Hualien - The City of Earthquakes

Hiking in Taroko Gorge

Hualien is a small city located about two hours by train from Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. It's in between the Central Mountain range and on the coast of Pacific ocean which makes it a great location for different purposes as you can enjoy the city life but also go hiking, whale watching and more. We had two reasons to go there, the Taroko Gorge and frequent earthquakes.

Amazing Taroko, Hualien

Hualien is known for it's notorious location being prone to earthquakes. By frequent we mean daily. On our four day stay we experienced at least two earthquakes per day, every day, three on average and the biggest being 5.6M. I guess it was some sort of a small peak which seems to happen every now and then. You can see a list of most recent earthquakes in Taiwan here.

Earthquakes in Hualien, Taiwan

Scootering away 

For the locals it's not a big deal. They seemed to go on with their daily activities as per usual even when we were having lunch and the whole restaurant started shaking. The locals only seemed to raise their heads to calmly observe the situation. For us, staying on the 15th floor of our hotel and waking up around 4 in the night was quite intense. Interesting, once-in a lifetime intense kind of a way. I had been hoping to experience a small earthquake already for a very long time starting from our trip to Iceland, where nothing happened at all to Bali where I think I woke up to a tiny quake during the night but am not sure. In Hualien it finally happened up to the point that eventually, on our departure day, we were actually quite happy to leave and return to more stable grounds.

Apparently there has been sun in Taroko

We ended up staying in Hualien for a little longer than expected. Initially the plan was to drive from Taipei to Hualien where we wanted to stay two days and then continue to Sun Moon Lake. However, we didn't know we needed The International Driving Permit which lead to the cancellation of the car rental. It all went quite smooth, though. The local Avis Car Rental employees, who were already used to a situation like this, helped us make other travel arrangements so  it only took us less than an hour to get ourselves on a train to Hualien. We had a nice hotel booked in Hualien so staying there was no issue at all, although we would have loved to stay in the mountains also.

Taroko Gorge, Hualien, Taiwan

The highlights of the area, aside the earthquakes, was the Taroko Gorge, the Pacific Ocean and the food. Hualien city itself is quite small so a day or two is enough. We had all sorts of hikes planned for the time we stayed in Hualien but due to the weather and the earthquakes we decided to skip most the longer and more demanding trails. We did hike some shorter, less demanding paths that were nice but not particularly challenging.

Taroko Gorge

There are a few things we didn't realize to consider but should have, when planning hiking trips in Taroko Gorge.

• Some hiking trails were recently closed due to recent land slides

Frequent earthquakes and rain causes landslides. A few of the trails we planned to hike were closed very recently as there had been many earthquakes lately. Have a few back-up trails in case you can't hike the one you originally planned. 

• Land slides are very frequent

Taroko has been the only location where we decided to skip hiking for safety reasons. We had rented a scooter to drive around the Taroko National Park and on our way back we saw several fresh landslides or huge fallen rocks on the road that were not there when we drove by only less than an hour earlier. Maybe, if we hadn't experienced all the earthquakes during these days we would have gone hiking but with the trembling ground beneath our feet and the closed hiking paths (due to land slides) we had to turn back from were enough to convince us to reconsider.

• Some trails also required a permit which was surprisingly difficult to obtain without a local guide.

Try and find a local to help you out getting a permit to hike some of the most interesting trails. Do this well in advance as it takes time to arrange everything. Also, note that you need a local phone number as the park ranger will try and contact you to verify the permit. If you don't have a local contact or a guide,  you can try and get a prepaid SIM card once you arrive. For this you need to pay a visit to a mobile dealer (don't forget to take your passport). Note that it's quite a hassle to get the hiking permit if you don't speak the local language. You might want to start the permit process before you depart to Taiwan or latest the first day you arrive.

Taroko is an amazing place to hike, just be well prepared and careful. There are also lots of easy trails that are accessible and much less dangerous. 

Hualien city, Taiwan

Cityscape, Hualien

Eventually with all the changes in our plans we had lots of time to spare. We enjoyed the spa at our hotel, rented a scooter to explore Hualien and surroundings, cycled around the area and definitely didn't skip a chance to eat at one of the many restaurants.

One of the temples in Hualien

..and more temples..

and another one.

