Taiwan, Random Photos 2

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.  Spent mine at Cathy's parents', feasting on things like turkey, prime rib, Korean potato noodles, and kimchi.  Yes, I know, very traditional Thanksgiving Day cuisine.  Anyway, some more Taiwan photos:

Shrine at Longshan Temple in Taipei. We arrived during a time of regular worship, as a large congregation of people were chanting when we were first there (I tried my best to stay out of the way). Fun facts:  The temple was originally built in the 18th century and I also read it has been damaged/destroyed/rebuilt several times since.

Mom and Cathy strolling down a street in Maokong.  We went to Maokong for the tea since it used to be a very large tea growing area in Taipei. It was a rainy day, but it still made for some wonderfully unique views, pleasant tea drinking ambiance, and reduced crowds.

Wires in Maokong.  Eric and I were walking along when he noticed and pointed out this interesting perspective.  We actually rode a gondola to get to Maokong, which similarly elevated you high above the forested valley and (slowly) plunged you into the fog for nearly four miles.

Best part of Maokong: Big Teapot Restaurant. Mom ordered some sort of "tea meal tour," where every dish incorporated tea leaves. For example, the mushroom/chicken soup simmering on the left had tea bags in it, the shrimp in the middle was sauteed and accompanied with pan fried tea leaves, and the fried rice in my bowl was made with some finely crushed tea leaves. It was a delicious meal, and it didn't hurt that we were also treated to a nice view of the area directly next to us:

The restaurant view from my seat.

Jinguashi Gold Ecological Park. Historically, the area had many productive gold mines and briefly served as a POW camp by occupying Japanese. Some really interesting history and great scenery here.  We also visited nearby Jiufen, which had a fun street market - Mom ate a snail, I drank (and bought) some millet wine, Eric bought some traditional Chinese garb, random stuff like that.

Hot spring in Beitou Dire Valley. Some of the natural pools here apparently approached a near-boiling 90 degrees Celsius (so you weren't exactly allowed to jump in).  Instead, Eric and I checked out a nearby outdoor bath that had several pools fed by a hot spring. Still, one pool was so hot that we were only able to tolerate it for under a minute before having to jump out.

Just a sampling of all thing things we did.  Good times!

North Manitou Island

Did a little backpacking last week with Nick on North Manitou Island.  The island, and its aptly named brother, South Manitou Island, are located in the northeastern end of Lake Michigan.  I've been to both islands several times, with South Manitou being one of the first places I ever backpacked.

The islands are technically a part of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, which seems to be better known for its mainland attractions.  I prefer the islands.  Anyway, access to North Manitou is via ferry, and once on the island, you're generally free to roam and camp as you please.  Some photos:

A smaller dune area on the southwest side. North Manitou Island is relatively small for a backpacking destination, but does offer about 30 miles of trail hiking and 20 miles of shoreline hiking. We generally stayed close to the lake on this trip and explored the vast majority of the island's perimeter.

Crescent Dock ruins on an overcast morning.  North Manitou Island was settled to an extent over a hundred some years ago, with evidence of such scattered throughout the area. Besides various dock remnants, there are abandoned houses, orchards, a random barn, and even a cemetery.

A surprisingly well-preserved crawfish exoskeleton. The remains of a molt? Or maybe not. Either way, it was the honorary third member of our group at the second campsite.

Northeast side sunrise. I was up and about for a bit that morning due to a nearby crow that sounded like it was cawing directly into my ear.  Took this photo after shooing the thing away.

Keeping an eye on the angry looking clouds. We were a bit concerned, considering we left our rain gear at home, but thankfully all we got was a little drizzle and a lot of wind.

On a foredune near the Old Stormer Dock ruins on the southeast side.  Despite the earlier threatening weather, it cleared up nicely by the end of the day, allowing for some solid beach time.

North Manitou Island + backpacking = good times.

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Shi   ng Receiving

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Uptown

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Wash Town, USA

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Vines, snow

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Fluid Power Automation

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Snow, transmission

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Shingles

Amsterdam, Netherlands

We got back from Amsterdam a while ago, but Cathy and I have been pretty busy. We're still busy, but I've finally gotten around to looking at my photos from Amsterdam. Now I'm not as...enthusiastic, or passionate maybe, about traveling to Europe as some other people, but I admit I had a great time.


Flag of Amsterdam. We arrived at 9 a.m. Central European Time, and had been basically up for 30 odd hours already. I wasn't sure if I was delirious, excited, or both, but it didn't really matter. We just checked in and started wandering.


