The colourful town of Juifen is the perfect side-trip from Taipei, set in the mountains of north east Taiwan. I fell asleep on the bus and woke up realising we were only 100 meters from our stop so we quickly buzzed the bell, grabbed our bags and hopped off the bus directly into torrential rainfall….
Tag: hiking
Earthquakes, flower festivals and temples | Taichung, Taiwan
It was time for us to leave the east coast of Taiwan and explore a bit of the west and to get there we needed to catch a couple of trains. We could of made it there in a few hours by catching the high speed railway that can travel up to 330kph but we…
Exploring Taroko Gorge | Taiwan
Hualien sits on the east coast of Taiwan, set on the shores of the bright blue pacific ocean and backed by forested mountains. Just an hour bus ride away is Taroko Gorge, a place high on my list for Taiwan. We arrived in Hualien by train and took our first afternoon easy with a stroll…
Searching for wild rhinos and tigers in Chitwan National Park | Nepal
We visited Chitwan National Park 10 years ago and loved the experience of hiking in search of wildlife so we decided to return and try our luck at spotting a Bengal Tiger this time. Rhinos are the main attraction in the park with almost 700 of them roaming the forest and grasslands. Along with the…
Top tips and prices for hiking Annapurna Base Camp in Nepal
In late October 2022 we spent 9 days independently hiking the Annapurna Base Camp trail (ABC) with the add-on of Poon Hill. I kept track of all of our expenses which I will share below along with tips for the trek. FIRST THINGS FIRST, INSURANCE If you’re travelling abroad you should already have some sort…
Hiking for 9 days to Annapurna Base Camp via Poon Hill | Nepal
We spent 9 days hiking to Annapurna Base Camp in Nepal so we could stand beneath some of the worlds highest mountains. We opted to hike the route independently, without a guide or porter after our previous disaster with a porter ten years ago who we basically had to fire because he was so slow…
Canoeing past flamingoes, eating with seals and hiking Lions Head | Cape Town
The coastal town of Muizenberg is famous for it’s good surf which brings amateurs and pros to its popular beach. Craig found a really lovely place for us to stay just north of the town on the shores of a lake and canal system. It was a bit over our budget at €37 a night…
Waddling penguins and hiking around Cape Point | South Africa
After being warned about how dangerous the local minivans and trains can be in South Africa we opted for an Uber to take us from downtown Cape Town to a little village called Glencairn Heights. It was a very safe neighbourhood near a beach and would be our base for the next four days whilst…
Exploring the colourful sights around Cape Town
We didn’t have much of a plan for Africa so as we sat on a deckchair admiring the rolling hills in the distance and zebras grazing nearby we clicked ‘confirm’ on a flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town. After our three weeks in Kruger we really didn’t know where to go next, we were thinking…
The best beach in Mauritius | Le Morne
La Gaulette is a chilled little village set beside the sea with a backdrop of forested hills and hunting grounds. It’s not a nice area to swim or sunbath as it’s marshy, muddy and rocky, however it offers much more affordable accommodation than Le Morne which is just a few kilometres away and one of…