We hired a scooter and drove around the area exploring and taking pictures. Technically the International Driving Permit is required also for two wheelers but some shops might overlook this, like they did in our case.

View from Parkview Hotel, Hualien, Taiwan

Hualien, Taiwan

Japanese Ghost Story

It was our last night in a small town called Fuji-Kawaguchiko by the mount Fuji in Japan. We stayed in a large hotel and had one of those beautiful, traditional rooms with tatami area. The room was huge and we loved having the chance to experience this side of the local culture. Our four day stay in the hotel was pretty much perfect until things started to take a strange turn...

Mount Fuji

Fuji-Kawaguchiko & mt. Fuji

We had packed all our things and were ready to check out the next morning to continue our journey to Kyoto. It was around 22.00 and we were preparing to go to sleep. I walked pass the large hallway we had in our apartment-type room and saw that the light was on in the toilet. Tony was in the living room with me and no one else was in the apartment. Besides, the light in the toilet was automatic, turning on when you enter and turning off shortly after you leave.
Yet the light was on and no one had been in there for a long time.

I went to check what was going on yet couldn't open the door. It was locked from the inside. I tried a few more times, hoping it was stuck but we had no issues with any of these sliding doors before, everything was in a perfect condition. Still, the door was not opening.

Tony took his swiss army knife and finally managed to open it. The room was empty, the light was on but the little, colorful toilet-seat cover for children had moved. I had paid attention to the seat before because it was super colorful, unlike anything else in the room. The seat was placed against a wall near the sink but as soon as we managed to unlock the door, the seat was facing a different wall. It had moved across the room. I tried to think if maybe the cleaner had moved it during the day but I'm pretty convinced I would have noticed it when we came back from our hike earlier that day. Tony was convinced it was the cleaner who had moved it but I really don't think that was the case. I would have noticed it before.

Bedroom

I then stepped inside to test the door. I tried to slide it quite fast a couple of times to see if it's possible for the lock to magically turn on it's own but it didn't even nudge. I actually had to turn the lock quite hard to be able to lock the door. So I stepped out of the room, closed the door and waited for a minute to see the light turn off, and it did. I checked the rest of the rooms and systematically closed every single sliding door and checked that all the lights were off. Eventually, I turned the air-conditioning to +19, as we always do in hotels.

Good night, sleep tight!

It felt a bit strange to sleep in that room that night.Tony was trying to be very logical saying that there is an explanation to all these things, which I really didn't buy.

A couple of hours into the night I woke up. It was incredibly hot in the room. After tossing and turning for a while I got up to check the air conditioning. It was on +28.
I was annoyed. Whatever was going on in the room was really driving me mad. I was tired and was not going to let any supernatural occurrence mess with my sleep. I turned the air conditioning back to +19 and went back to bed.
About two hours later it was on +28 again.

The morning arrived and no long haired girls had crawled out of the TV. I went to wash my face and as I opened the bathroom door I noticed that the second door, connecting to the private in-room hot spring tub, was wide open. It wasn't open just a little bit but all the way. Wide open. Before going to bed the previous night I made sure that all doors were closed yet in the morning one was open. I checked with Tony, if maybe he went there earlier but he didn't get up all night.

So there we were, in our possibly haunted hotel room in the tiny town of Fuji-Kawaguchiko. I always expected that if I ever experience something supernatural it would, at least, include switching lights and creaking floors. Even though the lights sort-of switched it was still relatively normal, if you consider self-locking and self-sliding doors as well as creepily malfunctioning air conditioning normal in a country where nothing was ever broken. Is it really possible that all these things just suddenly stopped working in one pretty normal hotel room in a 5-star hotel? Especially, like I mentioned few sentences ago, nothing was malfunctioning in Japan during our two week stay. Everything worked no matter where we went. But here, on that one night, in this hotel room, it all just fell apart?  

Looking happy, feeling creepy

Traditional breakfast

No one crawled out of the TV like in the Japanese horror movie Ringu, but someone did want to make us aware we were definitely not alone in that room. 

Tony still hasn't come up with a logical explanation to all of the strange things that happened but he's still claiming there would be an explanation. I will let you know if he comes up with one.

