Less Car, More Life

Hikes of the world: Lambir Hills edition.

Almost everywhere we go in the world, we hike. Urban hikes. High desert hike. Hot and sweaty jungle hikes. Gorgeous countryside hikes. Dodgy alongside busy road hikes. Amazing coastal hikes. British pub hikes.

Rich is very good at finding hikes for us to do. And he’s a fast and strong hiker. The more uphill there is, the happier he is. I’m not fast and frequently get grumpy going uphill.

Hiking in the jungles and rain forests of Borneo is a challenge. Heat and humidity punish you, and the frequent heavy rains punish the trails, making them more like creek beds than trails.

These could be easy day hike distances in a different climate and with different trail conditions.

Hiking with a fan. Every little bit of breeze helps.

Our Lambir Hills hike started off nicely. Uphill on a decent trail. Huge trees.

Unknown to us vegetation. This climbing vine is so perfectly symmetrical. Looks like a tree zipper.

There seemed to be a period in Malaysian Borneo when trails were built and park buildings were constructed. Maybe 20 years ago, maybe 15? But maintenance is tough to keep ahead of. Or it’s not funded. It was sad to see the state of not just the trails, but some the other park infrastructure as well. After we crested the top of our climb the trail started to deteriorate. As it dipped up and down into drainage after drainage, ropes appeared to help you haul yourself up or steady yourself down the very rutted trail.

And up we go. Trail maintenance must be almost impossible on these trails.

We saw one other group of hikers, they were better equipped, with trekking poles and matching hiking shirts. They were just getting to the tough part.

So what do I do when I’m not loving the hike I’m on? First, I remind myself why we hike. We hike because we like to see places only reachable on foot, and so we can keep on hiking. During a long bicycle tour two years ago we forgot to stop riding and take rest/hike days so we could work our hiking muscles. We found ourselves in fantastic biking shape and hurting on long walks and hikes.

That’s not Malaysia! With our dear friends Cecily and Christine in Seattle, December 2023.

More dear friends in Wales, Hannah, Erik, and Thea. 2023.

Second on my list of hiking distractions is to remember hikes with people we love.

Christine, Annie, and Erika. Seattle December 2023.

My brother Steve and sister-in-law Claire, Pismo Beach California, 2017.

My brother Steve and my sister Kathy, Colorado 2020.

We’ve had some of our best discussions, and come to some of our most life directing decisions while hiking. What have we decided while hiking? Whether or not to have children. Should we sell our place and travel. Do we need to actually own a car. Answers, no, yes, and no.

On the Camino del Norte with Cecily and Christine, Spain, October 2022.

Snowshoeing with Cecily and Christine, Snoqualmie WA, 2023. Oh, that cold weather. Hard to remember what cold is like when you’re in Borneo.

Every hike has its tough elements. The moments when you wonder why you hike. But then nature reveals itself and you remember again why you hike.

These trees did not let you forget you were in a rainforest.

Including a waterfall at mile 5. From the waterfall it was only a kilometer back to the park office where our Grab car would pick us up.

The rainforest is stunning, but I was happy the hike was over and our air conditioned hotel beckoned.

Oh you thought this jungle was done with you?

Thankfully Rich did a quick step back and did not tread on this snake. Not a pit viper but we still gave him respectful space.

From the park office to the waterfall is a popular trail, and in better shape than the rest of the park.

The hot, sweaty, pink, but happy travelers.

We’re in Kuching now, the city of cats, and heading out for a jungle lodge experience at Batang Ai, at the Nanga Sumpa Lodge, early tomorrow.

Gunung Mulu National Park. A gentle jungle.

Sungai Melinau Paku River, with the mountains of Mulu peak in the background.

I suspect I’m not the only one who assumes that the jungle of Borneo will be so full of bugs waiting to feast on me that I’ll be slapping and scratching from the moment we arrive in Mulu.

Was that my biggest worry about our four nights in Mulu? Well, after our experience at Mt. Kinabalu I was also worried about leeches. And, for our first guided tour at Mulu both Rich and I wore sneakers, long sleeves and trousers to keep the bugs away. Our wonderful guide, Nim, was wearing shorts and hiking sandals. For every tour after that we wore shorts and sandals as well. So much more comfortable in the hot and humid weather. And so few biting bugs. We have the millions of bats and swifts to thank for that.

Sheltering from a downpour in the bat pavilion.

Our first very rainy afternoon. All the rain meant no bat exodus the first night.

A frequent site during the rain, yellow poncho clad visitors.

Fog at the mouth of the Deer Cave, where millions of bats shelter during the day.

Rainwater drips through the limestone to create amazing sights in the Deer and Lang Caves.

From the boardwalk you get to see stately trees.

Rich added for scale. This is a day or two after arrival when we had learned that shorts, t-shirts, and sandals were the way to go.

The two biggest attractions at Mulu are the caves and the bats. We jumped right in to cave tours, ultimately getting to walk in five caves, for a total of about 5 or 6 kilometers of cave walking. Wow, impressive right? Well, Gunang Mulu National Park has about 295 kilometers of explored caves. Every cave we visited was different, the giant chambers, amazing drip structures, or no drip structures due to wind blowing through a cave and inhibiting the fantastical structures.

Boats waiting to load visitors for a cave tour.

The boat rides were a fun way to start a tour.

A young helper, his Dad is handling the motor, he helps out at the dock and on debris watch, so the visitors don’t end up in the river.

At the entrance of the Cave of the Winds. A boat ride and 200 stairs up.

A sky hole in the cave. With light comes life.

After visiting Clearwater Cave you get to swim in the river that flows out of the cave. Incredibly refreshing.

Each cave is unique. And some have only been open to visitors for the last few decades or so, which means that they are pristine. Fastlane cave has had the lightest human touch, with no lights installed and a through route – in one mouth and out another – and the most dramatic formations.

The entrance. Flashlights are really needed in this cave.

Photography is a little challenging, you have to borrow torchlight.

A “showerhead” formation. Water drips through the limestone deposits, which were perhaps created by tree roots up above.

Over hundreds of years the shower head has created its own basin, or bathtub. The water is incredibly pure, but of course reaching in to it is strictly prohibited.

The size of the group is limited to 8 on the Fastlane Tour and our guide, Jonah, was super knowledgeable. He also had us all turn off our lights for a few minutes to really experience the cave as its inhabitants do.

Like these huge Huntsmen spiders who live in the cave and eat crickets. We also saw blind white cave crabs, blind cave crickets, swifts flying and navigating by clicking, and of course bats.

There are trails for self guided hikes, but to enter the caves you must be with a guide.

Gate at the cave exit. I was very amused by the spider web motif.

Inside the Cave of the Winds, in this photo you can see the boardwalk and lights.

The bats disappointed us our first evening, but on our second evening, we hustled out the 40 minute walk from the Park Office to the bat pavilion and settled down hoping for no rain and many bats.

We all did a pretty good job of being quiet.

The bat pavilion was the place to be, a lively global crowd on the Lunar New Year

And the bats came out. And out. And out. Millions of bats. In waves and waves. They flew overhead and circled back. You could hear their masses of wings beating.

We also did the canopy walk. 25 meters up, 425 meters long, and apparently the longest tree based canopy walk in the world. The guide warned us it was not for those with a fear of heights. Or a fear of swinging swaying narrow walkways. The guide also warned us not to drop our phones as the locals would retrieve them for us, but would also charge for retrieval. A river retrieval would of course cost more than a jungle floor retrieval.

Heading out, two by two, per instructions. A fellow tourist took this photo for us. We all took photos of each other and shared via Airdrop.

The Canopy Walk was a success.No cell phones were dropped.

Mulu Park is quite well run. We had no problem signing up via email for tours in advance (recommended!). There was plenty of staff on hand to check you in for tours. The tour guides all came from local communities, and knew traditional customs and ways of life since their families lived them. Facilities were well kept up, the park cafe was open 7:30 to at least 8:30 and the food was pretty good.

And another lunch at Mulu cafe, overlooking the river.

Where were we when not walking through caves in Mulu? At the Mulu Marriott. The hotel was only about a six minute drive from the park, by frequent on-call shuttle van or open air truck. There are also options available inside the park, hostels or lodges, and home stays just outside the park and right across the river from the Marriott. Something for any budget, really.

Loading up the human cattle car. It was actually quite nice. A breeze. A view. Your fellow hotel guests.

