I visited Taipei and the Shilin Night Market in September 2016
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A deafening roar startled me, I skipped a heartbeat or two. It sounded like a jet plane was coming up right behind me. I turned around, saw nothing. Then caught a glimpse of something passing by above me. Looked up. It was a plane, a passenger plane. Flying not far above the roof tops of the high rise surrounding me. The sound was so loud, it would be impossible to have a conversation right now.
I visited Lungshan Temple in Taipei in September 2016
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Lungshan Temple was only a few hundred meters from the metro station. Just walk past a park and you were there. The park was full of old men sitting around, playing games between themselves, or just talking. I walked past them. Towards the temple. It was easy to spot. A huge crowd was gathered in front of it, people passing through the gates constantly. And a massive neon sign was flashing above the entrance. I crossed the road and passed through its gates.
This year has been quite a good year for my blog. The number of visitors have been increasing every month, both on my blog, my FaceBook Page and on my Instagram account, I was recently awarded a Liebster Award, and only a short time later I received not one, but two nominations for the Sunshine BlAward. Thank you so much to
and
for their nominations. Awards like this are really motivating and makes me want to improve my blog more and more.
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I visited Taiwan and learned of the Sunflower Movement in September 2016
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‘Oh yeah,’ he said as I showed him the picture. ‘There is always some kind of protest going on now. Many people oppose the stance the government has taken towards China’ he continued. His English quite good for a Taiwanese. Sometimes he searched a little for what to say, sometimes he had to ask his girlfriend for a word in English, but most of the time he had no problem conversing.
I visited the National Revolutionary Martyrs’ Shrine in Taipei in September 2016
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The rain was pouring down as I approached the shrine. Rain like we never have in Norway, never downpours like this. A deluge of water coming from the skies, not a dry spot to be found. Except under my umbrella. Under here it was still nice and warm. The rain did not make the temperatures drop, it was still just over 30 degrees. The trepidation only increased the humidity, making it feel even warmer. I wasn’t 100% dry under my umbrella. I was sweating heavily.
I visited Tamsui outside Taipei in September 2016
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One of the most popular things to do whe visiting Tamsui just north of Taipei is to watch the sunset. It is supposed to be very beautiful here, setting over New Taipei, the light creating a spectacular horizon. The day I was visiting had been a rainy day, massive rain showers all day followed by some minutes of sun and blue skies. The last hour it seemed as the rain had quieted down a bit. Quicker showers, not so intense. As the sunset approached I seriously thought it would clear up. Not just for some minutes but for the rest of the evening. As the sun started falling towards the horizon there was hardly a cloud in sight. But that would all change. Just as the sun touched the horizon you could not see it anymore, dark clouds were in the way. A few seconds later the rain started pouring again. I missed seeing the sunset in Tamsui.
I visited several night markets in Taipei, Taiwan in September 2016
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I started with the mussels. Perfectly cooked in a spicy sauce. They tasted amazing, and the whole portion for only TD 60. A scoop. They were so tasty I wanted to finish them all, but I couldn’t. There was so much to try here, for such a cheap price, I could not fill my stomach up on the first few dishes. I threw over half of my mussels away.
I followed up with Taiwanese sausage, oysters, various meat grilled on various sticks. Then a beef noodle soup. The stalls offering food were spread out all over the street. All the food looked delicious. Further down the street the stalls offered various games for kids. Shoot balloons, throw darts, fish for presents. I was mostly focused on all the delicious food.
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I went to the festival Jazz in Duketown in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in May, 2016
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As we got to Parade, an open square in the city of ‘S-Hertogenbosch, the concert had already started. The square wasn’t full though, we could get quite close to the stage if we wanted. I fished out two beers from my bag, gave one to my friend, as we walked through the crowd. In the back were stands selling food, bars were placed on each side of the square. Most people had gathered close to the stage, but groups of people were standing further back as well. We found a place a bit from the stage to stand. We could see the stage just fine, the sound was great, and not too many people around.
I visited ‘s-Hertogenbosch in May, 2016
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The train should have taken about an hour and a half, but due to construction on the line we had to change for a bus from Utrecht to Geldermalsen. We arrived in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, also called Den Bosch, a little over two hours after leaving Amsterdam. Apart from having to take the bus for a while, the journey went without incident.