Fuji-Kawaguchiko

5 Things You Need to Realize to Lead a Happier Life Abroad

Even though every country and culture is different, there is something that never changes; the people. No matter where you travel, near or far people generally stay the same. It is true that in some regions people may be friendlier, more open, more attractive or maybe even funnier, but deep down, we are all the same. The expat life is generally very similar no matter where you end up. In some countries it is easier to live as a foreigner than in others, either due to spoken languages or culture and habits but eventually it’s human to human interaction that matters. Take a look at a couple of different forums, for example, to see what the most common subjects are and you’ll realise that the issues – good and bad – stay the same all over.

1. Making friends with the locals isn't easy anywhere but that's completely OK!: Making friends as an adult is the same everywhere. For most of us it’s not as easy as it was back in school or university where you were all in pretty much the same situation, trying to fit in and form your group. As a grown-up there’s responsibilities and routines to take care of, your career and relationships. Making friends with new people is probably not on top of your everyday to-do list. When moving to a new country you might want to grow your social network as soon as possible, form strong relationships and find friends you can trust but relationships take time. You often read comments about how people of your new country are not interested in making friends with foreigners but at the end of the day it’s not a nationality issue as it simply comes down to differences in routine. While you are busy growing your network and trying to make new friends, the locals already have their network, friends and family. Of course you’ll befriend locals, but it takes time. Like real, authentic friendships always do. 

2. Once a foreigner, always a foreigner: I often hear expats talking about how difficult it is to integrate into a new society because people treat you as a foreigner, yet the biggest problem is admitting that it’s really up to you to fit in, not the other way around. I say this from my own experience; no matter how fluent you are in the local language or how well you’ve integrated, you will always be a foreigner in the eyes of the locals, if they know that you come from another country. And that’s a good thing! You don’t need to change yourself in order to fit in, even less to be accepted. What is important is to admit that you are a foreigner and that’s how it will be. It’s completely ok for people to treat you as a foreigner because that’s how they see you and that’s who you are. You are a foreigner that has moved to their country and has now become a part of the society. You should do your best fitting in but never change who you are because those who like you will also love the fact that you come from another culture.

3. Bureaucracy is everywhere: People often complain about the bureaucracy they must go through when starting out their lives in a new country. No matter how easy it is, there’s always someone complaining. In Europe it is relatively easy, though. As a EU citizen you don’t even need a visa or a work permit! Depending on the country, there is always paper work to be done and documents to be filled but would you really want it to be otherwise? The paper work is there to ensure proper registration to make your life a little easier in your new society. The biggest difficulties are often caused by the language barrier as many countries still don’t have official documents in English. In the Netherlands, where we live, we only had to visit the city hall once to register ourselves and get the social security number which was then mailed to us and second time was the IND (immigration and neutralization services). That's pretty straight forward to me!

4. Finding a job is much easier when you know the local language: I stumbled upon a forum post complaining about how difficult it is to find a job in Finland if you are still working on your Finnish language skills! Well, that’s the case in most parts of the world! Unless you’re planning to move to an English speaking country, you most likely need to learn the local language in order to work. It’s quite logical. You cannot move to Lithuania and expect everyone to switch to English, right? However, there are  plenty of regions where you will be able to start off your expat life with minimal skills in local language. Search for regions with many international company headquarters or countries open for foreign workforce such as Amsterdam and Eindhoven in Netherlands, Sophia-Antipolis in France, and Malta, to mention a few. Many of these countries also have a special tax arrangement for highly skilled expats or retiring pensioners. A lot depends also on your line of work as many professions don’t really have a language requirement! Don’t get angry because the local language is something else than whatever it is that you speak. You’re the guest, after all. Learn the language, expand your horizons!

5. Moving for money? Think about the taxes first!: Before going anywhere, do your research on the cost of living, salaries and taxes in the country or area you want to live in. Dig deep, don’t just multiply whatever it is you’re making now to fit the level you think would be enough. You won’t be going anywhere if you form your salary expectation based on your gut feeling. Those moving to a higher economy often think they’ll improve their status in the new country, however if you continue doing the job you had back at home (assuming it’s on the same level in both countries), your income will most likely stay around the same level. For example, working as a construction worker in Poland won’t make you rich doing the same job in the Netherlands. The income is probably much higher, but so is the cost of living, food and taxes. Search for countries where your skill-set is needed, like nurses in Norway or oil & gas engineers in Saudi-Arabia! 