Bamboo shaded walkway at the Marriott. The entire hotel is built up from the jungle floor on boardwalks and stilts.

Rich chilling waiting for the shuttle to the park.

Enjoying a glass of wine in the River Bar. Not only was this a great place to bird watch, but it was also the only place to get connected to WiFi.

The Travel Planner hard at work, binoculars at the ready for bird spotting.

Breakfast outside at the Marriott, binoculars still ready for bird peeping.

The resident cat family. Ever hopeful for food.

Little girls are always a good bet for tidbits to the cats.

And nice young men, apparently. The cats migrated from table to table.

We settled on Mulu National Park as a place to be over Lunar New Year, it seemed a good way to escape the crowds and noise of the cities and festivities. It was a great decision, peaceful, busy but not super crowded, and we had the pleasure of meeting a lot of other visitors. When you’re all staying at the same hotel, and doing the park tours, you get to know the other folks. Quite a few families who were living and working in Brunei had come to the park. It was nice to have opportunities to chat, exchange notes on the tours, and just socialize in general. That is something we can miss out on doing constant travel, the social part of life. All the ex-pat families were so friendly. I suppose it’s a necessity when you relocate for work, get out and make friends wherever you are. We appreciated it very much and loved chatting with folks.

Two sweet girls from Egypt, Dad is an anesthesiologist in Brunei. We got to know this family over a few tours and in the hotel.

Dave and Eileen (hi you two!) from Aberdeen. We shared beers and bat watching.

Four nights was a nice length of time. We could have filled a few more days, there were more walks to do, and for those who crave more adventure there were adventure cave tours, which involved crawling and squeezing and sometimes swimming through caves. Squeezing not for us but two nice American guys we met had a fantastic time on a cave adventure. They were exhausted and filthy but had signed up for another one so obviously enjoyed it.

The happy travelers ready to leave Mulu.

Next up: Miri and Kuching. Kuching is known as the city of cats, so you know what to expect from me!

Borneo, It’s a Jungle Out There!

Ah Borneo, the name for me summons visions of exotic jungles, wildlife, beaches or mountains. And who knew Borneo was the third largest island in the world, somewhat bizarrely split between Indonesia, Malaysia, and the tiny sultanate of Brunei. We have decided to focus on the Malaysian side of Borneo as it’s a bit more tourist friendly and jumping between both sides actually involves a lot more travel and flights. Seeing more of less is still our favorite way.

The 13,500 foot Mount Kinabalu shows itself only briefly most mornings

Our first sunset view in Kota Kinabalu or KK as the the locals refer to it.

We also vividly recall our great three week trip to peninsular Malaysia about 10 years ago. So as we touched down in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the state of Sabah, we were both very excited. Not quite a new country for us, but a very new place. And there is so much to see and experience here.

Kota Kinabalu greeted us with multiple street celebrations and night markets; including the excellent Api Api food market Friday and Saturday Nights on Gaya Street.

The multi cultural melting pot is striking here with an intoxicating mix of customs, manners, religion, and of course, food. Malay (Muslim), Chinese, Indian, and a mix of indigenous and intermixed cultures means that you’ll always be guessing where someone is from.

So many choices and I was very tempted by whatever this spicy beef rib meat was going into, possibly a version of beef Rendang?

But we soon saw a modest line at this stall. This was the man responsible for some magic Mee Goring…we called him grandpa, as he made each batch one (or two) at a time at a very mesmerizing pace. Luckily we got in line early as it grew to near an hour behind us!

And finally perfect Penang Style Mee Goring

To add to the excitement and challenges, our travels have coincided with the lunar new year celebrations in Asia. A month long celebration of the year of the (Wooden) Dragon, with the actual lunar new year on February 10th. So my challenge as the travel planner was to figure out how to work around the potential high lodging costs and travel bottlenecks of the peak of the holiday from about the 9th to 14th. More on the success of our strategy in our next post.

Visiting Asia during the Lunar New Year period means surprise festivals and celebrations pop up everywhere

Very friendly locals in KK. Cheryl was thrilled to see these young ladies lion dancing.

Do not miss lunch at the Sri Latha Curry House in KK. The veggie and chicken curry sets were both colorful and flavorful.

The KK Wetland Ramsar Site is close on the edge of the city and has about 2km of boardwalk walkways and viewing platforms. We visited during low tide so mudskipper and crab viewing was prime. More birds at high tide.

Mud boots available if you want to wade through a short muddy section off boardwalk. We passed as nothing my size (US 14!) anyway, and the walkways were sufficient.

So, since India last year, I’m now a nacent birder and Borneo has an dizzying array of species. I only spotted a few of the 80 species reported just at this wetland center.

Cheryl slightly bemused at my intensity on spotting the White-Collared Kingfisher from a bird blind at the wetlands center.

We like Malaysia, but it it’s always tough for us to have to rely on cars so much to get around as there is no real public transit in Sabah. Grab is the dominant ride hail App here and it works pretty well and is cheap. So we have been using it and make sure we tip well as all ride hail and delivery drivers of the world often seem to be underpaid and under appreciated.

The Sabah museum complex has two separate museums and a dozen or so outdoor buildings from various cultures of Sabah.

The outdoor cultural building area of the Sabah grounds was quite nice, and we had it to ourselves. It could use a little more curation and text on each building.

It is hot in Borneo. So hot and so humid, but this raised indigenous house was surprisingly cool late morning…so we sat still and appreciated the wisdom of pre a/c design.

There were only a few people at the small and mildly engaging Islamic Civilization Museum, but there was a sweet cat.

Athée Islamic Cultural Museum, a beduk drum from Indonesia made with palm wood, cowhide, and tied with rattan …. (SF note: this would be SO cool on Hippie Hill!).

Even I couldn’t resist this sweet kitty while waiting for our return Grab ride. Grab is a ride hail App that is essential in Malaysia if you are not on a tour or renting a car.

Mount Kinabalu dominates this corner of Sabah and occasionally in clear weather, mostly the mornings, you can even see it from KK. It’s also a popular summit climb and epic if it’s clear; but we decided for a number of reasons to skip it. First off; February is still the rainy season here and climbs can be rained out or miserable. I also opted to travel light for 2+ months of travel with just my trusty Ecco sandals and very light running shoes/trainers. An additional pair of size 14 hiking boots takes half my Osprey pack. Oh, and it’s a slog up and down 8,000 feet in 36 hours with a 2am wake up.

At 4,095 meters (13,500 feet) Mount Kinabalu is impressive from a sea level sunrise in KK

There are lodging options outside the park if you have a car but keeping to our blog mantra, we just used a Grab to get to the Park HQ and stayed for 2 nights at the lodging run by Santera. It’s all a bit pricy for what you get; but you are paying for a great location next to the trails, forest and park utilty road. As well as spectacular views of the mountain when clear.

We did a loop our first afternoon up the Pandanus to the Kiau View trail…probably best in the morning when you are likely to get more views.

Fungi and spores everywhere in the slightly more temperate rain forest at 1,600m.

One of the many beautiful orchids in the botanical gardens.

The hiking trails were interesting, but except for the main Silau Silau Trail, not too well maintained. The small botanical gardens boardwalk loop walk is worth doing with a guide (free at 9am or 3pm) as otherwise you’ll miss a lot.

Ok; it’s a bit muddy, steep, but all is ok on our first foray into the NP forest…then it started to rain, and with rain comes leeches.

We made it to the end of the trail but Cheryl was not thrilled with her two leach discoveries… we’ll spare you photo of the welt on the bottom of her foot.

And then Cheryl had to remove this from between my toes…a credit card comes in handy , but this guy had his fill of my blood.

It dumped rain for hours the second afternoon and evening, making the forest and creeks rage with water. We felt bad for the climbers that had set out that morning, but perhaps they missed the worst of it by getting to the first shelter by late afternoon.

This mini Raffesia flower startled us when pointed out by some fellow hikers.

The rainforest around Mount Kinabalu is stunning in some sunlight.

The Medinila were one of the delightful things blooming in February

A fungus city just above the forest floor.

No leeches on Day 2 with pants tucked into socks and no rain in the morning.

We were surprised to learn of the tragic death of 18 climbers on the mountain in the large 2015 earthquake. A huge rock pinnacle let go and also trapped some 100+ climbers.

The lodging in the park ranges from hostel to suites, and there is a decent and pleasant restaurant open for all meals.