There was a lot of walking. Good thing I like walking and the city is pretty much made for walking too. And, as you know, the place is made for bicycles, although we never did get around to renting any...oh well.


Typical canal view, building towards the left is the Bijbels Museum. As for the weather, the forecast the week prior predicted clouds, rain, and more clouds. Needless to say, I was happily surprised when the clouds gave way to blue skies and sun. It stayed that way for most of the trip. Foolish forecasts.


We visited a lot of museums, including the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh (awesome), and a couple photography museums/galleries I was interested in. This one is at Huis Marseille. We also hung out at some parks (mainly Vondel Park), gardens, other random spots.


There was a lot of this. Beers and maps. Between sights, the general rule was to wander into a random cafe or bar, get a beer, and look at the map. Maybe a sandwich. Beers, maps, and a sandwich.


Zuiderkerk, a church. There was a lot to look at just by walking down any random street. I found it all too easy to just wander around and see interesting stuff everywhere I went, especially the architecture.


Ok, that's enough for now. Obviously, there was much more to the visit, but I think you get the idea. Vacation successful.

Going out of town again. We'll be back shortly.

North Shore Channel Trail

I went for a bike ride last weekend on the North Shore Channel Trail. It's a paved trail that runs north-south through the city and a couple suburbs, running alongside it's namesake, the North Shore Channel. I leisurely pedaled the length of it, which is about a 25 mile round trip starting from home. It's nothing amazing, but still a nice local ride.


There's a lot of random stuff along the way, including the occasional view of the the channel, which is technically a drainage canal. Now I'm not jumping in anytime soon, but it's basically a small river lined by trees and inhabited by your standard local wildlife. The best part though was that the autumn weather was perfect (for me at least); thermoregulation was not an issue.


The path runs through a sculpture park for a bit in the suburbs. Most of it was relatively underwhelming, but this one caught my attention: Directing Traffic by Victoria Fuller. Humorous.


A juvenile Cooper's Hawk, a common bird of prey to see around here. I was taking a banana break when this guy swooped down and landed on a sign right next to me. Good looking bird. They used to be an endangered species in Illinois but made a great comeback since the DDT ban. I also vaguely remember a National Geographic article stating that the DDT ban is also a big reason the Bald Eagle is not extinct, or at least nearly extinct, in the states.

Alright, that's it for now. We're flying out tomorrow, so I should probably start packing.

Milton Lee Olive Park

A slight lull in activity for now, but Cathy and I are finishing preparations for our trip to Amsterdam next week. Never been there so I'm looking forward to exploring.

I stumbled around Chicago for a couple days last week to kill time and get used to the new camera, but also because the autumn weather has been so swell.


Hancock from Milton Lee Olive Park - a really nice, but somewhat ignored, park.

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Couch

Labor Day

What did you do during the holiday weekend? My presence was required here in Chicago so I never made it more than 15 miles from home. I still had a good time though, enjoying the locality, spending time wandering the city on foot and bicycle. It's a favorite hobby of mine; wandering.


I covered a lot of ground but I didn't find much. Then again, I wasn't really trying to find anything at all. I did take two meaningless photos. This is one of them.

Right now? Currently tossing around ideas for a hike sometime soon, probably just an overnighter. Not sure where but that's not important right now.

Nordhouse Dunes, Part 1

So like I wrote in my last post, I went on a little trip this past weekend and it was to the Manistee National Forest, with most of my time in the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness. The forecast was incorrect because there were no thunderstorms - but it got the windy, cold, rainy part right. The consistent rain throughout the weekend did help keep the crowds down since I saw all of one person when I would usually expect to run into a couple groups. However, I did see a couple of the largest porcupines I've ever seen, several herds of deer, multiple bald eagles, and two piping plovers - an endangered species. A sampling of photos:


The first portion of the trail was pretty standard for the Midwest: narrow trails, mixed trees, modest terrain, and many small creeks. The forest had been heavily harvested in the past so I might casually describe its appearance as a "new growth" forest. A unique feature is how sandy it is, which seems to lend itself to "sandslides" along the various ridges and cliffs, such as here.


I actually started outside of the Nordhouse Dunes area and hiked my way to it through the forest. As the established trail petered out, it opened up into open sand dunes and pristine beaches. Once in the dunes though, I made my way towards the beach to avoid disturbing the area. I'm not sure what the official rules are, but I know dunes in Michigan are relatively fragile and I'm not about to go tearing around in there - especially in such a small wilderness area.