Relaxing Bali, Indonesia

Destination: Bali, Indonesia
Time of travel: May 2014
Duration: 10 days
Travel plan: 7 days on Bali, 2 in Jakarta

Bali, for us, meant total relaxation. We left the hiking boots behind and grabbed along a couple of books to enjoy by the pool. We didn't run up a volcano, instead hired a driver to take us there. Bali was the perfect destination for an easy going trip like this; it's affordable, touristic enough for all the services you'll ever need and the climate is lovely.

Location & Hotel

We stayed in the brand new 4* hotel Swiss-Belresort Watu Jimbar in small town of Sanur on the southeast coast of the island of Bali. Sanur is quite peaceful, smaller town with good connections to nearby attractions. Sanur is tranquil and, as we read, a more luxurious destination. Well, not sure if luxurious is really the best adjective to describe it but it definitely was free of all of parties which was exactly what we were looking for.

Swiss-Belresort Watu Jimbar was an excellent hotel. We loved the airiness of it, the modern brand-new look, huge pool with sun loungers in the water. Sounds good? It was even better, actually! Can you imagine a jacuzzi on your balcony, a'la carte breakfast with beautiful little portions made just for you and an amazing coconut creme brûlée? Oh yes, it was heaven!

The heavenliness of it all was shattered slightly when it got a little more crowded because of a holiday in South-Korea and Japan. Suddenly the hotel was packed and even though it was still lovely, they decided to drop the a'la carte breakfast and turned it into a buffet. Still very delicious, though, just a little less luxurious.


Activities

Snorkelling:

Sanur is an excellent location for snorkelling - with some incredibly amazing Manta Rae's! You do need to book yourself a snorkelling trip as the locations to spot Manta Rae's aren't accessible unless you have a boat and know where to look. While Toni was in the water totally amazed by these deadly beautiful creatures swimming right under him, Kris was, well, unintentionally feeding the fish from the boat. Even though the weather on the island was amazing the whole time, the sea was a little unpredictable and we were caught in a huge storm lasting for about 15 minutes.

Aside the beautiful Manta Rae's we snorkelled in three different locations and saw some amazing sea life. This is definitely something we'd recommend for everybody going to Bali.

Massages:

The typical Asian treat - massage! Find the best massage salon in town and go there every day. Or at least as often as you can. On Sanur, we warmly recommend Koa. The staff was amazing and none of them stood by the road yelling "Massage, massage!". Sort of classier than the rest.


Sunrise:

Not sure if getting up at 5:30 is really your thing? With the sun rising straight from the ocean on the Sanur beach, this is an ideal location to catch the sunrise. Grab a flash light for the road.

Rent a scooter? It was fun and totally worth it but Bali is a relatively large island with a lot of traffic. Driving around on a scooter was rather uncomfortable due to long distances and crazy traffic.

Shopping? Jakarta is an amazing shopping location with huge malls of western and local brands. We tremendously enjoyed shopping in Jakarta. The selection of things to buy is amazing. Prices are about the same as in Europe. Not much to buy on Bali, though even though there are some shopping centres (didn't visit!).

Bali is a great destination for a relaxing vacation. Selection of hotels is great, sea water is warm and it's a great choice all in all.

Would we travel there again? Well, maybe not but we're definitely happy we've been there!

Embarrassing traveler moments, part: One

As a foreigner you sometimes end up in strange situations worth a good laugh.

The Spa

Ultimately the best way to embarras yourself is to visit a spa abroad. You'd think that Scandinavians and people from the Baltics are as pro spa and sauna goers as it gets. Guess again! Even though us, the nordic folks, do enjoy to sit bare naked in a steaming hot room with our friends and families all gathered around (while hitting ourselves with a bunch of twigs!), we do tend to cover ourselves on all other times. A quick glanse into a German spa will make even a Finn blush (ask Tony). One of his 30-something birthdays was celebrated in a beautiful town of Wiesbaden and one of the preplanned activites was a relaxing visit to a local spa. Little did we know that in Germany most people, men and women mixed, tend to bathe naked at a spa. Naked in the pools, naked in the sauna, naturally also naked in the hallways and the relaxation rooms. Towels are not worn either. Anywhere.