Getting back to KK 2 days later was a bit more challenging as no Grab drivers would respond out on the remote location (not surprisingly) and we ended up booking a car back through the park HQ. It all worked out fine; but was about double the Grab rate; even with our generous App tipping.

Back in KK for two nights, we took an early boat to Mamutik Island and were able to snag the end of a picnic table in the shade and have some time to swim with some fish in peace.

Our early boat out to the island. Lots of families travelling during the peak Lunar New Year holiday. Fun to let go and be part of the celebrations.

Our boat captain was definitely racing the adjacent competition to the island. We won as he kicked in large twin engines…ha!

We opted for an apartment near Jettleson Quay in a giant new high rise complex as hotels had already doubled in cost with the run up to the New Year. It was conveniently just a few minutes walk to the boat docks to the islands, but was loud with concrete block echoes, and music and road noise about due to pre-holiday festivities.

Mamutik Island and Mount Kinabalu before the rest of the daytrippers arrived. Those sole footprints are mine.

Monitor Lizards roam all the islands of Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park.

I had hesitations in visiting one or more of the Islands off the coast of KK after reading about overcrowding and trash issues. We didn’t want to add to the problem, but it did seem that trash issue were more discussed pre-pandemic. We also opted for just one island, as you can visit one, two, or three islands in semi scheduled service from one of many boat/tour operators. The crowds did show up later morning but it was not bad, as trash disposal was good and the water seemed clean. Kudos to the park management for this, but they still should revamp and consolidate the many competing boat services, and work on the supply side of plastic, which is everywhere and in everything in Malaysia.

We were pleasantly surprised to see good garbage control on the island and almost no trash on the beach or in the water.

Lunar New Year Instagramming was part of the attraction at these busy islands.

Lots of shade as the midday sun is fierce here. Only the Westerners sat on the beach in full sun, and swim costumes are modest both for cultural norms and sun protection.

Very pleasant in the shade with a breeze.

Happy Travellers enjoying the Lunar New Year vibe in Borneo.

At Kota Kinabalu Airport heading to our next adventure in Sarawak.

Our first week in Borneo was intense. And all peak travel has its ups and downs, but the blessing of having time is to be able to smooth out the bumps and go with the flow a bit more. Sure, Lunar New Year partying meant getting less sleep a few nights in KK, but the festivals, food, and people make up for it. We’re here now and savoring every moment. Happy New Year!

Sun Moon Lake, and Taipei again. Briefly.

Fishing boat on a mirror lake in the morning.

We love cities. Love visiting them, love exploring and speculating. Adore watching the citizens go about their days and testing out the public transit, biking, and walking. And the food choices! So many choices in the Taiwanese cities we visited. But sometimes you just burn out.

The bad air quality definitely contributed to our burn out.

We’d gone back and forth about visiting Sun Moon Lake, and while in Tainan we decided on yes. It would be nice, we thought, to have a break from cities before returning to Taipei, and hopefully the air quality would be better in the mountains. Yes, we’ve lived through much worse air quality for longer in San Francisco during California wildfires, maybe that’s why we’re a bit sensitive to it. It was interesting to hear locals blame bad air quality on pollution blowing over from China, but from what we read a lot is home grown, due to industry, diesel trucks, cars and motorcycles (which I assume includes scooters), and other usual suspects. So, off to the mountains it was. And, our first trip on Taiwan’s very impressive High Speed Rail.

That photo of Rich in front of the HSR train reminds me to tell you the story of his shirt. Probably only we remember his first version of that shirt, it was purchased last January 2023. He bought it in Taipei at the clothing market, a warren of small streets and clothing stalls, wore it in Thailand, India, and Sri Lanka, and finally threw it out our last day in Sri Lanka. Sunblock and sweat had done it in. He missed it. One year later, he found the same stall in the clothing market (more amazing than you can imagine), and bought the exact same shirt!

Train lunch! One chicken and one pork. Bought in the station for about $3.00 each.

Honestly, you just have time to eat your lunch on this trip. The train leaves Tainan at 11:48 and arrives Taichung at 12:30. our only complaint with Taiwan High Speed Rail is it’s too quick a ride! Oh what a problem to have, huh California? So, bus to train, the HSR station is a bit out of town, reachable by rail but the bus was easier for us, and train to Taichung, and then a hour and 15 minute bus ride to Sun Moon Lake.

With our rental bikes, ready for the next day’s sunrise bike ride.

Our hotel, The Laurel Villa, offered a sunrise bike ride, led by one of the family members who owned and operated the hotel. You go pick up a bike from one of the many rental places after 4:00 pm, park it in front of the hotel, and at 6:05 am the next day you ride with Wei, who was born and raised in town, left for university, and came back. He knows his lake.

The lake before the sun peeks over the mountains.

Oh, a rare non selfie. Our lovely guide took the photo for us. As the sun comes up the moisture in the air makes it hazy.

For anyone who does go to Sun Moon Lake, the number one recommendation we have is to get up early and go for a bike ride. Later in the day there are many many many people out on bikes. Many of those many bikes are e-bikes, throttle bikes actually, which don’t require pedaling. Folks are calm and patient, and all the scooter riding gives them good bike skills, but we always prefer no crowds.

Sun Moon Lake’s present size was created with a hydroelectric project built by the Japanese in the 1930s, which joined two smaller lakes together, making the lakes resemble a sun, and a crescent moon. Or, two dragons fighting over a pearl – an island in the lake. The path around most of the lake (joins the road for a few stretches) is beautifully constructed, and the sun and moon motifs along the way show a dedication to the theme.

Had a lovely chat with a couple from Taipei who also got out early.

Our choice to go up to the mountains was rewarded with clear air and nice weather. After our dawn bike ride we returned the bikes, had breakfast in the hotel, a rest, and headed out to hike up to the weather station for a view of the lake from above.

I’m so impressed with the care put into pathways and seating areas around the lake. There are tea growing fields around the lake and the tea leaf motif is picked up in some of the seating areas. It’s a steep climb so the benches are very welcome.

A tea leaf motif and my GORP (good old raisins and peanuts – translation for those of you who didn’t backpack in the 70s). Assembled from 7-11 purchased products.

A fun tea sign on the main street of Shuishe, where our hotel was located.

Our last day was a bit cloudy, but our morning walk before catching the bus back to Taichung was still lovely.

High Speed Rail back to Taipei – only 50 minutes long, eat your lunch quickly – Rich booked a hotel close to the main station so our airport trip two days later would be easy, and we had a short little Taipei stay of two nights. We hit some of our favorites (it thrills me to have Taipei favorites!), black pepper buns at Rahoe Night Market, boba tea, a drink at The Tipsy Dragon Bar, and a new find from Rich – Beercat. Just what it sounds like.

BeerCat ! A bar with cats. Two cats. And the best logo.

Is there anything better than a cat on the bar?

Delicious coffee and tea, mine was the tea, lemon and winter melon.

At the Rahoe night market. I love these little rolling cubes. Put your stuff inside and your kids on top. And I love that the parents didn’t mind me taking a photo.

And the happy travelers are off to Borneo.

Three weeks in Taiwan by train, bus, bike, and only two taxi rides.

Taking the city bus in Taitung to get to the train station.

Yes, we keep track of our travel modes. As long term travelers we have the luxury of time and room for errors, or spending extra time that other travelers might prefer not to “waste” taking buses instead of taxis. We also like to try to experience life the way locals do, as much as we can. Of course Rich always has a back up plan – if this bus hadn’t shown up in ten more minutes we’d walk over to the taxi stand. But show up it did, and we were off to the train station to go to Kaohsiung, a city of 2.7 million.

Last minute mochi snack purchase at the train station.

Rich, in his quest to really understand Taiwan trains, got us business class seats which weren’t really necessary since standard class is comfortable, but you know, for research sake. He also managed to book us in the single seats on the coastal side of the train, so fantastic views out a window each. Interestingly enough, a mother daughter duo from the bus were also in the business class train car with us.

Something that is necessary is a plan for what to do when you arrive at your destination before your hotel lets you check in. Check in times in Taiwan are quite strict, usually 3 or 4 pm, so if your train arrives before that, you need to have an idea of where to go after you drop your bags at your hotel. We were glad our hotel in Kaohsiung, Hotel dua, let us check in when we arrived at about 1:30. We think that was due to the fact that we were staying for four nights. But we were ready with our plan. YouBikes to the Museum of History.

