Steve's sandbox

Tag: Travelling

  • Cosmo de Bono: Holiday Travels in Taiwan – December 2023

    台灣假期旅遊 – 陳白宇

    這個月我有兩個星期的假期，所以有很多時間去旅行。因為我最近在台灣旅行了很多地方，所以我打算把上個月遊玩過的地方都寫下來。大部分的地方都在台北，但我也去了位於台灣島最南端的墾丁和東海岸的花蓮縣。希望你們能喜歡閱讀我寫的事，也能欣賞一些照片！

    寶安和孔廟：
    這是台北相鄰的兩座寺廟。我花了 30 分鐘搭地鐵到達那裡。孔廟有一些漂亮的花園，建築風格是傳統的中國風格，但也有一些台灣的影響。我在大學一年級時學習了很多儒家思想與文言文，因此參觀孔廟並在廟裡閱讀中國古典文獻是一件非常有趣的事情。

    寶安廟是朋友介紹給我的，因為很漂亮，但不像台北的其他廟宇那麼熱鬧。由於有人在祈禱，我需要小心地拍照，但是寺廟真的很優美。這座寺廟有好幾層，所以我上了寺廟的頂層，俯瞰周圍的城市。
    貓空：
    貓空纜車位於動物園旁邊。缆车从底部到顶部需要 20 分钟。缆车车厢的地板是玻璃的，看得到下面的树。我在缆车上遇到了一对友好的台湾老夫妇。他们主要讲客家话，所以很难沟通，因为我听不懂他们说的话！在缆车顶端，我徒步穿过一片森林，去看一个小瀑布。那天真的很热，所以我给自己买了一个冰淇淋，然后在缆车顶上的一家当地茶馆里欣赏风景。

    墾丁
    我想在學校放假時離開台北，所以我訂了一張去台灣南部墾丁的火車票。我必須先搭火車到高雄，然後從高雄坐兩小時的巴士到墾丁。墾丁是海濱地區，面積不大，但有一個非常熱鬧的夜市。那裡有很多魚和油炸食品。在墾丁的一天，我去了當地的森林健行區，雖然健行比較累，但風景很美！

    花蓮縣和太魯閣峽谷：
    上週，我和一些在台北度假的家人朋友相約去花蓮縣的太魯閣峽谷一日遊。花蓮位於東海岸，島嶼的中間。這裡的地理環境非常好，海岸線也非常迷人，但這裡的公共交通非常少，所以我們不得不找了一個導遊，由他開車接送我們往返。島上有許多河流、寺廟和健行路線。我們在原住民餐廳吃了午餐，食物還不錯。天氣很熱，但沒有 9 月或 10 月那麼熱。我們早上 6 點離開台北，14 個小時後才回來，所以第二天我已經筋疲力盡了，但這是我在台灣最喜歡的目的地。
    我在这篇文章中附上了很多照片，希望你门能了解这些地方的风貌。未来几个月，我还计划在台湾进行更多的旅行。总之，我在台湾度过了一段很好玩的时光，也开始欣赏这座神奇的岛屿。

    我在這篇文章中附上了許多照片，希望你門能了解這些地方的風貌。未來幾個月，我還計劃在台灣進行更多的旅行。總之，我在台灣度過了一段很好玩的時光，也開始欣賞這座神奇的島嶼。

    This month I had 2 weeks of holiday so had a lot of time to travel and go sightseeing. Because I’ve done a lot of travelling within Taiwan recently, I’m going to write about all of the places that I’ve seen in the last month. Most of the places are in Taipei but I also went to Kenting which is in the southernmost part of the island and also Hualian County which is on the East Coast. I hope you enjoy reading about my travels and seeing some photos!

    Baoan and Confucius temples:
    These are two temples that are both next to each other in Taipei. It took me 30 minutes on the subway to get there. The Confucius temple had some pretty gardens and the architecture was traditional Chinese but with some Taiwanese influence. I studied a lot of Confucianism in my first year at university so it was interesting to see a Confucian temple and also be able to read the classical Chinese texts in the temple.

    The Baoan temple was recommended to me by a friend as it’s beautiful but not as busy as other temples in Taipei. I had to be careful taking photos as there were people praying but the temple was really beautiful. It also had several floors so I went to the top of the temple and looked at the surrounding city.

    Maokong:
    The Maokong gondola is next to the Taipei Zoo. The gondola takes 20 minutes to go from the bottom to the top. The cabins have glass floors so that you see the trees below you. I met a friendly old Taiwanese couple in my gondola. They spoke mainly Hakka so it was difficult to communicate! At the top of the gondola, I went hiking through a forest to see a small waterfall. It was really hot that day so I bought myself an ice cream afterwards and enjoyed the views from the top of the gondola at one of the local teahouses there.

    Kending:
    I wanted to leave Taipei for my school holiday so I booked a train ticket to go to Kenting in the south of Taiwan. I had to take the train to Kaoshiung and then took a two-hour bus to get to Kenting from Kaoshiung. Kenting is a beach area and is quite small, but there is a really lively night market. There was a lot of fish and deep-fried foods. On one of my days in Kenting, I went to a hiking area in a local forest which was beautiful although the hiking was rather tiring!