However, it does get worse. Luckily we didn't take our newly learnt German/Dutch bathing habits to a spa in Taiwan, where not only do you cover yourself in a 50's style bathing overall and wear a hat (preferably matching the rest of your outfit), you also change into your bathing outfit in a shower cabin or toilet. This would have been nice to know before I was standing there, bare naked, getting into my bikini while watching Asian ladies peeking into the dressing room, then getting all red and embarrassed, covering their eyes from seeing my naked butt and running to a shower cabin as fast as they could. After this happened for a couple of times, I realized I got something wrong here. Explains why I was the only person in the dressing room. Naked.

Squeaky clean in Turkey

Other good places to embarras yourself (or feel embarrassed for co-bathers) are spa's in Netherlands and hamams in Turkey.

The trolley bus

It was a horribly cold and windy afternoon in Tallinn when we were planning to go shopping. Having lost sight of the last available taxi, Tony spotted a trolley bus approaching. We ran as fast as we could and hopped on. Before we even got thinking about buying a ticket, the trolley driver pushes the break pedal in between two stops and the controllers step in. We had two options; either just walk up to the driver and buy a ticket or panic and pretend to be confused foreigners. Kris chose the latter options, not because we didn't want to pay, that was definitely our intention but out of pure panic. Instead of explaining the controllers in clear Estonian that we had just stepped in and were about to buy the ticket, I asked them in English; " What's going on!? I don't understand! " Tony gave a dirty look - wtf? However, he played along, you just cannot save your wife from every embarrassing moment, can you? Well, we were escorted into their vehicle to discuss it further but by that time we were already in a deep web of foreign deception. We probably would have gotten away with this but our facial expressions to the discussion between the controllers gave us away as Kris did follow their conversation the whole time.

This was our movie moment. You know the moment when things go so embarrassingly wrong that even you, as a viewer, feel embarrassed?

It ended in a fine of 30 euro's and almost got us another one of those because Kris did object loudly - in fluent Estonian. 

Medieval Tallinn

The last one didn't happen to us, unfortunately. I sort of hope it did. This story must be shared!

The fish and the bowl

This happened during a very upscale Christmas dinner at a Portuguese holiday destination. Our friends haven't visited too many seafood restaurants. I'm guessing this was the first one. With beautiful classical music in the background, people cheerfully enjoying their dinner it did come as a slight surprise to them when a bowl of luke warm lemon water was brought to the table shortly after they had finished their appetiser. For a while they tried to gaze around, looking for a hint on what to do with the bowl of water and slices of lemon in it yet no help was in sight. The only logical way to deal with this was a logical one. Our friend took the bowl in his hands, raised it to his mouth and took a good big sip. Who knows what kind of habits the friendly Portuguese have! He then caught a glimpse of a waiter nearby laughing and showing him to put the bowl away and waving his hands. In a split second our friend realized that you're supposed to clean your hands in this bowl, not drink it!

They all got a good laugh and our fiends were happy for professional waiters who quickly saved their faces!

No seafood was embarrassed during the writing of this article.

Piece of paradise on Pangkor island, Malaysia

Destination: Pangkor island, Malaysia
Time of travel: December 2011
Duration: 12 days
Travel plan: 7 days on Pangkor,  5 days in Kuala Lumpur

We chose Pangkor because it's a quiet place without too many tourists. It's small enough to be explored in one go and is as real Malaysia as it gets. Before going there we read very different things about this island. Some said it was clean, the others said it's dirty. Some said it's boring, the others found it overly entertaining. Go figure! So we thought we better see for ourselves.

The journey from Helsinki, our hometown back then, to the island was long and rough. 12 hour flight and no sleep, 6 hour wait for the bus, four hour bus trip that got extended by another three hours. It was all worth it, though! We woke up to the warm sun, peaceful rhythm of the island life, birds singing and monkeys quarreling. Ahh. Beautiful.
Don't be put off by the long journey. The way back was much smoother; hopped on a ferry, then bus (direct to KL) and finally taxi to hotel.

How to reach Pangkor from Kuala Lumpur? There are several ways to reach Pangkor, we chose the most simple one. First we booked bus tickets (in advance, but there was lots of space so I guess it's not necessary) from www.transnasional.com.my. Choose a journey from Kuala Lumpur to Lumut. From Lumut you take a ferry. The ferry tickets are sold at the harbour and last ferry leaves around 8-9PM.