Our trusty Easy Card works for any city bus, and all YouBikes everywhere in Taiwan. Awesome!

The Easy Cards, purchased in Taipei when we landed, reloadable in any convenience store – and also works in vending machines and some shops.

For us, riding bikes in an urban environment isn’t daunting. And with so many scooters in Kaohsiung we felt in good company. The cycling is certainly not the best in the world, but with the long distances and flat terrain, riding bikes is such a good way to get around. We met up with a fellow traveler, Martin (Hi Martin!), from Sweden, for pizza at a place that seemed not too far away from both our hotels. Ha! We all exclaimed at how much further it was than it first appeared on the map, us bicycling and Martin walking. It’s always so great to meet other travelers and swap stories and travel tips and learn about each other’s lives. Always say hello to fellow travelers, even if it feels awkward at first. I’ve had to get over my uncomfortableness about asking people where they are from, I’ve learned to phrase it “Where are you visiting from?”. That helps avoid awkward moments when you might have assumed incorrectly about a person’s home country. Taiwan doesn’t have that many western tourists so seeing other travelers is not common, which makes it even more fun to find out where folks are from and what their deal is.

Our YouBikes outside a 7-11 on our way to hike Monkey Mountain, also known as Shoushan Mountain. We stopped for snacks.

Starting up the many many stairs of Monkey Mountain.

After seeing this sign we stopped eat all of our snacks before encountering any ravenous monkeys.

The second sign warning not to feed the monkeys. Ok ok, we thought.

Wait? We also have to worry about monkeys jumping on our backs? Keep calm. Don’t panic. Don’t try to push the monkey away? Walk away calmly?

We did spend some time pretending to screech and swat monkeys off our backs, and then when we did encounter some Formosan rock macaques we walked by gingerly, saying hey buddy, no food in our packs, it’s all in our bellies now.

I will sit innocently on this bench. Just a cute monkey.

I will sit fifteen feet from that monkey watching it like a hawk.

Just as we were thinking the monkey problem was maybe overblown, someone took an empty crisp bag out of their backpack and chaos erupted when one monkey grabbed it and took off and ten other monkeys gave chase! Round and round the seating and view area the monkeys went until they gave up and the ringleader discovered his prize was an empty bag.

Count the disappointed monkeys in this photo. Three. Adorable tiny baby learning to be a menace at mama’s knees.

Monkeys aside, the trail up and around the mountain is very nice, well worth hiking. We were there on a weekday and were surprised at how many folks were hiking. I suspect it would be very crowded on a weekend.

When the trail is not going up or down loads of stairs it winds through old coral reefs pushed up out of the sea eons ago.

The views of both the city and the Taiwan Strait/Pacific Ocean, on a clear day would be amazing. However, the air quality was not brilliant the day we hiked.

Coming down from the hike you can again spot the dominant mode of transport: scooters. Spot the monkey. Locals put sticks across their scooter seats to prevent Mr. Monkey from making himself comfortable.

All this hiking and biking makes for hungry travelers. We joke that we are rarely so happy as when at a good hotel breakfast buffet, and Hotel dua fit that requirement well. Breakfasts in Taiwan are veggie heavy which is wonderful. We’re not strict vegetarians but certainly prefer to eat healthy, and the vegetables and tofu options available at a Taiwanese hotel buffet are fantastic.

Energy to ride along the Love River in Kaohsiung.

And to admire the Kaohsiung Music Center.

And just enough energy to wait for and board the ferry to Cijin Island, a quick five minute ride.

And refuel with a boba tea before checking out another YouBike to explore the small barrier island.

We brought our swim suits along, but it was a bit too chilly and windy to swim.

So we people and dog watched for a while.

Cijin was first settled as a fishing village and has morphed into to a shipping hub, and a tourist attraction. It’s a pleasant place to ride bikes along the beach, and in warm weather, to swim. The main street is a typical tourist drag of kinda tacky shops and restaurants. We returned to the main city to eat lunch but if you like crab, there are loads of places to chow down on crab.

Cijin Tunnel, complete with fun light display. Spits you out on the windy north end of the island.

Other than Taipei, walking in the larger cities we visited, Kaohsiung and Tainan for example, is not fantastic. There are main streets with nice wide sidewalks but loud traffic, and smaller back streets with loads of scooters, which keeps you looking over your shoulder and ducking into doorways to get out of the way. The traditional shop house streetscape (business shop downstairs and living quarters upstairs) used to mean that you had a connected and sheltered arcade to walk through. In the world of scooters and cars that space is frequently occupied by, yes, cars and scooters.

This arcade is passable, many are even more parked in.

The smaller alleyways offer shade but you do need to listen for scooters and make way.

Typical mid sized street. Not much space for pedestrians. The arcades are not contiguous at all.

There are many charming things to see as you walk though. And since the weather was mild, not hot and no rain, we did a lot of walking. You can’t let the first impression of cities focusing for cars and scooter access put you off, if you walk and look more closely you can see the life of these of cities playing out at street level.

A beautifully tiled and colored doorway, Tainan.

Noodles hanging in the old market streets in Tainan.

Minding the tea shop and waiting for customers.

A covered street, this must be welcome relief from the sun and rain. Kaohsiung.

Not far from these small streets are wide main boulevards with huge wide sidewalks and long lights to wait at before you cross. Kaohsiung.

Everywhere we went in Taiwan, cities, farmland, trails, we saw almost zero trash. And you also see almost no trash cans. If you purchase food or drink you have three choices: give the empty packaging back to the vender, carry it with you until you see a convenience store and go inside to throw it away, or carry it with you for a long time until you see a public trash can. They do exist but not a lot of them. Taiwan mounted a successful campaign against waste, one which is a model for other countries. In a nutshell, you pay as you throw away, by buying the garbage bags you must use, and producers have more responsibility for the products they create and the waste that generates. Per this article “Taiwan’s household recycling rate in 2017 was over 50%, making it second in the world to Germany.” And yes, the garbage trucks play “Für Elise” or “Maiden’s Prayer” as they ply the streets. After three weeks here both Rich and I are humming along with the trash truck tunes when we hear them.

Ok, enough with city garbage logistics! Lunar New Year is coming. The year of the wooden dragon. Temples have piles of spirit money for people to purchase and burn to honor their ancestors.

Outside a temple folks line up to burn the joss paper, or spirit money.

The spirit money is to make sure your ancestors are well provided for in the afterlife.

Happening on a New Year Parade in Tainan.

I don’t want to leave the impression that Taiwan has forsaken pedestrians and bicyclists, the bike share program YouBike is very robust. And there are pedestrian scrambles (where the lights turn red in all directions and pedestrians can cross kitty corner) at busy intersections.

Scrambles are marked with hours they are in effect.

In Kaohsiung a new light rail loops the city. Folks were sightseeing from it, including us.

I’m always happy to see new public transit systems.

However, it’s not as easy to be a bicyclist as say, a scooterist. And outside of a big city like Taipei where you would use a bike as a last kilometer solution after taking the MRT, in Kaohsiung and Tainan a scooter is the clear choice. It gets hot much of the year, we’re here in January for a reason – cool enough for us to walk and bike. So we’re viewing this transportation scape through tourist eyes, and seeing what’s missing for us. Honestly, the scooter life seems to work very well for folks. You go right where you want and easily park. If Taiwan could accelerate the switch to electric scooters it would be amazing. The noise and pollution would be decreased and streets would be much more pleasant and livable.

Heading out to Anping in Tainan. A decent bike path along the Anping Canal.

But as in many cities, it’s the intersections where things fall apart. This one took us some long awkward time to get through, if it had been hot it would have been intolerable.

I’m going to write a separate post about our escape from cities to countryside, but first, a few more photos of the fun we had.

Boba to drink while waiting for laundry to get done.

And finally, a bus to catch to the high speed rail station.

The Happy Travelers at Chikan Tower, Tainan.

The map! Hearts are where we stayed, the blue dot is us in Taipei when I snapped this photo. Thanks google maps.

A Rift in Our Travels

After three days of romping around Taipei and getting over our jet lag, we set off from the city on a big clockwise loop of Taiwan.

Rail is in my heart at the Hualien Railway Culture Park

We were excited to head out of Taipei Central to Hualien City, at the north end of the East Rift Valley. Hualien is a city reinventing itself with culture and art, and is now more than a gateway to the immensely popular Taroko Gorge.

