Look at any set of postcards of Jiufen, Taiwan and it’s likely that you’ll find at least one - or more - picture of the gorgeous Ah Mei Tea House. Thanks to its beautiful architecture and unmistakable hanging red lanterns, Ah Mei Tea House has become one of Jiufen’s most iconic structures. It is said that this very building is the model for the bath-house in Studio Ghibli’s Oscar-winning animated movie ‘Spirited Away’. When I visited Jiufen, I got the chance to visit Ah Mei Tea House twice: for lunch in the afternoon and for tea in the evening. So, were the food and the view worth the price tag?

Whoop whoop! I finally got the time to write down this post, which has been brewing inside my head for a couple of months. Talking about my journey in the small rainy city Jiufen, Taiwan won’t be complete without dedicating a whole post to Windsor B&B - the super awesome B&B where I stayed. Windsor B&B has a couple of villas that are spread throughout Jiufen, each with its own unique theme and views. I stayed at a room called ‘Owl Museum’, and it was hands down the most interesting room I’ve stayed in the last five years!

Back in September last year when I was planning my Taiwan trip, I tried to find some insight about what to expect of Chishingtan (or Qixingtan) Beach in Hualien County in the middle of November. Is it possible to see the sunrise? Is it going to rain often? Do I need to bring a swimsuit? I had no luck finding answers to those questions on the internet, thus after I got home I decided to write a post about it. After all, there are 7 billion people in the world and if one person tries to find a particular info, there must be someone else looking for the same info as well! 

Hello Omnivores! As promised at the previous Taroko Gorge post, today I’m going to share my experience when trekking at Baiyang Trail. Out of all the trails I visited, Baiyang Trail is the farthest from the park entrance and was the only one I trekked from start to finish. The trail spans for 4.2km (round trip), which requires 2-3 hours of walking in a leisurely pace. It ends at a mysterious-sounding location called water curtain cave.

As I was browsing through pictures of my time in Taroko Gorge, Hualien, Taiwan, I felt so many regrets. I regret not having better photography skills, I regret not cleaning my lens the day before, I regret that my hands can get shaky sometimes. You get the point. I couldn’t even count how many times I said BAGUS BANGET- that’s Bahasa Indonesia for very beautiful. Taroko is sublime, and weeks later its beauty still burn at the back of my mind.