Another reason to be careful. This is a well-tagged Piping Plover, an endangered species here. This is the first time I've ever seen one outside of the Manitou Islands, which also has sandy, pebbly areas by water (the bird's preferred habitat). Only 30 years ago, the population of this sub-species was barely a few dozen. Anyway, they make lay their eggs on the ground so you have to watch for them when moving around the beach here; it's all too easy to step on a nest.


Big Sable Point Lighthouse. The lighthouse, which is still functional and relied upon, is a tourist attraction but it was closed at the time so there were no visitors. But as I explored the area, a friendly volunteer keeper stepped out and gave me a little tour. He even waived the $2 fee to climb to the top of the lighthouse, although I ended up donating some funds anyway.


Real nice view to the north, looking at the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness, from the top of the lighthouse. During this little break, the rain let up and so I decided to get going. I wanted to backtrack to scout some potential sites I passed earlier which I had put into my GPS (to my joy, dispersed camping was permitted in certain areas).

I'll continue my trip summary later.

Pie Components

Some semi-recent photos/trivia regarding the blackberry apple pie Cathy made for Thanksgiving:


The apples used were Northern Spy apples grown in Michigan. They say it's a good baking apple.


They were bought from here back in October (they also say the Northern Spy is a good storage apple). I think we spent the rest of that day eating donuts and looking for an imaginary cider mill from my childhood.

Honeymoon Summary, Part 5

The last couple days of our trip were relatively uneventful. After Bali, we decided to take it easy and so didn't try to cram in too much the last couple of days.


We went to this seafood joint by the ocean and ate a bunch of grilled shellfish. It was tasty...but I suspect it was here that we got destroyed by a case of food poisoning. About 24 hours later, Cathy and I were sick as dogs and sequestered ourselves in our hotel room. I recovered relatively quickly but Cathy struggled with it for a bit. I haven't been in the mood for seafood since.


Gwanaksan Mountain in Seoul. We were originally supposed to go to Seoraksan Mountain way out east but did not due to our near death conditions. Instead, after semi-recovering, we went to Gwanaksan where I took a nice hike up to the top. It's a much smaller mountain but still provided some good scenery, expansive views, and fun minor climbing. Sweet radar equipment...


Gwanaksan climber. As you can tell from his getup, this dude was really into it. He would pick a weird route, climb it as fast as he could, and then strike this Mr. Cool pose everytime.


The next day we took a bus down to Itaewon. It was pretty unremarkable. Although there were some interesting antique shops and nice restaurants, it was a bit too touristy for me. Anyway, I took of photo of this yellow scene and thought I'd share it with you. Yeah.


Hotel Novotel, our home in Seoul. It was a basic hotel but we stayed there so long that I actually missed the place after we left. Good times.


And one more beverage photo. I knew this was Canada Dry because the can...it said so.

And that's about it for the summary! We did a lot of other stuff but I just wanted to give the gist of it here. All in all, a most excellent honeymoon.

Honeymoon Summary, Part 3

After Ulsan, we had a day or two in Seoul before leaving for Bali...


Doksan Subway Station, where we met up with Cathy's cousin Haesoo and embarked on our journey for the day. After riding the CTA trains for over three years now, I almost expected Seoul's subways to be moderately rickety, mostly unreliable, painfully slow, and tragically odiferous. Thankfully my expectations were way off since I found that the trains were fast, reliable, and did not smell of sweaty socks.


Haesoo took us to Insadong, a large shopping district with lots of crafts and artwork. I have some nice photos of all that crap but more importantly, Insadong is home to a delicious mandu (dumpling) restaurant. Usually I eat bite-size dumplings with just a simple dipping sauce. At this restaurant we got a pot filled with homemade fist-sized dumplings, various meats, vegetables and mushrooms, tteok, noodles, and an egg in an onion which blossomed as the spicy broth simmered away. My mind? Blown.


After eating and exploring Insadong, we visited Gyeongbokgung Palace. This particular soldier was clearly not historically accurate because he did not have a fake beard poorly glued onto his face like the others did.


National Treasure No. 224, Gyeonghoeru Hall at the Gyeongbokgung Palace. A stunning two-story open pavilion which the king would use when a gigantic ornate lakeside royal banquet hall was required, as is often the case.


I knew this was makgulri (rice wine) because the bottle said so. I drank a couple of these and then went to some wacky karaoke place with Cathy's aunt and uncle. True story.

Bali in the next post...