A bit too early on the platform at Taipei Central; Cheryl’s trendy TJs bag at my side

Ocean view from the TzeChiang Express train. Plenty of room in the standard seats

But first, a few train tips for the wonky planners out there. In addition to local and high speed rail on the west coast, the east is served by modern Tze Chiang limited express trains travelling up to 125mph. They are spotless, spacious, and punctual. And although we tried the business class on one segment, regular cars and seats are plenty roomy. If anything, we found the new trains a bit too clean and sterile, but certainly a pleasant and very low stress way to go.

You can pre-order a train bento on the TRA App for less than $3 and it’s delivered to your seat

Taipei Central’s local platforms are not wide or particularly pleasant and there are not really any services beyond the pay gates, so I’d recommend getting to the platform no more than 10 minutes prior to departure as it’s easy to find the platforms and coach number sign. Hang out or get food in the adjacent shopping mezzanine. At some stations; they don’t let you onto the platforms until 10 minutes prior.

The regular meat bento was pretty good considering, although maybe not up to the hype of its somewhat cult following. Cheryl got the veggie version -:).

You can buy tickets on the TRA App or at the stations, but I found the app pretty convenient for booking tickets once you get the hang of it. One person can buy tickets using their passport number for up to 5 people and pay by Credit card or Apple Pay. You then collect your ticket on your mobile and have the other passenger (s) download their ticket on their phone (in the App) as you provide the reservation # and a 3 digit collection code.

The charms of many smaller Taiwanese cities take awhile to reveal themselves in back alleys, converted old buildings and lots of plants.

Red lanterns ready to be deployed in Hualien for the month+ long Lunar New Year celebrations.

Note that as soon as you click on a specific train after searching time and destination, a reservation and seats will be made immediately. You have a reservation and specific deadline shown to pay via credit card or Apple Pay (very convenient) or at the station. You can delay paying for tickets for a day or two (it gives you the deadline). This gives you an easy option to change or cancel tickets, but a word of warning, I did this a few too many times as I was learning the system and it locked my passport number for a month! I’m guessing the limit was about 4-5 incomplete/unpaid reservations. I could have called customer service and perhaps begged for tourist mercy, but we got around this by reversing our process and buying the tickets on Cheryl’s TRA app (and her passport number) and then I downloaded second ticket to my phone. You only need one ID to buy tickets via the App.

It also is smart to wait to collect the tickets on the App (or at the station) until you are sure that you want to take that specific train, as this allows you to change a ticket on the App, not just at the station. Apparently locals don’t “collect” tickets until the last minute for this reason.

Hip coffee shops abound and are generally only open after 11am or even later as the coffee cafe culture is an afternoon thing in Taiwan.

By the way, there are also local trains that you can see on the App timetables but you can’t buy reserved tickets. For those, you just show up and use your IC tap card to enter and exit the station and take any seat on those trains. They are also the easiest option with bikes.

Ready to scan my QR ticket at the turnstiles.

Taiwan is really promoting cycle tourism and these helpful signs are everywhere around cities, transfer areas, and stations.

Besides trains, I love to study the geography and geology of the very place we visit. It always shapes the history; culture, and economy. The geography of Taiwan is dominated by a central ridge of mountains, the remnants of the formation of the island from magma rising up between the junction of the Eurasian’s and Philippine tectonic plates. The central range reaches heights of over 3000m (10,000ft) and it does snow sometimes in the higher elevations in winter. So only 30% of the country is flat, and much of that is highly developed.

A second smaller coastal mountain range hugs the east coast. These ranges are both actually rising as the Philippine plate continues to push against and under the Eurasian plate. The valley where the plates meet, the East Rift, is one of the only flat areas on the east side of the country. It’s also fertile for growing things year round and attractive for cycling. Most of the industry and population of Taiwan is concentrated on the north (Taipei valley) and west sides, so the east has always been considered a more wild and remote place.

We loaded up on veggies at the Azure Hotel’s amazing vegetarian breakfast buffet for three days and used it as an excuse for street food, night markets and other less healthy options the rest of the day -:).

Ok, so onto our travels. We spent three days in Hualien and used it as a base to visit the famous Taroroko gorge and Taroko National Park for a full day by train, bus, and foot. The geography of the mountains is dramatic and consequently there are a lot of issues with rockfall, slides and road/trail closures. There are very limited bus services up and down the gorge now due to construction around a massive landslide that occurred in October 2023. There is single lane traffic controls and you can wait for up to an hour to get through each way, even if you hire a scooter or taxi for the day.

But we love buses and challenges, so decided that we would catch the earliest #302 bus from Xincheng Taroko station at 9am (the #310 bus is not currently running into the gorge) and ride it all the way to its end at Tianxiang. You can drive (or bike!) further than that and apparently it is much less visited beyond the reach of the buses.

Oops, our electric bus broke down half way to our destination in the park.

Our short train hop from Hualien arrived Xianming about 8:30 and there were about 30 tourists waiting for the bus, including some other Americans from Utah. After we boarded, the driver made a long speech in Mandarin that didn’t sound encouraging but somewhat surprisingly, our young pale Utah friend spoke Mandarin and translated for us. It turns out he was half Taiwanese! The driver was just preparing everyone for what we already knew, that there would be significant delays at the construction. So the half of us who were still on the bus at the construction were all patient for the 40 minute delay.

We were finally rolling again through the closure and spectacular gorge scenery, when suddenly the electric bus started to stall and sputter. The driver mumbled, stopped, and fixed (rebooted?) the batteries in the back, and we rolled on again slowly. But alas 500m onwards the bus finally died for good. So the remaining dozen or so of us got off and walked on the road. But we soon figured how nice it actually was walking the road, as the normal continuous two way traffic didn’t exist due to the long road closures all day. Roll with it and we’ll see what we see.

Happy travelers rolling with the bends in the road today

Plan B, walk the Lushui trail for a few kms

Oops; trail closed midway so back to the road

Cheryl resigned to wait for the next bus…at least she had some books on her phone…

It was peaceful and beautiful, and we walked to a campground area with bathrooms a few kilometers up the road. We then decided that we’d hike some of the Lushui trail which branched off the road above and then try to catch the next bus as it rolled by in about an hour. Well, the geologic gods had also closed that trail in its middle, so after a pleasant 30 minute out and back, we returned to the campground bus stop and resigned ourselves to wait up to an hour for the next bus. It was too far to walk (15km) and there were dark tunnels with no shoulders. But after about 10 minutes, a nice young Dutch couple in a little white car came by and offered us a ride to the end! Very nice and put our day back on track -:). They also were going to the Bayiang Trail, so we avoided another km+ of road walking.

Made it to Baiyang Trail with time to review the rules of monkey engagement -;)

A mysterious start to the trail takes you through a mountain to another side gorge

We were lucky that the Baiyang trail had just reopened after its own landslide closures. We could see why.

After walking back to Tianxiang, we got some tasty food at one of the small cafes there.

This crazy territorial macaque grabbed food from unsuspecting people coming out of the only 7-11 in the national park and was hilariously peeling off the warning signs!

Taroko is a special place and we’re glad we made the effort, but can imagine with normal traffic and tour buses it may be a bit much. We also noticed that cycling is possible, as the lower climb is spread out over 30km or so. You would be rewarded with continuous views but do need to mind the many narrow tunnels.

Exploring the East Rift valley on rental bikes (Giant of course).

A surprise stop at an old Japanese temple. There is a strong Japanese cultural legacy on Taiwan due to its 50 years of occupation.

Next up was a short train ride to Yuli, where we spent two nights in a small hotel. This allowed us a full day cycling up to and exploring YuShan National Park. Much less visited than Taroko and the jumping off point for the Walami trail.

Destination reached at the pleasant Liyu Lake.

A delicious indigenous influenced meal at the Liyutan Tree House near the lake. The preservation of indigenous culture is a priority on the East Coast where it survived longer due to its isolation.

Cycling in Hualien was fun since we were really the only foreign tourists about.

We’ve been eating well, but the food customs and timing can sometimes pose a problem. We have loaded up at some our breakfast buffets, which generally have many savory and healthy options. Lunch is a small restaurant/shophouse stand. Street and night markets are always an option but you need to be up for crowds and eating small things standing up at the edge of the road or against a building. We actually prefer food oriented streets to night markets. Oh, and good pizza is popular here, and a trusty traveler break from a lot of (excellent) Taiwanese food.