    Hualien County and Taroko Gorge:
    Last week I met up with some family friends who were on holiday in Taipei and we made a day trip to the Taroko Gorge in Hualien County. Hualien is on the east coast and in the middle of island. The geography is amazing and the coastline is stunning but it has very little public transport so we had to get a tour guide who drove us there and back. There were lots of rivers, temples and hiking paths. We had lunch at an indigenous restaurant and the food was pretty good. The weather was hot but not as hot as it had been in September or October. We left Taipei at 6 am and got back 14 hours later so I was exhausted the next day, but this is my favourite destination in Taiwan.

    I’ve attached lots of photos to this post so hopefully you can get a sense of what these places were like. I’ve also got many more trips within Taiwan planned for the coming months. Overall, I’m having a fantastic time in Taiwan and am starting to appreciate this amazing island.

  • Spending time abroad with friends

    I did a day trip from France to San Sebastian which gave me the opportunity to meet up with my close friend. Despite the Spanish language around us we were able to practice our French together over some great food and a few beers. It was amazing to discuss our recent adventures, which is why I took this photo on the beach in order to remember such a brilliant memory with my friend!

  • Travelling in Southern China: Alexander Johnstone – China, February 2018

    在中国南方旅游

    为了趁着两个月的寒假，并且逃避北京寒冷的冬天，我决定了跟两个同学一起在中国的南方去路行。我们第一站是云南的省会，即昆明。我们一倒昆明的市中心转一转很快就看得出来云南与北京是截然不同的。比如说，云南的生活节奏比北京更慢。我们在云南之行的头两天都在昆明的公园享受着那里的轻松气氛。在北京，过冬时大家都要注意到怎么保暖，可是昆明以”春城”著称，这是因为在昆明任何季节都有很舒服的天气！在昆明呆了两天之后，我们坐了夜车去丽江，到了丽江立即转到去往虎跳峡的公车。我们安排了做两天一晚的步行，但是在虎跳峡步行的难度真的出乎了我们的意料！然而，那边的风景真了不起，天黑了之后欣赏了夜空繁星点点让我感到我们步行之路值得做。我们在云南的最后一站是大理，大理毫无疑问是我在中国去的地方当中最喜欢的地方。大理的魅力是难以言表的，可是我认为大理的特点是那边的自然美，并且我们在哪里认识的当地人都非常体贴。
    我们在中国南方去看的第二个省是四川。我们在成都的时候去了看中国的国宝，那就是熊猫。虽然几乎所有的游客都对熊猫很着迷，可是我个人认为这只动物有点没意思因为他们很懒惰! 我们在四川的最后一站是重庆。我去重庆以前在我的想象中这座城市没有特色，但是其实重庆是个非常繁华的城市。我在重庆的时候我心中想着，很多在中国的第一流城市普通的西方人可能不会认识，就会以为这座城市没有什么特别的。但是，在中国各个城市有各个特点，这样就反应中国是个非常多元化的国家。
    我在中国南方之行圆满结束，我坐火车回北京时感到很幸运有这个千载难逢的机会来体验中国不同的地方和实践我在大学得到的语言知识。

     

    ENGLISH:

    Travelling in Southern China

    To make the most of the two months of winter holiday I had, as well to escape the bitter winter cold of Beijing, I decided to go travelling with two of my classmates to Southern China. Our first stop was the provincial capital of Yunnan, Kunming. As soon as we arrived at the centre of Kunming and went for a walk around we quickly realised that Yunnan and Beijing are completely different. For example, the pace of life in Yunnan is much slower than that of Beijing. We spent our first two days in Yunnan enjoying the relaxing atmosphere of the parks in Kunming. In Beijing, during winter time everyone must pass attention to how to keep warm, but Kunming is known as the ‘City of Spring’. This is because the weather is always comfortable in Kunming, regardless of the season! After spending two days in Kunming, we took a night train to Lijiang. From there, we immediately transferred to a bus going towards Tiger Leaping Gorge. We had arranged to do a two-day, one-night trek, but the difficulty of the trek really exceeded our expectations! However, the scenery there was stunning. Once the sky got dark and we could enjoy the night sky full of stars, I felt that the trek we had taken was worth it. Our last stop in Yunnan was Dali. Without any doubt, amongst all places I have visited in China, Dali is my favourite. Dali’s charm is hard to describe in words, but I think the distinctive features of Dali is its natural beauty. Moreover, all the locals we met there were extremely friendly.
    The second province we visited in Southern China was Sichuan. When we were in Chengdu we went to see China’s national treasure, the panda. Although almost all tourists were fascinated by the tourists, I personally thought they were a bit boring because they are super lazy! Our last stop in Sichuan was Chongqing. Before visiting Chongqing, in my imagination this was a city without any personality. But in fact, Chongqing is an extremely vibrant city. When I was in Chongqing I thought to myself, there are so many first-tier Chinese cities that the average Westerner wouldn’t even recognise and would think that have nothing special about them. However, in China each city has its own distinctive feature, showing how China is an extremely diverse country.

    My trip to Southern China finally came to an end and whilst on the train back to Beijing I felt extremely lucky to have this fantastic opportunity to experience different places in China and put into practise the knowledge I had acquired at university.