will now be “cheap as possible” in all actions taken….Though I am looking forward to roughing it a bit again India style too after having such a chilled and relaxing time in Taiwan……Thailand here we go!