About our fifth beef noodle try, this one with the works of tripe and knuckle…mmmm!

Even the dogs know that scooters are the way to go in Taiwan.

This giant fried chicken vat amazed us at the most popular stand at the Yuli Night Market (Fridays Only!) .

Yuli is a bit drab to be honest but the area around it is peaceful to cycle. Many of the Tawainese cities are spread out and walking not always the most pleasant as most locals use scooters to get from point A to B, they don’t consider long walking practical. We found it to be much better to bike from place to place and walk locally, especially when looking for restaurants. Small places on Google are often hard to locate, closed, or don’t seem to exist. But you’ll always find something and just need to stay flexible or pick a well established place with lots of reviews (including recent ones).

The area SW of Yuli is pleasant for cycling and a good way to get to YuShan.

Yea! we made it the official park boundary at El 1500 ft.

Suspension Bridge Number 1 and my number one travel companion -:).

I hiked in to this beautiful waterfall complex and suspension bridge number two while Cheryl enjoyed promised reading time!

From Yuli, we had another short train ride to Taitung, where we spent another two nights. Taitung has a great museum of Prehistory on its outskirts that was worth a stop on its own. Although Taitung has a bit of an art scene by the old train station, if you are short of days, you might consider a stop at Taitung train station and storing your bags in the train station lockers to visit the museum (10-15 mins by taxi or bus, cafe or picnic on site) and then roll on to your next destination. Of course if you have your own wheels, then the areas north and south have lots of natural beauty and are certainly worth it exploring.

Taitung’s old railway station has been turned into a pleasant cultural area.

And alas that’s one of our limitations without a car or cycle touring here. We do miss a lot of the places in between, but we’ve balanced that by getting out of each region by bus or bike and seeing quite a bit. It really depends on what you like, and we do like cities. And we’re seeing enough, as experiences can be had anywhere.

So we’re now on the west coast and heading back towards Taipei. The lunar new year buzz has started and we look forward to sharing more about our experiences soon. Happy travels!

Taiwan. So fun we came back to see more.

In January of 2023 we came to Taiwan on our way to Bangkok. We were only in Taipei, and just for a week, but we loved it. When we were discussing where to start our 2024 travels Taiwan was top of the list. It’s a long flight from San Francisco to Taipei, but non stop. This time we’re here for three weeks and will circling the island via train.

Back at our local MRT stop, Jiantan on the Red Line.

What is it we love about Taipei? It’s a very easy city to visit. Great transit, amazing food options, such helpful locals. It seems to be an overlooked Asian City. Taiwan has close ties to the US, we know folks in SF who have Taiwanese roots, so it’s one of the many places in the world where locals happily tell us about their connections in the US. Since we landed on Election Day there were even more returned Taiwanese since they must come back to Taiwan to vote. No mail in ballots here.

Joplin Fried Dumpling restaurant which Rich wanted to try. Yikes, looks a bit confusing, but fear not.

A young man in line in front of us explained that you take a clipboard to fill out your order, and a number from the push button machine.

Done and done. At this point a young woman behind us checked to make sure we had gotten a number. People want to make sure you’re all set, which is so appreciated. Google translate helped us through the menu in Chinese.

After paying at the register, where the cashier advised us to change our order to one set of pan fried and one set of boiled dumplings, she gestured us towards a table and I went to get our dipping sauces. She left her cash register to come over to explain the different sauces to me.

Cheryl demonstrating her chopstick skills with a boiled dumpling.

The pan fried dumplings. Crispy bottoms. Delicious.

I could fill an entire blog post with photos of amazing food in Taipei and how incredibly nice and helpful people are, but food isn’t the only thing that brought us back here. We are both big fans of cities, and getting to see and understand what makes a city a good place to live, or a bad place to live, intrigues us. And how a government helps or hinders its citizens. What steps have been taken to make a city more livable? To allow young and old to live safely and happily? What is the temperament of the locals? Do they seem happy or cranky?

Raingo umbrella rental. When you get caught out by rain. Some MRT stations also have courtesy umbrella stands where you can borrow an umbrella for free.

This group of children were rain ready in their bright ponchos.

Plenty of water fountains and taps. In most playgrounds and parks, of which there are many.

The QR code shows you the water quality tests. And to answer your next question, yes! Loads of public toilets too.

In the Shilin District the space under the metro tracks is for folks on foot and bikes.

In a metro station, you can always find a way to charge your cell phone. A simple outlet, or a battery pack for rent.

We keep saying we want to bike tour in Taiwan, but haven’t gotten it together to get our bikes here. There are places that rent touring bikes, similar to what we did in Korea, but I have a hard time getting a bike that fits correctly and comfortably. Being uncomfortable and eventually in pain on a bike is no fun.

Getting around by bike is popular in Taipei.

In order to sign up for a UBike account we used the app, our Taiwan phone numbers which came with our SIM cards, and a transit card – which you tap for not only transit, but the UBikes, and to my delight, vending machines. (Hello Gummy candies.) You link your transit card to the app and that is how you pay for the UBikes; super easy.

A proper city bike with fenders and a basket.

Ok, a bit small for Rich, but fine for a few hours of riding.

Plenty of bike stations from which to check out and return the bikes.

Which makes it easier to get around the city and check out attractions such as the Taipei Expo Park.

And the Lin An Tai Historical House and Museum

Scooter/bike lanes are everywhere and even take you across major bridges.

Riding to New Taipei City. We made it just before it started to dump rain.

So we ride the bike share, we walk a lot, and we use the Metro. That’s our Taipei experience. And yes, we go to night markets and stand in line to buy food, and sometimes eat food from one stall while we’re standing in line to buy food from another stall.

Cold spicy miso noodles at Shilin Night Market.

So it’s off to the Sheng Jian Bao stand.

Two kinds of bao, pork and cabbage. Neither are vegetarian, they let you know as you order.

Both are delicious. There are downsides to Taipei night markets – one of which is no place to sit and enjoy your food. We were standing in a closed up shop’s front steps.

Another downside? Taipei night markets get crowded. They are not for folks who dislike crowds.

There are plenty of restaurants to enjoy as well for when you want to sit to eat. This was a burger restaurant with good craft beer.

With our fondness for Taipei definitely confirmed we’re headed out to explore some more of Taiwan. Where? Anywhere we can get to by train. In a clockwise direction. First stop, Hualien City. Just about two hours by train. More from the rest of Taiwan soon.

Ah, trains. Enjoying the view of the coast.

The holiday whirlwind and nomadic musings.

In San Francisco posing in front of someone else’s house. It must have been some party! Real snow and trees.

I’m writing on Christmas Eve day, looking back on six weeks of time in the US so far. Chicago, Colorado, California, and now Washington. Thanksgiving and Christmas this year are times to get together with friends and family, to try to renew the bonds which constant travel can fray, and catch up on small and large life events which feel like the very important glue holding relationships together.

Gorgeous White Park cow waiting for their water trough to fill.

To dip in and out of folks’ lives like we do can be challenging. To us the traveling, the changing locations and adapting to a new place is just life, it’s what we’ve been doing for almost two and a half years. But what’s it like for our friends and family to have us plop down in their houses and let out a big sigh and say repeatedly how lovely it is to be somewhere familiar?

Uh. You coming out to throw my ball? Soon?

The Getty Center in Los Angeles. The week after Thanksgiving can be a great time to visit attractions – not crowded at all.

Rich and our niece pondering life and the view.

Mercedes Dorame’s installation Woshaa’axre Yaang’aro (Tongva for “looking back”).

How tired are they of our travel tales? Are we getting insufferable? When, we hear from some friends, are we going to settle down? Get jobs again? Do some volunteer work? Something other than this constant travel and adventure and fun.

Wildwood Regional Park, Thousand Oaks California.

The creek is an oasis for wildlife. And us.

Short answer- not right now. Two plus years in and we’re still very content with our lives. We visit our storage unit when we’re back in SF (it’s actually in Walnut Creek), roll up the door and say “So much stuff!”. It’s not really that much stuff, the unit is only 10×15 feet, and we carefully considered what was worth storing and liberated the rest. We swap out some clothing and shoes, exclaim over the things we can see, oh look at that chair, my favorite. And then we roll the door back down, lock it, and leave.

San Francisco City Hall in festive red and green.

An SF Victorian decked out for the holidays.