The bus leaves from the Puduraya bus station near Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur. The station seems a little shady at first but I guess it's safe. There's a luggage storage (a bit hard to find, though) and there are several shops, cafe's (even Starbucks to get you caffeinated and connected) and few restaurants nearby to kill time.

Our bus got cancelled and as we didn't get this info immediately, we felt a little lost. The bus was replaced by another one which drove to another city and from there yet another bus took us to Lumut. We managed to get this info by asking around from several bus drivers at the station. Level of English was so-so but the friendliness was at it's maximum.

On the road the views were amazing and the aircon on the bus worked perfectly all the way! Don't forget a sweater because the aircon seemed to take it's job seriously!

Pangkor island turned out to be fantastic! The weather was perfect with lots of sunshine and temperature reaching+32. The nature was beautiful and sea almost crystal. There's lots of things to do for active people; you can do sightseeing by visiting the few sights on the island, rent a scooter, kayak or water jet, hike, walk, snorkle, fish etc. etc. Or you can just lay on the beach, if you want.

Our hotel was on Nipah Bay which seemed to be the best location on the whole island. The beaches were largest and cleanest, there were some restaurants and shops nearby.

Weather:

We read from somewhere that during December it rains a lot on the island. Well, we went there at the end of the month and the weather was amazing! The air is humid but in a nice way. It wasn't too hot at all.


Water sports:

The island is perfect for all kinds of water sports; you can snorkle, canoe, rent a water jet or jet ski. The equipment isn't the newest possible but it was good enough. For snorkeling you can buy or rent your own snorkle and a mask. We brought our own and rented a cayak. It was amazing! We found some perfect spots for snorkeling and also saw and visited beautiful deserted coves. For snorkeling the water was quite clean, not the cleanest but clean enough again.


Jungle Trekking:

Jungle trekking is something we really suggest to do at the island. Just try to find a way to protect yourself from leeches. Our trekking lasted for only 30 minutes followed by a fast-track speed run because Tony had 11 leeches on him. I guess they're not dangerous but they most definitely are disgusting and damn scary!


Food:

The best restaurant on the island is definitely Pasir Bogak near Pasir Bogak's shopping area. The restaurant was clean as well as the plates and glasses etc. were clean, the food tasted amazing and the service was superb! This is the place where we ate every night after discovering it!

Daddy's Cafe at Nipah Bay was okay. The location was amazing - right there on the beach! Also the restaurant was highly over priced considering the quality and the local price range. Worth trying, though.

There are several other little restaurants, too. Step in and take a look, you might be surprised! =)

At Pangkor it's a little difficult to get wine. Daddy's Cafe is the only restaurant that sells wine. There are two shops on the main street in the "city centre" where you can find some different wines but the selection isn't that wide - just about 5 different wines.


Mosquito's:

Before the trip we read some horror stories but mosquitos and then saw only one. No panic, I guess.


We recommend:

Rent a scooter! It's a wonderful way to discover the island. Just beware of the traffic. There's not much traffic on the island but the drivers don't really watch out and they might drive on wrong lane etc. So keep your eyes open, wear a helmet and enjoy. Beware that Malaysia has left side traffic.

The Chinese temple!

Restaurant Pasir Bogok was seriously the best one on the island.

Go snorkeling by renting a kayak! The best fish-spotting places are near Coral Island which is quite crowded, though.




A Piece of our experience:

Pangkor island is ideal to see some wildlife. You'll see monkeys running around, sometimes climbing on your balcony. Hornbills fly around, and we saw them close-by because our hotel was feeding them every day. Kris got a nice surprise in the shower when a small lizard crawled in followed by screaming, shouting and running/jumping. Eek! Also saw a large lizard, about the same size as a medium dog further away when scootering around. Plenty of colourful fish in the sea to view when snorkelling. Delightful! Also, more than half (maybe even more!) of the island is actually still covered in jungle!

Aftermath: 
You don't need a week to explore the island as a couple of days would be enough. Great, when combined with other islands or cities in Malaysia. Excellent spot for a vacation away from everything familiar, in total tranquility. Shopping is basically non-existant so save your money to KL!

All in all, Pangkor is a wonderful, authentic little paradise where you most definitely won't see your local travel agent or even that many other western tourists. Perfect little island for some good times and relaxation!

Good website for more info: www.pulau-pangkor.com