We do miss nesting, especially around the holidays. Having a place set up to your own specifications, the things you want close to hand, comfortable furniture to enjoy. This is where house sitting, through Trusted Housesitters, becomes such a joy. With careful planning we can find sits in places we want to be for the holidays, Christmas in Seattle this year, near good friends with whom we will stay before and between two house sits. Right now, for Christmas, we have a lovely kitty to cuddle, and a comfortable house to enjoy and look after for the homeowners.

SF leans in to Christmas lights. And the buildings wear them well.

And what’s next? As we were boarding a flight from Denver to Burbank a few weeks ago Rich was trying to book flights for us from Singapore to Geneva in March. The website was not cooperating and he was frantically trying to get the payment through before we got to the gate agent. His boarding pass is on the phone. The tickets to Geneva are almost on his phone. I teased him, you know you have a travel problem when you’re booking tickets for a flight while boarding a flight. It’s not a problem, he corrected me. I did it.

Rich is working on our onward travels. SF to Taiwan. Borneo, Malaysia. Somewhere somewhere, and Singapore to Geneva via Istanbul in March. To be reunited with our touring bicycles. We look forward to bike touring so much.

Our sweet elder kitty at sit number one. The heating vent is Maggie’s favorite spot.

Our end of year list of countries as traveled: USA, Taiwan, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Japan, South Korea, USA, Switzerland, France, Germany, Chezia, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, UK, France, Albania, North Macedonia, USA. Happy Holidays wherever you may be.

Albania-America

Cheryl and I are finally back in America now experiencing a bit of culture shock after 5 1/2 months in Europe. But after a jarring first few days where I felt both dizzy from the jet lag and the immersion into abundance, everything is feeling familiar again. There is a nice sense of relief that comes from being in a culture we understand. Well, mostly understand.

Off the tourist track in Elbasan, Albania.

Walking up Rhuga Thoma Kalefi, the busy market street of Elbasan.

And coming to America directly after a month in Albania has given us a real sense of contrast and the imbalance of opportunity. The GDP per capita of America is over 10x Albania’s. After 45 years of a repressive and closed dictatorship, no one takes their opportunity for granted in Albania. Young Albanians are globally aware with media and the internet, and emigration is still seen as the primary path to success, whether it be legal emigration to the US, UK, France, or Germany or a more desperate journey to Italy across the Adriatic. 10% of Albania’s GDP is in the form or remittances from abroad, a very high number for what now is technically considered a middle income country.

Ohrid, North Macedonia had a proper bus station which already differentiated it from our experiences in Albania.

But as always, I digress and obsess about geo and socio-economic issues. It’s one of the main reasons I love to travel…a fuller understanding of the world. A chance to talk to people at the source. Read, learn, and experience at the same time.

Trying to remember that we were still in Europe at the Elbasan Bus “Station”.

So when we have an opportunity to stop at a small city off the tourist track, especially if it’s on the way to another destination, we almost always say yes. Sometimes these hidden gems are some of your favorite places. Untouristed cities offer the opportunity to get off the guidebook and instagram track. Elbasan, Albania is the fourth largest city in Albania and only about 45 minutes south of Tirana. A few people had mentioned Elbasan, but I didn’t really have a “recommendation”. I figured out that the one international bus from Lake Ohrid to Tirana went right through Elbasan on the way. The challenge was that Elbasan wasn’t an official stop and this was a large coach bus run by the international Bus company, Eurobus. It would also save us going back into busy Tirana to transfer to Berat later.

Crossing the Gorica Bridge in Berat. The hostel was close enough to just carry our (~10kg) bags and not go to backpack mode.

14th-16th century frescoes in the Kisha e Shën Kollit, one of the many churches inside the sprawling Berat Castle.

So we decided we’d buy bus tickets online to Tirana (as this was the only option) and then hope the bus could drop us on the way. I held off booking any accommodation until we confirmed on the bus. We asked the driver as we boarded and they put our luggage in a separate compartment underneath. Cool, we’re doing this. As it turned out, we were the only two getting off anywhere else on this run. Hmm, why isn’t anyone else getting off in Elbasan?

The pleasant streetscape view from our apartment in Berat with the nearly 8,000 foot Mt. Tomorri in the clouds.

Our apartment in Berat was accessed off this side street under construction. A bit noisy for us, but happy they were creating more pedestrian space and plazas.

The bus was a complete mix of passengers from other Balkan countries and further afield, so the border crossing between North Macedonia and Albania was slow. We all handed our passports to a young (unmarked) guy who walked down the aisle of the bus and then disappeared. He finally returned 45 minutes later and then tried to make his way down the aisle with 50 passports. He tried to call out many challenging names as the bus swerved and swayed in sweeping corners descending over a thousand feet from the pass that separates North Macedonia from Albania. As he balanced all the passports in two hands, a particularly sharp corner sent dozens of them scattered across the floor of the bus. Oh great. And then it happened again a few minutes later. It was simultaneously comical and concerning (our passports!), but we mostly felt for the guy as we figured it must be his first day on passport duty.

Traditional clay tile roofs are constantly being patched and repaired.

As it turns out, he was just a random college student sitting up front who was selected/volunteered. I chatted with him at the rest break 20 minutes east of Elbasan. He was ethnic Albanian, but living just over the border in North Macedonia, and attending medical school in Tirana. He said the region near Lake Ohrid was mostly ethnic Albanian. He was likely headed abroad after training as Germany and other countries with staffing shortages are recruiting educated Albanians aggressively.

Cheryl posing with our only full size coach ride Ohrid to Tirana (Elbasan). Just hang on to your passport!

I hope he got a free bus fare or something for his effort. By the way, we did all get our passports back eventually as the travel gods made it all work out just fine.

Climbing to the high ridge towards the village of Drobonik above Berat. Look for the trail that heads SW out of Gorica.

Our 6 mile loop took us past grapes ready for harvest, possibly Pulës for white wine or Raki.

Old school still rules in much of Albania.

Trying to get back on course after a lively conversation with school kids in Drobonik.

A mountain/rural cycle route program above Berat was slightly aspirational here, but there are real opportunities for robust outdoor and green tourism in the future.

Elbasan itself has a nice Main Street lined with buzzy cafes, wide sidewalks, and ending at a large car free promenade space in front of its historic castle walls. It’s a busy market city too and has lots of young people and a university. The castle is unique as it’s on the flats of a valley, and is integrated into the fabric of the city with a few cafes and lodging options, mixed with regular city residents. It’s not the most picturesque castle or old town, and there are not really any other major sities of interest in Elbasan, but it does have a pleasant park, and we enjoyed our 24 hours there. People were friendly and genuinely pleased to see us tourists, and we were happy to see them. We did spot a cycle tourist from Germany at a cafe, but it turns out he was going to camp in the nice river valley west of town, so it did seem to be just Cheryl and I as far as tourists in this small city of 140,000. Our reward was really friendly locals at lunch and dinner, with a clear excitement to have Americans visiting. Albanians really are nice once you get through their guarded facade. The old adage that the fewer tourists a place gets, the more friendly and genuine the engagements resonated here.

How old is this olive tree? Older than me?

A sad reality of Albania is ubiquitous garbage and a lack of proper sanitation, especially at the edges of towns and villages

Slightly off course hiking but we now had a visual on Berat so just had to let gravity do its thing.

But our real goal after Ohrid was the historic city of Berat, so we took another stab at minibus roulette and had a hotel taxi take us to the bus station of Elbasan. It was both a lively and grungy spot, and once again, we were the ONLY obvious foreign tourists hanging out there. And thanks to the random minibus schedules, we were there for almost two hours. There is a decent cafe with a rustic bathroom (squat loos) on its edge, so it was ok. And as always, people were super friendly and leave you be as desired. Albania is chill.

The lively main promenade of Berat was a delight to stroll in early evening

The nice thing about our minibus from Elbasan to Berat (besides the cool music) was that it dropped us near the center of Berat and we could walk to our first nights’ lodging at a popular hostel in Gorica. (Double room, no bunks for these 50 somethings -:) The buses from Tirana to Berat generally only stop at the bus station outside of town, so you need to taxi or take the public bus.

The classic Ottoman style wood and stone architecture of Berat, a UNESCO world heritage site since 2008

Berat has a few different historic subvillages to explore on both sides of the river.

Berat is in located in an atmospheric location the Osum River valley and is a fascinating place to explore with rapidly developing tourism. It’s been a tourist star for a long time, but civic improvements and more restorations of crumbling buildings and ancient sites is making it even more appealing. After our night in the friendly (but young) Maya Hostel, we found a nice apartment in the center of town to settle into for three days. A number of apartments in older (non historic) buildings have surprisingly nice interiors in a rough shell and exterior. I had to block my inner civil engineer concerns as lightly reinforced concrete buildings with clay blocks are the standard construction style. Most would probably ok in a smaller earthquakes but would be no match for a big one. A moderate earthquake in Northern Albania in 2019 did kill and injure a lot of people, so hopefully more investment will bring more modern buildings and retrofits.

Back to a more standard minibus in Berat…departure TBD.

Legroom varied on the minibuses, but I usually straddled two seats or an aisle no problem.

We then caught our final minibus back to Tirana, with half hourly departures posted everywhere online…. but our (small bus/large minibus) still left randomly off of any schedule. We were excited to head back to Tirana for our final 5 nights, as we found it so surprisingly pleasant and green in our first touch down.

The Grand Park of Tirana was busy on a Sunday morning with walking, cycling, exercise areas, and a few cafes to enjoy.

Tirana’s Skanderberg Square shines at night.

Gyro style lunch is a “fast food” staple in Albania. I opted for the plate.

Plus, we knew we could now explore Tirana knowing a lot more about Albania after going full circle for nearly a month. Wow, a month in Albania. It was not even on our travel radar until this summer. It’s geographically diverse, but has less than three million people. But our slower tour of the country rewarded us with perspective. Pieces of history and cultural knowledge layered in our minds and gave us a clear understanding of how the complex and recent past has deeply influenced the character of the people. Oh, and the swimming on the coast was divine.

The access tunnel to the BunkArt 1 complex at the edge of Tirana sets the mood.

No person, chemical, or radioactive material was going to get in this massive bunker complex designed to protect Enver Hoxha and his government.

Living quarters for the leaders and basic operational services in the event of an attack from the imperialist forces. Hoxha created an isolated world based on fear most similar today to North Korea.

BunkArt uses many of the unique underground spaces to house art installations.

Lots of new construction on the fringes of Tirana, this with both city and mountain views.

Most Albanians in the world now live outside of Albania. They live all over Europe and the energetic youth clearly have their sights on opportunities abroad, especially Germany, France, and America. But it felt like we were experiencing a tipping point in the fall of 2023. More new and exciting things were happening in Tirana and that energy and prosperity seems to be starting to radiate out. But the reality is much more complex than our optimistic lens from two enthusiastic visitors.

This memorial across the street from the German Embassy commemorates the storming of the embassies by youth seeking asylum in June 1990.

An ad at the French Embassy. Countries are competing for the best and brightest Albanians.

The brain drain is continuing as the youth don’t have the time to wait around for their country to to triple their GDP. (Such as fellow Balkan Croatia) or an order of magnitude of economic opportunity as in Germany. But time and time again, our conversations with locals brought out their pride for their country, but a much more negative view of many aspects of daily life (drivers, corruption, pollution, etc).

A beautiful center running bikeway on Kavaja Street in Tirana. The mayor is progressive and dedicated to greening the City.

Fleets of all-electric taxis were a common sight.

Livable side streets and pedestrian space abounds in central Tirana.

Historic buildings and architecture are now being preserved in Tirana, even if there is not yet money to renovate.

Tirana is green on the inside now, but there is still work to do around the edges.

But this was one of my favorite places to experience now, because of the innocence of the people, and complex and overwhelming history. This innocence will (and is) changing as Albania integrates into the world fully, but for now, you can still experience a bit of the past overlaid by hope for a brighter future.

Ready to go “home” at Tirana International Airport.

Atop the newly renovated and reopened Pyramid of Tirana in a city that will surely be popping up in more travel sections in the coming years.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our American friends and peace to all!

A side trip out of Albania to Ohrid, North Macedonia.

Walking across the border from Albania to North Macedonia, on Lake Ohrid.

When we decided to do all our Albanian travel by bus and an occasional taxi, we knew it wasn’t going to be the easiest way to travel, but as we say to each other “We may see fewer places, but we will experience more”. The trip to Lake Ohrid was a great example of more experiences.

See more of less. Ooooh, travel motto t-shirt? Have I loved every bus trip? No. They have their ups and downs. Occasional motion sickness, drivers who smoke. But the pay off is that we both get to sightsee, we get to experience the same transportation the locals use, and you never know what your day will be like. Seamless? Almost seamless? Complete mess? Who knows? So off we go.

Pogradec Albania, the bus station where we arrived from Korçë. Step one.

Loading our bags into a taxi. Or just a car. Not really sure. Step two.

We walked to the bus station in Korçë, and quickly caught our bus to Pogradec. A town at the foot of Lake Ohrid. When we got off the bus in Pogradec, Albania, and walked towards the street, the driver of another bus asked us “Tirana?” No, Ohrid, we replied. He hooked his thumb towards another guy, “Ask him, he’s the boss.” The Boss agreed to drive us to the border for 1,000 Lek, or $10.00. Albania is a fascinating contradiction of confusing yet surprisingly hassle free. Tourism is still pretty new here, so bus schedules are not set in stone or well documented, but there seems to be very little scamming or property crime directed at tourists. This was a good example, we didn’t even leave the bus parking lot and the first person we interacted with sorted us out. A bit gruff, but helpful.

A welcome sign at the North Macedonia border.

The Boss dropped us right at the border and we put on our backpacks and lined up behind a car and three day tripping Italian tourists (no luggage), and had our passports stamped. Then it was about a kilometer long walk to the North Macedonia border control.

Approaching the North Macedonia border control on foot, step three.

Taking a trail down off the road to Monastery Saint Naum, where we think we can catch a bus to Ohrid.

Crossing the springs which feed into the lake and are a destination and popular sight.

The minibus was easy to find. Second and final bus of the day! Step four.

Step 4.5, try to get in to apartment. We didn’t have cell coverage in Ohrid so Rich had to buy a coffee and use a cafe WiFi to reach the apartment manager. And walk down and back up the hill again.

And a cup of tea on our balcony overlooking the lake. Successful transition.

We were excited to get out and walk the streets, first stop was the Church of Holy Mother, Kamensko.

No photos inside, but the outside was beautiful.

With a sweeping view across the town to the mountains.

The main street is a lovely pedestrian promenade. And the evening walk, xjiro in Albanian, is popular.

Hanging out by the ferry dock as the sun sets.

We had originally planned on 3 nights in Ohrid but switched to 4 nights for two main reasons, we liked our little apartment, which had a kitchen shared with two other units, and we were meeting up with other travelers from a Facebook group I belong to, Go With Less. We’ve done meet ups a few times and it’s always been really fun. You automatically have so much in common with other constant travelers, you get to trade tips, and share stories without having to explain what it is you’re doing.

The traditional old buildings in Ohrid have increasing floor space on each level, leading to this fun streetscape where the top floors of buildings across the street from each other are almost touching.

I like the streetlights which mimic the building silhouette. Some people thought they were a bit cheesy, but not me.

Ohrid is an UNESCO Cultural World Heritage site and has enough fascinating places to keep a visitor busy for several days, more if you enjoy walking the hills and coastal path, as we did. And if you like friendly cats, this is your town.

Up to Samuel’s Fortress (Самоилова тврдина) for a view over the city.

Rich surveys the town. N. Macedonia wins the big flag award. They fly impressively huge flags, very eye catching.

Down a trail and we pass by the Church of Saints Clement and Panteleimon (Православна црква „Свети Климент и Пантелејмон“).

And the Church of Saint John the Theologian (Црква „Свети Јован Богослов“). Are you starting to understand how many churches there are in Ohrid? Apparently at one time there were 365 churches, one for each day of the year.

The stone paved coast path is a lovely walk.

Back to the main street for a snack. Our old friend from Turkey – a Simit! Called a gjevrek here.

Checking out the promenade south of town, also a great space.

And a break for tea and coffee at the cafe where we used the wifi.

And discovered how friendly some of the cats are.

That night we had dinner with fellow travelers Doris, Ron, Peter, and Karen – all super nice Canadians. We met up again the next evening as well.

Get ready for a lot of cat photos. Our final day’s walk involved so many cats who were happy to be pet, to be picked up (unusual for free roaming cats), and would purr in my arms.